The Junk Drawer of Shawn's Mind

If I had to watch five movies in Portland-area theaters this week, these would be them.

Shawn Levy names his top ten films of 2009, with honorable mentions and an outright worst of the year as well.

Taking a time-out.

Soccer doesn’t have time-outs, but I’m taking one anyhow.

A weekly video treat. Today: a mad genius edits a movie year into a single thrilling clip.

What’s new in Portland-area theaters this weekend.

If I had to choose five movies to see in Portland this week, these would be them.

Robert Downey Jr. has fun as the title character, but with all the noise and confusion in the storytelling, few in the theater are likely to join him.

This adaptation of the Broadway show (itself adapted from a Fellini film) has energy but no coherence or center.

Colin Firth is superb as a man living a quietly memorable day in an adaptation of a Christopher Isherwood novel.

Pedro Almodovar’s latest meditation on love, art, coincidence, tragedy and regret soars along with its superb leading lady, Penelope Cruz.

News of a new Oregon Film Museum to be opened in historic (and film-rich) Astoria.

Film critic Shawn Levy continues his tour of unique local venues.

Shawn Levy, The Oregonian’s film critic, picks his top Christmas movies.

Christmas movies make up a huge and wildly varied genre. Some are quite memorable. Others, not so much. But, truly, when we talk about Christmas movies, we mean those films permeated with some…

This week’s new releases on Portland-area screens.

George Clooney reaches an acme of his screen persona as a hollow man whose life of collecting frequent flier miles hits some turbulence.

A series of film noir from England laces the season with a little spite and bile.

If I had to see five movies in local theaters this week, these would be them.

“Avatar” may not qualify as literature, but, then, it’s not a book — rather, it’s a mind-blowing quantum leap forward in film technology and a fully satisfying popcorn entertainment.