TV & MOVIES NEWS

Local and national television and movie news & film reviews from throughout Oregon

Fairly light posting this week because I'm on Hell's Own Schedule: editing a 630-page manuscript and adding about 50 pages of notes, apparatus, etc., while seeing six Oscar-season-size films and seeing to my usual writing and beat-management chores.

Today, for instance, I have screenings at 10 am ("Grand Torino"), 1 pm ("Revolutionary Road") and 7 pm ("Doubt") -- a cheery trifecta of racism, adultery and child molestation!

Mind you, I don't share this as a complaint (I know full well that not a soul would sympathize). Rather, I'm just explaining why my promises of structural changes to this blog haven't necessarily panned out in exciting new permutations of it.

I'm on the case, I swear. But I have to deal with things that are on fire first.

Change is coming. (I have until Jan. 20, right?)

Tell you what: I'll take some notes at the media tasting at the Holiday Ale Fest on Weds. evening and share on Thurs.: Would that be something you might be interested in?

In today's paper, the intrepid Kristi Turnquist has hit the road to see what impact Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" novels and the hit movie adapted from them has had on the tiny town of Forks, Washington, where the vampire romance is set.

She's also provided a handy map of the town and a look at spillover "Twilight" tourism in Oregon.

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Though author Stephenie Meyer had never set foot in Forks, Washington, when she wrote "Twilight," the novel includes episodes that take place at locations around town. These ordinary spots are now unlikely points of interest for "Twilight" tourists.

Continue reading "Touring "Twilight" in Forks" »

FORKS, Wash. -- Not even the most avid civic booster would mistake "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer's description of Forks as the stuff of tourism dreams.

A typical passage from Meyer's mega-best-seller goes like this: "Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here; it was like a cage."

Continue reading ""Twilight" tourists flock to tiny Forks, Wash." »

The "Twilight" phenomenon has already boosted tourism in Forks, Wash., where the novel is set, and in Port Angeles, where some pivotal episodes occur. Since the movie was largely filmed in Oregon, should we be expecting an influx of "Twilighters"?

Greg Eckhart, tourism sales manager with Travel Portland, says he's been working since May with Beyond Boundaries Travel, which developed successful "Harry Potter"-themed tours, and has scheduled "Twilight" tours through its FanTrips division. "They've identified that many of the same fans who read 'Harry Potter' have grown up, and that 'Twilight' is a perfect steppingstone," Eckhart says.

Continue reading "Oregon hopes for spillover "Twilight" tourism" »

Somebody forgot to book the movies this week.

Maybe it's just a lull between waves, but there's only one new nationwide release making its way to local screens -- "Punisher: War Zone" -- (no warranties expressed or implied).

Continue reading "The movie studios are on a diet this week, but you don't have to be!" »

Continue reading "Beyond the Multiplex: "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," "Doc"" »

It has the most banal title you can imagine and yet it leaves you agog with its surfaces, its depths, its energy, passion and daring. "A Christmas Tale" -- "Un Conte de Noel" -- is one of the most miraculous films about a big, messy family that I've ever seen.

Arnaud Desplechin, a fortysomething writer and director from the northeast of France, popped his head up in the States previously with 2004's "Kings and Queen," a sprawling, inspired, meandering story of love and loss and broken spirits. Here, he has taken the breakout star of that film, Mathieu Amalric (also on screen as the bad guy in "Quantum of Solace"), and put him inside a film that tightens up the messy technique of "Kings and Queen" without sacrificing any of its astonishing ambition or vitality.

Continue reading "Review: "A Christmas Tale" is Deep and Dazzling" »

This holiday shopping season, there is no new gaming system on the market -- no new Xbox, PlayStation or Wii system. Instead, it's all about games. And the onslaught of big-marquee titles continues to hit store shelves with terrific force.

So, here we go again.

"Left 4 Dead" is a cheesy (on purpose) horror-action game based in spirit on chase scenes from the movies, "28 Days" and "28 Days Later ..." Earth is overrun with super-fast zombies who sprint toward you and three other immune humans, as you shoot dozens within any given minute.

Continue reading "Game Dork: The fast, the dead and the cheesy" »

Continue reading "Reasons to Be Thankful, 2008" »