Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of March 22, 2021
Nobody
Rated R for language throughout, brief drug use, bloody images and strong violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
In theaters
Nobody stars Bob Odenkirk (Better Caul Saul) as a literal nobody who is seemingly afraid to even protect his family when home invaders break in during the opening moments of the film. He’s just a nice guy who is trying to shield his family from violence, until a switch goes off and then suddenly he can’t wait to stand up for himself and even hopes that someone will make the wrong move and cross him. Of course when this happens, he makes enemies with a Russian mobster that eventually puts himself and his family in eminent risk. For his entire career, Odenkirk has given us so many amazing performances as the average, sometimes goofy, dude next door. You might want to go have a beer with him, but you definitely wouldn’t ask him to come back you up in a fight. Until now. This 90 minute entertaining departure is super violent and yet amazingly fun, and funny. It is not designed to win awards or leave you intellectually stimulated. But rather it is custom built to give its audience a short burst of mindless excitement for, what will be for many, their first time back in theaters in a year. B
News of the World
Rated PG-13 for some language, disturbing images, thematic material and violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Available on disc and streaming
After a relatively successful theatrical run, this innovative and relevant western directed by Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) and starring Tom Hanks as traveling news reader in the old west, is finally making its way to disc. Taking place five years after the Civil War, retired Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks) discovers a young orphan girl who doesn’t speak English on the trail near Wichita Falls, TX who desperately needs help to find her aunt and uncle in hill country. So traveling through both the somewhat civilized cities and the treacherous regions of Texas, he must find a way to keep himself and the girl alive while evading the scoundrels that mean to harm them. While the film appears to be on the level and works as a straight-out story to those who don’t want to put too much thought into it, ultimately the movie comes off as way more figurative and poetic than literal. This deeper meaning to the film gives it a less that subtle complexity that is well-driven by Greengrass and Hanks. While filmed in New Mexico, the story was that much more interesting for taking place in cities and towns (in name only) which most of us, as Texans, are very familiar with. While it had some story elements that seem a bit far-fetched, the many different facets make for an excellent movie-watching experience. A-