Yorgos Lanthimos created an interesting world in The Lobster,* but it’s a world I didn’t want to spend much time in, which made this movie a long slog. That said, there are a great many amusing scenes in this film** and it’s quite funny. I especially liked the deadpan nature of all the characters, especially Olivia Colman as the Hotel Manager and Ariane Labed as the Maid.
The verdict: Skip
Cost: Free from Kanopy, the library’s streaming service Where watched: at home
Brett Haley’s All the Bright Places is a romance with a bit of bipolar and hints of suicide.* Elle Fanning is great: she captures the emotions her character Violet travels through, from depressed despair to love and back again. The film does a disservice by not confronting the darkness; it’s content to bask in the love story.**
The verdict: Skip
Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99) Where watched: at home
Consider watching instead:
Hearts Beat Loud (in contrast, a highly recommended Brett Haley film)
*This is one of those reviews where I’ve read the book and liked the book and even though it’s been a few years since reading, the plot is still very clear in my mind and does a much better job of getting across the point which is: mental illness is tough and even when you love someone it’s not the thing that’s going to fix their illness. **It is good at capturing that early love stage, though perhaps too much dependent on montage.
Questions:
Do you think a film can accurately capture the complexities of bipolar disorder and falling in love? It seems a tall order.
Justice Smith. What did you think of his performance?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
Elle Fanning’s first credit as producer on a feature film.
Reporting from seven months in the future, I can say that I’ve still not walked on that sidewalk. A few days after I took this picture, we were told to work from home and two days after that we were told our positions would be eliminated as of March 31.
Having no office to go to any longer, this corner is not on my daily route. I’m pretty sure the sidewalk is open now, but who knows?
Construction of a new, 7-story, mixed-use building on a quarter block site. Project includes 100 deeply affordable units of permanently supporting housing, including 72 transient housing units (SROs) with PHB funding, and 28 studio apartments. It will also contain ground and second floor CCC Office space and community functions. There will be a small retail space at the northwest corner.
So that’s, exciting, that the building torn down will house the same population it has been serving. This is funded by the housing bond we passed in 2016.
When I was looking for the name of the building, I found reviews on Google Maps. I thought I would drop them in here for posterity. The average rating for the Westwind Apartments is two stars. There are three reviews.
Spent 5 plus years at the Westwind. Interesting place, not for the faint of heart. A wide cross section of the down and out along former & soon to be street people again. Medical emergencies and police & parole officers frequently visit. Close to train, bus, local bus, metro light rail, with easy access to the metropolitan Portland area and the Ptl. Airport. Willamette River a few blocks away with its river side parks and walks along both sides of the river. Free food and services for those in need abound if one looks and asks question of the local residents. Many medical services nearby plus the VA Hospital and its services. China town nearby, much reduced from its former glory. Multiple temporary shelters in the area along with services such as food, shelter, training, referrals,. Downtown Portland core six or so blocks to the north, bus, light rail handy. Basic room, bed, sink, refrig, chair & desk plus overhead light. Common bathrooms. No elevator, three levels access via stairs. Parking on street, limited, very limited. Local parking lots with rentals spaces abound but a bit of walking necessary; Bring your own fan or air conditioner, radiator heating in the winter. Bring your own cell phone or use the lobby payphone. Local residents have cats and dogs, BUT! ask Management for permission !!! Rating ???. Well it was interesting, Be ready to wait for an open bathroom. Raymond J. Metzger, aka Doc. former apt #37
Raymond Metzger, posted c. 2013, three stars.
this place is overrun by cockroaches bedbugs Bratz junkies slumlords but slapstick maintenance workers highly overpriced and 555 months small room trashed dirty self centered on site management smack also shares the same corner as the worst gang bug hoodrat hugens so there crack on in the middle of Chinatown
jeremy Wolverton, posted c. 2016, one star.
It’s better than being on the streets, old building, bad location, has a life of its own.
I’m afraid this pretty brick mid-century multi-unit apartment building is not long for this world as it seems to be unoccupied. But the tree is making the most of the season.
