Sunday, September 6, 2026

Movies for October: Tony and Marty Supreme

     Nic Bentley will host our noon, Oct. 7 meeting at his home with a Zoom option, and we will be discussing:

Tony (2026)

     The 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life.
     
Director:  Matt Johnson
Writers: Todd Bartels, Lou Howe and Matt Johnson
Stars: Dominic Sessa, Antonio Banderas and Emilia Jones

Marty Supreme (2025)

     Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.

Director: Josh Safdie
Writers: Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow and Odessa A'zion

How to find streaming services for movies: 



Scores for September 2026 movies:

The Odyssey (2026) 7.3 (8 votes)
Memento (2000) 7.1 (7 votes)

Films of Merit





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Monday, August 17, 2026

Movies for September: The Odyssey and Memento

     Bill Triest will host our noon September  2 meeting at his home with a Zoom option, and we will be discussing:

The Odyssey (2026)

     After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens and Calypso along the way.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan and Homer
Stars: Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway     


Memento (2000)


     A former insurance investigator who now suffers from anterograde amnesia uses notes and tattoos to hunt down his wife's murderer. 

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan
Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano


How to find streaming services for movies: 



Scores for August 2026 movies:

Absolute Power (1997): 6.125 (8 votes)


Films of Merit





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Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Movies for August: The Company You Keep and Absolute Power

      Dean Hiser will host our noon August 5 meeting at his home with a Zoom option, and we will be discussing: 

The Company You Keep (2012)

     After a journalist discovers the identity of a former Weather Underground activist, the anti-war radical goes on the run. 

Director: Robert Redford
Writers: Lem Dobbs and Neil Gordon
Stars: Robert Redford, Brit Marling and Stanley Tucci


Absolute Power (1997)

    Career thief Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood) witnesses a horrific crime involving U.S. President Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman).

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: David Baldacci and William Goldman
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman and Ed Harris



How to find streaming services for movies:



Scores for July 2026  movies:




Films of Merit











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Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Movies for July: Sentimental Value and Michael Clayton

     Carl Carlson will host our noon July 1 meeting at his home with a Zoom option. We will be discussing:


Sentimental Value (2025)

    An intimate exploration of family, memories and the reconciliatory power of art. 

     Director: Joachim Trier
     Writers: Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier
     Stars: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgard and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas


Michael Clayton (2007)

     A law firm brings in its "fixer" to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multibillion-dollar class action suit.

     Director: Tony Gilroy
     Writer: Tony Gilroy
     Stars: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson



How to find streaming services for movies:



Scores for June 2026 movies:

The  Promised Land (2023) 7.9 (eight voting)


Films of Merit

Come from Away (2026), a musical featuring Reed Bentley at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR.




         

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Saturday, May 9, 2026

Movies for June: The Promised Land and Triangle of Sadness

      Joe Robinson will host our June 3 meeting at 12:30 p.m. in Cedar Hills Park at 2300 Cedar Hills Blvd. in Beaverton. Those drinking alcohol should decant in a discreet container. We will discuss the following two films


The Promised Land (2023)

     The story of Danish soldier and explorer Captain Ludvig Kahlen, who explored and cultivated Denmark's wild Jutland, which now comprises the vast majority of the country, in the mid-18th Century. The area is under the rule of Frederik De Schinkel, a crooked, merciless nobleman who realized the threat this new farm represents to his corrupt dealings.

     Director: Nikolaj Arcel
     Writers: Nikolaj Arcel, Anders Thomas Jensen and Ida Jessen
     Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin and Simon Bennebjerg

     

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

     A satirical dark comedy about a celebrity supermodel couple who decide to take a Mediterranean cruise with the ultra rich to try on their new elevated social status. 

