Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Here’s what you’ve been waiting for: my 2023 cinematic favorites! You can also check out fellow film critic Chad Liffmann’s list here to compare and contrast and see who you agree with more. Will Oscar voters agree with us? We’ll find out when the nominations are announced on January 23rd!
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2023”
Back in 2017, in my review of the lackluster film A Ghost Story, I declared that Manchester by the Sea was the “finest movie about grief ever made.” Fast forward to the present day, however, and I now retract my statement. Writer/director Andrew Haigh’s devastating new film All of Us Strangers has usurped that designation, and at this point I can’t fathom that another picture could even come close to knocking it out of position. An emotionally wrenching, achingly true, and deeply affecting story about trauma, grief, and memory, Haigh’s film is one of the year’s best.
Your mileage may vary on how much you care about wrestling. Wrestling only became major sports entertainment in the late 1980s with the growing popularity of the WWF (World Wrestling Federation). But in the early 1980s, the Von Erich family sought fame on wrestling’s biggest stages, but tragedy continued to get in the way. The Iron Claw, a new sports drama named after the family’s trademark wrestling move, hastily captures this incredibly sad, hard-to-believe true story, but lacks emotional thoroughness in between its wrestling matches.
Heavy music has been making a pretty big comeback into the public eye lately. My theory is that when the world around us seems intent on reminding us that we are a species that is hardly worth the time and effort it takes to survive, we gravitate toward music that shares that outlook. No band embodies this thesis wholeheartedly as much as San Diego’s Cattle Decapitation, so it should be no surprise that I’m a pretty big fan. That aside, it was one hell of a night for death metal at The Belasco.
It’s been a great year for movies. All the hubbub about the ‘worst films of the year’ list that Variety put out is making a lot of noise, so I’d like to fire back with a Top 20 of the year list. There are so many to choose from, just look at the thirty movie posters above, all of which I’d consider very good films, great films, and even a few masterpieces. This is not a year to point out the worst, but rather one in which we should highlight the surplus of quality films released. Without further ado, here’s my ranked top twenty of 2023:
A criminally underseen indie film in which Lily Gladstone gives another memorable performance playing a resident of the Seneca–Cayuga Nation Reservation searching for her missing sister.
Continue reading “Film Feature: Chad’s Top 20 Films of 2023”
In 2018, writer/director Paul King’s Paddington 2 earned the coveted number one spot on my Top 10 list. After a few years working in television, King has returned to the big screen with his Paddington 2 co-writer Simon Farnaby to bring us Wonka. The picture is a similarly delightful and warmhearted holiday treat.
The hesitation that I had, and I imagine many people will have, about seeing The Zone of Interest was the fear of having more Holocaust imagery seared into my memory. There have been many Holocaust films made, all difficult to watch, and almost all important to see. It’s necessary that films, books, and oral testimonials accurately depict Nazi atrocities, so that they are never forgotten. That being said, it’s hard to be “in the mood” for a Holocaust film. Shortly into watching The Zone of Interest, I understood that the film’s intentions were not the same as previous Holocaust films. The Zone of Interest is as much about what you do see as what you don’t see, which is just as harrowing, if not more so. The film depicts the banality of evil, showing us a story of chilling complacency.
Cord Jefferson has been a writer on a few of the most celebrated television shows of the last six years, including Master of None, The Good Place, Watchmen, and Station Eleven. Transitioning to films, he makes his writing and directing debut with American Fiction. Jefferson focuses all his storytelling wit on creating a prescient satire, and as a result, American Fiction becomes not only a powerful introductory statement for the filmmaker but also one of the year’s finest cinematic works.
In 2008, the Dresden Dolls would play Los Angeles for, seemingly, the last time. In 2008, I was 23 years old, still in college in the rural North of California, fairly isolated from the meccas of civilization and regular concerts of better-known bands. I missed it. After moving to Los Angeles the following year to attempt and fail at breaking into the film industry, I had all but lost hope of ever seeing the Dresden Dolls perform.
Continue reading “Show Review: Dresden Dolls at the Belasco Theatre (Los Angeles), 12/08/2024”
Afrobeat is having a serious, significant renaissance right now. So much good stuff coming out of the genre, and “Push” by Naomi Sharon is a track that has definitely been pumping the serotonin for me this week. It’s a simple, sexy, easygoing groove that feels utterly relaxed and somehow, well, “hot” at the same time. I love it.
“Push” comes from Sharon’s debut album, Obsidian. You can find it at your favorite DSP!
