Spinning Platters – Page 230 – Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds

Film Review: Despicable Me 2

Steve Carell as Gru, standing with two adorable minions, in Despicable Me 2

Gru’s minions are so gosh darn adorable and hilarious! The production team behind Despicable Me 2 knows this, hence the endless amounts of advertising for the film featuring the little yellow round bundles of gibberish-speaking joy. Despicable Me 2 lacks the overall charm of the original, choosing instead to focus on minion mayhem, a tireless string of jokes, and adorable slapstick humor. This isn’t to say the film lacks a clever story. In fact, Despicable Me 2 impressively avoids trudging down expected paths. However, the story doesn’t feature the same emotional core as the original, nor does it stay as focused. Despicable Me 2 meanders a bit, but never loses sight of the task at hand — to entertain and have a really good time doing so. Plus…those minions!

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Film Review: The Heat

Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in The Heat

Is it possible for The Heat to be anything other than what you expect? Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy join together as the most lovable pair of odd couple style cops. Of course it’s going to be cheesy and predictable and, if everything goes as well as hoped, thoroughly entertaining. In the hands of director Paul Feig I don’t know how it could be bad. Continue reading “Film Review: The Heat”

Film Review: White House Down

Jamie Foxx is Mr. President and Channing Tatum is Mr. Hero in White House Down

We say a picture is worth a thousand words. If my math is correct, a two hour and seventeen minute movie, therefore, should be worth 197,280 words (at 24 frames per second). Why, then, when White House Down ended, did my friend turn to me and say, “There are no words…”, and begin conjuring up fantasies of what he could have been doing for the previous 2+ hours instead? The answer is that White House Down is a terrible movie that misses all of its marks. It is not the fun explosion-filled action spectacle we used to expect from director Roland Emmerich in the mid-late 90’s and early 00’s. It’s better than 2012 and worse than Anonymous, although comparing WHD to 2012 is like comparing dirt to mud. It’s a shame this movie falls so far short because it had all the right ingredients in place for it to be a loud summer escapist romp. Instead, White House Down belittles its own silly story by trading in ‘silliness’ for ‘stupidity’. It is chalk full of stale acting and uninspired thrills, complete with a genuinely shocking amount of unrealistic moments (yes, even for a film about the White House being hijacked).

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/27/13-7/3/13

En route to bring you joy on Thursday Night if you want to.

Summer is a great time for some rock n roll. So this weel brings you some excellent Summertime rock options.

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Warped Tour 2013 Diary: Shoreline Amphitheater 6/22/2013

I was elated to hear that I would return to Warped Tour after 2 years of being unable to go. Warped Tour always has introduced me to amazing bands I have never heard of, eclectic bands that I was unsure of what to think of, and made me a diehard fan of those bands I have heard of but never have seen perform.

I left my house a solid hour and a half before the gates were set to open, even though I live a mere ten minute drive away. Note to any future newcomers to the Warped Tour experience: the traffic is mind numbingly bad. It took me around 45 minutes to get to the amphitheater. Once I got my press pass, grabbed a list of set times (which I had to buy for two bucks) , and went through the gates, I was ready to see as many bands as humanly possible in ten hours. Continue reading “Warped Tour 2013 Diary: Shoreline Amphitheater 6/22/2013”

Spinning Platters Interview: Adam Duritz of Counting Crows

The first CD that I ever bought with my own money was August and Everything After, Counting Crows’ debut album. I listened to it to death, and still love it. So, I was pretty giddy when I scored the opportunity to interview their frontman Adam Duritz ahead of their upcoming tour with The Wallflowers. The band is playing two shows in the Bay Area this summer: Wente Vineyards in Livermore on July 17th (Tix Here!) and America’s Cup Pavilion in San Francisco on July 18th (Tix Here!). Plus, if you buy tickets on line in advance, you get a free download of their latest live record, Echoes Of The Outlaw Roadshow!

