Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Here’s what you’ve been waiting for: my 2023 cinematic favorites! You can also check out fellow film critic Chad Liffmann’s list here to compare and contrast and see who you agree with more. Will Oscar voters agree with us? We’ll find out when the nominations are announced on January 23rd!
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2023”
We’re not even halfway through the year yet, but I think I’ve just seen my Top 10 list’s number one pick. That contender is You Hurt My Feelings, a smart and often painfully funny picture about creativity and relationship dynamics that re-teams writer/director Nicole Holofcener with actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
The 91st Academy Awards air this Sunday, February 24th, on ABC at 5:00 pm PST (with the requisite pre-show fashion assessments starting hours before). As they did last year, Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chris Piper share their predictions – and hopes – for the major categories. Guild awards – often harbingers of Oscars to come – have been all over the map this year, so there may actually be some genuine surprises. Tune in on Sunday to see how things play out, and to find out if we correctly read the minds of Academy voters.
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie and Chris Pick the 2019 Oscars”
“As an unknown, you can’t be such a bitch, Lee,” book agent Marjorie (Jane Curtin) says to her down-and-out client, author Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy), in director Marielle Heller’s terrific new film Can You Ever Forgive Me? But the great strength of this based-on-a-true-story picture is that Lee is a hard personality; unlikable, acerbic, alcoholic, and misanthropic, Lee is tough and complicated. She’s far from a typical charming and redeemable female protagonist, which makes Heller’s film both unusual and refreshing, and McCarthy’s performance here one of her best to date.
Continue reading “Film Review: Can You Ever Forgive Me?“
Fans of HBO’s Sex and the City may remember an episode in which the four protagonists attend a singles party to which they are each supposed to bring someone they dated, but ultimately rejected, the theory being that one woman’s trash, if you will, can just as easily be another’s treasure. Writer/director Nicole Holofcener, who coincidentally penned a few episodes of SATC (as well as the indies Friends with Money and Lovely and Amazing), has taken that idea and, in her new film Enough Said, expanded it to a full length feature, with a twist: what if you are dating your friend’s ex, but your friend actually has absolutely nothing kind to say about him? Holofcener’s take on this premise is by turns exceptionally funny, wryly intelligent, emotionally honest, and genuinely moving. Continue reading “Film Review: Enough Said“