It’s almost impossible to imagine the Hawthorne Strip—much less Dino’s—where they once stood. For the past two-odd weeks, the Toffee Club has reactivated that corner of SE Hawthorne and 10th after a massively spiffed-up overhaul with their modern take on the concept of the English soccer pub. A joint venture between Niki Diamond, her husband […]
Marjorie Skinner
Marjorie Skinner is the Portland Mercury's Managing Editor, author of the weekly Sold Out column chronicling the area's independent fashion and retail industry, and a frequent contributor to the film and other arts and feature sections of the paper. She has been writing about Portland life and culture for the Mercury since 2001, produces one of Portland's largest annual spring fashion shows, and occasionally answers emails.
Posted inMovies & TV
The Invitation: Enough with the Chitchat Already!
If you hate awkward dinner parties, the setting of The Invitation alone will send you off the deep end. Nearly the entirety of the new film directed by Karyn Kusama (Girlfight, Aeon Flux, Jennifer’s Body) takes place inside the gleaming, modern surfaces of a fancy house in the Hollywood Hills. There, a group of friends […]
Posted inMovies & TV
The Invitation to a Maddening Dinner Party
Enough with the Chitchat Already!
Enough with the chitchat already!
Posted inPizza Week
Pizza Week Preview: Good Neighbor Pizzeria’s “Old World”
Good Neighbor Pizzeria Woodlawn’s Good Neighbor Pizzeria will celebrate nine years of business this year. Described by co-owner Mark Saldaña as “handcrafted pizza made by some dudes,” Good Neighbor’s dudes—who also include co-owners Benjamin Blackhurst, Ryan Wade, and Franklin Gallwas—have truly been good neighbors to the Woodlawn area, where they transformed a formerly derelict bodega […]
Posted inPizza Week
Pizza Week Preview: Bella Faccia Pizzeria’s “She Bangs”
Bella Faccia Pizzeria If you’ve ever known the anguish of having to choose between two cravings—that of a big, mustard-slathered sausage or a wide slice of pizza pie—fear no more. Linda Zumoff, owner of Bella Faccia Pizzeria, has invented the perfect hybrid. Inspired by a particularly profound, sausage-based meal she once had, Zumoff decided to […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Eye in the Sky: Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, and the Morality of Modern Warfare
The ambiguity surrounding the toll of drone warfare is a product and symptom of collective fatigue. We’re told it is an exercise in precision, yet we’re also aware, at least abstractly, that these operations are causing collateral damage, further shoring up resentment against the United States in foreign lands. The numbers of civilian deaths caused […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Eye in the Sky and the Ethics of Drones
Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, and the Morality of Modern Warfare
Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, and the morality of modern warfare.
Posted inMovies & TV
Embrace of the Serpent: A Horrifying, Psychedelic Look at Colonialism in the Amazon
We’ll never know what all has been destroyed in the Amazon rainforest. This is true on botanical and medicinal levels as well as a cultural one, since the intrusion of colonization long ago began laying waste to unique expressions of nature and culture before they could even be recorded. Colombian director Ciro Guerra focuses squarely […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Nothing Is Sacred in Embrace of the Serpent
A Horrifying, Psychedelic Look at Colonialism in the Amazon
A horrifying, psychedelic look at colonialism in the Amazon.
Posted inMovies & TV
Your Last Chance to Catch the Films of the Portland International Film Fest
THE INVITATION “You’re invited… into my beard.” This is it, folks: the last two days of the 39th annual Portland International Film Festival. Here’s how you should consider spending your last opportunities: Dheephan (France), screens Fri Feb 26, 5:45 pm at NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium The gritty struggle of refugees trying to make their […]
Posted inEvents
Raunchy Danes, Spooky Sea Creatures, and FOKN Revenge: Week Two of the Portland International Film Festival
EVOLUTION A gorgeously shot horror/sci-fi. We’re midway through the 39th annual Portland International Film Festival, which seems to be happily coinciding with some real butt-ass weather. All the more reason to stay inside, vicariously traveling the world. Poor February—PIFF might be its only charm. And maybe it’s my imagination, but there seem to be more […]
Posted inEvents
Slackers, Junkies, and Drone Bombers: Week One of the Portland International Film Festival
EYE IN THE SKY Featuring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, and the late Alan Rickman. The 39th annual Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) kicks off this evening with sold-out screenings of Finland’s The Fencer (which also screens later in the fest). But even if you didn’t manage to snag those tickets, PIFF is just getting started, […]