One of those little cliche nuggets of wisdom about cinema that people like to bandy around has been stuck in my head after watching two romances back to back this week: movies are a visual medium. Obviously, that is a true statement because the illusion of a motion picture doesn’t even work unless you are […]
Film
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Based On A “True” Story
We watched nine Conjuring movies, so you don’t have to
Let’s talk about “The Conjuring” Universe for a second, just in case the newly released “The Conjuring: Last Rites” truly is the last film in the franchise. “The Conjuring” Universe is the only successful interconnected series of movies, post-Marvel, that Hollywood has successfully managed to launch (RIP Universal’s Dark Universe). Starting with 2013’s “The Conjuring,” […]
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When Good Directors Make Bad Movies
Ethan Coen and Ron Howard fail to evolve with “Eden” or “Honey Don’t”
I would never make a ridiculous statement like Ron Howard and the Coen Bros. are remotely in the same league as filmmakers, but I also think Howard isn’t necessarily accorded the respect he deserves from his nearly 50 years a director. Sure, he introduced the world to JD Vance with “Hillbilly Elegy,” which is definitely […]
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Whistleblowers, Nervous Breakdowns and TPS Reports
Celebrating Labor Day at the movies
I have no idea how you feel about your job. Some people live the dream every day by being doctors, lawyers, marine biologists, or celebrity chefs, while others wake up with a pit of dread in the morning as the alarm clock wrenches them from the sweet release of dreams of a different life. The […]
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Naked Guns and Being Alone Together
A very strange double feature
If you want to go to the movies and watch a double feature so insanely polar opposite from each other that it factory resets your brain, then look no further than the mind-melting combination of “The Naked Gun” and “Together.” One is a gruesome, body-horror deconstruction of toxic relationships and codependency and the other is […]
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Marvel Goes Retro
Fantastic Four looks to the future
I don’t know if I’ve ever admitted this to myself, but sometimes I think I was born into the wrong time. Don’t get it twisted: being there for the birth of the internet, social media, AI, virtual reality and all kinds of other tech breakthroughs has been cool, but as a child of the ’80s, I […]
Posted inCulture
Marvel Goes Retro
The Fantastic Four looks to the future
I don’t know if I’ve ever admitted this to myself, but sometimes I think I was born into the wrong time. Don’t get it twisted: being there for the birth of the internet, social media, AI, virtual reality and all kinds of other tech breakthroughs has been cool, but as a child of the ’80s, I […]
Posted inCulture
Something Witchy This Way Comes
Colten Tyler Williams and Jesse Locke create a sensory experiencewith Witch Eyes
For Bend locals, certain names have been a part of the arts and culture scene for so long that it’s hard to imagine the evolution of the scene without them. Jesse Locke has been directing, shooting and editing features, documentaries and music videos as long as there has been a burgeoning film community here and […]
Posted inCulture
2020 Vision
Ari Aster goes west with Eddington
Ari Aster’s new film, “Eddington,” is a lot of things. It’s a period piece set in May 2020, right as the COVID lockdown and mask mandates were being implemented. It’s a Neo-noir revisionist western hung across the backdrop of a dying town in New Mexico (Noir Mexico?). It’s a doomscroll into the heart of America. […]
Posted inCulture
Human of Steel
Superman leaps over trolls in a single bound
I‘m tired of having to point this out about movies, television shows and daily life, so I think this is the last time I’m ever going to broach this topic and I’m going to do so in a way I hope isn’t too terribly offensive: If you think the new “Superman” movie is “woke” then […]