     Director: Ruben Ostlund
     Writer: Ruben Ostlund
      Stars: Thobias Thorwid, Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean

How to find streaming services for movies:


Scores for May 2026 movies:


The Way We Speak (2024)  6.7 (9 votes)
Little Wing (2024)   6.9 (9 votes)



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Friday, April 3, 2026

Movies for May: The Way we Speak and Little Wing

      Bill Graves will host our May 6 meeting at noon at his home with a zoom option. We will have Scott Bernard Nelson, a Portland actor, join us to describe his work on the local film scene. And we will discuss two independent feature films made in Portland:


The Way We Speak (2024)

     An up-and-coming writer refuses to leave the spotlight when his best friend and debate opponent suffers cardiac arrest, leading to a rift between the writer and his ailing wife, and to the writer's obsession over his new opponent -- a bestselling author.

     Director: Ian Ebright
     Writer: Ian Ebright
     Stars: Patrick Fabian, Diana Coconubo and Kailey Rhodes

Little Wing (2024)

     A 13-year-old girl is dragged into the world of pigeon racing as she deals with her parents' divorce and the impending loss of her home.

     Director: Dean Israelite
     Writers: John Gatins and Susan Orlean
     Stars: Brooklynn Prince, Che Tafari and Brian Cox


How to find streaming services for movies: 



Scores for April 2026 movies:

Alien (1979) 7.9 (8 vjotes)


Films of Merit

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Thursday, March 5, 2026

Movies for April: Project Hail Mary and Alien

       Don Nugent will host our April 1 meeting at noon at Bethany's Table, and we will discuss two science fiction movies: 


Project Hail Mary (2026)

     Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship light years from Earth. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the sun and thus save Earth. 

     Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
     Writers: Drew Goddard and Andy Weir
     Stars: Ryan Gosling, Milana Vayntrub and Ken Leung


Alien (1979)

      After investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin, the crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform.

     Director: Ridley Scott
     Writers: Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett
     Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt and John Hurt


How to find streaming services for movies: 



Scores for March 2026 movies:



Films of Merit






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Saturday, February 7, 2026

Movies for March: It Was Just an Accident and The Life of Chuck

      Jon Lee will host our March 4 meeting at noon at his home with a Zoom option, and we will discuss:


 It Was Just an Accident (2025)

     An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, he rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners to confirm the man's identity.

     Director: Jafar Panahi
     Writers: Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar and Shadmehr Rastin
     Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari and Ebrahim Azizi

 The Life of Chuck (2024)


     A life-affirming, genre-bending story about three chapters in the life an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.  

     Director: Mike Flanagan
     Writers: Mike Flanagan and Stephen King
      Stars:  Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay and Benjamin Pajak

How to find streaming services for movies:




Scores for February 2026 movies:

Misery (1990)   7.2 (9 votes)

      

Films of Merit

                 



 

       

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Saturday, January 10, 2026

Movies for February: This is Spinal Tap and Misery

      John Cleary will host our Feb. 4 meeting at noon in his home with a Zoom option if necessary and we will discuss:


     This is Spinal Tap (1984)

       Spinal Tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DiBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.

    
     Director: Rob Reiner
     Writers: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer
     Stars: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest


     Misery (1990)

     After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.

 
     Director: Rob Reiner
     Writers: Stephen King and William Goldman
     Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates and Richard Farnsworth


How to find streaming services for movies:



Scores for January 2026 movies:


Hamnet (2025)   8.6 (8 votes)
Train Dreams (2025)  7.8 (9 votes)


Films of Merit

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Thursday, December 4, 2025

Movies for January 2026: Train Dreams and Hamnet

      Bill Triest will host our Jan. 7, 2026, meeting at noon in his home with a Zoom option if necessary, and we will discuss:


Train Dreams (2025)

     Based on Denis Johnson's beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century.

     Director: Clint Bentley
     Writers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar and Denis Johnson
     Stars: Joel Edgerton, Clifton Collins Jr., and Felicity Jones

Hamnet (2025)

     An imagined powerful story of love and loss that could have inspired the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

     Director: Chloe Zhao
     Writers: Chloe Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell
     Stars: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal and Zac Wishart


How to find streaming services for movies:



Scores for December 2025 movies:



Films of Merit








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Saturday, November 15, 2025

Movies for December 2025: One Battle After Another and A Little Prayer

      Nic Bentley will host our Dec. 3, 2025 meeting at noon in his home with a Zoom option if necessary, and we will discuss:


One Battle After Another (2025)

     When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.

    Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
    Writers: Paul Thomas Anderson, Thomas Pynchon
    Stars: Teyana Taylor, Leonardo DiCaprio and Regina Hall


A Little Prayer (2023)

     A man tries to protect his daughter-in-law when he finds out that his son is having an affair.
    
     Director: Angus MacLachlan
     Writer: Angus MacLachlan
     Stars: Jane Levy, Will Pullen and David Strathairn


How to find streaming services for movies:



Scores for November 2025 movies:


Films of Merit







     
     


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Monday, September 8, 2025

Movies for November 2025: Freud's Last Session and A Million Miles Away

      Our October meeting was canceled so Dean Hiser will host our Nov. 5, 2025, noon meeting at his home with a zoom option, and we will discuss:

Freud's Last Session (2023)


     Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud invites professor C.S. Lewis to debate the existence of God, Freud's unique relationship with his daughter, and Lewis' unconventional relationship with his best friend's mother. 
     
     Director: Matt Brown
     Writers: Mark St. Germain, Matt Brown and Armand M. Nicholi Jr.
      Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Goode and Liv Lisa Fries

A Million Miles Away (2023)

     A biopic about Jose Hernandez and his path from a farm worker to becoming an engineer and an astronaut. A tale of perseverance, community and sacrifice to accomplish a seemingly impossible dream. 

      Director: Alejandra Marquez Abella
      Writers: Bettina Gilois, Hernan Jimenez and Alejandra Marquez Abella
      Stars:  Michael Pena, Rosa Salazar and Julio Cesar Cedillo


How to find streaming services for movies:


Scores for September 2025 movies:

The Naked Gun (2025) 4.5 (6 votes)
Last Breath (2025) 7.8 (8 votes)

Films of Merit

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Thursday, August 14, 2025

Movies for September 2025: The Naked Gun and Last Breath

      Bill Graves will host our Sept. 3 noon meeting at his house with a Zoom option. The movies are: The Naked Gun and Last Breath.

The Naked Gun (2025)

     Only one man has the particular set of skills to lead Police Squad and save the world.

     Director: Akiva Schaffer
     Writers: Dan Gregor, Doug Mand and Akiva Schaffer
     Stars:  Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson and Paul Walter Hauser

Last Breath (2025)

     A true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface.

     Director: Alex Parkinson
     Writers: Mitchell LaFortune, Alex Parkinson and David Brooks
     Stars: Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu and Finn Cole

How to find streaming services for movies:


Scores for August 2025 movies:

The Big Red One (1980) 6.3 (8 votes)

Films of Merit



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Saturday, July 19, 2025

Movies for August 2025: D-Day Plus 20 Years -- Eisenhower Returns to Normandy and The Big Red One

      Hugh Heinsohn will host our Aug. 6 noon meeting on Zoom. We will gather at Carl Carlson's house  to be together as Hugh hosts on Zoom. The movies are: D-Day Plus 20 Years - Eisenhower Returns to Normandy and The Big Red One.

D-Day Plus 20 Years - Eisenhower Returns to Normandy (1964)

     Former President Eisenhower goes through the decisions and actions of D-Day with Walter Cronkite.    
     Stars: Walter Cronkite and Dwight D. Eisenhower


The Big Red One  (1980)

       A hardened sergeant and the four core members of his infantry unit try to survive World War II as they move from battle to battle throughout Europe.

      Director: Samuel Fuller
      Writer: Samuel Fuller
      Stars: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill and Robert Carradine


How to find streaming services for movies:



Scores for July 2025 movies:



Films of Merit





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Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Movies for July 2025: Operation Odessa and The Zone of Interest

      Carl Carlson will host our July 9, 2025, meeting at noon at his home with a Zoom option, and the movies we will discuss are: 

Operation Odessa (2018)

     In the early 1990s, three friends set out to hustle the Russian mob, the Cali cartel and the DEA for the score of a lifetime.

     Director: Tiller Russell
     Stars: Ludwig Fainberg, Juan Almeida and Nelson Yester


The Zone of Interest (2023)

     Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoss and his wife, Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden beside the concentration camp.

