Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
With many Bay Area movie theaters still closed, film fans may be looking for viewing experiences that are better suited to small screen, home viewing. On the Rocks, which is available to stream on Apple TV+ today, is the perfect film to watch from the comfort of your living room. Writer/director Sofia Coppola has crafted an intimate, tightly constructed character-driven story that doesn’t need the multiplex treatment to be enjoyed.
Regular readers of this site may know that I have an affinity for survival pictures. The terrific Mads Mikkelsen vehicle Arctic was number one on my Top 10 list last year, and over the past few years I’ve also enjoyed Adrift, Walking Out, The Mountain Between Us, and Everest. The latest entry to earn my approval is Centigrade, the first feature from television director/writer Brendan Walsh (Nurse Jackie) and his co-writer Daley Nixon. That this novice duo has created such a taut, tightly constructed film bodes well for their future cinematic projects.
Iranian director Marjane Satrapi, who was Oscar-nominated 13 years ago for turning her graphic novel Persepolis into a beautiful animated film, is back with another adaptation of a graphic novel. This time, however, Satrapi adapts Lauren Redniss’s 2010 National Book Award nominee Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout not as an animated picture, but as a live-action drama, and the results don’t work nearly as well as Satrapi’s first big success. Radioactive tells the story of famed Polish-French scientist Marie Curie (Rosamund Pike) and her personal and professional triumphs and travails. Unfortunately, Satrapi’s new work yields a very mediocre film about a great woman who deserves a more dignified biopic than this facile, sentimental treatment.
I try not to read reviews of any film I’m going to review so as not to be unconsciously influenced, but this week it was hard to miss the early review headlines in my social media feed for Irresistible, comedian Jon Stewart’s new picture. My fellow critics seemed to not just dislike the film, but to actively hate it. It has a 47 rating on MetaCritic right now. Ouch. I had to wonder if we all saw the same movie. Because you know what? I actually liked it. I finished watching my screener, and I assumed reviews would be positive. I was really surprised by the hostile reactions. The picture isn’t perfect, but it’s smart, relevant, and, most importantly, has some decent laughs. Am I the odd outlier here? Is my taste off? Or are my colleagues all wrong? All I can say is read on for my take, watch the picture, and then decide for yourself which camp you’re in.
If you’ve been frustrated that you haven’t been able to fly anywhere for months now and have spent hours daydreaming about your next air travel jaunt, the new picture 7500 will snap you out of your reverie, and make you glad you’re stuck safely on the ground. The smart, taut thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a few problematic story elements, but mostly succeeds as a unique take on the typical Hollywood trouble-in-the-sky action pic.
Remember the “Sad Ben Affleck” meme that was circulating a few years ago? Maybe you thought to yourself, “Hmmm… that would make a great film. Especially if it were combined with an underdog high school basketball movie like Hoosiers.” Well, sorry to say, but director Gavin O’Connor has beat you to it in his new Affleck-helmed picture The Way Back. But you know what? All kidding aside, despite a few flaws, the movie actually works, and Affleck delivers what’s easily a career best performance.
“How do you say to someone ‘don’t die’?” a character asks in Ordinary Love, which pretty much sets the tone for this grim but well done film about a long married couple coping with the wife’s recent breast cancer diagnosis. The movie is startling realistic, so much so that anyone who has been through cancer (either as a patient, or as a supportive family member/friend) may want to avoid it for the unpleasant memories it may bring back. Consider that your upfront trigger warning. But Irish husband/wife directing team Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, working from a script by Irish playwright Owen McCafferty, have crafted a nuanced, raw, and well-acted picture that, despite the downer subject matter, is worth your time.
The 92nd Academy Awards air tomorrow, Sunday, February 9th, on ABC at 5:00 pm PST. Once again, Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chris Piper share their predictions — and hopes — for the major categories. A lot of the winners feel like locks, based on earlier award season wins, but, honestly, we’d rather have some upsets to make for an interesting show then have all our predictions come true. Fingers crossed for some liveliness!
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie and Chris Pick the 2020 Oscars”
The 2020 Sundance Film Festival concluded this weekend with Festival jurors bestowing prizes upon 28 of the 128 films shown during the ten-day Fest. All the winners can be found here, but, as I did last year, below I present my own highlights — good and bad — and let you know which films you should SEE or SKIP, should any of these be widely released at some point.
Continue reading “Film Feature: Highs and Lows from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival”
Top 10 lists are notoriously subjective, of course; one fan’s “best” can easily be another’s “worst.” To be included on my Top 10 Films of the Year list, a film has to do two things: affect me profoundly while watching it, and stay in my thoughts long after the credits roll. Below are my ten favorite films of 2019 that meet that criteria. You can also check out my list from last year here.
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2019”