"Lessons of Darkness" (1992, D… - The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast - Apple Podcasts Podcast Episode · The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast · March 27 · 2h 17m

Incredible movie… talked about that Berlin reaction and the spectacle of it all on a good pod recently: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

YOUR SUNDAY READING LIST: Terrible Tats, Bad (Political) Actors, and Who's Paying Through the Nose for a New Moda? - Portland Mercury GOOD MORNING, SUNDAY! It’s the perfect time to catch up on some of the great reporting and stories the Mercury churned out this week! (PRO TIP: If you despise being “the last to know,” then be one of ...

"Wow... if it wasn't for this great Mercury article, I wouldn't know that the mayor is full of shit."

Catch up on all the great Mercury stories you may have missed this week with our SUNDAY READING LIST!

3 totally terrific indies in theaters this weekend deserve your attention and $$: BLUE HERON by Sophy Romvari (quietly devastating family story), ERUPCJA by Pete Ohs (fascinating Euro hangout film about girls being random), & MILE END KICKS by Chandler Levack (2011 indie sleaze rom-coming-of-age)

When’s the last time a new Sodey got such hushed but universal acclaim? Critics are saying “last year, kinda!”

A review of Mile End Kicks (2025) Though I've never been to Montreal, I very much identified with the incredibly embarrassing existence of being a mostly unpaid music critic who never shuts up about it. And for that reason, I had the ...

I don’t have time to write a full review of MILE END KICKS, but needless to say, for anyone who read Cokemachineglow in 2011, this movie will move and embarrass you in equal measure.

this one comes immediately to mind

The Christophers Is Another Small Masterwork by Steven Soderbergh - Portland Mercury Director Steven Soderbergh’s career second-act prolificacy brings us another small masterpiece—even if I don't like his comments about AI.

For the @portlandmercury.com I reviewed the latest, among latests, from Steven Soderbergh

“I’m so angry I can’t sleep.” Oregon wildfire survivors, reeling from Court of Appeals ruling that would nullify billions in jury awards, take case to Supreme Court: tinyurl.com/4h3dcptm

sign projected on a large screen in a venue, yellow background with red and (predominantly) blue text, friendly font: ON CINEMA AT THE CINEMA KINDLY REQUESTS YOU KEEP YOUR PHONES SILENCED AND EXTINGUISHED DURING THE SHOW, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY ASKED TO TAKE THEM OUT. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM FILMING THE SHOW OR POSTING ANY SPOILERS ON THE INTERNET, SO WE MAY PRESERVE THE SURPRISES THAT AWAIT NORTH AMERICA DURING THE CERTIFIED FIVE BAGS OF POPCORN TOUR. THANK YOU!

L to R: Romeo Is Bleeding, 2 stars; Normal, 2 stars; The Christophers, 4 stars; Number One with a Bullet, not rated

#LastFourWatched

THE HIDDEN FORTRESS - Hollywood Theatre Every year, May the 4th is celebrated across the galaxy as Star Wars Day. This year, the Portland Critics Association invites you to explore the film, that, probably more than […]

Just announced, Movie People: the @portlandcritics.bsky.social is hosting a screening of Kurosawa’s HIDDEN FORTRESS on Star Wars Day, May 4th, at @hollywoodtheatre.org. Get tickets now, will almost definitely sell out!

FILMMAKER: You can think about it in relation to an individual painter or filmmaker. Or how, in terms of the formal history of the mediums, they hit a wall around 1970. And perhaps, paradoxically, they are being revitalized by facing down the horror of AI. But maybe that’s too depressing to talk about. SODERBERGH: It’s worth talking about what that technology might be good at. I’ve been working with AI lately on the John Lennon and Yoko Ono documentary that we’re almost done with. AI has been helpful in creating thematically surreal images that occupy a dream space rather than a literal space. And that’s been really fun because you need a Ph.D. in literature to tell it what to do. But like every other piece of technology, it desperately requires very close human supervision.

