Movie Review by Cindy Summers
The Lion King
3 palm trees out of 4

The Lion King is the new CGI photorealistic release of the Disney animated classic originally released in 1994. Directed by Jon Favreau, who also did the CGI remake of Disney’s Jungle Book, Written by Jeff Nathanson with Pharrell Williams producing a new soundtrack of the original Elton John/Tim Rice songs. The voices are done by many notable stars: Donald Glover as Simba, James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Billy Eichner as Timon, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, and Beyoncé Knowles as Nala.

The story takes place in the African savanna, where Mufasa is the Lion King who regally and responsibly rules the pride lands which he will turn over to his young son Simba when Mufasa’s time is done. As a young cub, Simba is taught the ways to rule by his father, and spends is days playing and adventuring with a female cub Nala, the future queen.

All the animals in the pride lands recognize Simba as the future king except Scar, Mufasa’s brother who believe’s he should be king and gathers the hyenas for support in undermining Mufasa’s plan to have Simba lead the pride. As a helpless cub, Simba finds himself exiled by Uncle Scar and matures away from the pride under the care and friendship of a warthog Pumbaa and his pal Timone the meerkat.

Nala decides to leave the pride to find help in saving the pride lands from destruction under Scar’s rule and stumbles upon Simba. Though conflicted with confusion and guilt, Simba makes the decision to return with Nala to discover the truth and assume his role as king.

Seth Rogan’s comedic prowess is perfect in the role of Pumbaa, and a standout in the cast which includes many other notable stars among them John Oliver as Zazu, Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari and Alfre Woodard as Sarabi. I watched the 3D version and often felt immersed in the African jungle with visuals bordering national geographic realism and some scenes seeming so real they may be disturbing for young, sensitive viewers

The filmmakers used motion capture and VR (virtual reality)/AR technologies, an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real-world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, with the production team combining VR technology with cameras in order to film the remake in a VR-simulated environment. Even new software had to be developed for the movie to simulate scenes with a shaky-cam look of a handheld camera, a look that tends to be popular in today’s live action filming.

The real life visual effects are extraordinary, though the storyline is identical to the original animated version so there is nothing new in this version for those who know the story, but it’s a wonderful story of family and friendship that is priceless and timeless.

Rated PG 110m

Shirley Lorraine
Beacon Theater’s inaugural offering solid

There’s a new theater group in town. The recently organized Beacon Theater Company made its debut at the NAMBA Performing Arts space in downtown Ventura last weekend.

With familiar theater notables Tom Eubanks, Steve Grumette, Howard Leader and Anna Kotula at the helm, the company opened with a top-notch performance of Blue/Orange by British playwright Joe Penhall.

Beacon’s stated goal is to “explore the human condition with plays that 1) evoke emotions, 2) encourage you to think, or 3) simply make you laugh. While it is not our intention to offend, neither do we intend to become captive to political correctness.”

As a debut piece, Blue/Orange, awarded the coveted Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2001, certainly fulfills the stated intent.

The scene is a psychiatrist’s office in a British institutional setting. A young African-Caribbean patient, Christopher (Emmanuel Odaibo) has served his required 28 days and is scheduled for release the next day. His doctor, Bruce Flaherty (Brian Robert Harris) believes that Christopher’s diagnosis of borderline personality disorder is just a piece of the puzzle and recommends he stay for additional treatment.

Dr. Robert Smith (Brian Kolb), Bruce’s supervisor, joins the meeting and quickly disagrees with retaining Christopher. As the two psychiatrists’ arguments escalate Christopher rapidly becomes a bystander. His delusions appear and recede with regularity.

The dialogue tackles schizophrenia, racism, superior authority, the mental health system in general, and differing perceptions of treatment. Robert becomes so intent on sharing his new ideas based on R.D. Laing’s ground-breaking theories of socially and environmentally induced causes for psychosis that he fails to listen to either the patient or his colleague.

