Local Portland Shops for Gifts

Books Microcosm Publishing 636 S.E. 11th Ave. 503-232‑6666 http://microcosmpublishing.com/ Annie Bloom’s Books 7834 S.W. Capitol Hwy. 503-246‑0053 http://www.annieblooms.com/ Wallace Books 7241 S.E. Milwaukie Ave. 503-235‑7350 https://www.facebook.com/pages/ Wallace-Books/64110272649 Green Hand Bookshop…

The Art of Cruelty

If you have yet to see Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, it might be easy to be put off by the hyperbole surrounding the film. Since it premiered at…

A to Z of Modern Horror

A. American Horror Story In October 2011, Glee creator Ryan Murphy debuted his unconventional horror anthology series on FX, and to everyone’s slight surprise, it wasn’t half bad. AHS, now…

Fan fiction and nepotism

A couple days ago, I happened to read a review of the film Lovelace on the Vanity Fair website. I’m looking forward to seeing it, and I was hoping the critics liked it. The review wasn’t negative, but it filled me with righteous anger.

Breaking bank

AMC will premiere the first of Breaking Bad’s eight final episodes on Sunday, Aug. 11. One of this century’s most brilliant television shows is coming to an end. But is it also the end of an era?

Comic chameleon

Another year, another successful Comic-Con International. Last weekend, 130,000 people packed the San Diego Convention Center, bringing a $175 million boost to the city’s economy.

God, nature and nonsense

Before I try to convince you why Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is the worst thing to happen to film since James Cameron discovered motion capture, I beg you to look up Christopher Plummer’s comments from the 2012 Newsweek Oscar Roundtable on YouTube.

Freakish family folklore

A man and two women sit in a bathroom learning vocabulary words from an old-fashioned tape recorder. The tape informs them that a sea is an old leather armchair, a motorway is a strong wind and an excursion is a durable material.

Zombies, robots and aliens galore

The Star Trek sequel is already outpacing the first movie, and it’s genuinely good because Abrams is a master at handling franchises. It doesn’t surprise me at all that he was chosen to helm the new Star Wars films.

Memoirs of a teenage cinephile

How does anyone first discover that they’re a film lover? It has to be tied to childhood just like everything else, right? I remember watching John Huston’s Annie when I was little, especially the part when Daddy Warbucks takes her to the movie theater for the first time at Radio City Music Hall, no less.

Bunuel’s caged bird sings

“In order to keep a woman honorable, you must break her leg and keep her at home,” says Fernando Rey’s dastardly pervert, Don Lope, early on in Luis Bunuel’s 1970 film, Tristana.