Wondrous Momentum

Schedule
becomes routine
becomes discipline

and this serves

as bulwark

to the unexpected

propellent

in the face of trial

comfort

when distress looms

a track to follow

into life's unrelenting

forward progress

'Eephus' A Review

Eephus is a slice-of-life sports dramedy about the last game of a men's rec league before their field is demolished and replaced by a school.

Sporting a cast of incredible talent of mostly unknowns and perhaps some non-professional actors this 90's set Massachusetts small town is translated intricately, beautifully, and with a profound dignity. Through the course of the game, which comprises basically the run time, themes of time, companionship, ambition, aging, and of course sport are explored. It's artsy in its subtlety but it's unpretentious. A tone poem with humor, insight, joy, and a delicate melancholy. We get a full sense of the characters through their interactions and how they play the game but there is little to no exposition. Most of what we see and learn is on the field, as it should be.

Shot impeccably on location on film(it looks like, could be a digital approximation) it pairs perfectly with the story evoking a feeling of fall afternoons, camaraderie, fun, and a degree of introspection, of meditation, as well as place.

A crystalline, graceful, powerful piece of cinema. One of the best of the year.

Currently in theaters.

Don't Miss It.

The Hangers-On

Occasionally at a Meeting
you'll get a tourist

someone without a drinking problem

(or to use the current nomenclature

Substance Use Disorder)

who just wants some group therapy

or companionship

on the cheap

lonely, awkward, self-diluted

they meet

(or claim they meet)

the only requirement for membership

a desire to stop drinking

these people used to bug me

but over time

and with no small amount of effort

this gave way to a detached pity

for those lost searchers

who wind up in the rooms

because they have no where else to go

yet fail to grasp their purview or purpose

'Black Bag' A Review

Black Bag is an espionage thriller about a married couple both working at MI6. George(Michael Fassbender) is given a list of potential moles and tasked to root out the traitor. His wife Kathryn(Cate Blanchett) is on the list.

Fassbender and Blanchett are both in top form and have an instant and easy chemistry. Two of our greatest film stars doing what they do best without a lot of frills or distractions. Committed, precise, and compelling. The supporting cast is made up primarily of the other suspects range from good, Regé-Jean Page & Tom Burke, to great, Naomie Harris and particularly Marisa Abela who brings a needed chaotic electricity. Pierce Brosnan is in this too but it's essentially a cameo but still great to see him.

Visually, no surprise coming from director/cinematographer/editor Soderbergh, it looks great. It flows, has movement, has surprises, has a POV. Even if some of the soft focus shots don't exactly work, unlike so many modern movies, it's shot with the goal of having a style. The score effectively enhances the already solid script which is tight, has twists and turns, and still allows the actors to cut out some real, breathing characters. It's the kind of solid, meat-and-potatoes adult entertainment we used to get a lot more of.

Twenty years ago this kind of movie wouldn't be such a gem but given the ascendence of IP and studio focus on broad demographic appeal this is a must see.

Currently in theaters.

See It.

'The Electric State' A Review

The Electric State is a 90's set dystopian scifi adventure with a plot so convoluted and uncompelling it doesn't warrant a summary.

Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt sleepwalk through this AI generated slop in turns vacant and vapid yet always lacking any spark of humanity or vitality. The star studded cast is absolutely wasted and seem to have been given little or no direction(Stanley Tucci as the antagonist seems confused why he is there and what he is supposed to do).

Visually flat, uninspired, and borderline insufferable it plays like an interminable cut-scene from a rushed, over produced, obligatory late series IP video game. The worldbuilding and overall narrative are incoherent. The only actual emotion on display comes, rarely, from the robots. The product placement is excruciating. The whole experience is insulting in its clearly deliberate lack of any semblance of quality.

This is one of the most expensive movies ever made, at a budget of $320M one must ask, where did it all go? How many great movies or TV series did Netflix not make in order to make this...cinematic malignance.

It brings to mind that scene from Billy Madison when the principle says "Everyone is now dumber."

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't See It.

'CHAOS: The Manson Murders' A Review

CHAOS: The Manson Murders is a documentary from Errol Morris about the titular case, the subsequent enduring cultural fascination with the case, as well as the idea Mason may have had involvement with covert government operatives who were in turn connected to covert ops MK-Ultra and Operation: CHAOS. Through archival footage and talking-head interviews, conducted as usual by Morris himself, these ideas are explored.

At first blush the subject matter seems a bit mainstream from one of, if not the, greatest living documentarians but it becomes increasingly clear Morris is less interested in the particulars of the case and more in it's broad and lasting appeal and what it may have to tell us about our past that could inform our present. No surprise, the film looks great, it's paced great, it's perfectly scored. It's a return to form for Morris whose 2017 limited series Wormwood was stunning but who hasn't had a knock out feature since 2008's Standard Operating Procedure.

Through the Mason case and the people involved in it from perpetrators to journalists compelling questions are raised that echo through our current landscape of blind political homogenization and surreptitious and overt government overreach. It reminds us that systems of control have always been in place, that those in power have always sought to perfect those systems of control, and any wistful talk of past benevolence in the government in the US are woefully naïve.

It informs but it stirs fear. It entertains but it cautions.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't Miss It.

Let It Slide

after giving up booze
pills and powders

deception in various forms

the ongoing and perpetual task

is the search and attainment

of peace, inside

the obstacle of which

is the impulse to control

anxiety and worry

the battle against

the pervasive day-to-day creep

of the untoward, the unsettled

letting that which does not matter

truly go

The daily struggle.