Post by Ian J. BallPost by UbiquitousWhat did you watch?
Yesterday, I pretty much graded all day (after not grading at all on
Saturday), so I just got through more "Lioness" S2 (before grading) and
Lioness (Pee+) - Ep's #2.3 and 2.4.
In #2.3, Carrillo shows up at the Texas base, and pretty much gets
the cold shoulder from everyone. They then "train" her, though I'm not
really sure what the point is (she's not supposed to be the assassin,
yeah?) (In other news, Genesis Rodriguez is much more game than Laysla
de Oliveira was, as Rodriguez does some actual (brief) naked nudity
here!) Joe shows up on Cruz's doorstep and basically drafts Cruz back on
the team as a "backstop" (she is to eliminate Carrillo if Carrillo flips
to her Cartel family's side).
Apparently Taylor Sheridan hates NCIS for firing poor Robyn Lively
as much as I do! as Lively appears in ep. #2.3 as a Senator that Nicole
Kidman (and her husband) are lobbying.
In ep. #2.4, Joe is being tailed by a DEA agent (Kirk Acevedo) whom
she and Kyle confront, and the DEA guy gets himself talked onto a
mission to hit a Cartel warehouse. Everyone is involved in this mission,
including Cruz, and Carrillo who flies the chopper (and takes out a
bunch of local cops, on Joe's orders!!). What they find is a bunch of
human trafficked.
football - This was mostly background noise while I graded.
For the morning game, I put Atlanta vs. Minnesota on, and the
Vikings crushed the Falcons 2-to-1! (42 to 21).
I was denied the 49ers game in the afternoon, so I watched the
Buffalo Bills vs. the LA Rams. Somehow, and I don't understand how, the
Rams actually won this game!
The evening game was incredibly frustrating - the Chargers were
stymied by the Chiefs defense in the first half. But in the second half,
the offense started to get things going, and the Chargers actually took
the lead. But the Chiefs offense ran out the game clock, and then kicked
a last-second go-ahead field goal which hit the upright... and bounced
*in*. >:E
I then put "Leah's Perfect Gift" with Emily Arlook on Hallmark on as
(muted!) background noise. I think this flick would have irritated me,
so I'm glad I didn't watch it with full attention.
What did you watch?
I watched:
The Killer (blu-ray) 1989 Hong Kong action movie written and directed by
John Woo and starring Chow Yun-fat. Yun-fat plays a hit man with a
heart of gold who is sent on one final job, but during the job he
accidentally blinds a singer during a shootout. He stalks, I means
falls in love with the singer and after saving her life the two decide
they want to make a go of it. She of course does not know he's a hit
man or responsible for blinding her. Yun-fat agrees to one final job to
get money for an operation to restore her eyesight, but at the same time
he has to keep dodging a cop who is hot on his trail.
Hard Boiled (blu-ray) 1992 Hong Kong action movie written and directed
by John Woo and starring Chow Yun-fat. Yun-fat plays a tough cop (the
type of cop who kills the crooks instead of arresting them) who is after
some gangsters. He reluctantly teams up with an undercover cop (Tony
Leung Chiu-wai) who has already infiltrated the organization. I watched
this with a pretty good commentary that was loaded with information.
They said John Woo was supposed to make this a less over the top violent
movie, but John Woo is going to John Woo and just couldn't help himself.
He kept demanding bigger and bigger explosions. For the famous scene
at the end of the movie where there's a huge gun battle at a hospital
maternity ward, Woo insisted on having real babies on set. But you have
to admit the scene with Yun-Fat with a gun in one hand, a baby
splattered in blood in the other, while saying coochie coo, to the baby
is one the movie's highlights.
The commentary mentioned Woo was actually more popular in America than
in Hong Kong which is why he left Hong Kong after Hard Boiled to start
making movies in America. They also alluded to some sort of falling out
Woo had with Yun-fat when Yun-fat dropped out of "Red Cliff" which is
why they aren't making movies together anymore. They also talked a lot
about "Infernal Affairs" which also starred Tony Leung Chiu-wai in a
very similar role. I hadn't realized that, but coincidentally, I
already have "Infernal Affairs" on my watch list for next week.
The Replacement Killers (blu-ray) 1998 action movie directed by Antoine
Fuqua (produced by John Woo) and starring Chow Yun-Fat as a hitman with
a heart of gold. Michael Rooker plays a cop who kills a gangster's
criminal son, then shows up at the funeral to taunt the gangster. The
gangster then sends Yun-fat on one final job, to murder the cop's young
son in front of him, but Yun-fat's heart of gold gets in the way and he
can't do the job. He then hurries to get out of town by getting fake
documents from Mira Sorvino, but the gangster is too fast and a hit team
shows up at Sorvino's office. The two barely escape but now have to
work together because this is an American movie and needs a female
romantic lead. The gangster then brings in "replacement killers" (hey,
Danny Trejo is one of the replacement killers) to get the job done and
kill everyone. Only Yun-fat and his heart of stands in their way. This
movie is actually pretty good, I just keep forgetting it exists.
The Killer (Peacock) 2024 action movie and remake of John Woo's 1989
movie of the same name. John Woo directed this remake himself. Set in
Paris, a hitwoman (Nathalie Emmanuel) with a heart of gold is sent by
her handler (Sam Worthington) to do a job at a nightclub with
instructions to kill everyone there. During the job she accidentally
blinds a singer and decides to spare her life. Her handler insists she
finish the job and kill the singer too. But the killer's heart of gold
gets in the way and she decides to protect the woman instead. Also in
the mix is a cop (Omar Sy) who is always one step behind her. This was
not a good movie and quickly became background noise. They *really*
should have kept the original plot point where the hitman falls in love
with the person he blinded and takes on one final job to get money for
an operation to restore her sight. What's the point of even doing a
remake if you remove the romance angle? And by setting it in France it
felt more like a Luc Besson movie than a John Woo film. By giving the
hitwoman a backstory and a handler, it felt more like a watered down La
Femme Nikita than the Killer.