Carrie Kahn – Page 9 – Spinning Platters

Film Review: “In the Heights”

Celebration of community rises to new Heights in joyful adaptation

Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) and Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) celebrate with their friends and neighbors.

Full disclosure: I’m someone who doesn’t typically like musicals. I’m jarred when, mid-conversation, characters break into a big song and dance number, and everyone acts like that’s a totally normal way to communicate. Then the dialogue resumes, as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. I’ve never been able to wrap my head around that. So I was a bit apprehensive to see the film version of In the Heights, a musical I had seen live, and hadn’t found memorable. But my cynical self was blown away: not only is the movie better than I could have imagined, but it benefits tremendously from the shift to the big screen. Continue reading “Film Review: “In the Heights””

Film Review: “A Quiet Place Part II”

Outstanding sequel worth the wait

Evelyn (Emily Blunt) implores her injured son Marcus (Noah Jupe) to be quiet in the face of imminent danger.

Last March, I was all set to go to the advance reviewer screening of A Quiet Place II when the Bay Area began to shelter-in-place. The screening was cancelled and the movie’s release postponed. But this week I finally made it to that reviewer screening, marking my return to the cinema, some 14 months later. And it was worth the wait. Because not only is Part II terrific, but releasing it earlier via streaming wouldn’t have done it justice. This picture is meant for the big screen.

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Film Review: “Dream Horse”

Collette shines in horse racing charmer

Jan (Toni Collette) develops a special bond with her new racehorse, Dream Alliance.

With theaters slowly reopening, film lovers may be waiting for the perfect film to get them up off the couch and back into the multiplex. Dream Horse may be just that film: it’s an old fashioned, feel-good movie that should motivate the whole family to undertake a cinematic outing.

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Film Review: “Here Today”

Crystal, Haddish can’t save strained so-called ‘comedy’

Emma (Tiffany Haddish) and Charlie (Billy Crystal) become good friends.

Back in 1989, Nora Ephron, in her film When Harry Met Sally, posed the age-old question: Can men and women ever really be friends? Now, thirty-two years later, Billy Crystal, who played the titular Harry, returns in Here Today to tell us that not only can men and women be friends, but that their friendship can yield an uninteresting, unfunny movie. Call this one When Charlie Met Snooze

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Film Review: “Eat Wheaties!” and “Percy vs Goliath”

New Canadian drama and comedy now streaming

Two very different Canadian films opened in limited theatrical release this weekend (though not in the Bay Area – yet), but both are available for home viewing via VOD sites. Read on to see if you might want to check out either the comedy (Eat Wheaties!) or the drama (Percy vs Goliath).

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Film Feature: SFFILM Festival Spotlights #4

The 2021 San Francisco International Film Festival concluded yesterday, and announced its awards on Saturday. Those can be found here, but we have a final wrap up, too – nine capsules highlighting some of the Festival offerings – six dramas and three documentaries. Check them out below, and see you next year!

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Film Review: Nobody

Nobody isn’t perfect, but it’s the somebody we need for our return to theaters

Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) confronts trouble on a late night bus ride.

Fans of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul know that Bob Odenkirk has a terrific wry, deadpan presence. If you’ve ever wondered what Breaking Bad might have been like had Odenkirk been cast as Walter White instead of Saul Goodman, you may want to check out the new action thriller Nobody.

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Film Feature: Best of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival

True story: my friend met her husband on a Sundance shuttle bus. They struck up a conversation, kept in touch after the Festival ended, and, 15 years and three kids later, the rest is history. Maybe lightning struck again for some lucky couple this year, but I’m guessing probably not. As much as Sundance staff strived to make the 2021 virtual Fest feel like those of past years, Zoom “waiting rooms” and video Q and A’s just couldn’t replicate the feeling of being bundled up at 7:30am in a waitlist line, passing the time and distracting yourself from the cold by idly asking your neighbor, “What have you seen so far that you’ve liked?” The cheery, disembodied “Hi from Boston!” chats that flashed on screen in this year’s pre-screening digital lobbies just couldn’t offer the same sort of in-person connection that can only be found by bonding over waitlist numbers 99 and 100 and mushy theater concession tuna wraps. That said, however, the quality of the films shown at this year’s Festival, which concluded last week, still measured up to Sundance’s best. Below we take a look at four documentaries and four features that are worth seeing.

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Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2020

Thinking back on the year in movies, “unusual” and “complicated” might be 2020’s most fitting descriptors. Yes, we’ve had plenty of content to watch, thanks to streaming services, and plenty of time at home to view it all, but COVID-19 cancelled the multiplex experience. Watching movies at home, without the excitement of the big screen and a crowd of fellow film-lovers nearby, just wasn’t as satisfying, which is why the number of films I reviewed this year dwindled sharply. That said, I did watch enough to pull together my annual Top 10 Best Films of the Year. And a unique year requires a unique Top 10 list: hence my first ever Haiku Top 10! I hope each of these 17 syllable snippets (and their trailers!) will steer you toward checking out these films, each of which moved, inspired, and stuck with me this year. Here’s to a return to in-person cinema in 2021! (And if you’re curious about what was on my list last year, you can check that out here.)

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Film Review: The Climb

Offbeat buddy picture champions long-haul friendships

Mike (Michael Angelo Covino, l.) drops some unsettling news on his longtime friend Kyle (Kyle Marvin) during an uphill bike ride.

Bay Area cinephiles were no doubt excited by the news that the Landmark Shattuck and Embarcadero theaters are re-opening today (at reduced capacity, and with strict health and safety protocols in place, of course). The chain has long been a showcase for indie film, and film fans can rejoice at returning to a venue for unique and quirky offerings. One of the theater’s grand re-opening films, The Climb, fits that description to a tee, and makes for a terrific first-time back viewing experience.

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