All three exhibit varying degrees of frustration, anger, confusion and futility as they all try to make themselves heard to little avail. The result is an intense emotional journey into the minds of three men who all want a good outcome, but who are unable to come to agreement on what that outcome may look like or how to get there.

The true fascination is in watching the high-powered, precise and energetic performances of Harris, Odaibo and Kolb. They are all superb. Harris morphs from the caring, gentle, friendly counselor he exhibits at the start, to a man racked with doubts, excessive anger and frustration as he attempts to stand by his convictions.

Odaibo carries the role of Christopher with skill. One can almost feel the gears in his brain turn faster, reverse and come to a grinding halt before restarting. In the role, he speaks with a heavy and rapid Jamaican accent that takes a bit of getting used to. Thankfully, the printed program features a useful glossary of terms to help the audience along.

Kolb portrays an arrogant, controlled manic personality, doting on his role as “the authority” with his desire to be the one who is “right” driving him forward. All three actors are fascinating to watch as they slowly dissolve. One wonders who the patient really is.

The play only runs through July 28. Try and catch it and watch the Beacon Theater Company take off. It is bound to be a wild ride.

For tickets, visit www.thebeacontheatercompany.com, call (805) 233-6965, or stop in at the Namba venue at 47 S. Oak St, downtown Ventura.

Movie Review by Cindy Summers
Stuber

3 palm trees out of 4

Stu is a very gentle, mild-mannered Uber driver who picks up LA police officer Vic Manning for his first ever Uber ride, though Stu has no idea at the time that Vic unwittingly plans to basically borrow Stu and his Uber to track down new leads on a drug lord he’s been hunting for years. Stu deals with Vic’s angry neanderthal style with humor and sound advice as he tries to protect car, and save his life and perfect rating while repeatedly in the middle of gun fights and explosions. Directed by Michael Dowse, Written by Tripper Clancy and Starring Kumail Nanjiani as Stu the Uber driver and Dave Bautista as LA police officer Victor “Vic” Manning .

Stu works in a big box store and is also an Uber driver desperate for a 5 star review. Stu’s boss enjoys belittling his efforts to make extra money by calling him Stuber, but Stu takes his Uber job very seriously, even offering specialty chocolates and other treats for his riders in hopes to get a good review.

Vic is an Los Angels police officer who is on the hunt for a heroin king pin named Oka Teijo, who slipped through his hands in the past and that Vic is desperate to find to put in jail and to clear his reputation. On the day Vic decides to have eye surgery, his vision is compromised so his daughter schedules Vic an Uber, Vic being obviously smartphone challenged.

Stu gets a pickup request and Vic hops in the front for his first ever Uber ride with meek, mild-mannered Stu, completely his opposite. Vic directs Stu to several locations around LA to track down leads on Teijo, and Stu does his best to try to avoid the violence, though difficult when Vic puts criminals in his car and hands him a gun to guard them and himself.

The two buddy up and find chaos at every stop filled with gun fights and explosions, and they even stop at Vic’s daughters art show opening, where when Stu was is asked how he met her father, he simply and calmly replied “He kidnapped me”.

This was Stu’s tone the entire movie and seriously catches you off guard in extremely humorous and comedic ways. The action portions of the film are much like that of “The Good Guys” and “Pain and Gain”, over dramatized and not so realistic, but don’t consider it a true “get the bad guy movie” rather a comedy that involves getting a bad guy.

Kumail Nanjiani is insanely hilarious in this role with his causal delivery of razor sharp witty one liners that had the entire audience repeatedly laughing out loud throughout the movie. He was well cast in the role as the meeker, weaker of this unexpected buddy cop duo, and included some aspects of his culture in the character, being excellent at expressing a calm demeanor general found through years of meditation.

Dave Bautista is good for the butal, boundless tough guy cop role, though the two didn’t seem to have true chemistry like that of Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell in “The Other Guys” where they were also extreme opposites, but there was some strange underlying connection.

