Somebodies

Friday night’s movie fix, courtesy of Netflix by mail, was a lively, John-Wick-like romp, Nobody (2021). Bob Odenkirk stars as a retired super agent of a three-letter organization now living a quiet family life. Mayhem ensues when he crosses paths with Russian mobsters. At first he does all the killing. He is joined by his father and brother for the final shootout. Derek Kolstad, the writer of the John Wick series, did the screenplay. Action fans would likely love it. I think the highlights are Christopher Lloyd as the old man, gleeful as he blows away bad guys, and Paisley Cadorath, adorable as the little daughter, seven years old or so. Aleksey Serebryakov is over the top as the villain. Connie Nielsen, RZA and Colin Salmon are along for the ride. Anyone squeamish about violence should pass. 256,000+ users at IMDb have rated Nobody, forging to a consensus of 7.4 on a scale of ten, much too high in my opinion. Made on a budget estimated at $16 million, it returned more than $57 million worldwide, which should assure more work for director Ilya Naishuller, who has done several music videos for the indie band he fronts, Biting Elbows. Here are father and son in character:

RIP Tom Sizemore, 61, who suffered a stroke recently. He was as talented as he was prolific, a master of the role of tough guy. Born in an upper middle-class family in Detroit, he earned a Master’s in theater at Temple University. He waited tables and performed in off-Broadway plays before he broke into films. There are 260 titles beneath his name at IMDb, 31 to be released posthumously. His career began in 1989 and he worked steadily ever since despite a major problem with substance abuse. Here are movies in which he appeared that I enjoyed: True Romance (1993), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Heat (1995), The Relic (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Enemy of the State (1998), Black Hawk Down (2001). He has four credits as a producer and three as a writer. He was a dad of two. Gone too soon.

Headline from foxnews.com: “Walmart to shutter Portland locations just months after CEO’s warnings on crime.”

Also from FN, cinema verité: “Emma Stone’s ‘And’ co-star Willem Dafoe had her slap him 20 times to get scene right.” Maybe he just liked it.

Chip Bok cartoon:

As if any more proof is needed about Vlad’s sanity, headline from nypost.com: “Russian energy revenue down 46% in 12 months despite February jump.”

No luck selling stuff curbside on this raw day. The difference psychologically between selling only one book and none shouldn’t be much, but it is often vast.

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