Polar Vortex

Severe, certainly
but denizens
of the middle west
are not alien
to winter's teeth
and as the city
slows, then stops
there is no surprise
or fear
only dogged preparation
and tacit
camaraderie
followed by
a resigned patience
for the inevitable
melt.

Cough Drop Lady

First off
I'm sorry
for coughing so much
in our crowded train
not the best way
to start the work day
for either of us

Secondly
thank you
for the cough drop
all the other commuters
ignored my mild suffering
and you helped
for which I'm grateful.

'Glass' A Review

Glass is a superhero thriller the completion of the M. Night Shyamalan trilogy preceded by Unbreakable, and Split. The Horde(James McAvoy) has captured four cheerleaders and David Dunn(Bruce Willis) and his son Joseph(Spencer Treat Clark) are on his trail. When the two come into confrontation the cops and psychiatrist Dr. Staple(Sarah Paulson) capture them. They are locked up in a mental institution along with Mr. Glass(Samuel L. Jackson). Dr. Staple attempts to convince them they are not superhuman beings and are merely suffering various delusions. The three conspire to break out and show the world that they are real.

The titular character played by Jackson is one of the most compelling but is given exceedingly little to do spending the majority of the run time in a catatonic state. When Jackson is actually allowed to act he gives a couple tantalizing monologues but is starkly underutilized. Willis continues his decade long streak of minimal to no effort in the acting department, he is so vacant and reserved he is barely doing anything. McAvoy continues his energetic versatile performance from Split but the story is so much more muddled and disparate it isn't as effective as the first go-around. Paulson is criminally used, her sole purpose is as a conduit for exposition. The cast is stacked with some incredible actors but they are given little coherent to actually do, the story is more concerned with its own convoluted machinations than investigating the interesting characters that inhabit it.

Visually the film has some interesting set-piece moments but, as with the narrative, has little coherence. There is no universal color palate like there is in some of Shyamalan's earlier more successful work and as a result the cinematography is ultimately relatively pedestrian. There are a number of POV shots from various characters, which is at least, kind of unique, but they are relatively unmotivated and happen so often their impact fails.

There are some intriguing moments, some funny moments, and it is pleasing to see the various characters again but after the promising Split this seems to be unfortunately a return to form for Shyamalan's later work- muddy, boring, and clueless. For a filmmaker who began with such success and promise who then spent a deserved time in the cinematic dog house its kind of astonishing who colossal a missed opportunity Glass turned out to be.

Stream It.

Top 5 Movies Of 2018

Top 5:
BlacKkKlansman
Eight Grade
Minding The Gap
Roma
Tully

Honorable Mentions:
Black Panther
Cold War
Crazy Rich Asians
Game Night
Leaning Into The Wind
Leave No Trace
Mandy
Three Identical Strangers
Thoroughbreds
You Were Never Really Here

Top 5 Disappointments:
Damsel
Hereditary
The King
Mute
A Wrinkle In Time

Most Underrated:
Upgrade

Most Overrated:
A Star Is Born

Worst Movies Of The Year:
Susperia
The Mule

Performances Of The Year:
Olivia Coleman & Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Regina Hall, Support The Girls
Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here
Charlize Theron, Tully
John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman

Scenes Of The Year:
Birth of a Nation/Harry Belafonte crosscut, BlacKkKlansman
Theological discussion, First Reformed
Bathroom freak out, Mandy
Unbroken-take car-ride, Widows
Mr. Rogers testimony, Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Blood Will Tell

Shoulders slumped
feet a-shuffle
head bowed
bodies huddled

Winter's bite
brings misery
the season's cold
a treachery

But the chill is in
my blood and bone
born and raised
with sleet and snow

Trying it can be
pitted against the freeze
with only will and serenity
yearning for Summer's ease

But I'd never trade
long Winter's night
or the glare
of frost burned white.