     Director: Jonathan Glazer
     Writers: Jonathan Glazer and Martin Amis
     Stars: Christian Friedel, Sandra Huller and Johann Karthaus


How to find streaming services for movies:



Scores for June 2025 movies:

Capernaum (2018) 8.9 (7 votes)
September 5 (2024) 8 (7 votes)

Films of Merit



     



     

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Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Movies for June 2025: Capernaum and September 5

      Don Nugent will host our meeting at his home with a Zoom option at noon on June 11. We will discuss:

Capernaum  (2018)

     While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.

     Director: Nadine Labaki
     Writers:  Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeily and Michelle Keserwany
     Stars: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw and Boluwatife Treasure Bankole

September 5  (2024)

     During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, an American sports broadcasting team must adapt to live coverage of the Israeli athletes being held hostage by a terrorist group.

     Director: Tim Fehlbaum
     Writers: Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum and Alex David
     Stars: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro and Ben Chaplin


How to find streaming services for movies:



Scores for May 2025 movies:

Fitzcarraldo (1982) 7.8 (8 votes)

Films of Merit

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Monday, April 14, 2025

Movies for May 2025: Bad Lieutenant and Fitzcarraldo

      John Cleary will host our meeting at his home with a Zoom option at noon on May 7. We will discuss:


Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

      Terence McDonagh is a drug-and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants. 

     Director: Werner Herzog
     Writers: William M. Finkelstein
      Stars: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes and Russell M. Haeuser

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

     The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.

     Director: Werner Herzog
     Writer: Werner Herzog
     Stars: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale and Jose Lewgoy


How to find streaming services for movies:


Scores for April 2025 movies:

Anora (2024) 5 (6 votes)

Films of Merit




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Thursday, March 13, 2025

Movies for April 2025: Anora and Mulholland Drive

      Jon Lee will host our meeting at his home with a Zoom option at noon on April 2. We will discuss:

Anora (2024)

    A young escort from Brooklyn meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairy tale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

     Director:  Sean Baker
     Writer: Sean Baker
     Stars: Mikey Madison, Paul Weissman and Yura Borisov

Mulholland Drive (2001)

     After a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

     Director: David Lynch
     Writer: David Lynch
     Stars: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring and Justin Theroux

How to find streaming services for movies:



Scores for March 2025 movies:

I'm Still Here (2024) 7.9 (8 votes)

Films of Merit









 



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Monday, February 10, 2025

Movies for March 2025: A Complete Unknown and I'm Still Here

      Bill Triest will host our March meeting at his new home in Forest Grove at noon on March 5 with a Zoom option. We will discuss:

A Complete Unknown (2024)


     In 1961, an unknown 19-year-old Bob Dylan arrives in New York City with his guitar and forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world.

     Director: James Mangold
     Writers:  James Mangold, Jay Cocks and Elijah Wald
     Stars:  Timothee Chalamet, Edward Norton and Elle Fanning

I'm Still Here (2024)


     A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence during the tightening grip of a military dictatorship in Brazil, 1971

      Director: Walter Salles
      Writers:  Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega and Marcelo Rubens Paiva
      Stars: Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro and Selton Mello


How to find streaming services for movies:


Scores for February 2025 movies:

The Brutalist (2024) 5.8 (5 votes)

Films of Merit



       


       

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Friday, January 17, 2025

Movies for February 2025: The Brutalist and The Last Showgirl

      Nic Bentley will host our meeting at noon on Feb. 5 at his home with a Zoom option. We will discuss:


The Brutalist (2024)

           
     When a visionary architect and his wife flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern United States, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious, wealthy client.

     Director: Brady Corbet
     Writers: Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold
     Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce


The Last Showgirl (2024)


     A seasoned showgirl must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run.

     Director: Gia Coppola
     Writer: Kate Gersten
     Stars: Pamela Anderson, Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka



How to find streaming services for movies:


Scores for January 2025 movies:

Wild Target (2010) 4.7 (9 votes)

Films of Merit




     

     

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