Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
I saw Showing Up one week ago today, and sat down to write this review at 5:00am this morning. Yes, I procrastinated, even though I love to write about movies. But I think writer/director Kelly Reichardt would forgive me and understand my dilemma, as it’s exactly what her newest picture so charmingly explores.
The 66th SFFilm Festival opens tomorrow, Thursday, April 13th, and will run through Sunday, April 23rd. Tomorrow’s opening night premiere – a documentary about Steph Curry — is sold out for advance tickets and at rush (if you want to show up and take your chances), but luckily there’s tons more cool stuff to see over the next week and a half. Here we present just a taste: a look at four upcoming screenings — two documentaries and two narrative features. Continue reading “Film Feature: 66th SFFilm Festival Spotlights”
If you love basketball and you want to see an in depth movie about Michael Jordan, watch Netflix’s The Last Dance. But if you love stories about high-stakes gambling, go see Ben Affleck’s Air. What Affleck gives us here isn’t a sports story. It’s a tale about business, and a wonderfully juicy one at that. Air tells the story of how Jordan’s contract with Nike nearly single-handedly transformed the middling Oregon-based company into the world’s greatest apparel empire, thanks to the story’s main characters placing big bets: on Jordan by Sonny Vaccaro, a then little-known Nike marketing executive; on Vacarro by his boss, Nike founder Phil Knight, and on Nike by Jordan’s family, particularly his mother Deloris.
Writer/director Zach Braff hasn’t made a solo feature film since 2004’s Garden State (2014’s Wish I Was Here had a co-writer), so you’d think that a 19 year incubation period would be enough for him to craft something truly great. But sadly, that’s not the case: A Good Person, his newest picture, is a disappointing misfire.
The 95th Academy Awards air tomorrow, Sunday March 12th, on ABC at 5:00 pm PST (Don’t forget to spring forward so you don’t miss the beginning!). Tune in to see not only who will take home Oscar gold, but also how host Jimmy Kimmel will handle the elephant in the Dolby Theater – last year’s infamous Will Smith/Chris Rock moment, AKA the Slap Heard ‘Round the World. Whether we get any similar jaw-dropping moments this year is anyone’s guess, but, in the meantime, there’s always your good old-fashioned Oscar pool to keep you entertained. See how your predictions line up with mine, below:
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie Picks the 2023 Oscars”
Back in 2018, my number two movie of the year was Searching, an innovative thriller about a father’s search for his missing teenage daughter that was told entirely through modes of modern technology. Fast forward five years later, and members of that filmmaking team have made essentially the same movie, only this time we have a teenage daughter searching for her missing mother. The result is a film that, while no longer fresh in style, at least has a winning formula that keeps us entertained, even as we’re no longer impressed by the narrative concept.
Babylon, this season’s third (yes, third!) movie about the movies is by far the worst of the trio. While The Fabelmans and Empire of Light have a few pluses, Babylon is too bloated and draggy to recommend. Writer/director Damien Chazelle (La La Land; First Man; Whiplash) clearly loves the movies, but with Babylon, he’s made one that might actually steer his audience away from the form instead of toward it.
Hollywood loves to make movies about itself. My last review was on The Fablemans, a movie about the magic of movies. This review is about Empire of Light, a movie about the healing power of movies. And my next review will be about Babylon, a movie about, you guessed it, the good and bad of the movie industry. If Hollywood wants to get folks back into theaters, maybe making a bunch of narcissistic films about itself isn’t the best way, but nevertheless, here we are, with three releases within a month that basically say, “Movies are awesome! Go to the movies!!” This week’s offering makes its case mightily, and somewhat succeeds in spite of the pervasive layer of schmaltz that covers the picture.
“Movies are dreams that you never forget,” Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams) tells her young son Sammy (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord) en route to taking him to see his first film, 1952’s The Greatest Show on Earth. Had they seen The Fabelmans instead, however, perhaps Mitzi might have thought twice about her proclamation. With The Fabelmans, writer/director Steven Spielberg wants to create a nostalgic love letter to cinema, but the picture is too bogged down with the weight of Spielberg’s autobiographical angst to become something unforgettable.
With Armageddon Time, writer/director James Gray (Ad Astra; The Immigrant) has made his Belfast. Gray’s loosely autobiographical film substitutes the dawn of the Reagan era in early 1980’s Queens for the Troubles of 1960’s North Ireland. Like Kenneth Branagh’s protagonist Buddy (Jude Hill), though, Gray’s stand-in Paul (Banks Repeta) similarly faces the confusion and challenges of growing up in a volatile and uncertain time. The result is a film that, while occasionally heavy handed, nevertheless boasts some strong performances and leaves us with a message of hope.