PFR Weekly

*takes deep breath*LET'S GET READY TO RUMMMMMMBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEE! The gang is back with Part II of our arc on director Ryan Coogler to go the full twelve rounds talking about Creed (2015). 

Coogler made a jump in terms of budget and scope when he took on the 2015 entry in the long-running Rocky (1976) franchise, but that transition did nothing to dim the considerable filmmaking talents and aptitude for social commentary that we first saw in Fruitvale Station (2013). In taking the Rocky story and re-framing it to be a sports-movie-by-way-of-family-drama with a newfound focus on the Black American experience, Coogler turns Creed into a masterpiece of contemporary American film. Creed takes on the American mythos surrounding masculinity, capitalism, race, and boxing  and inverts much of what we have come to expect from the genre. Jane, Nathan, and Devin commit time to Coogler's filmmaking, the incredible cast, and what this modern classic represents in terms of a changing cinematic landscape. 

If you have a suggestion for a film or topic for the show, get in touch! Follow and message us on Instagram at @portland_film_review or FaceBook at Portland Film Review,  or send us an email at [email protected]. Plus, if you like what you hear, make sure to follow and review us wherever you get your podcasts.

The gang decided it was time to mix up the PFR Weekly template a touch, and to do so they are embarking on a three-part series dissecting and discussing the films of director Ryan Coogler. Coogler has directed three feature films, and so this episode and the next two will each focus on one of those directorial efforts to allow a deep dive on one of the most exciting directors working today. This episode starts the arc with a look at Coogler's devastatingly beautiful directorial debut, Fruitvale Station (2013). 

Fruitvale Station focuses on Oscar Grant III's (Michael B. Jordan) last day alive before his murder at the hands of BART Police Officers on New Year's Day 2009. In depicting this real life tragedy, Coogler pulls no punches in displaying the monstrous actions of those officers, but he also spends the majority of the film outlining Grant's humanity and what he meant to the people around him. Jane, Nathan, and Devin start by considering how Coogler's early life and education led him to this project, and then analyze the fully-formed directorial style on display in Fruitvale, and the many heartbreaking parallels between Grant's story and the stories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the countless other Black Americans killed by police. 

If you have a suggestion for a film or topic for the show, get in touch! Follow and message us on Instagram at @portland_film_review or FaceBook at Portland Film Review,  or send us an email at [email protected]. Plus, if you like what you hear, make sure to follow and review us wherever you get your podcasts.

Settle in and get ready to hear Jane, Nathan, and Devin discuss Cheryl Dunye's masterwork of cultural commentary and humor, The Watermelon Woman (1996). 

This weeks episode marks the first time that the crew has turned back the clock to consider a film made decades ago as opposed to the first four episodes where each featured movie was released in the last two years. Why now? The Watermelon Woman was a forgotten classic until its re-release a few years ago, and has since re-emerged as one of the most influential films of the 1990s. Dunye is credited as being the first openly lesbian Black woman to direct a feature film, and her perspective results in a piece that pushes against all manner of filmmaking norms and challenges the viewers very understanding of film history. As a result, this episode has everything and more that we know you've come to expect from the crew. Plus, they make it through without one mention of Parasite, so growth right?

If you have a suggestion for a film or topic for the show, get in touch! Follow and message us on Instagram at @portland_film_review or FaceBook at Portland Film Review,  or send us an email at [email protected]. Plus, if you like what you hear, make sure to follow and review us wherever you get your podcasts.

Get comfortable, and plug in to listen to Jane, Nathan, and Devin discuss and debate Dee Rees' Oscar-nominated family epic, Mudbound (2017). 

Mudbound is the first pure period piece that the crew has focused on, and that brings with it all sorts of complicating factors around how audiences now see history. Plus, Mudbound deals directly with themes and circumstances that land especially hard in the context of renewed conversations about white supremacy and violence against Black bodies. This idea of context and how that influences how you receive a movie propels much of the trios conversation, whether they are touching on Rees' directorial choices, the screenplay adapted from Hillary Jordan's novel, or the stunningly talented cast of the film. 

If you have a suggestion for a film or topic for the show, get in touch! Follow and message us on Instagram at @portland_film_review or FaceBook at Portland Film Review,  or send us an email at [email protected]. Plus, if you like what you hear, make sure to follow and review us wherever you get your podcasts.

The gang is back with another discussion about a film from a Black director. This week they focus in on Spike Lee's newest release, "Da 5 Bloods" (2020). 

As any Spike Lee movie is bound to do, "Da 5 Bloods" guides Jane, Nathan, and Devin through a kaleidoscope of historical, artistic, and cultural angles to consider filmmaking and storytelling. After placing the film in a broader context of works about the Vietnam War, particularly how it distinguishes itself from "Apocalypse Now," the gang kicks the conversation into mach speed to work through the incredible performances at the center of the movie, and how Lee's directorial tendencies ensure that "Da 5 Bloods" is an informative thrill ride. Plus, your hosts spend a chunk of time unpacking why Lee, easily one of the most talented and exciting directors of his or any generation, seems so undervalued as an artist when others of his age group are elevated for lesser filmmaking. Settle in for an episode of hot takes galore. 

If you have a suggestion for a film or topic for the show, get in touch! Follow and message us on Instagram at @portland_film_review or FaceBook at Portland Film Review,  or send us an email at [email protected]. Plus, if you like what you hear, make sure to follow and review us wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to PFR Weekly's first proper film conversation! On today's episode, Jane, Nathan, and Devin dig into Boots Riley's 2018 fever dream of a film, Sorry to Bother You. 

During their conversation, they cover Riley's directorial style, the performances in the film, and the many historical influences that Riley seems to be drawing on from Stanley Kubrick to Karl Marx (if Marx is your thing, there's pleeeeeeenty of him in this episode so get excited for that). Plus, Nathan rattles the cage and gets Jane and Devin to debate him about whether or not Sorry to Bother You is *gasp* a better version of Parasite (2019).  Come for the Boots Riley obsession, stay for the old-married-couple-style-bickering. 

If you have a suggestion for a film or topic for the show, get in touch! Follow and message us on Instagram at @portland_film_review or FaceBook at Portland Film Review,  or send us an email at [email protected]. Plus, if you like what you hear, make sure to follow and review us wherever you get your podcasts.

We here at Portland Film Review have decided that it's high time we dove in and made our own podcast, and that comes in the form of PFR Weekly. As the name suggests, each week, editors Jane, Nathan, and Devin will sit down to talk about film, television, and the entertainment industry writ large.

However, we are launching the show with a particular theme to connect with our push to do a better job covering works from creators of color. Therefore our first season will be focused exclusively on the hosts deep-diving into a different film from a Black director each week. 

This first episode is all about introducing Jane, Nathan, and Devin, and then following the three as they discuss why they feel it's so important to do this project right now. 

If you have a suggestion for a film or topic for the show, get in touch! Follow and message us on Instagram at @portland_film_review or FaceBook at Portland Film Review,  or send us an email at [email protected]. Plus, if you like what you hear, make sure to follow and review us wherever you get your podcasts.