A witty, efficient, and quirky little tale of an oddball in an odd situation.
Steve Coogan as the odd radio DJ, Alan Partridge
Alan Partridge is a new film centered around a beloved fictional radio host/DJ character created by Steve Coogan and friends for the BBC series, On The Hour. An unknown to most American audiences, Partridge is precisely the type of neurotic, awkward, and narcissistic underdog that we love to watch and cheer for (like Ron Burgandy). The film is a bizarre tale involving an absurd but charming chain of events. There are moments when the story comes very close to crossing into unfunny territory, but instead it rides the line without sacrificing its tempo. There’s something quite wonderful about a comedy that knows how to get in and get out whilst fulfilling all the requirements of the genre, and Steve Coogan seems to be the mastermind behind it all.
Spinning Platters highlights some films from the 57th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF), which opens this Thursday, April 24th, and runs through May 8th at various theaters in San Francisco and Berkeley. Program notes and tickets available here.
This movie will dance its way into your heart … or something like that.
Nick Frost stars in the Nick Frost vehicle, Cuban Fury
There’s a type of comedy movie called the star vehicle. It’s an old fashioned concept, but basically, it’s when you take a funny person and write a movie around him that plays to his strengths as a comic actor. That’s what Cuban Fury is. It’s a chance for Nick Frost to do Nick Frost things with a strong supporting cast, and as this sort of film, it absolutely works.
Warning: This film may offend filmmakers, women, and football fans.
Kevin Costner mulls over his decision to be in this film.
What’s wrong with the above image? That’s correct, those black and white photos on the wall behind Kevin Costner are photographs of football, not baseball. Kevin Costner has starred in some of the greatest baseball movies of all time. He’s well known for his love of our national pastime. So why take a crack at a football movie? It’s hard to blame the filmmakers for attempting to bring some entertainment value to the behind-the-scenes world of football, specifically the strategizing and efforts put into the bizarre tradition that is the NFL draft day. Such a behind-the-scenes attempt worked for Moneyball (2011). But Draft Day falls flat because the storyline is carried on the shoulders of contrived characters, a pathetic depiction of a female executive in the sports world, and very poor editing choices.
The surprise 2011 hit, Captain America: The First Avenger, succeeded because the iconic yet campy superhero received a modern injection of cinematic energy and solid storytelling. The main reason for the Captain’s successful re-emergence into mainstream pop culture was the charisma and multi-generational appeal of actor Chris Evans. Evans returns in his third stint as the star-spangled rescuer in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a film with another solid plot extracted from the Marvel universe, a fantastic grip on character arcs and relationships, and an epic sense of scale that, obviously, takes place in a post-Avengers universe.
Last we left Joe, she had just been broken down with the tragic realization that she couldn’t feel anything. Her years of sexual escapades and experimentation had left her suddenly numb, cold, distant, and depressed…and this is the new Joe that we get to follow in Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Volume II, the second half of his sexual cinematic odyssey. Needless to say, this sequel of sorts doesn’t live up to the emotional gravitas and observational humor of Volume I, instead settling for a few interesting thoughts but mostly von Trier’s penchant for gratuitous sexual violence and plenty of shock value.
Deneuve’s compelling performance salvages run-of-the-mill French dramedy
Catherine Deneuve’s Bettie and Nemo Schiffman’s Charly share a tranquil moment in On My Way.
With her new film On My Way, French writer/director Emmanuelle Bercot has made a fairly standard finding-yourself-late-in-life picture (see About Schmidt and Something’s Gotta Give, among others), with the saving grace that the inestimable Catherine Deneuve is its star. Deneuve elevates what could have been a dime-a-dozen quirky French dramedy into a picture worth watching, if only for her performance. Continue reading “Film Review: On My Way”
Artistic ambition meets financial disappointment in a beautifully told story
Can someone print this book? I want to buy this book.
The phrase “The Greatest Movie Never Made” is often used by film fans. It can refer to Kubrick’s Napoleon, Orson Welles’ Heart of Darkness, or even the Nick Cave scripted Gladiator 2 (Maximus returns from the dead!). Now with the release of a new documentary, the newest title holder is Alejandro Jodorowsky’s adaptation of Dune, which was to be his follow-up to The Holy Mountain. Losing the chance to see the classic George Herbert Sci Fi novel Dune being put through the cutting edge kaleidoscopic lens of Jodorowsky is a cinematic kick in the balls for film fanatics. Continue reading “Film Review: Jodorowsky’s Dune”
Don’t let the above image fool you. This is not a fun, explosive, Arnold film. When a movie trailer brags that it features the director of End of Watch and the writer of Training Day, ears perk up! So why doesn’t this film even come close to capturing the cinematic value of these two prior films?…It’s because Sabotage, the new film directed by David Ayer (Street Kings) and starring the former Governator (Collateral Damage), is a load of gruesome violence packaged into a cop drama wannabe that lacks purpose and explanation…as well as non-expletive dialogue.
Nearly a year after Ernest & Celestine screened at the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival, this charming French animated film is finally being released into U.S. theaters (in the Bay Area on 3/28). I’ve been eagerly awaiting this moment, since Ernest & Celestine was not only one of my favorite films of 2013, but also one of my favorite animated films of all time. At last year’s SFIFF, Benjamin Renner, co-director of the film, was simultaneously exhausted, excited, and relieved that the film was getting such a great response. With his friends waiting to go celebrate over a few drinks, Mr. Renner was kind enough to sit down with me at the Sundance Kabuki, just outside the auditorium where his film just finished screening, to discuss his experience…
Chad: How did you first get involved with this film?
Benjamin Renner: I started working on this when I just left school. I didn’t know anything except that it was an adaptation of the books by Gabrielle Vincent. The producer, Didier Brunner, the one who made Triplets of Belleville and Kirikou and the Sorceress, really famous in France, asked me if I could help work on this film. So I started reading the books, Ernest & Celestine, and I was so impressed by the books, the drawings, and everything. So I said, ‘I really want to work on this. Whatever position you want to give me. Even if I’m making coffee, I don’t care, it’s perfect.’ I really wanted to work on the animation, especially. So I started making him small animations. He loved it and said that I could work on the film. So that’s how I got involved. I was not a director, just a lead animator.
