AltWeeklies Wire
Mock Star: Carrie Brownstein is Making Fun of Younew
Don’t get offended, Portland: One of the generation’s most beloved indie rockers is about to ridicule America’s most unassailably indie city.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
11-04-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Status Updatenew
Twenty-five random things about The Social Network.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-29-2010 |
Movies
Tags: David Fincher, The Social Network
'Where the Wild Things Are' Left Me Out in the Coldnew
It's standard practice to praise children's movies by saying they'll be enjoyed by parents and children alike, but in this case I suspect that some parents will sink blissfully into a reverie watching the characters throw clods of dirt, while their offspring tug on sleeves to ask when they can go outside and throw clods of dirt.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-14-2009 |
Reviews
'Bright Star' is the Tasteful Older Sibling of 'Twilight'new
The film is likely to be fairly admired by English professors and Oscar voters, but mark my words: It is going to become the unequaled favorite movie of homeschoolers in the girls' dormitories of evangelical colleges nationwide.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-23-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Bright Star, Jane Campion
'Jennifer's Body' is 'Heathers' as a 'Maxim' Photo Spreadnew
Jennifer's Body begs for outraged reviews condemning it as repellent and vindictive, when in fact it is derivative and incompetent. If it were not written by Diablo Cody, it would be completely ignored. In fact, it can still be ignored.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-16-2009 |
Reviews
'Big Fan' Piles Shame Upon Failure for Patton Oswalt's Football Lovernew
The director of Big Fan, Robert Siegel, is the screenwriter of last year's The Wrestler. I was not an admirer of that movie, but I'll concede that its patronizing melodrama was elevated by the grace notes of Mickey Rourke. Big Fan, however, is pure, concentrated condescension.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-09-2009 |
Reviews
Why is Tarantino's Opus Being Greeted With Indifference, Even Disdain?new
Some of the blase reception may be ingrained distaste for the Weinstein Company, or Grindhouse fatigue. But I suspect it has just as much to do with the way we have all been bought off by Hollywood marketing -- our loyalty purchased not with payola, but with proximity to the hot new thing.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-19-2009 |
Reviews
The Ancient Sorcery in 'Ponyo' is Exceptionally Suited to the Very Youngnew
For the first time since early Hayao Miyazaki works like My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki's Delivery Service, it is possible to bring your preschoolers to the theater without fear of frightening them.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-12-2009 |
Reviews
'Soul Power': Papa's Got a Brand-New Documentarynew
The footage assembled for Soul Power was shot by four cameramen, and it reflects Albert Maysles' "direct cinema" movement, that philosophy of keeping documentaries immersed in the moment. But when that moment has been excavated from the stratum of 35 years, it attains an immense poignancy.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-12-2009 |
Reviews
After '(500) Days of Summer,' Here's an Open Letter to Zooey Deschanelnew
Zooey, baby, can't you see Marc Webb and his friends don't understand you? Yes, I know that's part of the movie's point, but the puncturing of boys' expectations can be accomplished by three-dimensional women as well. There are no real girls in (500) Days of Summer. I think you should play one again.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
07-22-2009 |
Reviews
Michael Bay Pimps His Transformers Ridenew
The sequel to 2007's Transformers is measurably better, simply by virtue of its utter commitment to spectacle.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
06-24-2009 |
Reviews
'Treeless Mountain' is an Exception to the Sentimental Rulenew
Korean-American director So Yong Kim's semi-autobiographical film has a premise especially ripe for mawkishness. But it evades schmaltz, in no small part because the Korean actresses themselves are so resolutely dry-eyed.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
06-17-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: So Yong Kim, Treeless Mountain
The Limits of Tolerating Jim Jarmuschnew
The Limits of Control is an enormously irritating movie. It is a puzzle box that contains no hints about life, only references back to other surrealist artworks and Jarmusch's own films.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
05-13-2009 |
Reviews
The Heroic Optimism of Anvilnew
It has been a long, strange trip for Anvil, but the trajectory has been smoothly downward. As Anvil! The Story of Anvil trails Anvil through an increasingly dire European tour, what distinguishes the film is Sacha Gervasi's palpable affection for her subjects, and her subjects' awareness of themselves.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
04-22-2009 |
Reviews
Greg Mottola Remembers the Mysteries of Pittsburghnew
When it's not sidetracked by clowning, Adventureland is finely observed. Its tranquil, forgiving vibe exactly captures how someone who came of age in 1987 Pittsburgh would prefer to remember it. Which is also the movie's problem.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
04-01-2009 |
Reviews
