Early December Summary

For a weekend roundup and early December summary:
Un. Alabama’s Crimson Tide beat the UGA Bulldogs 27 to 24 to win the SEC Championship.
Deux. The Atlanta Falcons came on top over the New York Jets 13 to 8 today.
Trois. The Green Bay Packers amuse-bouched the Kansas City Chiefs 27 to 19 tonight.
Quatre. I watched Equalizer 3 on DVD a few nights ago.

I saw Equalizer 2 (Antoine Fuqua, 2018) in theatres, didn’t watch the first one until I got the DVD for the second one, and waited for the third one to come out on home video before watching it.

Observations I made while watching Equalizer 3:
~ Sound design is so important in action sequences. Bone crunches, thuds against walls… various slapping.
~ I’m liking it so far, but unlike the first two Equalizers that focused more on McCall’s reacting to situations and people, this one has him being more proactive in certan narratively relevant ways.
~ Taking place in Italy and other plot details gives it more of a Jason Bourne quality that some people may not like.
~ There’s a bit more emphasis placed on characters and how they come off, which is a bit reminiscent of the first John Wick film as well as David Cronenberg‘s 2007 Eastern Promises.
~ But now it’s reached a point of… soap opera theatricality where the protagonist and the villain have a bit of a monologue stand-off in the town square.  That’s kinda Shakespearean actually.
~ I can see how some people might find it boring….or not as concise as the first nor as engaging as the second one.  I really liked the second one.*
~ In terms of franchises of the same genre, John Wick is overall better.  The characters, story-worlds, and execution is more consistent.  Fans of Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua collaborations would still like Equalizer 3, but out of the trilogy, it is the weakest.
~ Anyone who loved the first one and either didn’t like or felt indifferent to the second one probably would not like the third one.
~ When it’s clear that the movie was about to end, I thought, “That’s it?” and “What? that just … I mean, I get why McCall the character would do that, but as a plot point?  I’m blaming the writers for the mild disappointment.”
~ Richard Wenk, Michael Sloan, Richard Lindheim are the writers, and they’ve worked on the entire trilogy together.

*There’s a sequence in Equalizer 2 where Ashton Sanders is in Denzel Washington‘s apartment and must listen to his instructions very carefully about where and how to hide from the antagonist and his henchmen.  It’s very tense and very satisfying to watch.

Pic creds: Amazon, IMDB

It’s Officially Autumn and yet

It’s not cool enough.  The mornings and evenings are lovely, but the midday to late afternoon?  Il fait encore chaud.

I’m not going to be as eloquent as I would be otherwise, but I do want to convey the following:

~ I finally watched Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023) on DVD and loved it.  This tumblr blog articulated everything that resonated with me.  I also really liked that the film doesn’t show that much of Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) and Na Young/Nora (Greta Lee) as kids, so the viewer only has what is shown and the characters’ spoken and visual memories of each other.  I need recommendations for films with a similar mise-en-scene and premise.  Doesn’t matter the decade or language.  Teo Yoo is such a good actor.  His expressions… and when he said (paraphrased), “I didn’t think liking your husband would hurt so much,” the eyes got misty.  Cairo Time (Ruba Nadda, 2009) has a simliar emotional tone.

~ I watched the Atlanta Falcons lose by fourteen points to the Detroit Lions yesterday.

~ I’ve been reading Fonda Lee‘s Green Bone Saga Trilogy, which consists of the books, Jade City, Jade War, and Jade Legacy.  I finished the first book earlier in the month and am now reading the second one.  I’m having a good time so far.

~ And yes, I support this nascent platonic or romantic courtship.

NFL 2023: The Atlanta Falcons melt the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ candle

Whether or not the Atlanta Falcons won today’s game against the Tampa Buccaneers would have been irrelevant in terms of post-season action.  The Falcons would not be advancing; regardless of a victory or a loss, the Buccaneers would be advancing.  Nonetheless, was it ever-so-satisfying to watch the Falcons keep pace with the Buccaneers through the second quarter and then out-score them by the bottom of the third quarter?  Definitely.

By the time the Falcons got into the end zone around the middle of the fourth quarter and took a bigger lead with 27 to 17 points, I was confident they would win…because Tom Brady only played through the first half.  Desmond Ridder performed quarterback duties for the Falcons through the two-minute warning in the fourth, at which point Logan Woodside got a chance to get onto the field.  The Falcons won 30 to 17.  Final score.

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

Happy New Year, Falcons’ Fans!

Fewer than twenty-four hours after the UGA Bulldogs won the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium after an Ohio State Buckeye field goal was no good, the Atlanta Falcons beat the Arizona Cardinals with a field goal.  20 to 19 final score.  C’est tout!

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

Neither ornithological team went into today’s game with playoffs possibilities, but it still feels good as a Falcons fan to see the home team win at home.

Emory Healthcare and the Atlanta Falcons

It’s not just concussions that can affect the health of a former NFL player.  Other conditions that many non-athletes experience, but in some ways become more acute in their expression in athletes, can exacerbate risk for diabetes and overall physiological deterioration.

I felt like browsing the homepage of my alma mater for some reason and came across this short documentary on how Emory Healthcare helped former Atlanta Falcon Alge Crumpler get his health back on track.

Read the article over at Emory Healthcare’s site.