Sundance Student Screening 2019

Yesterday I had my annual Sundance Film Festival field trip which is always a hit with the students.  I actually had several students ask me about it at the beginning of the school year and I had a group of students who have gone with me all three years (they asked if they could come next year even though they are graduating).  Being able to take my students to see a film is always a highlight of the festival for me and I am so grateful that the Sundance Institute, with support from the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, provides these free screenings for students every year!  I derive so much enjoyment from the arts and it means so much to me to be able to share that with my students.  The film that we got to see this year was The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind which tells the true story of how a boy was able to save his entire village in Malawi during a severe drought by building a windmill to create electricity to power a water pump to irrigate the crops.  I really loved this film because, not only is it incredibly life-affirming, it also has a powerful message about the importance of education.  William (Maxwell Simba) is not allowed to attend school because his parents can no longer pay the fees but he sneaks into the school library every day to learn how to create electricity.  Simba is incredibly endearing and sympathetic in the role and there were times when I had tears in my eyes (so did my students), especially when he tries to convince his Dad (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to give up his bicycle to use for parts.  This film is Ejiofor's directorial debut and he was there for a Q & A afterwards.  My students were very taken with him and asked some great questions.  They loved the film as much as I did and talked about it the whole way back to school on the bus.  It was a really great experience for both me and my students.

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2016

Serenity

The second movie in my Thursday night double feature was Serenity which looked like another intriguing psychological thriller.  It wasn't.  Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is a down on his luck Iraq War veteran who makes his living taking tourists out on his fishing boat on an island off the coast of Florida.  He is obsessed with catching an elusive fish which sometimes causes problems with his paying customers.  He is often reduced to taking money from Constance (Diane Lane), his sometime lover, to pay for the gas to run his boat and must fire his first mate Duke (Djimon Hounsou) because he can't pay him.  Things change when Baker's ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) approaches him to murder her abusive husband Frank (Jason Clarke) at sea for $10 million.  He initially refuses but begins to consider the offer for the sake of his son Patrick (Rafael Sayegh) who lives with Karen and Frank.  A mysterious businessman in a suit (Jeremy Strong), who has been stalking Baker, causes him to question his reality when he finally does make contact.  I have heard some critics refer to this movie as the worst of 2019 but they have clearly not seen Replicas which gets my vote for that dubious honor.  Like Replicas, this movie has an interesting concept, which could have been a really atmospheric noir thriller, but it is derailed by its execution and a completely implausible plot twist that I saw coming well before it was revealed.  Even though it is ridiculous and full of holes, this plot twist could have provided an interesting exploration of free will but, instead, we get McConaughey emoting in a sugarcane field.  Speaking of which, there is a lot of cringe-worthy dialogue (Hathaway refers to Clarke as "Daddy" more times than I could count) and most of the characters come across as wooden caricatures rather than actual people.  The only reason that it ranks slightly above Replicas is because of the cinematography.  Beautiful shots of ocean waves and sunsets are nicer to look at than sub-par CGI shots of robots any day!  Avoid both of these movies!

Glass

Last night I finally had a chance to see Glass, M. Night Shyamalan's sequel to Unbreakable and Split.  As one of the few people who actually liked Unbreakable, I was very eager to see it and, while there are problems, I really enjoyed this psychological thriller.  The movie begins with David Dunn (Bruce Willis) who, with technical support from his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), acts as The Overseer, a vigilante taking down criminals using his extrasensory perception.  He encounters Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) and learns the location of four girls whom Crumb has abducted.  The Overseer confronts him in the persona of The Beast which culminates in their arrest and imprisonment in the mental institution where Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), known as Mr. Glass, is being held.  Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulsen), a psychiatrist specializing in treating people with delusions of grandeur, tries to convince David, Kevin, and Elijah that they are normal and that their superpowers have logical explanations.  She enlists Joseph, Mrs. Price (Charlayne Woodard), and Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), who survived an attack by The Beast, to help convince the three that they are mentally ill rather than extraordinary.  Glass, acting in the role of a superhero mastermind, plans the escape of all three hoping for an epic showdown between The Overseer and The Beast to show the world that superheroes really do exist but they are ultimately stopped by Staple.  Of course, in true Shyamalan form, there are several plot twists which lead to some redemption.  While there are some rather sketchy plot holes in the narrative, I enjoyed Shyamalan's supposition that comic books are the mythology of real world superheroes.  I also really liked the theme that it is important to see people as they really are.  All three leads give fantastic performances.  McAvoy believably moves from character to character in an instant, Willis gives one of his best performances in recent memory, and Jackson is completely over the top.  The production design is really interesting with each character inhabiting a specific color (carried over from the previous movies) juxtaposed with an otherwise drab institutional color palette and the hand-held camera work reinforces the claustrophobia.  The biggest issue I have with this movie is that it sometimes has way too much exposition, as if Shyamalan doesn't think the audience has seen the prequels.  However, I think this is an interesting and entertaining end to the saga and would recommend it.

