...
Then Manhunter came on and i couldn't help but fall into my old pattern of watching it intently from start to gruesome finish.
I honestly can't help it.
It such a fantastic movie, i never tire of it or miss a chance to watch when it graces our television screens.
Sure, i've got it on DVD but it's different to watch it accompanied by adverts and a degree of spontaneity.
Or is that just me?
Whenever Mr Lecktor - as he's originally known, before the tragic years of Hopkins', Lector - is brought up in conversation, i'm always gobsmacked by the number of people who have never seen Michael Mann's little masterpiece and consider Anthony Hopkins', Hannibal to be a thing of filmic brilliance.
It's really, really not but i've never been a fan of Hopkins, so maybe i'm not the greatest judge.
But just watch Brian Cox - who i also think is overrated but was malevolently bewitching as Hannibal - in Manhunter and you'll see an infinitely superior performance.
Manhunter isn't even about Hannibal Lecktor and yet he makes such a lasting impression.
There's a joyful skip in Cox's tone of voice throughout all his appearances and it without fail sends a little fearful thrill through every skin cell i possess.
Unlike Hopkins, who mostly puts me to sleep.
Creepy sleep but sleep nonetheless.
Then there's the score.
I remember having a full blown argument - a quiet one, i swear - with someone i'd just met in my local pub, when he dared to say the music was, 'too synthy...'.
Lamebrain.
Needless to say, neither of us won, both being exceedingly stubborn but agreed that Manhunter is a supreme film and the music, even disliked by silly people, mirrors the icy atmosphere that squirms its way through the entirety of the movie.
At some points, i really do catch myself not breathing, even though i know what's coming next.
Now that is great filmmaking.
But it was made by the man that went on to make such filmic gems as The Last of the Mohicans, Heat and The Insider.
Can't really argue with that, can you?
I really must watch The Keep.
And petition to have the price of Manhunter's soundtrack taken down a little.
Please?
I know there's a limited run but fifty quid is kind of excessive.
Earlier, i was watching The Brave One.
I find this movie pretty damn boring if i'm honest which is strange because i'm such a big Neil Jordan fan.
He's been responsible for so many of my favourite movies:
The Company of Wolves
Mona Lisa
The Butcher Boy
In Dreams
Breakfast On Pluto
Ondine
And he directed The Borgias which i have such guilty pleasure love for!
And his new movie Byzantium looks so up my street it's unreal.
However.
He is responsible for Interview With A Vampire, which is wonderfully camp and Banderas' performance is a thing of blinding beauty but it's still crap.
Crappity, crap, crap, crap.
Plus, no biting of Christian Slater, he's too awesome to be offed by Tom 'i run like a girl' Cruise.
Although, why are you in Bullet to the Head?
Why, Christian?
Why?
So, back to The Brave One.
It was on, i didn't have control over the remote and i was too lazy to leave the room.
You've all been there, don't lie.
We quit half way through anyhow and watched Game of Thrones instead.
The better choice, i think you'll agree.
Less than a month to go!
But whilst watching the previous, Jodie Foster delivered this line in her unmistakeable throaty tones:
“It is astonishing, numbing, to find that inside you there is a stranger. One that has your arms, your legs, your eyes. A sleepless, restless stranger who keeps walking, keeps eating, keeps living.”
And it kind of unnerved me a little.
For a few years there, i was that feeling.
That's what fear and sadness did to me and i didn't expect to hear it described so...acutely.
I'm not there anymore but i haven't shaken that feeling entirely.
I'm not sure i ever will but someday, perhaps.
Hopefully without gunning down a few unsavoury civilians in the process, like our Miss Foster.
Manhunter's done now and i already want to watch it again.
But The Brothers Grossbart await.
Abominably readable little creatures that they are.
Listening to: Everything Everything 'Feet For Hands'
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