Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
For some silly reason, we’ve all decided that we need to spend the change over of the year in “party” mode. We count down til midnight, then pick somebody to make out with when the clock strikes 12. Well, I’m a firm believer in any excuse to go to a show, as well as any excuse to make out with somebody, so here’s a list of the best six shows to spend your New Year’s Eve with.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Picks Six: Ways To Spend New Year’s Eve In The Bay Area”
Comedian Greg Behrendt does a bit about the “grown up rock show.” A show where everyone is over 25, the band only plays hits, and the show is over in time for you to get home and watch Law & Order. No openers, no new material. It seems that the trend that’s been brewing for the last 5 years or so of playing a classic album front to back was inspired by this concept. The Matthew Sweet show at Yoshi’s, featuring Girlfriend in it’s entirety, definitely felt like this. There were few people in the crowd under the age of 30. Everyone showed up on time, a show that started at 8 PM on the nose, and ended shortly after 9:30. And it was beautiful.
Continue reading “Show Review: Matthew Sweet at Yoshi’s — SF, 12/27/11”
When you’re an internationally-successful musical act that bends and shapes a genre as complex and intricate as psytrance, how do you keep your work from becoming stagnant, in this ever-shifting world of electronic music with its seemingly endless count of subgenres? You’ve got a lot of competition in the field as 2011 draws to a close. There are the arena-filling behemoths like Tiësto and deadmau5, whose light and projection show rivals that of a second-world country’s first celebration of independence. There are the up-and-coming acts, who manage to pack a dancefloor with just a simple mixer and/or MIDI pad and a laptop chock full of cutting edge software and samples. To break the mold of the constant onslaught of knob twiddlers and fader pushers, it becomes necessary to add a human element and violently active energy to your stage show. It therefore should come as no surprise that Israeli psytrance heavyweights Infected Mushroom decided to move out from behind the keyboards and up to the front of the stage a few years back, and their November appearance at the Fillmore proved that their dynamite performance energy hasn’t dwindled in the slightest — if anything, it’s gotten even wilder than before.
War Horse
starring: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, Tom Hiddleston, David Kross, David Thewlis
written by: Lee Hall and Richard Curtis
directed by: Steven Spielberg
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of war violence.
The Adventures of Tintin
starring: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
written by: Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, and Joe Cornish
directed by: Steven Spielberg
MPAA: Rated PG for adventure action violence, some drunkenness and brief smoking.
Continue reading “Film Reviews: “War Horse” / “The Adventures of Tintin””
starring: Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Elle Fanning, Patrick Fugit, Colin Ford, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, John Michael Higgins, J.B. Smoove
written by: Cameron Crowe and Aline Brosh McKenna
directed by: Cameron Crowe
MPAA: Rated PG for language and some thematic elements.
Yes, this is kind of a slow show week. Why? Because it’s Christmas week. Even venues need to take to occasional holiday. But, you know what, the biggest badass in America is coming to town! So, yeah, Merry Christmas.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/22/11-12/28/11”
starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright, Joely Richardson
written by: Steven Zaillian
directed by: David Fincher
MPAA: Rated R for brutal violent content including rape and torture, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, and language.
Continue reading “Film Review: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo””
I’d like to say this review was brought to you by Spotify. It’s not. They are not a sponsor on SpinningPlatters. But I like it. What I really like about it is the fact that they post what you are listening to on Facebook. That’s how I found Caveman. One of my coworkers at my day job, a person whose taste in music is pretty combatible with my own, was listening to this band a lot. So, of course I had to listen. And, well, my Spotifstalking paid off, because it was quite good. Even better was that I had an opportunity to see them live shortly after learning about them. For more on that, well, JUMP!
Continue reading “Show Review: Caveman, Carletta Sue Kay at Brick and Mortar Music Hall, 12/11/11”
With the holidays fast approaching most of your favorite venues are getting rented out for holiday parties… But, live music is still happening, and there is plenty going around this week so you can get out of the cold. (Special thanks to Chris Rogers for helping out with some of these this week)
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/15/11-12/21/11”
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when it seemed like maybe we’d already seen the best of Gary Oldman. After establishing himself as a fearlessly intense and committed film actor with Alex Cox’s seminal British indie, Sid and Nancy (1986), he spent the next decade delivering unforgettable performances in roles ranging from Lee Harvey Oswald to Dracula to Beethoven, pivoting nimbly from blockbusters like Air Force One and The Fifth Element to cult favorites like The Professional and Romeo is Bleeding. But after the disastrous Lost in Space (1998), he seemed to vanish into an infrequent series of TV appearances and little-seen films.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Gary Oldman on “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy””