“Dear God, guide us and protect us. We are too young to reign,” says Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) upon discovering that he has become king of France. Standing next to him is his new wife, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst), and Jesus Christ, is Louis right: The two of them look like the terrified teenagers they […]
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 inMovies & TV
Ye Olde Dueling Magicians
The Prestige: Magic Tricks. And David Bowie.
Thom Yorke’s “Analyse” accompanies the end credits of Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, which pretty much makes perfect sense. Yorke’s song is creepy, weird, and great—abstract and affecting, its jarring unease plays alongside a romantic sort of cynicism. It’s a killer song, and its unexpected inclusion makes The Prestige a better movie than it’d otherwise be. […]
Posted inMovies & TV
I’m Staying Home
100 PERCENT PURE ADRENALINE
Point Break: Pure Adrenaline Edition dir. Bigelow Now Available on DVD Indubitably the finest motion picture ever created, 1991’s Point Break follows FBI Agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) as he goes undercover to bust “the Ex-Presidents,” surfing bank robbers who’re led by the lethally charismatic Bodhi (Patrick Swayze). In honor of the recent special-edition DVD […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Geek Love
Train Man: If Nerds Got Chicks
Of all the depressing peoples of the world, otaku might be the most depressing. In terms of sheer heartstring-yanking awkwardness, they take the cake—otaku are the obsessive fanboys of Japan, those who watch hours of anime and flip through reams of manga, who shuffle through Tokyo’s Akihabara District in a desperate search for figurines of […]
Posted inMusic
BFFs 4EVR
Pallin’ Around with the Decemberists
SLEATER-KINNEY’S TOMBSTONE has finally settled into the mud, both Modest Mouse and the Shins are MIA, and the Dandy Warhols are slipping into obscurity faster than one can say “Veronica Mars”—so is it too easy/soon to proclaim the Decemberists as Portland’s favorite band? I think they are—Portland and the Decemberists think about each other all […]
Posted inBooks
Lost Cause
Alan Moore’s Reinventing Comics—Again. So… How Do You Feel About Porn?
Alan Moore’s reinventing comics—again. So… how do you feel about porn?
Posted inMovies & TV
Drowned Rats
Crossing Double-Crossers with The Departed
Martin Scorsese’s made a bunch of important movies. Movies that changed things, that define American cinema: Taxi Driver. Raging Bull. The Last Temptation of Christ. Goodfellas. The music video for Michael Jackson’s “Bad.” So even though it’s pretty goddamn great, Scorsese’s latest, The Departed, can’t live up to the expectations his IMDB page inspires. But […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Cell Phones and Magic Swords
Love, Loss, and Thousands of Miles
A tired Japanese man, Takata, surveys a remote, rocky coastline, one awash in cold grays and dour shadows. In the city, his estranged son lays in a hospital bed—desperately ill, he refuses to see his fisherman father. But as his son’s condition worsens, Takata decides to set out on a journey: With a video camera, […]
Posted inMovies & TV
I’m Staying Home
The Sensational Selick
The Northwest Film Center (NWFC) rarely puts on must-see events—the exception being this week, when the NWFC hosts an evening at the Whitsell Auditorium with local animator Henry Selick (see Movie Times on pg. 55 for details). Selick’s created some moving, influential, and flat-out awesome work, and hearing him talk about it will probably make […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Second-Hand Smoke
Because my primary means of understanding the world is through Wikipedia—it is an astonishing device—the first thing I did after attending Second-Hand Smoke was confirm the definition of “avant-garde.” Wikipedia says: “The avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm within definitions of art/culture/reality…. This concept is applied to the work done […]
Posted inMovies & TV
I’m Staying Home
YOUTUBE JACKASSES
“WARNING: The stunts in this movie were performed by professionals, so neither you nor your dumb buddies should attempt anything from this movie,” reads the completely futile disclaimer before Jackass: Number Two. No doubt it’s there as a result of various dumb kids getting killed as they emulated Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O. But deaths and […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Exorbitant Hyperbole
But it’s True: Science of Sleep Is Really That Good
Ah, fall. Or, as it’s known to Hollywood’s scheming denizens, “Oscar Ramp-Up Season.” Now’s when studios start releasing their Oscar bait, their films that’ve been conceived and marketed specifically for Roger Ebert’s thumb and Gene Shalit’s puns. The prestige pictures. No Michael Bays or McGs allowed. We’re talking art—or at least the closest one can […]