Films – Page 45 – Spinning Platters

Film Review: Everybody Wants Some!!

Nobody will want any of Linklater’s tedious newest

Remember that time in college when you sat around your buddy’s room, listening to records, smoking pot and talking about Carl Sagan and old Twilight Zone episodes? Or that time you went to a super freaky party thrown by theater majors? Or that time your housemate got totally bent because you beat him at ping pong? You don’t? Well, writer/director Richard Linklater sure does, and he’s going to make you relive all those experiences and more in his meandering, occasionally funny, but mostly dull new picture Everybody Wants Some!! When you need not one, but two exclamation points to take the place of genuine excitement in your film, you know you’re in trouble. Continue reading “Film Review: Everybody Wants Some!!”

Film Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Why so serious?

Face to face. Angry man v angry man. Grumble v grumble. — Face to face. Brooder v brooder. Mano y mano (with guns and gadgets)

“Hey everyone, Batman is fighting Superman!” <<everyone rushes to the schoolyard>> “Aw, is it over?” “Yeah, it didn’t last long and it wasn’t too exciting, but they promised to fight someone else together next time.” There you have it — that’s a pretty good summary of the disappointing DC tent event, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. What ends up functioning as a 2 hr 40 min movie trailer for an pending Justice League movie is enjoyable at times but mostly a mess of style over substance. Anyone familiar, and probably critical, of director Zack Snyder’s work won’t be surprised by this. There was so much (tentative) hype for BvS that it would’ve been nearly impossible for it to live up to the expectations, but hey, The Force Awakens pulled it off so BvS has no excuse. BvS is disappointing on so many levels, save a surprisingly stellar Ben Affleck as Batman, because its favors more over less, background over foreground, and a serious tone over a fun one.

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Show Review: ‘E.T. the Extra Terrestrial’ Live in Concert with the SF Symphony

All the music. All the magic. All the feels.

Screen Shot 2016-03-23 at 10.17.41 PM

I haven’t seen E.T. in twenty years, but by the time the credits rolled I had teary eyes and the theme song wonderfully repeating itself in my head. My girlfriend sitting next to me exclaimed, “my track record of crying every time I see E.T. is still intact”. That’s the power of Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, and there really was no better way to watch the film than with live orchestral accompaniment at the San Francisco Symphony.

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Film Review: Hello, My Name is Doris

May-December romance story is a terrific showcase for Field

Longtime BFFs Roz (Tyne Daly, l.) and Doris (Sally Field) attend a self-help seminar given by Willy Williams (Peter Gallagher).

The problem with a film like Hello, My Name is Doris, which features an eccentric character in a broadly comic situation, is that if not handled well, it runs the risk of making fun of both its central character and the situation in which it places her. Fortunately, writer/director Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter) avoids this trap by bringing sensitivity and graceful humor to the story of an older woman falling for a younger man, and, by doing so, provides Sally Field, as the titular Doris, with her best role in years. Continue reading “Film Review: Hello, My Name is Doris”

Film Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane

Perfectly thrilling from beginning to end.

10 Cloverfield Lane is the “sequel” of sorts to the J.J. Abrams produced 2008 found-footage monster movie, Cloverfield. At least that’s what its meant to be — or rather a spin-off/anthology story. In all honesty, I’ve never seen a “sequel” be so distinct in style and substance from its predecessor. And this is for the best, since 10 Cloverfield Lane is a remarkable old-school thriller that aims to build upon the world set up in Cloverfield, rather than be confined by the latter’s story elements. It’s also been a while since I’ve been so nervous watching a film! Once 10 Cloverfield Lane hooks you in, you’re strapped in for an intense, unrelenting ride executed to near perfection via sharp direction and A-game acting.

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Film Review: Knight of Cups

Malick’s stream of consciousness goes to Hollywood.

Christian Bale is a Hollywood Knight...of cups. — Christian Bale is a Hollywood Knight…of cups.

