'Dark Phoenix' A Review

Dark Phoenix is a superhero movie, the final installment in Fox's X-Men series. Following the events of X-Men: Apocalypse the X-Team have become the world's clean-up crew, being called into situations that normal governmental infrastructure can't handle. When Houston loses communication with a NASA shuttle the X-Men are sent on a rescue mission. During the rescue Jean Gray(Sophie Turner) is possessed by a solar flare which is actually a undefined cosmic power. On the team's return to Earth Jean begins to lose control and nameless shapeshifting aliens captained by Vuk(Jessica Chastain) hunt her and her new power.

Although stacked with incredible talent none of the considerable actors manage to distinguish themselves. Evan Peters as Quicksilver is the most egregiously wasted, as a fan favorite of Days Of Future Past and one of the only redeemable aspects of Apocalypse, he is inconceivably underutilized. With little to no development in the previous installment in the series Turner and Ty Sheridan, who plays her love interest Cyclops, are given too much emotional(an actual) ground to cover to really engage any interest. Both James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender(Professor X and Magneto respectively) are asked to contort their characters in unearned ways that they valiantly attempt but absolutely don't work. Overall the entire cast is a dearth of wasted potential, misplaced professional effort, and bizarrely muddled characters for the sake of an unexciting plot.

Visually the movie is a very-middle-of-the-road forgettable superhero pastiche. The soundtrack doesn't utilize the only vaguely referenced 90's setting, and the costumes are a bizarre pendulum of comic book throwback and a kind of post-Matrix black leather milieu.

Dark Phoenix encapsulates well Fox's tenure over the X-Men franchise- uneven and mismanaged.

Don't See It.

Coy Pond

Thick and humid heat

lazy fish softly swimming

we sit and listen.

'Rocketman' A Review

Rocketman is a biopic about the early life of musician Elton John. The movie opens on Elton John(Taron Egerton) entering rehab in full costume, sitting down in a support group, and telling his life story up to that point. The movie then flashes back to his childhood, adolescence, early career, and eventual rise to stardom using the support group as the narrating device.

Egerton does a commendable job attempting to hold the story together, his performance/impression is decent, his singing is well done, he's able to occasionally convey some real emotion, but there's only so much he can do with the genre cycling erratic script and pointless breakneck pacing. Jamie Bell as Elton's songwriting partner Bernie is so affable he's forgetable. Both of Elton's parents as played by Bryce Dallas Howard and Steven Mackintosh are laughable cartoon villians. Richard Madden as serial psycho agent and Elton's kind-of boyfriend John Reid is straight out of As The World Turns. The cast has some talent in it but almost categorically all the characterizations are thin to the point of transparency, so confused and devoid of emotional clarity it is unclear what is happening and why we should care.

Rocketman plays into all the tired biopic tropes and the most formulaic ways possible but forgets the best part of a musical biopic is the music which is in the movie but presented in bizarre sometimes hard to follow, or even hear, ways. The most egregious fault is the editing, which doesn't allow a single scene to simply be, cutting virtually every 15-20 seconds. Not only does this obscure the dramatic action and the audacious dance numbers it becomes numbing.

It seems clear that the artistic aspect of movie making wasn't much considered in the making of this movie. The studio saw the success of Bohemian Rhapsody and tried desperately to replicate it and because the clear concern was monetary nothing about it really comes together. In the closing credits we learn Elton John is on one final world tour and he has been decidedly present and in-front for the marketing of the movie, perhaps in order to promote the tour, calling into question how biasd the material is.

A music icon is given a by-the-numbers shockingly-boring biopic treatment.

Don't See It.

High Tea

As a child

one of my favorite activities

was high tea

at the Drake Hotel
a special treat
when my mom and I
went on Chicago adventures,
I'd throw a coin in the fountain
and make a wish,
delicately chew
finger sandwiches
perfectly sized for my child-hands,
ogle the dessert cart
(especially the cream puff swan)
although I rarely got one,
slurped sweet boundless tea
and gnawed the sublime
complimentary
raw sugar cubes,
best of all I would explore
the lush, lauded, labyrinthine
interior of that lasting landmark
lost in imagination.

O' Xanadu.

'Always Be My Maybe' A Review

Always Be My Maybe is a romantic comedy about two next-door neighbor childhood friends in San Francisco, Sasha(Ali Wong) and Marcus(Randall Park), who romantically connect at the end of High School but then having a falling out. Years later they reconnect when Sasha, a celebrity chef, returns to the city to open a restaurant and Marcus and his Father go to her swanky rental home to upgrade her HVAC system.

