Another Halloween is here and you know what that means! Well, yes, a bunch of sexy Ken Bone costumes, but also it means watching a few horror movies. Even people who can’t stand being scared will rock a horror movie or two for this season. But here’s the thing: “Horror” is a pretty wide and […]
Movie
A Man and His Horse
So many modern documentaries don’t even feel like the truth anymore. With expertly composed frames and painterly cinematography, documentaries can sometimes feel like dramatic reenactments more than slices of history or current events. Those kinds of docs can be powerful and gorgeous to look at, but something feels inherently manufactured about them. That’s why “Harry […]
Little Boxes
Film studios and critics always try to place movies in little boxes. This one’s a comedy. This one’s a mystery. This one’s a drama…as if “drama” isn’t the most generic and shortsighted description for film imaginable. When a film plays fast and loose with genre, the marketing department is usually at a loss, selling the […]
Born Into This
There is no real way to talk about Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” without first addressing some of the controversy surrounding it. Parker co-wrote, co-produced, starred and directed the film (about Nat Turner’s slave rebellion in 1831), appropriating the title from D.W. Griffith’s 1915 Ku Klux Klan propaganda film. The original film is […]
Midnight Train to Nowhere
“The Girl on the Train” is one of those books that everyone calls a “beach read.” Your brain doesn’t have to be 100 percent invested in what’s happening and the mystery is just fascinating enough to keep you turning the pages long after it’s time for bed. “The Girl on the Train” tells the story […]
Tim Burton’s X-Men
Tim Burton’s films are primarily focused on outsiders—people who don’t fit into mainstream society, and when they try, are either humiliated, heartbroken or forced to commit horrible acts of violence. If you look at “Edward Scissorhands,” “Ed Wood,” “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure,” and “Sleepy Hollow,” you’ll find stories of people leaving their comfort zones and trying […]
Built to Spill
“Deepwater Horizon” should not be as good as it is. There’s something inherently offensive about turning a true story in which 11 people lost their lives into an action thriller/disaster picture. That’s akin to making a film about the Boston marathon bombing and shooting it like a film noir/detective thriller focused on the hunt for […]
BendFilm: Our Don’t-Miss Picks
If you’re excited for this weekend’s BendFilm Festival, I know building your schedule can be difficult. As your resident film geek, I hereby offer a schedule of the flicks I’m checking out, so you can see what interests me, what might interest you and what might just be awesome all around. Thursday, Oct. 6 5pm […]
Limbo
I am not adding a single ounce of hyperbole when I say that John Sayles is one of the finest filmmakers in history. He, along with life partner Maggie Renzi, a handful of my all-time favorite movies, and each one of them feels like a completely separate entity. He bounces between genres with ease, taking […]
Western Ronin
“The Magnificent Seven” is exactly what you get from the trailers, but with a little more and a little less. The main thing that makes the whole creaky enterprise work is getting a few likable actors together and hooting and hollering as they shoot their way around a hundred mustache-twirling villains. You’ve seen this movie […]

