Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
In 2018, writer/director Paul King’s Paddington 2 earned the coveted number one spot on my Top 10 list. After a few years working in television, King has returned to the big screen with his Paddington 2 co-writer Simon Farnaby to bring us Wonka. The picture is a similarly delightful and warmhearted holiday treat.
The hesitation that I had, and I imagine many people will have, about seeing The Zone of Interest was the fear of having more Holocaust imagery seared into my memory. There have been many Holocaust films made, all difficult to watch, and almost all important to see. It’s necessary that films, books, and oral testimonials accurately depict Nazi atrocities, so that they are never forgotten. That being said, it’s hard to be “in the mood” for a Holocaust film. Shortly into watching The Zone of Interest, I understood that the film’s intentions were not the same as previous Holocaust films. The Zone of Interest is as much about what you do see as what you don’t see, which is just as harrowing, if not more so. The film depicts the banality of evil, showing us a story of chilling complacency.
Cord Jefferson has been a writer on a few of the most celebrated television shows of the last six years, including Master of None, The Good Place, Watchmen, and Station Eleven. Transitioning to films, he makes his writing and directing debut with American Fiction. Jefferson focuses all his storytelling wit on creating a prescient satire, and as a result, American Fiction becomes not only a powerful introductory statement for the filmmaker but also one of the year’s finest cinematic works.
Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has divided audiences as long as he’s been making movies. To help you resurface some opinionated rage and confusion, or delight, his films include Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and The Favourite. His films bend surrealism together with absurdism, glittered with idiosyncratic dialogue and characters. They also don’t shy away from weirdness and sex, or weird sex, even. Lanthimos implores you to face brutal honesty and vulnerability, and Poor Things is no different. Cradled within a vibrantly designed world in which to explore themes of sexual freedom and liberation, Poor Things is a masterpiece of creative ambitions.
Remember Peter Pan? Remember Snow White? Do you remember them, they’re on Disney+ right now! These half-hearted, frantic, nostalgic questions, and brand reminders, seem to be at the heart of Disney’s new animated film, Wish, which bears the weight of Disney’s 100th anniversary celebration. Borrowing the beautiful simplicity of Disney’s most iconic song, “When You Wish Upon A Star,” Wish twists the song’s message into a convoluted plot with forgettable characters. The film is a new fairytale that catchy tunes and pretty animation can’t rescue.
Sir Ridley Scott, the legendary director of Blade Runner, Alien, and Gladiator, is eighty-five. In an impressive stretch for his age (or any age) and profession, he has directed eight feature films in the last decade, with Gladiator 2 slated for next year. Who can blame Scott for working so prolifically — he loves making movies! It’s a treat to have a talented filmmaker churn out a steady flow of films, covering a wide range of genres. His latest, Napoleon, adds another historical epic to his filmography. Despite a few off-kilter artistic choices, Napoleon is an astounding visual achievement, a throwback Hollywood epic that only a few directors, like Scott, can still deliver.
Filmmakers who take big swings deserve appreciation for taking the risk, even if the swing results in a miss. Director Alexander Payne (Nebraska) took such a swing six years ago with Downsizing, a polarizing if not much-maligned film. Thus, it was refreshing to hear the promising news that Payne was reuniting with his Sideways star, Paul Giamatti, for a new dramedy. The Holdovers is as sad, clever, and intelligent as the best of Payne’s work, but with a surprising lighthearted touch that places it firmly amidst some of the most classic holiday films, and amongst the filmmaker’s best work. Continue reading “Film Review: “The Holdovers””
Meg Ryan, star of such classic Nora Ephron-penned rom-coms as When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seattle, tries her hand at directing, co-writing, and starring in her own rom-com, and the results are disastrous. What this picture is is debatable, but one thing’s for sure: it’s neither rom nor com. The fact that Ryan dedicates the film to the late great Ephron only serves as a reminder of those halcyon days of far better Ephron-Ryan helmed vehicles.
When considering last year’s Baz Luhrmann film Elvis (if you will humor me for a moment), it’s a challenge to identify a more tonal antithesis than Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. Where Elvis is noisy and energetic, Priscilla is quiet and mellow. Where Elvis is over-the-top and wide-reaching, Priscilla is narrow and understated. They are two vastly different films focused on two vastly different characters. Priscilla, though, is the better film. The comparisons are inevitable, despite their distinct objectives. Priscilla represents a delicate portrayal of Priscilla Presley’s experience with Elvis, from meetup to breakup, almost exclusively from her point of view. Continue reading “Film Review: “Priscilla””
If you’re looking to take the family out for a Halloween movie this week, you could do worse than Five Nights at Freddy’s. It’s rated PG-13, which already makes it more kid- friendly than most R-rated Halloween fare. The rating no doubt was purposeful, so as to allow legions of young fans access: the film is based on a hugely popular video game of the same name. I’ve never played the game, so I may not be the film’s target audience, but as a lightweight horror movie, it’s amusing enough for a mixed audience of game fans, non-fans, kids and adults. The scares are mostly fun, the gore level is mostly low, and the plot is mostly silly.