This year we decided to devote the month of August to none other than John Woo with a particular focus on his Hollywood movies. In fact, the idea to do this stemmed from the fact that one of our hosts is a massive fan/apologist of John Woo and he also happen to have his birthday in August. And if you pouch your lips just the right way, you will easily pronounce the word August as “A-Woo-gust”; this stuff just writes itself.
Therefore, we chose to talk about (nearly) all movies John Woo made in Hollywood, with a small exception of Mission: Impossible 2 we have already devoted an episode to exactly one year ago. Joined by a handful of guests on some of those episodes, some returning, like Cordero on the Broken Arrow episode or Kevin&Erin from The Podcast That Wouldn’t Die who joined us for Hard Target, some brand new, like Darryl from the Cage/Rage Podcast who joined us for Windtalkers. Suffice it to say we had lots of fun digging into these movies, fishing out Woo’s iconic stylistic flourishes, poking fun at JCVD’s mullet and maybe sharing one or two hot takes on occasion. Plus, I am now (still) working on a series of short metaphorical essays about John Woo’s Hollywood ordeal you will be able to hear me tease on those podcasts, so keep your eyes peeled for that as well.
Episode 80 (Hard Target)
Episode 81 (Broken Arrow)
Episode 82 (Face/Off)
Episode 83 (Windtalkers)
Episode 84 (Paycheck)
In addition, we have also devoted two of our bonus Patreon recordings to effectively tie into the A-Woo-gust series. We talked about Hard Boiled and we devised a mini-retrospective to three movies starring Jean-Claude Van Damme directed by other Hong-Kong Directors, i.e. Maximum Risk, Double Team and Knock Off. As a fun little piece of show trivia, this mini-retrospective became a bit of an event (at least for me) as it was the first and thus far only recording of Uncut Gems Podcast I was not present for. But the boys knocked it out of the park, so remember to subscribe and listen to those extra recordings.
Bonus Tie-in 08 (Hard Boiled) (full episode on Patreon)
Retrospective 07 (JCVD vs Hong Kong) (full episode on Patreon)
Finally, our 2022 David Lynch Marathon continued in August with our conversation about Lost Highway, filled with hot takes, innuendo and unsolicited confessions. Check it out!
David Lynch Marathon 09 (Lost Highway) (full episode on Patreon)
Last but not least, this year we also happened to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Tony Scott’s untimely passing. Therefore, we decided to re-release an old recording we made a year ago for Clapper’s old Patreon account, which is now permanently defunct. So, please pay no mind to the sound quality on this podcast, as it was recorded long before I knew what I know now about editing, recording, producing etc. Not that I am some kind of a pro right now, but hey… each day is a lesson in this gig. If you support us on Patreon, you will also get to hear us talk about Days of Thunder, True Romance, Crimson Tide and Domino.
Flasz On Film 