Robert Eggers' THE VVITCH : A NEW ENGLAND FOLK TALE (2015)

Bad parenting, ahoy! You didn't think

That only happens now, did you? A dad

Need not be violent, and needn't drink

To wreck a fam'ly's life. Then, too, a bad

Mom helps, especially when a big black goat,

With Chekov's giant horns, is also there. 

In truest ay-two-four style, you can vote:

Is this for "real" or did they all just share

Some ergot-madness? Too, it's well-conveyed

How ev'rything must stink, as well as why

(Yes, fetch the water downstream from the maid

Who's washing goat-shit from some clothes, oh aye!).

I'd like to see this done in black and white.

Such ambiguity might up the fright...

Armando Ianucci's THE DEATH OF STALIN (2017)

O Ianucci, could you ever fail?

The evidence so far says surely not!

And even though our thigh slaps turn to wails

Of shock and horror, watching people shot

To "keep the peace(!)", still we laugh loud and long

At yet another stunning combo: script

And perfect improv. I can only long 

For when this crew takes on the 45th

White House. Meanwhile, I think Buscemi could

Hold on with Malcolm Tucker. Some things must

Be roundly mocked, if only for the good

Of humankind. Though, when the filmic dust

Is settled, one thing would improve the lols:

If Beale and Tambour could have swapped their roles. 

Mika Kaurismäki's THE GIRL KING (2015)

Christina, Queen of Sweden, long has dwelt

Rent-free inside my head, e'er since I read

Of her in my Horizon mags. I felt 

A little more a rebel, in my head

For knowing she had lived. And Garbo brought

Her e'en more forward, so my standards for

A film about her are perhaps too high. 

There's some to like,  here, sure, but there is more

To who she was and what she did, than (sigh)

Her Countess. There's some quite good dialogue

At least, and all looks pretty, as it should.

It's not a bad film, though; it's not a slog. 

Is that enough, though, that I'd call it good?

Her odd upbringing isn't shown at all, 

Nor post-crowned life. Not sure 'twas their best call.