Films – Page 19 – Spinning Platters

Film Review: “The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It”

The devil went up to Connecticut; he was lookin’ for a soul to steal

Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) stands up to evil.

Now is a great time to go to the movies (assuming you’ve had at least one, and ideally both, vaccine jabs). The long hiatus from theater-going means that even the most mediocre films will benefit greatly from being seen on a large screen, blasting through surround sound systems, and riding the energy of an exuberant audience. The third installation of The Conjuring movies, not including the Conjuring universe spin-offs Annabelle, The Nun, and La Llorona, is not mediocre by any means.

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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 Feature: SFFILM 2021 Festival Spotlight #3 – “Home” Review

When doing the time isn’t enough for doing the crime

Marvin (Jake McLaughlin) returns home after 17 years in prison.

American cinema and television thoroughly covers the events leading up to someone’s arrest, trial and conviction or exoneration. But what happens after prison, when the convicted must return to their community, and face an entirely different kind of trial? Continue reading “Film Feature: SFFILM 2021 Festival Spotlight #3 — “Home” Review”

Film Feature: SFFILM 2021 Festival Spotlight #2 – “Supercool” Review

Filmic FOMO

Gilbert (left) and Neil (right) Just Dance at a high school party.

Oh, that Superbad, that super, super, somewhat bad 2007 film that spawned, or launched, or squirted out a thousand imitators. Well, maybe ten or so, but it sure feels like a thousand. Supercool, the subject of this review, and an entry in the 2021 San Francisco International Film Festival, is a tag-along that desperately, and I mean desperately, wants to get into the big kids’ party. It’s the lonely, undersexed, over-analyzed teen with a gawky face, messy hair, and a loopy gait who spends all night looking for the party, only to find it’s been broken up by the cops. Continue reading “Film Feature: SFFILM 2021 Festival Spotlight #2 — “Supercool” Review”

Film Feature: SFFILM 2021 Festival Spotlight #1 – Strawberry Mansion Review

Dream logic, logically dreamed

James Preble (Kentucky Audley) scans dreams to audit — VHS makes a comeback.

The writer, director, actor, and veteran Samuel Fuller is said to have remarked that the only way to make a truly realistic war film is to fill a theater full of patrons, then have soldiers shoot at them from behind the screen. No matter how realistic, a war film is still a film.
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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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