Roma

The nominees for the Best Picture Academy Award were announced yesterday and there was only one film that I hadn't seen yet (you can read my commentaries for Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book, Vice, and A Star Is Born by clicking on the titles).  Since I always like to see the nominated films before the big ceremony, I decided to see Roma while it was still playing at one of my favorite art house theatres last night.  This movie is a masterpiece.  It chronicles a year in the life of a domestic servant named Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) and the affluent family she works for in Mexico City during the early 1970s.  Much of the narrative involves the mundane chores of Cleo's every day life: cleaning the house and courtyard, cooking and serving meals to the family, waking the four children, taking them to school, and putting them to bed.  Soon, however, both Cleo and Sofia (Marina de Tevira), the matriarch of the family, face a similar situation.  Cleo begins a relationship with Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero) and, when she discovers that she is pregnant, he leaves her (in one of the most heartbreaking scenes I've ever seen).  Sofia's husband Antonio (Fernando Grediaga) leaves to attend a medical conference in Quebec and when it is over he does not return to the family's home.  The tumult in their personal lives is mirrored by the unrest in Mexico culminating in the massacre of student demonstrators.  Through it all the two women support each other and it is a beautiful story of redemption (Director Alfonso Cuaron has stated that this film is a tribute to the women who raised him).  There are two incredibly emotional scenes near the end of the film that absolutely shattered me but serve to highlight the resilience of these women and I don't think I will stop thinking about them any time soon.  The film is in black and white without a score and this really allowed me to see the careful composition of each shot.  There are many recurring images, such as a car being parked in a narrow alley, planes flying in the background, and water being splashed on the cobblestones of the courtyard, which are so full of meaning.  Aparicio gives an incredible performance as a quiet and self-contained woman who becomes more and more concerned about her own and Sofia's situation.  I loved that this film is a deeply personal story set against the backdrop of the larger political context within Mexico.  I highly recommend it!

Note:  I definitely want Bohemian Rhapsody to win Best Picture but, in all honesty, perhaps Roma should win.

Utah Opera's The Little Prince

Last night I went to see Utah Opera's production of The Little Prince.  I almost didn't get a ticket because I don't usually like modern operas with librettos in English and my only experience with the novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, upon which the opera is based, is when I was forced to read it in French when I was a senior in high school (I didn't understand it at all).  I am so glad that I decided to get a ticket any way because I loved it!  The story begins with a Pilot (Jared Bybee) telling a group of school children (Choristers of the Madeleine Choir School) about a drawing of a snake eating an elephant.  Every adult thought it was a hat which proves that adults can't see anything!  Then he tells them of crash landing his plane in the desert and meeting the Little Prince (Nitai Fluchel) who wants a drawing of a sheep to eat all of the bushes, especially the baobab trees, threatening to overtake his planet.  The Prince then recounts his life story on his planet which contains three volcanoes, one active and two dormant, and his beautiful, but vain, Rose (Grace Kahl).  When the Rose treats him badly, the Prince decides to visit other planets.  On the first planet, he meets The King (Tyrell Wilde) who has no subjects and only issues orders that can be followed such as commanding the sun to set.  On the second planet, he meets the Vain Man (Joshua Lindsay) who wants to be the most admired man on an otherwise uninhabited planet.  On the third planet, he meets The Drunkard (Addison Marlor) who drinks to forget his shame over drinking too much.  On the fourth planet, he meets The Businessman (Jesus Vicente Murillo) who fails to see the beauty of the stars by his need to count and catalogue them to prove ownership.  On the fifth planet, he meets The Lamplighter (Addison Marlor) who blindly follows orders to light and extinguish a lamppost every 30 minutes to correspond to day and night on his planet.  The Prince finds all of these adults to be ridiculous (the allegory was lost on me when I read it in French) so he decides to visit Earth and lands in the desert.  He meets a Snake (Joshua Lindsay) who tells him he can send him home any time he wishes.  He sees a rosebush which makes him think his Rose is just ordinary.  Finally, he sees a Fox (Melanie Ashkar) who tells him that you can only see with your heart not your eyes and that spending time with his Rose has made it special.  He decides that he misses his Rose and wants to go back home.  He takes the Pilot to a well to find Water (Melissa Heath) which saves him and makes arrangements with the Snake to return home.  The Pilot is upset but the Prince tells him not to worry that he has died because his body is just a shell that is too heavy to return to his planet.  The Snake strikes, the Prince disappears, and the Pilot repairs his plane.  The story ends with the Pilot telling the children that he can always see the Prince by looking at the stars.  This story of friendship, loneliness, love, and loss is so touching (I definitely need to read it again in English!) and Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman's music is incredibly beautiful.  I loved the costumes, especially the king's long train, and the set, which consists of a book-lined study and transforms into hundreds of pages from books to represent the desert.  The Choristers of the Madeleine School Choir, especially Fluchel who is amazing, are so talented and their voices add so much to the story.  It is a magical production and I highly recommend it (go here for tickets).