'Cold War' A Review

Cold War is a drama shot in black and white set in post-war Poland about the love affair between two musicians Wiktor(Tomasz Kot) and Zula(Joanna Kulig) whose relationship starts off as student and teacher but then grows into a bizarre and contentious years-spanning love affair. The film begins in 1949 as Wiktor and partner Irena(Agata Kulesza) roam the country side recording folk music in preparation for starting an elite music school celebrating and preserving Polish culture, of which Zula is a student. The communist party co-ops the school for propaganda purposes and the two separate beginning a decade of emotional infatuation, neglect, and destruction.

Kot and Kulig have incredible chemistry and effortless play out this complicated, compelling, and frankly lunatic relationship believably over the course of almost twenty years. Kot is the more understated, quiet, seething, alternatively miserable and elated. Kulig has the showery role, the more difficult, and she throws herself into the extremes and irrationalities with abandon and a courageous allure. The supporting cast are all pitch perfect and unilaterally lean in to individual peculiarities making the story which may seem pedestrian on paper come to life in delicious and exceedingly strange ways.

Writer/director Paweł Pawlikowski follows 2013's incredible Ida with this equally astonishing film. The luscious and stark black and white cinematography create a livid and memorizing back drop for this decades spanning romantic struggle. The brief running time and sharp, immaculate editing waste no time in propelling us forward in time and through the story dropping us into scenes and trusting the audience to infer the necessary information which, oddly, draws you even more fully into the already engaging film.

A lively, mystifying, and utterly engrossing "love" story. Reminiscent of Unbearable Lightness of Being but like actually good.

Don't Miss It.

'If Beale Street Could Talk' A Review

If Beale Street Could Talk is a period drama adapted from the book of the same name by James Baldwin. The film unfolds in a non-linear structure and opens on Tish(KiKi Layne) telling her family that she's pregnant with her childhood friend and lover Fonny's(Stephan James) baby. The news is complicated by the fact he's wrongfully incarcerated. The film then cuts back and forth in time showing the main couples love affair as well as the family's attempts at Fonny's exoneration.

The supporting cast are all incredible Regina King and Colman Domingo as Tish's parents are particularly mesmerizing. Giving nuanced, grounded, emotive performance in the brief flashes we get of them. Brian Tyree Henry also, in virtually only one scene, manages to make a significant impact on the film. The opening scene with both Tish's and Fonny's family is totally electric and raises the bar high for the film which is never able to get back to the level of engagement. Unfortunately both Layne and James either don't achieve or aren't given much in the way of character development. They are mostly blank ciphers for the protracted close ups and the long, wistful, overly scored scenes in which they inhabit. The are more a romantic idea of a fated couple in love rather than actual characters, there performances are more lyrical than emotional and as such they don't necessarily evoke the required empathy that the story needs to sustain itself. The most engaging scenes are almost all ones they are not in.

The non-linear structure is a good device but at this point, since it's arguable advent in 1994's Pulp Fiction, it is no longer new and doesn't have the automatic attraction it once did. Does it fail? No. But it doesn't really bring extra to the film. The voiceover, presumably a way to incorporate the source material, is dissonant as is the real-world stills that occasionally accompany it. They distract rather than enhance a story that doesn't need them. If Layne and Fonny were allowed to act, if we could see scenes of their families living their lives, the expositional and historical information provided in the VO would be inferred more authoritatively and with more elegance. The score, unquestionably gorgeous, is to ever-present. It pounds when it should creep, blasts when it should seethe. It also, at times, takes away from the job the performers are already expertly doing.

Writer/Director Barry Jenkins sophomore feature is unquestionably a competent and worthwhile film however it seems to have less confidence in itself and with its audience than did the totally assured and harmonious Moonlight. Perhaps some of the discord is a result of the adaptation process, attempting to adhere too close to or go too far from the source material. There are some amazingly composed shots and a handful of masterfully acted moving scenes but the sum doesn't quite add up to a coherent whole.

Flawed but ambitious, beautiful but somewhat underwhelming.

Rent It. 

Ragnarök

When I die
I pray
to awaken
in Valhalla
surrounded
by brothers and sisters
feasting
trumpeting song
preparing
for the end
and the new dawn.

