Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
If you decide to go see Black Bag, here’s a word of advice: see a matinee after a good night’s sleep and a large cup of coffee. You’ll need to be fully alert and engaged to follow this twisty, talky spy thriller. Whether or not you take that as a recommendation depends on your tolerance for convoluted but highly stylized, aesthetically pleasing espionage tales. Continue reading “Film Review: “Black Bag””
Novocaine opens with a needle drop that signifies a level of spot-on self-awareness that perfectly sets up the tone of the film, as if the filmmakers are telling us, “Hey, our film is gonna be ridiculous, melodramatic, and won’t pull any punches, so just sit back and enjoy!” Using Jack Quaid’s everyman charm and a central conceit that allows for an abundance of inventive comedic violence, Novocaine fulfills its goal of delivering preposterous hard-hitting entertainment. Continue reading “Film Review: “Novocaine””
With the release of On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, writer/director Rungano Nyoni’s first feature film since her 2017 indie darling, I Am Not a Witch, the Zambian born British filmmaker has once again proven her unique talent for depicting tribal traditions through a modern lens. Guinea Fowl is simultaneously tragic and comically disquieting, venturing in and out of surreality within its otherwise grounded character-driven narrative. Kudos to A24 and a few UK and European studios for producing and distributing Guinea Fowl, since the film is not an easy sell. Guinea Fowl should be seen; its tightly controlled narrative, powerful performances, and artistic risk-taking make it one of the first must-see films of the year. Continue reading “Film Review: “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl””
The 97th Academy Awards air tomorrow, Sunday, March 2nd, on ABC and Hulu at 4:00 pm PST. As always, your faithful Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chad Liffmann share their predictions and hopes for the major categories. You can follow along and print your own ballot here. Good luck to nominees and Oscar pool participants alike!
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie and Chad Pick the 2025 Oscars”
That a studio exec thought Last Breath might bring in box office dollars is curious. A documentary about the same story, with the same name, by the same filmmaker, came out in 2019. But now, some six years later, in his first feature film, writer/director Alex Parkinson presents a fictionalized version. My guess is that Parkinson wanted to try his hand at feature films, and probably felt that using a story with which he was already familiar would be an easy route into the genre. Unfortunately for us, Parkinson’s maiden attempt at dramatizing previously covered real-life material falls flat.
Continue reading “Film Review: “Last Breath””
Cleaner is the type of B-movie matinee you watch while getting ready to meet friends for dinner, or a mysterious title on your streaming platform’s home page that you indifferently hit ‘play’ as you finish the NY Times crossword before heading to bed, only to find yourself having not solved a single clue ninety-five minutes later. You’ll rarely seek the film out, but you’ll welcome its breezy distraction. Cleaner is co-directed by executive producer Sébastien Raybaud (Femme) and Martin Campbell, but the latter’s surefootedness as an action director enables Cleaner to rise above its ham-fisted script. Campbell’s filmography includes iconic brand re-launches like The Mask of Zorro, Goldeneye, and Casino Royale, silly B-movie spectacles like Vertical Limit and The Foreigner, and a few cringe-y flops like Beyond Borders and The Green Lantern. Cleaner fits within the second grouping: a silly actioner with its entertainment value and narrative absurdity evenly matched. Continue reading “Film Review: “Cleaner””
Three Birthdays, an indie that played a few small film festivals in 2023 and 2024 is now available to stream, and that it didn’t get wider distribution is no surprise. Director Jane Weinstock and writer Nevin Schreiner seem to have taken their inspiration from The Ice Storm, Ang Lee’s 1997 award-winning tale of 1970s suburban ennui. But Three Birthdays is no Ice Storm, and its cringey premise and sophomoric script certainly don’t merit a recommendation. Continue reading “Film Review: “Three Birthdays””
With the air waves dominated by the Super Bowl this weekend, you could be forgiven for not noticing a charmer of smart and sweet Canadian indie film that quietly dropped on streaming services on Friday. But with the Big Game now over, seek out Suze, a Canadian film festival gem from 2023 that’s finally available to U.S. audiences. Warm, funny, and engaging, this film deserves a spot at the top of your “must watch” list.
Continue reading “Film Review: “Suze””
Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose deserve better. The two Supporting Actor Oscar winners, for Everything Everywhere All At Once and West Side Story, respectively, can tackle dramatic and comedic material while holding an audience’s most focused attention. When used right, Quan and DeBose can elevate a film from good to great. Unfortunately, Love Hurts isn’t good. Instead, Love Hurts results from an inexperienced filmmaker who doesn’t understand how to utilize the valuable toys he has to play with. The film is excruciatingly overwritten and poorly edited, with Quan’s inherent charm as its sole saving grace. Continue reading “Film Review: “Love Hurts””
You’re Cordially Invited is built around the sort of romantic-comedy conceit you’d find supporting a plethora of its ilk from the 1990s and early 2000s: a wedding venue is unknowingly double-booked by two eccentric families. This logline is a promising opportunity for comedic hijinks, set-pieces, and confrontations. Unfortunately, You’re Cordially Invited stumbles through its vignette-styled plot without a shred of consideration for how and why anything is happening. Despite noble attempts by the film’s two leads, Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, to hold it afloat, You’re Cordially Invited is a middling straight-to-streaming title, destined to play unwatched in the background of more engaging home activities. Continue reading “Film Review: “You’re Cordially Invited””