Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
After having to watch the bulk of our films from our living rooms in 2020, the slow but sure return to cinemas in 2021 was more than welcome. And the year rewarded us with many Top 10 list worthy contenders. I’ve narrowed mine down to the list below. You can also check out fellow film writer Chris Piper’s list here, as well as my 2020 list here. Now stop reading lists, and go seek these out!
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2021”
2021 in American cinema was remarkable in how it seemed so… normal. Whatever the numbers say, my feeling was that the year started a little slowly, then found its footing around March, then kicked into something like a normal gear over the summer. As fall approached, and it seemed to me more theaters reopened, a slate of films pretty much like those in 2019 awaited. Winter seemed to bring somewhat larger than normal crop of smaller-budget films, and here we are, at the end of the year with a number of solid films released, awards season in full swing, and waiting for Oscar noms in just over a month.
So here are my top 10 films of 2021. See these 10 films in any order you want, preferably in the theater, but on your couch if you must. Here’s hoping for more of more of the same in 2022. Continue reading “Film Feature: Chris Piper’s Top 10 Films of 2021”
Thinking back on the year in movies, “unusual” and “complicated” might be 2020’s most fitting descriptors. Yes, we’ve had plenty of content to watch, thanks to streaming services, and plenty of time at home to view it all, but COVID-19 cancelled the multiplex experience. Watching movies at home, without the excitement of the big screen and a crowd of fellow film-lovers nearby, just wasn’t as satisfying, which is why the number of films I reviewed this year dwindled sharply. That said, I did watch enough to pull together my annual Top 10 Best Films of the Year. And a unique year requires a unique Top 10 list: hence my first ever Haiku Top 10! I hope each of these 17 syllable snippets (and their trailers!) will steer you toward checking out these films, each of which moved, inspired, and stuck with me this year. Here’s to a return to in-person cinema in 2021! (And if you’re curious about what was on my list last year, you can check that out here.)
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2020”
The 90th Academy Awards air this Sunday, March 4th on ABC at 5:00 pm PST (pre-show festivities start well before, if you want to weigh in on Oscar fashions). Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chris Piper share their predictions – and hopes – for the major categories, and discuss their reasoning for six of the biggest categories in the podcast below. Will there be another Moonlight/La La Land fiasco? Tune in on Sunday to find out – and to see how we – and you – do on the big night!
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie and Chris Pick the 2018 Oscars”
Perhaps no picture has been more anticipated here in the tech capital of the Bay Area than the Aaron Sorkin-penned and Danny Boyle-directed biopic of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, based on Walter Isaacson’s best-selling 2011 biography of the same name. Sorkin and Boyle, with their similar frenetic writing and directing styles (think The Social Network meets Slumdog Millionaire) prove to be the ideal team to dramatize the life of the Peninsula-raised inventor, entrepreneur, original tech titan, and icon. Indeed, their picture lives up to expectations, succeeding as both a fascinating character study, and as a historical dramatization of seminal events that took place here in the Bay Area, but ultimately touched the entire world.
starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Kerris Dorsey
written by: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
directed by: Bennett Miller
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some strong language