Buffa’s Buffet: 5 things on my mind

80 degrees in early April? Sure.

St. Louis weather makes about as much sense as the third act of a Christopher Nolan film. You understand it just enough to rage against it or love it, but in this case I hate this temperature anomaly. One that plays out every time the seasons switch in my city.

For example, this morning on the fifth day of April, the outside temp felt like a day in mid to late May. There’s no real way I should be sweating off 78 degrees before 9am when the Cardinals just opened the season less than a week ago. Maybe that’s a burgeoning statistic that I can run with, or it could be a sad case of failing to understand this Midwest weather.

If I had more time and energy on it, I’d crack the case and look up what it was back in 19-who knows how long to see what the temp was that morning, but there’s paid people who take care of that. Today’s high temp of 80+ could set a whole new record for St. Louis. Global warming or not, it’s aggravating.

We have to deal with this shit, along with the high paid baseball players who started action last week. The Cardinals are 2-2 and a few things are for certain:

A) The offense can really score, even very good pitching staffs like the Blue Jays and Braves. The entire lineup is hitting, especially Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan. The bigger names will hit, but these in between “maybe” players helps move the needle forward.

B) The pitching staff has issues, with the biggest thorns coming in the rotation. Jack Flaherty’s start was labeled a win, but he didn’t go deep into the game and issued too many walks. Miles Mikolas and Jake Woodford didn’t fare well in their starts, or go deep at all into the game. The bullpen was hit and miss, which included a blown save on opening day from Ryan Helsley and seemingly endless base runners from Jordan Hicks.

4 games in, there’s surprises of both kinds. It’s so early that talking about performances and averages seems crazy, even if I feel like these finished games flew by. Keep watching and keep a brew nearby, or a moderate form of herbal medication.

The gates are open at both ends for this Cards team.

The Blues are almost finished playing, and most fans would be fine with it. Put the animal out of its misery. This season has played out as well as the recent film adaptation of Cats did, which is dreary and sometimes ugly. Instead of blaming three or four people, stare at the whole team. They all did it. And then stare at GM Doug Armstrong, who has to fix this or risk the word “rebuild” failing to leave the press.

Here’s the thing. At the end of the day, love every sport like you do during the first few weeks of a season. When they sail downward, don’t follow them. It’s their jobs on the line and general responsibility to be good at their jobs, which would in turn lead to a higher winning percentage. All I can say is stay on the median with sports passions. Your blood pressure will applaud you.

For instance, I heard about the highlights of the Blues game last night through my co-worker, and only watched the highlights of the last game. Take every sports comment out of my mouth with two grains of salt, but please don’t any any article or sport that which it describes harder than “aw shucks, they lost. Well shit, Billy, let’s go bowling.”

I’m not telling you how to fan, more like telling you about my own and hoping some of it sticks.

Your general time interests are better left with very good movies, or television shows for that matter. Let’s say you already watched the movie. Who cares? Watch it again. Call it movie homework. For instance, I could watch Tony Gilroy’s The Bourne Legacy every day. It moves quickly, breathes like a well-trained athlete, and stays with you.

Matt Damon’s protagonist without a memory-but plenty of John Wick-type martial arts ability-may carry most of the popular interest when “Bourne” is mentioned anywhere. But Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross, star of 2012’s Legacy, has just as rich of a story.

Keep in mind Gilroy wrote the Damon-led movies as well, so the chemist behind the espionage is the same guy. Bourne plays an integral role in the Renner-led film, kicking off the plot you could say. The action is swift and merciless, holding serve with earlier films.

There’s a lot of talent in The Bourne Legacy. Oscar Isaac, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach, Scott Glenn, and Joan Allen. Rachel Weisz is at her best as a scientist lab tech who finds herself on the run with Cross. It’s a fine film and exits Netflix on April 30. Give it a go, and wait for the action scene where Cross literally climbs up a three story house to deliver a can of whoop-ass.

Stick with Netflix for the TV show selection. My dad first turned me on to The Night Agent, which received a second season inside six days and still sits in the top 3 most-watched entertainment entries on the streamer OG.

St. Louis native Gabriel Basso-don’t blame him for the Ron Howard dumpster fire, Hillbilly Elegy-leads up the cast as Peter Sutherland Jr, the FBI agent who watches over a secret telephone located in the basement of… The White House! Mostly a file reviewer and paper work suit, Basso’s low-level agent finds himself suddenly called into action when the phone that never rings does fire up less than a third into the pilot episode.

Rose Larkin (a very good Luciane Buchanan) makes the call, and forms this duo taking on the highest chains of the United States government. Basso is a capable lead, and forms good chemistry with Buchanan--who could stare through your soul. The fantastic Hong Chau (The Whale, The Menu) has a juicy role as the White House Chief of Staff.

Yes, we’ve seen this type of show done (or merely attempted) quite a few times, but rarely with this much efficiency. The ten episodes don’t contain a lot of filler, using the time to slowly lay out the background of its central characters. Sutherland and Larkin are running from assassins, Secret Service, and a random array of badges throughout the first season. Each flashback opens a new episode, so you are fed breadcrumbs of the “why” as the “now” is taking place.

The Night Agent makes that work with tight storytelling and riveting freestyle action sequences that get better with each episode. Some of the humor is forced, but a little lightness helps when you think a character could be picked off by a bullet at any moment. Now playing on the Flix of Net that we all have met.

Lastly, come out this Thursday at seven in the evening for a classic comedy in Caddyshack. The latest movie in Galleria 6 Cinemas’ special series, Great Film St. Louis. Following The Searchers and Goodfellas, Harold Ramis’ screwball comedy still draws laughs thanks to invaluable cast members like Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy Chase.

Come out this week and support a local theater and take in a classic.

Also, for a sweetener, check out this new Gerard Butler action flick preview. These things are like Skittles to me.

That’s all for now. Until next time, just relax. It’s not as bad as you think.