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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Legend of the Bored
King Arthur is a swing and a myth
Why is it so hard for Hollywood to get the story of King Arthur right? Cinematic adaptations of Arthurian legend go all the way back to a 1904 silent film based on Wagner’s 1882 opera “Parsifal,” but very few of them have captured what makes the story special in the first place. Films like “Camelot” […]
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Inside Amy Schumer
Snatched is a trainwreck
Sometime after her popularity exploded during the first season of her show, Amy Schumer became not just the most popular female comedian in years, but also a feminist icon almost overnight. She fought back against misogynist culture by not allowing the typical body shaming of the Hollywood elite to change her looks, and her sex-positive […]
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Special Education
Gifted almost finds the heart of mathematics
It can be very surprising how lovely something so simple can be. “Gifted” is predictable, formulaic and deeply flawed, but the combination of perfectly calibrated performances and some honest and charming character work make the film a lovely piece of cinema, at times. The movie doesn’t do anything differently than dozens of other family dramas […]
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Wack Mirror
The Circle screams at social media
The only reason the film adaptation of “The Circle” will be remembered is because it’s the final screen appearance of the actor Bill Paxton after his untimely and shocking death. Not to be overly harsh, but the film is so forgettable that discussing it feels like time that could be better spent focusing on the […]
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We Are Groot
Marvel Studios adds art to commerce
I’ve been reviewing Marvel movies for as long as I’ve been writing about cinema. Truthfully, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not quite 10 years old (dating back to 2008’s “Iron Man”), but it has completely reshaped how blockbuster movies are written and directed. The staggering number of superhero movies released every year might be easy […]
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Gigantic
Colossal is the Citizen Kane of Monster Movies
Don’t read this review. Sorry, I don’t mean to tell you what to do, but one of the true joys of cinema I have had this year was watching “Colossal” without knowing anything about it. As the plot continued to escalate and become darker and entirely unpredictable, I realized I was watching one of the […]
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Start Looking at ‘Tomorrow’
It’s only a day away
At the beginning of “Tomorrow,” a new environmental documentary by French filmmakers Mรฉlanie Laurent and Cyril Dion, the message seems incredibly alarmist. The filmmakers bring in a pair of scientists who say that we have 20 years to start turning things around when it comes to climate change or else the world will face another […]
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Shoot ‘Em Up
Fire fight aims low
After “Pulp Fiction” came out in 1994, action films were basically reinvented for years to come. As soon as Quentin Tarantino unleashed his masterpiece, filmmakers attempted to capture that same lightning in a bottle by making movies combining sudden violence with characters spouting pop-culture heavy dialogue over hyper-stylized imagery. Films including “Things to do in […]