THX 1138 dir. Lucas Opens Fri Sept 10 Various Theaters In some science fiction circles, Star Wars creator George Lucas is a hero, a brilliant visionary of modern myth who brought an action-packed, sci-fi flavored brand of action and adventure to the masses. In others, he’s the ultimate pariah, a showman who supplanted intellectual sci-fi […]
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
A Question of Possession
Director Richard Kelly Wants You to See the Real Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut dir. Kelly Opens Fri Sept 3 Cinema 21 At one point in Donnie Darko, the titular character (Jake Gyllenhaal) is having a conversation with Frank (James Duval), who happens to be a giant, terrifying rabbit. In a series of disconcerting sleepwalking incidents, Frank’s been haunting the teenage Donnie with ominous […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Case Files of the Multi-Platform Teen Mega-Stars
The Girls Who Do It All
It used to be that celebrities specialized in one thing: singing, or dancing, or acting, or getting belligerently drunk and arrested. With today’s crop of rambunctious teens, however, “specialization” is out, and “multi-platforming” is in. “Multi-platforming”–putting out media in various formats, hoping that consumers will purchase multiple versions of celebrity branded entertainment–has proven so profitable […]
Posted inBooks
Y: The Last Man
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and José Marzán, Jr. (Vertigo) It’s not war, or murder, and it might not even be disease–but in the opening pages of Y: The Last Man, every male organism dies. Simultaneously, they all cough up blood, fall over, and that’s it–from religious officials dead in […]
Posted inBooks
An Illustrated Me
Local Comics Creators Build Nationally Recognized Scene- Just by Being Themselves
“I moved to Portland because there were other cartoonists here,” Sarah Oleksyk tells me. Two years ago, Oleksyk moved from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon; at the time, she was self-publishing her independent comic book, Roadside. Roadside‘s art and writing–stylish, insightful, and realistic, yet cartoonishly exaggerated–documented that trip, as well as a myriad of fictional […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Hero’s Here!
So Go See It! Right Now! Go!
Herodir. Yimou Opens Fri Aug 27 Fox Tower The Chinese martial arts drama Hero has been around for a while–originally released in 2002, it was nominated for Best Foreign Picture at that year’s Oscars, and it remains the highest-grossing Chinese film ever. But despite having the rights to distribute Hero domestically, Miramax has only recently […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Few Snakes, Fewer Scares
Anacondas Lacks Bite
Anacondasdir. Little Opens Fri Aug 27 Various Theaters I only ask two things from scary movies about giant snakes: a) they’re scary, and b) they feature a lot of giant snakes. Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid fails to deliver on both of my admittedly simplistic criteria. Not only is Anacondas never scary, but, […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Mercury Video Picks
SNEAK PREVIEWS! When I’m coked out and/or desperately needing to take a leak, do I want to sit through a three-hour snooze fest like Schindler’s List? No–I want a condensed sales pitch that only shows the best parts of upcoming movies! Hence this week’s focus on internet-available previews/trailers. – Team America: World Police–(October) The latest […]
Posted inMovies & TV
The Future Will Be… Boring!
The Lackluster Sci-Fi Drama of Code 46
Code 46 dir. Winterbottom Opens Fri Aug 20 Fox Tower Code 46 begins with that standard of sci-fi films: a lengthy text prologue. I’m not sure what Code 46‘s dense prologue says, but it does establish something about the future, and something else about genetics. Following that vague lead, Code 46 establishes some more almost-understandable […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Samurai Schizophrenia
Zatôichi: The Best Five Movies of the Year
Zatôichi Dir. Kitano Opens Fri, Aug 13 Fox Tower Let’s get this out of the way: Zatôichi (Takeshi Kitano) is pretty much the coolest guy ever. Shuffling from town to town, the blind masseur walks the Japanese countryside with only his trusty cane–or so it would appear. Turns out that the shambling Zatôichi is really […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Mercury Video Picks
Whedon-riffic! Few writers have a following as fanatical as that of Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator (and occasional director) Joss Whedon. But in addition to Buffy and its spin-off Angel, Whedon’s had a hand in plenty of other big- and small-screen hits–from a draft of the X-Men screenplay to Roseanne. Here are some of the […]
Posted inArt
Video Games
Sudeki
Sudeki for the Xbox (Climax) F or Xbox gamers finding themselves with a glaring lack of role playing games, Sudeki looks like it might bridge the gap between last year’s fantastic Knights of the Old Republic and this fall’s eagerly-anticipated Fable–but once the gameplay starts up, Sudeki proves pretty disappointing. You control four generic, anime-inspired […]