65

I have been anticipating 65 for almost two years and I finally had the chance to see it at a Thursday preview last night.  It seems to be getting a lot of bad reviews for some reason but I really liked it! 65 million years ago Commander Mills (Adam Driver) is leading a long-range exploratory mission in space with passengers in cryogenic stasis.  An asteroid forces the ship to crash land on Earth, splitting it in half and killing most of the passengers.  Mills eventually discovers one survivor, a young girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), and makes the decision to try to find the rest of the ship, which is some distance away, because it contains the escape pod.  In order to get to the ship they must contend with dinosaurs and another asteroid on a collision course with Earth but Mills must also deal with his guilt over leaving his daughter behind to lead this mission and Koa must deal with her grief over the death of her family from the crash.  The action sequences are great and the CGI is pretty good because I didn't find it distracting.  The scenes involving the dinosaurs are actually quite scary (I jumped out of my seat at one point) with a menacing score that adds to the tension.  Driver is fantastic in an incredibly physical role (you can definitely tell that he is a former Marine by the way he moves and handles all of the weapons) and he is able to portray so much without a lot of dialogue. The survival story is compelling but I particularly enjoyed the father-daughter relationship between Mills and Koa.  There are some really tender scenes between them, especially when he teachers her how to whistle and when she rescues him from some quicksand.  I thoroughly enjoyed this (and not just because Driver looks really good in it) and I recommend that you ignore the critics and go see it!

Putting It Together at PTC

I like to call myself a big fan of Stephen Sondheim but the truth of the matter is the only shows that I am really familiar with are West Side Story, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Into the Woods. I have seen A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum but it was a long time ago and I don't remember much (beyond the togas) and I am embarrassed to admit that I haven't seen Sunday in the Park with George, Merrily We Roll Along, A Little Night Music, Follies, Assassins, Anyone Can Whistle, or Company (I will be remedying this very soon). I was, therefore, really excited to see PTC's new production of Putting It Together, a musical revue showcasing the works of Stephen Sondheim, last night because it features many songs from these other shows. A concert consisting of Sondheim's music would be worth the price of admission on its own but there is a loose narrative tying it all together (and a set featuring a luxury penthouse apartment, glamorous costumes, and fun choreography) involving a dinner party with a Husband (Nicholas Rodriguez) and Wife (Judy McLane), who are experiencing marital difficulties, a Young Associate (Brent Thiessen) and His Date (Cayleigh Capaldi), who are awkwardly navigating a new relationship, and an Observer (Tyrick Wiltez Jones), who narrates the goings-on. I particularly enjoyed the dynamic between McLane (I absolutely loved her in Next to Normal which is one of my favorite productions at PTC) and Rodriguez in "Country House" from Follies and the harmonies between McLane and Capaldi in "There's Always a Woman" from Anyone Can Whistle because I had never heard those songs before.  However, my favorite numbers were McLane's version of "The Ladies Who Lunch" because she just about blew the roof off the theater, Thiessen's heartfelt rendition of "Marry Me A Little," McLane's hilarious take on "Getting Married Today," and the entire cast's incredible performance of "Being Alive," all from Company. The theater was only about 2/3 full last night which is really a shame because it was an amazing evening of music performed by an insanely talented cast! I highly recommend it to everyone (go here for tickets) because those who are fans of Sondheim will love it and those who are not just might become ones after seeing it!

Note:  As I mentioned, I will be attending a performance of Company at the Empress Theatre next month and I am even more excited for it after seeing this show!

One Fine Morning

The second movie in my double feature yesterday was One Fine Morning at the Broadway.  Unfortunately, I was a bit underwhelmed by it.  Sandra Kienzler (Lea Seydoux) is a young widow working as an interpreter in Paris while raising her pre-teen daughter Linn (Camille Leban Martins), who is growing up and starting to pull away from her, and caring for her father Georg (Pascal Greggory), who is suffering from a neurodegenerative disorder and will soon require more supervision that she can provide.  She becomes reacquainted with her husband's old friend Clement (Melvil Poupaud) and eventually begins a passionate affair with him despite the fact that he is married and has a child.  She wants a commitment from him but he is unwilling to hurt his family.  Sandra deals with these losses by choosing to celebrate the little moments that bring her happiness.  Seydoux gives a lovely performance filled with quiet desperation as she gets on with the duties of her life (there are so many scenes of her walking and taking public transportation from place to place) but I found her character's passive resignation to the realities of life, while relatable, to be very depressing.  Also, while there are some incredibly poignant scenes, such as when Sandra and her mother (Nicole Garcia) and sister (Sarah Le Picard) try to convince Georg that he needs to go to a care center, the action becomes repetitive and I found my mind wandering many times (in all fairness I was really tired when I watched this).  Like most of Mia Hansen-Løve's films, this is beautifully shot and features an atmospheric score but, in my opinion, nothing about it is extraordinary enough to warrant all of the praise that it has received.  It didn't really appeal to me and I wouldn't recommend it.

