'Knives Out' A Review

Knives Out is a murder mystery about the suspicious death of wealthy crime novelist Harlan Thrombey(Christopher Plummer) and the ensuing investigation by D/Lt. Elliott(Lakeith Stanfield) and private detective Benoit Blanc(Daniel Craig) into the large family all of whom are suspects.

The film boasts a true ensemble and though Craig and unwilling protagonist Ana de Armas as Marta are the defacto leads(at which they excel especially Craig who clearly relishes not being Bond, having fun, and having a sense of humor) it is truly the cast at large that pulls off a remarkable stable alchemy. Each character get's there on section of spotlight, each actor clearly defining their character with vivid personality but believable depth, none of whom overwhelm but all of whom totally enrich this already propulsive and thrilling who-dun-it.

Set mostly in the palatial estate of the Thrombey's visually the film has a subtle style but it is primarily the soundtrack and editing that build and sustain the infectious and delightful pace. A throwback to and wry comment on Agatha Christie stories and in the vein of Clue and Murder By Death this murder mystery delights in revitalizing some conventions and up ending others all while striking the perfect balance to deliver what, in some ways, is a genre classic.

A wonderful engaging mystery with delightful personalities and humor to spare, easily one of the most solid and original pieces of entertainment in 2019. A happy return to form for writer/directer Rian Johnson.

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Alone Time

Unless undertaken
in spiritual obligation
solitude can be acidic
for humans are social creatures
with genetic need for interaction
interpersonal benefaction
not to mention the debt
to society
call it duty or tribal need
we belong in harmony
not protracted conversation
nor the extinction of confrontation
but simple civic connection
loose but never severed
to sustain in times of weather.

'Doctor Sleep' A Review

Doctor Sleep is a horror/thriller based on the Stephen King novel, a sequel to The Shining. The film opens shortly after the events of the Kubrick adaptation of the original. Young Danny Torrence is still being plagued by ghosts from the Overlook and is taught by the apparition of Dick Hallorann how to trap them. Fast forward Danny is now Dan(Ewan McGregor) and has a drinking problem, he hits bottom and winds up in a small New Hampshire town where he begins to build a life and telepathically befriends a young girl Abra(Kyliegh Curran). Concurrently psychic vampires in caravans lead by Rose The Hat(Rebecca Ferguson) criss-cross the country in search of kids with the Shining to consume. A confrontation is inevitable.

McGregor is excellently cast and gives his patented blend of leading man panache with pathos and vulnerability but he's unable to transcend the inexplicably fever-paced plotting and sheer volume of exposition that's packed into the script. Likewise Curran is exceedingly effective, layered and at times startlingly savage, but left with little to no arch given how quickly the story speeds along. Ferguson as the languid heavy is delightfully off putting but is also hamstrung by the material. The supporting cast are all pitch perfect in their roles, Cliff Curtis and Zahn McClarnon especially, but dimension to any and all of the characters is sacrificed in the service of bloated narrative.

The biggest problem is the writer/director Mike Flanagan endeavors to do too much and is to beholden to both the book Doctor Sleep and Kubrick's version of The Shining. And in trying to fit in virtually the entire plot of the book Doctor Sleep as well as bridge the discrepancies in the endings to the book and the movie The Shining it seems there is little left that is actually Flanagan's. In order to fit in all the story of the book and all the visual nods(ie exact replicas) to the movie the film rockets through the first two hours of it's protracted run time at such a speed that the characters at its center are neglected. The film only slows down its pacing in the final half hour when, of course, we inevitably return to the Overlook Hotel but by that time it is so predictable it loses its impact and any interest in its characters is mostly squandered.

An ambitious adaptation with incredible potential is hamstrung by the long shadow of both Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick and the lack of Flanagan's personal touch.

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'Last Christmas' A Review

Last Christmas is a holiday dramedy about Kate(Emilia Clarke), an aspiring singer, who works as an elf at a Christmas shop for "Santa"(Michelle Yeoh) the proprietor. After contracting a life threatening illness and being saved by a heart transplant Kate is listless, irresponsible, and searching. Outside the shop she randomly encounters Tom(Henry Golding) and the two strike up a bizarre friendship. Through that friendship Kate gets her life back on track and repairs relationships with her estranged family.