Dear Evan Hansen in Las Vegas

This weekend I went on my first road trip of 2019 and I had so much fun!  I love road trips so when I found out that the musical Dear Evan Hansen was playing at the Smith Center in Las Vegas I got a ticket the day they went on sale.  I have wanted to see this musical for a really long time and, even though it is coming to the Eccles Theatre next season, I didn't want to wait!  I packed my car Thursday night so I could leave as soon as school was out on Friday to make it to Las Vegas for the Saturday matinee.  It was a quick trip but worth it because I loved this show so much!  Evan Hansen (Stephen Christopher Anthony) suffers from anxiety and feels insignificant and all alone ("Waving Through a Window").  Heidi (Jessica Phillips), his busy single mother, doesn't know what to do to help him ("Anybody Have a Map?").  His one friend, Jared (Jared Goldsmith), is only nice to him so his parents will pay for his car insurance and he is too scared to talk to Zoe (Maggie McKenna), the girl he likes.  His therapist encourages him to write letters to himself to help build his confidence but Connor (Marrick Smith), a deeply troubled young man, intercepts one from the printer because it mentions his sister Zoe.  When Connor takes his own life, his parents, Cynthia (Christiane Noll) and Larry (Aaron Lazar), find the letter, and assuming it is a suicide note, reach out to Evan.  To comfort Connor's parents, Evan pretends that they were friends ("For Forever").  When Cynthia and Larry press for more information, Evan asks Jared to create a history of emails between him and Connor ("Sincerely, Me").  Larry and Zoe struggle to reconcile Evan's version of Connor with the difficult son and brother they knew ("Requiem").  Zoe tells Evan that the only nice thing Connor ever said to her was in his suicide note, which Evan wrote ("If I Could Tell Her").  Alana (Phoebe Koyabe), another lonely girl at school, wants Evan to do more to keep Connor's memory alive ("Disappear") so they create The Connor Project.  Evan gives a heartfelt speech at an assembly ("You Will Be Found") about loneliness and it goes viral.  He begins a relationship with Zoe ("Only Us") and bonds with her family ("To Break in a Glove") to the exclusion of Jared, Alana, and his Mom ("Good For You").  When the truth is finally revealed ("Words Fail"), Evan realizes that he was never really alone ("So Big/So Small"). This story is incredibly powerful and anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong will be moved by Evan's story (the people in my audience were so overcome they started applauding before the final song was over and didn’t stop).  I loved every song and how they are staged but my favorite was "You Will Be Found" which brought tears to my eyes.  I also really liked the set because it consists of a series of moving panels on which computer screens and social media posts are projected.  This is now one of my favorite shows and I can't wait to see it again when it comes to SLC.

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at HCT

Several years ago I had the opportunity to see the Broadway touring production of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and I thought it was one of the funniest shows that I had ever seen! I was absolutely thrilled when I learned that it would be a part of HCT's 2019 season! I got to see it last night and I laughed and laughed! After the death of his mother, Monty Navarro (Jacob Squire) learns that she was once a member of the wealthy and aristocratic D'Ysquith family but was disinherited for marrying his father. He is really Montague D'Ysquith Navarro and he is in line to inherit the earldom. However, there are eight family members in line ahead of him! When his vain and heartless girlfriend Sibella (Erin Royall Carlson) marries the rich and handsome Lionel Holland, he decides to murder all eight family members ahead of him in the succession to become the earl and win her back. Standing in his way are the Reverend Lord Ezekiel D'Ysquith (who has an unfortunate fall from a cathedral tower), Asquith D'Ysquith, Jr. (who has a bizarre ice skating accident), Henry D'Ysquith (who is stung by his hive of bees), Lady Hyacinth D'Ysquith (who disappears in deepest darkest Africa), Major Lord Bartholomew D'Ysquith (who is decapitated while lifting weights), Lady Salome D'Ysquith Pumphrey (who is killed by a prop gun with real bullets during her debut in Hedda Gabbler), Lord Asquith D'Ysquith, Sr. (who is driven to a heart attack), and, finally, Lord Adalbert D'Ysquith, the Earl of Highhurst (who is poisoned). The entire D'Ysquith family is played by Dallyn Vail Bayles and he is absolutely brilliant! I was sitting on the front row in the Jewel Box Theatre so I had a great view of his facial expressions and they are hilarious! I laughed out loud many times at his antics! Every member of the D'Ysquith family has a distinct personality. I loved them all but my favorites are the eccentric Reverend Ezekiel (there was a bit of a mishap with his prosthetic teeth but it was so funny how he played it off), the flamboyant Henry, and the over the top Lady Hyacinth. Along the way Monty falls in love with Phoebe D'Ysquith (Lisa Zimmerman) and marries her to make Sibella jealous. Eventually, Monty becomes the Earl of Highhurst but he is arrested soon after for the murder of Lord Adalbert, the only D'Ysquith death for which he is not actually responsible! The charges are dismissed when both Phoebe and Sibella each give proof that the other one committed the murder! But Monty might not have long to live because Chauncey, another disinherited member of the D'Ysquith family, is lurking! The songs are all a lot of fun but my favorites are "I Don't Understand the Poor," "It's Better With a Man," "Lady Hyacinth Abroad," "Barrel of a Gun," and "That Horrible Woman."  Squire, Carlson, and Zimmerman have beautiful voices but I especially loved Bonnie Wilson Whitlock as Miss Shingle and Kacee Neff as Eugenia D'Ysquith, Countess of Highhurst, because they are such crazy characters. The set is incredibly clever with projections to depict the many locations. I especially liked the singing portraits of D'Ysquith ancestors at Highhurst Castle!  I loved this hilarious production and I can't recommend it enough! Get tickets (go here) as soon as possible!

