Downhill

The movie Downhill was screened at Sundance this year but I didn't have a chance to see it.  I was very intrigued by the premise so I decided to check it out yesterday now that it is in wide release.  Pete (Will Ferrell) and Billie (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) Staunton are on a ski holiday in the Austrian Alps with their two sons.  After they are caught in a controlled avalanche, the two of them have different reactions which puts them at odds with each other.  This incident hangs over them for the rest of their trip and the tension builds and builds until the two of them must decide what they want from their marriage.  I am always up for a good dark comedy but I didn't like this movie as much as I thought I would.  Despite a relatively short 85 minute runtime, I found this movie to be incredibly boring at times.  There are many long and sustained shots of the family riding the ski lift and skiing down the mountain and the skiing sequences are not even that exciting.  The avalanche sequence is even pretty anticlimactic.  As much as I like Louis-Dreyfus, I really disliked the character of Billie.  I found her to be incredibly bossy and overbearing before the incident happened and, in my opinion, her reaction to what happened was just an excuse to treat Pete badly.  I honestly didn't understand why he was working so hard to gain her forgiveness because he seemed pretty checked out of their marriage before the incident happened.  Also, the resolution seemed very abrupt and not at all earned.  This movie either needed to be more dramatic with a real emotional connection between the characters or it needed to be funnier (the talents of both Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus are squandered here).  I recommend giving this one a miss.

Note:  Downhill is based on the Swedish film Force Majeure and many believe that it is an inferior remake.  I haven't seen Force Majeure (I missed it when it screened at the Broadway) but now I really want to!

The Gentlemen

Last night I finally had the chance to see The Gentlemen and I had an absolute blast watching this movie!  American ex-patriot Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) has amassed a multi-million dollar business growing marijuana on the estates of cash poor aristocrats in England but now wants to retire with his wife Rosalind (Michelle Dockery).  He decides to sell the business to Matthew Berger (Jeremy Strong), a fellow American, for $400 million.  However, Dry Eye (Henry Golding), the underboss for a Chinese gangster, offers to buy it instead and doesn't take kindly to being refused, a group of amateur MMA fighters trained by the Coach (Colin Farrell) raid one of his farms and film the escapade, some of his henchmen accidentally kill the son of Russian gangsters while doing a favor for one of the aristocrats, and a newspaper editor (Eddie Marson) who has been snubbed by Mickey hires a private investigator named Fletcher (Hugh Grant) to get the dirt on him and he, in turn, attempts to blackmail his right hand man Raymond (Charlie Hunnam).  Chaos ensues as Mickey tries to take back control of his empire.  This movie is wildly entertaining because Guy Ritchie is back to doing what Guy Ritchie does best.  He has created a group of eccentric characters, assembled an all-star ensemble cast who look like they are having the time of their lives, especially Grant (this is a side of him that I have never seen before and he is hilarious), and devised a plot with enough twists and turns to keep audiences guessing until the final scene.  Ritchie is known for his fast cuts and stylized action sequences and there are some great ones here!  I especially loved the raid on one of Mickey's farms and the scene where a group of henchmen must track down all of the phones used to film the incident with the Russian boy.  I laughed out loud through the whole movie and, if you like Ritchie's previous gangster movies, I highly recommend this!

Ballet West's Giselle

Last night I went to see the ballet Giselle at Capitol Theatre.  It is one of my favorites and Ballet West's production was absolutely beautiful!  Giselle is a young peasant girl who meets a handsome man named Loys (who is really Albrecht, the Duke of Silesia, in disguise).  She falls in love with him much to the dismay of Hilarion, a peasant boy who loves her.  Loys leaves when he hears the horns of a hunting party coming near and Hilarion discovers his identity when he finds his sword.  The hunting party is comprised of the Duke of Courland and his daughter Bathilde, who becomes fond of Giselle.  The two of them speak of love and confess that they are both engaged (it turns out that they are engaged to the same man).  Later, Loys returns and Hilarion confronts him with his sword.  Giselle, upon learning the truth, goes mad and takes her own life.  When Albrecht visits Giselle's grave, he is confronted by the Willis, the spirits of young maidens who were betrayed before their wedding day and seek revenge against those who deceived them.  The Willis force Albrecht to dance until he dies but Giselle forgives him which frees him from the spell.  The main roles, Beckanne Sisk as Giselle, Chase O'Connell as Albrecht, and Allison DeBona as Myrthe the Queen of the Willis, are danced beautifully.  I especially loved the scene where Loys woos Giselle because the business with the flower to determine if he really loves her is very sweet.  The Pas de Deux between Albrecht and Giselle's ghost is incredibly tender and beautiful and I really loved the music, especially the harp.  The dance between Myrthe and the rest of the Willis is otherworldly and ethereal and DeBona is very powerful in the role.  I loved their costumes of white, with just a touch of green, because they are so striking against the backdrop of the almost sinister woods.  I love this ballet because the story of forgiveness is so poignant and I enjoyed this production so much!  Unfortunately, last night was the final performance but go here for the rest of Ballet West's season.

