Jesse Plemons – Spinning Platters

Film Review: “Civil War”

Civil War is bravura filmmaking with humanity at its core

Alex Garland directed Ex Machina in 2014, Annihilation in 2018, Men in 2022, and now, Civil War. That’s four definite or near masterpieces, in my humble opinion. Each film in his directorial oeuvre has served as a cinematic discussion about the impact an ever-changing issue has had on humanity, sometimes overt and other times metaphorical: artificial intelligence, environmental degradation, toxic masculinity, and now, divisive American political idealism. It would be easy to criticize Civil War as “teaching us nothing new,” but that would be missing the point. The film is not intended to be a blaring warning siren. Instead, Civil War is a disturbing sensory vision of the future, featuring a distinct set of strong characters to help ground its grand-scale and daring filmmaking, meant to elicit a potent sense of current anxieties. Continue reading “Film Review: “Civil War””

Film Review: “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Best reasons to see Scorsese’s new picture? De Niro, DiCaprio, and Gladstone

Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) shares a moment with his wife Mollie (Lily Gladstone).

Much has been made of the length of director Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which clocks in at three hours and 26 minutes. But give the guy some credit: his previous film, 2019’s much lauded The Irishman, ran three hours and 29 minutes. So he’s heard you, and has let you out of your seat a full three minutes earlier this time. What a guy! But seriously–while a few scenes do feel like they could be trimmed, others you’ll wish you could dwell in longer. For the most part, then, the run time becomes a non-issue. The story is so well told that you’ll remain fully engaged throughout the majority of this sobering but absorbing picture.

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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: Best of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival

True story: my friend met her husband on a Sundance shuttle bus. They struck up a conversation, kept in touch after the Festival ended, and, 15 years and three kids later, the rest is history. Maybe lightning struck again for some lucky couple this year, but I’m guessing probably not. As much as Sundance staff strived to make the 2021 virtual Fest feel like those of past years, Zoom “waiting rooms” and video Q and A’s just couldn’t replicate the feeling of being bundled up at 7:30am in a waitlist line, passing the time and distracting yourself from the cold by idly asking your neighbor, “What have you seen so far that you’ve liked?” The cheery, disembodied “Hi from Boston!” chats that flashed on screen in this year’s pre-screening digital lobbies just couldn’t offer the same sort of in-person connection that can only be found by bonding over waitlist numbers 99 and 100 and mushy theater concession tuna wraps. That said, however, the quality of the films shown at this year’s Festival, which concluded last week, still measured up to Sundance’s best. Below we take a look at four documentaries and four features that are worth seeing.

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Film Review: Game Night

The Game‘s afoot in breezy, fun new comedy

Game Night doesn’t exactly go as planned for Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams).

The writing/directing team of actor John Francis Daley (who played Sweets in the long-running and slightly addictive Bones) and Jonathan Goldstein made their directorial debut three years ago with the poorly received Vacation remake. They fared better with two pictures they wrote but didn’t direct: Horrible Bosses (2011) and Horrible Bosses 2 (2014); this reviewer isn’t at all embarrassed to admit that she laughed so hard during the first Horrible Bosses that she nearly hyperventilated. With Game Night, the team’s second feature directing project, Daley and Goldstein do the opposite, though, and only direct, leaving the script to screenwriter Mark Perez. That may explain why this film, which also similarly stars affable everyman Jason Bateman, doesn’t reach the comedic heights of those prior two films. But this new collaboration has resulted in a pleasant and highly amusing comedy with a sensational cast, and it yields enough genuine laughs to recommend it.
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Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2016

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.)

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Film Feature: 2016 Sundance Film Festival Spotlights #1

Marking its closing with its annual awards ceremony, the 2016 Sundance Film Festival ended this past Saturday evening; you can see all the winners here.

For the second year in a row, I braved the Park City cold, snow, and the ubiquitous Los Angeles UGG-wearing throngs to bring you spotlights of a fraction of the films that played the Fest. With nearly 200 offerings, the Fest featured way more than this reviewer could see. While I sadly missed the big winner and much lauded The Birth of a Nation (you’ll have to stay tuned to Spinning Platters later in the year for a full review upon its wide release), I nevertheless managed to knock out a respectable 18 films in five days. Many of these may receive distribution deals (if they haven’t already), so you can study up now with these capsule reviews, which use our trademark Sundance Viewing Priority Level (VPL) Guide:

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