WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE III: SPRING 2023
Hello People of the World;
I am starting to write this on the last day of March and everything is a jumble of long-forgotten thoughts on the events of the day. But hey, maybe that’s how things should be.
As always: Stay safe. Stay home.
All right, let’s get going:
1:[ This virus really showed how equal we all really are: How easy it is to make us believe that doing the worst for us is really good for us. How the f*ck does that work?
2:[ EW3 MOVIE NOT-SO-QUICK REVIEWS:
FULL RED RIVER: I went back to the old work place to catch Zhang's latest. It is a historical suspense comedy, a genre mix that Yimou is very good at, and he is here.
It is about uncovering a murderer of a Jin Ambassador during the Southern Song Dynasty. Set four years after the death of Yue Fei, a common solider and his years-junior uncle, who is suddenly his superior are tasked with uncovering a deeper plot, surrounding a missing letter the ambassador had on him at the time of his death.
The comedy comes from the lead played by Shang Teng, as a buffoon just trying to survive since he was on duty when murder occurred. What it becomes is pretty cool. Twists and turns that had me guessing until the end.
It was shot, single space style all taking place in the palace of the Prime Minister, once Yue Fei's rival, and in the walkways in between rooms. The soundtrack as awesome whenever they moved quickly between rooms, a very Yimou-y touch.
Many criticize this, rightly so, for the Chinese Nationalist overtones, especially with the ending. Yimou was once considered one of the most subversive filmmakers in China and has been accused of late for becoming a nationalist filmmaker. Most also point at his most well-received film "Hero" for this as well.
But people forget, he lives under a regime that censors. Period. Doesn't matter what it is, if it's seen as subversive, it's gets censored. I can see why he would paste blatantly nationalist overtones on his films. He wants to get them seen. But like many subversive artists, there is a message within that many just cannot see.
Chat with me and I'll show you how he portrays these subversive messages. Not like I'm some cool film dude, but I like his movies. "Raise the Red Lantern", "Coming Home", "House of Flying Daggers", "Curse of the Golden Flower". Man, "The Road Home" and "Not One Less"? Beautiful films. "Hero", one of my top ten favorite films.
Go check this out when you can.
HIGH RECOMMENDATION
JOHN WICK CHAPTER 4: In a word: Overwrought
With further words, John Wick has become the LEAST INTERESTING CHARACTER in his own movie series.
"John Wick" is a new classic of the bro-ham, get-revenge shoot 'em up genre. It was tightly paced, well-acted, well-choreographed, not the best cinematography, and John Wick was this legendary, unstoppable force that struck fear into even the worst of the villains. BUT, it has a beginning, middle, and end to Wick's story of revenge.
But then the typical thing happens. We like to blame corporations for putting out mindless media. But we are also to blame for demanding mindless media. When we wanted "more" like John Wick, the producer thought, let's give them more. Let's spoon-feed a mythology of "The Table" and thereby make John Wick less unstoppable and legendary. In fact:
"John Wick: Chapter 2" introduces the new concepts that we never mention in the first of the "High Table" and this underground world of assassins. Oh, the Continental was a hint at something, but who knew it would make John Wick weaker, and luckier. That "Impossible Task" mentioned in the first film? When "John Wick" was a standalone film, it was this legendary one-man massacre of the rivals of the Tarasov of the Russian Mafia. It's as if Michael Corleone had Al Neri wipe out everyone single-handedly. But here we found out, he didn't do it alone. He had help. So much for the Baba Yaga.
Here, we also find out what happened when you have stunt coordinators direct movies. When we called for more, to their credit, the director did not go bigger with the action scenes we loved in the first, but made them longer and more um, longer. Because he did not want to be accused of "making the Prequels".
"John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" was a freshening because they leaned in and made it a straight-up comedy. I mean, how can it not be with its drawn out fights, fanboy murderers that want to murder John Wick, even more mythology heaped on the table, (See what I did there?) callbacks to the puppy murder of the first film, cute dogs, the "homages" to "The Martix" and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", an ever-increasing number of people who are considered better at their jobs than John Wick yet are still killed by him, yet another entire underground group of killer hobos, and the whole "Die Hard but it's in building schtick"? Funny stuff. It had to be a comedy, right?
"John Wick: Chapter 4" leans into the making things longer means "More". The fights are... so, so long. Geez, just walking up the stairs becomes a 20-minute ordeal. Just cut to them at the top, bro. Then, the worst happens. No, it's not that John Wick dies, it's that he gets overshadowed in his own film. I mean, Keanu is good at making action movies. It's his bread and butter between the Private Idahos, but when you bring in fuckign DONNIE YEN? You can see the difference in their action performances, and the truth of the Bruce Lee idiom "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." Donnie Yen has been doing action films his entire career and you can see the stark difference in the two. He is the best thing about this film. (At least he is doing this to save someone who is alive, right? BURN!)
I Mean:
That Kitchen Battle with the door bells?
“John, are you dead?”
“Remember your daugh-.” “F*ck off.”
Fantastic stuff.
Plus, this tries to Tarantino the series with its constant homages - "The Matrix" of course with its casting, again, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", again, with its music and editing at the showdown, "The Exorcist" with its angle of the stairs, "Sword of Doom" with the stairway fight itself, and a rehashing of the "Die Hard but in a building" with the Osaka siege. I was yawning and heading to the restroom and never missed a thing. Oh, I almost forgot, its ripping off of the whole "The Warriors" radio DJ as Oracle bit? Man, it's like they are a bad copy of bad Tarantino copying. Sheesh!
