Bill Pohlad's LOVE & MERCY (2014)

For Pet Sounds, if for nothing else, does Bri

Deserve to live in memory until

The sun swells angry red, the surf runs dry

And good vibrations have reached out to thrill

Andromeda. And here hath Paul and John

Enacted Brian's passion for us in

Two famous stations. Am I maybe on

The track to blasphemy? I'll speak my sin. 

Both men convinced me of his genius, and

His suffering, even as the edits make

His stories flow as one. I'll say there can

Be an entire film in just the takes

That went on in the studio, but that would

Deprive us, then, of Banks, who's also good!

Spike Lee's BLACKKKLANSMAN (2018)

A wilder story rarely has been told, 

And let alone so perfectly. Code Switch:

The Motion Picture, this, all hail, behold!

Flip Learns his Solidarity. A rich

Array of titles comes to mind! Spike Lee

Is never subtle (subtlety don't work).

This movie really had to come to be.

A work of pedagogy that should hurt

And did, but some pain comes from slapping thighs

And splitting sides. Laugh now, but soon you'll cringe

At what's put on display. Don't shield your eyes.

The tone, just like the code, is on a hinge.

High five with Ron and co., but soon you'll weep. 

Good art so often tends and cuts this deep. 

Garth Davis' LION (2018)

The waterworks are open; flow my tears.

But they were earned. I'm human, have a heart

And this film taps into our basic fears

Then tells us it gets better. For my part 

Patel should be a worldwide treasure, and

For once did Kidman not inspire my hate. 

But Wenham, he was wasted, though I'll hand

It to him, his screen time is just first rate. 

That first half hour, though! Evoking much 

Of what I love most from the native screens

Of India! Of Mehta, Ray and such!

I want the story whole, though, so it seems

I've soon a date with Saroo Brierly's book. 

Until I get it, I'll hang on this hook. 

Jim Jarmusch's THE DEAD DON'T DIE (2019)

Jim Jarmusch called in ev'ry favor that

Was owed him in the biz: that much is clear. 

The cast is that ridiculous. A frat

Could write this script, though. Sometimes it comes near

To cleverness, but then it has to dig

Right in our ribs. So meta, so much wit --

But not enough for comedy. A big

Ol' mess is what we have here, though some bits

Are quality, like Tilda Swinton's part.

She got to be a Scottish ninja... um.

Do these folks enjoy movies? In my heart

I think they don't. Here they're so smart, they're dumb, 

Unless it's the reverse? At least Tom Waits

And Iggy Pop had fun, I think, my mates.

Damien Chazelle's FIRST MAN (2018)

A biopic is not my fav'rite thing,

And of a standard white guy, much less so. 

An astronaut is special, but to bring

Those inner qualities out in a show

Without creating snooze fests -- that's a feat.

A lot of little choices, made just right --

Tight focus, under-use of flashy, neat

FX shots from the outside in the night

Made this about the man's experience.

I might have liked, though, slightly wider scope:

The "Whitey's on the Moon" scene represents 

A story under-shared. More than the trope

Of wounded heroes, that stuff caught my thought. 

I'd like to see more of its like. Why not?

Craig Gillespie's LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (2007)

A fantasy of kindness and support,
Of just the type that anyone would crave;
So fun to watch a quirky heartthrob court
A paracoita doll, a thing, a slave.
But nat'urally that's not what it's about.
Strange wounds sometimes, or always, do require
Strange medicines and gestures that would flout
Convention. Ev'ryone's sometimes a liar
To spare another's grief, fragility
Or naked need. Here, Ryan Gosling and
A cast of less-known colleages let this be
That simple. Moments breathe and tableaux stand.
Impossible! But movies partly let
Us dream of better. Best we don't forget.

Denis Villeneuve's BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017)

"As beautiful as 1982,"

It seems, was Denis' brief, a challenge met

And then some. When each frame is art, then you

Can lose the story, but this film won't let

That happen, as the actors' gazes are

Our guides to what's important. Too, the style

Of key performances well serves to bar

Our quick jumps to conclusions. All the while 

The practical effects (so stunning) keep

Us far from disbelieving what's before

Our eyes. And Zimmer does a perfect, deep

Vangelis for a perfect pastiche score.

Uncanny valley Rachel is a low,

But otherwise, this nears a perfect show!

Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman's LOVING VINCENT (2017)

The technical achievement's just the start, 

Though it is high; there's eye candy to spare.

To animate Van Gogh in oils took art, 

Attention, talent, time, indeed, and care. 

The actors, though, and those who filmed them 'fore

The rotoscope and painters took this on

Are wonderful to watch. And there's a score

By Clint Mansell as well! The script has gone

To that same well that Bernard Rose did when

Beethoven was the subject. Whodunnit?

Each time a charming sleuth who was a friend

Comes bearing final words and spends a bit

Of time exploring a great life reveals

A story squarely aimed at all our feels.

Lindsay Anderson's IF.... (1969)

Long ere young Alex ever found his droogs

Mick Travis did McDowell enact for us.

Long ere that ultraviolence made the news

This schoolboy kicked up ev'ry kind of fuss!

Chris Menges got some early licks in, too --

A wild Graham Crowden makes appearance, and

I'd wait for God with him, now, wouldn't you?

A charming fencing scene stays well in hand

But soon unruliness takes o'er. I'd like

All Zoomers to take notes on this as their

Own elders once crashed through on that there bike

And revolution claimed as their own share

But chose the yuppie lifestyle. Thatcher, Ron

Should not still set the fashions this far on!

Bong Joon-Ho's PARASITE 2019

To see Kang-Ho as Daddy once again

Is comforting, but as one e'er should know

He's no sweet Mr. Roger's type, as when

A Chekhov's Smell goes off! But there you go.

What's played for laughs at first of course gets dark

(Though still quite beautiful). And then that rock,

Itself a character, comes through to park

Itself right at the movie's heart. No shock

That Yeo-Jeong Jo steals ev'ry doe-eyed scene

She's in, or that Ho found a window frame

To be the vis'ual anchor, cracked and mean

Or so expansive that it seems a shame 

It's never shattered. Just too on the nose?

Perhaps! My love for Bon-Joon Ho just grows...