Spinning Platters – Page 173 – Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds

Film Review: The Night Before

It’s a (stoner) holiday miracle!

The spirit of Christmas is alive in these three "gentlemen." — The spirit of Christmas is alive in these three “gentlemen.”

I feel like its been a while since the last raunchy comedy, which I think was Trainwreck back in July. That’s not to suggest that I wish there were more R-rated comedies flooding the market, but I do think I was primed for a movie like The Night Before. I wanted a stupid, profanity-filled, drug-trippin, buddy comedy (in this case, a threesome bromance) and I wasn’t disappointed. Sprinkle in a bit of holiday cheer for good measure and add a pinch of well-timed celebrity cameos for extra zest! The Night Before is 70% unadulterated stoner comedy, 20% heart, and 10% holiday spirit, and I enjoyed 99% of it! (the other 1% was a very disappointing final 60 seconds).

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Spinning Platter Interview: Henry Selick, Director of Nightmare Before Christmas

Henry Selick is a true innovator. He’s one of the very few people to bring the joys of stop motion animation to the masses, and managing to have great success with the form. Spinning Platters had a rare chance to have a chat with him ahead of the SF Symphony presenting the film with live score later this month.

You can pick up tickets here! Don’t miss this very special event, and, after the jump, here’s our interview! Continue reading “Spinning Platter Interview: Henry Selick, Director of Nightmare Before Christmas“

Film Review: Spotlight

Power of the press is real hero of McCarthy’s inspiring, well-executed picture

The Boston Globe Spotlight team (from left: Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, and Mark Ruffalo) uncover a major story.

Writer/director Tom McCarthy is perhaps best known for his character-driven films like The Station Agent, The Visitor, and Up. With his new film Spotlight, though, McCarthy stresses the story itself, yet his film proves just as successful – if not actually more so – than his earlier pictures that favored rich character development. Indeed, not since 1976’s All the President’s Men has a film so deftly and engagingly captured the heart-pounding excitement of intrepid reporters uncovering a major story of enormous national significance.

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Film Review: Spectre

Bland, James Bland

Bond, like us, is waiting for some excitement.

I’m a Quantum of Solace defender. I think that film, which was Daniel Craig’s second as James Bond, gets better after repeat viewings and was highly underrated when it came out, and still is today. And so maybe you can take extra caution that even I, a Quantum of Solace supporter, think that Spectre falls short of the previous 3 Bond films. Don’t worry, it’s still better than Die Another Day. Spectre relies heavily on plot points from the previous three films, trying to tie all loose-ends together that didn’t need any tying. The movie also feels like a 150 min homage to classic Bond tropes—and it gets tiring when there’s no real purpose except to wink at the audience. It’s a pity so much talent and hype got mismanaged. It may be a pretty film, and distractingly thrilling during its handful of ridiculous action sequences, but its otherwise aimless, oddly unfulfilling if not dull, and ultimately less rewarding than superior actioners like Mi5: Rogue Nation, The Dark Knight and even Skyfall (all from which Spectre seems to be borrowing…or copying).

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Film Review: The Peanuts Movie

Something for everyone, but not everything for anyone.

The Peanuts Movie is about the Peanuts Gang. In the movie, they do a lot of things. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Okay, nine hundred eighty-three words to go! That and other classic Peanuts gags help gloss over a movie that does the best it can to pay homage to its traditional animation roots while taking advantage of the cinematic benefits of being the latest example of modern computer animation.

The movie itself will annoy Peanuts purists while providing a G-rated outlet for families with small children everywhere. And, honestly, that’s probably all one could hope for. The last Peanuts movie was released 35 years ago, and there’s honestly no reason to expect The Peanuts Movie to be anything like the four Peanuts motion pictures that preceded it.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 11/2/15-11/4/15

What you needed, until there was too much of it.

“It’s Halloween, it’s Halloween
the moon is full and bright.
And we shall see what can’t be seen
on any other night.”
– Jack Prelutsky

Halloween was here, and passed through the Bay Area like a hungry bat above your head. And there’s so so so much candy left.

Now, what else is coming up this week? Let’s preview! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 11/2/15-11/4/15”

Show Review: Treasure Island Music Festival 2015

All photos by the legendary Paige Parsons unless otherwise noted

For many years, I’ve said that Treasure Island Music Festival was the best music festival in the world. When I made that declaration 8 glorious years ago, after enjoying a mind blowing set by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist at the inaugural fest, my music festival experience was limited. I’d been to a few all day shindigs at Shoreline, a single Coachella, and a few Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Power To The Peaceful events. This year alone I’ve been to a dozen festivals so far. And, still, I declare Treasure Island Music Festival to be the closest thing to perfect a music fest can be. Continue reading “Show Review: Treasure Island Music Festival 2015”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/23/15-10/28/15

Halloween is just around the corner and it’s that time of the year here in the Bay Area for the Bridge School Benefit weekend.

So also coming up this week, we have nameless ghouls, various demons, and interplanetary felons. Let’s preview! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/23/15-10/28/15”

Show Review: FFS at the Fox Oakland, 10/15/2015

Nick McCarthy, Russell Mael and Alex Kapranos of FFS

Just over two years ago, timeless whimsical art-pop duo Sparks made their first appearance in the Bay Area in years, in the form of a stripped-down two-man show that spanned the entire course of their career. What probably WASN’T immediately well known, however, was the presence of members of another band at at least one of those very same shows: Alex Kapranos and the other musicians of Franz Ferdinand, who watched the show as regular members of the audience (and then joined the boys backstage after the gig). This wasn’t the first time that Ron and Russel Mael, the brothers of Sparks, had discussed working with the Glasgow rockers, but this gathering became the impetus to make something even bigger — and less than a year after those concerts, the supergroup FFS (named for the bands that make it up) was formed, with their eponymous album cranked out a few months later. The album and the band are their own unique experiences; FFS has a playfulness that recalls the best work of Sparks, which blends smartly with the bombastic showmanship of a big rock show — the sort of thing that Franz Ferdinand is well known for. Lest fans be worried that there’s a clear divide between the two groups, the truth couldn’t be more clear: the two sets of musicians play off of each other marvelously, and when it all comes together under one roof, the FFS live show is a different experience all by itself.

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MVFF38 Spotlights #2: Truth/Yosemite/Suffragette

The 38^th Mill Valley Film Festival closed Sunday, October 18th, but if you weren’t able to make it out to Marin these past ten days, never fear: many of the titles – both big and small – will be widely released, and available to you soon at your local theater. To wrap up our coverage, Spinning Platters takes a look at three of these films, one of which actually opens this Friday.

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