Vestiges

I woke up
predawn

shivering

teeth chattering

a result

of my covid booster

and I felt a perverse

nostalgia

for my drinking days

this sick feeling

like a visit

from an estranged friend

the ghost

of withdrawals past

'Barbarian' A Review

 Barbarian is a horror movie about Tess(Georgina Campbell) who books an Airbnb in Detroit as she's there for a job interview. To her surprise the house is in a rundown/mostly abandoned neighborhood and is double booked. After some trepidation she and Keith(Bill Skarsgård) decide to share it for the night. But the house holds more secrets than meets the eye!

Campbell puts in commendable effort, giving a good performance with a role that frequently strains credulity. Skarsgård is always nice to see, his equally natural and unsettling screen presence is a nice addition to any movie, but it feels a bit like stunt casting(particularly coming off his turn as Pennywise), really kind of hammering home the creepy v. sincere dynamic that the first of many turns hinges on. It is great to see Justin Long who not only maintains his comedic bonafides but gives the role surprising, topical dimension. And he's a huge asshole, not something we typically see from him.

Visually the movie is crisp, switching from hand-held to POV to static shots, it gives it a nice fluidity and immersive quality. There's also a brashness to the editing which is exciting, at times drastically pulling us away from the action only to inexorably pull us back(like the protagonist herself). 

There are some problems, there are multiple actions taken by Tess which are huge asks to believe that eclipse the horror trope of the person going into the place they shouldn't. The way the character is presented, she is too smart and savvy to get into the situation which really kicks off the plot, but once she's there(if you can get past that) the story really starts rolling. There's also a focus on making some socio-political commentary which doesn't exactly work, there's simply too many balls in the air for that one to really land. It's an interesting effort, ambitious, but the already good movie would be better if some of that was streamlined.

An exciting, engaging, if not flawless genre flick.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

See It.

A Void

My friend is gone
not dead, moved
but the space he left-

only in his absence

do I realize it's vastness

the uncertainty

he left behind

not anything acute

nothing drastic

but a persistent ache

a phantom limb

'Morbius' A Review

Morbius is a superhero movie about a doctor who splices his DNA with vampire bats to cure his blood illness only to turn himself into a kind-of vampire.

Jared Leto plays the titular hero and he's not bad but he's not particularly interesting either, he's bland as is the paint-by-numbers story in which he's in. Matt Smith the villain goes a little more ham which is fun but he too doesn't have that much to do. The supporting cast boasts some talent but the narrative in general is so thin its difficult to care about anyone.

Visually the movie is pretty impressive, the action sequences and the way Morbius's powers are displayed are pretty cool. It's really the only reason to watch this, at home, streaming for free, while you're doing something else. It's just diverting enough to half-watch while chores get done. It doesn't have enough of a personality to take much issue with.

At it's best, decent background noise.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Stream It.

Words Have Power

During the 5k
the camp director Mike

pulled up along side me

in a golf cart

shooting footage

(for the next season's promo vid)

and said "hey theater-guy,

what have you got, give us a line"

because by then

he knew I was a drunk

and that I hated his

dog shit rich kid camp

(he was fucking with me)

panting a bit but still clear I said

"Bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible"

(Shakespeare - Julius Caesar)

he was shocked

just nodded

as if it hadn't been rhetorical

hadn't been an attempt at shame

and drove away.

I kept running.

'Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.' A Review

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. is a dramedy/mocumentary about the attempted comeback of megachruch pastor Lee-Curtis(Sterling K. Brown) and first lady Trinitie(Regina Hall) after a sexual abuse scandal.

Brown is full of electricity here, he's absolutely effervescent, channeling both the true believer and equally the absolute huckster. He builds the character with complexity and energy but ultimately the script's interrogation of the character doesn't meet his portrayal. Hall in the less flashy roll is equally magnetic, with all this conflict, struggle, rage, and sorrow bubbling always below the service, clamped down by the mask of appearances, she's heartbreaking. And there is a fair amount of levity, which Brown and Hall can execute effortlessly, but the film careens from idea to idea, tone to tone in such a way that it feels more like a patch work than a cohesive whole.

Visually crisp if conceptually flawed. The mocumentary angle is used occasionally and not throughout and with very little explanation or transition. Scenes go from interview, to camera-crew observing scenes, to "normal" movie scenes without any rhyme or reason and without enough clarity for the audience to know at any given point which it is. Tonally it's confused too, with broad comedy mixed into some incredibly serious themes which are never particularly clear or delved into.

The film has a lot of ideas, a lot of ambition, and it shows incredible promise for first time writer/director Adamma Ebo but there is simply too much going on here.

Some great scenes and a great cast fail to coalesce into a great film.

Currently in theaters and streaming on Peacock.

Rent It.

Restless, Irritable, Discontent

The big three
for the recovering drunk

normal folks

just call it depression

When your breath goes sour

in your mouth

When the smallest slight

(and not even a slight)

causes a wave, a Tsunami

of reaction

When wherever you are

you'd rather be anywhere

else

The big three

roll in, make a spectacle

then slink off

into the dawn