Dawn (Jess Weixler) is a sexually repressed high school student who, unbeknownst to her, has vagina dentata—i.e., her red snapper has really, really sharp teeth. Calling Teeth an emotionally charged fable would be the understatement of the year. Combining black humor, monster-movie horror, and the best of ’70s sexploitation flicks, writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein’s fascinating film […]
Courtney Ferguson
Mercury copy chief and appreciator of the most sophisticated form of comedy: PUNS!
Posted inMovies & TV
The Ring… Tone
I’m Sorry, But Voicemail Is Not Scary
While I am very, very afraid of cell phones, I can’t seem to muster up enough imagination to be scared of voicemail. Alas, I doubt I’m the only one. One Missed Call (a remake of the 2003 Japanese film Chakushin Ari) depends on the thin scare tactic of people receiving eeeeeerie voicemails in which they […]
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Hilary Swank Looks Like a Horse
One More Crummy Chick Flick
Hilary Swank is a hard one to pin down—she’s dazzlingly beautiful as she flounces about in Doris Day splendor; seconds later, she looks like Mr. Ed’s cousin. Both attractive and repulsive, Swank’s a bit unnerving in P.S. I Love You, this Christmas’ chick flick. The same thing could be said about the film: While director […]
Posted inBooks
Conversations with Woody Allen
by Eric Lax (Knopf)
Woody Allen is a man of many contradictions and mixed confidences—a timeless wonder. He’s one of those people that has lived more than you or I ever will. A man who has made a film a year for the last 30-plus years. In other words: the perfect subject for a book. Eric Lax spent the […]
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Love Hurts
Cholera: Once Again, Javier Bardem Rules
Referring to his 1985 novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez said, “You have to be careful not to fall into my trap.” The trap: reading his 50-year-spanning story as a simplistic, saccharine love story. With the film version of Cholera, director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and […]
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Enchanting Enough
A Surprisingly Non-Sucky Kids’ Flick
I feel kinda dirty saying this, but Enchanted isn’t half bad. Maybe it’s because Disney’s animation-meets-live-action fairy tale would make a great afternoon date with my four-year-old niece? Maybe because it’s sickeningly cute, with an edgy sense of humor? Any which way, I’ll be damned if Enchanted isn’t likeable. Director Kevin Lima combines a conglomeration […]
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What Happened, Wes Bentley?
P2: Doo-Doody
Wes Bentley, what happened? Remember back in 1999 when you were well on your way to being the next big thing after American Beauty? You were so dreamy, so brooding, so awesome—”star material” was written all over you. But then you dropped off the face of the earth ’til 2007, when you played the bad […]
Posted inBooks
The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two
by Anu Garg (Plume)
Have you ever wondered what wordies read when sitting on the pot? Yeah, me neither. But not to leave you in the lurch—they’re checking out stuff like Anu Garg’s The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words. A quintessential bathroom reader, Garg (creator […]
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The Hodge-Podge Fest
NW Film and Video Fest’s Fuzzy Dedication
The lineup of the 34th NW Film and Video Festival is a true hodge-podge of filmmaking ranging from stories of baseball and nuclear power plants to famous nudes and zombies, from all regions of the Northwest. There’s no overarching theme to the collection, just a group of films housed under the fuzzy slogan “Dedicated to […]
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Cinematic Blue Balls
Elizabeth: Not So Golden
This was not a good idea. The courtly bravado of 1998’s Elizabeth had a purpose: to show Cate Blanchett tearing up the scenery as England’s “Virgin Queen” as she dallied about with the Earl of Leicester and spouted feministic jingo. It was sumptuous, kinda sexy, and complex. But its sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, has […]
Posted inBooks
Maynard & Jennica
by Rudolph Delson
When you have a cast of 35 narrators—everything from passing neighbors to frogs, macaws, and emergency brakes—a novel could easily be too scattered, or even worse, too cutesy. Yet first-time novelist Rudolph Delson’s Maynard & Jennica manages to curtail the cute and moves straight to distinctly charming. Quite a feat for such a tricky setup. […]
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An Interesting Mess
Across the Universe‘s Cosmic Chaos
I’M A SUCKER for an interesting mess. Combine that fact with a 33-song Beatles musical and one of my favorite directors (Julie Taymor, of Titus and Frida fame), and how can I not fall head over heels for Across the Universe, one of the biggest, noisiest, most irksome messes that’s come along in a while. […]