For the most part, you’re either a fan of Terrence Malick or you’re not. There isn’t a whole lot of middle ground, considering the polarizing style of his films — they’re sort of poetic streams of consciousness in the form of montages and existential voice-overs. His early masterpieces, like Days of Heaven and Badlands (and even The Thin Red Line) paved the way for, arguably, his magnum opus, The Tree of Life. Since then he’s delivered hit-or-miss cinematic experiences that are stories built upon the interpretation of the collection of images on the screen. Not to say that Malick doesn’t have a complete understanding grasp of his own products, but it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think he may not, and purposefully so. And now there’s Knight of Cups, Malick’s newest existential experience. This time, the experience is centered around one man’s journey in Hollywood, his success and failure, of the rich and poor around him, his dreams and his fate, and with a central heartbeat to it all in the form of tarot cards. What’s not to like!? Well, there’s a lot that feels pretentious and aimless, and accidentally so. But there’s also a lot in Knight of Cups that overflows with meaning and beauty, and those moments make KoC just rewarding enough to enjoy watching.

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Film Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Fey brings depth, dry wit to war correspondent role

American reporter Kim Baker (Tina Fey) reports on a story from Afghanistan.

I walked into Book Passage in the Ferry Building the other day and noticed it had a display of books labeled as movie tie-ins; the title Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was among them. Having seen the trailer for the Tina Fey-helmed film (she both produces, along with her old Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels, and stars in the picture), and knowing I’d be reviewing the movie, I was curious, and picked up a copy from the large stack. I was immediately confused, as the book in my hand was about a female photographer in Iraq, not a reporter in Afghanistan, which I knew the Fey film was supposed to be about. What was going on? Did the producers change the story that much?

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Film Review: Zootopia

So good it might as well feature humans, but then it wouldn’t be as good.

The DMV scene that has everybody laughing hysterically!

Zootopia has all the makings of a classic Pixar film. Everything except the emotional heft. But seriously, it has absolutely everything else going for it — it’s inventive, beautifully animated, smart, funny, and well-rounded. Just because it doesn’t make you cry shouldn’t be any reason to think less of this Disney entry, though it’ll inevitably be compared to recent Pixar films (I’ve already been asked if it’s as good as Inside Out, which it isn’t, but it’s more re-watchable). Two of Zootopia‘s directors are Byron Howard (Bolt, Tangled) and Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph), so you know that the sense of humor will be quick-witted and charming, and the characters quirky and varied. But more significantly than that, Zootopia sustains a maximum sense of fun while simultaneously tackling social issues with more finesse than most films.

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Film Review: London Has Fallen

Implausible and ridiculous, London falls hard.

Gerard Butler, despite a big gun, misses the mark by a long shot.

I really wanted another Olympus Has Fallen, the action-packed guilty pleasure of 2013. I was ready for explosions and gunfire and John McClane-type odds. London Has Fallen missed the mark on every single one of my expectations. The explosions looked hokey, the level of implausibility was off the charts, and despite the John McClane-type odds, the action never rose to fully excitable heights. Gerard Butler has the same charisma he’s always had, but the movie (which he produced) doesn’t do him any favors — simplifying his one-note wise-cracking character to a gun wielding one-note wise-cracking character. Sure, it serves the ultra-generic action movie plot well, but when the best line he utters is “F-ck me? F-ck you!”, you know that another minute or two could’ve been spent fleshing out his character’s persona a bit more. Needless to say, Butler is still the best part of London Has Fallen, demonstrating his physical action hero gravitas in a sea of utter muck.

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Film Review: Triple 9

Call in a 999 on this picture: Talented cast can’t save derivative crime story

Atlanta cops Chris (Casey Affleck, l.) and Marcus (Anthony Mackie, r.) are ready for action.

If you’re a fan of dark, atmospheric, incomprehensible crime thrillers, then wow, is today ever your lucky day. With Triple 9, Australian director John Hillcoat (The Road; Lawless) and first-time feature film screenwriter Matt Cook have crafted one of the darkest, moodiest, and totally nonsensical crime dramas in recent memory. As an added bonus, the film boasts a terrific cast, although they are mostly wasted as they gamely try to make their way through this puzzling, often dull, inchoate picture.

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