Spinning Platters – Page 192 – Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds

Film Review: Tracks

Life is a journey– make sure you have enough camels.

Mia Wasikowska and camels in John Curran's Tracks. — Mia Wasikowska and camels in John Curran’s Tracks.

Tracks is based on the true story and National Geographic article (and subsequent memoir) of Robyn Davidson, the Australian woman who made a nine month journey on foot across the Australian desert in 1977 — a distance of about 1700 miles. Throughout her journey, accompanied only by four load-carrying camels and her dog, but occasionally visited by photographer Rick Smolan and aided by a few indigenous folks and country residents, Robyn wrestles with the pressure to remove herself from civilization while fighting to complete her epic journey. The film is a fantastic re-enactment of Robyn’s story. The acting, editing, stunning cinematography, music, and all other aspects of the film work harmoniously to deliver a remarkable tale of individual strength and determination, and about humankind’s companionship with nature.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 9/25/14-10/2/14

This week is a pretty epic week if you are in the mood for some classic rock. Or new music. Or just like being alive. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 9/25/14-10/2/14”

Spinning Platters Interview: Jeff Zamaria of Doc’s Lab (aka SF’s Newest Happening)

Jeff Zamaria seems chipper in the face of increasing pressure. My computer is glitching from a hastily assembled Facebook video chat, but I’m sure he’s friendly as ever (if not a bit distracted). As crazy as it seems, and under the most creative-license laymen’s terms possible, Zamaria is the new “Mr. Comedy” of San Francisco—there’s always a new one—and it’s kicking his ass. His free time has evaporated and he’s answering “every e-mail”. Previously working on a food truck, and even more previously working at Punch Line San Francisco, has led him to organizing comedy at Doc’s Lab, an entertainment venue below restaurant Doc Rickett’s, which open last week. Its calendar is chocked with comedy nerd credibility: national headliners, stacked weekly showcases, chummy open mics, all costing less than $20 and having no two-drink minimum (i.e. an incredible deal). And yes, it used to be the legendary Purple Onion. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Jeff Zamaria of Doc’s Lab (aka SF’s Newest Happening)”

Show Review: Beck at Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium, 9/19/14

A few songs into Beck’s opening night performance at the remodeled SF Masonic, he asked the crowd “How does it sound out there? Does it sound good?” A resounding chorus of yes and yes equivalents was heard back. Yes, the SF Masonic sounds good. It also looks good. Was the first show a promise of many glorious nights to come?
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Film Review: This is Where I Leave You

This family puts the fun in ‘dysfunction’

xxxx — Sister and brother Wendy and Judd (Tina Fey and Jason Bateman) take a time-out together.

Director Shawn Levy, whose previous efforts include the funny but lightweight Night at the Museum and the mediocre Google commercial (er, film) The Internship might not seem like an obvious choice to bring Jonathan Tropper’s more literary serio-comic novel This is Where I Leave You to the big screen. But Levy has the good fortune to be working with a screenplay written by Tropper himself, as well as an extraordinary cast of both up and coming and tried and true talent. This collaboration has yielded one of the year’s most highly enjoyable pictures. Continue reading “Film Review: This is Where I Leave You”

Film Review: A Walk Among the Tombstones

(see Liam Neeson threaten more people!)

A Walk Among the Tombstones isn’t the first time I’ve had the chance to observe, critique, and celebrate Liam Neeson’s second life in cinema as an action star (see Non-Stop). It won’t be the last, either (see Taken 3). It doesn’t matter which film the imposing Irish actor stars in these days, it will undoubtedly be compared to, and its box office receipts still depending on, the popularity of 2009’s Taken. Neeson as a bad ass, to any degree, will spark endless amounts of “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want” and “certain set of skills” quotes around the workplace and dinner tables (maybe a few “Now’s not the time for dick measuring, Stuart!”). But in the new drama thriller, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Neeson is able to add layers to his usual badassery — the character Matthew Scudder is more like Sam Spade than Bryan Mills (from Taken). The film is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Lawrence Block, and its a callback to the movie detectives of the 1940s and 1950s. It’s a dark film that plods along the crime thriller genre path, invoking many crime thriller cliches and plot turns, but produces just enough menace, style, and disturbing characters to keep our attention.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 9/18/14-9/24/14

90’s Pop goodness, a remodeled theater and no less than three chances to see The Airborne Toxic Event. All this and more in a week of music in the Bay Area
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Album Review: Ty Segall – Manipulator

Rating: Silver

It’s been two weeks but the drug rug of “Manipulator” is still a hidden metaphor. Deeper and denser, though rarely as listenable as before, Segall deflects his past while finding solace in the past. “Tall Man Skinny Lady” is as much T. Rex as it is T. Segall: falsetto hooks and acoustic guitars harkening back to “Sleeper” but catchier. Ty has never been as lyrical as King Tuff or Mikal Cronin: “I can hear the sound/ When my love’s around/ Whistling the trees/ It sits inside the breezes” but that has never been the point with Segall. From the very beginning on “Ty Segall” all the way through the eponymous “Twins,” Segall has made his mark in the ephemeral. His songs, like a sugar rush, hit and dissipate but “Manipulator” is something more permanent. Continue reading “Album Review: Ty Segall — Manipulator“

Film Review: God Help the Girl

Beautifully executed music videos wrapped inside of a disastrous framing device makes this a good film to watch on fast forward.

Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, and Hannah Murray.

Fans of Belle & Sebastian, such as myself, have been hearing about Stuart Murdoch’s film project, God Help the Girl, for several years. From a giant online competition to find female singers to sing some songs he had written for women to sing, to a well received album of these songs, and finally a full length film musical with the same songs, now sung by the actors who appear on screen. It’s an ambitious project, a long time in the making, and it comes close to being worth the wait.

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Film Review: My Old Lady

Charming Paris apartment for sale: Long-term tenant and family secrets included

Kristin Scott Thomas's Chloe and Kevin Kline's Jim talk and talk and talk and talk some more as they walk the streets of Paris. — Kristin Scott Thomas’s Chloé and Kevin Kline’s Jim talk and talk and talk and talk some more as they walk the streets of Paris.

Playwright and screenwriter Israel Horovitz makes his directorial debut with this feature film adaptation of his 2002 play of the same name, and the results are commendable, particularly since this project marks his first big-screen directorial attempt. The picture retains its theatrical pacing, with much dialogue and limited action, but both the story and the acting are compelling enough to keep you so thoroughly engrossed that you won’t even miss having an intermission. Continue reading “Film Review: My Old Lady”