Carrie Kahn – Page 24 – Spinning Platters

SFIFF59 Spotlights #2: Five Nights in Maine/Frank & Lola/And when I die, I won’t stay dead/Notes on Blindness

SFIFF

Spinning Platters continues its preview coverage of the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival, which opens tomorrow, Thursday, April 21st. Information and tickets are available here.

To whet your Fest appetite, here we spotlight two of the Festival’s features and two documentaries.

Five Nights in Maine
(USA, 2015, 82 min, Marquee Presentations)

Sherwin (David Oyelowo) and his mother-in-law Lucinda (Dianne Wiest) share a moment at her Maine house.

When an adult dies unexpectedly, whose grief is greater – the surviving spouse, or the surviving parent? Are such comparisons even fair? Such are the heady questions that writer/director Maris Curran explores here, in a picture thematically similar to the recently released Demolition. After his wife Fiona (Hani Furstenberg) dies suddenly in a car crash, city-dweller Sherwin (David Oyelowo) visits Fiona’s terminally ill mother Lucinda (Dianne Wiest) at her isolated house in rural Maine. Though both try to maintain a polite façade with each other as they process their loss, issues of blame, recrimination, and bitterness slowly rise to the surface, forcing the two to confront past and present emotional wounds. A pas de deux between two of today’s best actors set against a stunning backdrop of fall light and foliage, Curran’s film is a flawlessly executed meditation on how we deal with life, loss, and love.

Screenings:

Saturday, April 23rd – 5:00pm, Alamo Drafthouse
Monday, April 25th – 1:00pm, Alamo Drafthouse
Tuesday, April 26th – 8:45pm, Alamo Drafthouse

Tickets for Five Nights in Maine available here.

Continue reading “SFIFF59 Spotlights #2: Five Nights in Maine/Frank & Lola/And when I die, I won’t stay dead/Notes on Blindness“

Film Review: Demolition

Vallée’s newest meditation on grief could finally mean Oscar for Gyllenhaal

New friends Karen (Naomi Watts) and Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) find themselves in a tense situation. — New friends Karen (Naomi Watts) and Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) find themselves in a tense situation at a function honoring Davis’s recently deceased wife.

How do we process sudden loss? Is there a right or wrong way to grieve, and how can we keep grief from overwhelming us? These are the weighty questions director Jean-Marc Vallée continues to contemplate in his somewhat uneven but emotionally arresting new picture Demolition. While not as strong as either Wild or Dallas Buyers Club, Vallée’s previous two films that explored death and grief, Demolition nonetheless is worth recommending based both on its raw and unique way of depicting the grieving process, and also on the strength of Jake Gyllenhaal’s exceptional performance as a man left shell-shocked by the unexpected death of his wife. Continue reading “Film Review: Demolition“

Film Review: Midnight Special

The boy is Special, and so is the film

Roy (Michael Shannon, l.) will do anything to protect his very special son Alton (Jaeden Lieberher).

Writer/director Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter, Shotgun Stories) continues his collaboration with the terrific actor Michael Shannon to great effect in his utterly engaging new science fiction film Midnight Special. Unlike another film by a well known writer/director that opened today, Nichols’s film grips you from its opening minute and keeps you enraptured for its nearly two hour run time. A film that pays homage to others of its genre while still managing to be totally unique, Midnight Special is well worth your box office dollars. Continue reading “Film Review: Midnight Special”

Film Review: Everybody Wants Some!!

Nobody will want any of Linklater’s tedious newest

Remember that time in college when you sat around your buddy’s room, listening to records, smoking pot and talking about Carl Sagan and old Twilight Zone episodes? Or that time you went to a super freaky party thrown by theater majors? Or that time your housemate got totally bent because you beat him at ping pong? You don’t? Well, writer/director Richard Linklater sure does, and he’s going to make you relive all those experiences and more in his meandering, occasionally funny, but mostly dull new picture Everybody Wants Some!! When you need not one, but two exclamation points to take the place of genuine excitement in your film, you know you’re in trouble. Continue reading “Film Review: Everybody Wants Some!!”

Film Review: Hello, My Name is Doris

May-December romance story is a terrific showcase for Field

Longtime BFFs Roz (Tyne Daly, l.) and Doris (Sally Field) attend a self-help seminar given by Willy Williams (Peter Gallagher).

The problem with a film like Hello, My Name is Doris, which features an eccentric character in a broadly comic situation, is that if not handled well, it runs the risk of making fun of both its central character and the situation in which it places her. Fortunately, writer/director Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter) avoids this trap by bringing sensitivity and graceful humor to the story of an older woman falling for a younger man, and, by doing so, provides Sally Field, as the titular Doris, with her best role in years. Continue reading “Film Review: Hello, My Name is Doris”

Film Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Fey brings depth, dry wit to war correspondent role

American reporter Kim Baker (Tina Fey) reports on a story from Afghanistan.

I walked into Book Passage in the Ferry Building the other day and noticed it had a display of books labeled as movie tie-ins; the title Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was among them. Having seen the trailer for the Tina Fey-helmed film (she both produces, along with her old Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels, and stars in the picture), and knowing I’d be reviewing the movie, I was curious, and picked up a copy from the large stack. I was immediately confused, as the book in my hand was about a female photographer in Iraq, not a reporter in Afghanistan, which I knew the Fey film was supposed to be about. What was going on? Did the producers change the story that much?

Continue reading “Film Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”

Film Review: Triple 9

Call in a 999 on this picture: Talented cast can’t save derivative crime story

Atlanta cops Chris (Casey Affleck, l.) and Marcus (Anthony Mackie, r.) are ready for action.

If you’re a fan of dark, atmospheric, incomprehensible crime thrillers, then wow, is today ever your lucky day. With Triple 9, Australian director John Hillcoat (The Road; Lawless) and first-time feature film screenwriter Matt Cook have crafted one of the darkest, moodiest, and totally nonsensical crime dramas in recent memory. As an added bonus, the film boasts a terrific cast, although they are mostly wasted as they gamely try to make their way through this puzzling, often dull, inchoate picture.

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Film Feature: Carrie and Chad Pick the 2016 Oscars

Film critics Carrie and Chad on who will – and who should – win the 88th Academy Awards

The 88th Academy Awards air this Sunday, February 28th on ABC at 5:30pm PST (as always, red carpet coverage begins much earlier, if you want to dish on fashion highs and lows). Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chad Liffmann share their predictions – and hopes – for the major categories. Follow along and see how we – and you – do on the big night!
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Film Feature: 2016 Sundance Film Festival Spotlights #3

With this third and final post, Spinning Platters completes its coverage of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, which ended on Jan. 30^th.All the winners can be found here (and our other two posts about this year’s Festival can be found here and here).

Our coverage concludes with a look at four more feature films and two more documentaries. As a reminder, we are using our patented Viewing Priority Level (VPL) Guide to advise you accordingly: Continue reading “Film Feature: 2016 Sundance Film Festival Spotlights #3”

Film Feature: 2016 Sundance Film Festival Spotlights #2

Spinning Platters continues its coverage of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, which ended last Saturday, Jan. 30^th with its evening awards presentation (all the winners can be found here).

We’re highlighting 18 of the nearly 200 films shown at the Fest, so you can know what to look for in the coming year – and what to avoid – as many of these titles are purchased and widely distributed.

As a reminder, we are using our patented Viewing Priority Level (VPL) Guide to advise you accordingly:

Continue reading “Film Feature: 2016 Sundance Film Festival Spotlights #2”