Remember Peter Pan? Remember Snow White? Do you remember them, they’re on Disney+ right now! These half-hearted, frantic, nostalgic questions, and brand reminders, seem to be at the heart of Disney’s new animated film, Wish, which bears the weight of Disney’s 100th anniversary celebration. Borrowing the beautiful simplicity of Disney’s most iconic song, “When You Wish Upon A Star,” Wish twists the song’s message into a convoluted plot with forgettable characters. The film is a new fairytale that catchy tunes and pretty animation can’t rescue.
Wilde should be worried: Pre-release hype overshadows mediocre picture
Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) live an idyllic life. Or do they?
Even if you’re not one to follow celebrity gossip, no doubt you’ve seen at least a headline or two about director Olivia Wilde’s new film Don’t Worry Darling. Stories about casting, the Venice premiere, tensions between director and star, and salacious sex scenes have saturated the Internet gossip machine. All this chatter either speaks to genuine interpersonal problems among the cast, or reveals a sly and savvy PR move by Wilde, who gained notoriety when she began dating her film’s star Harry Styles after her much publicized divorce from nice guy Ted Lasso himself, Jason Sudeikis. All publicity is good publicity, as the saying goes, and all the frenzied rumors certainly have kept Wilde’s film in the spotlight. So much so that I have to admit that the constant titillating headlines worked on me: when the screening came through, I of course had to see what all the fuss was about.
Old knives sharp enough for satisfying spy thriller
Former colleagues and lovers Celia (Thandiwe Newton) and Henry (Chris Pine) catch up over dinner in Carmel.
Danish director Janus Metz brings a chilly Scandinavian sensibility to his adaptation of Olen Steinhauer’s 2015 spy novel All the Old Knives. The serviceable picture keeps the viewer at some remove from the characters, but presents a story just entertaining enough to absorb us.
A Wrinkle for our Time: DuVernay’s adaptation worth the wait
Calvin (Levi Miller, l.), Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), and Meg (Storm Reid) face danger and confusion on the erie planet Camazotz.
If you’re going to go see A Wrinkle in Time, director Ava DuVernay’s new Disney big budget adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic 1962 young adult novel — and I absolutely think you should — there is one thing you should keep in mind: this movie is not meant for you, dear adult Spinning Platters reader. This movie is for the tween and teen set, whose imaginations haven’t yet been curdled by cynicism, and who want — and need — to be swept away by the adventure and spectacle of a story that will reassure them that they are brave, smart, kind, and worthy of love and acceptance. That’s a powerful message, and DuVernay’s new film delivers it with exactly the kind of spirited fun and genuine emotion that kids love, but jaded adults may scorn. And that’s a shame. Continue reading “Film Review: A Wrinkle in Time“
Brave, fierce, and mighty, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is on a mission to rid the world of war and evil.
After witnessing the total failure that was Zack Snyder’s bloated Batman v Superman last year, fans and critics alike have been understandably skeptical about the future of the DC comics’ film franchise. The one bright spot in Snyder’s otherwise paint-by-numbers action flick, was, of course, the brief introduction of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. DC Universe die-hards and the movie-going public at large can now breathe a sigh of relief, however. With Wonder Woman, the next installment in the DC cinematic series, director Patty Jenkins has created a thoroughly entertaining, thoughtful, and just plain fun film that should please both DC comics purists as well as those totally new to the Wonder Woman story. Continue reading “Film Review: Wonder Woman“
Spinning Platters film critics present their top 10 films of 2016
Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chad Liffmann each share their ten favorite films of 2016. Here is Chad’s list, presentedin descending rank order. And check out Carrie’s list!
10.) Hail, Caesar!
Tatum goes full Coen.