Clarke has considerable charm but has yet to find a role that she can really run with. Here she is charismatic and clearly has a facility with humor but the character is relatively thin and the story so broad no clear arch is carved out for its supposed lead. Yeoh is the clear stand out of the cast, she has wonderful chemistry with Clarke, is funny and conveys an easy authenticity in the unfortunately limited screen time she's given. Golding, also charming, but again, through no real fault of his, he's given a mystifying premise within which to operate, and is sufficient but hardly intriguing. Emma Thompson(also one of the screenwriters) as Kate's mother is a baffling Eastern European stereotype, broad to the point of absurdity, which further exasperates the movie's biggest problem- it's tonal confusion.

Similar to director Paul Feig's most recent perplexing attempt at genre blending A Simple Favor, it is unclear what Last Christmas is actually aiming to be. Is it a romantic comedy, feel-good holiday fodder, adult coming-of-age drama, political satire? At various points the story lunges at each of these but never actually commits to any of them and what we are left with is a confusing mess of ideas tied together by decent actors who are simply willing themselves through a plot that is, if you stop to consider it, woefully underbaked.

A messy xmas movie with good intentions, fair execution, but with a DOA script.

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Selfie Stick

It seems experience has been eclipsed
by the proving of experience
we are no longer concerned
with wonder or adventure
but only with the ability
to have others observe us
in wonder or adventuring
hundreds of visitors see the surrounding beauty
only through their screens
incessantly documenting
but neglecting to actually be
where they are
reveling not in the majestic canyons
but in the anticipation
of the coming praise and envy
they expect to elicit
via their preferred digital attention farm
if Gaia were to kill us all
in an ecstatic rockslide
I could not fault her
so obstinate are we
in capturing her image
not out of gentle joy or grateful pleasure
but out of a perverse desire to possess
for the sole purpose of proving
in this our corrupting modern age
there is nothing more hubritic than the selfie.

'The Irishman' A Review

The Irishman is a crime drama focused around real-world mafia hitman and labor union official Frank Sheeran(Robert De Niro). The film opens on Frank in a nursing home and through direct address and subsequent voiceover he tells the story of his life. Flashing back to his early post-war days as a truck driver, to a roadtrip in his later years, and back to the nursing home his life is patiently laid out with a clear if somewhat languid austerity.

Much has been made about reuniting De Niro, Joe Pesci, and director Martin Scorsese as well as their parring with Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel- all the Hollywood royalty in one film. However the only real standout is Pesci as Russell Bufalino Frank's mentor and defacto crime boss. Pesci provides a magnetic simplicity, an almost zen like calm, an economy of movement and emotion that is monumentally impactful. For being out of the mainstream for nearly two decades Pesci has not lost a step, he's even gained a startling poise. His is easily the most nuanced, the most interesting, and the most emotional performance in the film. Although it's nice to see Pacino he goes big as he is wont to do in his later career, it's appropriate here as he plays Jimmy Hoffa, but there is no particular freshness about it, he's good but he's not doing anything surprising. Keitel's role is so small it amounts to a cameo. De Niro is certainly better than he has been in some time but that's mostly a result of the material, it's not a half-baked comedy he's doing simply for a paycheck, but his performance, and perhaps you could argue the character, is so simple, so directly on the surface it has no depth. And as the lead character of a three and a half hour film that's a problem. Ultimately he's kind of boring.

The de-aging technology used is not effective, it's various levels distracting and it's at it's best when it's not so obvious that it can be overlooked. It's weirdness is compounded by the casting, as the film jumps around 50 years or so, there is no rhyme or reason to the actual ages of the actors. De Niro and Pesci are in their 70's, the actors that play their wives are in the 40's, Anna Paquin who is 37 plays Frank's daughter as a teenage and twenty something but never at her actual age. On and on. The de-age and use old age make up so much and because of the non-linear structure the year is never particularly clear and so on the whole all of it is a big confusion. It would have been better to simply leave the actors alone and let the audience use their imagination, we have to do it anyway to ignore the periodically glaringly bizarre "young" De Niro.

Visually the film is masterful, the pacing slow but effectively sweeping, but the portrait of this criminal and this time couldn't be more complete and compelling. There is a lot to like about the film and a couple things to love chief among them the patience and skill on display from Scorsese as well as the truly awe inspiring performance from Pesci.

See It.

