A Treasure Island sunset, courtesy of Kelly Hoffer
This weekend’s Treasure Island Music Festival has quickly become my favorite musical event of the year. There are no conflicting set times, so you can see everyone on the bill. The size of the festival is fairly small, so it’s easy to get around. The setting in the middle of San Francisco Bay is absolutely stunning. And something about all of these combine to keep the people going in a relaxed, pleasant mood that makes being there all the more enjoyable.
Now, you might think going to this festival is as easy as hopping in your car and going to the festival to enjoy some music, but you’d be wrong. Read on, and I’ll teach you how to avoid rookie mistakes.
The 37th Mill Valley Film Festival wrapped up last night. The Festival screened some of this fall’s most hotly anticipated pictures: Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler and Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, and many more. We gave you a look at some of the festival’s lesser known independent films, now here’s a quick look at a few of the hot titles (and Oscar bait) coming out this fall. For full festival photos and information, visit: http://mvff.com.
The Imitation Game (US/UK 2014, 113 min; English)
Cumberbatch cracks the code.
The Imitation Game is a return to the traditional period bio-dramas of yesteryear (you know, like A Beautiful Mind). It tells the story of Alan Turing, the British mathematician who cracked the German Enigma c0de during World War II, thus introducing the world to computer science while having a large impact on helping the Allied forces win the war, and who was also subsequently arrested after the war for being a homosexual. Everything about the film is rock solid, from the stalwart acting, led by a fantastic Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing, to the film’s music and set design. While many movies, dramas in particular, flounder under the weight of forced contrivances, The Imitation Game embraces and utilizes them to an entertaining degree. We’re right there cracking the code alongside Turing in this old-fashioned period drama.
In the modern musical world, artists’ success seems to be measured in how quickly they can crank out new, catchy, pop-earworm singles that you keep singing from day to day until the next one comes along. Entire albums are far too much to swallow for the attention-deficit horde that is the concertgoing crowd, and heaven forbid you haven’t put out anything for several years’ time — you’re just a faded memory, a phrase that still pops up on cobweb-covered Internet searches. It’s therefore refreshing and wonderful to see acts like Modest Mouse, the Washington-based indie rockers who took the mid-2000s by storm, return to the Bay Area with over 7 years having passed since their last album’s release, and play to an absolutely sold-out house at their own debut at The Masonic, the recently-revamped auditorium that has been all of the buzz of San Francisco of late. It’s a testament to the staying power and wildly dedicated fanbase that they possess, and they did not disappoint the hundreds who screamed, cried, and writhed their way through the evening with them, unloading their explosive energy with a live assembly of nearly 10 players making up their ranks.
Affleck, Pike anchor brilliant adaptation of best-selling novel
Ben Affleck’s Nick warily addresses a crowd gathered to help find his missing wife.
One of the most hotly anticipated movies of the fall season, Director David Fincher’s Gone Girl more than lives up to its expectations. Based on Gillian Flynn’s popular novel of the same name, and benefitting tremendously from a screenplay penned by the author herself, the film is sure to please both the book’s rabid fans as well as those fresh to the story. The picture has been heavily marketed as a crime mystery, and although it is that, it is also much, much more. In reality, Fincher and Flynn have given us a searing portrait of a marriage cleverly disguised as a taut thriller.
Adam Sandler’s Don looks for some extramarital fun in Men, Women & Children.
Jason Reitman disappointed many of his fans with his hackneyed, sugary film Labor Day last fall. Unfortunately, one year later, he still has not returned to top form. His latest effort is a heavy-handed mess of a film called Men, Women & Children, the title of which more aptly describes everyone who should avoid it.
Yes, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is this week. It’s an amazing line up as usual. It’s free, so everyone is there. However, there is more than enough great music happening this week. Enjoy the shows!
The 37th Mill Valley Film Festival opens tonight, October 2nd, and runs until October 12th. The Festival is screening some of this fall’s most hotly anticipated pictures: Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher (starring Steve Carrell) and Morten Tyldum’s Imitation Game (starring Benedict Cumberbatch), and so many more. But here at Spinning Platters, we thought we’d spotlight some of the lower profile films that risk being overshadowed by the bigger movies. Full schedule, tickets, and more information are available at: http://mvff.com, and be sure to check back here for more updates during the Fest.
What We Do in the Shadows (US/New Zealand 2014, 86 min; English)
The whole crew in ‘What We Do in the Shadows’
What We Do in the Shadows resembles the result of a casual joke/idea, delivered with enough informality and humor to make it more entertaining than it could’ve been — it’s one of the funniest movies of the year. The witty writing, from the comedy team behind Eagle vs Shark and The Flight of the Conchords, enables the film to break free from potential one-joke captivity, whereby the story expands the simple premise (vampire housemates) to wonderful subplots and hilarious surprises. It’s definitely a movie best experienced with an energetic crowd!
Screenings:
– Tuesday, October 7, 7:45pm, Rafael Film Center, San Rafael
– Thursday, October 9, 4:00pm, Rafael Film Center, San Rafael
The 37th Mill Valley Film Festival opens this Thursday, October 2nd, and runs until October 12th. The Festival is screening some of this fall’s most hotly anticipated pictures: Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children and Tommy Lee Jones’s The Homesman (opening night films); Theory of Everything (featuring Eddie Redmayne as the young Stephen Hawking); and Wild, which has already garnered much festival buzz for Reese Witherspoon’s turn as Cheryl Strayed, the author of the popular memoir of the same name. But here at Spinning Platters, we thought we’d spotlight some of the lower profile films that risk being overshadowed by the bigger movies. Full schedule, tickets, and more information are available at: http://mvff.com, and be sure to check back here for more updates during the Fest.
In Order of Disappearance (Norway/Sweden/Denmark 2014, 116 min; English, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish with English subtitles)
Stellan Skarsgard is out for revenge.
This Scandinavian crime thriller owes a debt not only to 2011’s terrific Norwegian noir film Headhunters, but also to the American movies Pulp Fiction and Fargo in terms of its surreal, darkly comic atmosphere and chilly landscape. Norwegian director Hans Peter Moland has cast Stellan Skarsgard to great effect as a sort of Swedish Liam Neeson in full-blown action mode. A Swedish immigrant living and working in a small Norwegian town, Skarsgard’s Nils gives new meaning to his recently earned Citizen of the Year award when he single-handedly takes on both a Serbian crime syndicate and the local gangsters to avenge the death of his son, an unwitting pawn in a dangerous turf war. Indelibly drawn characters and a screenplay filled with unexpected plot turns are highlights of this edgy, well-crafted picture.
Screenings:
– Friday, October 10, 5:45pm, Rafael Film Center, San Rafael
– Sunday, October 12, 2:45pm, Cinéarts Sequoia Theater, Mill Valley
Pegg’s performance is high point of mostly unoriginal travel tale
Hector (Simon Pegg) tries to find happiness in China… will he succeed!?
Hector and the Search for Happiness is a curious movie. Based on the trailer alone, you might think you’re in for a lighthearted, feel-good, seize-the-day picture, wherein the lead character Learns and Grows by ditching his staid life in search of adventure, à la Eat, Pray, Love or last year’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. But the surprising thing about director Peter Chelsom’s film, based on a popular French novel by François Lelord, is that while it certainly contains its fair share of clichés and groan-inducing scenes, it is both darker and more sensitive than you might expect. Continue reading “Film Review: Hector and the Search for Happiness”