Bohemian Rhapsody Sing-Along

My obsession with Bohemian Rhapsody knows no bounds!  When I heard that there was a sing-along version showing in cinemas in the UK, I really hoped that it would reach the US!  When I learned that it would be in a theater near me I immediately bought a ticket and went on Saturday night.  I had heard complaints that people were not singing but I hoped for a fun and rowdy crowd.  As soon as I entered the theater I felt the energy and knew it would be completely awesome!  Sing-alongs (go here and here for others that I have attended) feature the full length movie with the lyrics to the songs on screen, much like Karaoke.  The crowd was a little bit tentative during "Somebody to Love" but once we got to "Fat Bottomed Girls" everyone was singing at full volume!  In the scenes where Queen performs "Killer Queen" on Top of the Pops and records "Seven Seas of Rhye" and "Bohemian Rhapsody," the words are not on the screen but we sang them any way, especially the Galileos!  Everyone stomped and clapped during "We Will Rock You" and it really felt as if we were at a Queen concert!  The absolute best part was the Live Aid concert.  We did the claps for "Radio Ga Ga" and we participated in Freddie's call and response (although we couldn't sustain the "Ay-Oh" for as long as Freddie did which made us all laugh).  By the time we got to "We Are The Champions," we all were swaying our arms in the air and we even applauded at the end of the concert.  They included the words to "Don't Stop Me Now" and "The Show Must Go On" in the credits and most of us stayed to sing these songs as well.  It was so much fun!  My only complaint is that, even though I know the words to every single song (I have listened to nothing but Queen since I saw the movie for the first time), I paid so much attention to the words on the screen that I missed some of what was happening.  I have seen this movie so many times that it didn't really matter but if you are seeing Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time I definitely recommend the regular format!  As far as I know, the sing-along will be in theaters through the rest of this week so check it out if you want to have a good time...

Replicas

I found the trailer for Replicas to be very intriguing so I decided to see as part of my Friday night double feature.  Unfortunately, that decision was a mistake because this is a terrible movie.  William Foster (Keanu Reeves) is a scientist working at Bionyne who is trying to transfer neural pathways in the brain from a human host to a synthetic host.  His latest effort has been unsuccessful and he is feeling pressure from his boss (John Ortiz) and faces losing his funding.  When Foster takes his family on vacation they are involved in an accident that kills his wife and three children.  Grief stricken, he saves their neural pathways and coerces his colleague Ed (Thomas Middleditch) to clone their bodies so he can transfer their memories to their new brains.  When they are successful he learns the true nature of the company he works for and that his boss considers his family to be the property of Bionyne.  He figures out why his experiments have been failing and successfully transfers his own neural pathways into the synthetic host so it can fight everyone tracking his family.  While the concept for this movie is really interesting, the execution is filled with flaws.  The plot makes absolutely no sense.  How did Foster survive a car crash that killed his entire family with only a scratch on his forehead?  How was Ed suddenly able to clone three human beings after minimal success with animals?  How was Foster able to survive mapping his own neural pathways when his previous experiments required a donor who had died?   With a story this implausible I am sometimes willing to suspend my disbelief if I am given a reason to care.  There are big themes here but there is absolutely no exploration of the ethics involved in playing God.  The acting is abysmal.  Reeves is known for his flat monotone delivery but some of his line readings in this movie are so bad they elicited laughter from my audience (for the wrong reasons).  The CGI is a complete mess and the scenes where the synthetic robot attacks the bad guys (who are all wearing black suits so we can tell that they are villains) are so bad I had to wonder about the budget for this movie.  Even if you thought the trailer looked interesting definitely give this a miss!

The Upside

On Friday night I decided to see a double feature and began with The Upside.  I usually don't read reviews and make my decision to see a movie based on the trailer.  This usually works (except in the case of the second movie in my double feature) and I am certainly glad I didn't read the reviews for this movie because I probably wouldn't have seen it and I would have missed out.  Phillip Lacasse (Bryan Cranston) is a billionaire quadriplegic looking for a new caregiver.  Dell (Kevin Hart) has recently been paroled and needs to find a job to avoid going back to jail.  He applies for a job as a janitor in a high-rise building but accidentally takes the elevator to the penthouse instead of the basement and interviews with Phillip and his assistant, Yvonne (Nicole Kidman).  Phillip decides to hire the vastly unqualified Dell, against the objections of Yvonne, because he is depressed and wants a caregiver who will respect his DNR order.  As the two get to know each other, Phillip finds a will to live again and Dell starts rebuilding his relationship with his son.  This movie is so funny!  Hart and Cranston have great chemistry together and have great comedic timing (I usually find Hart to be a bit too frenetic).  Comedies are a hard sell for me but I actually laughed out loud many times, as did everyone in my packed screening.  My favorite scenes are when Dell gets some marijuana for Phillip to help with nerve pain, when Phillip takes Dell to the opera, and when Dell has to change Phillip's catheter. I also found it to be quite heartwarming which is something that I am finding to be more and more appealing.  This feel-good movie did a lot to help me get over a really long week and I recommend it!

