JCVD Week!

Date	Title	Released
6/3	Death Warrant	1990
6/4	Replicant	2001
6/5	In Hell	2003
6/6	Wake of Death	2004
6/7	Second in Command	2006
6/8	Black Water	2018
6/9	JCVD	2008

This was an interesting week to be watching these movies. I had a couple of days where I had to really figure out where to fit these films into my schedule, including on Saturday when I was at an all-day event. I ended up watching Black Water at 5:30am before starting my day!

Anyway, I was glad to see these movies, although some of them I totally get why I skipped them the first time. I can recommend what I think are several really good Van Damme projects that I’ve already seen but are worth it if you haven’t:

• Bloodsport – 1988 (his breakout starring role)
• Hard Target – 1993 (John Woo’s first English-language/Hollywood film, cheesy and violent)
• Timecop – 1994 (ummm, because it’s awesome… duh!)
• Street Fighter: The Movie – 1994 (more for the silliness as well as a great penultimate performance by the late Raul Julia, who passed away before the movie’s release)
• The Quest – 1996 (Van Damme’s directorial debut. I mean, it’s basically Bloodsport with a different framing story, but I liked it)
• Legionnaire – 1998 (quite a different story from the usual Van Damme fare at the time)
• Welcome to the Jungle – 2013 (Van Damme has just a supporting a role in this, but he and everyone else are really f**king funny in it)
• Jean-Claude Van Johnson – 2016 (TV series this time on Amazon Prime Video. He again plays a version of himself, this time where his being a movie star is cover for his real career – international superspy. Very silly and tragically short-lived.)

Keanu Reeves Week!

Date	Title	Released
5/20	Brotherhood of Justice	1986
5/21	The Night Before	1988
5/22	The Last Time I Committed Suicide	1997
5/23	The Gift	2000
5/24	Henry’s Crime	2010
5/25	Generation Um…	2012
5/26	Siberia	2018

This was an interesting week, exploring a lot more of the filmography of Keanu Reeves, a number of which I was not even aware of. I will say this — of the ones I saw this week, I highly recommend both The Night Before and Henry’s Crime. Wonderfully done comedies that really resonated with me.

I know I haven’t posted a lot with the other weekly summaries, but some weeks, we just don’t have much to say and no time in which to not say it. (Yes, I’m sticking with that grammar.)

Anyway, I’m slowly steam cooking in the Atlanta heat and humidity like a helping of boil-in-the-bag veggies. In between sauna sessions, I went with my brother to the Carter Presidential Library and Museum, which is a conveniently a short drive from my apartment. The location is almost idyllic in the center of a major city. Walking through the gardens to the museum is incredibly quiet and calming. The exhibits in the museum are pretty much what you’d expect — lionizing the subject (probably rightly so in this case) and well laid out as a path through his life and works. There was also a temporary exhibit about the film industry in Georgia. (The GA Film Commission was started by Carter in the 70s when he was governor.) I really kind of want to check out the library side of things more than the museum, but maybe that’ll be a future visit. In any case, check number 1 of 13 (eventually 14) presidential libraries off my bucket list!