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World's Best Fish and Chips and the Crazy Aunt

         The next place on my list is a food cart called The Original Halibuts. They have an actual restaurant location too. It was located at the Piedmont Station Food Carts on Killingsworth. It was a gas station before it hosted food carts. It's nice because there is plenty of seating, indoor and outdoor. And there are bathrooms. At The Original Halibuts I got the Alaskan Halibut fish and chips. It was the best fish and chips I have ever had. The fish was so good. The french fries were nicely seasoned. Also the people running the truck are very nice. I would go back there for sure.

For the last 6 years I have volunteered at the Portland International Film Festival. The first two films are from that.

Tuesday: The Dead and the Others (2018)
      This movie is from Brazil. It is about a indigenous teenager living in a small village. His father died. He has a dream that his dad is by a waterfall. So he goes to the waterfall and his dad's ghost tell him to prepare the funeral feast for him so that he can go to the village of the dead. The boy has a lot of work to do to get ready. He gets help from his wife and uncles. He starts to think that he might be becoming a shaman. The boy is scared so he runs away to the city. He thinks life will be better there. It is not at all what he wanted it to be. So he returns home and finishes the rituals for his father's funeral feast. The movie was ok. A lot of these foreign films are just a lot of characters staring off with no music or anything else going on. There is a lot of him just walking around the jungle and laying down. It was interesting to see another way of life.

Wednesday: Shorts 6- Lost and Found (2018)
The Orphan
   This short film was also from Brazil. It is about a young teenage boy who is adopted by a family. When they discover he is gay they fake a divorce and return him to the group home. This is the best short out of the ones I saw.
All These Creatures
    This one is from Australia. A young boy tells the story of his father's struggle with mental illness and how it affected the whole family. It was ok.
Caucasus
    This one is from Lithuania. A mom and her daughter go to visit the mom's mom. The girl takes the dog for a walk. After a half an hour the grandma freaks out and calls the police. She thinks the girl is lost or had been kidnapped. So the grandma and the mom walk around trying to find the girl. Only to find her at the house not thirty minutes later. I didn't like this one. The grandma was idiotic.
Anteu
   This film was from Portugal. I don't really know what was happening in this one. I guess everyone was dying in this village and only one guy was left. There was a guy in a barrel rolling down a hill. Three minutes just looking at mud. And some calculations of how fast the earth is moving. It was really boring and didn't make sense. So of course it was the longest one.
Fauve
   The last one is from Canada. It was in French. It was about two boys who are playing near a mine. They get stuck in quick sand and one of the boys never comes back. It was really sad. I didn't like it.

Friday: Mortal Engines (2018)
     The earth suffered from nuclear explosions that made the earth's surface unlivable. A thousand years later people are living on giant tanks that contain whole cities. The main character is a woman named Hester Shaw. She sneaks onto London to get revenge for her mother's death. Her mother was killed by one of the leaders on London, Valentine. While there she meets a  young historian named Tom. The bigger cities are trying to absorb the other cities to get more resources. Valentine has an evil plan that will put everyone at risk. Hester and Tom work to try and stop him. I liked this movie ok. It is an interesting concept. But sometimes these big movies just fall flat.

Saturday: Ben is Back (2018)
    As the title suggests a young man named Ben comes home from rehab. He is addicted to drugs. Ben has had a hard time. He has been in and out of rehab and caused a lot of problems for his family. His mom, Holly (Julia Roberts), wants to believe his he better. She wants to be supportive. At the same time she doesn't trust him. The family agrees he can stay for one day. His past catches up with him. Holly discovers just how bad it was when he was at the height of his addiction. I liked this movie. Although it was about an addict you never saw him doing drugs. It was all about how things used to be. The worst was in the past.

Sunday: Travels with My Aunt (1972)
     After his mother's funeral Henry meets his Aunt Augusta for the first time. She is a very eccentric and flighty woman. Her lover is being held for ransom. To raise the money she must take money to different countries to launder it. Henry gets roped into coming with her. It is a wild adventure. They travel through France, Italy, Turkey, Spain, and Africa. He also meets a young American woman who helps him change from an uptight banker to someone who is more relaxed and ready to live life to the fullest. His aunt help him with that as well. I really liked the movie. Maggie Smith played the aunt. It was a very different role than I'm used to seeing her in. It is a fun movie.

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