Leonard Oakland is a teaching legend to many Whitworth University students. And even in his emeritus years, he has been the recipient of many accolades and honors. One of the most public is an annual film event. This year's Leonard Oakland Film Festival will be...
Re. my previous post: I'm at Huckleberry's right now. I have six bottles of wine in my basket. The sale, 20 percent off, is on right now, and no one is in the parking lot. That will change. Better get down here. Hmmmm ... maybe…
So, before going to see the documentary "Project Nim" at the Magic Lantern tonight, we stopped into the Margot Casstevens art exhibit in the Saranac Building. Titled "Seed Folk," the show featured one mixed-media piece that looked like a large spash of grass in the…
For my Spokane Public Radio movie review this morning, I discussed "Hugo." Not a big fan, for reasons that I enumerate, mainly involving director Martin Scorsese's inability to follow a fairy-tale rendering of fantasy the way he does so naturally with hard-edged stories such as…
Before I embark on a big weekend of filmgoing, I began my Friday by going to the gym (trying to work off that seven pounds I picked up in Italy) and then making my obligatory stop at the Gonaga-district Starbucks. And for a two-buck discount,…
I called earlier this to Auntie's Bookstore and reserved two tickets to tonight's David Sedaris reading. Tickets were free, but I had to order a couple of books -- one per ticket-- which seemed like a good deal. My choices: "Me Talk Pretty One Day"…
I have a good friend who is carrying on his own vendetta against Oregonian film critic Shawn Levy. He's still miffed at a review that Levy wrote of "Pirate Radio" way back on Nov. 12, 2009. The title of Levy's review says it all: "…
When Spokane7.com changes in the next week or so, I'll be writing about more than movies in this space. Of course, everything that happens, in life as well as here, relates somehow to movies. So ... ... take the fact that earlier today my wife…
When I left Rome, it was 60 degrees and sunny. When I arrived in Spokane, the thermometer rested at 20 and two inches of snow covered my driveway. Such is life. But, I thought, at least now that I am back in Spokane I'll be…
It occurred to me, with the usual thud (line stolen from Herb Caen), that my last post included nothing about what we did on Saturday. Then I remembered: That's the day that Mary Pat and I met our new friend, David Colbert, for a lunch…
Today was our last Sunday in Rome. Which is why I am sitting here this evening tired and sore. We caught an early (well, early for us) bus to the Piazza Venezie and went on a church hunt. There are scores of them in the…
On Wednesday, hours before Pete Porter hosted a screening of "The Big Lebowski" at the Magic Lantern, I was in Rome, pursuing another kind of cinematic experience. Mary Pat and I took the city's subway to the next-to-last stop, which is called Cinecitta. Now, not…
As I noted last week, the Spokane International Film Festival is sponsoring a screening of "The Big Lebowski" at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Magic Lantern. The show is part of SpIFF's ongoing Professor's Series, which already has featured such classics of contemporary cinema as…
We attended the final day of the Rome International Film Festival on Saturday, though the trip there and the final destination -- the Auditorium Parco della Musica -- were more impressive than the film we saw. The film, which won the festival's jury prize, is…
If I were home in Spokane -- instead of sitting here in our Rome apartment, listening to what has to be a preteen in the upstairs flat practicing his/her scales on the piano as the early-evening, horn-blaring traffic slides by on the street below --…
Great filmmakers invite impersonation. And if you didn't know any better, you might confuse Italian director Pupi Avati's new film -- "Il cuore grande delle ragazze" (literally, "The Big Heart of the Girls") -- with, say, Federico Fellini's "Amarcord." That is, you might if, 1,…
My former colleague (and FBB), Richard Miller, has written a novel. Titled "All You Can Eat," it's advertised as a "comic literary novel." It also features vampires. Ok, uh, I'll bite -- heh-heh -- just as soon as I return to Spokae, where it's set.
I've gotten into a few arguments regarding movies over the years. Over favorite directors (still mostly like Woody Allen, despite his personal flaws), over favorite actors (think Paul Giamatti is overrated) and especially over work emanating from countries with inflated reputations (I ever share my…
Finally made it to the Rome International Film Festival, though I'm not sure the trip was worth the effort. Trip is the operative word, and trippy would be even better. Titled "The Eye of the Storm," this Fred Schepisi-directed film -- he's the guy who…
Looking for something to do a week from Wednesday? Try watching "The Big Lebowski." The Coen Brothers comedy (I'd call it an offbeat comedy, but that would be redundant) is playing at 7 p.m. at the Magic Lantern as part of what the Spokane International…
It's Halloween, which isn't a traditional Italian holiday but has been co-opted here to include pumpkins, scarecrows and witches (grazie, Harry Potter). But as we sit here, hoping that no Italian kids come to our apartment door (not because we're anti-social but because we don't…
It's not always easy to negotiate film festivals. That may seem like a trusm, but we have attended festivals all over the world. And if there's a way to get tickets, we've usually found them. That didn't stop us from encountering troubles earlier today at…
I just read in a guidebook that one of the bars sitting on the Piazza del Popolo, where I go to work, is where Federico Fellini used to drink two caffe ristrettos evey day. And to think that I've just been getting out of the…
While biking through Villa Borghese earlier today ... wait, did I just type that? Yes. Yes, I did. Anyway, I saw another poster advertising the Rome International Film Festival. The event, which is only in its sixth edition, will screen -- by my rough count…
Not everyone, clearly, is a George Lucas fan. What's surprising is that some of his biggest critics are those who ARE his biggest supporters. That much is clear from "The People vs. George Lucas," a soon-to-be-released documentary directed by Alexandre O. Phillippe.
A Dan Webster joint, discussing news, notes and everything about movies.
