The Grinch. IMDb.com

The People who made The Grinch Must Really Hate Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas, made way back in 1966, is a timeless classic. You’d think, or at least hope, the studios would leave Dr. Seuss’s beloved story alone after the abomination that was Jim Carrey’s remake in 2000. But no, the Hollywood suits are back to take another shot with The Grinch.

The book is only 64 pages long, and the original animated show only runs 26 minutes, so they had to pad the story a lot to get a film with a runtime of almost an hour and a half. Cindy-Lou Who (Cameron Seely), “who was no more than two,” in the original looks to be about eight now and has a whole cadre of friends to cook up mischief with. Cindy-Lou’s mom (Rashida Jones) is a hard-working single mother, and there’s a whole story arc about that. The Grinch himself (Benedict Cumberbatch) gets a backstory about being a sad, lonely orphan during Christmas years ago. Apparently, he doesn’t hate Christmas so much as find it depressing. These stories all come off as filler, and none of them are compelling.

Max is cool. The Grinch. IMDb.com

Max is cool. The Grinch. IMDb.com

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The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. IMDb.com

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is yet another example of Hollywood’s sad obsession with throwing massive amounts of eye candy at the screen while not bothering too much with the story. To be fair, though, the eye candy is magnificent, and the story, bland and simple as it may be, is not awful.

The film opens with a CGI heavy but still beautiful bird’s eye flight over Victorian London ending at the home of Clara Stahlbaum (Mackenzie Foy) as she and her brother, Fritz (Tom Sweet), attempt to catch a mouse with a Rube Goldberg machine constructed in the attic. Clara’s mother (Anna Madeley) has recently died, and Clara, her father (Matthew Macfadyen), her brother, and her sister (Ellie Bamber) are trying to cope with the loss as they get ready to attend a Christmas party. A Christmas gift from her late mother and a gift-giving game at the party hosted by Clara’s godfather, Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman), set the stage for the rest of the film.

Keira Knightley and Mackenzie Foy in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. IMDb.com.

Keira Knightley and Mackenzie Foy in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. IMDb.com.

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Eliza Woodyard, Erica Convery, Sammie Gorham, and Darrell J. Jordan. Seattle Modern Opera Company

Seattle Modern Opera Company Presents The Real Housewives of Sparta

Disclosure: Dr. Chris takes voice lessons from one of the cast members of this production.

The Real Housewives of Sparta was the first production of the newly formed Seattle Modern Opera Company (SMOC). In this bawdy and farcical tale adapted and updated from Jacques Offenbach’s La Belle Helene, Paris plots to go behind the back of Menelaus to have his way with the beautiful Helen of Troy.

Brandon Higa, Sammie Gorham, and Anthony James. Seattle Modern Opera Company.

Brandon Higa, Sammie Gorham, and Anthony James. Seattle Modern Opera Company.

SMOC’s mission is to create a new generation of opera goers by performing modern operas and condensed, modernized adaptations of older works in non-traditional spaces. The small, minimalist set and tiny venue (4 rows of seats) for The Real Housewives of Sparta was a far cry from the grand halls usually associated with opera productions. Opera is generally perceived as one of the most pretentious and stuffy of art forms, and many performers and aficionados tend to reinforce that stereotype. Bucking that perception is a worthwhile goal. Continue reading →

Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson, Chris Hemsworth, Lewis Pullman, Cynthia Erivo, and Cailee Spaeny in Bad Times at the El Royale 2018)

Bad Times at the El Royale

Set in the late 1960s, Bad Times at the El Royale tells the story of a disparate group of strangers who come to stay at a once thriving hotel-casino straddling the Nevada-California border. No one is quite what they seem, and secrets are slowly revealed over the course of one tumultuous night.

Writer-director Drew Goddard makes masterfully effective use of flashbacks and scenes replayed from different characters’ points of view to tell a gripping and unexpectedly complex tale. The numerous subplots and character arcs could have easily turned into a jumbled, gimmicky mess, but Goddard maintains tight control and direction throughout. While the story gets complicated, it remains coherent.

Bad Times at the El Royale features a relatively large ensemble cast including Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson, Lewis Pullman, Cailee Spaeny, and award-winning stage performer Cynthia Erivo in her first feature film role. All of them give outstanding performances. There’s not a weak link in the bunch. Hemsworth is turning out to be a much better actor than I would have given him credit for a few years ago. Props to Erivo as well. Some actors never quite manage the transition from stage to screen, but she certainly did.

Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, and Cynthia Erivo in Bad Times at the El Royale. IMDb.com

Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, and Cynthia Erivo in Bad Times at the El Royale. IMDb.com

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The Metropolitan Opera Opens a new Season of Live in HD in Grand Style with Aida

No stranger to the Metropolitan Opera’s stage, acclaimed soprano Anna Netrebko sang the title role in Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida to open the Met’s 13th series of Live in HD broadcasts. She made her Met debut of the role in September and gave a superlative performance for this broadcast. Not to be outdone, mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili was fantastic as Aida’s rival Amneris. Quinn Kelsey did not disappoint as Aida’s father Amonasro, and Ryan Speedo Green imbued his role of The King with a welcomed gravitas. Aleksandrs Antonenko as Radames was the lone weak link in an otherwise outstanding cast.

The word “epic” is sadly overused, but it truly applied to this stage production, with its massive sets and small army of background extras. The orchestra, under conductor Nicola Luisotti, was more than equal to the performers and production.

The Met has made some weird staging and casting decisions in recent years. Thankfully, there was nothing weird or off-putting about Aida. The lavish sets, huge cast, and outstanding performances from the principals marked a refreshing and welcome throwback to traditional grand opera.

Overall rating 8/10