SODERBERGH: May, I think. And in June, the box set of all the films I made that I own will be ready. I’ll sell them off my website. My White Album. They’re all individually stamped and signed. And I finished my book on directing, which will be released as an app at the end of April with the proceeds going to a cat charity in Britain. And I’m trying to get a movie made about the Spanish-American War. FILMMAKER: With ships and everything? For which you would use… SODERBERGH: A lot of AI. It’s my version of one of those. It’s a really good story, and nobody’s really done it. Every day that goes by it becomes more timely. I’ve just got to get it cast. I’ve got Wagner Moura. I need a few more people. I have two studios circling, but it’s all about how much I can do it for. But if I can get the right cast together, that will eventize it, and people will feel they have to see it now rather than waiting two months until it streams. It’s a weird time to be making movies.

oh no, Steve, no baby no

The New Yorker, e.g., has a 100-year history of helping its readers assimilate avant-garde aesthetics into middlebrow worldviews; all those habits of mediation can be deployed in the service of chatbots, by writers “exploring implications” (based on premises devised by a tech company’s PR team)

Super Mario Galaxy, 2 stars; This is Spinal Tap, rewatch, heart; Gallipoli, 3.5 stars; Summer Horror Day, 3 stars

#lastfourwatched My contribution to Letterboxd’s patented “Last Four Movies Watched from Left to Right Friday”

A brilliant review of what is definitely a movie that happened

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Is a Divine Act of Asset Management - Portland Mercury It’s-a me, corporate hegemony! A Super Mario Galaxy Movie review born of both immense respect and ennui-ridden derision.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrives in theaters, and it's "both sincerely heartwarming and devoid of truly thoughtful world building, beautifully made by extremely talented administrators, animators, voice actors, and consultants," writes film critic Dom Sinacola. Full review ⬇️

Bringing out the old profile pic for today only:

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Is a Divine Act of Asset Management - Portland Mercury It’s-a me, corporate hegemony! A Super Mario Galaxy Movie review born of both immense respect and ennui-ridden derision.

I reviewed the New Movie™️ that’s in theaters today, for the @portlandmercury.com www.portlandmercury.com/movies-and-t...

I was so stoked to have Dom finally make his first appearance on TPNWICMFP, to discuss Herzog's LESSONS OF DARKNESS, a movie that speaks to our terrifying moment

"Lessons of Darkness" (1992, D… - The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast - Apple Podcasts Podcast Episode · The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast · March 27 · 2h 17m

Happy to've guested on @tpnwicmfp.bsky.social to talk Werner Herzog and LESSONS OF DARKNESS with @corbinsmith.bsky.social and @matthiasellis.bsky.social... a very fun conversation despite the mythical environmental apocalypse we watched.

I refuse to let this social media site claim Fridays just because of Zahns, but here are my #lastfourwatched anyway

Question: are backwards ballcaps back?

no we don’t

two characters named Mario and Luigi, looking like sweaty black-and-white real-life bideo game characters, only the short stout one is Luigi and the tall lithe one is Mario

the original Mario and Luigi, from Wages of Fear

a sketch of Madonna at her peak, in a silver floor length, sexy-ass ballgown, I am really not the best person to describe these things, sorry

Bob Mackie’s original sketch for Madonna’s dress in Dick Tracy and at the Oscars

a sketch of a lithe Elton John with big pink sunglasses and a pink rhinestone embossed jump suit

the original Bob Mackie sketch for Elton John’s appearance on the Muppet Show

Art Snack: You Know and Like the Founders of Portland's Newly Announced  International Women’s Sports Film Festival Ryan Gosling banter feels like a sustained act of grace

You already know and like the locals behind this new women’s sports documentary fest, Portland Panorama’s line-up is stacked, and a snack-sized review of Project Hail Mary. We are noshing on cultural bites, here in Art Snack!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Portland Indie Music Venues Need Support Whether you’re an avid reader of these pages, or just a Portlander with a discerning live music landscape radar, it’s been hard to avoid story after story of independent live music venue closures and ...

After a flurry of venue closures and openings, we've got questions. What's going on? Why, if Portland is such a music city, is it so difficult for venues to stay open? Ryan Prado digs into the issue talking with City Council President Jamie Dunphy and the owners of several music venues.

an X-Men 97 hoodie, all bright blue and gold

Found this at a thrift store in Palm Springs for 10 bucks, fits me perfectly