'A Dog's Way Home' A Review

A Dog's Way Home is a family adventure movie about a pit bull mix Bella(voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard) in Denver raised in a dilapidated shack by a cat, adopted by a neighbor boy Lucas(Jonah Hauer-King) and his veteran mom Terri(Ashley Judd), then fostered by a family friend in New Mexico due to the Denver pit bull ban. As Lucas goes to pick up Bella after moving to Golden Bella jumps the fence and begins the 400 mile trek back home. She wanders for two years having adventures until finally reuniting with Lucas.

There's nothing much to distinguished the cast of this relatively unambitious feel-good movie save for the inclusion of an incongruous amount of legendary actors- Ashley Judd, Wes Studi, and Edward James Olmos. Their parts are particularly demanding and the other actors, Hauer-King most egregiously, can't really compete. But it is an odd, serviceable cast on the whole.

The tone of the movie is somewhat bizarre, a mash of squish Hallmark feelings with some exceedingly morbid/disturbing moments not to mention the repeated, poorly rendered CGI animals. The rollercoster of borderline illogical plot the story goes through in order to set the dog on her way home is a little tiresome. But ultimately the movie succeeds as an entertaining, mostly thoughtless, piece of fluff like diet Homeward Bound.

Stream It.

Zero Gravity

Among comedians
the subject of influence
is often discussed
and I never say much
when it comes to SNL
Strangers With Candy
or Kids In The Hall
for I was struck
not by interest
but necessity
when, at 12
my sister, 16
domestic tensions grew
what with curfew
driver's licence
and potential romance.

The moment
when lightning struck
was one evening when
my sister planned to go
to Zero Gravity
our local non-alcoholic
teen dance club
as the discussion of her attendance
escalated to argument
a circuit tripped
and I inserted my child self
into the conflict
and began to recite
with affectation
the low-budget
commercial for Zero G
interspersed
with pulsing mouth percussion
and as my performance
gained momentum
they both began to laugh
and the pressure eased
my sister left
the contest of wills delayed
if not resolved
my first attempt
at pre-teen satire
and my first lesson
in the power of comedy.

'Stan & Ollie' A Review

Stan & Ollie is a biopic about the latter days of legendary comedy duo Laurel & Hardy.  The film opens in 1937 on the production of Way Out West where Stan Laurel(Steve Coogan) and Oliver "Babe" Hardy(John C. Reilly) have a falling out over their studio contracts. Flashfoward sixteen years and the remainder of the film takes place as the famous duo, their stars waned, tour Europe to make money and in hopes of relaunching their film careers.

Both Coogan and Reilly give elegant, nuanced performances, their "impressions" may not be spot-on but they're close and both are able to channel the charm, humor, and palpable chemistry of the famous comedy team. They really shine when they revive, reinvent, and in some instances completely imitate Laurel & Hardy bits and routines. The final scene of the film, the closing act of their stage show, is a dance routine and its one of the most arresting scenes of the year. The two actors capture the heartbreaking reality of the aging-out artist, the fading of relivance, the decline of ability. That straightfoward look at the once-great breaking down, both physically and within an industry that has moved on, is the most fascinating aspect of the film and Coogan and Reilly take such care and empathy in their performances.

The other aspects of the film aren't as successful. The plotting follows a conventional, plodding, biopic format and conflict between the two leads is manufactured periodically(between the two of them or with their respective wives) in order to propel the action. But the conflict is virtually unnecessary.  What is engaging about the film is how the two stars, aged out, surpassed by evolving taste and younger talent grapple with their impending irrelevance. All the rest is distraction and loses the magic the film captures. The obvious almost saccharine score doesn't help coming in continually aggressively telegraphing emotions the actors are already nimbly eliciting.

An amateur script with two excellent leads.

Rent It.

Increasing Efficiency: 2019 Update to Policies and Procedures

The reality is
it's never about progress
it's about the illusion
of progress
like testimonials
in pharmaceutical commercials
performative
and substanceless.

