starring: Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Jacki Weaver
screenplay: Wentworth Miller
directed by: Chan-wook Park
MPAA: Rated R for disturbing violence and sexual content.
Film Review: Stoker
Category: Films
Film Review: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
starring: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin
screenplay: John Francis Daley & Jonathan M. Goldstein
director: Don Scardino
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sexual content, dangerous stunts, a drug related incident and language. Continue reading “Film Review: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”
Midnight Music Movies at The New Parkway: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
For our second month of Spinning Platters’ Midnight Music Movies we are presenting the fabulous Hedwig and the Angry Inch at The New Parkway in Oakland. When compiling our list of music movies Hedwig flew to the top of my list. Not only is it full of amazing music but the humor, camp and punk-ness was just made to play at midnight. Hopefully you already want to buy your tickets, but if you aren’t sure give me five minutes to convince you. Continue reading “Midnight Music Movies at The New Parkway: Hedwig and the Angry Inch”
Farewell from Your Film Editor
Well guys, the time has come for me to give the world what it so desperately needs: another blog! After much soul-searching, I’ve decided to venture out on my own and start my own pop culture blog. It’s called The Binge, and I’ll be writing about film, music, and television. It’s live now, so you should visit it! And like it on Facebook! And what the hell, follow me on Twitter. If you’d like to continue reading the movie reviews and interviews I’ve been writing for Spinning Platters these last few years, you’ll find them there. Hell, I’ve already started! I may still pop up on this excellent website from time to time, but The Binge will be my home now. I can honestly say that covering film for Spinning Platters has changed my life, and I’m so grateful for having had the opportunity to share my completely unqualified opinions about movies with you. So let’s keep going, shall we?
Film Review: Safe Haven
starring: Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel, David Lyons, Cobie Smulders
screenplay: Leslie Bohem and Dana Stevens
directed by: Lasse Hallström
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving threatening behavior, and for violence and sexuality.
Spinning Platters Interview: Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert on Beautiful Creatures [VIDEO]
On paper, Beautiful Creatures may look like just another film adaptation of a bestselling YA series about a supernatural romance. Alden Ehrenreich stars as Ethan, a restless high schooler in podunk Gatlin, South Carolina, who yearns to break free from the oppressive small-mindedness and cultural atrophy of his hometown. Ethan is charming enough to seem like a standard-issue popular guy, but in private his tastes lean toward the cerebral (he is a voracious reader of banned books) and he dreams of the day he’ll leave Gatlin for good. Ethan’s thirst for something different is what attracts him to new girl Lena (Alice Englert), the quiet and witchy-looking descendent of one of Gatlin’s most notorious families. Lena is immediately targeted as a dangerous freak by the town’s many gossipy Bible-thumpers, and while Ethan rushes to defend her from their attacks, it turns out that Lena does present a very real threat: she comes from a family of Casters (read: Southern witches), and on her rapidly-approaching 16th birthday, she will be “claimed” for either good or evil – with potentially catastrophic consequences.
Film Review: Identity Thief
starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Bateman, Amanda Peet, Jon Favreau, T.I., Genesis Rodriguez, John Cho, Robert Patrick, Eric Stonestreet
screenplay: Craig Mazin
directed by: Seth Gordon
MPAA: Rated R for sexual content and language
Film Review: Sound City
Directed By: David Grohl
Written By: Mark Monroe
Starring: Trent Reznor, Tom Petty, Mick Fleetwood, and a cast of musical legends
The movie ‘Sound City’ started as a movie about a location but evolved into the raw internal disclosure of the emotional soul of a musician and the music industry. It allows a peek into the behind the scenes non-glamorous side of an album recording, opening insight to the controversy of analog verses digital methods.
Spinning Platters Interview: Dave Franco, Analeigh Tipton & Jonathan Levine on Warm Bodies
2013 is off to a pleasantly promising start when it comes to genre films. Just a few weeks after the soulfully spooky Mama, we are now treated to Jonathan Levine’s thoroughly delightful adaptation of Isaac Marion’s beloved novel Warm Bodies. A hilariously self-aware and surprisingly sweet reimagining of the overly familiar “love transforms a monster” trope, Warm Bodies tells the story of a zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult), who narrates much of the film from his very unique point-of-view. Although zombiedom has robbed R of his ability to express himself verbally, his thoughts are as articulately human as ever; the film mines quite a bit of humor from this cognitive disconnect.
R spends his days staggering around an abandoned airport with a familiar lineup of other zombies, grunting and pondering what these people were like in life. But R is roused from his undead existential crisis when he meets Julie (Teresa Palmer), the daughter of one of mankind’s last great protectors, Grigio (John Malkovich). Julie enters zombie territory on an armed mission along with her boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco) and best friend Nora (Analeigh Tipton); it’s love at first sight for R despite the fact that Julie is trying to kill him. When the mission goes haywire and Julie is left behind, R devises a plan to keep her safe from the other zombies in the hopes that she’ll fall in love with him in spite of their, uh, differences.
Film Review: Parker
starring: Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez and Michael Chiklis
written by: John J. McLaughlin
directed by: Taylor Hackford
MPAA: Rated R for strong violence, language throughout and brief sexual content/nudity Continue reading “Film Review: Parker“