All Quiet on the Western Front

When the Academy Award nominations were announced last month, All Quiet on the Western Front was the only Best Picture nominee that I hadn't seen (click on the titles for my commentaries on Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Fabelmans, TÁR, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, and Women Talking).  Even though it is streaming on Netflix I really wanted to see it on the big screen so I waited, hoping that it would return to theaters.  I was able to find a screening yesterday afternoon and I was completely overwhelmed by this devastating portrayal of the futility of war.  After a particularly deadly battle three years into World War I, the uniforms are removed from the dead, transported, laundered, repaired, and given to the new recruits.  Paul Baumer (Felix Kammerer) and three of his school fellows, Albert Kropp (Aaron Hilmer), Franz Muller (Moritz Klaus), and Ludwig Behm (Adrian Grunewald), enthusiastically enlist in the Imperial German Army hoping for adventure and the opportunity for glory.  They unknowingly receive these repurposed uniforms and are transported to the front, where they are soon confronted by the brutal realities of trench warfare.  As Paul watches his friends and comrades, Tjaden Stackfleet (Edin Hasanovic) and "Kat" Katczinsky (Albrecht Schuch), die in battle one by one, a German politician named Matthias Erzberger (Daniel Bruhl) attempts to negotiate a ceasefire with the Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch (Thibault de Montalambert) to prevent more loss of life.  Foch refuses and gives Germany 72 hours to agree to Allied terms during which Paul's unit is decimated in battle.  The armistice is eventually signed with a ceasefire scheduled to take place at 11:00 on November 11 but General Friedrichs (Devid Striesow) does not want the war to end without a victory so he orders an attack at 10:45 with deadly consequences.  The battle sequences are some of the most realistic ones I've seen and they are visceral and unrelenting.  The jarring and foreboding score only adds to the horror and chaos of battle.  The juxtaposition of the elegant drawing rooms and beautifully appointed train compartments where the ceasefire is negotiated with the desolate landscape of battle littered with corpses is also very effective.  Kammerer gives a brilliant and heartbreaking performance, especially in a scene where he finds his friend's body after his first battle and a scene where he begs the soldier he has just killed for forgiveness.  This is a movie I will not soon forget and I highly recommend it even though it is hard to watch.

Note:  Everything Everywhere All At Once seems to be the front-runner to win but, honestly, with the exception of The Fabelmans (which I did not care for) I would be happy with a win for any of the nominees.  Do you have a favorite?

RRR

I didn't have a chance to see RRR (which stands for "Rise, Roar, Revolt") when it was first released so I am really glad that Salt Lake Film Society brought it back for a limited engagement!  I had heard a lot of rave reviews so I went to see it with a large crowd at a late screening last night and it was absolutely amazing!  I had so much fun watching it and I may or may not have cheered out loud during several thrilling sequences!  It takes place in India during the British Raj in the 1920s.  When a young girl named Malli (Twinkle Sharma) is taken from her village by the British Governor Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his wife Catherine (Alison Doody), the guardian of the tribe, Komaram Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao, Jr.), travels to Delhi and vows to do whatever it takes to rescue her.  Meanwhile, a member of the Indian Imperial Police named Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) begins searching for him when the Governor offers a promotion to the officer who captures the man reported to be coming for Malli.  Bheem and Raju meet when they cooperate to save a young boy from a burning train wreck and bond with each other but, when they finally learn of their true allegiances, there is an epic confrontation between them at the Governor's residence leading to Bheem's capture.  However, Bheem eventually discovers Raju's motivation for his actions while Raju begins to question whether his cause justifies the betrayal of a friend and they ultimately join together (literally) to defeat their common enemy.  This is obviously about overthrowing the evils of colonialism (the portrayal of the British almost verges on caricature) but I really loved the message about the power of friendship.  Rao and Charan are incredibly charismatic and have tremendous chemistry with each other.  Their physical performances are almost larger than life and so dazzling on the screen!  The action set pieces are spectacular (my favorites are a scene where Raju single-handedly subdues an angry mob and a scene where Bheem fights a tiger) with unbelievable visual effects (I loved that Raju is associated with fire and Bheem with water) and soaring choral music which acts as narration.  Speaking of which, the dance-off between Bheem and Raju and the stuffy British guests at a garden party during the song "Naatu Naatu" is wildly entertaining (it is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song and I am really looking forward to its performance during the broadcast).  I am so happy that I got a chance to see this on the big screen because I thoroughly enjoyed it and I highly recommend it (it is currently streaming on Netflix).

Note:  I enjoyed it so much it was worth having to drive home during a snow storm at midnight!