Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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As we approach the close of 2024, the year in entertainment seems to be a story of emerging media gaining breakout successes, in the midst of existing media either treading water or stalling out, capped off by the loss of far too many familiar faces who'd been stalwart presences in the entertainment industry. Musically, this was another banner year for Taylor Swift. She became the first artist to win album of the year four times from the Grammy awards, before releasing "The Tortured Poets...
The Bluegrass Regulators, Faddis & Adkins, The Dirty Birds and Runaway Train will perform at the ninth annual Midwinter Bluegrass Celebration starting at 6 p.m. Dec. 28 at the Shelton School District Performing Arts Center at Shelton High School. Kristmas Town Kiwanis sponsors the concert. Admission is $20, with kids younger than 15 admitted for free. Donations will be accepted for refreshments. Tickets are available at BluegrassFromTheForest.com and at the door. The event raises money for the...
When "Pretty Woman" premiered in 1990, I remember certain critics treating it as a subversion of Walt Disney Productions' 1950 animated adaptation of "Cinderella," not in the least because Touchstone Pictures, which produced it, was owned by Disney. But writer-director Sean Baker's "Anora" is a far more transgressive subversion of that romantic fairy tale, enough that it also qualifies as a subversion of the relatively tame "Pretty Woman." In both 2015's "Tangerine" and 2017's "The Florida...
The movie "A Christmas Story" became a holiday classic after its release in 1983. Set in the 1940s and based on a book by Jean Shephard - who also narrates - the story chronicles young Ralphie's attempts to convince his parents, teacher and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift. There's also some business about a bunny suit, a seductive lamp, an exploding furnace and tongues frozen to poles. Connection Street Theatre stages a play based on the...
Over the course of seven years of writing film and television reviews for local newspapers, I've recommended several selections for holiday viewing, but what follows is my baker's dozen of personal favorites for the season, listed in the order in which they should be seen this month. 1. "A Christmas Carol" (1984) Alastair Sim is considered by many to be the best onscreen Ebenezer Scrooge, but George C. Scott's fierce TV movie portrayal of Scrooge ranks among the all-too-few adaptations of...
I took in two recently premiered streaming series over the Thanksgiving break, one very compelling indeed, and the other a bit of a disappointment given its pedigree. Recommended: "The Agency" on Paramount+ It's remarkable how relevant the international espionage genre has remained through the 20th and 21st centuries, even decades after the Cold War peak of John le Carre's literary career. "The Agency" is extremely up-to-the-minute, and thanks to the current real-world geopolitical climate, its...
The Union-based Great Bend Chorale and an orchestra perform George Frideric Handel's classic oratorio "Messiah" at 7 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Sunday at Shelton United Methodist Church, 1900 King St. General admission is $24, $20 for seniors and military. The "Messiah" oratorio is the best-known work of the Baroque composer, born in Halle, Germany, in 1685. Handel wrote operas, oratorios and instrumentals. His best-known works include "Water Music" (1717) and "Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749)....
This review is going to cost me some fans, I suspect. Robert Zemeckis' "Here," based on the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire, succeeds at doing what it seems like Zemeckis wanted to do with this movie adaptation. But that doesn't make "Here" a good movie, even if it is a visually impressive one. It brings me no joy to write this. Once upon a time, Bob Zemeckis was a wide-eyed wunderkind in the mold of his mentor, Steven Spielberg. "Back to the Future" practically imprinted itself on my...
I entered "The Apprentice" wary from the failures of Oliver Stone's "W." in 2008 and Adam McKay's "Vice" in 2018, worried that yet another attempted biopic of a right-wing leader would fall short in spite of its acting and directorial talent. What I instead saw was a nonspectacular but nonetheless solidly competent film, directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabriel Sherman, that succeeded by focusing less on the mannerisms of its real-life subjects than on examining the consequences of their...
Folk singer/songwriter Kate MacLeod, who bills herself as a "neo-traditionalist," performs at 3 p.m. Friday at a house concert at Lake Cushman. Admission is the suggested donation of $15-$20. A potluck will follow. To make reservations and get the directions to the show, call 360-877-5862. MacLeod - who divides her time between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Harper's Ferry, West Virginia - plays her original songs, fiddle instrumentals and creative renditions of traditional and popular music on...
For our Halloween review, I'm going back a couple of months to a streaming series on Amazon Prime Video, that's suitably dark for the holiday, and legitimately clever, even though it contains some nagging flaws. "Batman: Caped Crusader" is 10 half-hour episodes of a Dark Knight who's styled more closely to his original appearances in the comics, albeit with a much broader diversity in the character's supporting cast. Artist Bruce Timm had co-created the original "Batman: The Animated Series"...
Switching things up, we're taking a week to cater to readers who spend more time streaming media than screening films in the theaters, especially because it allows me to squeeze in a couple of Halloween-themed reviews. 'Agatha All Along' The latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been airing new episodes on Disney+ every Wednesday since Sept. 18, and it's scheduled to wrap up its run Oct. 30. As a lifelong Marvel Comics fan, if you'd told me years ago that a nine-episode TV...
Writer-director Chris Sanders' big-screen adaptation of Peter Brown's "The Wild Robot" series of illustrated books for children gains an appeal for parents as much as for their kids by empathizing with the role of mothers. Our "Wild Robot" protagonist is a ROZZUM-model multi-purpose helper robot that eventually adopts the nickname "Roz." Roz was manufactured in the future by the Universal Dynamics company to assist human families, but wound up lost in midtransit on an island inhabited only by...
