Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
After having to watch the bulk of our films from our living rooms in 2020, the slow but sure return to cinemas in 2021 was more than welcome. And the year rewarded us with many Top 10 list worthy contenders. I’ve narrowed mine down to the list below. You can also check out fellow film writer Chris Piper’s list here, as well as my 2020 list here. Now stop reading lists, and go seek these out!
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2021”
2021 in American cinema was remarkable in how it seemed so… normal. Whatever the numbers say, my feeling was that the year started a little slowly, then found its footing around March, then kicked into something like a normal gear over the summer. As fall approached, and it seemed to me more theaters reopened, a slate of films pretty much like those in 2019 awaited. Winter seemed to bring somewhat larger than normal crop of smaller-budget films, and here we are, at the end of the year with a number of solid films released, awards season in full swing, and waiting for Oscar noms in just over a month.
So here are my top 10 films of 2021. See these 10 films in any order you want, preferably in the theater, but on your couch if you must. Here’s hoping for more of more of the same in 2022. Continue reading “Film Feature: Chris Piper’s Top 10 Films of 2021”
George Clooney wears his director hat for The Tender Bar, and with a script by William Monahan (The Departed) and Ben Affleck in the lead, the film, on paper, seems full of promising cred. So imagine my disappointment, then, as I watched the movie and the whole thing felt… familiar. Unoriginal. Cliche. The picture has a few decent performances, but sadly is ultimately forgettable.
First, a heads up about the new movie Encounter: it is *not* a sci-fi movie. Despite the title, trailer, and marketing copy all seemingly indicating that’s what we’re in for, the film’s publicity team has done a bait and switch. So if you’re a huge sci-fi fan and think the trailer looks intriguing — as I did — know that instead what you’re getting with this picture is actually a serviceable psychological drama. I’ll also warn you that if you get stressed out by watching gross creepy insects and children in peril, this picture probably isn’t for you.
If you feel like you need some motivation to get back in shape after your long Thanksgiving weekend of feasting and resting, I recommend you watch the new Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible stat. The film tells the story of Nepali mountaineer Nirmal “Nims” Purja, who became the first person to summit all 14 of the world’s highest peaks in under seven months. The feat–and the movie about it–are both exceptional and inspiring.
Continue reading “Film Review: “14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible””
“Boy, the holidays are rough. Every year I just try to get from the day before Thanksgiving to the day after New Year’s,” the late great screenwriter Nora Ephron has Harry (Billy Crystal) comment to Sally (Meg Ryan) in the 1989 classic When Harry Met Sally. “A lot of suicides,” Sally dryly replies. Some 30 years later, Pennsylvania-born playwright and first-time filmmaker Stephen Karam has given us The Humans, a Thanksgiving-set film that illustrates Harry’s point. In keeping with the spirit of the holiday, though, thankfully, the picture lacks Sally’s cynicism.
The last based-on-real-life tennis move I reviewed was Battle of the Sexes back in 2017, a jaunty yet powerful look at the infamous 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Just as that movie was about so much more than solely tennis, so too is King Richard, a film that takes place nearly 20 years later, and, while ostensibly about the early lives of tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams, is actually about race, class, parenting, and marriage. But the picture features plenty of nail-biting tennis matches, too, for the true tennis aficionado.
Writer/director Kenneth Branagh, best known for his Shakespeare adaptations, turns his attention from the Elizabethan era to late 1960s Northern Ireland in his new film Belfast. The time and place offer as much drama and conflict as anything by the Bard, but Branagh’s nostalgic film, a black and white period piece based on his own boyhood, feels lightweight and forgettable despite its dramatic context.
Given the excess of coverage and plethora of media portrayals of Diana, the late Princess of Wales, that Chilean director Pablo Larraín would choose her as the subject of his new film feels somewhat odd. Do we really need another look at Diana and the royal family and all their dysfunction? If you’re a fan of The Crown, you may already have had your fill, but if you’re still curious for even more on the inner workings of the Windsors and Diana’s psyche, then Larraín’s Spencer may be for you.
You’d be forgiven if, when you saw the poster or trailer for Last Night in Soho, you assumed it would be some sort of edgy, stylized, dark humor-filled picture. After all, the film’s director is Edgar Wright, of Baby Driver, Shaun of the Dead, and The World’s End fame. The film’s marketers seem to be seizing on fans’ perception of Wright to sell the film, but make no mistake – this movie is markedly different from the rest. Above all else, this picture is a horror movie, and an exceptionally bloody one at that, making its Halloween weekend release appropriate.