SP: You used BitTorrent to help promote Underwater Sunshine. Why did you decide to pick such a controversial method to promote the record?

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Frameline Spotlights: C.O.G. / In the Name Of

From June 20-30, Frameline: The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival is showing an eclectic lineup of films steeped in social, political, and sexual themes, pushing the boundaries and bringing audiences closer to the incredible stories of numerous individuals and communities, both fictional and real. Tickets for screenings are available at http://ticketing.frameline.org/festival/. Here is a glance at two of this year’s festival entries:

C.O.G. (USA, 2013)

Jonathan Groff is a sour apple in C.O.G.

Based on the unassuming essay by David Sedaris and under the steady direction of Kyle Patrick Alvarez, C.O.G. is the piercingly honest tale of a young man’s escape from his privileged Ivy-league world into the apple orchards and Christian community of a small town outside Portland, OR. The sold out audience at the Castro Theatre laughed, cheered, sat silent, and gasped, and left with a welcome sense of renewal, as if the film’s flawed characters had challenged each of us to examine ourselves in a way we hadn’t considered for some time.

C.O.G. screened on Saturday, June 22nd. For more info on the film, visit the film’s festival page or C.O.G.’s official website at http://www.cog-movie.com/

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Show Review: She & Him, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Tilly & The Wall at The Greek Theater, 6/22/13

There were more reasons to visit The Greek Theater last Saturday night than a mere love of ampersands. It was a rare night at The Greek where the weather was absolutely perfect- not too warm, not too cold. The early signs of the upcoming “Super Moon” were in the the sky. The crowd, a bit older than expected, and happily ironic mustache-free, arrived early enough to make sure they enjoyed every act on the bill.

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Film Review: Monsters University

Monsters in Monsters University — Scary monsters are scared in Monsters University

It has been nearly twelve years since Monsters Inc. made its theatrical debut, introducing audiences to one of film history’s most imaginative storylines and a memorable duo of lovable Monster protagonists, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman). It was Pixar’s fourth feature film and became an instant classic, one that still ranks high up on most people’s “what’s your favorite Pixar film?” list. Because of the place Monsters, Inc. held in our hearts, we all became cautiously optimistic yet filled with trepidation with the announcement of the prequel, Monsters University. We wondered why Pixar would even bother returning to a world that was so perfectly captured in a tightly bound film that had no cause for story extensions. The answer may be shrouded in dollar signs, or, perhaps like Toy Story 2 & 3, the Pixar team just could not abandon these lovable monsters forever. When all was said and done, Monsters University was greenlit and it has now finally arrived. The finished product is a playful “origin” story, filled with substantially more satirical humor rather than original humor, but also showcases a larger cast of lovable characters and genuinely touching moments.

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Film Review: World War Z

Brad Pitt (and his fictional family) in World War Z — Brad Pitt keeps his cool (with his fictional family) in World War Z

Fans of the book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks can either rejoice or fume at the fact that the new film adaptation is almost entirely its own unique entity. An opening credit claims it is “based” on the book. Sure, it does share the same title, and I can confirm that there are some borrowed story elements. However, the action-packed narrative of the World War Z movie is extremely different from the book, in which a collection of post-pandemic interviews conducted by an agent of the U.N. Postwar Commission (Max Brooks, as a fictionalized version of himself) reads like a non-fiction history book. In my opinion, a faithful adaptation of the book would work best in the form of a ten part HBO mini-series. But, since the Brad Pitt action spectacle is what we must see to satisfy our WWZ cravings, then we will just have to make do. Luckily, it really is not that bad. In fact, it is quite entertaining. WWZ lacks the heart and layered character portrayals we hoped for due to its connection to the phenomenal source material, but it remains a worthwhile blockbuster that contains a lot of thrills, impressive visuals, and a fun frenetic pace courtesy of numerous rewrites, reshoots, and a healthy dose of unpredictable plot turns.

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