Editor's note: This is the second of two parts. The first appeared in the Sept. 26 edition of the Journal. As the Journal runs my remaining reviews from this year's Port Townsend Film Festival, I just want to thank my readers for caring about films. We watch movies about everything from the mundane to the fantastical, to question and make sense of ourselves and our existences. Who we see on the screen is who we are, and their stories are our own. Which is why, for yet another year, I spent a wee...
The Olalla Celtic musical duo Pam and Philip Boulding perform as Magical Strings at 3 p.m. Oct. 5 at a Lake Cushman house concert. Admission is a suggested donation of $15 to $20. A potluck will follow the performance. For reservations and to find out the location of the concert, call 360-877-5862. Since 1978, Magical Strings has recorded 22 albums showcasing traditional Irish arrangements, original compositions and what the group's website describes as "subtle world music influences." They...
The 25th annual Port Townsend Film Festival's virtual schedule of films became available from Monday through Sunday, but I followed my semiannual tradition of catching as many of those films as I could in the theaters, from the single film that screened immediately after the opening night dinner gala Sept. 19, through the festival's final day of theatrical screenings Sunday. Four days, 12 films and one review to rule them all, with no rest until it's all wrapped up. Total coverage. Maximum...
The 25th annual Port Townsend Film Festival runs from Sept. 19 through Sept. 22. Because its lineup includes two films that premiered several years ago, I'm reviewing them beforehand to give readers a taste of what they might expect from this year's lineup, regardless of whether they're able to attend. First-time director Catherine Hardwicke co-wrote the screenplay for what would become 2003's "Thirteen" with Nikki Reed, who was 14 years old, and would make her acting debut as one of the...
Watching "Alien: Romulus" offered me the rare experience of seeing a solidly entertaining, well-executed movie that left me feeling less optimistic about the future of the film franchise it's tied to. The original "Alien" film premiered in 1979, and it officially became a franchise with its first sequel, "Aliens," in 1986. Both movies are regarded as critical and commercial successes, but the track record of the roughly half-dozen feature films that followed has been uneven, to put it mildly....
An eclectic lineup of rock, country and funk bands can be enjoyed from land or sea at the seventh annual Hoodstock Music and Arts Festival staged Aug. 15-17 at the Union Marina and a new venue, Robin Hood Village Resort in Union. "It's a fun, community-based, all-inclusive weekend," said Shannon Crabb-Stanton, who books the bands. "We're going to showcase our local talent." The concert has been on the water the past four years, and Hoodstock co-founder Kelli Kohout said she's hearing from people...
It's not often I watch a film and am left wondering whether to recommend it, but Yorgos Lanthimos' "Kinds of Kindness" fits that description. I'm writing this review primarily because this film will appear on enough critics' choice lists that I don't want to leave prospective viewers unarmed. Among this film's positives are its innovative format and its casting, but those threaten to be overwhelmed by its gratuitous violence and incoherent ideology. Imagine something akin to a CBS anthology...
Even in the midst of superhero movies going mainstream, for so long, with multiple waves of serious articles written about the supposed onset of "superhero fatigue," I remain amazed that a film like "Deadpool & Wolverine" was able to get made. "Easter egg" references and inside jokes for the most devoted of super-fans have gone from being unexpected treats to being obligatory inclusions in any new superhero movie. Yet, "Deadpool & Wolverine" still stands out by being nothing other than an Easter...
The folk duo The Angel & The Outlaw combine harmonious folk tunes and original motorcycle poetry at 3 p.m. Sunday at a house party in Hoodsport. Admission is a suggested donation of $15 to $20 per person. For reservations and the location of the show on Lake Cushman Road, call 360-877-5862. Bring a dish for the potluck. The duo of Kathy Jonas and Craig Gurney met at a table at an open mic in Belfair in 2019 and began their musical and personal partnership. The couple married in 2020 and live in...
When a film includes a conspiracy theory about the Apollo 11 moon landing being staged, one wouldn't expect it to get a thumbs-up from NASA, but according to Greg Berlanti, director of "Fly Me to the Moon," NASA shared real-life footage from the Apollo program for the film. This speaks to how gravity-defying "Fly Me to the Moon" is. It entertains a long-held paranoid fantasy about the space program while wholeheartedly honoring the real achievements of the men and women who worked to get us to...
Author and healer Heather Hawk, an artist in residence at Hypatia-in-the-Woods outside Shelton, will read from her memoir "What is Still Wild" at 4:30 p.m. July 25 at the Shelton Timberland Library, W. 710 Alder St., Shelton. In her book, Hawk chronicles her diagnosis of a massive uterine fibroid and three-year healing experience while navigating grief and divorce. Her story also illustrates larger social issues related to the body, such as menstruation, virginity, female agency, pleasure and...
Streaming shows for fans of mature legal thrillers and all-ages superhero adventures are reaching the peaks of their season arcs. "Presumed Innocent" on Apple TV+ When I was in high school, I saw the 1990 big-screen adaptation of Scott Turow's novel, which boasted acting heavyweights Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy and Raul Julia, so this latest adaptation was up against stiff competition to impress me. Fortunately, legal dramas lend themselves to expanded treatments, as Steven Bochco proved when...