Ghost Town

Bare boards
above
bald bones,
old stones
and
gravel roads,
sheared herds
duet
singing birds
and
the ghost
moans
all alone.

'The Lighthouse' A Review

The Lighthouse is a black and white surreal horror film about two lighthouse keepers("wickies") off the coast of New England around the turn of the century. The film opens as Ephraim Winslow(Robert Pattinson) and Thomas Wake(Willem Dafoe) are dropped off for the four week shift. After the mundanity of their tasks sets in madness and/or supernatural forces intervene.

Dafoe gives an absolutely thrilling and totally authentic performance as the gravely voiced wickie spouting at times captivating, other times incomprehensible, archaic dialect. He's able to create a fully formed and compelling character with very little back story or context, he oscillates effortlessly from aggression to pathos to wry and gentle humor. His performance pairs well with the various design elements, almost impressionistic, musical rather than linear. One of the best performances of the year with a couple stand out almost Shakespearean monologues that crescendo beautifully. Pattinson doesn't skimp on effort(and maybe that's the problem) but is unable to match the mercurial grace of Dafoe, gasping and mincing and telegraphing choices to the point it is very clear that this is Robert Pattinson the actor Acting, the character is almost totally lost in all his stumbling exertions. The most egregious example of this is at the beginning while Ephraim is going about his work, shoveling coal and hauling supplies, on an island that can't be longer than 100 feet, he groans and grunts and gasps to a baffling degree. Makes you wonder if the director or Pattinson himself has ever really done any manual labor to speak of so over-wrought are these relatively simple and not terribly strenuous tasks.

Visually the film is rich, stark, and bleakly beautiful. The diagetic thrumming fog horn and the eerie score help create this desperate, otherworldly, claustrophobic mood which is effectively immersive if not necessarily pleasant. There are a series of abstract/surreal images, perhaps hallucinations or dreams or mystical visions, that are periodically intercut that also enhance the tone.

The narrative is full of ideas, there are references and implications to all kinds of explanations to the mostly vague sometimes intelligible things happening and being discussed on screen. There is certainly ambition and stunning craft at work but the film goes on for a little too long for it to totally pull-off it's bizarre tight-wire act of opaque plotting. By the time the climax occurs we know exactly what's coming and we don't wonder why, at that point we don't particularly care. Not a perfect movie but quite a wild ride.

See It.

Chill

Sitting on my parents couch
I wonder at the descriptor "bone-deep"
when ascribed to cold
because I have a light but persistent chill.

After riding my motorcycle on the highway
at 80 mph, the air 10 degrees above freezing
made cooler by the augmented wind
I contemplate, perhaps for the first time,
warnings about the cruciality of "core temp"

Discomfort turns to concern
as the warmth of my childhood home seems unable
to penetrate the lasting freeze
perhaps a hot shower
will pry wide the jaws
of potential hypothermia-
Yes.

Steaming water eradicates that tenacious chill.

'Terminator: Dark Fate' A Review

Terminator: Dark Fate is a scifi action movie, a continuation of the Terminator series and a direct sequel to 1991's Terminator 2: Judgement Day. After the events of T2 Sarah Connor(Linda Hamilton) and John Connor(CGI Edward Furlong) have successfully prevented Skynets prominence and Judgement Day however there are leftover Terminators criss-crossing the globe in search of John and one of them(CGI Arnold Schwarzenegger) kills him then disappears. That's just the prologue! Cut to present day Mexico City and Dani Ramos(Natalia Reyes) is going to work with her brother. A Rev-9 Terminator(Gabriel Luna) is sent back to kill Dani and Grace(Mackenzie Davis) a human cyborg is sent back to protect her. During the initial confrontation they are saved by a grizzled Sarah Connor who joins Grace in protecting Dani. Seem convoluted? That's just the beginning!

Hamilton is the clear star here, her entrance is electric and although she's had a steady but sedate career since T2 her movie-star magnetism is undiminished. She is a thrill to watch, her energy and gravitas unintentionally mostly eclipse the valiant if wanting efforts of Reyes and Davis. Both of whom do their best but are let down by the Gordian knot of a plot and the sheer inability to match the presence of Hamilton. Davis clearly leveraged significant effort and she is physically imposing but she lacks the razor edge the Hamilton has always had and maintains here. Schwarzenegger is able to recapture his old imposing stolidness and humor to a degree and his old school action hero watchability also overshadows the efforts of the newer cast members even though he doesn't enter the movie until about the half way point.