Women Rock

Abravanel Hall was rocking last night as the Utah Symphony was joined by vocalists Cassidy Catanzaro, Katrina Rose, and Shayna Steele to pay tribute to the powerful female singers and songwriters who influenced rock and roll.  I have been looking forward to this concert for a long time and it was even better than I hoped it would be!  Katrina Rose come on stage first to perform the Janis Joplin classic "Piece of My Heart" and she set the tone for the rest of the concert with an exuberant performance that got the crowd going!  Next on stage was Shayna Steele who performed "Dancing in the Streets" by Martha & The Vandellas with a lot of soul.  Then Cassidy Catanzaro performed a lovely rendition of Carole King's "So Far Away" and she sounded so much like her.  Rose continued with "What a Feeling" from the movie Flashdance, followed by Catanzaro singing "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell, and then Steele singing her version of Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love."  One of my favorite songs by James Taylor is "Up on the Roof," which was written by Carole King, and Catanzaro's version rivaled his!  A highlight of this concert came next.  When I got to Abravanel Hall and looked at the program I just about lost my mind because I saw that they would be performing "Love is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar!  I absolutely loved that song back in the day and I would watch MTV for hours just hoping to see the music video.  Rose performed it as a ballad and just about blew the roof off Abravanel Hall.  It gave me goosebumps!  All three vocalists took the stage to end the first act with a powerful version of King's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."  After the intermission, the orchestra played "Pick Up the Pieces" by Average White Band and the horn section was fantastic!  All three vocalists performed Joan Jett's classic "I Love Rock 'n Roll" which was a big hit with the audience.  Next came another highlight for me when Rose sang "These Dreams," which is one of my favorite Heart songs.  Steele sang a fantastic version of Tina Turner's "The Best" and then Catanzaro sang two more classics by Carole King:  "I Feel the Earth Move" and "You've Got a Friend."  Rose continued with "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar which featured another incredibly exuberant performance (I loved her).  Steele performed a sultry version of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It" and then she was joined by Rose and Catanzaro for "Proud Mary" which was an epic way to end an amazing concert!  I loved every minute of it and I highly recommend getting a ticket to see this program tonight (go here).

Sarah McLachlan at the Eccles

Last night I went to my first concert of 2020 and it was such a good one!  I have been a fan of Sarah McLachlan ever since I heard the song "Possession" and bought the album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (which I played almost continuously in the early 1990s).  I was so excited when I heard that she was coming to the Eccles Theatre because it is an amazing venue for concerts.  I bought a ticket as soon as they went on sale and I've been looking forward to it ever since (it is what got me through two nights of parent teacher conferences).  The concert was billed as an intimate evening of songs and storytelling and that is exactly what it was.  It was just her on piano and guitar with Vanessa Freebairn-Smith accompanying her on cello and backing vocals.  This resulted in some lovely arrangements of her best songs.  She included a few songs from the albums Shine On and Laws of Illusion, which I am not as familiar with, such as "In Your Shoes," "Monster," "Song For My Father," "Beautiful Girl," "Loving You Is Easy," and "The Sound That Love Makes."  However, she spent most of the evening singing all of my favorite songs, including "Possession," "I Will Remember You," "Adia," "Good Enough," "Building a Mystery," "Drifting," "World on Fire," "Fallen," "Sweet Surrender," "Hold On," and "Ice Cream," and hearing them took me back to some really great times and some really dark times in my life.  It was pretty emotional, especially her rendition of "Hold On" with a new arrangement on piano.  She also sang a cover of Peter Gabriels's "Mercy Street" after talking about how much he inspired her as a young girl.  In between each song she would tell various anecdotes about them.  My favorite story was when people tell her that they played "Possession" at their wedding she always wants to laugh because it is about a stalker.  For the encore she sang a new song from a forthcoming album called "Wilderness" and I really liked it (she seems to have had a lot of relationships with narcissists that have ended badly).  Then she played a beautiful version of "Angel" to end the evening.  I really enjoyed this concert so much!  McLachlan is incredibly talented and she was so engaging with the crowd last night.  It was the perfect way to end a long and difficult week!

Note:  As many of you know, there is always one song (usually an obscure song from the artist's back catalogue) that I hope will be played whenever I go to a concert.  Last night I hoped that McLachlan would play "Push" but I wasn't too disappointed because I have heard her play it live before (and I kind of understand why she didn't play it because it is a beautiful love song about her now ex-husband).