Bong-Joon Ho's THE HOST (2006)

A monster movie always needs a bit

Of slapstick, but these laughs come with a punch

Right to the gut. A class on how this fit

Together could, sure, benefit a bunch

Of students. Here the monster shows up soon

And clearly, and is sinuous and cool

And interesting to watch, at night or noon

(That's right: broad daylight, often tough and cruel

To creatures, only makes this better! I

Would nothing change, unless, perhaps I'd give

To Chekhov's archer more to do than fly

That arrow; Doona Bae just makes me live. 

But Ko Asung does, too, and Kan-Ho Song

Paired with her never, ever, can go wrong!

Aindriu Green's RAIN (2018)

The trolley problem, one that's old but good
Is illustrated in a brand new way.
A simple set and no effects e'er should
Be put to uses such as these, I'd say
(Though here, the valley is too canny - the
A.I. is just a human actress in the room,
Though excellent. But my own disbelief
Should be suspended for a short!). A doom
Has come upon a big tycoon. No grief
For him, though, only duty to find out,
Not whodunnit, but why. As stories go
This one is tight and challenging. I'd like
To see more of this fellow's work, to know
What else he and this crew, too. This strikes
Me as a good beginning all around.
Each aspect's great, yes, even light and sound.

Denis Villeneuve's NEXT FLOOR (2008)

The Platform, if reversed and cut way down
Is how we might describe this now, but ere
That weird conceit came this short, grey and brown
Yet glistening, a feast no one would dare
Partake of, yet these diners gorge despite
Some risks. Not since Pete Greenaway set out
To ruin restaurants has food less brought appetite
Up to the fore. What's all of this about?
It's short, go look on YouTube, but prepare
For frightfulness and creepiness and sounds
Of dining that will make you never care
To feed again as staffers make the rounds
A-keeping up the flow of haute cuisine
E'en as we slowly guess what this all means.

Jacob Hamilton's JUMP SHOT: THE KENNY SAILORS STORY (2020)

If Bud were not so tall, nor Ken so short

Wyoming wouldn't have its special place

In history, at least that of the sport

Of basketball. Sure, in the dash and chase

Along the boards, another would have made

The change, would add that third dimension to

An earthbound, static game, but how he played

Deserves this treatment. He played that way through

His life entire.  All of the talking heads

In praise of what he did when young are great, 

As are the fun cartoons, but this tale treads

Much longer, deeper paths. He's of my state,

But left his mark worldwide. I do, though, call

Bullshirt on one thing: why no Eric Schaal?

P.S. Hi Fennis. We love you, too

Greg Mottola's PAUL (2011)

Encounters that come close to pure delight, 

As this one did, are few and far between. 

I'd rather focus on what they got right

Than on what made this miss (except that queen

Of off-tone awkwardness, Ms. Kristen Wiig).

The leads are charming, innocent and fun, 

The laughs to be had here are sometimes big, 

And money spent on SFX, for one,

Was not misspent. The slight twist at the end

Was good but maybe not a great surprise. 

That's fine. A film need not always depend

On that to work. The time spent viewing flies

At least as well as Paul's slow-rising craft.

It's sweet and light, and hey, it made me laugh. 

Bong-Joon Ho's MOTHER (2009)

A bit Twin Peaks and Hitchcock, but instead

Of hard-boiled gumshoes or the FBI,

Our sleuth is someone's mama. A girl's dead;

And all assume it's this poor, simple guy

Who's duped into confessing. But in fact

Did he commit the deed? His mom says no

And sets herself to keeping full, intact

Her baby's honor. No Miss Marple, though

Is she. Her sordid course through what occurred

A girl's last night is full of error and

Of churning images that soon are stirred

Into a muddy moral mess (on-brand

For Ho) shows off how Hye-Ja Kim can dance

Through any scene or mood, given the chance. 

Marek Polgar's EXIT (2011)

The cam'ra does what we are not allowed

To do: look straight up in a city scape,

Or closely at small textures that the crowd

Around us shoves us past. Here we may gape

At these and more! And there's a story, too,

Of those who treat their city as a kind

Of puzzle to be solved. I like to move

Through urban spaces as they do, to find

What others miss in passing. Ghosts, they go

From shot to perfect shot, exchange remarks,

And take their cryptic notes. I want to know

The world they are escaping with their charts. 

Another fascination: talking scenes

Are strangely cut, as though these are my dreams. 

L.Q. Jones' A BOY AND HIS DOG (1975)

Four years from now, if COVID ain't the thing
(Oh, sorry, Blood, I know that's not a word)
The bombs might get us. What would take the sting
From such a fate would be, I might have heard,
A cyber-telepathic cranky hound
To find me partners, call for popcorn, sense
What I cannot, while making not a sound
That any else can hear. 'Twould be intense.
The mutt might well have Unca Harlan's voice!
Don Johnson isn't bad, for once. No one
At twenty-something always sucks. Rejoice!
On balance, 'tis a silly romp, and fun
Across the 'pockyclypse. I'd take a K.I.T.T.
In canine form along for sure! No spit!

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's THE PLATFORM (2019)

I'm told that quitting smoking really sucks, 

But so much that you'd choose to undergo

A treatment such as this, that gets you stuck

In Kafka's, Sade's and Howey's nightmare, though?

A tour through greed and hunger, mistrust, fear

And haute cuisine, where trigger warnings must

Abound! To say this film is somewhat weird

Is to opine that Dune involves some dust. 

The allegory's heavy, and I look

To soon be spending time exploring names 

As though this were a brutal Gene Wolfe book.

At any rate, it lives up to the claims

You're hearing, both admiring and annoyed. 

And so a little bit more faith's destroyed...