Geoff Davis' WILLIAM KELLY'S WAR (2014)

Long ere Bruce Wayne went bats, one Billy K

His brother and his cousin, duty-bound,

Signed up to fight the Great War far away.

Meanwhile in Oz, bad guys were all around

The fam'ly spread, and Billy's sis was cute!

So many genres in one movie! There's 

War stuff and hot revenge -- watch Billy shoot

Unerringly wherever Billy fares!

His mother speechifies, his sister shrinks

From nothing, and his brother's Batman, too!

The script is tight, the music's fine, the links

'Twixt shell-shock and rough justice, they feel true. 

The Brothers Davis, though, are writers first. 

I can't quite call their acting, though, the worst.

Sidney Poitier's BUCK AND THE PREACHER (1972)

Now, westerns haven't ever been my thing, 

But bareass Belafonte caught my eye

(I'm only human) and to watch him sling

A shooter or a bible... And just why

Did I not know this film had e'en been made?

Best late than never yes, but Sidney's first

Directing job, I should have known. And wait, 

Who's snoggin' him but Ruby Dee! And hers

Is one demanding role. Each perfect scene, 

Of action, tenderness, or funny stuff

Is clear and gorgeous, woke AF and keen

To tell a story nowhere near enough

Gets shared, of black life in the great Old West.

Of westerns I have seen, I like this best!

Michael Gracey's THE GREATEST SHOWMAN (2017)

I think I'd rather that I could have heard

Real opera from the Swedish Nightengale,

But Broadway types, have probably preferred

A modern style. And style must e'er prevail

In show biz. This is Barnum simplified

And made into the spectacle. A real 

And factful film, as others might have tried,

Would fail where this succeeds, a bit, I feel.

My eyes betimes did want to roll, of course

I mean, I saw Zac Efron on trapeze!

So many stories wandered from the source. 

Viz... Tom Thumb gets no wedding? And, puh-lease,

The Eng twins as a sight gag in each dance

Instead of getting lines, screen time, a chance?

Pella Kagerman's and Hugo Lilja's ANIARA (2018)

A Bergman film in space, reviewers say,

Yet I think Wheatley's High Rise might compare

More accurately to this chilly play

On tragic commons, time and human cares. 

A spaceship goes adrift and all aboard

Are all they've got. The story as here told

Is not of character. It's how a horde

Of people change their folkways. Growing old

Aboard a space bus was in no one's plan,
And once the holodeck-oid suicides,
There's not a lot to do, but, man oh man
The sexy cults! The false hopes! As long rides
Might go this one is rough. I must say, though
I love it when an old broad steals the show.

Vince Gilligan's EL CAMINO (2019)

I'm broken really bad, so glad to see

These characters again, to see the rich

Imagined Albuquerque world, to be

Escaping with the man who just says "bitch!"

Yes, Cap'n Cook has come a long, weird way.

Each shot says something, often more than one

Idea comes through, and ev'ry flashback pays

Us off, like Bill and Ted placed Chekov's gun.

It's cinematic as the TV show

(And that's a lot); motifs of cars and bars

Remind us of the stakes and then, you know

Just look at all of Jesse Pinkman's scars!

It leaves us in a good place, yes, but then

I think I have to watch the show again. 

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. 

Frant Gwo's THE WANDERING EARTH (2019)

That China can make big, dumb movies, too

Should not surprise me, but I didn't think

A Cixin Liu tale would inspire a true,

If gorgeous, Hollywood-style pile of stink.

The visuals, I will say, are superb, 

The actors charismatic, one and all, 

The script though? E'en allowing for the derb - -

I mean the dubbing - - was what I must call

(If charity did move me) what the duck?!?

A grander scale of action we could not

Have asked for, yet we must believe our luck

Has brought us engines that, when they get hot 

Can move our planet, yet one family

From out of billions, saves us all? I see...