Didja’ ever see something—anything—and then been unable to decide how you felt about it? Usually one’s “gut” delivers the verdict immediately, but sometimes days or even years later we don’t know if we liked something or not. Can something be so bad and so good that we dislike and like it at the same time?
I recently watched Independent Film Channel’s Portlandia: Season One on DVD (DVD/Blu-ray combo released December 6, 2011), and the program struck me as being clever and dumb at once. Such cognitive dissonance is unusual in highly opinionated people, but after the DVD was over, I just wasn’t sure how I felt about what I had seen.
Portlandia stars Fred Amisen and Carrie Brownstein in what is essentially comedy sketches that are strung together into episodes. Some of the sketches work, others…well… This is not totally unexpected since we know Amisen from Saturday Night Live. What works is Amisen and Brownstein are adept at assuming a variety of characters, bending gender and stereotypes as they proceed, and that the sketches are fully developed, realized, and integrated. What didn’t work particularly well (for me) was having the same two performers in the central roles in all six episodes.
The supporting cast is a repertory company performing different roles throughout the series. The cast deserves kudos for their natural performances and realistic reactions to the sometimes bizarre comments and behavior of Amisen and Brownstein. Steve Buscemi, Kyle MacLachlan, Aubrey Plaza, Selma Blair, Heather Graham, Jason Sudeikis, and Gus Van Sant make guest appearances, as do singer/songwriters Aimee Mann and Sarah MacLachlan in an especially amusing turn. We should also give credit to the real star of the show, the city of Portland, Oregon, with its unique locations and vibe. Portlandia is Portland’s alter-ego, a city where the 1990s never ends.
Not knowing if I liked something is not the same as not knowing if it was entertaining. Looking back at the program, I asked myself “Would I watch future episodes?” Yes, I would; good performances, off-the-wall concepts, and quite a bit of absurdity make Portlandia worth the time invested.
Read more: http://technorati.com/entertainment/article/i-dunno-about-portlandia-season-one/#ixzz1hs4G4Hyh
What makes a film “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant,” and who keeps a list of such films? Significant films are films that reflect the times in which they are made, are groundbreaking thematically or technically, or are culturally iconic (like that short film so many of us grew up with, “Let’s All Go to the Snack Bar”; I’ll bet you can hear it playing in your head right now). Twenty-five films are named to the list kept by the Library of Congress every year, and there are currently 550 films on the list. 
Among those interviewed in These Amazing Shadows are Dr. James Billington of the Library of Congress; famous directors, producers, and actors; archivists; members of the 
These Amazing Shadows is an entertaining documentary from which viewers are certain to learn a little history—or trivia. The question is, will These Amazing Shadows be nominated to the National Film Registry? If you would like to see if your favorite film is included in the Registry (mine, Bringing Up Baby is), click 
A poet. A jester. A clown. An activist. A humanitarian. 
When filmmaker Alexandra Codina learned that her cousin Monica would be getting married, she got permission to film the events leading up to the wedding and the happy couple’s first year together. Codina must have known marriage, under any circumstances, is a challenge and that for Monica and fiancé David it might be even more so. Both Monica and David have Down Syndrome.
A priest (Jed Reese) is conned into loaning his brother $54,000 from the church’s emergency fund for cancer treatments, then learns his brother is using the money to produce a porno flick when he visits him in Los Angeles for repayment. Because the priest’s church desperately needs the money to pay John Schneider to appear at its fundraiser, he agrees to stay with his brother Alan (Will Sasso),until he completes the film and can pay back the loan.
Did you know that Vitamin A, taken in excess, is believed to cause depression? 
Are you a natural-born cook—one of those people who feels the kitchen is the heart of the home and is most comfortable with a wooden spoon in hand, a person who takes a recipe that requires 35 ingredients, 25 of which aren’t on hand, and whips up something delightful? Natural-born cooks see recipes as one way to a destination, but certainly not the only way.
Ah, Hamlet, the prince of Denmark and one of the most tragically romantic figures to grace the pages of literature. Hamlet has long been my favorite of Shakespeare’s tragedies, and my heart broke for the tortured young Dane, victim of unfair fate and circumstances.
In the 1947 film 
Robyn Guthrie is a post-forty, single freelance writer whose life is complicated by a mother with increasing dementia, a boyfriend who thinks he should date other women because he may want children (Robyn doesn’t), and an assignment in which she’s not particularly interested for a local paper. She is also the central character in 
Soon Robyn is unhappily reunited with a high school nemesis, followed by a menacing man in a Mini Cooper, visiting a psychic with her mother to see what her dead father thinks about them moving in together, moving a corpse, and mixing with mobsters. Brod’s breezy style unites these elements into a fast moving story that isn’t too violent or dark. In creating Robyn, she’s delivered a character to whom women can relate: she’s not more beautiful than we are, she doesn’t dress better than we do, she doesn’t live in a nicer place than we, and she can’t always get people to take her seriously. The one thing that Robyn may have that we don’t is unflagging luck.
What is the