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.

Stream It.

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.

Stream It.

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.