I have a complicated relationship with Quentin Tarantino. I rented “Reservoir Dogs” on VHS when I was 12 years old and it was the first movie that ever made me really understand the importance of dialogue in filmmaking. The way QT balanced tough guy dialogue with flawless needle drops and character-driven ultra violence felt like […]
Film
Posted inTelevision
Atomized Canon: The Folly of Hollywood’s Fallout TV Show
What could have been incredible is instead incompatible
To filmmakers, screenwriters, and showrunners, being allowed to work on an established, deeply fleshed-out fictional universe must feel like a god-sent gift. Rather than constructing a tale from scratch and hoping it charms audiences enough to pay it mind and dollar, using the setting of an existing intellectual property lets creatives skip a hard step […]
Posted inFilm
Claw and Order
Zootopia 2 sacrifices depth, gains puns
It’s been a LONG nine years since Disney’s “Zootopia” was released to near universal praise and over a billion dollars at the box office. In my review of the film, I said, “‘Zootopia’ is an important movie for parents, kids and anyone who appreciates animated films. Asking people to be less prejudiced and more open-minded […]
Posted inFilm
Complying with Gravity
Wicked: For Not That Good
My obsession with musical theater switched off one day before I was able to join the “Wicked” fanbase. The music from “Les Mis,” “Hedwig,” “Spring Awakening,” “Rent,” “Once,” “Rocky Horror,” “Phantom” and a few more still spin round in my head some weeks, but shows like “Cats,” “Rock of Ages” and “Frozen” feel lukewarm and […]
Posted inFilm
Two Mothers
A remarkable double feature
It’s rare that two movies are both released around the same time and have profoundly interesting things to say about similar subjects. Yeah, you’ll get Twin Films like in 1997 when we were lucky enough to get “Volcano” and “Dante’s Peak” in the same calendar year, or even better, in 1998 when Hollywood bestowed upon […]
Posted inFilm
It’s Alive!
Guillermo del Toro and the art of the misunderstood monster
Guillermo del Toro loves his monsters. He’s built an Oscar-winning and critically lauded career on telling stories about the darkness at the center of the world and the creatures born from it. Because there’s no one that del Toro empathizes with more than the underdog, the misunderstood beast at the end of the book that […]
Posted inFilm
The Thanksgiving Canon
What movies are you thankful for?
I don’t think Thanksgiving movies get the credit they deserve. We get a ton of Christmas, Halloween, and holiday movies canonized as classics and added to the yearly rotation, but Thanksgiving has always remained the day when people slowly food-coma themselves into oblivion in front of football or a parade. Still, I think it’s time to spotlight a few pretty great Thanksgiving […]
Posted inFilm
From Andromeda With Love
Yorgos Lanthimos makes it weird with Bugonia
If you’re a hopeless film fan like myself, then you more than likely feel some kind of way about the films of Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos. Whether you’re a fan of his darker, edgier earlier work like “Dogtooth” and “Alps,” or of his more whimsical and experimental later films like “The Lobster” and “The Favourite,” […]
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Rich Man/Rich Man
“Good Fortune” is in bad faith
I think Aziz Ansari meant well when he sat down to write ”Good Fortune” and really thought he was trying to unpack the unfairness of the gig worker system in America, and how easy it is to make one or two small mistakes and end up homeless and destitute. While “Good Fortune” has some solid […]
Posted inFilm
It’s a Block(buster) Party
Blockbuster hits middle age
I think Bendites and Central Oregonians take for granted that they live alongside the Last Blockbuster on Planet Earth. While there are still several incredible and iconic video stores across the West Coast (the dreamy “Movie Madness” in PDX and the deeply quirky and cavernous “Scarecrow Video” in Seattle are two of my favorites), our Blockbuster is a genuine Mom and […]