Portland at the Movies

1993 was a busy year for Portland film making, from "Free Willy" to "Body of Evidence" to many more, but none gave us a whirlwind tour of Portland quite like "Hear No Evil," starring Marlee Matlin, DB Sweeney, Martin Sheen, and John C. McGinley. From amazing housing locations, to parks, to an actual marathon in the streets, to Hood River, to Timberline, this movie makes up for its generic plot by...

This month we take a trip down the Clackamas river for the 1995 mockumentary "Guns on the Clackamas," directed by legendary animator and Oscar-nominee* Bill Plympton. How was Plympton's transition from animation royalty to live-action director? Will the Clackamas finally get its time to shine? Find out on this episode! *There are multiple times where we accidentally refer to him as "Oscar Winner,"...

The promise of an early-90s movie starring Gary Busey as part of a motorcycle gang investigating the death of his brother in a small Oregon town is a big one. There's some payoff with a few great Oregon City location shots, but what about the rest of the movie? Is it all crazy hair with no substance, or did we find something special? Find out on this month's episode. Don't forget to visit our map...

This month we take a look at acclaimed Portland filmmaker Gus Van Sant's biopic about Portland's own famous artist resident, Willamette Week's cartoonist John Callahan. Join us as we discuss our mixed reactions about this 2018 film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Jonah Hill, and an extended cast full of musician cameos. The post “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot” (2018) appeared first on Portlan...

This past weekend we were live at the 2019 Wizard World Comic Con, where we took a look back on our favorite Portland movie moments from the past few years of the podcast. From "Deafula" to Tonya to Chuck Norris, we celebrate the good, bad, and worse of the films we've covered so far. *note* - The audio recording quality is pretty rough, but is still listenable. There are a few sections where I ha...

It's our first foray into legendary Portland filmmaker Tom Shaw, whose presence looms large over the Portland movie making world. Gus VanSant and Penny Allen, among many others, used Shaw's equipment to make their first films throughout the 70s and 80s. So how does Shaw rate as a filmmaker himself? Let's just say he's a glorious treasure of breathtaking cinema -- but for all the wrong reasons. "Co...

On this special holiday edition of Portland at the Movies, we dive into "How Sarah Got Her Wings" - a 2015, made-for-IonTV-movie starring the store brand versions of Kristin Bell and Chris Pratt. The good news is that this movie features some of the nicest shots of Portland we've seen in a movie yet. The bad news is....well, everything else. Including one very sneaky secret. Strap on your sleigh b...

Live from the 2018 Portland Podcast Festival, it's time for "Deafula"! The only movie to ever be made completely in American Sign Language, "Deafula" is an amazing treat.  As Brian "The Unipiper" noted: "It's like 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' meets 'The Room.'" Made in 1975 and only sold on 16mm film (it was a few years too early for VHS), "Deafula" was almost lost to time, and not even available at...

If your very specific wish was to see a low-budget horror movie filmed in Estacada, Oregon, then have we got a treat for you this month. Join us as we plow through "Harvest of Fear" to find out if it stands out in the annals of great low-budget horror, or simply needs to be sent out to pasture. The post “Harvest of Fear” (2004) appeared first on Portland at the Movies .

"Homewrecker" was the first World Premier Movie for the then-new "Sci-Fi" cable channel, and a surprisingly decent movie about a "smart home" AI system that goes rogue. While the movie features very little of Portland (one exterior shot, plus a cabin in the woods), it's actually a competent, well-acted, well-directed movie -- quite the difference from the normal Portland at the Movies fare. You ca...

Astoria, Oregon stands in for feudal Japan (really) as well as the NYC sewer system in this third installment of the original Turtles trilogy.  Watch as time-traveling, anthropomorphized, martial artist reptiles spout tired catchphrases (although, oddly, they never say "cowabunga!") and give mouth-to-mouth to a small boy! Thankfully our discussion of the movie is much, much more entertaining than...

The Portland at the Movies summer road trip starts in Vernonia, a picturesque little town just northwest of Portland. In 1989, the community came together to make the low-budget, homegrown movie "The Vernonia Incident" (aka "Redneck Revenge," aka "Revenge of the Rednecks" aka "Country Justice in Oregon"), featuring all local actors, and a local director/writer/producer/editor/everything else who w...

Ed Harris stars in this 1987 HBO-made courtroom drama about a hot-shot lawyer who is having an affair with the wife of his accused murderer client. It's certainly not the *worst* movie we've seen on this podcast, but is it actually *good*? Find out on this month's hilarious episode, starring Brian "The Unipiper" Kidd, Mark Middleton, and Todd Werkhoven. The post “The Last Innocent Man” (1987) appe...

