Sketchfest Review: Julie Brown’s “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Musical” at The Brava Theater, 1/24/15

The cast of Homecoming Queen's Got a Musical, courtesy of SF Sketchfest's Instagram (@sf_sketchfest)
The cast of Homecoming Queen’s Got a Musical, courtesy of SF Sketchfest’s Instagram (@sf_sketchfest)

Every year when the SF Sketchfest schedule comes out I spend a long time going through, making a list of everything that has someone I like in it, or is a show/concept I like, then painstakingly narrow it down to one show per time slot per day. At least, that’s the goal. These are the best two and a half weeks in San Francisco and I’m not going to waste them! So in this process, when I saw the name Julie Brown, the late 80’s kid in me had a fangirl spaz and decided this was the show that deserved my attention for the first Saturday night of Sketchfest. Did I know anything Julie Brown did since “Just Say Julie” on MTV and Earth Girls are Easy? No. Of course not! (Well, other than her small role as the Gym Teacher in Clueless) But this is what Sketchfest is about, seeing that great thing you might have lost track of. So off I trekked into the wilds of the Mission District, to the Brava Theater, with no idea what I was in for. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Julie Brown’s “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Musical” at The Brava Theater, 1/24/15″

Sketchfest Review: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/23/2015

Rhea Butcher, Pete Holmes, Emo Philips, Cameron Esposito and Charlie Sanders after the show. (Photo from Pete Holmes' Instagram @peteholmes)
Rhea Butcher, Pete Holmes, Emo Philips, Cameron Esposito and Charlie Sanders after the show. (Photo from Pete Holmes’ Instagram @peteholmes)

You Made it Weird is a podcast where comedian host Pete Holmes talks at great length with his guest about love, sex and god, mixing in a lot about life in general. It can often get spiritual and deep which makes it a little more interesting and introspective than other comedian led interview style podcasts. But the live format is a little different, focusing more on the weird bits of life side than the deep talks about sex, love and spirituality. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. With five guests to get through in two hours and a theater full of people it is hard to get to the intimate places the podcast can get to, but it does allow for a lot more amazing jokes. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/23/2015”

Show Review: Jimmy Gnecco of Ours with Nick Perri Group at the Hotel Utah Saloon, 1/20/2015

Jimmy Gnecco
Jimmy Gnecco

Jimmy Gnecco is not the sort of singer/songwriter who can have that title applied to him with any bit of disparaging condescension. His hauntingly powerful alt-rock outfit, Ours, has maintained a fierce cult following even after their major-label success of nearly 15 years ago; his vocal and instrumentation range is far wider than most modern bands achieve during their entire career; to find him taking residence in such a tiny establishment as the Hotel Utah Saloon, whose show occupancy barely breaks 100 at its peak, is nothing short of astonishing. For a second year, however, the New Jersey native returned to this small corner of San Francisco for a nearly 3-hour-long set of solo tunes, elegant tales, and collaborations with musicians and fans alike onstage; past the unexpectedly long duration, this was a mesmerizing night of gorgeous tunes, not for a moment marred by the cold that the singer had provided as a caveat before the evening began.

Continue reading “Show Review: Jimmy Gnecco of Ours with Nick Perri Group at the Hotel Utah Saloon, 1/20/2015”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 1/22/2015 – 1/28/2015

Playing The Warfield this Friday night.
Playing The Warfield this Friday night.

The nerds of San Francisco have some incredibly tough choices to make this week when it comes to their live entertainment. They could be comedy nerds, seeing all of what SF Sketchfest has to offer. Perhaps they’re film nerds, and they’ll be spending the week at The Castro Theater for Noir City. But what of the music nerds? Where should they be this week? Read on to find out!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 1/22/2015 — 1/28/2015”

Sketchfest Interview: Clare O’Kane

CLARE
An important message from Clare O’Kane.

Clare O’Kane used to be one of the funniest women in San Francisco. I say “used to,” because she recently left us to live in Los Angeles. We recently had a chance to talk to her about making the transition from SF comic to LA comic, ahead of her stretch of homecoming shows during Sketchfest. Here’s a link to the many gigs she’s doing, including a session of Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction with the great Laraine Newman!

Continue reading “Sketchfest Interview: Clare O’Kane”

Sketchfest Interview: W Kamau Bell

Photo By Matthias Clamer
Photo By Matthias Clamer

W Kamau Bell is one of the most brilliant and controversial names in comedy. He recently moved back to the Bay Area, after a stint in New York hosting the dearly departed Totally Biased with W Kamau Bell. To celebrate his return, he did a “secret residency” at Cinecave in Lost Weekend Video. He’s playing Uptown Showdown: Are We Getting Dumber vs Are We Getting Smarter with Maria Bamford, Dave Hill, TJ Miller, Aparna Nancherla, Greg Poops and Jared Logan on January 31st. Tickets are available here!

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A Nerd’s Guide to Sketchfest 2015

A San Francisco Sketch
A San Francisco Sketch

Every year, the good folks at SF Sketchfest program three weeks of live comedy in the Bay Area. They program it so well that it can get exhausting to determine which shows to go to. Well, here at Spinning Platters, a forum for Bay Area music, film, and comedy nerds, we’ll be helping you determine which shows you should be going to. It wasn’t easy, but I think you’ll get sufficient enough chuckles for handling the post-holiday blues if you follow these guidelines.

Don’t like my suggestions? You can always pick for yourself! You can find the schedule here!

Continue reading “A Nerd’s Guide to Sketchfest 2015”

Film Review: A Most Violent Year

Top-notch thriller explores the underside of the American dream

Oscar Isaac’s Abel and Jessica Chastain’s Anna discuss their business problems.

Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac were overlooked during yesterday’s Oscar nominations, which is a bit disheartening, since they both give tremendous performances in writer/director J.C. Chandor’s newest film, A Most Violent Year (which opened in New York and L.A. in December, making it eligible for this year’s Oscars). Chandor, whose previous pictures include the pulse-quickening, terrific Margin Call and last year’s lost-at-sea thriller All is Lost, is a master at pulling his audience into a visceral time and place, and his skill remains exceptionally sharp, as evidenced here in his latest film.

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Film Review: Blackhat

Blackhat is a real hack job.

Hacker Hemsworth looking as confused about 'Blackhat' as we are.
Hacker Hemsworth looking as confused about ‘Blackhat’ as we are.

Blackhat is a film about a good guy hacker team trying to stop an elusive bad guy hacker.   It had a lot going for it, considering it’s directed by Michael Mann (Collateral, Heat), stars ultra-manly Chris Hemsworth (Thor), and as we can all attest to, its cybercrime theme is very relevant.  So why is Blackhat such a bad movie?  It’s bad because it’s messy, miscast, and poorly put together.  Not Michael Mann’s trademark digital lensing nor Hemsworth’s chiseled abs can save Blackhat from plodding through grating dialogue, an unrealistic plot and a pointless romantic subplot.  Aside from a solid supporting job from Viola Davis and some beautiful night shots of cities around the world, Blackhat basically fails on all fronts.

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