Film Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Ninth installment sticks to the script

A rebel X-Wing doesn't know when to call it a day
A rebel X-Wing doesn’t know when to call it a day.

“Every once in awhile I have what I think of as an out-of-the-body experience at a movie,” wrote a rapturous Roger Ebert in the summer of 1977 of Star Wars. Later that year a more skeptical Pauline Kael, writing about the same film, said, “the loudness, the smash-and-grab editing, the relentless pacing drive every idea from your head.” Never could the duality of responses to the Star Wars series of films be better predicted. They are either the greatest experiences in a movie theater since L’Arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat, or the biggest waste of time since Birdemic: Shock and Terror. Continue reading “Film Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi“

Film Review: Wonder Wheel

Allen’s newest far from Wonder-ful   

Lifeguard and wanna-be writer Mickey (Justin Timberlake) has an affair with the unhappily married Ginny (Kate Winslet).

Let’s first address the elephant in the room. Yes, Wonder Wheel, writer/director Woody Allen’s newest, is about a man who finds himself falling in love with his girlfriend’s step-daughter. I suspect there are many filmgoers who have made up their minds about Allen, and so either won’t see this particular film because of its uncomfortable parallels to his real life, or because, in agreement with his daughter Dylan Farrow’s recent essay, they don’t want to support the work of an accused sexual predator. If you fall in one of those categories, you need read no further, but for those of you who still remain curious and open to Allen’s art, there is another, more pedestrian reason to avoid this picture: it’s just not very good.
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Show Review: Stars at The Masonic Lodge 11/29/17

A concert in a graveyard? Why not!

STARS-8

What exactly is it about Canada that produces such intriguing rock and roll acts? The great North is home to dozens of groups that broke through international barriers and still continue to impress to this day. Of course there are the obvious examples like Neil Young, Rush, The Guess Who, Arcade Fire, and NoMeansNo, but there is also that unique brand of indie/art with groups like Metric, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, The New Pornographers, and Broken Social Scene, the indie super band of which Amy Millan and Evan Cranley are members. Easily one of my favorites of all of them is Stars who take up a special place with their lush production and exploration of the various themes of love and heartbreak. In support of their recent double LP release, There Is No Love In Fluorescent Light, the band took over the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for three whole days of intimacy with their long-time fans and first timers alike.

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Film Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Superb cast anchors McDonagh’s outstanding southern tale  

Grieving mother Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) expresses her frustration with her daughter’s stalled murder investigation via three billboards. 

“Raped while dying / And still no arrests / How come, Chief Willoughby?” So read the titular three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, in writer/director Martin McDonagh’s brilliant, searing new blackest of black comedies. Whether the picture is correctly classified as a comedy – as its trailer would have it – may be a point of argument, however. While the film is not without its head-shaking, laugh-out-loud moments, they serve as counterpoint to the overarching dark, almost biblical tale that envelopes them, which will leave the viewer contemplative and affected for days after the credits roll.
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Show Review: Chicano Batman, Khruangbin, The Shacks at The Fox Theater – Oakland, 11/10/17

I have been watching Chicano Batman over the past five years, and I have got to say that I am really impressed on how much they’ve grown. Each time they come back to The Bay, they end up playing bigger and bigger venues. It puts a tear in my eye and makes me feel part of their growth. Not only do they deserve it, the world straight-up needs to hear their soulful, passionate grooves filled with positive messages of love and hope. You felt the love in that crowd starting with the first band in the lineup, The Shacks. Continue reading “Show Review: Chicano Batman, Khruangbin, The Shacks at The Fox Theater — Oakland, 11/10/17”

Show Review: Kesha, Savoy Motel at The Masonic, 10/31/2017

Kesha, with her Mom. Photo by Dakin Hardwick.

Author’s note: We at Spinning Platters stand with survivors, and we believe women when they come forward and tell stories of having been assaulted. Due to the code of journalistic ethics, we are forced to refer to Dr Luke as an “alleged abuser” while the case is still pending in court.

Whatever you think of her music, Kesha deserves your respect. Kesha’s album Rainbow and its accompanying tour come after a long public and risky battle to take control over her career from the man who allegedly abused her. Had she lost this fight, she would have been forced to continue her close work with her alleged rapist to create new content. Had she won, but not had such strong continuing fan support on social media, she might have been able to fulfill her contract and make records, but but the label might have simply cut their losses and granted her no touring budget or promotional budget. Continue reading “Show Review: Kesha, Savoy Motel at The Masonic, 10/31/2017”

Chuck Mosley, former Faith No More frontman, has passed away at 57

Chuck Mosley performing at Looney Tunes Records in Babylon, NY, 2016-07-18 via Wikipedia
Chuck Mosley performing at Looney Tunes Records in Babylon, NY, 2016-07-18 via Wikipedia.

Chuck Mosley, the inimitable former frontman of Faith No More, has passed away at the age of 57. Mosley passed away from complications related to “the disease of addiction” according to his family.

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Film Review: Last Flag Flying

Time heals all wounds, mostly

Sal (Bryan Cranston), Mueller (Laurence Fishburne), and Doc (Steve Carell) on one last mission
Sal (Bryan Cranston), Mueller (Laurence Fishburne), and Doc (Steve Carell) on one last mission.

Here’s an interesting number, 18, which is the number of feature films directed by Richard Linklater. He’s made a film about rootless Austin hipsters, a film about 70’s high school escapades, a film about 80’s college escapades, a film about opening a school of rock, a film about a ragtag little league baseball team, a film about growing up, even a film about two erstwhile friends, their shared lover, and two hours of very tense conversation.  It’s an impressive number, 18, and would seemingly cover just about every conceivable theme. But whatever the plot, whichever the characters, wherever the setting, Linklater always makes films about time. And his 19th film, Last Flag Flying, is once again a film about time.

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Film Review: A Bad Moms Christmas

Mediocre sequel deserves a lump of coal         

The Bad Moms (from l., Kathryn Hahn, Mila Kunis, and Kristen Bell) get into the Christmas spirit in one of the film’s 8,000 (oh, I mean five) montage sequences.

With A Bad Moms Christmas, writer/directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore try in vain to recapture the success of Bad Moms, their smart, funny, and truthful comedy from last year about overextended and overwhelmed modern day moms. They should have left well enough alone; not every picture needs a sequel or to be the start of a franchise. A Bad Moms Christmas is not nearly as funny as the original, and just feels like a painfully obvious and rather weak extension of the filmmakers’ initial idea. Continue reading “Film Review: A Bad Moms Christmas“

Film Review: Suburbicon

Clooney emulates the Coens in adequate film noir      

Maggie (Julianne Moore) and her brother-in-law Gardner (Matt Damon) have an unwanted conversation with a visitor.

George Clooney is clearly a huge fan of the Coen Brothers. After starring in four of their films (Hail, Caesar!; Burn After Reading; O Brother, Where Art Thou; Intolerable Cruelty), he tries his hand at directing one of their screenplays with Suburbicon, marking his first return to the director’s chair since 2014’s The Monuments Men. The result is more successful than that mostly forgettable attempt, but his fan-boy energy permeates his new film almost to distraction. Tonally and stylistically, the picture is an unabashed imitation of a Coen Brothers production, which, if you’re a Coen Brothers fan, is super, but does mean that Clooney offers no cinematic originality here.
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