In 1996, a 21-year-old Angelina Jolie came to Portland to film a movie called "Foxfire." With many sweeping, beautiful shots from above and below the Broadway Bridge, Portland looks great -- but how is the movie? Join Brian "The Unipiper Kidd, Mark Middleton, and Todd Werkhoven as they discuss this beloved and/or forgotten (depending on where you grew up, probably) Grrl Power film. Come for the 90...

In 1989, a movie so so abysmal was made in Oregon that writer and film critic David Walked dubbed it "The Curse of 'Homer and Eddie.'" Essentially he said that "Homer and Eddie" was the point where Portland cinema went from 80's independent cool to Hollywood tax shelter garbage. So does it deserve that criticism? Join us as we finally sit down to experience this pile of cinematic nonsense, starrin...

Fresh off the heels of the Portland Tonya Harding Film Festival, we invited John-Ryan Griggs (the director of the festival) to talk about the two movies shown: a 1986 documentary about a then 15-year-old Harding working toward her first Nationals, and then a 1996 "action/thriller" called "Breakaway," which features Tonya in a smaller role. One of these movies was really good; the other was a flami...

Going into this podcast about movies made in Portland, we knew that there would be more bad than good. But never could we imagine just how bad it could be. Insulting, joyless, trite, inexplicable, nonsensical, indefensible, and a slap in the face to art and humanity. Siskel & Ebert called it the worst comedy they had ever seen. So what happened? What's going on? Who is this movie even for? Joi...

We had high hopes for this kung-fu action movie, from the same director as Bruce Lee's classic "Enter the Dragon" and the so-bad-it's-good classic "Gymkata," and starring Bruce Lee's cousin Britton Lee and martial arts movie hall-of-famer Bolo Yeung. So did we discover a cult classic diamond in the rough? Or is it another victim of the "Portland Movie Curse"? Join us as we get to the heart of this...

Recorded live at the Hawthorne Theater at the First Annual Portland Podcast Festival , we take a mini-look at the 1996 Chuck Norris masterpiece "Forest Warrior," filmed around Mt. Hood and Hood River. It's a crazy movie in which Chuck Norris is a literal, eternal shape-shifting forest spirit protecting Native American land. It's Goonies meets Animorphs meets Captain Planet meets Chuck Norris stopp...

"The Devil's Keep" is writer/director Don Gronquist's 1995 follow up to "Unhinged" (see previous episode), and if you love real-time YouTube how-to videos, mixed with mute, albino, geriatric, female Nazis, then this is the movie for you. Filmed in Portland, it's the story of two high schoolers following a series of puzzles leading to "The Devil's Keep" -- hidden Nazi gold. So is this movie gold? F...

It's a Halloween Double Feature as we sit down to watch two horror movies filmed entirely on location at Portland's Pittock Mansion. "Unhinged" is a D-Grade 1982 slasher flick (with very little slashing, and a lot of people taking naps), and the 1989 made-for-TV-movie "The Haunting of Sarah Hardy," starring Sela Ward and Morgan Fairchild, and Morgan Fairchild's shoulder pads. Join us as we dissect...

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of "Portland at the Movies," we watched all 3 sequels to the movie that started it all: "Halloweentown." Join us as we slog through these terrible Disney Channel movies. Join Todd, Mark, and Brian "The Unipiper" Kidd as we try to make sense out of 3 movies that make no sense. Trick or treat! The post Ep #11 – “Halloweentown” Sequels Super Spooktacular! appeare...

Travel back to a time when men were wiseguys, women were "B-girls," and vice came in the form of flipperless pinball machines. In the mostly forgotten noir film "Portland Exposé," based on a pictorial spread about true-life vice in Portland's in a 1957 issue of LIFE Magazine, you get all of that, plus Frank Gorshin ("The Riddler" in the 60s Batman TV series) as a child predator, and some amazing s...

In 1972, Raquel Welch came to Portland and made a movie in which she played a "Jammer" on the Portland Loggers Roller Derby Team. So naturally they called the film "Kansas City Bomber." Anyway, join us as we take a look at the first major motion picture filmed completely in Portland. Spoilers: there's a reason you've probably never heard of this movie. How did the city look? Here are some screen s...

"Extraordinary Measures," the 2010 Portland-filmed movie starring Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, and Keri Russell, works on several levels: a dull one, a tedious one, and a crotchety one. "Inspired by true events," this movie is like overhearing someone mumbling a conversation about the exiting world of bringing a new drug to market. That being said, talking about the movie is infinitely more funn...