It takes a few viewings to fully appreciate the tremendous wit and satirical humor in Hail, Caesar! When the Coen Brothers released their latest film earlier this year, it was met with a lukewarm reception from audiences and critics, partially due to the Oscar-worthy brilliance of their previous three films — A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis. Compared to those three, Hail, Caesar! is a silly comedy, yet it’s actually both an entertaining throwback and a salute to the unseen Hollywood players of the 1950s studio system, specifically the Hollywood fixer, played here by a confident Josh Brolin. Mix in a few Golden Age film sets, including those of an elaborate synchronized swimming musical number, and a Roman sandal epic, and cap it off with a phenomenal straight-out-of-the-’50s song and dance number with a handful of handsome seamen (led by Channing Tatum), and you’ve got a colorful, slightly absurdist take on Hollywood yesteryear that only the Coen Brothers can manage and deliver. Hail, Caesar! also puts Alden Ehrenreich on the map; here he plays a lovable typecast singin’ cowboy, and you’ll see him again soon as a young Han Solo. (You can also read my full-length review here.)
Spinning Platters film critics present their top 10 films of 2016
Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chad Liffmann each share their ten favorite films of 2016. Here is Carrie’s list, presented, unlike last year’s alphabetized list, in descending rank order. And you can check out Chad’s list here to see which one of us you agree with more!
10.) Nocturnal Animals
Tony (Jake Gyllenhaal, middle) arrives at a possible crime scene with lawman Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon, r.).
Sometimes the story-within-the-story convention can be confusing or feel gimmicky, but in this visually stunning picture from fashion designer turned filmmaker Tom Ford, the technique works to terrific effect. Amy Adams, as a woman haunted by a decision she made years ago, reads a manuscript sent to her by her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), and that story comes alive on screen in the form of family man Tony (Gyllenhaal again) and his confrontation with some dangerous, deranged miscreants. Ford’s keen aesthetic vision and sharp performances by Adams, Gyllenhaal, and Michael Shannon as a tenacious lawman combine to make this brutally poetic but utterly captivating film one of the year’s most definitively unusual. (You can also read my full-length review here.)
Brothers Tanner (Ben Foster, l.) and Toby (Chris Pine) come up with a plan to save their family’s West Texas farm.
Actor turned screenwriter Taylor Sheridan proved he had a knack for conveying the rhythms and feeling of the American southwest with his award-nominated debut feature screenplay for last year’s gritty drug smuggling crime drama Sicario. The success of that debut was no fluke, as we see here in Hell or High Water, Sheridan’s new, follow up screenplay. A similarly southwest-set blend of western and crime drama, the picture rivals the Coen Brothers’ Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men as a modern day, quintessentially American morality tale. Continue reading “Film Review: Hell or High Water“
The dullest hours are spent with this rote seafaring rescue tale
Is Chris Pine screaming because of the CGI wave he’s encountering? Or because he’s in this dismal movie? We’ll never know for sure.
T.S. Eliot famously wrote that “April is the cruelest month,” but, for the movie-going public, January is the harshest. The embarrassment of riches that is the late fall quality Oscar contender rush is now just a faint memory, and theaters are filled instead with middling fare that studios don’t know what to do with. Case in point is director Craig Gillespie’s The Finest Hours, which had two previously scheduled release dates before finally opening nationally today – never a good sign. A dull, paint-by-numbers mess, the picture’s suitability as a January wasteland offering makes perfect sense, but the fact that it boasts a wealth of talent both in front of and behind the camera is both puzzling and disappointing.
The cast is great/The film is good/Into the woods/To go to the movies!
The Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt) venture Into the Woods.
Director Rob Marshall, who was nominated for an Oscar for his film version of the musical “Chicago” back in 2003, returns this holiday season with another big screen adaptation of a Broadway hit musical. This time he takes on Steven Sondheim’s storied (pun intended) 1987 mega-hit Into the Woods, an extraordinarily entertaining mishmash of several of the Grimm Brothers classic fairy tales. Produced by Disney, the film had been the subject of widespread speculation that the darker edges of the Sondheim/James Lapine fantasy might be smoothed too much. Purists need not worry, however; Marshall’s version retains the mature themes and disquieting tone of the original, and has the added benefit of a terrific cast.
