Tag: Jeff Whitty

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: Can You Ever Forgive Me?

No need to forgive Heller, McCarthy, and Co.: Their film is terrific

Bookshop owner Anna (Dolly Wells, l.) and writer Lee (Melissa McCarthy) form a tentative connection.

“As an unknown, you can’t be such a bitch, Lee,” book agent Marjorie (Jane Curtin) says to her down-and-out client, author Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy), in director Marielle Heller’s terrific new film Can You Ever Forgive Me? But the great strength of this based-on-a-true-story picture is that Lee is a hard personality; unlikable, acerbic, alcoholic, and misanthropic, Lee is tough and complicated. She’s far from a typical charming and redeemable female protagonist, which makes Heller’s film both unusual and refreshing, and McCarthy’s performance here one of her best to date.
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Theater Review: The Go-Go’s Musical Head Over Heels at SF Curran Theater

Go-Go’s musical Head Over Heels misses the beat

Edited by Jessica Vaden

Peppermint (center) will become the first woman who is trans to originate a role on Broadway, starring as Pythio (The Oracle of Delphi), pictured here with members of the ensemble performing the Go-Go’s “Vision of Nowness.” All photos courtesy of Joan Marcus, 2018.

San Francisco got a peek at the new musical Head Over Heels before it heads to Broadway; it features hits from the iconic ’80s new wave band the Go-Go’s, known for their fun, cheeky songs. But underneath the funky stockings and pop sensibilities is a groundbreaking band led by five women, who ventured into what turned into the boys’ club of the late ’70s Los Angeles punk scene, playing legendary venues such as Whiskey a Go Go and The Masque. They wrote fierce lyrics, jammed with the rockers, made their way onto MTV, and paved the way for an entire generation of women who play. Continue reading “Theater Review: The Go-Go’s Musical Head Over Heels at SF Curran Theater”