'Aquaman' A Review

Aquaman is a superhero movie, the latest in DC's attempt to compete with Marvel, this time with some actual success. The movie opens in 1985 at a lighthouse and the meeting of Aquaman aka Arthur's parents one human(Temuera Morrison) and one Atlantian(Nicole Kidman). Flashfoward to a year after the events of Justice League and Aquaman(Jason Momoa) is being the superhero he is saving a Russian submarine from a group of hijackers. Uh-oh! Turns out those hijackers are in league with Aquaman's half-brother, war-hungry Atlantian King Orm(Patrick Wilson). Aquaman must confront his past and perhaps reclaim his birthright in order to save the land dwelling humans.

Momoa brings his everyman-fratboy charm to bare to relative success and anchors the light almost campy tone of the movie. Balance out by the more sincere portrayls of his onscreen parents Kidman and Morrison. Wilson goes full-on teeth-nashing mustache-twirling villain which is pleasing for what it is. Heard as Mera Aquaman's defacto partner and love interesting is given the relatively thankless role of babysitter and near constant expositional conduit. With Willem Dafoe as Aquaman's teacher, in flashbacks, and current kings adviser he gives one of the most flat and lifeless performances of his career. The story doesn't necessarily require the cast to go beyond the minimal so the wild variance in tone from performance to performance doesn't particularly matter but it is odd.

Rich visuals and compelling action sequences are clearly the focus and as such succeed significantly beyond that of the character arcs. Director James Wan is adept at large scale, with two set piece sequences, Aquaman and Mera fleeing the rift creatures and the concluding battle, having a sense of scale, chaos, but also coherence. Humor, broadness, and a goofy sincerity run through the movie, differentiating it from DC's previous propensity for bleak nihilism.

Mild popcorn entertainment, impressive only in context to DC's recent litany of failures.

Stream It. 

'The Mule' A Review

The Mule is a drama directed by and staring Clint Eastwood about real life elderly drug mule Leo Sharp that transported thousands of pounds of cocaine for a Mexican drug cartel. The movie opens on Earl Stone(Clint Eastwood) a beloved central Illinois horticulturist tending his flowers. He goes to a flower expo, wins an award, and glad-hands with his peers at a local bar. This is happening at the same time as his daughter's wedding. We then flashfoward to his granddaughters engagement party and it is revealed that his family and his business have collapsed. Through a reference from one of his granddaughter's acquaintances he becomes a drug mule and kind of(?) befriends some of the men he works with until the DEA gets on his trail and the cartel is taken over by a meaner(?) regime.

With a few exceptions(Bradley Cooper, a handful of nameless cartel members) the performances are all wildly imbalanced and tonally uneven. Dianne Wiest and Alison Eastwood(as Stone's ex-wife and daughter respectively) for example ave huge outbursts of emotion that are not really responded to by the other actors they play off of to the point they seem to belong in a different movie. Ignacio Serricchio's performance is so underdevloped and flat its as if he is struggling simply to remember his lines. Every scene with Laurence Fishburne is in a hall way or office and every third line of his is "Ok, get it done." Eastwood himself has a few flashes of competency and charm but mostly mumbles and grumbles his way through a wild variety of actions and behaviors of his character with no real throughline or coherence. The "character's" propensity for dancing with younger woman as well as visiting prostitutes culminates in a truly egregious scene of Eastwood topless with two women a quarter his age also topless stopping just short of an out-and-out sex scene, doubly baffling and repugnant given this aspect of the "character" has no real place in the story and adds nothing to it. It is, transparently, an excuse for Eastwood, the director, to grope young attractive women. Woof.

Over the past decade Eastwood's patented one-take style of working has really deteriorated to the point his past several movies feel amateurish in their editing and especially in their performance. The story of an elderly drug mule is interesting, I suggest reading the New York Times article on which the movie is based, but The Mule is a muddled confusing mess of zero character development and a truly incompetent script. What is interesting and compelling about the true story is seemingly lost in thin characterizations and a meandering plot that touches on everything but focuses on nothing.

