Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
The 47th Mill Valley Film Festival will take place Oct 3 – Oct 13, 2024, with screenings at theaters across the North and East Bay.
For a full view of special awards, spotlights, and centerpiece films, check out the complete festival guide. Tickets can be purchased here.
Below is a second preview of the festival (read our first preview of six films), featuring brief looks at an additional four films:
Continue reading “Film Feature: Preview #2 of the 47th Mill Valley Film Festival”
The 47th Mill Valley Film Festival will take place Oct 3 – Oct 13, 2024, with screenings at theaters across the North and East Bay.
For a full view of special awards, spotlights, and centerpiece films, check out the complete festival guide. Tickets can be purchased here.
Below is a preview of the festival, featuring brief looks at six films:
1.) MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE
(USA, 2023. 101 min.)
Writer/Director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’s feature debut is an emotional and thoughtfully comical story about family and the debilitating effects of PTSD. The stellar cast is led by Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery) and Natalie Morales (Parks & Rec) and supported by silver screen legends Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman. My Dead Friend Zoe was inspired by Hausmann-Stoke’s army experience in Iraq, and he has infused his film with charm, humor, and heartbreak to tell a timely story about the epidemic of suffering among US Military veterans after returning home.
Screenings (click here for tickets):
– Sat., Oct. 5th, 7:00pm at the CinéArts Sequoia
– Sun., Oct. 6th, 11:30am at the CinéArts Sequoia
Continue reading “Film Feature: Preview #1 of the 47th Mill Valley Film Festival”
Good franchise reboots are easy to remember: Batman Begins, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Casino Royale, just to name a few. When a lucrative intellectual property gets tiresome or outdated, it’s common for the owners to seek a fresh take on popular characters to spark a new film or TV series (yes, ultimately to make money). After seven live-action films starting in 2007, with an uneven mixture of fun but mostly embarrassing results, the Transformers franchise is rebooting with Transformers One, an attempt to reset the cinematic dial on Hasbro’s iconic brand with animated pizzazz. Transformers One is the first CG-animated Transformers film, featuring an A-list voice cast and a surprisingly strong emotional core. It sets a fun and exciting tone for the series to build on moving forward. Continue reading “Film Review: “Transformers One””
“This is not a love song,” remarks Gary Lightbody, Snow Patrol’s frontman, in the opening line of the first track, “All,” on the band’s eighth studio album, The Forest is the Path. “I’m just checking that your light’s still on / I just want to feel like I belong / But I don’t know where I am,” he continues. Sentiments like this, feeling lost in love and searching within oneself for a sense of belonging, are prevalent on the album, the first one since 2018’s Wildness. Snow Patrol have long toed the line between classic and alternative rock, with their catchiest songs gracing movie soundtracks and ruling radio airwaves. Lightbody is the only remaining original band member, and despite a serious battle with depression and alcoholism that nearly cost him his life (and necessitated long hiatuses between album releases) and the recent departure of the band’s drummer and bassist, he has kept the Snow Patrol sound and motifs intact. On The Forest is the Path, the band’s trademark balance between soaring rock anthems and mellow ballads is on full display, with a reflective depth that rewards listeners over the course of multiple listens. Similarly, in the middle of “All,” Lightbody comes to the appropriate realization after measuring up his feelings, “So I guess this is a love song after all.” Continue reading “Album Review: Snow Patrol, “The Forest is the Path””
Let’s get this out of the way – Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, Blink Twice, very closely recalls a similar directorial debut from 2017, Jordan Peele’s Get Out. “It’s Get Out, but for women,” would be an apt headline. This comparison should be considered a compliment, even if it oversaturates the public discourse about the film. All of this shouldn’t take away from Kravitz’s stylish, thrilling, sometimes messy, but thoroughly entertaining thriller. Blink Twice is an imperfect concoction of thrills, laughs, and sinister themes. Continue reading “Film Review: “Blink Twice””
In the years following Foster the People’s third studio album in 2017, Sacred Heart’s Club, during the height of the COVID pandemic, front man Mark Foster recalls wondering, “How can I make a record that is healing for me, and maybe for people who listen to it, too?” Now, seven years later, Foster the People is releasing its fourth full-length studio album, Paradise State of Mind, a cosmically hopeful and upbeat record heavily influenced by late 70s disco and early 80s New Wave. The album is not without its lyrical meditations on sadness and emotionally dark places, but overall, it’s a joyful blend of varied instrumentation, dance-floor beats, and catchy hooks. It’s all about balance – in life as in music. As Foster sings on the lead single, “Lost in Space,” amidst a double quartet of strings and Giorgio Moroder-inspired synths, “Love when I’m with you / a warm embrace / the more we give ourselves, the more we have to give away.” Continue reading “Album Review: Foster the People, “Paradise State of Mind””
If you’re unfamiliar with “Indian residential schools,” which were boarding schools run by the Catholic church for Indigenous children in Canada and the United States, their existence marks a horrific chapter in North American history with repercussions still being felt (and investigated) to this day. Sugarcane is a new documentary by co-directors Emily Kassie and Julian Brave Noisecat that brings us into the emotional fold of these repercussions. Sugarcane shines a specific spotlight on the Canadian residential school system and the traumatic impact they’ve had on generations of Indigenous families. It’s a troubling and devastating documentary, but all the more important viewing for the strength and resilience it represents. Continue reading “Film Review: “Sugarcane””
First came X. Shortly after came the prequel, Pearl. And now, MaXXXine, writer/director Ti West’s end cap on a remarkably gory, provocative, homage-filled horror trilogy. Mia Goth is at the center of all three films, an actor who has transcended “scream queen” status to become a bona fide megastar of the genre. She deserved an Oscar nomination for her performance in Pearl, and arguably an earlier nomination for her dual roles in X. In MaXXXine, the creative pairing of West and Goth complete their trilogy in entertaining, if not spectacular, fashion. MaXXXine is an overt homage to the wide-ranging horror genre birthed from Hollywood between the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, from the prestigious to the grimy. Continue reading “Film Review: “MaXXXine””
Director Jeff Nichols has been on an impressive streak of memorable dramatic films that directly or indirectly involve the culture of middle-America, including Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, Mud, and Loving. The Bikeriders is his latest dramatic piece of cinematic Americana (or, “Ameridrama”, to coin a phrase), stradling the median between mainstream drama and niche historical fiction. The Bikeriders is a surprisingly charming piece of old-school storytelling, buoyed by an impressive script and strong performances. Continue reading “Film Review: “The Bikeriders””
After “The Slap,” Will Smith took a much needed multi-year hiatus from acting. Whatever self-reflection, anger management, family therapy or whatnot he (was forced to or voluntarily) went through, good for him. He also made a very wise decision (likely in close coordination with his agent) to return to movies within the warm embrace of the most tried-and-true action franchise of his career: Bad Boys. Re-teaming with Martin Lawrence and directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys for Life), this fourth installment, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, proves that the series still has some juice left in the tank, as long as it sticks to its iconic blend of neon-soaked action and curse-filled bickering. Continue reading “Film Review: “Bad Boys: Ride or Die””
