Rami Malek – Spinning Platters

Film Review: “Nuremberg”

Emotions are an afterthought in this timely but surface-level historical dramatization

Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) is on trial in ‘Nuremberg.’

The biggest challenge facing Nuremberg, the historical drama about the post-World War II Nazi trials, is that audiences can take a brief glimpse into today’s newspaper and read about an abundance of unchecked war crimes still taking place across the globe. Despite the precedent of individual accountability that the trials established, history tends to repeat itself. The second biggest issue facing Nuremberg is the script’s lack of emotional sincerity. Attempts at clever scene transitions and a tone aiming for a suspenseful courtroom drama feel excruciatingly inappropriate. Despite a strong performance from Russell Crowe and the film’s timely release, Nuremberg fails to capture the tragedy, the sensitivity, and the momentousness of its subject matter. Continue reading “Film Review: “Nuremberg””

Film Review: “Oppenheimer”

Physics, war, and the father of the atomic bomb: Nolan’s biopic captivates

General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon, l.) confers with Manhattan Project scientific director J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy).

Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man, Greek mythology tells us, and for that he was punished for all eternity. While physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s fate wasn’t quite as brutal, it proves nearly as tragic, as we see in Oppenheimer, writer/director Christopher Nolan’s epic new film about the father of the atomic bomb.

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Film Review: “No Time To Die”

All the Bond we love and don’t love, shaken, not stirred

Looking back, Bond considers his life choices.

Nearly fifteen years ago, the world was introduced to Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale, the sixth actor to portray the iconic British secret agent (I’m not counting David Niven). Casino Royale portrayed Bond as a gritty, brutish, and most importantly, emotional character. It was a product of the time, a post 9/11 world where terrorism was no quipping manner and audiences desired “realism” over campiness, hence the popularity of the Bourne movies leading up to Royale. And now, the Daniel Craig era comes to a close with No Time To Die, his fifth film as Bond. No Time To Die is the perfectly fitting end in just about every manner, tying in all the familiar role-players from the previous films while finally bridging Craig’s emotional brutality with the campy, spy game action of previous Bond films. The opposing sensibilities don’t always gel. So the question is — will all audiences enjoy the precarious balancing act that director Cary Joji Fukunaga squeezes within a bloated 2 hours 45 minutes? No, definitely not. Like me, many will leave the theater entertained but also confusingly disappointed. However, No Time To Die’s value will appreciate over time. Even a week after viewing it, my acceptance and understanding of the film has grown.

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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: Bohemian Rhapsody

Queen’s front man gets the Hollywood treatment

Queen, and their subjects, during Live Aid, July, 1985.

Bohemian Rhapsody, the new film about the English ’70’s and ’80’s supergroup Queen, is a lot like band’s output: overwrought, overproduced, painfully bombastic, and musically too self-conscious. But, like those songs we all know, the film has an undeniable energy and vibrancy, and is so technically consistent that one can’t help but feel satisfied, if a bit played. Continue reading “Film Review: Bohemian Rhapsody“

Film Review: Short Term 12

Strong performances anchor lovely story of compassion, hope

Brie Larson’s Grace lends a sympathetic ear to Keith Stanfield’s Marcus in Short Term 12.

After writer/director Destin Cretton graduated from college, he took a job in a group home for troubled teenagers. Years later, for his film school thesis, he created a short film loosely based on his experiences, which went on to win the Jury Prize for short filmmaking at Sundance in 2009. He has now turned that 20-minute short into a feature-length film of the same name, Short Term 12, and the result is a truly beautiful piece of cinema that speaks to the transcendent power of kindness, understanding, and love. Continue reading “Film Review: Short Term 12”