If I say “Liam Neeson movie,” you picture, at this point, a pretty specific thing, right? It’s kind of an action-thriller. Neeson is avenging some wrong. It’s usually some wrong against his family. And it’s usually avenged with Neeson’s “particular set of skills.”

Basically, the movie is some version of Taken, right?

Well, Taken came out in 2008. Liam Neeson has been making these movies for 15 years now. He turned 70 last year, and he says he just made his 100th movie. (I’ve put a certain amount of effort into trying to figure out just what he’s counting to get to exactly 100, and I can’t quite do it. But I’ve decided we should just accept the guy’s count. Right?)

The Nose is off this week. In its place, and with the release Wednesday of Marlowe, a Not Necessarily theNose-style look at late-career Liam Neeson, post-Taken Liam Neeson, doing-action-movies-into-his-70s Liam Neeson.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

• Raquel Welch, ‘One Million Years B.C.’ and ‘Three Musketeers’ Icon, Dies at 82
• Trugoy the Dove, founding member of De La Soul, dead at 54
• Cody Longo, ‘Days of Our Lives’ actor, dead at 34
• Penn Badgley Says He Wants to Put His Sex Scenes to Bed
• How Rihanna Pioneered a New Kind of Super Bowl Performance The singer gave much of her halftime show performance atop seven suspended platforms. It was all in the name of protecting the grass.
• How the Oscars and Grammys Thrive on the Lie of Meritocracy Despite all the markers of excellence, contenders like Danielle Deadwyler, Viola Davis and Beyoncé weren’t recognized for the highest honors. Niche awards don’t suffice.
• Aliens And UFOs May Have Just Made Contact With Us, And Now Everyone’s Meme-ing About ItThey better pick me…
• John Wick 4’s Long Runtime Sets New Franchise Record
• An Ode to Swearing A well-turned curse can remind you of the power of language.
• The Wit and Wisdom of Regé-Jean Page The former Bridgerton star (and possibly the next James Bond?) is awfully humble for someone named the most handsome man in the world.
• A new, old rhythm: How the pitch clock could be profoundly positive
• The Case for Hanging Out There’s a growing crisis in our social lives. Could the cure be this simple?

GUESTS:

• David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
• Nate Fisher: A writer and comedian and cohost of the podcast A Closer Look
• Ben Lindbergh: Senior editor at The Ringer
• Stephen Marche: A novelist and essayist; his newest book, out this week, is On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 30, 2022.