'Deadwood: The Movie' A Review

Deadwood: The Movie is an HBO original film, a sequel and end to the Deadwood TV series that aired from 2004-2006. Ten years after the events of the final season Gem Saloon proprietor Al Swearengen(Ian McShane) is ill to the point of near death, Seth Bullock(Timothy Olyphant) is now a marshal and is happily married with three children, Sol Star(John Hawkes) and Trixie(Paula Malcomson) are expecting their first child. Enter the season 3 heavy, now Senator, George Hearst(Gerald McRaney) who returns to Deadwood for a celebration for the installation of telephone lines throughout the region.

For fans of the show The Movie more than delivers, we revisit the myriad of characters we came to know and love and for the most part they've all grown and matured(as have the actors) in some wonderful, tragic, and bittersweet ways. There is some beautiful echoing, as far as scenes/imagery/dialogue, to the series which creates a real sense of time and authenticity. But we still also get our favorite characters doing what they do best. It is especially pleasing to see McShane return to Swearengen, hamstrung by his failing health though he is, because the titanic Al is not depleted he's simply aging.

There is a lot to like about the film, how it effortlessly captures the feel of the series 15 years after it's conclusion, not an easy task as we have seen plagued as the pop culture landscape is by reboots and sequels. There is also a streak of age and regret the presumably mirrors writer/creator David Milch himself who is battling Alzheimer's disease. It's a remarkably poignant revisit to this amazing singular world, where the themes of ambition, community, and greed masked as progress resonate just as much as they ever did.

Streaming on HBO and probably not terribly satisfying if you haven't watched the show but a inspiring and thrilling return for Deadwood fans, for my money the greatest TV show of all time.

See It.

Birthday Dinner

Sharing food
has been communal
before homes were sedentary
clans and tribes would roam
but together feast,
sitting with my friends
in celebration of me
and our simple company
on the deck in the warm evening sun
we tap into some enduring thread
of humanity
we eat in this moment
together
and are grateful for it.

Mountain Reservoir

Another hike today, really stunning and we pretty much had the trails to ourselves. Adam and Beanpole are my oldest friends, about twenty years, and although we don't get see each other as often as we'd like to there is still this huge pool of shared experience and upbringing that makes it really wonderful and easy to reconnect and get on the same page. It can be easy to let the busyness of life fill up the schedule but it's important to plan trips and time off and to make time for those people that truly matter in your life.

Hiking Poem

Snow covered paths
soaking boots
mounting drifts
in peak pursuit.

Elevation exacts
a heavy toll
blinding sun
on melting snow.

Red-faced we
laugh and lunge
through banks knee high
prepared to plunge.

Summer Snow

 In Denver visiting my high school friend with my other high school bud. Went for a hike today in the mountains and there was three feet of snow in some places. Beautiful scenery but there came a point we had to turn around cause the path was snowed over. Pretty wild.

'Late Night' A Review

Late Night is a dramedy about late night talk show host Katherine Newbury(Emma Thompson who's long standing show is being cancelled because of declining ratings. Enter Molly Patel(Mindy Kaling) a chemical plant worker, and aspiring comedian who seemingly doesn't do comedy(?), who randomly gets an interview for the shows writing staff and is hired because of a mandate to hire a woman writer. Molly and Katherine develop an odd couple friendship or at least professional relationship which reignites Katherine's comedic passions and gives Molly an opportunity to fulfill her dream of writing for late night.

Thompson is a totally authentic delight, no surprise there, its nice to see her in a more modern role with some significant comedic range. The script isn't up to her colossal ability but her significant screen time is a treat. Kaling doesn't fair well opposite the Oscar winner, her performance is pretty flat, unbelievable, and underwritten. She's unable to make much of the, admittedly muddled and thin, emotional arch of the character. We have no real sense of who she is, what her comedic style is, or if she's even funny. The supporting cast, predominantly douchy white dudes, are fine I guess but they are given way to much screen time and attention for the idea of them being the butt of the joke to really play. Lithgow as the husband of Katherine is the one exception as a character with actual dimension but he is mostly sidelined.

It is refreshing to see this fictional world where one of the long standing late night talk show hosts is a woman, doubly so given Thompson is one of the greatest actors living, however the plotting of the show veers from bizarre to tone deaf to hopelessly dated.  The ivy league privilege of the writing staff isn't particularly challenged, the entitlement of the wealthy is kind of glossed over, and whatever feminist message is being attempted is undermined by the story itself and its cast. Because the reality is the majority of the speaking parts in the movie are given to white men, the writers room of the show is "transformed" at the end to be more diverse but it is done in a montage with no dialogue. Perhaps Kaling's intent was to show the "reality" of the writers room but if that is it it is not particularly interesting and it feels regressive rather than progressive. Why not see the comedy writers room we want rather than the ones we have type of thing. Plot wise this could have been done any number of ways.

A great idea, a wonderful Emma Thompson performance, and a real mess of a story.

Stream It.

Bridging The Gap

Sometimes
an absence
a void
is a wound
a hurt
made habitual
made ignorable
until
it is healed
then relief
then realization
the pain has been there
all along
but now banished
bridged.

