I was raped and the story reads like a rejected script; someone else’s gritty noir.
There are no cicadas in this poem—
no praise for the passing of seasons. No lover with a velvet touch.
There is nothing left to romanticize
I love the theme song, trailer, Firebird that never dies.
He climbs out wincing, has a hitch in his getalong.
Maybe after this I’ll watch some Magnum, P. I.
Her period blood
like a tight watch band
can’t wait to get it off
his arm, wrist, palm
if you love the liquid
then love all of her
Bob was on his back in the sand, holding a balled-up neckerchief and applying pressure to the gunshot wound below his left hip. We kneeled around him. Keisha pulled out a flashlight, and Mariah rolled her sleeves up to the elbow. Louis got a needle and thread out of his pack.
You will always be
you inside a dark theater
Watching yourself, you
adrift in your
effortless durability, you,
In the movie’s major turning point, set on a freight train, Jack finally admits that he’s stuck in the past because he can’t let go of his loved ones, even though they let him go long before. Jack Walsh in an empty box car moving through the desert at night, confronting the enormity of his grief, regret, and loneliness, became the movie’s central moment for me.
“I know what happens in the next scene Thomas. And all the other scenes. They’re just diversions to keep you from thinking about the pointlessness of it all. Like an Anderson movie. See he gets it, that’s why his movies don’t make any sense, they only make you think they do. “
100 WORD FILM REVIEWS / Pet Sematary
Fans of the original Pet Sematary bawl at any and all changes to their beloved 1989 horror classic, but believe me when I say the major change only strengthens the plot of this bleak Stephen King adaptation. While some of the pacing doesn't sit well with me (Rachel's telling of her relationship with her sister, Zelda, seems hurried in particular), the acting-- particularly from Jeté Laurence, is great. The major horror at the heart of this reimagining is grief, and this movie is steeped in it. It's worth your time and your dollars.
100 WORD FILM REVIEWS / Us
Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Get Out is a film we all don’t know we need to see until we actually see it. Us is by no means perfect. Peele juggles too many ideas but they don’t all coalesce. But that doesn’t make it a bad movie. While there are instances where Peele’s narrative has us struggling to tether subliminal clues—before attempting to explain the conceit with clunky exposition—there are moments of pure cinematic inspiration. Its humor is pitch-perfect, its cinematography claustrophobic, and its central family comprised of sympathetic protagonists with which we as an audience can become fully invested in.
FILM / Once Upon a Time in Film Scoring / Silence / Sean Woodard
Sean Woodard examines the importance of natural sound and the limited use of music in Martin Scorsese’s Silence.
100 WORD FILM REVIEWS / Captain Marvel
The Marvel franchise always veers in quality, but rarely has an installment shifted as jarringly in tone as Captain Marvel, a film as confused as its amnesiac lead character. In the rush to make Carol Danvers Tony Stark, the writers forgot that Downey’s vulnerability sells his one liners. A few moments toward the end showcase Larson’s natural strengths, but the push to make Carol 90’s cool just makes her feel like warmed-over Starlord. If you’re looking for a version of Captain Marvel who’s cocky but compassionate you’ll need to pick up a comic book, because she’s not on screen.
100 WORD BOOK REVIEWS / Crazy About Kurt by Will Link
We are deeply nostalgic for the 90’s right now. I get it. I was there, too, and some of it I still remember fondly. Will Link remembers the decade in a very relatable way with his novel Crazy About Kurt (Cobain, whose death is a major focal point for this Long Island story). His book, which encompasses four likable teenagers, as a group, and occasionally on their own, will certainly give you enough references of the time to help build this world. However, Link relies on more than just the music and movies of the day to create an engaging, poignant, and very believable book. He loves these characters, and he defines them with more than just what they like. The best trips into the wayback machine will always have that quality.
FILM / Captain Canada's Movie Rodeo / March 2019 / Gabriel Ricard
Gabriel Ricard returns with the latest edition of his Captain Canada’s Movie Rodeo film review column!
COMICS / Mr. Butterchips / March 2019 / Alex Schumacher
A little compassion goes a long way in the latest Mr. Butterchips strip from Alex Schumacher.
A TV cannot escape
the card catalog or schedule a time to be read out
loud. The talk shows go on all day. Channel changer
bang-a-rang. Cathode smile to set
picture frames on. Please go to the source.
I spend an afternoon in a waiting room surrounded by fake-wood-vinyl walls
while Grandma Martha pours 3 fingers of Jack Daniels
(smuggled in a plastic flask from Florida), and catches up on Wimbledon.
Thank god for European healthcare. Thank god for antibiotics.
I am alone in this meadhall: sink, toilet, tub,
spinning wildly in the oarlock of panic.
Mist is coming under the door. Breath:
bananas and blood.
The word “squalor” has always reminded me
of Sarah’s bedroom. not just the food she let rot.
The clothes, the papers, the toys and wrappers and bags.
All manner of debris, putrid, oozing blankets,
pillows of crust, dull crowns of dust.
The second is a sunflower that I pressed in wax paper,
rough and plastic between my father’s bible and the dictionary.
Its petals are shriveled like wrinkled noses around its black heart,
The width of my palm
Our old pals lounged on the bench overlooking the water. It wasn’t hard to tell they were there. The air warped in striations where they were present, like looking at water boil up close. Sometimes, the air took on the colour of soap in a puddle, a psychedelic swirling rainbow. Staring at them for too long was like trying to keep an eyelid open in water.