It’s hard to think of a historical figure more intimidating to portray than the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. His life meant so much to so many, and his image and words have been so well-preserved, that to get him wrong on film would be a crime. That, in addition to Hollywood’s institutional racism, might […]
Film Review
Posted inCulture
The Terrorists Have Won
Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper shoots (and misses)
Perhaps you or someone you love saw The Hurt Locker—director Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-winning story of a bomb-defusing sergeant in the Iraq war who can’t disengage from his duties and ends up returning to the country for multiple tours. And perhaps someone or someone you love thought it wasn’t “American” enough. Well, do I have the […]
Posted inCulture
Puppy Love
John Wick: A Man. A Myth. A Hero. by Erik Henriksen
Like the best Keanu Reeves characters, John Wick is a man of few words. He lets his actions speak for themselves. Given that John Wick is an action movie, he ends up saying quite a bit; given that John Wick is a really flipping good action movie, what he says is great. Here’s John Wick‘s […]
Posted inNews
The Source Reviews “I Believe in Unicorns” for MyWindow
This is both a fun and sad film. There are moments when it is just magical, as a film that has unicorn in its title. It is playful and that burdensome. The story is about a young girl with a big imagination who is stuck in a tight place, taking care of her disabled mom. […]
Posted inNews
The Source Reviews “F(l)ag Football” on MyWindow
F(l)ag Football goes so far past its premise. There are obviously great individual stories to tell—and this film does. Really interesting men, who have struggled with identity and sports, have been at the core of some of these struggles, as well as solutions. But it is also a traditional sports movie—where they worry about wins […]
Posted inNews
The Source Reviews “The Winding Stream” on MyWindow
There are usually like two types of music documentaries – the ones that are about discovery, like Searching For Sugarman that won the Academy Award a few years ago for the story about this 60s folk singer who was huge in South Africa but unknown in America, or like the really great Band Called Death, […]
Posted inNews
The Source Reviews “Return of the River” on MyWindow
One of the hallmarks for this year’s film festival is the number of documentaries. BendFilm Festival doesn’t necessarily have a specific genre it presents; it’s a grab bag. But increasingly, documentaries seem to be its calling card. There are some really strong entries this year. A couple true crime ones: murder mystery Love and Terror […]
Posted inNews
The Source Reviews “Big in Japan” on MyWindow
Big in Japan. You know, it is that age-old joke with musicians: “Oh, you know, we’re big in Japan.” Cheap Trick or any number of 70s/80s bands that weren’t anything special in America, but had these Beatlemania like followings in Japan. There is a sort of Spinal Tap’esque humor going on, but a bit more […]
Posted inCulture
Too Good For Its Own Good
The Congress blurs between real and virtual
Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir (2008) was an underrated film, using animation to document both the physical and emotional battles from a massacre of 3000 Palestinian refugees in 1982. Although smart and beautiful, it was not a particularly easy film to watch. And, in spite of the high-powered stars (Robin Wright and Harvey Keitel), it […]
Posted inCulture
The Little Animation Company That Could
Boxtrolls is the third scary kid film from Portland-based Laika
Amid a sea of films aimed for the kiddie market, Laika has been able to distinguish itself not only by its mastery of the visually thrilling and time consuming process of stop-motion animation, but also through an embrace of a dark side. Like some of Disney’s earliest features or the anime genius of Studio Ghibli, […]
