My first thought when I saw the trailer for "The Fighter" was ... how any times are they gonna make "Rocky"? Hell, Sylvester Stallone has written six versions of the film all by himself. But tonight I went to the actual film, David O. Russell's…
I love sandwich boards. You know, those advertising gimmicks that feature guys -- mostly guys, that is -- wearing or carrying signs that trumpet some business or event. I remember seeing one guy dressed like an oversize doughnut dancing outside a Seattle bagel shop. Damn,…
I'm gonna step into my friend Leslie Kelly's shoes for a moment and talk food. First up, Sharks Cove Grill, which can be found on the North Shore of Oahu: If you're like me, you take tourist-guide recommendations with not just a grain but a…
On a slow afternoon the other day, I drove across Honolulu to see a movie. Yeah, most people on vacation in Hawaii would be at the beach. Or at some museum. Or something. But not I. No, I wanted to go and see "127 Hours."…
Yeah, the surf is beckoning -- as it has all night through the open window of our Kona-situated bungalow -- but my mind is on movies. A few days ago, when we were still on Oahu, we had the occasion to see a little documentary…
Yeah, even in paradise there are movies. Maybe not the latest style of showing movies. At the Keauhou-Kona Regal Theatres 7, they show pre-movie company ads that date back to the 1990s. You know, the ones with the roller-coaster theme? But they still show the…
I'm typing this from the 12th floor of a hotel overlooking Waikiki Beach. Seriously. But don't feel too envious. My morning cup of Kona coffee was only lukewarm. On the flight over, I did something new. I actually rented one of those mini-digital-movie readers, for…
Graphic novels would seem to be perfect for the movies. Yet there have been few really good ones. "The Dark Knight." "V for Vendetta." The original "X-Men." "Sin City." "Spider-Man." And, of course, "300." You could put "Watchmen" on the list. But I don't think…
Took in the 5:45 p.m. screening of "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.," and I was surprised at how many people were in the Magic Lantern's larger house. There may have been 60-65 people there, which is a lot better than usual. As for…
Most films fans know the name Guillermo del Toro. He's the Mexican-born filmmaker whose titles include "Mimic," the two "Hellboy" films and his masterpiece, 2006's "Pan's Labyrinth." But some of us remember a strange little film titled "Cronos," which introduced international audiences to some now-familiar…
I'm watching the Oregon/Oregon State football game -- "Rudy," there's the movie reference for this movie-themed blog -- and I am getting progressively miffed at the ABC producers who, whenever anything remotely smacks of post-play fighting, switch away to some stupid stands shot. Oh, please.…
My daughter, Rachel, is every bit as much the film fan that I am. And so it's no surprise that she would forward me a YouTube link dedicated to one of our favorite actors. I mean, of course, Nicolas Cage. Cage is a classic case…
Hey-heh, just joking with that headline. But as I just got out of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I," I do have to say that this is the first adult offering from the blockbuster series. Or mature young adult, anyway. Little about the…
So ... the new "Harry Potter" is a big success. Wow, that's a shocker. Almost as if, uh, Hollywood has cast a spell on movie fans. Below: A clever take on the newest film's trailer.
If you've been waiting to go see the French gangster film "Mesrine: Killer Instinct," your procrastination is working in your favor. Seems the second half of the two-film series is opening Friday at the Magic Lantern. That means you can go and see a double-feature…
I don't pretend to know anything about economics. But I have a decent handle on ethics. And after sitting through a screening of "Inside Job," filmmaker Charles Ferguson's look at the 2007 financial meltdown, I'm still simmering with anger. I'm angry at the banks. I'm…
Straddling as it does the realm of the bad-boy gangster film, which could be seen as ranging from Brian De Palma's "Scarface" to Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" series, the French film "Mesrine: Killer Instinct" is closer to the former in theme while sitting somewhere…
This may be getting old, but I have to say it -- again. I hate trailers. Take the one for "Unstoppable" that has been playing for the past several weeks. It takes a dangerous genre, typically described as "inspired by real events," and reduces it…
As a kid, I used to watch a lot of boxing. In those days, the 1950s-60s, boxing was still a popular sport on television, and I used to watch a lot of different fighters. Middleweights and welterweights were my favorites, from Emile Griffith to Luis…
I like to joke about how much I hate French cinema. It's not true. I don't hate French films any more than any other kind of cinema. I just hate the pretentiousness of those who think that anything au francaise is automatically art. Of course,…
Just three weeks after I was hired by the Spokesman-Review in January 1981, a heavyset, balding guy walked into the newsroom and began what would be a long career as an SR sportswriter/columnist. Since that day, I've said -- to anyone who would listen --…
There's something about instant history that bothers me. This is especially true when I watch Hollywood's versions of history -- which often have about as much to do with actual events as Lite beer has to do with, uh, actual taste. An exception might be…
As I sit here typing this, with the Science Channel on in the background, I keep being confronted with the ridiculousness of contemporary television. I'm not talking about the channel's ongoing study of such topics as whether we can survive on Mercury, what existed before…
The movie that has been the third-most advertised over the past few weeks, "Fair Game," doesn't seem to be opening in the Spokane region today. I'm not that disappointed because, to be honest, I'm getting a bit tired -- and leery -- of these instant-history…
In a couple of posts below, I wrote about how the improbable has happened: Clint Eastwood's directing star has risen, while Woody Allen's has ... what? Been left frozen in the love-and-death landscape of 18th-century Russia? Riddled by gunfire over Broadway? Forgotten in the purses…
