Category Archives: Haiku

Haiku: Rectify, Season 4, Episodes 1 and 2

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rectify_series_logo_svg-svg

If you’ve never heard of Rectify, it’s not too late to start.  It won’t take long to catch up, either — the first three seasons is 22 episodes altogether.  My favorite character is Amantha, played by Abigail Spencer, who now stars in the NBC show Timeless.  Somewhere in the second season, the showrunner realized her comic chops and she’s been killing it ever since, delivering her dry sarcasm like it’s no one’s business.

It’s a slow show, but the best kind of slow.  Even in the era of Peak TV, there just aren’t many series like this that takes time with its characters.  This fourth season will be its last and I’m already grieving the finale.

Rectify, Season 4, Episode 1: “A House Divided”

Daniel, in the dark.
He thinks therefore he is not.
Tonk to the rescue.

Rectify, Season 4, Episode 2: “Yolk”

Teddy’s nervous date.
Amantha on the sat dish.
Janet bakes a cake.

Haiku and Review: Doctor Strange

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Doctor Strange

Doc Strange, the love child
between M.C. Escher and
a kaleidoscope.

The last time I told anyone to go see a movie in 3D for its visuals was Avatar, and that was seven years ago.  Doctor Strange is another such film — the special effects are quite bedeviling and should be seen on the big screen.  Props must be given to Inception; that fight scene in the spinning corridor no doubt spawned a great deal of the action that we see here, not to mention the rest of the dreamy machinations led by Leo and company.

It’s a prototypical superhero movie, meaning there’s a reluctant hero, some funny lines, and a Big Boss level.  In a way, it’s as familiar as any bildungsroman, and at this point I’m so tired of it that if any film of this genre deviates even a little — like Deadpool — I’m almost grateful to the point of tears.  Benedict Cumberbatch turns his arrogance volume down to about 4 here, and it’s the right level for this damaged character.

Tilda Swinton is of course lovely and amazing as always, but I must say, as a person of Asian descent, it feels like if there was one big-budget superhero movie that could’ve starred many more Asians, it was this one.  I’ve read about the Tibet/China issue that most likely resulted in changing the teacher character from Himalayan to Celtic, so it was a business decision, but it also feels like a lost opportunity.  I’m glad Benedict Wong got in there — he was the best thing in Marco Polo (in a series that was, well, terrible), and he lends his considerable gifts of austerity and gravitas to the film.

Haiku and Review: Inside Out, Inherent Vice, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

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MV5BOTgxMDQwMDk0OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjU5OTg2NDE@._V1._SX94_SY140_Inside Out

The life of Riley
by way of Joy and Sadness.
It’s all in her head.

Without question one of the best Pixar movies, if not the best one.  The one emotion that I think we could’ve done without is Disgust, but really, that’s the tiniest of complaints.  It’s visually arresting, the story moves, and it’s one of these rare movies that may actually help people, too.  Only three animated movies have been nominated for Best Picture (Beauty and the Beast, Up, and Toy Story 3) but none have won.  Who knows what Oscar bait will come out in November and December, but at the very least, Inside Out deserves to be nominated.

MV5BMjI2ODQ2NzUwMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjU3NTE4MjE@._V1._SX94_SY140_Inherent Vice

Looks good, sounds right — but
how little we care about
anything, really.

Comparisons to The Big Lebowski are obvious (and The Dude is the far superior movie in all the major ways — humor, plot, acting).  After watching the film, I wondered why it didn’t jibe.  It felt like the movie thought it was funnier than it actually was (which was very little).  The only thing of note is the actress Katherine Waterston, who seemed like she was channeling circa 1995 Laura Linney.  Her facial expressions, her movement — she reminded me so much of a young Linney.

MV5BMTQ1NDI2MzU2MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTExNTU5NDE@._V1._SX90_SY140_Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

She climbs in beauty
up a bruiser, then turns, falls —
a takedown done right.

I don’t think this was as good as the last one, Ghost Protocol, which had more cool gizmos and a higher hit rate for humor (mostly because Jeremy Renner brought the laughs in GP while here, he’s stuck in a suit in DC for too many stretches).  But wow, what a performance by Rebecca Ferguson.  Give her hair an old-fashioned wave, light her softly, and take some B&W shots, and she’d be a modern-day Lauren Bacall (somebody else agrees, too!).  And a big hand to her stunt double, Lucy Cork, who made all those fights look so good.  Ferguson’s character was actually more action-oriented than Cruise’s character.  How cool is that?

Haiku: Mad Men, Season 7, Episode 14 – “Person to Person”

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madmen

Harry Crane, starving.
He will eat those cookies, yes.
But not the cactus.

*

Ken Cosgrove, Dow man.
Plastics will not outdo him!
Joanie will make sure.

*

Roger and Marie
are perfect for each other.
Champagne for mother.

*

Olson and Rizzo
Phone to phone and heart to heart.
The best of both worlds.

*

Holloway-Harris.
The typewriter is music.
Her work, symphony.

*

Racing to nowhere,
Draper finds peace in Cali.
Donald and Dick, Ommmmm…