Spinning Platters – Page 229 – Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds

SFIFF Spotlights #5: Crystal Fairy / Cutie and the Boxer

My final two spotlights from the 56^th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF), which ends today. Information and tickets for the day’s final films at: http://festival.sffs.org/

Crystal Fairy
(Chile 2012, 100 min; English and Spanish with English subtitles)

Michael Cera is comically brilliant as Jamie, a know-it-all American seeking a mescaline high in Chile. Chilean director Sebastian Silva contrasts Jamie’s self-absorption and rigidity with fellow American Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffman). She’s free-spirited and new-agey, yet endears herself to Jamie and the Chilean brothers travelling with them; watching her conflict with Jamie is terrific fun. Silva’s very funny, sweet picture proves that even the most annoying of us are capable of growth and compassion.

Next showing:
Opens nationwide July 12, 2013. Continue reading “SFIFF Spotlights #5: Crystal Fairy / Cutie and the Boxer”

Midnight Music Movies at The New Parkway: Streets of Fire

Streets of Fire plays at The New Parkway in Oakland on Saturday, May 11th at 10:30

Unlike other movies that have entered the canon of “cult films,’ Streets of Fire is actually considered a good movie by some people who judge that sort of thing. But it’s over-the-top nature of the characters, the terrific music, and the combination of Michael Pare and Diane Lane that make this movie absolutely worth seeing. But why should I try to convince you when I can just quote the opening voiceover from the trailer:

You are about to enter a world unlike any you’ve ever seen before. Where rock and roll is king, the only law is a loaded gun, where the beautiful, the brutal, and the brave all meet. In Streets of Fire. Continue reading “Midnight Music Movies at The New Parkway: Streets of Fire”

Show Review: Little Boots with AVAN LAVA and Feathers at Rickshaw Stop, 5/3/2013

Boots Dress

On a special Friday Popscene that went far into the night, all the way into the headliner’s birthday, the crowd was treated to synth pop in different forms — the dark tinged variety, the choreographed kind, and finally the made-for-the-charts sugary pop of Victoria Hesketh, aka Little Boots. It was a fun night, although not without some rough bits. Continue reading “Show Review: Little Boots with AVAN LAVA and Feathers at Rickshaw Stop, 5/3/2013”

SFIFF Spotlights #4: Fill the Void / Prince Avalanche / The Way, Way Back

More spotlights from the 56^th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF), which ends this Thursday, May 9th. Tickets for screenings still available at: http://festival.sffs.org/

Fill the Void
(Israel 2012, 90 min; Hebrew with English subtitles)

Yiftach Klein and Hadas Yaron in Fill the Void

In this Israeli Film Academy Best Picture winner, director Rama Burshstein takes us inside the Tel Aviv Hassidic community. Shira (Hadas Yaron) is a conflicted young woman under pressure to marry her recently deceased sister’s husband. Hadas Yaron, resembling Greta Gerwig both physically and stylistically, deftly conveys Shira’s uncertainty and vulnerability. At the Q&A I attended, Burshstein called the film a “journey of feeling,” an apt description of this beautiful meditation on commitment and love.

Next showing:
No U.S. release date yet; has been playing film festivals. Continue reading “SFIFF Spotlights #4: Fill the Void / Prince Avalanche / The Way, Way Back”

Show Review: Bleached, Ex Cops, Dirty Pillows and Spirit on the Water at the Blank Club, 5/4/2013

Bleached blew the doors off at the Blank Club, and luckily they weren’t DeLorean doors, because then people would have gotten decked for real, rather than that fake decking Floyd Mayweather gave Robert Guerrero earlier that evening. There’s more sports highlights herein. Buckle up.

Continue reading “Show Review: Bleached, Ex Cops, Dirty Pillows and Spirit on the Water at the Blank Club, 5/4/2013”

SFIFF Spotlights #3: Computer Chess / Google and the World Brain / The Kings of Summer

The SFIFF continues to showcase fascinating films from around the world. It ends soon (May 9th) so visit http://festival.sffs.org/ to get tickets to this week’s final screenings.

Computer Chess
(USA 2013, 91 min)

An existential satire of 1980’s computer technology and the burning topic (as it stood at the time) of human vs. computer, set against the backdrop of a small computer chess tournament. Devotion to an 80’s feel through cinematography, fashion, and hilarious social stigmas are definitely worth the viewing, though the film dives a bit unnecessarily into the psychedelic. It’s fun to see (and remember…if you’re old enough) how the computer geek culture has changed.

Continue reading “SFIFF Spotlights #3: Computer Chess / Google and the World Brain / The Kings of Summer”

Show Review: Maps and Atlases, Young Man, Cannons and Clouds at Rickshaw Stop, 4/26/2013

Maps and Atlases by Andrew Moore — All Photos by Andrew Moore

Everybody socialized with the reserved excitement of a freshman orientation. Fun was to be had, sure, but to what degree was the procession supposed to fall backwards in trust. Nobody had an answer in Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco’s nook of clamoring dynamite, for what to expect from Maps & Atlases and company. Neither the crowd’s collective facade nor the ampersand-heavy line-up insinuated flame for a powder keg; that was a misguided prejudgement. Continue reading “Show Review: Maps and Atlases, Young Man, Cannons and Clouds at Rickshaw Stop, 4/26/2013”

Film Review: Iron Man 3

Robert Downey Jr. and his suit in 'Iron Man 3' — Robert Downey Jr. and his suit in Iron Man 3

Yes, that’s a somewhat dejected looking Tony Stark. Why the long face when his new movie has a shot at earning one billion dollars at the worldwide box office? Well, there IS something Tony can be sad about — with The Avengers 2, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and likely a few more Marvel films on the horizon, this may be the last Iron Man installment for quite some time, if not ever. When Iron Man 3 takes advantage of that fact and pulls out all the stops, not including an unnecessarily complex plot and superfluous CGI, it’s a whole ton of explosive fun.

Continue reading “Film Review: Iron Man 3”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/2/13-5/8/13

Don't drink bleach. Go see Bleached! You have three opportunities this week! — Don’t drink bleach. Go see Bleached! You have three opportunities this week!

May is looking almost as crazy as April on the show front. And this time there isn’t a Coachella to blame it on. You just need to blame it on how awesome the bay area is! Now, got do some rocking. Or Else…

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/2/13-5/8/13”

Show Review: Marnie Stern with SISU and E V Kain at the Rickshaw Stop, 4/28/2013

Incendiary guitar goddess Marnie Stern returned to San Francisco on Sunday night in support of her fourth and most accessible LP, the wondrously titled The Chronicles of Marnia. The show, which transpired at the Rickshaw Stop, drew a full house of giddily enthusiastic fans, or at least what passes for “giddily enthusiastic” on a Sunday night in San Francisco. By which I mean we all pretty much stood there stone-faced for three hours. But we were into it! Honest! I think Marnie might actually prefer our notoriously chill style of audience participation; when she noticed that the only overtly expressive dancers in the entire club had positioned themselves directly in front of her, she actually ordered them to go dance in front of her bassist, Nithin Kalvakota. “It’s distracting! And confusing! And it’s making me dizzy!” she protested in that vaguely “It’s Pat” voice of hers. And what the lady wants, the lady gets.

Continue reading “Show Review: Marnie Stern with SISU and E V Kain at the Rickshaw Stop, 4/28/2013”