Normally, for the issue of the Source Weekly right before BendFilm Festival starts, I make a mock schedule of how to catch all of my personal favorite things playing across the days so you can maximize your time there. This year, however, since the festival is a hybrid of in-person and virtual, this article won’t […]
Jared Rasic
Film critic and author of food, arts and culture stories for the Source Weekly since 2010.
Posted inCulture
Three in the Spotlight
BendFilm returns stronger than ever
It’s amazing to me that another year has passed and we’re already on the cusp of BendFilm festival again. For a year of such hardship and difficulty, it went by alarmingly fast. In the interest of keeping people safe, this year’s fest will be a hybrid of in-person and virtual, so there are several options […]
Posted inCulture
Cowboy Up
Eastwood cries macho
What does masculinity even mean anymore in 2021? I think the term “be a man” means something much different to our sons than it did to our fathers and grandfathers, who lived in a society much more preoccupied with the appearance of manliness and attempting to desperately fulfill gender constructs than we are in this […]
Posted inCulture
Insane in the Membrane
"Malignant" will grow on you
I shouldn’t recommend this movie to you, but I have to do it. It’s too insane not to be a part of your life. Co-writer/director James Wan has made a movie so completely bonkers that I’m not sure there’s ever been anything like it before and there certainly won’t be anyone trying to rip it off. […]
Posted inCulture
May the Source Be With You
September Edition
The air is filled with smoke, summer is almost over and there are more people in the local hospital with COVID than ever before, but at least we’re not all still arguing about masks anymore. Wait, that’s still a thing too? OK, so maybe we’ve taken a few years’ long detour into the darkest timeline, […]
Posted inCulture
The Sunken City
"Reminiscence" only reminds us of better movies
Is there a word for when every element of a movie on its own seems like it should work but, when taken as a whole, the elements make for an experience that is hugely underwhelming and crappy? “Craptacular” is too dismissive and “Ridumbculous” doesn’t really get the point across, so I’m going to go with […]
Posted inCulture
Little Night Music
“Annette” is a bold and baffling opera
Every once and a great while, a movie comes along that is so deeply weird, so profoundly and bafflingly strange, that your friendly neighborhood film critic is left staring at the closing credits at a total loss with how to proceed. Normally, if I know I’m going to write about a movie, something connected either […]
Posted inCulture
Different Visions
"The Green Knight" is a Visual Stunner
If he wanted to, I think filmmaker David Lowery could be the next Steven Spielberg. Not in the style of their films or even the kinds of movies that they make, but in the realm of being an artist whose style becomes synonymous with their work. When you watch a Spielberg movie, the rise and […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Bar
San Simón
San Simรณn didn’t get voted Bend’s best bar because we voted for them (although we did) or because they’re new and bohemian as hell (although they are); they were voted best bar because from the moment it opened, the staff carried themselves like they were. Not acting like it in a pretentious way or without earning […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Locals’ Night (for discounts)
Silver Moon Brewing
It’s easy to take Silver Moon Brewing for granted. They’ve been here for so long (since 2000!) and have become such a Bend institution that I just always assume they’ll be there and it gives me a sense of comfort. The pub by the Greenwood underpass is a staple of the entryway into downtown, and […]