On the Basis of Sex

Ever since I saw the documentary RBG, I've been a huge fan of Ruth Bader Ginsburg so I have been eagerly awaiting the release of On the Basis of Sex.  I was able to see a Thursday preview and it is so good.  This movie chronicles Ruth Bader Ginsbug's time as one of the first female law students at Harvard University, her inability to find a position at any NYC law firm despite graduating at the top of her class because she is a woman, her time as a professor at Rutgers Law School, and her role in a ground breaking sex discrimination case.  Ginsburg (Felicity Jones) is given a tax case by her husband Marty (Armie Hammer) in which a Denver man was denied a deduction for caring for his sick mother because he is a bachelor and caregiving roles traditionally belong to women.  Inspired to fight for the rights of women by her daughter Jane (Cailee Spaeny), she decides to take it because, if she can get a ruling on a case involving sex discrimination against a man, it will set a precedent that can be used against cases involving sex discrimination against women.  She, along with her husband and Mel Wulf (Justin Theroux) of the ACLU, files an appeal in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, writes the brief, and, despite the fact that she has very little experience arguing cases, gives an impassioned speech about how the world has changed and the law needs to change with it.  I found this movie to be incredibly inspiring because I had no idea how many laws discriminating on the basis of sex actually existed and there were many times when I wanted to cheer out loud.  There is a moment at the end when Ruth walks up the stairs to the Supreme Court to argue her next case when everyone in my screening applauded.  One of the things I really enjoyed about RBG is Ginsburg's mutually supportive marriage to Marty and it is portrayed exceptionally well in this movie (I loved the scene with Marty chopping vegetables for dinner).  Jones and Hammer give outstanding performances, especially in their scenes together.  I think I prefer RBG because it is more comprehensive but I really loved this movie and I highly recommend it!

Escape Room

Now that I have finished reviewing the movies that I saw over winter break I can catch up with the movies I've seen in the new year, the first of which was Escape Room.  It is not a great movie but I saw it at a late night screening with a rowdy crowd on opening weekend so I had a lot of fun watching it.  Six strangers are recruited to participate in a mysterious escape room for a chance to win $10,000:  Zoey (Taylor Russell), a painfully shy physics student, Ben (Logan Miller), a struggling alcoholic, Jason (Jay Ellis), a cocky stockbroker, Amanda (Deborah Ann Wolf) an Iraq War veteran suffering from PTSD, Mike (Tyler Labine) a former coal miner, and Danny (Nik Dodani), a gaming enthusiast.  It begins as a ordinary game with complex puzzles to solve as they move from one elaborate room to the next.  However, each of them have secrets which are revealed in the puzzles and the consequences for not solving the puzzles in time are deadly.  As one survivor emerges from the final room, the purpose of the game is revealed.  As I mentioned, this is not a great movie but I didn't really expect it to be.  In fact, I actually liked it more than I thought I would because of the clever premise, the design of the rooms (especially the optical illusion room), as well as the tense and suspenseful action sequences.  The biggest flaw, in my opinion, is the ending because, not only does it slow down the action in an attempt to explain it all in some really clunky scenes, the explanation lacks any credibility and includes a groan-worthy cliffhanger (a blatant bid for a sequel).  This movie could have been so much better but it wasn't awful.  Take a group of friends to a late night screening for a fun night out.

At Eternity's Gate

The last film in my winter break movie marathon was At Eternity's Gate, a tragic portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh's final years starring Willem Dafoe in the title role.  Unlike many traditional biopics which focus on one linear event after another, this film is very episodic.  Van Gogh was inspired by nature so there are many scenes of him walking through the fields of Arles, looking up at the sky with a blissful expression, painting the same tree over and over again, and even rolling around in the dirt to more fully understand its properties.  These scenes are beautifully rendered, often with the camera following Van Gogh closely as wanders through the countryside or from his point of view as he looks at something he wants to paint.  This film explores his madness with disturbing scenes of lashing out at school children for bothering him and physically posing a woman against her will for a painting.  His isolation is also explored and it is heartbreaking whenever he parts from his brother Theo (Rupert Friend), a Paris art dealer who supports him financially, and Paul Gaugin (Oscar Isaac), another painter with whom he argues over technique.  The aspect of this film that I enjoyed the most is his understanding that he sees the world differently from everyone else and that, while contemporary audiences may revile his paintings, he is creating works for people who haven't been born yet.  There is a wonderful scene when Van Gogh is visited by a priest (Mads Mikkelsen) at the asylum and he says that when he paints he touches eternity.  Dafoe gives an incredibly nuanced performance because the Van Gogh that we meet in this film is not necessarily sympathetic but Dafoe makes us feel every bit of his suffering.  While I understand what director Julian Schnabel was going for, namely to make an "artistic" film about art, I sometimes struggled while watching it because of the slow and deliberate pace.  Not everyone is going to enjoy this but it is beautiful and profound.

