Films – Page 66 – Spinning Platters

Spinning Platters Interview: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Joseph Gordon-Levitt directing for the first time.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has exactly the air about him that you’d expect — polite, well-dressed, and charming as heck. His latest film, Don Jon, which marks his debut as a writer and director, also stars Gordon-Levitt as a womanizing, body building, porn addict who begins a romantic relationship with a romantic, traditional, sexy young woman played by Scarlett Johansson. It’s a romantic comedy about unhealthy expectations, but Gordon-Levitt expects that it’ll resonate well with audiences. Along with a few other journalists, I sat down with the actor/writer/director (or “Joe” as he introduced himself) and asked about his experience making Don Jon…

What inspired you to choose this particular story for your directorial and writing debut?

Well, I’ve been working as an actor since I was young. Probably because of that, I’ve always paid a lot of attention to the way that TV and movies and all kinds of media affect how we see the world. I think, sometimes, the things we see in the media give us certain unrealistic expectations for life, and especially for love and sex and relationships. I wanted to tell a story about that. I thought a good way to do it would be to have a comedy about a boyfriend and a girlfriend where the guy watches too much pornography and the girl watches too many romantic Hollywood movies. They both have these unrealistic expectations and keep missing each other.

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Spinning Platters Interview: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, writer/director of “C.O.G.”

C.O.G. writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez

For the first time, a David Sedaris work has been adapted for the big screen. Kyle Patrick Alvarez, the young filmmaker that helmed the acclaimed indie, Easier With Practice (2010), received the great (and very first) honor of a green light from Sedaris and co. to move forward on an adaptation of the short story, C.O.G. I met up with Mr. Alvarez at Luca in West Hollywood to discuss C.O.G.’s journey to the big screen. After some tea and pleasantries, and some friendly banter about other summer flicks like The To Do List and Kings of Summer, we dove in…

How has the festival circuit been treating you?

It’s been good. It’s been different. My first movie didn’t get into any major festivals at all. We really had to fight for it to get into festivals and fight for people to see it. And this time around, getting into Sundance just set a precedent and made it a little easier. The festivals that are going to be interested in your movie will seek you out. Not to say I haven’t inquired about some festivals I’ve wanted to be a part of, but, it does take a little bit of the leg work out of it. So it’s been good. It’s been weird too, a lot of young filmmakers think ‘well you know, it’s a movie so it should play at festivals’ but they don’t ever ask themselves, which festivals and why. Having sold our film out of Sundance, it became about making sure we’re playing the right cities, where we’ll open the movie later down the line, so that people can see it there and be aware of it. It’s just a different strategy, but it’s been great!

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Film Review: Riddick

Vin Diesel fans will be overjoyed. The rest of us will pick it apart.

Don't miss with Vin. He'll knife you without hesitation. — Don’t mess with Vin. He’ll knife you without hesitation.

I’ll admit it up front. I only saw Riddick as a favor to my fiancee. She’s got this thing about Vin Diesel that a lot of people have. He’s a real love-him-or-hate-him kind of guy. There was a time back in the ’90s when it looked like he was going to get a shot as a serious actor. His roles in Boiler Room and Find Me Guilty were well received, but now if you want to see Mr. Diesel, it’s in a Fast and Furious movie, or it’s as the titular character, Riddick. Continue reading “Film Review: Riddick”

Film Review: I Give It a Year

The anti-rom com: When “I do” becomes “Actually, I might not”

Josh (Rafe Spall) and Nat (Rose Byrne) optimistically share a dance at their wedding.

Two weeks ago, I reviewed the insipid Austenland, a banal, predictable, utterly forgettable romantic comedy. This week, however, I am happy to report that I have found its antithesis with I Give It a Year, an edgy, brilliantly funny British romantic comedy that is as fresh and inspired as Austenland is stale and uninspired. If a film like Austenland makes you think you hate romantic comedies, then you owe it to yourself to go see I Give It a Year, which, I promise you, not only will make you laugh, but will also give you a newfound appreciation for the genre’s possibilities. Continue reading “Film Review: I Give It a Year”

Film Review: Drinking Buddies

When Luke met Kate: Can drunk men and women ever be just friends?

Olivia Wilde’s Kate and Jake Johnson’s Luke are drinking buddies… and maybe more.