Studer is great for a good dose of unexpected humor, and is more like a night of stand up comedy with Kumail Nanjiani, who will definitely keep you laughing throughout the movie.

Rated R – 105m

Movie Review by Cindy Summers
Phoenix, Oregon

1 palm trees out of 4

Phoenix, Oregon is the story of a middle aged man whose life is going nowhere when his longtime friend hatches a plan for them to relive some of their younger glory days by reopening the bowling alley they both grew up going to and reinventing it as the best pizza ever made with micro brews and fine wines. Directed and Written by Gary Lundgren and Starring James Le Gross as Bobby the bowling star, Jesse Borrego as Carlos, his best friend and pizza perfectionist and Lisa Edelstein as Tanya, Bobby’s unrequited love interest.

Phoenix, Oregon is set in the actual small town of Phoenix, Oregon, where Bobby works as a bar tender under an oppressive boss that steals his tips and belittles his endeavors. In his younger days he was a legend having bowled a perfect 300 game, but those days of glory were long in Bobby’s past and life offered little to him other than disappointment.

Bobby’s best friend Carlos is a chef, but also unhappy in his situation, so Carlos comes up with a plan for the two to buy the dilapidated bowling alley they basically lived in as kids and make is a prime bowling center with gourmet pizza and fine libations. Tanya enters the picture as a representative for one of the business investors and stirs up some emotional feelings from the past for Bobby.

Bobby and Carlos end up over their heads in a dirty business deal and though they end up losing what they were trying to build, some good things come from their efforts, especially between Bobby and Tanya. This story line is simple and there are really no high or lows, the audience just basically plods along through the simple lives of some simple people in a small town, though does manage to highlight the importance of friendship and to never give up on the things you love and do well.

In this case was cartooning for Bobby, which he did as a hobby to provide a different perspective on him humdrum world, and which in the end he actually decided to pursue as a new direction in his dreary life. Jesse Le Gross does well in portraying this aspect of his character, though the other dreary side drags viewers slowly though the story.

Jesse Borrego was cast well as the best friend Carlos and showed passion and enthusiasm both for premium pizza and his longtime friendship with Bobby. Carlos was really the only joyful character in the movie, though Bobby was able to find his happiness again at the grand opening bowling tournament.

This movie falls flat in providing any real substance, and tends to drag on with trivial issues, though does have a few moments of good feeling entertainment.

Rated R – 108m

by Shirley Lorraine

Secrets Abound at Santa Paula’s Casa

A retro revelation into a world many of us have little or no knowledge of takes the main stage at the Santa Paula theater Center. Casa Valentina, written by Harvey Fierstein (of Kinky Boots, La Cage Aux Folle fame) is based on actual events. Casa explores an exclusive resort in the Catskills catering to straight men who desire a place to dress and act as women, even for a brief time.

In 1962, the play’s setting, such a desire was strictly taboo and considered a severe embarrassment. Although great strides have been made, even today there is still a wealth of misunderstanding, derision and even fear surrounding transvestite lifestyle. for instance people may still judge someone for enjoying porn on a site like shemalehd instead of a heterosexual website alternative. Women dress as men –why are men not afforded the same acceptance? Casa Valentina explores this story of a few brave men who retreat to New York’s Catskill mountains for an annual rejuvenation of spirit.

With Fred Helsel at the Director’s helm, the seasoned cast takes on this enlightenment challenge beautifully.

Chip Albers plays George who transforms into the capable and confident Valentina. Aided by his understanding wife Rita, portrayed by Sindy McKay, the two assist each guest to become comfortable in their temporary roles as women.

A retreat regular, Bessie (Albert) is given larger than life attributes by Allan Noel. By far the most outspoken of the group, Albert embraces his inner femininity with gusto.
He is joined by Michael/Gloria, a younger regular played by the versatile and enchanting Trent Trachtenberg. The other end of the age spectrum is covered by Doug Friedlander as Theodore/Terry, a vision in lavender.

