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 […]
Film
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Score One For Ross and Reznor
Nine Inch Nails save Tron: Ares
The “Tron” franchise is an interesting one. The original from 1982 is groundbreaking in terms of filmmaking and special effects, but it didn’t perform well critically or financially. At the time, Disney had to write off most of the budget, and the film was seen as a failure (except by Roger Ebert!). Over the next […]
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Revolution and Other Lovers
“One Battle After Another” is an instant classic
Let me get the hype out of the way right from the jump so it doesn’t seem like I’m hyperbolically gushing over this movie for too many paragraphs in a row: “One Battle After Another” isn’t simply just an instant classic (which it is). Neither is it just another great Paul Thomas Anderson movie in […]
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The Best Fest in the Northwest
A quick peek at BendFilm 2025
To try and describe the exact vibe of the Bend Film Festival is nearly impossible because no two have ever been the same…and I should know because I’ve seen at least one movie at every fest since the first one in 2003. That year, I sat in a frigid Midtown Ballroom and watched a midnight […]
Posted inCulture, Film
Post-Modern Romance
Two love stories of equal or lesser value
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 […]
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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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Two Remakes and an Adaptation
Spike Lee, Darren Aronofky and a war of the Roses
We’re in that weird, transitional part of the year where the summer blockbusters have died out, but the prestige Oscar-bait is still being held for another month or two. August and September are a crapshoot when it comes to the quality of the films, as it’s typically when studios release movies that they’re unsure about […]
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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 […]
