Bradley Cooper – Spinning Platters

BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 Festival Journal, Day 2

(You’re reading Day 2. Be sure to check out Day 1!)

Saturday in Napa dawned bright and sunny for another day of festival fun! My first stop was the Verizon stage, where I caught Holly Humberstone. The girl’s voice is absolutely angelic, and while I only know a few of her songs so far, I enjoyed her performance. She was a treat to start a lovely day, and I was happy to hear both “The Walls Are Way Too Thin” and “Falling Asleep at the Wheel.” You can find the entire setlist here (Verizon; BRNV photos) Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 Festival Journal, Day 2”

Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2021

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!

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Film Feature: Chris Piper’s Top 10 Films of 2021

Films make a big comeback in 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”

Film Feature: Carrie and Chris Pick the 2019 Oscars

Film critics Carrie and Chris on who will – and who should – win the 91st Academy Awards

The 91st Academy Awards air this Sunday, February 24th, on ABC at 5:00 pm PST (with the requisite pre-show fashion assessments starting hours before). As they did last year, Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chris Piper share their predictions – and hopes – for the major categories. Guild awards – often harbingers of Oscars to come – have been all over the map this year, so there may actually be some genuine surprises. Tune in on Sunday to see how things play out, and to find out if we correctly read the minds of Academy voters.

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Film Review: A Star is Born

Lady Gaga, not Cooper’s debut film, is the real Star here

Mega star Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) and up-and-coming singer Ally (Lady Gaga) bond over songwriting.

What do the years 1937, 1954, and 1976 have in common with 2018? They, too, all had versions of the film A Star is Born playing in cinemas. Whether or not the movie-going public really needs a third remake of the 1937 original is up for debate (the ’54 and ’76 versions famously starred Judy Garland and Barbara Streisand, respectively), but actor Bradley Cooper apparently felt strongly that 2018 is the right moment for another try. He makes his writing and directing debut here, directing himself in a modern version of the classic story that, while showcasing the incredible talent of his co-star Lady Gaga, brings nothing fresh or extraordinary to the well-worn tale.

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Film Review: War Dogs

**Arms and the bros: Hangover director brings incredible true story to the screen**

Efraim (Jonah Hill, center) and David (Miles Teller, r.) inspect some choice merchandise in an Albanian warehouse.

The economy of war and the audacity of youth brilliantly collide in writer/director Todd Phillips’s new picture War Dogs. A heavily fictionalized dramatization of Guy Lawson’s 2011 Rolling Stone article (and later book), the film details the spectacular rise and fall of two 20-something young men from Miami Beach who became major international arms dealers during the heart of the Iraq War.
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Film Review: Serena

‘Camp’ is the operative word in Bier’s tiresome logging camp melodrama

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper playing dress up in Serena. — Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper playing dress up.

Critically acclaimed Danish director Susanne Bier tries her hand at directing an American period piece with her newest film Serena, and, unfortunately, the result is a serious misstep, paling in comparison to her excellent, award-winning earlier films (In a Better World, After the Wedding, and Things We Lost in the Fire, among others). Based on a novel of the same name by Ron Rash, the picture stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in a troubled romance, and the fact that so much talent is wasted here is beyond disappointing.

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Film Feature: Carrie and Chad Pick the Oscars

Film critics Carrie and Chad on who will – and who should – win the 87th Academy Awards

The 87th Academy Awards air this Sunday, February 22nd on ABC at 5:00pm PST (red carpet coverage begins at 4:00, if you want to dish on fashion highs and lows). There are some tight races this year – Best Picture and Best Actor are especially hard to call. Here are Carrie and Chad’s predictions – and hopes – for the major categories:
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Film Review: “Silver Linings Playbook”

silverlinings_a — Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver, Chris Tucker, John Ortiz, Julia Stiles

written by: David O. Russell (screenplay), Matthew Quick (novel)

directed by: David O. Russell

MPAA: Rated R for language and some sexual content/nudity

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Sketchfest Review: Stella at Mezzanine, 1/21/12

Spinning Platters’ writers Christopher Rogers and Dakin Hardwick both got to enjoy a performance by Stella: Michael Ian Black, David Wain, and Michael Showalter‘s nightclub show.

Instead of boring you with a typical “review” of the show, Spinning Platters is opening the fourth wall, and allowing you into the personal lives of these two legendary journalists. This is a transcript of a private chat between the two, discussing the show on Google Chat.

After the jump, you will learn how a writer thinks.

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