Rounding out the mix are long-time attendees Judge (Ronald Rezac) who becomes Amy, and Isadore (Elixeo Flores) who embodies Charlotte, a zealot for change. Both are solid in their portrayals.
Enter Jonathan, a first-time guest, in the form of Michael Adams, who takes tentative steps towards becoming Miranda. The regulars all lend their expertise on dressing attractively, hair and make-up assistance and other delicate tips in order to ease the transition.

As the men settle into their alternate selves, tensions rise over questions of potentially identifying themselves as a legitimate group which would involve some privacy being compromised. Not unlike today, fears of retribution cause some to back away, not knowing how their careers or personal lives may be impacted. Acceptance must start from within and project outward. Some just aren’t ready to reveal that side of their lives.

The Casa is struggling to stay open and keep financial solidity. These uncertainties, coupled with each man’s personal reasons for maintaining privacy, threaten the Casa’s very existence.
The story is told with insight, humor and compassion. We witness mental and physical transitions, realities of political climate and societal fears, not unlike those we still endure today, some 50 years later. The play is a timely picture of the constancy of misunderstanding and fear surrounding elements of life that apply to a select few. Hopefully, writings such as Casa Valentina will ease misconceptions and help toward acceptance of all persons.

Casa Valentina continues through July 28 at the Santa Paula Theater Center, 125 S. 7th Street, Santa Paula. Tickets for the Friday and Saturday 8 p.m. and Sunday 2 p.m. performances may be obtained via 805-525-4645 and www.santapaulatheatercenter.org. Adults are $24, Seniors and Student $22. Children not advised due to content.

by Shirley Lorraine
Murder, mayhem & music take stage in Simi

The year span is 1907-09. The tale, told in retrospect as a jail-house memoir, is one of deception, death and dastardly deeds. Set to music. The audience is warned that what they are about to see may be disturbing and, if they are easily offended, they are free to leave the theater now.

And so, presented by the Actor’s Repertory Theatre of Simi, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, the Tony-award winning musical penned by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutyak, begins at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center.

The vocal range of the cast is simply superior. Operatic in places, often reminiscent of Gilbert & Sullivan in its rapid-fire delivery, the lyrics are delivered with impertinence and impunity throughout. What a treat.

Montague “Monty” Navarro (Vincent Perez), upon mourning his mother’s recent demise, is visited by a mysterious stranger, Miss Shingle (Sydney Bowers) who informs him that he, in fact, is a distant heir to the earldom of Highhurst Castle. There are a few minor problems, however. His presence is not recognized by Highurst residents the D’Ysquith family as his mother was disconnected from the line years ago, and there are eight heirs ahead of him for the title. No matter.

Young Monty is in love with Sibella Hallward (Deborah Robin) although she desires to marry for money over heart. Monty accepts the challenge and vows to make his way to the top of the heir-chain by seeing that each heir meets an untimely death. Along the way he intrigues and is pursued by Phoebe D’Ysquith (Siena Avila), a distant cousin.

The entire D’Ysquith line (nine characters) is played by Adam Womak, each character distinct although with uncanny resemblances. Womak is clearly reveling in the chance to play such varied roles and does so in fine fashion, pulling out all the stops.

Six additional seasoned actors fill in as servants, portraits (yes, portraits) and lesser characters to great effect. Adding to their inclusion are highly stylized movements, a wide range of vocal talents and full immersion in their roles. Each of them brings with them a long list of theatrical credits.

Director Will Shupe and musical director Gary Poirot must be especially proud of the abundance of talent this cast displays. There are no weak voices among them. In additional to their sheer strength, the actors are also using microphones to overcome the right-in-front live orchestra. At times the volume overrides the lyrics, but the voices are so fine it is still easy to be impressed.

