Film Review: Ocean’s 8

Old-fashioned fun is the real mark in latest Ocean’s film

Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock, l.)  assembles a crack team of eight (from l., Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, and Helena Bohman Carter) to plan a foolproof heist.

You don’t need to have seen the previous three Ocean’s movies (that would be 11, 12, and 13 for the uninitiated) to enjoy Ocean’s 8, the female-helmed companion film that opens today; it stands alone as a highly enjoyable, old-fashioned heist movie. But those who are loyal fans of the original series will be rewarded with a few nods to the previous films, as well as a couple of cameos that I won’t reveal here, but which will no doubt please the films’ devotees. Breezy and fun, writer/director Gary Ross’s entry into the Ocean’s universe retains the brisk confidence of the original pictures, while providing a welcome freshness by changing the stories’ traditional casting.

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MVFF38 Spotlights #2: Truth/Yosemite/Suffragette

MVFF Logo

The 38th Mill Valley Film Festival closed Sunday, October 18th, but if you weren’t able to make it out to Marin these past ten days, never fear: many of the titles – both big and small – will be widely released, and available to you soon at your local theater. To wrap up our coverage, Spinning Platters takes a look at three of these films, one of which actually opens this Friday.

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Film Review: Cinderella

Who ordered a ‘fairy tale straight up’?  We all did.

Lily James emerging from her pumpkin-turned-coach.
Lily James emerging from her pumpkin-turned-coach.

First of all, did anyone else know that the new live action version of Cinderella was directed by Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet, Thor)?  The man is an acclaimed thespian and director, and no wonder the cast of the new Cinderella is so perfect, and the direction so sure-handed.  And of course, where there’s Shakespearean drama, like the death of a parent or the pining of a tortured soul, Mr. Branagh is sort-of becoming the go to master of capturing these moments quite touchingly and cinematically while still serving a popcorn flick.  But the best part of Cinderella isn’t the acting or the direction or the vast array of vibrant colors.  It’s the story.  After torturing audiences for years with reinterpretations and re-imaginings of classic Disney properties like Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent, how wonderful it is to have Cinderella, which relies on the strengths of its original story.  No crazy additions.  Only a slight bit of silly CGI.  The magic and romance of the classic Cinderella story is ever present, and so very welcome.

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Film Review: Les Misérables

Les-Mis-Hathaway-Jackman

starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Aaron Tveit

screenplay by: William Nicholson

directed by: Tom Hooper

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements

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Film Review: “Dark Shadows”

Johnny Depp and Eva Green in DARK SHADOWS

starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloe Grace Moretz, Bella Heathcote

written by: Seth Grahame-Smith

directed by: Tim Burton

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for comic horror violence, sexual content, some drug use, language and smoking

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