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  In the late 1970s, a young woman I dated a few times in high school once informed me that, should she ever get the opportunity to sleep with Robby Benson, she was taking it. She wasn’t delusional; she recognized the unlikelihood of this, and wasn’t working to bring it about. But she wanted to make it clear that if circumstances ever happened to align and the chance presented itself, it was happening, and any...

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Around this time every year we ask Phoenix Film Festival executive director Jason Carney the same question: Is there a film you’re particularly excited about this year? And every year, he’s ready with an answer.   This year, his pick is the opening night selection – the comedy Power Ballad with Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas.   “It was one I really wanted,” Carney says. “I love films about music. It’s so charming. Also, I’m a huge...