Steven Soderbergh has been called everything from “indie superstar” to “Hollywood’s poster boy.” With Ocean’s Twelve coming out next Friday, now’s the perfect time to brush up with some selections from Soderbergh’s canon, and remind yourself why the guy’s pretty much one of the coolest directorsÉ well, like, ever. – The Limey (1999)–A British ex-con […]
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 inBooks
Halo 2: The Official Game Guide
Halo 2: The Official Game Guide by Piggyback Interactive Limited (Prima/Random House) Step aside, “novels.” Stand down, “short stories.” Your outdated forms of “literary expression” are no longer needed. The book-buying public of America has spoken, and it has chosen its preferred form of literature: videogame strategy guides. Released in tandem with the Xbox’s Halo […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Finding Oscar
The Aspirations of Finding Neverland
Finding Neverland dir. Forster Now Playing Various Theaters Early in Finding Neverland, failing playwright James Barrie (Johnny Depp) is comforted by his patron, Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman). “They changed it,” Frohman says, attempting to cheer Barrie up after his latest play has flopped due to lackluster critical reception. “The critics. They made it important.” Frohman’s […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Takashi Miike… For the Kids!
No, Wait… Kids Won’t Like This, Either
Andromedia dir. Miike Opens Fri Nov 26 Clinton St. Theater I’ll say it succinctly: This movie sucks. Before you rabid Takashi Miike fans get all death threat-y, just give me a minute. I like Miike, too. I think he’s one of the few filmmakers out there who’s genuinely talented, shocking, clever, and fearless. But this […]
Posted inMovies & TV
I’m Going Out
Two New Theaters! (Sort Of)
Last weekend saw the opening of two theaters–one in the convoluted suburban sprawl of Beaverton, and another in the St. Johns neighborhood. While one has fancy-pants presentation, the other boasts a decidedly local take on first-run films. Compared to the Century already out on 82nd, the tongue twistingly named Century 16 Cedar Hills Crossing (3200 […]
Posted inBooks
How We Are Hungry
How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s) At this point, you’re either sick of Dave Eggers and his publishing house, McSweeney’s, or you’re not. Their indie bookstore pervasiveness has reinvigorated interest in smart pop literature, but that ubiquity is a double-edged sword, for many have become so sick of the house’s relatively gargantuan rep […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Best. Film Festival. Ever.
Grindhouse Gets Recognized
Grindhouse Film Festivaldir. Various Fri Nov 19 -Sun Nov 21 Hollywood Theater No film genre is more scorned and underappreciated than grindhouse films–low budget Asian films from the ’70s in which kung fu, sex, and revenge collide with scratchy film stock and spraying geysers of Technicolor blood. Thankfully, the Hollywood Theater’s Grindhouse Film Festival resurrects […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Geek Out
Halo-lujah!
Videogames’ brief history is littered with near-epochal events. Like when Final Fantasy VII came to the first PlayStation in 1997. Or when 1989’s Zelda II: The Adventure of Link foreshadowed Nintendo’s success. There have been a lot of landmark games–from Doom to Grand Theft Auto III–that, by all rights, should have triggered a major pop […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Not Quite Incredible
But Still Pretty Damn Good
The Incredibles dir. Bird Opens Fri Nov 5 Various Theaters You can usually trust certain directors to put out good work. Or some screenwriters. Even a few actors can be counted on for delivering consistently good performances. But when it comes to studios, all bets are off–they’ll crank out anything, as long as it’ll turn […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Geek Out
Fall Videogame Previews
Happy videogame season, everyone! Hoping to cash in this Christmas, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube are unveiling their heaviest of hitters (in Videogame Land, that means “sequels”). But with so many eagerly anticipated games–and with each one costing 50 bucks a pop–how’s one to know which ones to play? Here are our best bets. – […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Kids Say the Darndest Things
Birth Packs a Metaphysical Punch
Birth dir. Glazer Opens Fri Oct 29 Various Theaters There are movies that defy categorization and characterization–films that break enough rules or traverse enough genres to become something that can’t be easily summed up. Birth is one of those movies, but it’s also something far simpler–a love story–and it’s no easy task to figure out […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Awesome!
Godzilla Smashes Shit… A Lot of Shit!
50 Years of Godzilla dir. Various Fri Oct 29-Thurs Nov 4 Hollywood Theatre For 50 years, Godzilla–otherwise known as the coolest motherfucker to ever grace the silver screen–has smashed cardboard buildings, slapped aside model helicopters, and incinerated entire miniature cities with his fiery breath. Shit, he even survived that Matthew Broderick remake! (Insert rimshot here.) […]