Rose Byrne – Spinning Platters

Film Review: Irresistible

Laughs outweigh flaws in Stewart’s smart political satire

Washington political strategists Faith (Rose Byrne) and Gary (Steve Carell) back opposing candidates in a mayoral election in a small Wisconsin town.

I try not to read reviews of any film I’m going to review so as not to be unconsciously influenced, but this week it was hard to miss the early review headlines in my social media feed for Irresistible, comedian Jon Stewart’s new picture. My fellow critics seemed to not just dislike the film, but to actively hate it. It has a 47 rating on MetaCritic right now. Ouch. I had to wonder if we all saw the same movie. Because you know what? I actually liked it. I finished watching my screener, and I assumed reviews would be positive. I was really surprised by the hostile reactions. The picture isn’t perfect, but it’s smart, relevant, and, most importantly, has some decent laughs. Am I the odd outlier here? Is my taste off? Or are my colleagues all wrong? All I can say is read on for my take, watch the picture, and then decide for yourself which camp you’re in.

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Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2018

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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Film Review: Juliet, Naked

It’s only rock and roll, but I like it

Rose Byrne and Ethan Hawke in JULIET, NAKED. Photo credit: Alex Bailey. Courtesy of Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions — Rose Byrne and Ethan Hawke star in Juliet, Naked.

What fun it is to have heroes who live perfect romantic lives in our imaginations. How satisfying is it to cherry-pick snippets of their lives, served to us on podcasts or through fawning interview pieces, which invite us to a front row seat to learn of their creative process, or the inspirations that led them to their best works, works which come to us like a pristine seashell discovered on a summertime beach.

We willfully crowd-out hazy moments of doubt, when we wonder about what it must have been like to live with, or love, or even just share extended lengths of time with our heroes. It’s too easy to drift lazily back to the film, or the novel, or the album, and back to our mental fanboy scrapbook.

Juliet, Naked, the implausible but devastatingly charming new film from Jesse Peretz, efficiently manages to show us the artist as both outwardly alluring and inwardly shattered, and sketches a portrait that convinces us to have sympathy for how the creative life can leave so much wreckage, and so many casualties, and yet produce compelling beauty and truth. Continue reading “Film Review: Juliet, Naked“

Film Feature: The Best of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18th to 28th this year; over 120 films were shown in ten days. For the fourth year in a row, I was on the (often snowy) ground, knocking out almost 20 films in five days in order to bring you the Best of the Fest. I present here the ten best films I saw – five features, four documentaries, and one special screening. Keep your eyes out for these during the coming year, as they are well worth your time and money. And if you’d like to know all the films that took home awards this year, you can see the winners here.

TOP FIVE FEATURE FILMS

1.) Search
(USA 2017, 101 min. Directed by Aneesh Chaganty. Category: Next)

Worried father David Kim (John Cho) uses the Internet to search for his missing daughter.

The word innovative doesn’t even come close to doing filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty’s first feature film justice. Using a narrative that unfolds completely on a computer screen (via video chats, texts, emails, Internet searches, and news videos), Chaganty immerses us in the story of recently widowed dad David (John Cho, excellent as always) and his desperate search for his missing teenage daughter Margot (Michelle La). Debra Messing, cast against type, is terrific as the San Jose police detective heading the investigation. Filled with red herrings and twists and turns you’ll never see coming, Chaganty and co-writer Sev Ohanian’s South Bay-set mystery is as imaginative as their method of telling it. Both a celebration and a critique of our increasing reliance on technology, the brilliantly executed Search is my hands-down favorite film of the Festival. Sony Pictures acquired the picture for five million dollars in one of the Festival’s biggest buys, so a wide release will be forthcoming. The film also deservedly won both an audience award and the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. Don’t miss this one. Continue reading “Film Feature: The Best of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival”

Film Review: Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Stupidness getting stupider somehow makes it better.

Sample of the silly antics prevalent in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Not only was I expecting to hate Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, but I kinda wanted to. I wanted a chance to get all my pent up anger and frustration out in a gorgeous scathing review. But dammit, it was a fun movie. Continue reading “Film Review: Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising“

Film Review: Adult Beginners

No more and no less than a solid middling comedy.

Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, and Nick Kroll are 'Adult Beginners' — Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, and Nick Kroll are ‘Adult Beginners’

In the age of the coming-of-age comedy, nothing is more prevalent than indie music montages and sad sap protagonists with remarkably expensive looking hipster clothing. Thankfully, Adult Beginners really has neither of these characteristics. The characters in Adult Beginners are past the point of coming-of-age, and therein lies the point. It may be formulaic and glossy in its ultra quick stereotypical depictions of IPOs, swim classes, successful entrepreneurs, awkward home town reunions, etc., but judging the film on these miscues is to miss the (aforementioned) point. What Adult Beginners does well is allow its very talented cast to execute a cute story featuring very familiar circumstances and themes.

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Film Review: This is Where I Leave You

This family puts the fun in ‘dysfunction’

xxxx — Sister and brother Wendy and Judd (Tina Fey and Jason Bateman) take a time-out together.

Director Shawn Levy, whose previous efforts include the funny but lightweight Night at the Museum and the mediocre Google commercial (er, film) The Internship might not seem like an obvious choice to bring Jonathan Tropper’s more literary serio-comic novel This is Where I Leave You to the big screen. But Levy has the good fortune to be working with a screenplay written by Tropper himself, as well as an extraordinary cast of both up and coming and tried and true talent. This collaboration has yielded one of the year’s most highly enjoyable pictures. Continue reading “Film Review: This is Where I Leave You”

Film Review: Neighbors

It’s a very funny movie. What more do you need to know?

Zac Efron and Seth Rogen in Neighbors, in a scene chosen by me to get traffic if someone searches for "shirtless Zac Efron" — Zac Efron and Seth Rogen in Neighbors, in a scene chosen by me to get traffic if someone searches for “shirtless Zac Efron”

Comedy is subjective. What’s funny to you isn’t necessarily funny to me. There’s absolutely no way I can tell you that a movie is hilarious, and a must-see, and have it necessarily be the case for you. All that said, if you don’t think Neighbors is a very funny movie, I probably won’t take comedy recommendations from you in the future. It’s OK if you give me the same treatment. I’m guessing you won’t, though; this is as good as it gets in modern movie comedy. Continue reading “Film Review: Neighbors”

Film Review: I Give It a Year

The anti-rom com: When “I do” becomes “Actually, I might not”

Josh (Rafe Spall) and Nat (Rose Byrne) optimistically share a dance at their wedding.

Two weeks ago, I reviewed the insipid Austenland, a banal, predictable, utterly forgettable romantic comedy. This week, however, I am happy to report that I have found its antithesis with I Give It a Year, an edgy, brilliantly funny British romantic comedy that is as fresh and inspired as Austenland is stale and uninspired. If a film like Austenland makes you think you hate romantic comedies, then you owe it to yourself to go see I Give It a Year, which, I promise you, not only will make you laugh, but will also give you a newfound appreciation for the genre’s possibilities. Continue reading “Film Review: I Give It a Year”

Film Review: The Internship

Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in The Internship

(NOTE: I worked at Google for a number of years. Let us just say that I may be slightly biased…but I can also shed some light on accuracies and inaccuracies depicted in The Internship about life at Google.)

In a performance review, The Internship would meet expectations. It is a silly film with a few laugh-out-loud moments and many more moments that miss the mark. We have seen this story before — a group of underdogs learn to work together and discover real value in themselves that helps them fight against the odds. It crosses every stereotype and dots every cliché. The Internship borrows elements from fish out of water stories, bromance plots, and sappy inspirational tales. Such a concoction of non-surprises fit into a one-note joke of a movie would be forgivable if it were actually hilarious. Unfortunately, it is not. However, if you are a fan of Vince Vaughn’s motor mouth, you will have a good time. If you work in the tech industry, you will find the film highly amusing. But most importantly, if you don’t expect much, you will be decently rewarded.

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