blue moon – Spinning Platters

Film Feature: Chad’s Top 20 Films of 2025

What a sneaky good, but not great, movie year. 2025 was full of major blockbuster disappointments (Mickey 17, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Tron: Ares, The Running Man, Wicked For Good) and a few five-star masterpieces. But there was a plethora of three-and-a-half to four-star fare, some good and some great, that made moviegoing a memorable experience. The honorable mentions will be many this year, but here’s my ranked list of the twenty best films of 2025:

20. FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES

The sixth film in a series is rarely, if ever, as good as, if not better, than all previous installments. Bloodlines refreshed the ‘90s horror franchise in inventive new ways, killing off a plethora of death-cheaters.

19. THE NAKED GUN

Pure comedies can still be good, and still make money! The reboot of The Naked Gun had some of the funniest lines of the year, and produced the rare pleasure of joining in raucous laughter with a moviegoing audience. Continue reading “Film Feature: Chad’s Top 20 Films of 2025”

Film Feature: MVFF48 Festival Preview #2

If it’s October, it must be Mill Valley. Yes, everyone’s favorite fall film fest opens tonight, Thursday, October 2nd. You can check out the full program here, and don’t despair if a screening is listed as “standby”: more tickets may be released before the screening date, and same-day wait list tickets most likely will be available. Check out the Box Office for more information. We already presented a sneak peak of three of of this year’s offerings, and below we highlight five more: four great features and an equally worthy documentary. See you at the Fest!

1.) Metallica Saved My Life
(United Kingdom, 2025. 99 min.)

Anyone looking for a sort “Behind the Music” exposé about Metallica would be better served by watching the 2004 documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. That the band is still together 20+ years since that film is a testament to its staying power, which aligns with the angle this new doc takes. “Metallica is everybody” is the rallying cry of Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund’s new film, which Metallica’s PR team is no doubt swooning over. Despite its Metallica-can-do-no-wrong vibe, this documentary about the band’s devoted fans is infectious and disarming. Filled with stories of people from all walks of life and all across the globe who have found solace, connection, and joy in the band’s music and concerts, the picture paints a warm portrait of a Metallica family that embraces anyone who wants to love the band and its community. Particularly affecting interviews from a trans man in Austin and fans from Iraq, Botswana, and Ukraine are emotionally raw, and help keep the picture from sinking too deeply into hagiography. Metallica band members are also interviewed, and they come across gracious and sincere in their appreciation of their fans. Sure the film is terrific PR, but it’s also genuinely uplifting.

Screenings (click here for tickets):
– Thurs., Oct. 9th, 6:00pm at CinéArts Sequoia, Mill Valley (at standby)
– Fri., Oct. 10th, 3:00pm at Smith Rafael Film Center

Continue reading “Film Feature: MVFF48 Festival Preview #2”

BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 3

The Foo Fighters intended to play until they could play no more (Photo credit: BottleRock Napa Valley / Latitude 38 Entertainment)

Where had the time gone? Somehow it was already Sunday, and Day 1 and Day 2 were already behind us!

Sunday promised to have the best weather of all, as well as some acts I’d been really looking forward to. Because I’d missed The Helmets last year – but heard them from my house and was impressed enough to text a friend who was already there, asking who they were – I knew in advance that I had to make it there early this year to see them in action. Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 3”

BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 2

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers headline Saturday at BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 (Photo credit: BottleRock Napa Valley / Latitude 38 Entertainment)

This year’s Saturday at BottleRock Napa Valley promised to be a beautiful warm and breezy 75 degrees, the perfect weather for a festival full of good music, great food and all the beer, wine, and cocktails you can handle! Once again, there were more acts scheduled than was possible to see all at once, so I had to pick and choose pieces of sets from the bands I most wanted to see to make it all work. (For example, who wants to decide between House of Pain and Bishop Briggs? I wanted to “jump around” and jam out with Ms. Briggs… Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 2”

BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 1

Maroon 5 headlines Friday night at BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 (Photo credit: BottleRock Napa Valley / Latitude 38 Entertainment)

Last weekend marked the return of my hometown’s beloved music, food and drink festival, BottleRock Napa Valley, which turned five this Memorial Day weekend. In addition to boasting phenomenal music lineups year after year, BRNV offers a wine garden, a “beer bend,” a silent disco, a beer and bourbon garden, displays of art throughout the festival grounds, and of course, the culinary delights that have come to be associated with this valley that is so much more than wine. Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2017 Festival Journal, Day 1”

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 Festival Journal, Day 1

The first taste of summer: BottleRock Napa Valley, the 2016 edition. (Photo credit: BottleRock Napa Valley / Latitude 38 Entertainment)

Before I get into all the details of the gloriousness that was this year’s BottleRock Napa Valley, please allow me a moment, not just to digress but to explain why this festival is so important to me. I was born in Napa. As many Napa kids do, I moved away in my early 20s seeking something more exciting (hard to imagine now, but at the time Napa was still a relatively small town without a lot to do). I had some oats to sow, and was gone for 5-6 years, but returned about a decade ago to go back to school. Since then, I often say that “this town and I grew up together,” as we’ve both evolved into something more worth enjoying. While once I was a kid from a small town most had never heard of (and because of which I often claimed SF or the Bay Area to those unfamiliar), I have since become a “townie,” and that’s okay with me. This place is something special, and I can’t imagine ever leaving. True, it was once far quieter (and okay, far more dull), but these days it’s really something to behold, and has earned its reputation as a world-famous, world-class destination on bucket lists the world over. So, add to that a phenomenal music festival that showcases not just the mind-blowing wines and taste-bud-tantalizing food for which we’re known, but consistently impressive musical lineups that offer something for everyone, year after year? How could I not love BottleRock? I’m happy to say that I’ve been BottleRocking since the very beginning, and I can’t imagine what it might take to keep me away. As you can imagine, I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival!

Okay, onward…this year, BottleRock was scheduled to fall on Memorial Day weekend. While I personally heard the frustration of local business owners (for many of whom the beloved festival pulls away business all weekend long), I didn’t have any reason to lament spending a long, beautiful-weathered weekend wandering the Napa Valley Expo grounds last weekend more or less than any other.

Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 Festival Journal, Day 1”

BottleRock Napa Valley 2014 Festival Journal, Day 3

Noah Gunderson. (Photo by Bob McClenahan)

After full days Friday and Saturday, you might think I’d have been a little worn out by Day three of BottleRock Napa Valley. Not me: I was ready with bells on, and perched directly in front of the Sprint stage early in the day for Noah Gundersen to kick it all off. His set began with Noah on acoustic guitar, a woman playing the violin, and a drummer. The three sang wonderful harmony, and before long were joined by the electrics: initially a bass and a guitar, but there were some keys mixed in for good measure, too. To top it all off, Gundersen played a bit of the harmonica in places as well. “We’re really trying to kick your Sunday off with a bang,” he said, adding that there were “usually a lot more people in the drinking section.” I noted that this was the first band whose entire discography I wanted to download as soon as I got home. (I haven’t yet, but still intend to.) I don’t know how else to describe their sound but “electric folk,” which is to say that it was like nothing I’d ever heard, and I loved it. Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2014 Festival Journal, Day 3”