Now Playing
A little bit of email. Some you-and-me mail.
It’s nearly the holidays so that means big new movies are eating up our screens, but all is not lost. You don’t have to see Wicked Part Two or Good Grief More Zootopia. I am placing bets on how many theaters play Elf this year.
Pick of the Week:
Straight Time (1978). Directed by Ulu Grosbard. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, Kathy Bates.
Playing this week at the Academy. A neat 70s crime thriller with a bunch of great character actors and has two (!) women in it. Plus starring Nush Berman (from Megalopolis as if you don’t know!). Our friend Siskel said, “A superior thriller, a riveting portrait of an ex-con. Most criminals in American movies are drooling, trigger-happy psychotics. The criminals are people, and, somehow, that’s more disturbing ... Credit ultimately must go to Hoffman, who continues to avoid playing the million-dollar cardboard roles that so many of his peers are drawn to.” I may be drooling and psychotic but I put all my energy into complaining about movies.
Also Playing:
Heist 101
A solid line-up of fun movies here:
Inception: I have to confess that I have never seen this and am not a huge Christopher Nolan guy. Also he gets his ideas from stealing my dreams. Batman was mine!
Thief: One of the best. Michael Mann came out swinging. A neon soaked thriller. “Why don’t you join a union?” “I am wearing it.”
The Italian Job: one of the most perfect “I need to assemble a team of guys movies” ever, and one of the boldest and dumbest endings imaginable.
Rififi: a bloody French crime movie. One of the bedrock films of the genre.
This Week:
The Snow Queen plays on Nov. 26th from Church of Film. It’s not the holidays until Church of Film plays this landmark Finnish film based on a Hans Christian Andersen story. An especially fun one!
At the Fifth Ave: Landscape Film, Roberto Burle Marx plays this weekend. “This documentary portrays the life and work of Roberto Burle Marx (1909–1994), exploring his passion for Brazil’s native flora and the many species he discovered on his research trips.”
At the Academy:
Another TNT hungover movie classic: The Green Mile plays this week.
Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc plays. A beautiful and influential silent film. Plus Portland has a Joan of Arc statue for some reason.
At Cinema 21:
Fight Club plays this weekend. I guess people are still watching this, huh?
To Be or Not To Be plays on Nov. 22nd. That Lubitsch touch returns to Portland with a great comedy about an acting troupe fooling Nazis.
At Cinemagic:
Michael Douglas does his best Dilbert impression in Falling Down on Nov. 21st. It’s a satire about a repugnant angry white man which likely comes across as quaint in 2025.
Eli Roth does not make movies for me (nor does he make good movies) but here is Thanksgiving if you would like to see it.
At the Clinton:
Jason X plays on Nov. 21st. A not very good but fun to watch Jason movie where he is revived in space in 400 years. A fun acting turn from Cronenberg in this. The downfall of this movie is that it’s trying to copy Whedon speak and be ironic, as was the style at the time, so you end up with a lot of “Can you believe this” bits while women do kicks.
Know Your Rights training on Nov. 22nd. Free. Thank you Clinton Street Theater for doing this for the public:
“An attorney from Oregon Justice Resource Center will present info about:
What’s happening right now re: ICE enforcement in Oregon
Oregon’s sanctuary laws
Know your rights w/ ICE
Reporting ICE activity
Practical resources you can share”
The Island of Doctor Moreau plays on Nov. 22nd. An odd movie with some odd performances from Kilmer and Brando. It’s a real seeing is believing. There is a really interesting documentary about the making of this movie that you should watch.
A fundraiser for the Snowday’s Foundation on Nov. 25th.
Revolutions Per Movie and Kevin McDonald are still coming on Dec. 12th! Get your tickets before I buy all of them and try to resell them outside the theater.
At the Hollywood:
Train Dreams rolls on.
Hong Kong Cinema Classics keeps rolling on with:
Celebrate documentary filmmaker Les Blank on Nov. 23rd with screenings of Chulas Fronteras and The Maestro.
The Great Waldo Pepper plays to honor Robert Redford on Nov. 25th in one of his most tepid movies that he makes watchable through charm. Considering how many famous movies he was in, and how many great ones he was in, this is an odd pull for a single tribute screening. This is a movie that would be buried in a Robert Redford festival.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 plays on Nov. 26th with the Turkey Necks playing some Cramps songs. I hear they have a magic ticket and will enter the movie once it starts playing.
At the Kiggins:
Crybaby plays on Nov. 22nd with a shadowcast from the Denton Delinquents.
At the Tomorrow Theater (the Hub for Cultural Snackers):
Mubi, who has recently come under fire for taking Sequoia Capital investment money, has been partnering with the Tomorrow Theater and they are doing another screening in October. Sequoia has ties to the Israeli army. Mubi has released a bunch of mealy mouthed statements. Filmmakers are urging Mubi to cut ties. If the Los Angeles Festival of Movies can cut ties with Mubi so can PAM. You can contact the Tomorrow Theater here through this link and let them know that they should’t partner with organizations like this.
I did. I’ll let you know if they write back. It’s been three weeks and I don’t expect them to. Thank you to anyone who has emailed them. I ask that you keep doing it.
I still haven’t heard from them so please keep emailing. We’ve got to demand better.
Woke scold WatchThisPDX strikes again!
Please keep writing in!
The tip jar is open if you are so inclined. The holidays are coming so give the ultimate gift, a tip to some weirdo’s blog that you read because you too are some weirdo.
Damn, Straight Time sounds great.
Thanks, as always!