Period costuming by Joshua Stapel is on point and beautifully styled. The lush fabrics and detailed designs are visually appealing works of art.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder presents a decidedly light-hearted foray in time. The high energy performance keeps the actors on their toes and the audience on the edge of their seats with anticipation of the next twist. Performances are crisp, vocals are superb, and the evening is highly satisfying.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder runs through July 14. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $28 adults, $24 seniors/students, $20 12 and under. (805) 583-7900 or www.simi-arts.org

Movie Review by Cindy Summers
Late Night

3 palm trees out of 4

Late Night is a comedy about a late night host who’s on the verge of loosing her show due to it’s dated and pretentious material that is rescued by a clever young female comic with basically no formal experience who happened to stumble into a new future as a comedy writer on the show. Released by Amazon Studios, Directed by Nisha Ganatra, and Written and Produced by Mindy Kaling, who also stars in the lead role of Molly Patel opposite Emma Thompson as Katherine Newbury.

Katherine Newbury is a late night host that has won dozens of Emmy’s throughout her career, and finds herself put on notice due to a decade of declining ratings when a new studio executive joins the company. She is rude and completely horrible to her writing staff, which are all men, and a complete tyrant around the office and the set as well.

Molly joins the team much to the dislike and disappointment of the male writers club, and finds herself also challenged at dealing with the brash and often times completely inappropriate actions of her new boss Katherine.

Katherine and Molly form an unexpected bond, as it’s believed that Katherine doesn’t like women working for her, and Molly gets the opportunity to shine, though is challenged with Katherine harsh and reactionary demeanor.

Emma Thompson is perfectly cast in the role of Katherine, who is a pretentious British woman with too much money and no boundaries as far as the appropriate way to treat people. She does so blatantly and unapologetically, even refusing to learn the names of her writing staff, alternately decide to just assign them numbers and refer to them only that way during staff meetings.

Molly is sweet, conscientious, and initially completely overwhelmed by Katherine’s persona, though finds clever ways to navigate Katherine’s bad nature and help her to reveal a more true and successful self, that ultimate becomes the solution to keeping the show. There is also a great chemistry in the polarity of personalities between Molly and Katherine, and the portrayed relationships have a very genuine feel.

John Lithgow is great in the supporting role as Katherine’s husband, Walter Lovell, who champions her challenges throughout the movie, and shows insightful compassion toward his wife in learning of her infidelity.

This funny movie does a great job at tackling some very sensitive issues, such as sex scandals in the press and sexism in the workplace, but does it through humor and appropriate, somewhat surprising outcomes due to the initial introductions of the characters and complex scenarios.

This is more of a feel good, not laugh out loud movie, though there are plenty of witty, perfectly timed lines to keeping you laughing and have a very enjoyable movie experience.

Rated R – 102m

Movie Review by Cindy Summers
Booksmart

4 palm trees out of 4

Booksmart is a coming of age comedy about two high school seniors, Molly and Amy, on their way to graduation when they come to the realization that they’ve spent all their time working hard thinking they’ll get ahead, only to discover that they’re on pace with all the other students that enjoyed their high school days partying and slacking off. Released by United Artists, Directed by Olivia Wilde, and Written by Katie Silberman, Emily Halpern, Susanna Fogel and Sarah Haskins. Starring Beanie Feldstein as Molly and Kaitlyn Dever as Amy.

The chemistry between Dever and Feldstein is phenomenal, and their on screen friendship is endlessly comical and believable. Though outcasts among their peers, they both have strong, somewhat misguided confidence in themselves fueled by constantly supporting and inspiring each other.

Molly is on her way to Yale and graduating as class valedictorian, while Amy is heading to Botswana to help women and right behind Molly as salutatorian. Molly is the driving force behind the duos escapades as they go from party to party throughout the town searching for the big graduation party with all the popular students, including Amy’s crush.

Interestingly, Amy is gay, though has had no physical experience, just a crush on another seemingly gay girl, and her sexuality is strongly supported by her best friend and parents, who think Amy and Molly are a couple due to the amount of time they spend together.

