BottleRock Napa Valley 2023 Festival Journal, Day 3

(You’re reading Day 3. Be sure to catch up on Day 1 and Day 2!)

Day 3 of BottleRock Napa Valley is always bittersweet because it’s the last day, and I want to see more phenomenal artists, but my feet hurt, and I’m ready to get back to my real life, too. While I’ve been off to the races the past two days, seeing bands right away in the first hour of the day, today I opted for a slower, easier start. I stopped to catch a bit of Half Alive, where I enjoyed the trio’s energy and especially “Still Feel.”

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Spinning Platters Predicts the 2012 Oscar Nominations: What Should — and Will — Be Nominated

Ellie Kemper, Oscar hopeful Melissa McCarthy, and Wendi McLendon-Covey in BRIDESMAIDS

The Academy Awards are commonly referred to as the gay Super Bowl, and for good reason: they each represent the culmination of months of grueling, bone-crunching competition, tend to feature misguided musical numbers, and are ultimately about impossibly wealthy people fighting over trophies while the rest of us cheer from the breadlines. In short: it’s the best thing that happens all year. My post-Oscar depression is far more devastating than even the worst case of post-Christmas blues. Such emptiness. The nominations for this year’s 84th Academy Awards will be announced in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, January 24. After the jump, check out my picks for what should be nominated and what we’re likely to read about on Tuesday.

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The Spinning Platters Guide to the Best Films of 2011

Welcome to our list of the best films of 2011! I’m Jason LeRoy, the film editor of this fine website, and I’ll be your guide to the most excellent cinema this year had to offer. I have to say, this is a pretty exciting moment for me. While I’ve been writing about film in one form or another since 1995, 2011 is the first year I’ve managed to see just about everything. It is with no small amount of consideration (or afternoons and evenings spent slumped over in theaters around town) that I’ve compiled this list. So look after the jump for my top 10 films of the year, some honorable mentions, and a handful of staff-pick rebuttals for Best Film of 2011. And especially since this year was uncommonly lacking in unifying critical favorites, please leave your own picks in the comments below.

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Film Review: “Drive”

Ill-fated henchman and Ryan Gosling in DRIVE

starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks, Oscar Isaac

written by: Hossein Amini

directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn

MPAA: Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity.

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