The Lion in Winter at PTC

Last night I went to see The Lion in Winter, the current production at Pioneer Theater (I will review the final film in my winter break movie marathon tomorrow).  It is Christmas Eve 1183 and King Henry II of England (Esau Pritchett) has summoned his family to spend the holiday together.  This includes his sons Richard (William Connell), Geoffrey (Damian Jermaine Thompson), and John (Austin Reed Alleman) as well as his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Celeste Ciulla), who has spent the past ten years as his prisoner for staging a rebellion against him.  Since King Philip of France (Grayson DeJesus) is pressuring him to wed his sister Alais (Maryam Abdi) to the heir to the throne, Henry uses this opportunity to decide the succession.  He advocates for John simply because he knows that Eleanor wants her favorite son, Richard, to be the next king.  This pits brother against brother as they scheme, manipulate, plot, and form and break alliances.  It is so much fun to watch.  But the real fireworks come in the scenes between Pritchett and Ciulla as they spar with each other.  Their performances are melodramatic and completely over the top but this is really effective because everything they say is a calculated performance for an audience of one.  They have great chemistry together and I found them to be riveting.  The princes are the ultimate pawns in their parents' battle with each other and, while they sometimes come across as caricatures of the oldest (Richard is the leader), middle (Geoffrey is ignored), and youngest (John is petulant) children in a family, they each have their moments of vulnerability. What I liked most about this production is that, while it is set during the 12th century, it still has a contemporary vibe to it with a message that modern audiences can relate to (when Eleanor says, "It's 1183 and we're still barbarians," it got a huge response from the crowd).  This modern aesthetic is reflected in the set and the costume design.  There are the traditional Gothic arches but they have LED lights on top which change colors during scene changes to reflect the mood.  The costumes have medieval silhouettes and include chain mail and cloaks lined with fur but they feature very modern fabrics and colors (John and Geoffrey even wear athletic shoes).  I really enjoyed this play and would recommend it (go here for tickets).

Note:  The Lion in Winter is one of the very first plays I saw at the Utah Shakespeare Festival when I was in college.  I was fascinated by Eleanor of Aquitaine, as a character and a historical figure, which prompted me to research her and watch the Academy Award winning movie starring Katharine Hepburn in the role.  Good stuff!

Ben is Back

I really wanted to see Ben is Back over winter break because, ever since I saw Manchester by the Sea, I've become a huge fan of Lucas Hedges.  It is a very powerful, but depressing, film that explores a mother's love for a child under any circumstance.  Holly Burns (Julia Roberts) is a frazzled mother trying to wrangle three of her four children through a nativity rehearsal on Christmas Eve.  Upon returning home she notices a visitor on her front porch.  It is Ben (Hedges), her oldest son, who has unexpectedly returned early from a rehab facility.  Holly is thrilled to see him, if a bit wary, but his stepfather Neal (Courtney B. Vance) is concerned and his sister Ivy (Kathryn Newton) is openly hostile.  It is soon apparent that Ben's behavior has ruined previous holidays for the family but Holly allows him to stay with the condition that he remain within her sight at all times.  When the family returns home from church, they discover that the family dog is missing and Ben suggests that it has been kidnapped by someone angered by his return.  This prompts Holly to take Ben out looking for the dog but it soon becomes a journey through Ben's troubled past which not only horrifies her but forces her to confront the person her son has become.  The tragedy is that while she is trying to save Ben from his former associates, and himself, she is also trying to save the holiday for the rest of her family.  As with Beautiful Boy, this film brilliantly portrays the effect that addiction has on everyone surrounding the addict and it is heartbreaking.  The fact the the action takes place over a 24-hour period gives the film a sense of urgency and I like the fact that Ben's past, and future for that matter, is only hinted at rather than explicitly stated because the uncertainty is more unsettling.  Roberts gives one of her best performances to date, conveying so many emotions with just a single look, and Hedges gives an unflinching portrayal of a manipulative liar who shouldn't be trusted.  Their scenes together are fraught with tension and this elevates a typical addiction drama into something incredibly poignant.  I highly recommend it.

Creed II

I really wanted to see Creed II when it was first released but I somehow never made it to the theater (maybe it was because I saw Bohemian Rhapsody so many times in November).  I decided to make the time over winter break and I am so glad I did because I really loved it!  When Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) wins the WBC World Heavyweight Championship, he is pressured into accepting a fight with Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) who is the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the Russian prizefighter who killed Apollo Creed in the ring.  Thinking that Adonis is taking the fight for the wrong reasons, namely to prove something to his father, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) refuses to train him.  Adonis is heavily outmatched and essentially loses the fight but retains the title because Viktor hits him when he is down and is disqualified.  Meanwhile, his fiancee Bianca (Tessa Thompson) has given birth to their daughter Amara who is born deaf.  Adonis eventually realizes that he wants to fight for her and agrees to a rematch in Moscow after a brutal training regimen in the desert with Rocky.  The climactic battle between Adonis and Viktor is exciting and everything we have come to expect from the Rocky franchise (I cheered out loud) but it is the emotional journey that both fighters take that make this movie so good.  Both characters are weighted down by their respective fathers' legacies and they have to overcome those expectations in order to win.  I really liked that Viktor is a sympathetic antagonist and, while I wanted Adonis to win, I really felt Viktor's pain, especially in the scenes with his mother (Brigitte Nielsen).  Jordan and Stallone give very affecting performances and I really liked the chemistry between Jordan and Thompson.  Definitely go see this inspiring movie, if you haven't already!

