Ashland, Oregon LocalsGuide

The Economics of Happiness is a wonderful new video about the state of the world and the choices we have. It’s one of the best and most moving and persuasive things I’ve ever seen about those issues … a powerful contribution to human awareness. It’s beautifully made, full of compelling ideas and images and wise [...]

I am a reader and a movie lover. It’s often a challenge to watch a movie made from a book I read before the movie was even thought of. I remember really enjoying the book “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold. I was pleased to find that the movie, directed by auteur Peter Jackson (Lord [...]

Yikes! The games afoot. The title of the movie says it all…Sherlock Holmes. Cast : Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams Direction: Guy Ritchie Genre: Action/ Thriller. Director Guy Ritchie really caught the sights and sounds of London 1891. Polluted, crowded, and populated with women of questionable character, scruffy street venders, and children that [...]

My sons, 7 and 9 years old, have been anticipating the release of The Squeakqual for months. They even had the release date circled on our family calendar. Equally hyping the release is my cousin’s sunglasses company, Kaenon Polarized. Simon is seen sporting a pair of my cousin’s custom designed and patented sunglasses in PR [...]

Away We Go is hilarious at times, slow during others, and sometimes surprisingly heartbreaking. It deals with real issues people face and has the courage to dig deeper instead of using easy clichés. Burt Farlander and Verona De Tessant, decide to move somewhere else to start their family after discovering that Burt’s parents are moving [...]

  Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story  Misguided and Disappointing As a lifelong fan of the Anne of Green Gables books and 1980′s television miniseries adaptations, I was very frustrated and unsatisfied by this sequel. The script was written by Kevin Sullivan, who produced the original series. It was not based upon the stories [...]

I first became interested in this movie after taking a different route home to Ashland from the Northern California coast. I traveled, three children in tow, along Highway 96, wandering through Karuk Tribe homelands and “Bigfoot Country.” The kids excitedly looked among the trees after passing a Bigfoot museum and a couple of statues, hoping [...]

I wasn’t expecting much when my son purchased this movie since 1) It is a sequel; and 2) It is sans the original star, Jim Carrey. I was pleasantly surprised at the new storyline and the actors. Jamie Kennedy couldn’t have been more perfect for the starring role as cartoonist, Tim Avery. Bob Hoskins is [...]

Superb writing and comedic timing are the collective backbone that holds this movie together. Heartfelt acting from Robin Williams and Ben Stiller, along with dazzling special effects are the icing. Multi-layered jokes entertain adults in the audience, as well as children. Cameos from old-school Disney veterans, such as Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke as [...]

Oscar winner Jamie Foxx gives an outstanding performance as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr., who is a classical music prodigy living in his own world on the streets of Los Angeles. Robert Downey, Jr. offers a realistic portrayal of Steve Lopez, the New York Times columnist who attempts to save Mr. Ayers from a life on [...]

It’s Memorial Day weekend and my sons and I have been anticipating the releases of summer blockbuster movies:  in this economy, going to the movies is in lieu of taking a family vacation. The only family movie released in the Rogue Valley this weekend was the sequel to a movie the three of us enjoyed, [...]

Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor, not a movie critic… STAR TREK. Yep just Star Trek. No fancy title, but still appropriate as it is the new film produced by J.J. Abrams. OK, I like the Star Trek franchise, but I’m not a Trekkie or Trekker, so my wife, who is a big fan dragged me [...]

My boyfriend and I are major movieaholics and when we saw the previews for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, we knew we would have to go see it since we had enjoyed watching all the other X-Men movies, not to mention the fact that the preview was awesome. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a movie that gives the [...]

Deciding on a movie that satisfies each member of our family of three is no small feat. My vote never counts so its up to my 6 and 8 year old boys to try to convince each other to see the movie each feels is the ONE. We were to see Hotel For Dogs, my [...]

You know how some movies have action that goes on and on and on and you can’t catch your breath and you realize your body is completely tensed up and you wish it would just give you a moment’s break? This isn’t one of those movies. Smart People, by director Noam Murro, is a slice [...]

Penelope is a young woman who was born with a family curse that deformed her nose into that of a pig’s snout. The only way to break the curse is for her to be loved by one of her “own kind”, i.e. a blue-blood. Men run from the sight of her and it appears the [...]