Chip’s Corner
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riends, we made it. It’s 2021, and that hellscape of a year is behind us. Things are far from back to normal yet, but let’s celebrate a new year and new hope while we can, shall we? (Needless to say, everything below is still subject to change.)
AMARILLO ARTS CONCERTO EXTRAORDINAIRE: Chamber Music Amarillo’s
annual concert promises “Shamelessly Popular Music” in this year’s edition, set for 7:30 p.m., Jan. 9, in the Mary Moody Northen Recital Hall at West Texas A&M University. Violinists Evgeny Zvonnikov and Natalia Korenchuk, flutist Helen Blackburn and the Amarillo Virtuosi chamber orchestra, under the baton of conductor Michael Palmer, will perform such favorites as Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” and Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3.” (806-376-8782, amarillosymphony.org)
“LITTLE WOMEN”: Louisa May Alcott’s iconic classic novel gets a new
spin in this production from Amarillo Little Theatre, set to be staged Jan. 14-24 on the ALT Mainstage, 2019 Civic Circle. Cast members include Marlee Wall as Meg, Kendall Carnahan as Jo, Jennifer McClellan as Beth and Zoë Parrish as Amy, with Carrie Huckabay as Marmie. (806-355-9991, amarillolittletheatre.org)
AMARILLO SYMPHONY: The orchestra plans to kick off its live
concert series with the return of guest ensemble PROJECT Trio, performing a world-premiere work by Chris Rogerson, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s immortal “Symphony No. 5.” The concert, for now at least, is set for Jan. 22 and 23 in the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Buchanan St. (806-376-8782, amarillosymphony.org)
her rescued and to reach the astronauts in time for them to attempt a return to the moon, Lofthouse sets off on a trek across the unforgiving Arctic wasteland. Meanwhile, on the exploratory ship, Sully (Felicity Jones) and Tom (David Oyelowo), the commander, are celebrating a pregnancy (Jones’ real-life condition was written into the script), while Sanchez (Demián Bichir), Maya (Tiffany Boone) and Rembshire (Kyle Chandler) are missing their lives and families back home, unaware of what’s going on. The narrative bounces back and forth between these at first separate stories, each culminating in outstanding set pieces unlike anything Clooney’s ever directed (though, it must be noted, quite similar to what Clooney the actor went through in “Gravity”). The ship encounters a meteor storm, resulting in a balletic dance of weightless blood globules. Lofthouse and Iris, for their part, wander into a cut scene from “The Revenant.” I wanted to like this film more than I did. It looks sensational, and Clooney brings weight and gravity (not the film) to his role. The astronauts, to a one, are wasted, with only Jones and Oyelowo even given remotely dimensional characters. When the parallel plots finally click into place, some may be willing to take the ultimate leap. It was a trip too far for me. (Available now on Netflix)
MOVIES “THE MIDNIGHT SKY”: George Clooney stars in and directs this
It’s incredibly suited for these pandemic times, in other words. And it’s frequently gorgeous to watch. If only it weren’t so ultimately hollow. Clooney’s astrophysicist, the fancily named Augustine Lofthouse, bids farewell to the crew of his Arctic research station, headed to friendlier climes to better try to survive an unspecified apocalyptic disaster that has apparently left most, perhaps all, of Earth an uninhabitable mess. Lofthouse stays behind because, 1, he’s dying anyway and 2, he’s trying to contact a quintet of astronauts returning to terra firma after voyaging to an inhabitable moon of Jupiter (discovered years earlier by Lofthouse, played in his younger days by Ethan Peck).
“PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN”:
Soon, though, Lofthouse discovers an apparent foundling, Iris (Caoilinn Springall), a mute young girl mysteriously wandering around the station. Desperate to get
Carey Mulligan stars as Cassandra Thomas, and after a dynamic opening scene, we discover that she’s a medical-school dropout who is single-mindedly focused
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AMARILLOMAGONLINE.COM • DECEMBER 2020
Unsettling, yet vibrant and shockingly funny, “Promising Young Woman,” the debut feature from writer/director Emerald Fennell (“Killing Eve,” “The Crown”), offers unexpected thrills in what appears to be a familiar package.
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melancholy sci-fi drama (adapted from Lily Brooks-Dalton’s novel “Good Morning, Midnight”) about a lonely man left behind to die on a disaster-struck Earth.
