I don’t think I’ve ever had a video game spoil a movie for me. I’ve certainly read plenty of books that colored my enjoyment of their film adaptations, but video game movies are an entirely different beast. Terrible adaptations such as “Super Mario Brothers,” “Street Fighter” or “Assassin’s Creed” took just a few plot points from […]
Jared Rasic
Posted inCulture
Wild Horses
“Thoroughbreds” changes the rules of the race
Lily is a teenage girl who lives with her unnamed mother and stepfather, Mark, in his ornate and massive mansion. Lily hates Mark, who rapidly alternates between barely restrained hostility and cold disdain for her. He’s a fitness freak with a rowing machine upstairs in his bedroom, which sounds like a churning and anxious stomach, […]
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A Bit of Magic
“A Wrinkle in Time” has its audience in mind
Earnestness is almost impossible in 2018. Any time a show tries genuine emotion like that, it’s very quickly undercut with either a winking moment of humor or a liberal dose of cynicism. Heart-on-the-sleeve gentleness doesn’t seem to work with modern audiences and can be misinterpreted as sugary cheese instead of kindhearted optimism. Mr. Rogers might […]
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The Strangest Brews
Hopheads and the movies that love them
Living in Beer Town, USA has its ups and downs. The culture of people who genuinely care about craft brew and the artisanal nature of beer is a fun and inclusive group, but the drunken shenanigans in downtown Bend on a Saturday night can be a little exhausting. I’ve hosed down enough vomit in Tin […]
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Bang Bang
Death Wish revels in its own toxic masculinity. Let this be the last time you think of this film
I would call “Death Wish” insensitive, but that would be an insult to people born without senses. Instead, “Death Wish” is more of a thoughtless fart in a car full of idiots; eyes twitching, nose burning, you taste something foul, but no one’s confessing to the stench. Now all you have is a directionless rage, […]
Posted inMusic
They All Float
Pennywise: the renegades of punk
Pennywise didn’t just make up most of the anthemic punk rock I listened to in high school. They had my middle school years covered also. In the early 1990s, Epitaph Records was already legendary for releases of Bad Religion and NOFX records, single handedly saving the slowly dying Southern California punk rock scene. By 1993, […]
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Hail to the King
“Black Panther” throws up the fist
I can understand the argument that there are too many superhero movies. At around a dozen a year, comic book movies are as ubiquitous to modern cinema as westerns were to the 1940s. Some are garbage (“Batman v. Superman” and “Suicide Squad” come to mind), but every year we get at least one new classic such […]
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90th Academy Award Predictions
2017 was an incredible year in film
I‘m not a betting man, but if I were, the Oscars are the only thing I’d feel comfortable making predictions about. There are always the things that should win because they’re heads and shoulders above the rest of the nominees, but they’re usually defeated by the things that will win either because of popularity or […]
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Free to Wait til DVD
The Latest in the Fifty Shades franchise: Still don’t watch it with your family
I planned to see “Fifty Shades Freed,” the new “Fifty Shades” movie, with my ex-girlfriend, because I apparently thrive on uncomfortable situations. This close to Valentine’s Day though, the idea seemed a little too masochistic, even for me. Christian Grey might have relished the idea, but he’s way better at compartmentalizing than I am. Instead of […]
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Different Strokes
Celebrate Valentine’s Day your way
Over the years, I’ve worked at several different video stores and movie theaters. I’ve seen couples deeply in love before a movie have a possibly relationship-ending argument by the time it was over. That’s why when you plan what movie to watch with your s/o (especially on Valentine’s Day), it’s always smart to choose a […]