I talked to a friend
I thought lost
not through conflict
or estrangement
but distance
and time
I found our connection
perhaps not iron
like once it was
but strong
and sustaining.

'The Last Black Man In San Francisco' A Review

The Last Black Man In San Francisco is an independent drama about two friends Jimmie(Jimmie Fails) and Mont(Jonathan Majors) living in San Francisco dealing with it's rapidly changing socio-economics and Jimmie's attempt to reclaim his childhood home.

Fails, also credited with the story, beautifully plays a fictionalized of himself. Quiet and searching, funny and kind. The performance pairs harmonically with the story and his chemistry with on-screen best friend played by Majors is effortless. Majors plays a bit more of a character, an eccentric playwright/actor with some odd social ticks but equally as compelling. The interplay between the two is so smooth and emotional it really centers the already Atlantic film around them. The supporting cast are equally authentic but the two best friends are the real heart and focus of the film, to its benefit.

Long graceful tracking shots follow Jimmie as he skateboards or he and Mont bus through the city and they show San Francisco in a very real, compelling, and because of the tech industry monopoly it's a city that is quickly disappearing, losing any semblance of culture or identity beyond the hipster yuppie. They are gorgeous(especially the opening) and there are number of set piece scenes(although most of them could be described that way) that are not only crisply, startlingly shot but are totally moving. Mont "directing" a group of arguing locals outside his house, the play that is essentially the films climax, Jimmie meeting with his father in his apartment, Jimmie running into his mother on the bus, a chance encounter with a character played by Thora Birch who may be Enid from Ghost World.

There is a lot of beauty and poetry and joy and sorrow in this utterly surprising and incredibly moving and often hilarious film. The first great film of the year.

Don't Miss It. 

'Men In Black: International' A Review

Men In Black: International is a scifi action comedy, the latest in the MIB series, both sequel and soft reboot. If the term "soft reboot" gives you pause, it should! After a childhood encounter with an alien Molly(Tessa Thompson) finally tracks down the headquarters of the Men In Black and is hired on a probationary period. She is sent to the London office and teams with Agent H(Chris Hemsworth) to guard a visiting dignitary who guards a precious item which is the key to saving the world from a convoluted and not terribly compelling threat.

The chemistry between Thompson and Hemsworth was proven in Thor: Ragnarok and it is virtually the only thing preventing this regurgitation of IP from being a total snooze fest. The pal around, trade quips, and push each others button in a charming and engaging way. The rest of the cast doesn't have much to do aside from propel the increasingly complicated and unnecessarily contrived plot.

The aesthetics and action sequences are relatively uninspired, the soundtrack negligible, and overall the production is a half-hearted attempt to simply recapture that of the 1997 original, which on the surface it does but fails to garner any of the wonder or bizarre-other-worldly interest. The script is the real detractor, ceaselessly stumbling forward without any time spent on character, fun, or any real surprises. The story feels like a decade old elevator pitch that was never flushed out.

Good to have on during chores based on the two leads undeniable star-wattage but not much else.

Stream It.

'The Dead Don't Die' A Review

The Dead Don't Die is a zombie comedy written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. The film opens on two Centerville officers Cliff(Bill Murray) and Ronnie(Adam Driver) confronting Hermit Bob(Tom Waits) about a chicken stealing compliant. The story sedately flows between the police, a group of young adults traveling through the town, a gas station attendant, a diner, a racist farmer, and a mortician all while zombies very slowly begin to range and kill.

Like most Jarmusch films the cast is stacked with talent, some Jarmusch die hards like Murray, RZA, and Tilda Swinton and newer additions to his ensemble like Adam Driver and Rosie Perez(as the defacto news anchor-narrator cheekily named as Posie Juarez). But Swinton is really the only one given much of a character which to play, albeit a totally bizarre and perhaps non-nonsensical one, at least she's having fun and doing something. The portrayal of the rest of the cast is relatively flat and unresponsive, presumably by intent, and perhaps this is in an attempt at telling something more allegorical than narrative but either way it isn't particularly effective.

The camera work is beautifully fluid, the soundtrack resonant and at times playful, the costumes pitch perfect. The issue, if there is one, is the message and it's deriving metaphor. Zombies and specifically zombie comedies are more than decade past their peek popularity so it's an odd one to use given how saturated the pop culture landscape has been. The message itself, presumably about the current state of the US, both socially and politically, about apathy and inaction in the face of crisis and impending doom, is, kind of on the nose? A bit too obvious with no real offer of hope or inspiration and as such doesn't particularly offer much either as a story or as a metaphor.

Periodically funny, pleasantly performed, impeccable production, but ultimately one of Jarmusch's more muddled offerings, more inline with the odd ultimately boring Limits Of Control rather than his two more recent inspired works Paterson and Only Lovers Left Alive.

Rent It.

I See You Fat Man

I would guess

it was your first time

on a rush hour train

you took up two seats

with your bags and girth

and compulsively chatted

with anyone

who glanced across your sightline.

Perhaps it was nerves or excitement

which made you so garrulous

I would guess

with your handlebar mustache,

sweatpants, and socks-with-sandals

you are a visitor in our city.

I'm glad that guy

gave you an RX bar

a small generosity

to welcome you to the Chi.

'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.