With the Osaka Continental opening and characters that meant nothing to the story, (WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN ITS OWN MOVIE), to the killing of a Table Member in the desert (Which should have been its own movie) done so easily as the opening tease for the film; this film heaps so much on this table and nothing really gets resolved. I mean, the Table and the Continentals still exist, even when John stated he would "Kill them all", he ends up only killing the Villain du Jour, who is just a cookie-cutter, too evil/crazy for the organization dude that if he's in charge, the lovable, mysterious murder organization JUST MIGHT BE IN THE WRONG HANDS! So much for the unstoppable Baba Yaga. More like Strega Nona, Amirite?
The mythology finally overshadows its own boogeyman.
Oh yeah, and John Wick dies. In YET another homage, this time to "War for the Planet of the Apes". (I mean the shot and the lighting are almost exact. Even the way he falls dead.)
Again, overwrought. Much like this not-so-quick review.
WATCH IF YOU WANT.
I mean, I hear you "Sometimes you just want mindless entertainment. But here's the thing: That's all we're getting these days, and it's all our faults….
3:[ I should mention I was laid off from my job as Producer/Editor at Truth and Documentary. Now, the job market for someone like me gets more limited every time I have had to leave a job. It gets tougher to sell myself in the application process. In my latest interview, for a film camp position, my age was referenced at least three times. So, I had hope to have a career-end run at the last place. But, now, it’s back to square one again….
4:[ Attended the “Pop Up Books Through the Ages” Opening Reception at the Newberry and found a new book to buy. You see, I went to the Newberry's opening reception for their "Pop Up Books Through the Ages" exhibit since I had a teeny-tiny hand in helping with the videos of that exhibit. A very non-introvert thing to do, I know. As I stood alone amongst the noisy crowd, sipping a diet soda, I thought I would peruse the gift shop, to get away from the loud crowd. I looked over their Native American selections and found “Red Bird, Red Power: The Life and Legacy of Zitkala Ša” by Tadeusz Lewandowsky. Since reading "American Indian Stories" by Zitkala Ša, I have had a tiny interest in her career. So, I hope this book illuminates that. Though, I am sorry it is not from a Native author.
5:[ I have been doing more walking lately. No job, natch. But I have been going to work with Bonnie and walking home. I sometimes, get dropped off at Starbucks a mile and a change away. In any instance, I usually walk past the Comic Book Store and check out to see what’s new. I am not interested in anything new. Yes, I have become irrelevant. I buy trades, or re-prints. I am just now getting into “Saga”, after hearing so many good things about it.
I bought the facsimile issues of Superman #1 and Detective Comics #38 (First appearance of Robin, the Boy-Wonder) and love the fact they re-print them faithfully, with ads and other strips included. I never knew what a dedicated comic book meant. In the DC #38, there are ten more detective stories NOT starring Bat-man. In Superman #1, it was a novelty to have ALL of the stories featuring Superman! Pretty cool. It makes me feel, not so old.
Plus, the walking is good for me….
6:[ Redshade Productions UPDATE: I am working on a lot of writing. Not enough on production. I started several new stories that could potentially be novels. I have not planned any follow up novel to “A Rez Tale”, though Bonnie states my zombie screenplay would make an excellent novel. I have several essay videos in the works. One on Setsuko Hara that I hope will be completed by late spring. I have the on-going YouTube series’ “The Top Shelf” both Criterion and Literary editions. I was hope to get “The Future: A Story of Blue Woman” off the ground but the job loss and some medication situations with friends have continually pushed that back. I am re-editing “The Final Meeting”, One: A Spoken Word”, my 40-minute “Hamlet Reel” to better color-correcting and pacing for festivals.
My “HAMLET” film is all but stalled. I keep thinking I’m never going to finish a feature film, unless I get some huge cash flow. A friend of mine stole my community art project angle and wasted so much good faith in the community that when I bring it up, no one is interested.
But, I’m still writing something, and “Wisdom of the Sages” helps with that. So, that’s the update….
7:[ I’ve been thinking of doing a YT Shorts series on all of the tee shirts I have. It’s dumb but I have gotten or have been gifted a lot of really neat tee shirts….
8:[ We cannot go back to “Normal” all after this: that the pandemic is “over” and we should really just go back to making money for rich people, because it’ll all trickle down at some point….
9:[ I was walking in the street the other day, nearing my abode and came up on a crossing. Not an intersection but an area designated as a crossing. Now, I hate holding up traffic. Whenever a bunch of cars met up at a stop sign intersection, or any intersection really, rather than rush across, I’ll pull out my phone and look like I am staring at directions. I think this give the drivers permission to drive on without worrying about me crossing. So, this time, I was waiting on a lone vehicle in the street to roll past so I could cross. But this one slowed down and the driver waved me on to cross in front of them. So, I did. But I wasn’t even out of this vehicle’s way before the driver decided not to wait any longer and started rolling forward. I mean, if they hit the gas, they would have hit me! Why wave me past in the first place? Basic driving teaches up you DO NOT MOVE UNTIL THE PEDESTRIAN IS OUT OF THE STREET!
This is why I will pretend I am lost at an intersection….
10:[ Once again, I had a thought yesterday that I thought I should add. Now it’s April, hell, the second half of April and I still cannot remember what I was supposed to put here. Maybe it’s time for a change here at “Wisdom of the Sages.” Hell, no one is reading this anyways….
That is it for this month.
As always, I invite you to comment, correct, or contradict anything I write here. I am open to a critical debate. Thanks for taking the time to check out what I write here and I will see you in a month.
Until next time, remember “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”
2023 Ernest M Whiteman III
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