Last week, the 19th Annual BendFilm Festival concluded and gifted me with one of the most magical experiences of my life. To my very specific wavelength, I’m not sure there’s anything more fascinating than experiencing a piece of art and then immediately getting to interact with the creator and learn about their process and intention. […]
Film
Making the Moments Count
Between working for BendFilm, Tin Pan Theater and the Source Weekly, I haven’t been able to go to the BendFilm Festival just as a spectator in several years. I’m either working at one of the venues, writing about the movies or, if I’m really lucky, interviewing the filmmakers as they roll through Bend. This year […]
The Empathy Machine
This makes me feel incredibly old, but I’ve seen at least one movie at every BendFilm Festival since its inception 19 years ago. Having watched the fest go from folding chairs in Midtown Ballroom at midnight (checking out Ti West’s first feature, “The Roost”) to interviewing indie legends like John Sayles and Debra Granik, BendFilm’s […]
It’s Viola Davis’ World
I know this is incredibly obvious, but most movies are full of crap. If it’s not a documentary, it’s definitely full of crap, and if it says, “Based on a true story,” it’s usually just as full of crap as the rest. Look at “The Conjuring” franchise. There’s more evidence that the Warrens were snake oil […]
Here We Come, Sweater Weather
I‘m shocked that summer is almost over since it feels like I just started complaining about being ready for summer to be over. I thought I had months of freestyle whining left. Oh well, now I can enjoy the weather for a couple of months before I have to start complaining about winter and looking […]
May the Source Be With You
So many nerdy things are happening in the realm of TV and podcasts that, dare I say, it’s an exciting time to be alive for dorks like me. I’ve already expressed my love of comics and superhero movies plenty of times across these pages, but now my lifelong obsession with fantasy is finally paying off. […]
An Existential Fairy Tale
Here’s the thing about movies: they don’t have to be perfect. Very few of them are. And just because a movie has a bad performance, an uneven script or some aspect that isn’t as good as the next doesn’t mean the film is a failureโespecially when that film has the ambition and the talent behind […]
Lost in the Stream
Most studios nowadays have a deal set up with a streaming service to launch their new releases either the day and date of the theatrical release or within a month of opening night. This simultaneously allows the studios to get more of a return on their investment if it doesn’t do well theatrically, while also […]
One Shell of a Movie
I get that I’m a giant softie whose heart is made of marshmallows and love songs, but the first time I watched “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” I cried four separate times across the brief 90-minute run time. Normally, I love me a good cry, but I was working at Tin Pan Theater at the […]
25 And Counting
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Source Weekly, I have decided to take on the incredibly losing proposition of looking at each year the paper has been open and choosing what the best movie of that specific year was. Not my favorite one, mind you, but the one I think is the actual […]