Wong and Park, also co-writers, are cast somewhat against type and clearly relish the opportunity, Wong the type-A career obsessive and Park the burn-out slacker. There's an effortlessness in both of their performances which, along with their clear and present chemistry, make them totally magnetic. They move from romance to catharsis to grounded comedy to broad with a captivating grace. Although they effectively capture a very specific time, place, and people they are universally appealing and relatable. It is wonderful to see the two in front-and-center lead performances in a feature, despite undeniable and massive talent something the two haven't had the opportunity to do before with Wong known primarily as a writer and stand-up and Park although the lead in sitcom Fresh Off The Boat mostly a supporting character in film. The supporting cast is equally perfectly cast with Michelle Buteau as Veronica Sasha's best friend and James Saito as Harry Marcus's dad as the two stand-outs. Keanu Reeves makes an extended cameo as himself and his entrance alone is easily one of the best scenes of the year.

Other than Reeves entrance the cinematography is relatively workman-like but virtually every other element of the production design is particularly inspired. The costumes are all in turns playful, fun, and chic, Wong's ensemble is singularly striking, with some humorous meta-commentary on rich people fads. The locations- from penthouses to dive bars- are all pitch-perfect and evocative. And almost above all the soundtrack with some killer pop and hip-hop songs from the 90's as well as a couple diegetic originals from Marcus's band Hello Peril all weave together to surpass nostalgia and evoke a particular time, place, but above all generation.

Always Be My Maybe has been compared to When Harry Met Sally but it far surpasses that comedy and its retrograde views on sex and the sexes for a more modern, more truthful, more amusing, and more important story. The only negative is that is only streaming on Netflix and didn't receive a proper theatrical release, this would be a fun one to see with an audience even so a must see at home.

Don't Miss It.

Adulting

I stop by my friend's apartment
to give him a baby blanket
as he and his fiance
are expecting,
we commiserate
about wedding planning,
talk around
his impending
life enlargement
and embrace in farewell
with love
and without
self consciousness.
It was the highlight of my day.

Simple, maybe, but not easy.
Mundane, perhaps, but affecting.

'All Is True' A Review

All Is True is a biographical drama about the latter days of William Shakespeare. After the Globe Theatre burns old Billy Shakes(Kenneth Branagh also director/producer) returns to his family estate to settle in and enjoy retirement. But after being abandoned, ignored, and relegated to the sidelines for years his wife Anne(Judi Dench) and daughters Susanna(Lydia Wilson) and Judith(Kathryn Wilder) aren't particular warm or interested in his return. Billy has old friends visit tell him how amazing he is, he mourns his son who has been dead for over a decade, and passive aggressively guilt's his daughters for not having boys, and also maybe he's gay? Dude can write tho we know that for sure because people keep saying it out loud to him.

Dench, artistic treasure that she is, brings some much needed reality and artistic integrity to a project that veers wildly from compelling emotion to narcissistic fantasy. The same is true of Wilder who is the only character who is allowed enough time to really develop other than Branagh although the machinations of the script ultimately prevent her from a transformative performance that she is clearly capable. Wilson, unfortunately, is virtually all but wasted. Branagh is a tremendous talent but his pomposity and tendency towards self aggrandizement have always been his downfall. There are countless shots of Branagh as old Billy the Bard in profile against a forest with blowing leaves or a setting sun or a golden field for no apparent reason. There are some strikingly well acted scenes many done in virtual single-takes but ultimately the antiquated politics, tone deafness, and odd narrative focus undermine the formidable acting talent.

The biggest issue is the sexism on display, old Billy wants and needs a male heir(we know because he can't stop talking about it), one of his daughter is a frustrated artist but she wasn't deemed worthy enough to attend school so she can't read or write old Billy doesn't particularly care or understand why that's an issue, both his daughters are in odd if not straight up unhappy marriages and he couldn't be happier. This may be historically accurate but if the intention was historical accuracy the movie shouldn't have been made in the first place, we know the treatment of women has historically been awful and watching it dramatized isn't entertaining or informative. From the jump the intention is clearly to tell the story of Shakespeare in his later days reconnecting with his family after he essentially abandoned them for decades for fame and fortune. But ultimately he doesn't actually connect with them, he's a blundering sexist narcissist, so what's the point of telling the story in the first place?

Don't See It.