Visually the movie is overstuffed with over-the-top CGI, extensive action sequences with zero practical effects render them mostly flat and more reminiscent of a dated video game than cinema. A huge disappointment given that part of the success of Terminator, T2, and T3 for that matter is their use of real world action to create real stakes and real thrills and this installment purported to be a return to form for the series. The script is the other glaring issue, instead of trying to do something different it merely apes the already established formula only attempting to increase its speed and spectacle and in so doing story is sacrificed for simple kinetic momentum. And the hoops that have to be jumped through to justify this alternate timeline, to retcon in it into position is elaborate to the point of incoherence.

With the return of Hamilton this installment had incredible promise but she is the only one who really rises to the occasion.

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Small Town Subway

There is some comfort to be had
in the uniformity of products
offered by the ubiquitous Franchise
especially in areas where population
doesn't warrant broad variety
but even more heartening
is the somewhat disheveled young employees
who continually pace behind the counter
perpetually nonplussed
proficient but never impassioned
resonant not only with their time and town
but with them all, pubescence preserved
in its static angst-riddled glory,
fast-food worker as the avatar of Youth.

The Bones Of Ymir

Before the beginning
there was the void,
the world of fire,
and the world of ice.
Where the three met
there formed the first being, Ymir.

Then came the gods, the Aesir.
Odin, their leader, and his brothers slew Ymir.

From Ymir's flesh they made the earth,
from the blood the sea,
from the hair the trees,
from the skull the sky,
and from the bones the mountains.
Thus the world was made.

Walking through this silent plain
I cannot help but give thanks
to that primordial giant
on whose flesh I tread
and on whose bones I gaze
in veneration.

'Motherless Brooklyn' A Review

Motherless Brooklyn is a neo-noir set in 1950's New York City based on the Jonathan Lethem novel of the same name. The film follows Lionel Essrog(writer/director Edward Norton) a private investigator with Tourettes as he unravels a convoluted plot his boss Frank Minna(Bruce Willis) disappears into.

Norton finds a good balance of heart, humor, and grit with the afflicted detective and it's bolstered by the parade of excellent actors that cameo and have supporting roles. Willis, although only briefly in the film, gives one of his most believable and nuanced performances in years. However Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bobby Cannavale, Leslie Mann, Ethan Suplee, and Dallas Roberts are mostly all woefully underutilized and Willem Dafoe functions more as a conduit for exposition than an actual character. Alec Baldwin as the corporate heavy is perfectly cast and has some strong scenes but is burdened by two extensive monologues which are used primarily as the films explicit thesis rather than words the character would actually speak.

The set is perfectly period but some of the cinematography is not so much noir inspired as direct lifts from noir classics like Out Of The Past. The jazz score is effective at points but at others serves only as a boring drone to elongate already insufferably long transitions. There is some diegetic jazz performed in a club that really works but the score is so saturated by the melodious discordant moans of the saxophone the live performances don't pop like they should.

The big issue is the adaption itself, the film veers away from the book in its focus, shifting from the compelling lead character of Lionel Essrog, his quirks, personality, and past into a preachy, transparent, relatively clumsy allegory in corporate power and greed. A message that certainly resonates but in this context is bludgeoning and naive in its simplicity. It's not in question that writer/director/star Edward Norton has a passion for the source material but it becomes abundantly clear he desperately needed an editor on virtually every level of the production in order to avoid having the film become what it turned out to be, a muddy, relatively ineffective vanity project.

On it's own a mediocre somewhat self-righteous passion project from a great actor(his writing and director abilities are still TBD) but as an adaptation of a wonderful and weird novel it's a tedious misfire.

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Kolob Canyon

Golden grass

  red rocks

Bleached trunks

  whipping wind

Creeping creek

  canyon cliffs

Desert dunes

  and only us

  to share it.

Lance The Legend

The ropy cowboy
tells us he spent time
in Chicago in the 80's
working at Arlington,
tells us he once paid off
a cop with a twenty
to get out of a speeding ticket,
asks us about The Fridge
as if all Chicagoans know
the fate of our champion '85 Bears,
bizarre to feel so at home
riding horses along the Virgin river
as the painted cliffs of Zion surround us
in impassive solidarity.