You can be around 35 minutes late to see “Coco” if you want. No need to rush through the concessions line or have the grandparents hurry up and get out of the car, because there’s a secret waiting for you once you get into the theater: Every Pixar movie has a short animated film that […]
Film
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Justice Fatigue
Holding Out for a Hero
I believe I’ve watched every single superhero/comic book movie ever made. I even looked it up. Even the unreleased “Fantastic Four” movie produced by Roger Corman and the terrible late-’70s “Captain America” took a spin through my VCR. After dozens (if not hundreds) of these movies, “Justice League” was the first one to give me […]
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Life Lessons
Three Movies to Be Thankful For
I’m thankful for movies. I know it’s a pretty silly thing to say when there are so many things that are much more important in the grand scheme of things. Sure, I’m also grateful for my friends and family and health, but cinema has the capacity to change how I view the world and exist […]
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The Coldest Blood
Truman Capote’s legacy lives on—and a local man makes
an appearance in the new documentary
“I didn’t want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat.” — Perry Edward Smith It was a crime that shocked the country to its core when it happened. The United States wasn’t a more innocent place […]
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Training Day
A Classic is Given New Life
I t isn’t always a bad thing to be old fashioned. Sometimes that can be deemed an insult when describing music, movies or any kind of art that doesn’t break any new ground—but when describing Kenneth Branagh’s take on Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” it’s definitely a compliment. Christie’s novel from 1934 has […]
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Ragnarock You Like a Hurricane
Thor’s grand space adventure
A t this point, Marvel Studios can do no wrong. Even if they were barely selling any comic books, the filmmaking side of the corporate mega-giant would keep them chugging away for decades to come. It bears repeating that a huge reason why these movies continue to be successful, not only critically, but commercially, is […]
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Nonprofit Champion: Jesse Roberts
Rise Up International spreads its wings in the art of resistance
W ith its mission statement about “building community through music and art,” Rise Up International has been a part of the Central Oregon nonprofit scene since 2005. Rise Up and its volunteers have crossed into documentary filmmaking, providing ukuleles for local youth in schools and an Art Ambassador program with projects in 20 countries. Jesse […]
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Gory Gory, Hallelujah!
“Saw” returns with a bloody bang
Warning: Spoilers ahead. I knew “Jigsaw” was the eighth film in the “Saw” franchise, of which I had only seen the first two. I was also aware of how the series was obsessed with its own continuity by not wasting any of its characters and tying all the films together with a deeply convoluted, impenetrable […]
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Suburban Gothic
George Clooney releases a rare misfire
T he worst part about watching movies for a living isn’t sitting through the bad ones; it’s sitting through the crushing disappointments. For example, that Bond movie where Denise Richards played a rocket scientist was probably going to be stupid no matter what happened. When it turned out to be terrible, you shrugged your shoulders […]
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Disaster Movie
Cloudy with a chance of “Geostorm.”
I t’s not that Gerard Butler is necessarily a bad actor. He’s usually fun to watch as he stabs or shoots his way through bad guys while failing to conceal his molasses-thick Scottish brogue. His movies instantly became more interesting when he backed away from the Katherine Heigl-infused romantic dreck he waterboarded his fans with […]