Bumblebee

I am not a big fan of the Transformers franchise because I think they are mostly big CGI messes (I haven't even seen the last few).  However, I was very intrigued by the prequel Bumblebee and decided to see it next in my winter break marathon.  The rebellion started by Optimus Prime on Cybertron is not going well so he sends B-127 to Earth to set up a base of operations.  A Decepticon, Blitzwing, follows him and, even though he is seriously injured, B-127 kills him and then scans a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.  He is discovered in a junkyard by a teenage girl named Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) who has withdrawn from the world from grief over her father's death.  She gets him running and nicknames him Bumblebee but this activates a signal which is detected by two more Decepticons, Shatter and Dropkick, who come to Earth looking for him.  Shatter and Dropkick join with Sector 7 led by Colonel Jack Burns (John Cena) to track down Bumblebee and this leads to an epic confrontation.  To my surprise, I really enjoyed this movie because it is so heartwarming and entertaining.  Bumblebee is an actual character, rather than a CGI caricature, with a distinct personality and the relationship between Bumblebee and Charlie is very real.  He helps her learn to trust again and she helps him figure out his purpose on Earth.  I loved it when Bumblebee, who can only communicate to Charlie through song lyrics on the radio, plays "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths to tell her that he doesn't want anything to happen to her during a battle.  Speaking of music, this is filled with great stuff from the 80s.  I just about lost my mind when I heard the beginning of "Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran!  This movie is a lot of fun, exactly the reboot this franchise needed, and I recommend it if you haven't seen it.

Mary Queen of Scots

I have always had a fascination with Scotland in general (my grandmother was born in Scotland and my great-grandfather fought with the Gordon Highlanders in World War I) and Mary Stuart in particular (I chose her as a research topic in my AP European history class) so I have been eagerly awaiting the release of Mary Queen of Scots for quite some time.  It was next in my winter break movie marathon and I actually really liked it.  After Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) is widowed, she returns to Scotland to rule despite the objections of her half brother, the Earl of Moray (James McArdle), who has ruled as regent in her absence and of John Knox (David Tennant), a Protestant cleric who objects to her Catholicism.  She then makes a disastrous marriage to Lord Darnley (Jack Lowden) who ultimately betrays her.  When she is forced to abdicate the throne, she is left to the mercy of Queen Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie) who is envious of her beauty, bravery, and motherhood.  Elizabeth, acting on the advice of her male counselors, including William Cecil (Guy Pearce), eventually condemns her.  There are historical inaccuracies and it is a bit salacious but I really enjoyed this movie.  The narrative is framed by the fact that even though both women dislike being told what to do by the men surrounding them they are very much controlled by them and, if left to their own devices, they might have been friends and allies.  I found this to be very effective.  Both Ronan and Robbie give outstanding performances as the capricious and sometimes foolish Mary and the insecure yet imperious Elizabeth, respectively.  My favorite scene is a very theatrical meeting between the two of them, which probably didn't actually happen, where they size each other up.  It is masterful.  As with most historical dramas, the sets, production design, and costumes are beautiful and I enjoyed the juxtaposition between the darkness of Mary's court and the lightness of Elizabeth's.  I am probably biased by my interest in Mary Stuart but I would recommend this movie.

A New Year's Celebration

What better way to ring in the new year than by attending a concert with the Utah Symphony!  Last night (I will resume my winter break movie commentaries tomorrow) my friend Angela and I spent a wonderful evening listening to the orchestra play six dazzling pieces under the baton of guest conductor Xian Zhang (who was quite expressive and fun to watch).  They began with Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1 by Joan Tower which was quite dramatic because the only musicians on stage were the horns, brass, and percussion.  I really enjoyed the timpani at the end of the piece!  Next came selections from The Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky which, of course, I absolutely loved.  I really enjoyed the Lilac Fairy's theme (which represents good) and Carabosse's theme (which represents evil) and how they are continually reintroduced as the two of them struggle with each other.  Next, the orchestra played Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra by Karol Szymanowski with Concertmaster Madeline Adkins as soloist.  I was unfamiliar with this piece but it was quite spectacular!  I was very impressed with Adkins because she not only played with great technical precision but she interpreted the piece with a lot of emotion.  It was a brilliant performance!  After the intermission, the orchestra played a waltz and a polka by Johann Strauss, Jr. and I pictured couples twirling at a New Year's Eve Ball in Vienna during these pieces.  They were so lively and exuberant!  The concert concluded with the Suite from Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss.  This was simply delightful and I especially enjoyed the themes played by the oboe.  It was an amazing night of music and I definitely recommend getting a ticket for tonight's performance of the same program (go here).

Note:  After the performance, I was invited to an after party at the BTG wine bar downtown and Angela came with me.  This is not something I would normally do but it was really quite fun.  I actually mingled with a few people and got to talk to the conductor very briefly (she is adorable).  There were hors d'oevres, desserts, and several different wines served and I felt very sophisticated (I even wore a dress!) partying with the Utah Symphony!

