Well, dear readers, it was another short day due to sleeping ten hours again, which I guess I needed. But this time I’d gone to bed later and slept all the way until one-thirty so even more of the day was gone. But after two weeks of basically five to six hours of sleep I was ready to have two short days due to two long sleeps. Of course, now I’m wide awake and want to dance the Frug or do the Limbo at almost midnight. But I shan’t because that would be too frightening and rather like a horror movie.
Yesterday, once up I answered e-mails, did some work on the computer and at the piano, watched two more episodes of The Outer Limits, one good (Specimen Unknown – Gerd Oswald) and another I can’t remember the name of that was quite bad, directed by Paul Stanley with no discernable style – it starred Simon Oakland in very heavy makeup. Then I finally went to get something to eat. I had a side Caesar salad and a chili, cheese, and onion hot dog (grilled). That was very good. Then I came home and polished off the remainder of the cake, just because it was here and would have gone bad.
I had a couple of telephonic conversations, did some more work on the computer, had a meeting, then sat on my couch like so much fish.
In my quest to find something interesting on the Flix of Net, I came across a motion picture entitled Manhunt, a Chinese film from China from 2017 that had nothing to do with Netflix other than being picked up by them for streaming, and yet it carries the banner “A Netflix Film.” As I’ve said, that’s just a whole load of chutzpah on rye, if you ask me. As soon as I saw who the director was, I immediately began watching, said director being Mr. John Woo, whose movies I really enjoy because they are wacky, wild, and wildly entertaining. Once upon a time in China, Mr. Woo made his completely unique films – he was clearly a lover of film, and A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled, and The Killer were all terrific and all strictly Woo from start to finish – in other words, namely Woo. The as these things go, Hollywood took note and he came to the states and immediately made two movies that were very beneath his talents: Hard Target and Broken Arrow. But then came the crazy Face/Off and Woo was back at the top of his form with that weird and pretty wonderful movie. But then it was Mission: Impossible 2, which is more Tom Cruise than John Woo because these kinds of stars are butt-inskys of the highest caliber. He only made two more films here – Windtalkers, which I’ve never seen, and Paycheck, which I have, and which I guess I liked a bit more than most, but which still not prime Woo or Woo doing what he does best.
Then he went home and began making historical epics like the two-part Red Cliff, that I thought was wonderfully done. But the old Woo seemed to have gone completely missing. Until Manhunter, in which he returns with a vengeance. It’s classic Woo from the opening right through to the end, including all his signature moves. Some critics found it to almost be a parody and Woo is clearly having a whole lot of fun with this one. I thought it was great – yes, silly, yes, over the top, yes crazy, yes, fractured – in other words, the return of Mr. Woo. You just sort of have to give yourself over to his style and fun and if you do I think you might just like Manhunt. If you’re already a fan of his, it’s kind of a must-see.
After that, I did more work at the piano, and then relaxed for a bit.
Today, I must finish casting the Kritzerland show, I’ll eat, hopefully pick up some packages, choose songs, write, and at some point relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same and more of the same is the rest of the week. I may have something to see, and then there are, of course, meetings and meals aplenty.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, finish casting, choose songs, eat, hopefully pick up packages, write, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Which filmmakers’ films did you always look forward to seeing, as each new one came out? That you always had to see in the first few days? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have seen a new Woo that was namely Woo.