Film Review: Avengers Age of Ultron

Not so much a movie as it is an issue of a comic book series drawn by a great artist.

Just one of the impressive splash pages from Age of Ultron

You’ve already decided if you’re seeing Avengers Age of Ultron. You are. Of course you are. Everybody who sees movies on a regular basis is seeing this movie, and you’re not making a bad decision. You’ll see things on screen that can only exist in the world of modern big budget comic book cinema. This means you’ll get the good with the bad. You’ll get some action scenes that are truly fun to look at, displaying true artistry from the stunt team, choreographers, and effects house. What you won’t get are the stakes that will make you truly feel these scenes.

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Film Feature: Chad’s Top 10 Films of 2013

Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chad Liffmann present their Top 10 Films of 2013.  Here’s Chad’s list, presented in the order of which he feels they deserve to be ranked (1 being the best, 10 being pretty damn good too!)

1.) Inside Llewyn Davis
"If it was never new and it never gets old, then it's a folk song"
“If it was never new and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song”

The Coen brothers newest film is a hilarious, thought-provoking, darkly intelligent, musical journey into the 1961 New York folk music scene.  Featuring masterful performances under the direction of master filmmakers, Inside Llewyn Davis is a documentary of sorts — accurately capturing a time period and a historical mentality…yet its message is timeless.

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Interview: Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof of “Much Ado About Nothing”

Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker in Much Ado About Nothing
Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker in Much Ado About Nothing

Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof, well known for their remarkable acting within the many works of storytelling mastermind Joss Whedon, take center stage in the director’s intimate retelling of Shakespeare’s classic tale Much Ado About Nothing. Playing the respective roles of Beatrice and Benedick, the pair move with an electrifying and gorgeous chemistry that helps to shape the world around them. We caught up with the duo after the premiere showing of the film at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and got some delightful insights into the creative process behind this moving, marvelously graceful and wonderfully funny film.

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Film Review: Much Ado About Nothing

Fran Kranz as Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing
Fran Kranz as Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing

While the echoes of Shakespeare and his work can be felt in the backbones of modern storytelling for the past few centuries, there is really nothing like the actual stories themselves, and they make for timeless tales that can be endlessly re-performed and re-interpreted. The mostly-blank canvas of a play allows for a great deal of re-imagination, and in today’s world of film and television, who better to take up such a task than a director who is known for his marvelous creativity and his own original work? Thus was born Joss Whedon’s modern take on the Bard’s well-loved tale, Much Ado About Nothing, a play highly regarded for its delicate balance of tragedy and comedy and much lauded for its look at relationships and roles of gender. The movie itself has been given a rather arduous task — doing justice to a modern interpretation of Shakespearean play is a concept often wrought with tribulation — but it succeeds magnificently, and is spellbinding in its blend of wry and somewhat slapstick humor, deeply-moving dramatic moments, and the ever-intriguing firecracker romance of its lead characters, Beatrice (Amy Acker) and Benedick (Alexis Denisof).

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SFIFF Spotlights #1: Ernest & Celestine / Key of Life / Leviathan / Much Ado About Nothing

The 56th Annual San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) is in full swing.  From April 26th through May 9th, Bay Area cinephiles, filmmakers, and movie lovers of all ages can visit select theaters on either side of the bay to see exciting new films from all over the world.

Here at Spinning Platters, we’ll shine our spotlights on a few films we’ve had the pleasure of seeing and other festival events we’ve had the pleasure of attending.  We encourage you to follow along and also visit the SFIFF website at http://festival.sffs.org/ to learn more about upcoming screenings!

Ernest & Celestine
(France/Luxembourg/Belgium 2012, 80 min)

Ernest & Celestine
Ernest & Celestine

The unlikely friendship between a hungry street-busking bear and a spirited young mouse takes center stage in this delightful French animated film.  Based on the series of children’s books (which I haven’t read but now intend to), Ernest & Celestine is a charming story about friendship told through excellent voice work, a great musical score, and beautifully painted images.  I was smiling all the way through.  This is a title you shouldn’t miss!

Next Showing:
Wed., May 1st at 7:00PM – Sundance Kabuki Cinemas

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Fanboy Ramblings: “The Avengers”

Hulk smashes in Marvel's The Avengers
This film is a Hulk Smash! (There, I said it. Now put it on a poster.)

For a well-thought-out, articulate, reasoned, educated review, I strongly suggest you click over to Jason LeRoy’s official review of The Avengers. For the ramblings of someone who’s read too many comics, seen too many comic movies at midnight, and overanalyzes every darn thing past the point of usefulness, read on. Continue reading “Fanboy Ramblings: “The Avengers””

Film Review: “The Avengers”

Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson in THE AVENGERS

starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Samuel L. Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow

written by: Joss Whedon (story and screenplay), Zak Penn (story)

directed by: Joss Whedon

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference

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