Watching Joe Swanberg’s new film Drinking Buddies is a bit like spending a summer evening out having beers with friends. The beers are cool and tasty, the company is good, the conversation can run the gamut from light, playful, and flirty to serious and intense, and the whole experience is decidedly pleasant. Of course, when you awake the next morning, you may only have a hazy recollection of having had a nice time, and by day’s end, you probably will have forgotten much of what transpired. But that’s not to say the diversion wasn’t worth it. Continue reading “Film Review: Drinking Buddies”

Film Review: Short Term 12

Strong performances anchor lovely story of compassion, hope

Brie Larson’s Grace lends a sympathetic ear to Keith Stanfield’s Marcus in Short Term 12.

After writer/director Destin Cretton graduated from college, he took a job in a group home for troubled teenagers. Years later, for his film school thesis, he created a short film loosely based on his experiences, which went on to win the Jury Prize for short filmmaking at Sundance in 2009. He has now turned that 20-minute short into a feature-length film of the same name, Short Term 12, and the result is a truly beautiful piece of cinema that speaks to the transcendent power of kindness, understanding, and love. Continue reading “Film Review: Short Term 12”

Film Review: Austenland

No sense and no sensibility: Jane Austen as uninspired rom-com

Jennifer Coolidge, Keri Russell, and Georgia King are living the Jane Austen dream in Austenland.

With Austenland, first-time director Jerusha Hess (one half of the husband/wife team that wrote Napoleon Dynamite) has turned Shannon Hale’s popular novel into a dippy, run-of-the mill, predictable romantic comedy. The novel’s fans may be the only audience for this dud, and even then their enjoyment no doubt will stem purely from the curiosity of seeing how the story translates to the screen. Everyone else would be better entertained by staying home and reading an actual Jane Austen novel. Continue reading “Film Review: Austenland”

Part One of the Spinning Platters Interview: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of The World’s End

Maybe we can get a fourth movie in this trilogy if we ask nicely.

Tomorrow sees the U.S. release of The World’s End, the third film in a so-called trilogy of films from Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting around a table with a group of San Francisco film writers to talk with them for a few minutes. Those few minutes became a lot more minutes, as once they started talking, they had a lot to say. Part one of this two-part interview will touch on subjects such as traveling to England, Raising Arizona, and putting peanuts in a log. Come back tomorrow for part two of this interview, and a review of the movie as well.

You mentioned during a post-film Q&A that you wanted to show parts of England that weren’t London, but then these parts of England that aren’t London have zombies, they have murderers, they have what we see in this movie …

Edgar Wright: Which is basically saying “Don’t go to England.” Continue reading “Part One of the Spinning Platters Interview: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of The World’s End”

Reflections on the 18th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival: The Sound (And Seasons) of Silence

The intoxicating, nostalgic scent of freshly popped, earthy corn merging with the salty richness of melting butter permeating the air is a familiar movie theatre setting. At the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, where the annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) is held, our olfactory senses are still treated to this familiar comfort and all seems like a typical Castro event, at first. Not that the Castro Theatre is your ordinary strip-mall movie experience to begin with, however. The majestic landmark building, built in 1922, has grand stairways, a charismatic Wurlitzer organ, 1937 Art Deco chandelier, rare scrafitto wall décor, seats over 1400 patrons, and weekly shows “repertory cinema, foreign films, film festivals and special first run presentations,” as well as favorite cult classics, and occasionally hosts special live theatrical or sing-along events. It is certainly a major source of pride in San Francisco. Once you move past the enticing phantom of popcorn aroma lingering in the lobby and take a seat, the heavy, old-fashioned curtains part like a luxurious and dramatic movement Isadora Duncan would be proud of.

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Film Review: Jobs

“Jobs” is uninspired and constantly misses the mark…unlike Steve Jobs.

Ashton Kutcher does a serviceable impersonation, including a Jobs pose.

Most of us know about Apple, Inc. If you were born in the early 80s, you may even remember many of the corporate controversies, lawsuits, etc. that Apple had to trudge through before profitability in the late 90s. If you were born later, it’s likely you’ve heard of these events, anyway. We also have an appreciation for the design, innovation, and use of their products and show it by making purchases. When we purchase an Apple product, we are acknowledging the brilliant mind for business and technological innovation that Steve Jobs had. But acknowledgement is one thing, and understanding is another, and what most of us don’t know and can’t find through a simple Google search, is extensive information about the man himself and why he did what he did. Jobs, the new biopic starring Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, does not shed any light on the subject, instead giving us a standard (and repetitious) timeline of the company…which isn’t that interesting on screen.

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