In Everything is Copy, Nora Ephron’s son Jacob Bernstein along with co-director Nick Hooker explore the life of the talented writer-director. There are one-on-ones with people you will and won’t recognize,* there are famous women reading Ephron’s words, clips of her movies, and Ephron herself in interviews.** It’s a grand combination of celebration, and loss, and the enigma: Ephron couldn’t bring herself to talk about the illness that was killing her.***
*The interviews with people who knew her were my favorite part. It was easy to see how much she is missed. **I feel as though I got a good sense of the good and bad of Nora Ephron. It wasn’t an overly fawning portrait. ***Everything is not copy, in the end.
Questions:
Would you want your son to make a documentary about you after you died?
What would be the advantages and disadvantages of making everything in your life up for publication?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
Both Max Bernstein (Nora Ephron and Carl Bernstein’s younger son; director Jacob Bernstein’s brother) and Nicholas Pileggi (Nora Ephron’s widower) declined to appear in the documentary for different reasons. In a New York Magazine interview, Jacob Bernstein explained that both Max Bernstein and Nick Pileggi both felt that the grief they felt at the loss of Ephron was “still too raw for them” to be able to talk about her on camera. Bernstein also said that Max’s relationship with their mother had been much more private and personal than his own. Pileggi and Max Bernstein did express support of the making of the documentary in other ways—both have viewed the finished film and attended public events promoting it.
Sara sends me March greetings with a postcard of a place I’ve visited, at least on the outside. I’ve got my fingers crossed for Sara to visit the inside and report back!
Autumn de Wilde’s Emma. is a dressed up in confectionery shop color, which shows off the transformation of Emma as she takes on a friend in order to add another match to her successes. Anya Taylor-Joy’s deft performance shows the evolution of Emma, ably aided by perfect supporting performances especially Mia Goth as Harriet and Johnny Flynn as Mr. Knightley.* This is not a period film where we get to know the servants as the focus is singularly on Emma’s circle, but it’s a funny film** and it has a lot of feeling in places,*** not to mention a gorgeous soundtrack.
The verdict: Recommended
Cost: $6.00 Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater (last movie in the theater prior to coronovirus shutdowns.)
*Wondering who Johnny Flynn was, I found he starred in the Netflix comedy Love Sick, which I am currently enjoying quite a lot. **Bill Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse is always good for a laugh. ***Including one point where the audience gasped aloud.
Questions:
What do you think is the key element of success when adapting Emma?
How badly do you want to visit that hat shop?
Favorite IMDB item:
The film’s title unconventionally has a period at the end. The director has stated in multiple interviews it is to signify the movie as a “period piece” set in the original era.
Laurie sent this postcard from McMenamins because she and Burt were staying at the Anderson School and were given a free postcard. As I’m the person in her life who does postcards, she thought of me.
Laurie writes, “Looking forward to sharing some adventures (McMenamins and otherwise) with you in the future.”
I’ve sent this postcard myself. I quite like it. Thanks, Laurie.
I’m thankful that Albert Magnoli’s Purple Rain exists, not because of the acting (not good) or the plot (mostly terrible), but because I never got to be a young person watching an ascendant Prince play at a small club in Minneapolis and if it weren’t for this movie, I wouldn’t ever have that opportunity. This is a movie where women are easily discarded objects* and with a main character who, even though we see what demons are driving him, isn’t likable,** and the plot had me drifting off to sleep more than once. But when Prince gets on stage, every synapse snapped to attention.***
*Example: a woman asks a man where he was last night and the man has another man throw her into a dumpster. **As noted, he is not a good actor. He is particularly bad at kissing while acting, which just looked gross. ***Good lord, could that man perform. Morris Day and the Time were great too.
Questions:
Is it worth watching a terrible movie for the performances when only 25% of the movie is performances?
Have you seen Prince in anything good?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
An early, simpler version of the unpronounceable symbol that Prince changed his name to during his dispute with Warner Bros. Records is painted on the side of his motorcycle’s gas tank. It also appears on a wall of the overpass he rides under during “When Doves Cry.”
