Nobody

Year of Release:  2021

Director:  Ilya Naishuller

Screenplay:  Derek Kolstad

Starring:  Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Aleksei Serebryakov, RZA, Michael Ironside, Colin Salmon, Christopher Lloyd

Running Time:  92 minutes

Genre:  Action, thriller

Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk) is a seemingly average man living with his wife, Becca (Nielsen), and two children, and working a dull office job at his father-in-law's metal fabrication company.  One night two armed burglars break into his house, however Hutch does not intervene and allows them to leave.  This leads his family, neighbours and friends to see him as a loser.  However a late night confrontation on a bus with a gang of thugs, leads to Hutch being pitted against a powerful Russian crime syndicate, and it soon becomes apparent that Hutch is really very different from the placid, mild-mannered man that he appears.

At first this appears to be a gritty vigilante thriller in the mould of Death Wish (1974) and it's ilk, where a mild-mannered man is pushed too far by urban criminals, but it soon becomes a full on action movie.  The film is full of exciting well-staged action sequences and it does become a good, old-fashioned action film The anchor is Bob Odenkirk in the lead role who makes the switch from placid average guy to full on action hero very convincingly.  It all gets increasingly daft as it goes along, but there is some real grit in the earlier scenes, as Hutch gets punched and pummelled from all directions and the injuries look and feel real and do slow him down, of course this is soon abandoned as the film moves towards full action movie mode.  Connie Nielsen is underused as Becca, Hutch's wife, but Aleksei  Serebryakov is effective as the head villain, and Christopher Lloyd has a fun part as Hutch's elderly, but ruthlessly gun-toting father. While this does feel like a gritty urban thriller mashed up with an  action movie, this is always fun and when it kicks into gear it really doesn't let up.  It's no classic, but it will give you a good time at the movies.  

Bob Odenkirk is Nobody

The Dead Don't Die

Year:  2019
Director:  Jim Jarmusch
Screenplay:  Jim Jarmusch
Starring:  Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Selena Gomez, RZA, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits
Running Time:  103 minutes
Genre:  Horror, comedy

The small American town of Centerville is experiencing a series of bizarre events:  It gets dark either far too late or far too early for the time of year, animals are behaving out of character or disappearing, and electronic equipment is behaving very erratically.  Things get much worse when the dead start to come out of the grave and feast on the flesh of the living. 

This marks the second time that acclaimed indie director Jim Jarmusch has entered horror territory, following acclaimed vampire movie Only Lovers Left Alive (2013).  This did not get the same positive reception on it's release.  The humour is very deadpan, police officers Bill Murray and Adam Driver seem to sleepwalk throughout the entire film even before the zombies appear, and is full of bizarre touches, such as Tilda Swinton as an eccentric, samurai sword wielding Scottish mortician (with a frankly extraordinary accent), and Murray and Driver's characters seem to be aware that they are characters in a film, and the film's theme song becomes a recurring in-joke throughout the film.  It's also full of references to other horror films.  This isn't really scary at all, and at times it is too self-consciously cool for it's own good, and the characters are too "hip" and quirky to really feel realistic.  it also hammers home it's political message a little too bluntly at times.  Personally though, I did find it consistently funny.  The zombies themselves are effectively designed, "bleeding" clouds of black ash, and drawn to the things that they loved when they were alive.  It boasts an impressive cast, who all seem to be having fun.

Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny and Adam Driver face off against zombies in The Dead Don't Die