Welcome to Marwen

The next movie on my winter break list was Welcome to Marwen.  I was really looking forward to this but I didn't like as much as I thought I would.  This movie tells the true story of Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell), an artist who creates and photographs a miniature village called Marwen to deal with the PTSD he suffers after a vicious assault.  In the scenarios he creates with dolls in Marwen, Mark becomes Captain Hogie, a WWII pilot, who is continually attacked by Nazis, who represent his actual attackers, and saved by the women in his life:  Roberta (Merritt Weaver), who works at the hobby shop where he purchases items for the village, Anna (Gwendoline Christie), his Russian caregiver, Caralala (Eiza Gonzalez), a waitress at the bar where he works, Julie (Janelle Monae), his physical therapist, and Nicol (Leslie Mann), his new neighbor across the street.  The village also includes a Belgian witch named Deja Thoris (Diane Kruger) who keeps bringing the Nazis back to life and won't let him get close to anyone.  Mark must find a way to confront Deja, the doll in Marwen and what she represents in real life (which is easy to figure out if you can match colors), so he can face his attackers.   It is a compelling story and Carell gives an affecting performance but there is just something missing.  Most of the of the movie, unfortunately, takes place in Marwen.  It is almost as if the filmmakers wanted to show off their dazzling stop-motion animation techniques with the dolls more than they wanted to tell Mark's story.  I was left wanting to know more about Mark and the women in his life rather than their alter-egos who act out battle after battle.  Also, there are quite a few subplots that are brought up but then quickly abandoned without resolution, particularly the fate of his attackers after their sentencing hearing.   I can't help but feel that Mark's story is more interesting than this Hollywood version of it (I've heard there is a documentary called Marwencol which chronicles this story much better).

Vice

The next movie that I saw on winter break was Vice which tells the true story of how Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) goes from being a ne'er-do-well who flunks out of Yale to arguably the most powerful and influential Vice President in history.  It chronicles his positions as a Congressional intern, an aide to Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell), the White House Chief of Staff under Gerald Ford, the Representative from Wyoming, the Secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush, the CEO of Halliburton, and, finally, the Vice President under George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell).  Politics aside, I found this movie to be incredibly disturbing.  Writer-Director Adam McKay employs many of the same techniques used so effectively in The Big Short, such as fast cuts, montages, and a narrator who speaks directly to the audience to explain complicated terminology (most notably the unitary executive theory which states that the President controls the entire executive branch and that neither the legislative nor judiciary branch can tell the executive branch what to do) but they are not as effective here because, in my opinion, the satirical tone doesn't fit the subject matter.  These characters are portrayed in a comical manner while doing truly reprehensible things and it was very off-putting to me.  Cheney appoints his cronies to cabinet positions as if he is (literally) playing a board game, he creates focus groups to find words and phrases that are more palatable to the unsuspecting public for his egregious actions, and he cherry picks intel to support going to war with Iraq.  Through it all he comes across as a cartoon villain.  Furthermore, I don't think this movie gives us much insight as to who Dick Cheney really is or what motivated him.  Christian Bale completely transforms himself for a nearly flawless impersonation but Cheney is such a bland figure that it doesn't seem that remarkable.  Amy Adams (as Lynne Cheney), Steve Carell, and Sam Rockwell give great performances but that really isn't enough to elevate this tone deaf mess of a movie.  Give this a miss.

Ralph Breaks the Internet

As I usually do, I spent a good portion of winter break in darkened theaters watching movies.  Now that winter break is over I will review all of the movies I saw over the next few days.  After we decorated gingerbread houses with Sean and Tashena we all spontaneously decided to see a late movie.  Tashena really wanted to see Ralph Breaks the Internet, a movie I wasn't really planning on seeing, so that is what we picked and it was so much fun.  Wreck-It-Ralph (John C Reilly) and Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) are still best friends at Litwak's Family Fun Center and Arcade but Vanellope is getting bored with the predictability of her game, Sugar Rush.  Ralph decides to create a new track in Sugar Rush to keep Vanellope happy but she overrides her player to test it out resulting in a broken steering wheel.  Since Sugar Rush is no longer made, the only way to get a replacement steering wheel is on eBay.  Mr. Litwak thinks it is too expensive and turns the game off.  Ralph and Vanellope decide to get the part they need themselves by entering the internet through a wifi router.  While looking for eBay, they have a series of adventures which teach them the true meaning of friendship.  What I liked most about this movie is how clever it is at portraying the internet.  I especially liked the characters of Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), the personification of the algorithm that determines trending videos, and J.P. Spamley (Bill Hader), the personification of clickbait pop-up ads.  I also loved the cameos by popular Youtube personalities, especially my favorite Flula Borg.  Sean loved all of the pop culture references, especially Fortnite.  Tashena loved the Disney Princesses and the hilarious shirts they wear when they are just chilling with Vanellope (I loved Moana's shirt).  This movie is a lot of fun but it also has a clever story filled with heart and dazzling visuals so, if you haven't seen it already, I highly recommend it!