A darkly funny, satisfyingly violent adaptation of Patrick DeWitt’s novel, The Sisters Brothers follows four men whose bumbling paths cross in Oregon and California in 1851. The titular brothers are assassins, and are played with predictable excellence by John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix; when they aren’t drinking or bickering, they’re chasing two other men, […]
Erik Henriksen
With honor and distinction, Erik Henriksen served as the executive editor of the Portland Mercury from 2004 to 2020. He can now be found at henriksenactual.com.
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Kavanaugh Heads Toward Confirmation, Nobel Prize Winners Announced, and Whole Foods Fights Vegans
Yesterday’s protestors at the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill. Drew Angerer / Staff / Getty Kavanaugh—”Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh cleared a major hurdle Friday morning in his quest for the Supreme Court, as the Senate voted narrowly to cut off debate on his nomination and move to a final vote as early as […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Multnomah County Library Card Holders Now Have Free Access to Film-Streaming Service Kanopy
Kanopy There are roughly 14 billion streaming services—from Netflix to Amazon to Hulu to HBO Now to FilmStruck to YouTube Premium—and even more are on the way, including services from our corporate overlords Disney and Apple. For better or worse (probably worse), Americans now find ourselves drowning in a grotesque glut of content. That makes […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Movie Review: Dark Money Explores the Shadows of Campaign Finance
It shares a title and subject with Jane Mayer’s acclaimed 2016 book, but Kimbery Reed’s in-depth documentary is its own thing—a wonky examination of how unknown corporations, shadowy activists, and (possibly) foreign interests are dumping vast amounts of untraceable money into right-wing political campaigns and causes, irrevocably and deceitfully changing the course of American democracy. […]
Posted inMovies & TV
What to See at This Weekend’s Portland EcoFilm Fest
“The tendency nowadays to wander in wilderness is delightful to see,” wrote John Muir. “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, […]
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Christine Blasey Ford Testifies Before the Senate Judiciary Committee (Updated)
Pool / Getty Editors’ note: The Mercury‘s Good Morning, News posts generally cover a number of news items. Today, we’re focusing on one. This story is developing and will be updated throughout the day. “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified,” said Christine Blasey Ford in her opening statement […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Seeing the Stars—and the Earth—at the Portland EcoFilm Festival
Also featuring fungus!
Posted inMovies & TV
All Hail Captain Marvel, Our Greatest Hero (Who Sometimes Punches Old Ladies in the Face)
“DID YOU WATCH THE CAPTAIN MARVEL TRAILER” Suzette shouted at me the second I walked into the office this morning. She put the trailer in Good Morning, News, but I’m putting it here too because Captain Marvel deserves her own post, goddammit, and also because I want to publish the above headline. They had me […]
Posted inMovies & TV
The Second Season of American Vandal Is Now on Netflix. It’s Just as Good as the First
Shot in Portland but set in Bellevue, Washington, the second season of Netflix’s true-crime mockumentary is just as clever and addictive as the first. This time, earnest high-schooler documentarians Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam Ecklund (Griffin Gluck) take their investigation skills to St. Bernadine’s Catholic School, where, ever since a tragedy dubbed “The Brownout,” […]
Posted inBooks
Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin Review: A Thoughtful, Reverent Portrait of Portland’s Greatest Writer
“Science fiction is social fiction,” Warren Ellis said in a 2013 interview in The Paris Review. “It’s about using speculation as a tool with which to examine the contemporary condition.” Truer words. But even in 2018, when science fiction and fantasy have conquered popular entertainment, most genre creators still have to fight for recognition. “The […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Mandy Is Fucking Nuts, and Also Features Nicolas Cage Swinging a Gleaming Battle Axe
Before all the blood starts spurting and gurgling, Mandy offers an epigraph, its letters bloody red: When I dieBury me deepLay two speakers at my feetWrap some headphonesAround my headAnd rock and roll meWhen I’m dead. The words go uncredited (they are, turns out, the last words of murderer and kidnapper Douglas Roberts, who was […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Mandy Review: Blood, Guts, and Rock ’n’ Roll
(Also featuring Nicolas Cage with a battleaxe.)