Film

More than Sundance, more than Berlin, Venice or Toronto, the film festival I have unshakable faith in when it comes to programming of either future cinematic classics or wildly ambitious failures is the Cannes Film Festival. Since 1946, the festival has been held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France, and […]

Three Bend athletes share the spotlight in a new outdoor adventure documentary, “ADAPTED.” The athletes all have spinal cord injuries, changing the course of their lives. They first returned to sport through Oregon Adaptive Sports, starting on the ski slopes. The film follows them through their journeys of sheer determination, resilience, courage and adventure. Anna […]

I’m not sure what to say about “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” but one thing is for sure: I’m not sure if I like Chris Pratt that much anymore. Which I find strange because his character on “Parks and Recreation,” Andy Dwyer, is one of my all-time favorite sitcom schlubs and he was one of […]

As I get older, the more I realize that great, unconventional romances might be the most rewarding genre for me in my growth as a human being. A remarkable romance not only makes you swoon over the possibilities of love in this crazy world, but also allows you to see into the lives of people […]

I had an epiphany while watching “Project Hail Mary.” Ryan Gosling could have played Marty in “Marty Supreme,” but Timothée Chalamet could never have played Ryland Grace in “Project Hail Mary.” There’s an effortless charisma to what Gosling does here that feels like a future Best Actor nomination, without question. It’s a movie star performance […]

In what felt like one of the most hotly contested Oscar races in recent memory, I found myself excited for the 98th Annual Academy Awards more than I had any right to be. Don’t get me wrong, the ceremony itself was overlong and filled with awkward moments, cringey speeches and performative humanitarianism, but the films […]

What do you need from an animated film that’s aimed primarily at children? Is it just something for you to throw on in front of the kiddos for a few hours while you get something else done? Do you want the film to teach vital lessons to your kids while sparking nostalgia for your own […]

For the last few years, I’ve been the lead shorts programmer for the Bend Film Festival, which has involved me watching hundreds and hundreds of short films over several months of submissions. One thing I’ve learned in that time is that it’s easy to tell when you’re watching a terrible one, but when you discover […]

Ever since the first trailer for Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” was released, I’ve been obsessed with finding out why they’re selling the film with the quotation marks around the title. No one does that. Five minutes into the film, I figured out why. This isn’t Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights; this is very much Emerald Fennell’s […]

We’re still smack dab in the middle of that time of year when most of what’s getting released doesn’t have much cultural cachet (or a massive marketing budget) and so gets quietly released around the end of January or the top half of February…just somewhere in the first quarter of the year. I still spent […]