Camp dir. Graff Opens Fri Aug 8 Pioneer Place Due to its bright colors and flaming personality, the Drama Nerd is a highly recognizable, much-loathed human specimen. The Drama Nerd generally draws too much attention to everything it says, and is aroused by any mention of Stephen Sondheim. The Drama Nerd is hated by hipsters […]
Justin Sanders
Posted inMovies & TV
Die-Hards Only
Von Trier Re-Release Not for the Faint of Heart
Medea dir. Von Trier Opens Fri, July 18 Clinton Street Theater With breathtakingly sad films like Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark under his belt, the Danish Lars Von Trier is a master of movie misery, making him hard to like by anyone with a shred of hope. The recently re-released Medea, a […]
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A Miniature Wonderland
Tabla: Not for the Truly Hungry
We are a nation of individual excess. We crave one plate with a huge amount of steaming food piled upon it. We do not wish to share this food with anyone else, but prefer to stuff it all down our own fat faces. The whole tapas movement is thus a blow to our American sensibilities. […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Second Coming
Matrix Lives Again, Kind of
The Matrix Reloaded dir. Wachowski Opens Thurs May 15 Various Theaters Of course, if you’re planning to see Matrix Reloaded, you already know its fabulous premise. Humankind is enslaved by machines, plugged into a complicated computer program called the Matrix that simulates the “real” world. While the mind is occupied, the machines tap into the […]
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Affordable Affluence
Eat Like a King, Without Pawning a Ring
The Farm Café 10 SE 7th 736-FARM I know how it is, Romeo: you’re tired of taking your sweet Juliet to the burrito shack. You want to treat your bon bon with a little tenderness, for once, and the lunch buffet at Swagat just isn’t cutting it anymore. Only problem is, you’re broker than the […]
Posted inBooks
Does Porn Matter?
The new book, Watching Sex, defends men’s relationship to pornography–but does the topic need to be defended?
“The only language [men] were given to describe our experience of porn was denial or confession: We hid or expressed shame. In the past, we were cowed by the stated morality of our mothers and fathers, the community, and our religions. Now the fierce disapproval of anti-pornography feminism has been added to the mix.” So […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Put it on Hold
Schumacher Phones in a Miserable Movie
Phone Booth dir. Schumacher Opens Fri April 4 Various Theater In Phone Booth Colin Farrell plays Stuart, a New York publicity agent who gets trapped in a phone booth by a phantom sniper (Kiefer Sutherland). Threatening to kill him if he hangs up, the sniper forces Stuart to remain on the line, then fires on […]
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Slow Down
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
Khun Pic’s Bahn Thai 3429 SE Belmont 235-1610 Located in an unassuming house on the main drag of Belmont between the Paradox and the Avalon, Khun Pic’s Bahn Thai shrouds itself behind tall plants and a metal gate. Creaky wooden steps lead into a dimly lit interior in search of a clear motif. It seems […]
Posted inNews
A Newer, Gentler Den of Sin
Getting Your Gay On at Steam Portland
In the process of writing about developer David Anderson’s new gay steam bath, Steam Portland, this writer has come across a surprisingly large number of people who are either unfamiliar with the steam bath concept, or more likely, won’t let themselves believe the concept is real. So let’s begin with a clarification: the steam bath […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Mmm Mmm Good’
Brazilian Gangster Flick Nutritious and Delicious
City of God dir. Meirelles Opens Fri Feb 7 Fox Tower My roommate says that seeing certain films is like eating a good meal. Great films seek out deeply hidden hungers you never knew you had. I never understood what he meant until recently when I saw City of God, an endlessly long and mesmerizing […]
Posted inNews
The Professional
Sam Earns His Money the Old-Fashioned Way–at the Horse Track
It’s a typical day at Portland Meadows. Outside, the bettors cluster around the track, cheering on the horses, stubbornly battling the pouring rain. Inside, they’re clustered around television screens, cheering on horses from other tracks around the country. Cigarette smoke clouds the air. There’s a perpetual shuffling sound as gamblers sift frantically through countless copies […]
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Folk Art For High-Tech Society
Experimental Film: A Conversation
The following is a conversation with Matt McCormick, organizer of the PDX Film Fest, which will be playing Dec 12-15 at Cinema 21 (for more info, see film times). The festival is a collection of documentaries and experimental films from all over the country that otherwise would never be screened here. For this alone, the […]