Braving the chill, the dry air, and the self-importance of the L.A. film industry folks who don’t turn off their cell phones during screenings, Senior Film Reviewer Carrie Kahn brings you these first spotlights (more to follow) from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT, which closes this Sunday, February 1st.
From the good, the mediocre, to the downright horrific, some of these films may receive distribution deals and be widely released in the coming year. Lucky for you, we here at Spinning Platters are ready and willing to let you know which films to see and which to miss. We’ll start with five feature films, and our handy Viewing Priority Level (VPL) Guide will steer you in the right direction. Continue reading “Film Feature: Sundance Film Festival Spotlights #1”
At one point in time, Natasha Lyonne was a cult icon that did quirky, low budget indie films. Then, something strange happened. A little TV show about life in a women’s prison became one of the most popular shows on TV, bringing Lyonne up from cult icon to bonafide star. Sketchfest, by some force of magic, was able to get this big star to come to SF and slum it with us for an evening, discussing a film that’s nearly 20 years old.
Sometimes these reviews just flow out of my fingers like some kind of magic, and sometimes writing them is like pulling teeth, a sentence here, a sentence there, delete, delete, delete, and try again. For some reason, the most painful ones to write are almost always the best shows to watch. That couldn’t be more true than for this one. An Afternoon with Animaniacs was so good I have been staring at sentences I hate for days, unable to move forward. How do you put an experience like this in words? How do you explain the transcendent feeling I felt watching these amazing performers not only show off their talent, but to doing it with such joy? I’ve never seen anything like it. Voice actors really are a special breed, something much purer and glowing than the comedian or actor I normally watch at Sketchfest. Maybe what I really want to say is sorry if you weren’t at Marines Memorial Theater Sunday afternoon. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: An Afternoon with Animaniacs at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/25/15”
StarTalk Live: Eugene Mirman, H. Jon Benjamin, Bill Nye, Dr. Yvonne Pendleton, and Prof. Scott Hubbard (Photo by Jakub Mosur)
Bill Nye, still affectionately titled “The Science Guy” as per his original sketch comedy persona, is one of the most striking examples of a forward-thinking force in modern media. Through a combination of his legacy television influence, his continuing meld of icebreaking comedy and scientific education, and a remarkably popular social media presence, he continues to make knowledge and the desire to learn a positive, enjoyable, and overall uplifting experience. As a piece of glue that can hold the worlds of science and humor together, he’s perfected his craft, and it’s a true treat to watch him work, as well as to pose inquiries to him that get his mind in gear and firing back with equally insightful and thought-provoking questions as a response. Taking a leaf out of the book of colleague scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill has returned to Sketchfest for the second year with a live ensemble for StarTalk Radio — along with StarTalk cohost Eugene Mirman — and, to balance out the vast knowledge base of aeronautics/astronautics professor Scott Hubbard and renowned NASA Ames astrophysicist Dr. Yvonne Pendleton, the pair enlisted H. Jon Benjamin for a side-splitting fusillade of comedic jabs and snarky remarks. The full ensemble made for a delightfully entertaining night at the Nourse Theater, and left the crowd sore from laughing and glowing with renewed faith in the world of science.
Sketchfest really killed it this year, as usual. A lot of shows sold out quickly. However, the quickest sell out was Jenny Slate & Friends at The Brava Theater. Jenny Slate’s star seems to be on the rise swiftly. She starred in Obvious Child, my favorite film of 2014. Her web series Marcel The Shell With Shoes On and Catherine are both works of epic genius. It seems that everything she touches turns to gold. However, I’ve never seen her do stand up. Even a cursory YouTube search proved difficult in terms of finding any clips of her doing live comedy. It seems tonight was a very special and somewhat rare experience.
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″
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”
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.
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!
