THE PROCRASTINATOR’S
OREGON
CANNABIS CUP
gift guide
CURL UP
The Place Beyond the Pines DVD & digital, $24.79.
Here’s a perfect stocking
stuffer for the terminal mope
on your list: The Place Beyond
the Pines, director Derek Cian-
france’s follow-up to his sleep-
er debut Blue Valentine. Team-
ing up again with Ryan Gos-
ling, here Cianfrance creates a
domestic crime drama that is at
once surreal and hyper-real,
like reading the Old Testament
through a kaleidoscope. Gos-
ling plays a mysterious and
possibly psychopathic stunt
rider, Eva Mendez plays his one-night-stand baby mama and
Bradley Cooper is the conflicted cop with blood on his hands
— blood that is indeed thicker than water, and which trickles
down to stain the children of both these disturbed men. Gos-
ling and Mendes, as usual, are fantastic, but the film belongs
to Cooper, who bucks his preppy image in a performance that
itches with anxiety and mangled morality. Perhaps no modern
movie better exemplifies that biblical adage about the sins of
the father being visited upon the son, and how: a deep, dark
and very powerful movie about the legacy of bad choices.
— Rick Levin
with a
good dvd
Dec 20th • 5pm to 9pm
730 W. 7th Ave
$5 per person
OMMP and Family Only
Medicinal Marijuana
Strains/Concentrates/Medibles
Meet Growers and Caregivers
Movies are one way to stay
entertained on cold winter nights
Onsite Sampling and Voting
Cannabis Cup Winning Strains
20% off all December
Florida. These two films, viewed together, provide differing
perspectives on the violence and despair that surrounds
Generation Y. Cheers! — Rick Levin
The Awful Truth DVD, $8.99.
Leo McCarey won a Best Director Oscar in 1938 for The
Awful Truth, an absolutely lovely film that provides a
veritable blueprint for how to construct and cast the perfect
romantic comedy. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne play the
Warriners, an upper-crust couple caught in a hilarious duel
over their impending divorce, which includes a custody
battle over their dog Mr. Smith (the legendary wire fox
terrier Skippy, who was Asta in the Thin Man movies). The
chemistry, sexual tension and kinetic energy between Grant
and Dunne crackles on screen; Grant has never been better
(just watching him fall out of a chair is worth the DVD
price), and Dunne is a revelation, all kittenish smarts and
sassy charm. Ralph Bellamy is hilarious as Dunne’s new
love interest, Daniel Leeson, a good-hearted knucklehead
with Oklahoma oil money. The dialogue whips and snaps
with all the grand innuendo and sharp repartee of Old
Hollywood, and every punchline and pratfall is delivered
with immaculate timing. It’s a gem, and a perfect feel-good
gift for the holidays. — Rick Levin
Mary Poppins: 50th Anniversary Edition DVD &
Super Lemon Haze
Jack Herer and more
Sponsored by: The Oregon Medical
Marijuana Growers and Patients Ass.
541-554-8551
Artistic Adornment
– Since 1984 –
Unbelievable Beads
1027 Willamette
(541) 683-5903
Downtown Eugene • harlequinbeads.com
digital copy, $30.
Breaking Bad: The Complete Series Blu-Ray &
digital copy, $225.
Just released in November, any fan of the Breaking Bad
series will definitely appreciate this package of the complete
five-season television show. It may seem expensive (hey,
you could start selling meth to earn the money …), but it’s
loaded with extras. The Complete Series Collector’s Set
includes a never-before-seen two-hour documentary, more
than 55 hours of special features spanning all seasons, a
16-page booklet with letter from show creator Vince
Gilligan, a commemorative coin designed by Gilligan and a
Los Pollos Hermanos apron. There’s also a three-minute
alternate ending — yes, a completely different ending than
what aired on AMC — a gag reel, commentary on every
episode and all sorts of awesome deleted and extended
scenes. Plus, it’s all packaged in a sturdy replica money
barrel that’s almost a foot tall. — Vanessa Salvia
Double Feature:
Fruitvale Station DVD & digital copy, $25.99; Spring
Breakers DVD & digital copy, $19.99.
Mom and Dad are confused by the modern world, and
what especially confuses them is the kids. What’s up with
the kids these days? Have we completely lost our way? The
answer is a resounding yes, but there’s something you can
do for Mom and Dad during this season of giving and
compassion: You can help them understand.
Two movies this year offer a sort of ad-hoc double
feature on our contemporary generation gap, and the
combined viewing of them will peel every last scale from
your eyes when it comes to comprehending the infernal
conundrum of what it means to be young in American
society. Writer/director Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station is
a heartbreaking film based on the true story of Oscar Grant,
the young black man shot and killed on New Year’s Day
2009 by a BART police officer in Oakland; Michael B.
Jordan, as Grant, gives a tour-de-force performance. And
Spring Breakers, by Harmony Korine (Kids), offers a
hellish, fish-eyed view of the homicidal debauchery that
takes place among college-age kids during spring break in
Brand new as of Dec. 10,
it’s the 50th anniversary of this
classic movie. Though the
time and place are vintage
(1910 Edwardian London), it’s
a timeless story of a
dysfunctional family and how
they all learn to love again.
Dad is obsessed with money
and his banking career. Mom’s
a bit of a ditz who’s obsessed
with demonstrating for women’s rights (luckily she has a
gaggle of maids, nannies and cooks to help out). Naturally,
the children are terrors who have chased out every nanny
they’ve had. Dad, of course, wants a no-nonsense
disciplinarian in charge, and the kids want someone they
can have fun with. When Mary magically answers the
children’s advertisement for their ideal nanny, the outcome
is not at all what the family expected, but it’s just what they
needed. It’s a gift that’s practically perfect in every way. —
Vanessa Salvia
The Wizard of Oz: 75th Anniversary Limited
Collector’s Edition Blu-ray 3D/ Blu-ray/ DVD/
UltraViolet & Amazon-Exclusive Flash Drive, $105.
Pretty much everyone over the age of 30 has likely
watched this show dozens of times. Somehow, though, it
never gets old. Toto, Dorothy, Glenda the Good Witch, the
Wicked Witch of the West, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the
Cowardly Lion, the Wizard and the Munchkins have become
part of our collective psyches. This remastered and restored
version is even more visually sharp, clear and rich in
Technicolor color, and comes with some awesome extras such
as a ruby slippers sparkle globe, 52-page hardcover photo
book, collectible pin, a journal and a frameable map of Oz. Of
course, there are also the new making-of and documentary
featurettes, including the six-hour MGM documentary When
the Lion Roars (exclusive to Blu-Ray). This is a great way to
introduce the next generation to a classic movie they’ll enjoy
as much as we do. — Vanessa Salvia
eugeneweekly.com • December 19, 2013
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