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Jared Rasic

Film critic and author of food, arts and culture stories for the Source Weekly since 2010.

jaredrasic@yahoo.com
Posted inCulture

Let’s Try a Regal!

As soon as possible, our local film reviewer headed to the cinema for an in-person show. Here’s why he’s not going back anytime soon.
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I missed seeing movies at the cinema more than I can say. The massive sound, the huge screens and the brand-new releases were all things I was deeply missing in the age of COVID. At the same time, it makes perfect sense why Regal Cinemas nationwide were closed. Being inside a box full of strangers during […]

Posted inCulture

The New Stoner Canon

Movies that melt your face
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I‘m not sure if this is a hot take, but most stoner movies are terrible. Maybe at the time they came out they’re pretty funny or trippy, but they don’t tend to age very well. I recently tried to re-watch some of the Cheech and Chong movies. In “Nice Dreams,” Cheech legit sexually assaults someone […]

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A Change Will Do Us Good

Movies that shape the world
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It was 1902 when “Le Voyage dans la Lune” (“A Trip to the Moon”) by Georges Mรฉliรจs was released, changing cinema and the way humans relate to the world forever. Sure, it’s widely considered to be one of the earliest examples of the science fiction genre in film and changed the way narratives were told […]

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May the Source Be With You

August Edition of our roundup of podcasts, streams and more
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Well, I initially thought this month’s column should just be me repeating, “Everything is fine!” 500 times while everything burns down around me, but I’ve decided to bottle it all up until I have a nervous breakdown three or four months from now. Sound like a plan? Good! With that said, since theaters (live and […]

Posted inCulture

'Rebuilding Paradise'

Ron Howard’s documentary on the Camp Fire heads to the (outdoor) big screen in Bend
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I was born in 1980 at the Feather River Hospital in Paradise, California. My family had lived there since 1964 when my contractor grandfather built the Foster’s Freeze and many other businesses across town. When I was eight, my grandma had me carve my name in wet cement in Paradise’s beautiful Bille Park, a transgression I […]

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I Made it a Blockbuster Night

“The Last Blockbuster” finally has its premiere
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The most meta moment of my life happened this past weekend, and it was amazing. I went to the world premiere of “The Last Blockbuster,” a movie that I’m in, about a dying form of entertainment, shown at a pop-up drive-in movie theater, which is in itself a dead form of entertainment, during a global […]

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Pop-Up Culture

Blockbusters, drive-ins and alleys, oh my
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Some of the most defining moments of my life took place at the local drive-in near where I went to high school in Grants Pass, Oregon. Sitting in the bed of a filthy pick-up truck watching Jodie Foster’s “Contact” is where I had my first beer and kiss, within about five minutes of each other. […]

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Checking in Halfway

Best movies, shows and books of 2020 (so far)
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As we pass the halfway point of any given year, it’s always nice to look back at all the pop-cultural shenanigans from the first few months just to see how the year is shaping up artistically. With movie theaters closing, new books going straight to digital and all television shows halting production months ago, 2020 […]

Posted inCulture

May the Source Be With You

July Edition
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Hey everybody! Remember that time we were in the middle of a pandemic and it got politicized but instead of our president trying to bridge the gap between us, he gave a speech at Mt. Rushmore comparing Black Lives Matter protesters to fascists and Nazis? Me, too. I’m super ready to wake up now. Once […]

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