Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Based on Laura Hillenbrand’s popular book of the same name, Unbroken boasts impressive credentials: directed by Angelia Jolie and co-written by none other than the Coen Brothers, the movie generated much pre-release buzz. While the film succeeds immensely as a riveting survival tale, it often feels a little repetitive and one-note.
This is kind of a short week… Because venue owners and staff gotta take a holiday, too!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 12/18/14-12/21/14”
Let’s get this out of the way — The Hobbit should’ve been 1-2 movies, not 3. Most of us came to terms with this years ago. That’s a conversation for a another time, however. For now, let’s concentrate on the third and final installment of The Hobbit trilogy, and the final chapter (without debate) of Peter Jackson’s exploration of Middle Earth. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (HTBotFA) is not the best of the trilogy – it trails HTDoS (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) but is a bit ahead of HAUJ (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey). While the middle chapter had some interesting character transitions, HTBotFA has very little substance outside the constant fighting taking place. We’ve seen better battles before, so the ones featured here seem tired and stale, and therefore overwrought with unique creature designs to help grasp for freshness. And once again, it’s an exciting but sometimes silly feast of CGI, the kind that makes you miss the hillside skirmish in Fellowship of the Ring or even the large battle at the end of The Return of the King, which featured a lot of actual actors in costumes. Here, it’s commonly 1-2 actors versus scores of CGI creatures. It’s just not as thrilling. And so the newest Hobbit film is a tired, ultra climactic end to a superfluously extended journey which was generally fun to watch, yet constantly played second fiddle to the far superior LotR trilogy.
Continue reading “Film Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
With Top Five, Chris Rock gives us his first directing/writing/acting trifecta since 2007’s relatively unknown I Think I Love my Wife. Top Five should fare better, as it has something for everyone; it combines the raunchy humor of today’s most popular comedies with more cerebral humor. If the Farrelly Brothers had directed Birdman, the result might look something like Top Five. While the result often feels a bit disjointed, the film always succeeds in eliciting laughs.
Exodus: Gods and Kings was bound to be a spectacular epic, considering the biblical source material and the director at the helm, Sir Ridley Scott. Scott echoed this projection when he said that Exodus: Gods and Kings is his “biggest” movie yet. Considering his long resume of major titles, that’s quite a statement and yet it’s true. The sets, the action, the effects, and the scope are all monumental, and these are mainly where the movie succeeds. It’s heartwarming to know that there’s still room for traditional sandal epics in the modern film business, featuring a good amount of built sets and armies of real actors (as opposed to CGI backdrops and armies…though these are still employed here as well). But trying to keep to tradition comes with a price, and some poor decisions. Exodus is weakest (and most controversial) in its casting choices and artistic breaks from the source material, but these falters can’t keep Exodus from providing a mostly exciting experience.
We may be experiencing the biggest storm in decades in the Bay Area, however, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to rock.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 12/11/14-12/17/14”
If admitting that I’ve loved a boyband (one in particular, and pretty much only them) for my entire life makes me uncool, then so be it. I’m uncool. Having said that, I never really got into pop in the way many do. New Kids on the Block aside, there was only really ever one other similar group whose music I got into, and that’s irrelevant. Anyway, whether because I decided so at a very young age, or simply because it’s true, I still find Jordan Knight to be one of the most beautiful men on the planet. And okay, if he wants to make a record and then tour with some other musician, well… I’d probably go see him with just about anyone. (Willie Nelson? Barbra Streisand? Rick Astley? I’m game.) If his choice is another cute boy from a similar boyband background, specifically Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, well, alright. Look, he could tour with Miss Piggy and I’d go see him. And so I did, about a month ago (11/18), when the Nick & Knight tour stopped at SF’s Regency Ballroom. Continue reading “Show Review: Nick Carter & Jordan Knight at Regency Ballroom, 11/18/2014”
Thursday, December 4th Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 12/4/14-12/9/14”
From the co-writers of Dumb and Dumber To, the disappointing comedy sequel, comes Horrible Bosses 2, the slightly-less disappointing and still quite funny comedy sequel. Yes, we know that comedy sequels rarely work since the humor isn’t as fresh and the jokes are often forced. Horrible Bosses 2 is definitely not as funny as the original 2011 hit which took the dark fantasies of all white collar workers and spun them into a hilarious story of three down-and-out losers trying to kill their horrible bosses. But, HB2 still has plenty of great moments, primarily due to the chemistry between the three leads, and will likely entertain any fan of the first film (like myself) and coerce a few belly laughs from newcomers. But there’s no denying that considering the incredible cast of the new film, the film could’ve reached even greater comedic heights.
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro
There really is no such thing as “metal overload”. If there was this many epic metal shows per week every week of the year, that would be more like “metal heaven” (except all metalheads are Satanic, right? So, “metal hell”?) …
