Sweeney, Foster deliver knockout performances in affecting boxing biopic
Christy (Sydney Sweeney) contemplates her next move in the ring.
If you’re not a boxing fan, you may not have heard of Christy Martin, a super welterweight champion of women’s professional boxing. Netflix covered her personal and professional life story in its excellent sports documentary series Untold back in 2021’s “Deal with the Devil” episode, and Hollywood obviously found the material worthy of dramatic spin. Hence the release of Christy today, with actress Sydney Sweeney portraying the resilient boxing champ in an absorbing and well-acted biopic. Continue reading “Film Review: “Christy””
We love Black Belt Eagle Scout here at Spinning Platters. She’s released 3 albums that balance between the gentle and the loud in ways that would do Neil Young very proud. She’s unafraid to push boundaries as an artist, but “Leftovers” was probably the last thing I was expecting. It’s a bright and sunny song that borders on reggae. It’s a hopeful, joyful piece. Her collaborator on this song, Mato Wayuhi, and effortless singing/rapping interplay work nicely with BBES’ delicate tones.
Black Belt Eagle Scout is hitting the road, doing a short run of West Coast shows alongside the legendary Julie Doiron, before heading East with Wayuhi. Tickets and the schedule can be found here.
I was planning on taking my 15-year-old daughter to see Alex G. She’s the reason I got into him six years ago. She discovered him on YouTube, and over time she grew increasingly irritated by the hordes on TikTok who butchered his lyrics and turned his shows into screaming matches over mis heard refrains. Continue reading “Show Review: Alex G at The Fox Theater — Oakland, 9/23 & 24”
The Predator franchise hunts for a wild team-up adventure, and finds it
Thia (Elle Fanning) and Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) team up in ‘Predator: Badlands.’
Sometimes, the deeper a film franchise explores its lore, the more the lack of mystery renders new entries as overwritten, overexplained, and uninteresting (see Maleficent, Star Wars, Halloween, Alien, etc.). Every bit of old and new intellectual property is vulnerable to this type of universe-building, since there’s a lot of money to be made in juicing a franchise for all its worth. Not all of lore-exploring is bad, however. There are many exceptions, and after 2018’s disappointing Shane Black vehicle, The Predator, the Predator franchise has been successfully growing its cinematic universe since 2022 under the helm of writer/director Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane, Prey, Predator: Killer of Killers). Predator: Badlands is the most adventurous and (intentionally) funny entry in the series, and it’s also the most distinct departure from the adult-oriented, extremely violent nature of its predecessors. Badlands stretches the tonal scope of what a Predator movie can include and feel like. With 2022’s Prey maintaining the franchise’s grittiness and simple setups (albeit taking place on the Great Plains in the early 1700s), and this year’s animated Predator: Killer of Killers expanding the Predator narrative pallet in inventive and ultra-gory ways, Badlands is an additional and promising franchise track: a character-oriented Star Wars-esque adventure.Continue reading “Film Review: “Predator: Badlands””
I’ve never been to a concert in Ventura, CA. I’ve also never seen Cannibal Corpse live. So, when given the opportunity to head out to The Majestic Ventura Theatre, a theatre that has seen countless bands over its lifetime, to see one of the progenitors of goregrind death metal, I simply had to take it. Mind you, this was a 50-mile trek for me, but it was a Friday, so I hit that fuck it button, cranked the throttle on my motorcycle, and zoomed off straight from work.
Opening the evening was an Italian death metal group paying homage, not only in name, to the great Lucio Fulci. Fulci was everything a horror movie-obsessed death metal fan could have wanted. In addition to bone-crushing songwriting, they brought awesome visuals directly pulled from or inspired by one of my absolute favorite directors of classic Italian genre cinema. They were relentless, tight, and loud as fuck. I loved it.
Following Fulci was a four-person wrecking crew who went off like a fucking bomb. Full of Hell were insanely high-energy, blending death metal, sludge, grindcore, and powerviolence into quite the unique concoction. Singer Dylan Walker never stops moving, save for a few moments between songs, which are at breakneck speeds and absolutely destructive. I felt a lot like how I felt the first time I had ever heard The Locust, and I say that as a huge compliment!
