Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
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!
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 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”
If you feel like you need some motivation to get back in shape after your long Thanksgiving weekend of feasting and resting, I recommend you watch the new Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible stat. The film tells the story of Nepali mountaineer Nirmal “Nims” Purja, who became the first person to summit all 14 of the world’s highest peaks in under seven months. The feat–and the movie about it–are both exceptional and inspiring.
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Husband and wife filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi have made two of my all-time favorite films in the past six years: 2015’s Meru and 2018’s Best Documentary Oscar winner Free Solo. They return today with The Rescue, which chronicles the recovery of a Thai boys’ soccer team from a flooded cave back in 2018, an event that transfixed the world. Chin and Vasarhelyi’s new documentary is just as engrossing as the original story, and with this picture the duo continues their streak of producing absolutely must-watch, enthralling films.
What were your favorite films of 2018? There were lots of worthy contenders, and choosing just ten can be challenging, but Spinning Platters Film Editor Carrie Kahn has given it a go. Below Carrie shares her ten favorite films of 2018, presented in descending rank order. You can also check out her list from last year, here.
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Spinning Platters film critics Carrie Kahn and Chad Liffmann each share their ten favorite films of 2015. Here is Carrie’s list, presented in alphabetical order. (And you can find Chad’s here.)
The immigrant experience in America is exquisitely captured in director John Crowley’s finely crafted film about love, loss, and longing in 1950s Brooklyn. Based on the novel by Colm Tóibín, Nick Hornby’s screenplay presents us with the intrepid young Irish woman Eilis, who leaves her family in the Irish countryside for adventure and opportunity in New York. Saoirse Ronan suberbly conveys Eilis’s gradual shift from shy newcomer to confident cosmopolitan. Called back home for a family emergency, Eilis must choose between familiar comforts and new possibilities, and Ronan depicts Eilis’s struggle with heartrending openness and aching honesty. Emory Cohen and Domhnall Gleeson, as competing suitors on opposite sides of the Atlantic, also deliver strong, sharply drawn performances.
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2015”
Spinning Platters completes its coverage of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival with this third and final Spotlights post, focusing on six documentaries that screened at the Park City fest. Keep your eye out for many of these as they are widely released this coming year, and use our handy Sundance Viewing Priority Level (VPL) Guide to help you decide if they are worth your time:
Continue reading “Film Feature: Sundance Film Festival Spotlights #3”