Author: Talmage Garn

You’re at the bar, possibly drunk and you’ve struck out at all attempts to prolong the evening with someone else. So what now? It’s time to go home and hit the hay, that’s what.

Over the past 50 years, Robert Altman has garnered a reputation as one of the most prolific and talented American directors. Over the next three weeks, the Northwest Film Center will play 12 of his best films as part of “It Don’t Worry Me: A Tribute to Robert Altman.”

When I was eight years old, Dumb and Dumber seemed like the perfect movie. It had slapstick, gross outs, and that guy who played Fire Marshall Bill on In Living Color–everything a prepubescent boy could want. The director-writers, the Farrelly brothers, followed their debut with a string of funny, but dumb, comedies such as Kingpin and There’s Something About Mary.

In 2004, one in four Americans had received therapy treatment in the last two years. About the same number of adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder. And anti-depression use is on the rise. Hell, someone can even get prescription drugs for an ailment called “restless leg syndrome.”

Acclaimed independent director Tom DiCillo will show two of his films this Thursday in Portland.

In case you didn’t know, we are currently involved in a war on terror. If you turn on any cable news station, you’ll hear (accompanied by some fantastic logos) a lot of phrases like “We had the world’s sympathy,” or “Act strong or be strong” or something equally cliche. Talking points are repeated endlessly, and yes, we are always reminded of the endless war.

After one hundred days and a half a season of vapid, boring television, the writers’ strike is over. This is a time to celebrate.

Paranoid Park, the latest film by Portlander Gus Van Sant, opens with a long, achingly stunning shot of the St. John’s Bridge. Cars careen by quickly, and leaves flutter in the wind as the clouds loom above Portland.

Some things never die. But they can become more advanced, like the robots in the Terminator movies.

Feel a little bummed since last year’s holiday run of great to good movies ended with There Will Be Blood? Are you finding it hard to make it to the theater to go see Rambo or Meet the Spartans? Well, the Northwest Film Center might have the solution.

A man with a gas mask wearing only tighty-whities barrels down a desert dirt road in an RV. Two people in the mobile living room area are passed out and may be dead. The driver crashes. He grabs a video camera from the glove compartment and makes a plea of love to his wife and son as sirens close in. The man is Walter White, and at this point in the beginning of Breaking Bad, we have no idea what’s going on, and why he’s awaiting the police’s arrival with a gun.