Tanya, Thread, Jumanji, Pitch

I, Tonya

I, Tonya is a riff on the Tonya Harding saga starring Margot Robbie as the infamous figure skater the whole world decided it loved to hate, is a fresh, chancy, and wickedly enjoyable movie. It’s framed as a fake documentary (it opens with the characters being interviewed 20 years later), and it has a tone of poker-faced goofball Americana that suggests a biopic made by the Coen brothers. The movie revels in the sheer woeful ghastly comic horror of what went on during the lead-up to the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer — the smashed knee of Nancy Kerrigan, the whole scheme to undermine her that was even more cracked.

Phantom Thread

Post-war London renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) are at the center of British fashion with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Woodcock, a confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon becomes his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted. Director Paul Thomas Anderson paints an illuminating portrait both of an artist on a creative journey, and the women who keep his world running. Phantom Thread is Paul Thomas Anderson's eighth movie. Paul Thomas Anderson is son of the Ghoulardi who hosted B-movies on late night television when I was growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. He named his production company after that local Cleveland celebrity. He directed Boogie Nights when he was 27 years old. Phantom Thread is his 8^th motion picture.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

A group of teenagers who turn into videogame characters, is a sequel to the 1995 Robin Wlliams hit Jumanji, a remake, a reboot, or something else. It’s definitely the kind of movie that works the name of a classic rock song into its title and makes sure to blast it during the end credits, for people who were in their twenties during the 1990s and now have kids of their own. Once they end up inside the Jumanji videogame, Spencer (Dwayne Johnson), Fridge (Kevin Hart), Martha (Karen Gillam), Bethany (Jack Black) and Alex Vreeke (Nick Jonas) are supposed to be characters in the game-space.

Pitch Perfect 3

Opening somewhere off the coast of France, The Bellas are performing "Toxic" on a yacht for three men. Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) crashes through the ceiling and sprays the men with a fire extinguisher, just as there is an explosion. Three weeks earlier, John (John Michael Higgins) and Gail (Elizabeth Banks) are following Beca (Anna Kendrick) as part of a documentary they are making about the group.Chloe (Brittany Snow) tells her friends about a Bellas reunion performance tlater that night. The ladies meet up with the rest of their Bella sisters - Aubrey (Anna Camp), Cynthia-Rose (Ester Dean), Stacie (Alexis Knapp), Lilly (Hana Mae Lee), Flo (Chrissie Fit), Jessica (Kelley Jakle), and Ashley (Shelley Regner). There is a USO performance tour and if they are good enough, they get to open for DJ Khaled.

Water, Post and 3 Billboards

The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water, from master story teller, Guillermo del Toro, is an other-worldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962. The hidden high-security government laboratory where lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment. Rounding out the cast are Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones and Michael Stuhlbarg. It is Drana, Science Fiction, Fantasy and Romance directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor.

The Post

The Post tells the story of the news of the Pentagon Papers focusing on the free press and a White House struggling to keep the secrets of how our government handled the Vietnam War. Kay Graham (Meryl Streep), the beleaguered publisher of the Post and Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), the editor. Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) walked away with thousands of pages on the history of Vietnam, including sensitive and confidential information that revealed the lies the government had told the American people for years.

 

3 Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

No one does angry better than Frances McDormand, who does her best film work here since Fargo as Mildred Hayes, a recently divorced mother who lost her daughter Angela less than a year ago. Angela was raped and murdered, but the case has gone cold. There was no matching DNA, so the spotlight has dimmed and Mildred is getting no updates. She’s angry. She should be. One day, she sees three barren billboards on a rarely-traveled road, and she rents the space to ask the local chief of police, (Wood Harrelson) why there are no answers. Local media becomes interested in the billboards, and the attention sparks a series of events involving not only the chief but one of his more loathsome officers, played by Sam Rockwell, Peter Dinklage, Caleb Landry Jones, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Clarke Peters and John Hawkes fill out supporting cast. Shhh - It's shot in North Carolina, so it isn't a win for the Missouri Film Commission...

Thin Man Movies

Thanks to Turner Classic Movies and my DVR, I was able to watch the six Thin Man movies in chronological order as a fantastic way to ring in a new year in 2018. It is Classic Hollywood - William Powell and Myrna Loy in the Thin Man Movies. The Thin Man (1934) was shot over a mere two weeks on a shoestring and conceived by MGM as a B-movie. It became a franchise over six films while the country worked its way through the depression and WWII. Director W.S. Van Dyke’s casting coup of Powell and Loy paid off and The Thin Man was a surprise smash. The Thin Man movies adhere to a rigid formula. They gave people what they wanted, over and over again. Nick attempts to just relax and drink away the afternoon is disrupted again and again by a sudden murder mystery. Reluctantly, and with a big push from Nora, he takes the case, outpacing the actual detective investigating.

Of course one needs to suspend one’s disbelief and movie-viewing cynicism as crime scenes are violated, political correctness is compromised, justice is obstructed, women are objectified, nightclub/party goers are over-served and plots twist.  All that said, it is a pleasure of black & white escapism and entertainment to binge watch Nick and Nora as the formula plays out and all ends well.

The Thin Man (1934), After the Thin Man (1936), Another Thin Man (1939), Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) and The Song of the Thin Man (1947)…

Happy New Year!  

Raphael Angels

The Sistine Madonna is an oil painting on canvas and represents one of the last works Raphael would complete. In the complete work, the Virgin Mary stands upon a cloud holding the Christ child. The Madonna is accompanied by Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara. The cherubim, arguably the most famous in the world, are located at the very bottom of the painting. The work was nearly destroyed during World War II as the allies bombed the German city of Dresden, but was thankfully saved by Russian forces. Though shortly held by the Soviet Union, the painting has since returned to Germany in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. 

Note: This painting left an impression on me somewhat indirectly. A print of the Madonna painting hung in in my parent's bedroom in our home in Lakewood, a west side suburb in Cleveland. Years later I took a picture of my kids at home in Raleigh, NC (around 1992). In 2016 these two angels introduced us to Lawton (Robert Lawton Dewey) and James Benjamin Morgan. 

Poetry Before Breakfast

The content of this book of poetry would not be possible without family and dear friends. It is a compilation of reflections since the passing of my parents: mom in 2011 and dad in 2013; the wedding of my children in 2012 and 2014; and birth of two grandchildren in 2016.
  

2016 will forever be marked as vintage because of you.

We are watching everything you say and everything you do.

As you grow, live, learn, seek fortune and fame;

We will always, always, always love you Lawton and James.

It took loss, weddings and the miracle of birth and renewal to recognize the circle of life happening around me. The incomparable Toby Stevens, my mother-in-law has been instrumental in so many celebrations, some of which are honored in this book of poems. This book is dedicated to her.

Dave Cox of Sandbox Creative in Webster Groves is amazing at helping to make a project like this a reality. More than just the design and layout of Poetry Before Breakfast Dave Cox encouraged me to make it happen. I am forever grateful for Dave.

So it is the juxtaposition of sadness and joy inside a half dozen years that forms a core composition I felt compelled to publish. Looking back on my siblings as they make their way on their respective life paths adds additional perspective. Finally, a bitter sweet seasoning is sprinkled in the mix from watching some exceptional and special people learn about the world while trying to find their respective places in it.

I hope you will enjoy the book. Chances are you will want to celebrate with your families and friends a poem or two of your own. Go to Amazon.com and order the book (available in hard cover and paperback). Live. Love. Enjoy.  

Poetry Before Breakfast was published in 2017. Failure Coach, a novel by Wes Morgan was published in 2015.