Pool / Getty Images A year ago, Portland hotel magnate Gordon Sondland seemed to be pretty unextraordinary, at least in this, our blessed Trump Era. For all intents and purposes, Sondland was just one more Ayn Rand-reading, self-proclaimed “pillar of the community” who gave Trump so much money that he bought himself an ambassadorship he […]
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
Kenneth Lonergan’s Masterpiece Margaret Screens This Weekend in Portland [UPDATED]
Myles Aronowitz / Fox Searchlight Pictures UPDATE, FRI NOV 22: In a last-minute switch-up (well, last-day switch-up, as the film screens tonight), the Northwest Film Center will be screening the extended edition of Margaret, the preferred cut of writer/director Kenneth Lonergan. Theatrical screenings of Margaret are rare to begin with, but screenings of the extended […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Bloody, Funny, and Melancholy, The Irishman Is Grade-A Scorsese
Netflix The chatter around The Irishman has mostly involved Martin Scorsese shit-talking Marvel and/or how Netflix stepped up to fund a three-and-a-half-hour epic after traditional Hollywood studios told Marty to fuck off. None of that is as interesting as The Irishman itself. A reality-inspired crime epic that spans decades, The Irishman’s heart is Frank Sheeran […]
Posted inBooks
Matt Fraction and Elsa Charretier’s November Is the Promising Start to a Sprawling Noir
Image Comics November, a collaboration between Portland comics writer Matt Fraction and French artist Elsa Charretier, came out earlier this month; tonight, Fraction will be at Books with Pictures to celebrate its release. It’s a release worth celebrating: November is good, and even if it feels like the start of something larger (probably because it […]
Posted inMovies & TV
The Report: A Damning, Horrifying Look at America’s War Crimes—and the Efforts to Cover Them Up
ATSUSHI NISHIJIMA The Report is short for “The Torture Report,” which is short for “The Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program,” which is short for the 6,700-page account of one of America’s most horrifying and shameful stretches of history. Expertly distilling an infinitely complicated, infinitely disturbing chain of events, writer/director […]
Posted inMovies & TV
The Mandalorian Has a Goblin Nick Nolte Riding a Giant Angry Tadpole, and I’m Not Sure What Else Anyone Could Ask For
Lucasfilm / Disney+ What’s the right level of goofiness for Star Wars? Star Wars has always been inherently silly—very, very silly—but it’s also always been deeply earnest. The best Star Wars stories are the ones that somehow manage to maintain an increasingly tricky balance—committing to bold, rewarding adventures even while embracing the wacky, Muppet-y weirdness […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Doctor Sleep Is a Surprisingly Fun Visit to a Very Haunted Hotel
JESSICA MIGLIO The Overlook Hotel doesn’t feel quite the same without Jack Nicholson hamming it up and hacking down doors, but then again, that isn’t really the point: Rather than trying to be a slavish follow-up to Stanley Kubrick’s inimitable The Shining, Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep is a looser, goofier trip that just so happens […]
Posted inComic Books
Gifts for the Geek: Where to Shop for Comics, Games, and More
Portland has so many shops catering to the geeky among us that it feels like you can’t throw a D20 without hitting somewhere that sells comics, video games, or board games. (Do I recommend going outside and throwing a D20 in random directions just to see what you hit? Sure! I also recommend shouting “CRITICAL […]
Posted inMovies & TV
The Best Movies & TV Shows to Watch in Portland: Fri Nov 8-Thurs Nov 21
Like all good things, this piece involves both Bushwick Bill and Queen Elizabeth.
Posted inNews
Mayor Wheeler Parts with $16,000 in Campaign Donations from Trump Lackey Gordon Sondland
U.S. MISSION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION Last month, Portland hotelier/millionaire/Trump lackey Gordon Sondland lied to impeachment inquiry investigators, claiming that—despite being savvy enough to have purchased a key position in the Trump administration—he just couldn’t remember major facts about his involvement in the scandal surrounding Trump and Ukraine. In addition to blaming that foggy ol’ […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Win Tickets to See Bushwick Bill: Geto Boy!
Memory & Imagination / Bushwick Bill: Geto Boy Obligatory soundtrack to any post that relates in any way, shape, or form to the Geto Boys: Now we can continue. This Saturday, November 9, the Hollywood Theatre is screening director Greg Roman’s Bushwick Bill: Geto Boy, a new documentary about the late rapper. Early word on […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Terminator: Dark Fate Review: All Hail Sarah Connor, Our Furious and Eternal Queen
Kerry Brown Arnold might get top billing, but the Terminator movies worth watching—1984’s The Terminator and 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day—belong to Linda Hamilton and her earnest, hard-edged turns as Sarah Connor, the series’ terrified waitress turned brutal soldier. While Schwarzenegger glared and catch-phrased and strutted around to “Bad to the Bone,” Sarah Connor got […]