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...

Bert and Bertie's TROOP ZERO (2019)

It's Bad News Bears but minus the Bizet

With "Birdie Scouts" instead of baseball boys 

And where belongeth Tatum, rather, they

Have Charlie Shotwell. While there's much less noise

And cursing, there is cuteness here to spare.

The misfit kids are excellent and then 

Viola Davis plays for Matthau. Care

To guess how all this ends? Go 'head and spend

Some time with these wee charmers and you'll find

It spent amused enough. One extra, though, 

It's set back in the '70s. You'll find

The art direction nearly steals the show. 

It's got more edge than we expect from fluff, 

But in the end, no challenge. Just fun stuff. 

Greta Gerwig's LITTLE WOMEN (2019)

The novel is in many ways the star

Itself in this new adaptation. We

Start off with Jo a-publishing (we are

In awe that hand-penned manuscripts could be 

Considered, once) and time is split into

The "past" we know, the "present" near the end

Of Alcott's book. It works! I mean, if you

Consider Jo the heroine, my friend. 

The cast is great, and Massachusetts shows 

To best advantage. Chalamet, though, seems

Attenuated somehow. Heaven knows

Who thought he couldn't stand up to the schemes

Of these March girls at his more nat'ral height.

I hope Jo's Boys someday might see the light. 

Alan Rickman's A LITTLE CHAOS (2014)

The master of the micro-moue... I ne'er

Should be surprised that subtlety was brought

By Alan Rickman, film director. There 

Should be more like this. Ev'ry careful shot

Had grace and taste as surely would befit

The Sun King in his prime as were designed 

The gardens at Versailles. While not one whit

Of script is true, who cares? I didn't mind. 

And Winslet's fine, while Stanley Tucci steals

His scenes e'en as the scenery he chews

(But with refinement), though he gave me feels

In his one scene with Rickman. I would choose 

More films like this, had I the pow'r. Alas!

Nobody else wants tact, or style, or class?