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Sam and Frodo Take Manhattan

Michael Sarnosky breaks the prequel curse with "A Quiet Place: Day One"

Hollywood has this habit now that rarely pays off. Some young/new/hungry filmmaker makes a gorgeous independent feature or two on a small to medium budget, Hollywood notices and hires them to make a $100-million blockbuster that, more likely than not, tamps down their directorial style and attaches their sensibilities to filmmaking-by-committee, thus losing whatever spark […]

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In Pixar I Trust

Franchises, communal theater-going and the state of independent cinema

I get that it’s always been “cool” to dislike something once it becomes popular or to root for the downfall of something if it gets too big…but I still like Pixar. I get that they’re Disney now and the Mouse House is very much an Evil Empire that owns Marvel, 20th Century Films, Star Wars, Indiana […]

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Grief is a Thing with Feathers

"Tuesday" takes you there and back again

I‘ve watched so many movies that if I tried to give you a ballpark number you would quite possibly think I’ve either spent too much of my life in front of screens or that I don’t sleep enough. Both and neither are true. It’s becoming more of a rarity for me to come across a […]

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Point Breakin’

Staying hot with summer adventure movies

OK, it’s officially hot outside, which means most of you are going to start summer adventuring. I’ve heard of such things, but being that I am what the experts call an “indoor kid,” I will continue living vicariously through all of you while you do all those outdoor things that would definitely break me in […]

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May the Source Be With You: June Edition

A case for AppleTV+, a podcast about words and more to tune into this month

Is it summer yet? I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be, but it’s windy and raining as I type this, so I guess maybe we’re just taking a mulligan and calling this Fall 2.0. 1.5? I don’t know. Regardless, there are plenty of things to watch when you’re done with the sun for the day, […]

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Chasing Anya

“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” crashes into theaters

I don’t think this is a controversial opinion, but “Mad Max: Fury Road” is one the best action movies of all time and George Miller is still one of the most innovative and fearless filmmakers at 79 years of age. Just look at the breadth of his filmography going back to 1979. 1979: “Mad Max” 1981: […]

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Liminal Spaces

‘I Saw the TV Glow’ is full of strange beauty

My job as a writer about film, food and television has never been about pretending I’m some elevated being whose taste is so refined and on point that anything I like should be appreciated by the most people possible. Instead, I try to share what kind of human being I am with you so then […]

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Monkey Business

A look at 50 years of "Planet of the Apes"

It’s such a nice feeling to be surprised by movies. That’s why I keep my cynicism buried underneath a giant pile of ridiculous and unwarranted optimism; that way every bad movie is a mild disappointment and every good one is delightful. But what usually ends up being a real rarity is when almost an entire […]

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Blockbuster Season

Summer movies quietly return

OK, so here we are, creeping into another summer movie season and the upcoming deluge of blockbusters and the movies that the studios put the most money into marketing while looking for their next four-quadrant smash like “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer.” If you’d asked me a month ago, I would have bet that the Ryan Gosling/Emily […]

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May the Fourth Be With You

The Original Trilogy comes to Bend…live!

Everyone has a different relationship to the “Star Wars” franchise, and it mostly depends on how old you are. I’m “Return of the Jedi” years old, so that’s the one I watched a thousand times before I discovered that a vocal majority of “Star Wars” fans hated the Ewoks and that “The Empire Strikes Back” […]

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