Three sentence movie reviews: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

http://www.impawards.com/2018/guernsey_literary_and_potato_peel_pie_society_ver2.html

Chock full of actors I enjoy (many from Downton Abbey), based on a book I quite liked, and featuring an interesting subject, this was a great example of a Sunday Afternoon Movie.* Lily James draws you in, and look! there’s Michiel Huisman, enjoyable in so many projects.** The stakes are somewhat high, but presented in a pleasant manner, and all things come out fine in the end.

Cost: Netflix Monthly Subscription ($7.99)
Where watched: at home, after an exhausting day

Also consider watching: Before We Go; Under the Tuscan Sun, The Grand Seduction

*The type of movie that is pleasant and soothing, best watched on a Sunday afternoon, before you start gearing up for the week.
**The Age of Adaline, Irreplaceable You, Treme

End of life for this tree

There will be a new building at the corner of 12th & Flanders. Looking at the sketch it looks like it will be a lot taller than the buildings that surround it.

The height isn’t as much of a problem as the fact that this lovely tree will be cut down in order to build another tall building.

I don’t always feel sad about big trees coming down. I was downright giddy when my neighbor cut down the large tree that dropped a ton of annoying branches and served as a home for many aphids that dropped sticky substances on the car.

But I’ve always liked the way this tree shades the parking lot and towers over the intersection.

Though it is old, it doesn’t look old enough to be a heritage tree, so we shall eventually lose it.

I’ve already seen all the movies playing at the Laurehurst this week.

I watched Eighth Grade at the Regal City Center Stadium 12, and Sorry to Bother You at the Laurelhurst. The Living Room Theater was where I watched Three Identical Strangers and Won’t You Be My Neighbor was seen at the Hollywood Theater.

Portland is such a good movie theater town.

I highly recommend all of these movies. In fact, if these are the four movies you see this year, you will have done very well, movie-wise.

Three sentence movie reviews: Eighth Grade

http://www.impawards.com/2018/eighth_grade.html

It was hard to watch this film because it was “so deeply rooted in the feminine adolescent experience”* and I remain grateful that I got through that period of my life in an analog era. Elsie Fisher is stunning as Kayla, a young woman who presents as self-assured, popular, and well-adjusted while filming for her YouTube channel and completely fades into the woodwork at school. Nothing is wrong with Kayla or her life, but adolescence is so harrowing,** it’s hard to re-experience via cinema, even as the main character continually tries for a positive spin.

Cost: $5.55 (but actually free due to gift cards)
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12

Consider also watching: The Edge of Seventeen, We Are the Best

*Kate Erbland, Indiewire
**I found the popular/unpopular kid interactions in this movie to be very true to my experience as a teenager and much more accurate than the overt bullying that is usually portrayed. More social hierarchy is established by freezing people out than by words said.

Three sentence movie reviews: Sorry to Bother You

http://www.impawards.com/2018/sorry_to_bother_you.html

What starts as a wacky, smart commentary on alternative-present social, economic and racial issues takes a very weird turn partway through. The weirdness works having been properly set up in the first half. Lakeith Stanfield makes the most of his sorrowful eyes and Tessa Thompson* knocks it out of the park as a sign waver/performance artist in this movie that is a worth-seeing zeitgeist.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater

*She’s having a great (and well-deserved) couple of years.

Also consider watching: Get Out, Attack the Block, Dear White People

Portland inundated with electric scooters

The electric scooter companies have rolled out their product. And they are everywhere.  They are all over downtown and I took this picture at 102nd Avenue. My friend told me she’s seen them as far as 168th street.

To ride the scooters, you download an app, and then pay $1.00 to unlock one, and fifteen cents per minute to ride. Electric scooters are supposed to be ridden on streets, not sidewalks and every rider is supposed to wear a helmet.

So far the riders I’ve seen have been good about staying off sidewalks (though while biking, I did encounter one riding the wrong way in the bike line) and very few of them wear helmets.

I’m curious how much a scooter costs the company to purchase. I’m guessing that they are cheap enough that they pay for themselves after a few rides. Or perhaps people are throwing gobs of money at this new venture. I look forward to seeing how these items integrate with our transportation system, though I don’t see myself using this option on a regular basis.

SKS Postcard: Fight or Buy Bonds

Aside from fighting and purchasing things, it looks as if artistically losing your shirt is also an option.

This is from an exhibit at the Walker Art Museum that Sara attended with her father. She reports that she has finished adjuncting her class and will grade when she and Shawn return from the Shawn Tour–a vacation of Shawn’s growing-up places.