Married couple Kate (Annie Parisse) and Rob (Josh Radnor) discuss their future.
Three Birthdays, an indie that played a few small film festivals in 2023 and 2024 is now available to stream, and that it didn’t get wider distribution is no surprise. Director Jane Weinstock and writer Nevin Schreiner seem to have taken their inspiration from The Ice Storm, Ang Lee’s 1997 award-winning tale of 1970s suburban ennui. But Three Birthdays is no Ice Storm, and its cringey premise and sophomoric script certainly don’t merit a recommendation.Continue reading “Film Review: “Three Birthdays””
Regular readers will have picked up on two things about your favorite editor-in-chief of a shockingly long-running music blog (16 years?!?!)- he’s a sucker for songs about experiences with music and loves a good multi-hyphenate. Lane Moore is a fantastic stand-up comic and writer with a keen sense of the human psyche. She ALSO fronts the band It Was Romance and is blessing us this Valentine’s Day with their first EP in far too long, Final Girl. This brings us to our single of the week, “Playing Records,” a brilliant, life-affirming song about, well, listening to music while moving through a breakup. It’s a warm and fuzzy New Order meets Alanis Morissette meets Bleached pop confection for the ages.
Final Girl is out today and can be enjoyed on whatever streaming service you subscribe to. The band is also embarking on a brief Spring tour of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania (the area I affectionately refer to as the “Pizza Belt”). Tickets can be purchased at https://www.lanemoore.org/tour/.
Suze (Michaela Watkins) forms a bond with her daughter’s ex-boyfriend, Gage (Charlie Gillespie).
With the air waves dominated by the Super Bowl this weekend, you could be forgiven for not noticing a charmer of smart and sweet Canadian indie film that quietly dropped on streaming services on Friday. But with the Big Game now over, seek out Suze, a Canadian film festival gem from 2023 that’s finally available to U.S. audiences. Warm, funny, and engaging, this film deserves a spot at the top of your “must watch” list. Continue reading “Film Review: “Suze””
I guess I’ve been sleeping on Clairo. I had no idea that she sounded like this… It’s just so damn smooth and groovy. This song feels like a dirty martini on a winter’s evening with all of your hottest friends having a heavy argument about David Lynch vs John Waters. The video starring Weird Al and directed by Ayo Edebiri is fantastic, and they are also two of the first people I’d invite to this party.
“Terrapin” is the latest single off Charm, available now in all the usual places!
Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose deserve better. The two Supporting Actor Oscar winners, for Everything Everywhere All At Once and West Side Story, respectively, can tackle dramatic and comedic material while holding an audience’s most focused attention. When used right, Quan and DeBose can elevate a film from good to great. Unfortunately, Love Hurts isn’t good. Instead, Love Hurts results from an inexperienced filmmaker who doesn’t understand how to utilize the valuable toys he has to play with. The film is excruciatingly overwritten and poorly edited, with Quan’s inherent charm as its sole saving grace.Continue reading “Film Review: “Love Hurts””
Thank god for SF Sketchfest! Seriously, if there’s one thing I hope we can all agree on in America right now, it’s this: we need comedy. Give us a reason to laugh. We may never see eye to eye or agree on who’s right and what needs to change, so there’s never been a better time for us to come together and soothe our uncertainties with the balm of a few hours’ worth of laughs. And last Friday night, that’s exactly what I did. I grabbed my cousin (and fellow Jeopardy! lover) and we headed to Club Fugazi for Jeopargay! with Spike Einbinder and Honey Pluton. It promised to be a fun night of trivia and humor. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Jeopargay! with Spike Einbinder and Honey Pluton at Club Fugazi, 1/24/25”
The funny thing about Sleigh Bells is that they do, indeed, have a formula. But it’s such a damn good formula that always feels so unbelievably good. “Wanna Start A Band?” is a brilliant little autobiographical anthem, and this song is a cacophony of sonic joy that is somehow equal parts Nine Inch Nails and Lisa Lisa. I’m so glad that they are opening with joy in this hellish year of 2025. (I will note that Sleigh Bells’ show at Mezzanine was my first show after Trump’s win in 2016, and it was the exact right thing to do. Also my first indoor show after COVID hit)
Sleigh Bells are embarking on their first tour since 2022, and tickets are on sale TODAY at 10 am local time. Dates and tickets are here!
Cordially uninviteyourself from seeing this unfunny clamor
Jim (Will Ferrell) and Margot (Reese Witherspoon) feign politeness.
You’re Cordially Invited is built around the sort of romantic-comedy conceit you’d find supporting a plethora of its ilk from the 1990s and early 2000s: a wedding venue is unknowingly double-booked by two eccentric families. This logline is a promising opportunity for comedic hijinks, set-pieces, and confrontations. Unfortunately, You’re Cordially Invited stumbles through its vignette-styled plot without a shred of consideration for how and why anything is happening. Despite noble attempts by the film’s two leads, Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, to hold it afloat, You’re Cordially Invited is a middling straight-to-streaming title, destined to play unwatched in the background of more engaging home activities. Continue reading “Film Review: “You’re Cordially Invited””
I adore Lane Moore. She’s a gifted human with an impressive perspective on the human condition. Her two books, How To Be Alone and You Will Find Your People, are genius. I’ve been following her for years, yet I haven’t seen her signature show, Tinder Live!
Author and cartoonist Dav Pilkey’s successful kids book series, Captain Underpants, was adapted into a 2017 box office success. Pilkey’s other book series, Dog Man, is receiving the same treatment. The Dog Man feature film is, for lack of a better term, harmless. The script’s jokes are cute, the narrative is briskly paced, and the voice acting is solid. If you have small kids, there’s a strong likelihood that they’ll really enjoy Dog Man. If you don’t have kids, there’s not a lot in the film for you.Continue reading “Film Review: “Dog Man””
