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?

Ivan Engler's CARGO (2019)

It's cold in outer space, and lonely, too. 

A four - year trip aboard a cargo ship,

With eight-month shifts alone, while all the crew

But you is hibernating, gets a grip

On mind and body. Engler here partakes

Of A. Tarkovsky, Ridley Scott, and, yes,

Of Kubrick. Spacecrafts shown are dark, with lakes

(Well, shallow pools) of water, and a mess

Like YoYoDyne Propulsion! Atmosphere

Is paramount in moody sci - fi flicks, 

And this has it in spades. And, too, the sheer

Unpleasantness of all aboard will fix

Attention on the dreariness yet more,

As will the silences that form the score.