Compare this to this years The Old Man & The Gun and it makes you sad Robert Redford has announced his retirement and it makes you hope that Eastwood will.

Don't See It.

Holidaze

After days
of travel-
obligation
and
celebration-
I lay my head
in my partner's lap
unburdened
for a time.

'Bumblebee' A Review

Bumblebee is an action movie, a prequel to 2007's Transformers and the sixth in the franchise. The movie opens on the war for the Transformers home planet as the good Autobots are forced to flee against the hordes evil Decepticons. Autobot leader Optimus Prime charges B-127 with going to and safeguarding Earth as a rendezvous for the Autobots. B-127 is damaged and disguises itself as a VW Bug. Sometime later it is picked up at a junk yard by Charlie(Hailee Steinfeld), the two develop a surprising friendship, and B-127 is dubbed the titular Bumblebee. The Decepticons are still on the hunt however and Charlie and Bumblebee must work together to thwart them.

Steinfeld brings her burgeoning charm to bear in this relatively straightforward role, alternatively sincere and sweet but not terribly complicated, she plays at least a character and isn't on display for the male gaze, a vast improvement from some of the other installments in the franchise. The supporting cast all give solid if not terribly sophisticated performances- John Cena as the suspicious government official, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Charlie's love struck neighbor, Pamela Adlon as Charlie's mom(criminally underutilized), John Ortiz in a brief role- actually the casting is relatively inspired and all are able to pivot from and balance with the action/comedy tone with some stabs at genuine emotion.

On it's own Bumblebee is an entertaining enough action movie, with a vein of solid comedy running through it, with some surface attempts at straightforward emotional engagement. Taken in the context of the Transformers series it is a real triumph. The action has more clarity than any sequence in the earlier installments, the characters have more depth and actual discernible feelings, and the story has stakes, consequences, and concern for collateral damage unlike the grim metallic parade of destruction the series is known for.

On it's own, serviceable, taken in context a surprise.

Rent It.

'Support The Girls' A Review

Support The Girls is a dramedy about a day in the life of the manager Lisa(Regina Hall) of a Hooters style restaurant Double Whammies in suburban Texas. Lisa tries to maintain her relentless positivity while running an unauthorized car wash, facilitating the various interpersonal needs of her staff, dealing with unruly customers as well as her estranged husband and ungrateful boss.

Hall gives an understated performance that steadily unfolds and opens up into something truly flawless. The balance she strikes, the reality she's able to convey, the empathy she shows to the other characters and by extension evokes in us, all taken together by the end of the film it is, in total, a really seismic portrayal. She is funny and emotional but all crescendos and moments build slowly with the mellow and almost mundane feeling of reality. The supporting cast are all equally kind of perfect, all fitting together into this story that feels very True and important but without any pretension and with almost no cinematic style conflict. Things happen but they transpire naturally, it is easy for us to imagine ourselves in this story, in this town, in this restaurant, because it is a reflection of us.  Haley Lu Richardson as Maci and Shayna McHayle as Danyelle are the other standouts as Lisa's second-in-commands at the restaurant. Both turns are subtle yet buoyant, inhabiting the story with power and presence but not a heavy hand.

Writer/Director Andrew Bujalski does his most compelling work since 2005's Mutual Appreciation. Because of his slice-of-life style and realistic dialogue all of his films have a feeling of authenticity but Support The Girls not only has that but taps into the current cultural moment with a startling amount of grace. The film addresses race, sexism, divorce, economics but not directly, various issues are shown in how they actually manifest in day-to-day interactions. We follow Lisa on this day- her struggles and past, her ambition and sorrows are all implied, inferred. There is very little that is specifically spelled out as far as plotting or back story and that serves to further the engagement, serves to heightened those moments of actual confrontation and celebration.

Criminally, the film was only briefly released in select cities but is available on Hulu or for rent on Amazon.

Don't Miss It.