The movie touches on some somewhat taboo subjects, such as teen masturbation, but does so in a way that disarms the audience with humor and hilarious comedic timing. It also presents homosexuality as an openly accepted way of life between the students, and even with the parents and teachers as well.

Beanie Feldstein is fierce as Molly, and truly embodies the spirit of an awkward academic outsider. Kaitlyn Dever is well cast in her role as Amy, the quieter of the two who is focused finding a nice girl to have her first experience with and does well at portraying the confusion and vulnerability that comes with teen sexuality.

Additional standouts are Billie Lourd as Gigi, a wild party girl who strangely pops up doing random things everywhere Molly and Amy end up, and Skyler Gisondo as Jared who outwardly seems superficial and not so bright, but is actually very conscientious coming to the rescue in his own way several times in the movie.

I found myself laughing out loud throughout the movie, but there were also touching moments of kindness and several unexpected twists that have you rooting for the two to succeed. It also does very well at depicting how teenage life can be so exciting, confusing, awkward and challenging all at the same time and has a genuine way of sharing it from the teen perspective.

Rated R – 105m

by Shirley Lorraine
Mayhem takes over Conejo Stage

Audiences can count on Conejo Players in Thousand Oaks to make going to the theater fun. Their current production of Don’t Dress for Dinner pulls laughs from beginning to end in a fast-paced, try-to-keep-up storyline of infidelity, alibis and misunderstandings.

Written by French playwright Marc Camoletti, the play was adapted for British audiences and finally, for Americans. Conejo Players director and set designer John Eslick has taken the script a step further by relocating the setting to New York, circa 1970’s which works extremely well. The 70’s was a ménage of bad clothes, high hair and exploratory morals, all of which keeps the audience in stitches throughout.

Bernard (Kyle Johnson) and Jacqueline (Melissa Higashi) portray a married couple who live in a converted farmhouse in upstate New York. The living room was once a barn, the kitchen a chicken coop and connected rooms feature a cow shed and a piggery, now serving as bedrooms. The layout and style of the house itself adds to the comedy.
Both harbor a secret. Jacqueline is scheduled to visit her mother when she finds out that Bernard has invited his best friend, Robert (Alex Carrasco) for the weekend to supply an alibi for him so that he can invite his mistress Suzanne (Reign Lewis).

However, Jacqueline and Robert are having an affair of their own and when Jacqueline learns Robert is coming, she quickly cancels her plans to go away which in turn skews Bernard’s plans. A cordon bleu trained chef named Suzette (Olivia Heulitt) is hired to provide a sumptuous dinner but quickly becomes ensnared in an endless charade of mixed-up identity, causing mounting confusion all around. No fool, she plays along – for a price.

When Suzanne finally arrives, she is thought to be the cook and shuffled to the kitchen which results in a less than perfect dinner. Trying their best to salvage the weekend, the couples and the real cook build on the lies to a hysterical degree. Last, but not least, the cook’s husband George (Nick Schmidt) appears to bring the evening’s mayhem to a conclusion.

The cast is a tight ensemble which handles the pace and non-stop challenge of keeping their lies straight very well. Kyle Johnson and Melissa Higashi pull off the kitsch of the 70’s beautifully via their wardrobe and attitudes, and, in Higashi’s case, the high hair. Definitely an era of notable fashion.

The others are dressed in more generic era clothing, giving the lead roles the spotlight. While Suzanne’s big blonde “do” is character appropriate, her facial expressions are often hidden by her curls. Too bad, as she has some looks that shoot clear messages without words.

Director Eslick and the entire cast have captured playwright Camoletti’s sense of high frivolity, desires, resignations and anxieties for our enjoyment. And we shall. Don’t Dress for Dinner provides a worthwhile evening filled with laughs. Go and enjoy.
Don’t Dress for Dinner continues through June 22. Performances are Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. and one Thursday (6/6) at 8 p.m. Reservations are recommended. Seating is open. Tickets available at www. ConejoPlayers.org. (805) 495-3715 and at the door.