Municipal Waste is the main “coheadliner” of the tour, and goddamn are they fun. Within 30 seconds, I got hit by flying beer drops. These guys take old school trash and blend it with a no fucks given party attitude. They rile up the crowd and get ’em moving, jeering that whatever city they played before this one had more crowd surfers. Throughout the night, a guy in a banana costume was constantly being heckled into starting circle pits, and he sure did oblige!
As it turned out, this evening’s show was bass player Philip Hall’s birthday, and as such, singer Tony Foresta dedicated “The Art of Partying” circle pit to him. They also took a moment to recognize the passing of At The Gates’ Tomas Lindberg, dedicating the final circle pit to him before launching into “Born To Party.”
As I stated before, I’ve never managed to see Cannibal Corpse live. Partially because it took me a minute to come around to them in my younger, less enlightened, days, but by the time I did, I was absolutely hooked. So when they came out on stage and George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher almost immediately started headbanging, the night was officially ON. These guys rip, and they’re so ridiculously fast while also headbanging and windmilling throughout!
It seemed like Corpsegrinder was having some monitor trouble at first, but they got it figured out by the time he dedicated “Disposal of the Body” to Phil for his birthday. Allow me to say, the meme of “Respect The Neck,” in regards to Corpsegrinder’s inhuman ability to windmill and headbang harder and faster than anyone alive, is well deserved. It’s honestly mesmerizing at times, because I have no idea how he doesn’t give himself whiplash. All said and done, it was a hell of a night, and I’m glad I made the trek!
Emotions are an afterthought in this timely but surface-level historical dramatization
Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) is on trial in ‘Nuremberg.’
The biggest challenge facing Nuremberg, the historical drama about the post-World War II Nazi trials, is that audiences can take a brief glimpse into today’s newspaper and read about an abundance of unchecked war crimes still taking place across the globe. Despite the precedent of individual accountability that the trials established, history tends to repeat itself. The second biggest issue facing Nuremberg is the script’s lack of emotional sincerity. Attempts at clever scene transitions and a tone aiming for a suspenseful courtroom dramafeel excruciatingly inappropriate. Despite a strong performance from Russell Crowe and the film’s timely release, Nuremberg fails to capture the tragedy, the sensitivity, and the momentousness of its subject matter.Continue reading “Film Review: “Nuremberg””
NICE! It’s been a bit since the last Noname track graced our eardrums. And the song she gave us? “Hundred Acres” is the kind of immediate head-nodder track that could be your guiding light through the dark winter ahead. An infectious piano riff, effortless delivery, complex rhyme schemes, a hook that rings in your head, and it’s just plain a killer track.
“Hundred Acres” is the first release from Noname’s upcoming album, Cartoon Radio, which I’m eagerly anticipating. Until then, why not join Noname’s book club?
20-Year-Old Jayden Binnix, aka Black Polish, just released their second album, YUNA, a concept album about a succubus that feeds off the souls of men. It’s pretty bonkers and amazing, and we had a wonderful chat about this record, their early work, being a non-binary artist on a major label, and, as usual, a bunch of nerdy wormholes were stumbled upon.
YUNA is out TODAY from BMG. Stream it at your favorite DSP!
A couple of monsters and Stitch Head (Asa Butterfield) get ready for bed in ‘Stitch Head.’
On the heels of Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, and just in time for Halloween,comes a whimsical spin on the Frankenstein story, the animated comedy Stitch Head. It’s the first family film of the holiday season, heartwarmingly written and directed by Steve Hudson (True North). Undeniably self-aware and filled with equal amounts of kid-friendly and Monty Python-style humor, Stitch Head brings Guy Bass’s book series to life with charming, colorful vibrancy and carries with it a positive message about friendship and self-worth.Continue reading “Film Review: “Stitch Head””
There are a few musical tricks that I love more than a song that is just a continuous build-up of anxiety. “Cost Of Living” by Jewelry Exchange is *almost* that. It’s weird, because it’s both anxious AND hopeful, which is a line I keep finding myself balancing these days. It’s so bloody good, and the end? It just leaves you feeling dropped. Much like, well, life in 2025. I’m still not sure what I’m supposed to feel with this song, but I’m going to put it on again in hopes that I find it.
“Cost of Living” is the first single off Jewelry Exchange’s upcoming album Bedazzled. You can prepare yourself for its arrival at this link.
They’ve even blessed us with a short West Coast tour next month!
