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‘Silent Night’ a violent winner from John Woo

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

The revenge thriller “Silent Night” marks the return of the great Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo (“Bullet in the Head,” “Hard Boiled,” “Face/Off”) to the U.S. in 20 years. Set in downtown Los Angeles, the dialogue-free film wastes no time in blasting off. We see Joel Kinnaman’s Brian Godluck, an electrical repairman, running down an alley chasing after gang members, whose four-wheeled shootout with another vehicle has taken the life of his young son with a stray bullet.Brian wears a blood-stained reindeer sweater with a bulging nose at his stomach. His face is a mirror of grief and vengeance. Instead of white doves, “Silent Night” gives us a single red balloon as a symbol of the soul that has been prematurely snatched at Christmastime. Brian catches up with the perpetrator (Harold Torres) and smashes his windshield only to be shot in the throat and deprived of his voice.The silence at the heart of “Silent Night” is only verbal. We hear everything else, especially the physical vi...

Antoni: Fed budget hikes take food off our tables

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

Inflation has left millions of Americans with no good choices, even when it comes to necessities like what to eat. Despite chicken prices being at a record high, families are buying more than ever. Why? Because the alternatives are even worse: Staples like beef and pork have sadly become unaffordable for millions whose budgets have been ravaged by inflation.That’s why Americans on average are expected to consumer more than 100 pounds of chicken this year for the first time ever. Ironically, as inflation causes people’s spending habits to change, that can minimize official inflation numbers published by the government while also causing additional pain for lower-income earners.I recently testified on this topic before both a House and Senate subcommittee, explaining how inflation is a hidden tax that disproportionately falls on lower- and middle-income folks.As the price of relatively expensive options like beef rises, people can afford less of that and shoppers increasingly choose c...

Editorial: Military once again cash cow for overcharging contractors

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

Is the $600 taxpayer-funded toilet seat making a comeback?Not if Senator Elizabeth Warren has anything to say about it.She and fellow Democrat Rep. John Garamendi of California have ramped up campaigns to stem what they call widespread “price gouging” in contracts for military spare parts.The two members of their chamber’s Armed Services Committee made their case in a pair of letters obtained by CQ Roll Call.Warren has sounded alarms over price-gouging before, blaming greedy corporations for inflation to deflect from Washington’s runaway spending.But sometimes she’s right.Warren and Garamendi claim defense contractors are exploiting loopholes so the companies can regularly refuse to provide the Defense Department legally required data to document that their parts’ prices are fair and reasonable on contracts awarded without competition.We’ve been here before, of course.Back in 1985, Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Maine) charged that the Navy had been paying mo...

Bernstein biopic ‘Maestro’ more flat than sharp

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

As impressive as “Maestro” – Bradley Cooper’s biographical film about Lawrence-born Leonard Bernstein – is, it makes a common mistake of taking someone famous for artistic achievements and dwelling instead upon their not nearly as interesting personal life.Cooper’s film in which he plays the legendary Bernstein also leaves out, inexplicably, what could have been a fabulous sequence: the evening Bernstein and his actor-socialite wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) threw a soiree for members of the Black Panther Party, an event immortalized by Thomas Wolfe in his scathingly hilarious 1970 “New York” magazine article “Radical Chic.” The essay was devastating. Cooper should have found a way to get it in.Cooper’s film, produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg no less and co-written by Cooper and Oscar winner Josh Singer (“Spotlight”), makes no bones about Leonard “Lenny” Bernstein being gay. On the morning of the day he was called upon to make ...

Add ‘Candy Cane Lane’ to your Christmas faves list

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

While I don’t think Reginald Hudlin’s “Candy Cane Lane” is the next “It’s a Wonderful Life,” it is an amiable, inventive, fun-filled Christmas-themed effort featuring the great Eddie Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross. These two very big talents play Chris and Carol Carver, a married-with-children couple, who live on El Segundo’s Candy Cane Lane and engage in a competitive best Christmas display contest.Chris and Carol desperately want their older daughter Joy (Genneya Walton) to attend Chris’s alma mater USC. She wants to attend Notre Dame to get a bit farther away. Chris and Carol are not sure what to make of son and music buff Nick (Thaddeus J. Mixson) or his interest in the tuba.As his name suggests, Chris Carver has as usual completed several hand-carved decorations for his family’s front yard. He scoffs at Bruce (Ken Marino), his neighbor across the street who is partial to tacky, giant blow-up Christmas figures. In search of more decorations, Chr...

DeMaria: Project could unlock Everett’s potential

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

Everett is a community with tremendous potential.  Like many of my fellow residents, I have always known this about my beloved hometown.There is a beautiful view from my office in City Hall. There are amazing sunsets that highlight the skyline. This view also highlights the obvious distinctions between Everett’s skyline that is still dotted with 20th century industrial tank farms in stark comparison to the gleaming glass buildings that have risen from development opportunities available in other communities.I have been transparent for more than ten years in my advocacy to generate interest in new projects that will transform defunct, contaminated, blighted industrial eyesores that have served for too long as reminders about the historic limits on what others thought was possible in Everett.There is the potential to locate a professional soccer stadium along the Everett waterfront on the site of a power plant that is in the process of being fully decommissioned in 2024. It is a poten...

Siggins: Polls confirm Israel winning PR war

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

Recent headlines would have you believe Israel is losing ground in the domestic narrative war with Hamas. New polls indicate that the high level of support Israel enjoyed after the Oct. 7 attacks has slowly eroded as military action in Gaza drags on and a humanitarian crisis emerges.But digging beneath the headlines reveals a lot of good news for Israel’s long-term prospects in shoring up its support among the American people, and especially among critical policy, political and military leaders.The polls in question come from NPR and Reuters. The former found that 38% believed Israel’s retaliation against Hamas had gone too far, an increase of 12 percentage points from October. The Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll found that only 32% of respondents agreed that “the U.S. should support Israel,” a 9-point decrease from October. But Reuters also found that only 4% of respondents believed that the United States should support Hamas instead of Israel — unchanged since last month.This in...

Uxbridge seeks perfection against Amesbury in Div. 7 state final

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

Head coach Colin McQueen says the double tight set, straight-T offense his Amesbury football team leaned on this year might be a described by others as an antiquated style.But for the Redhawks, it’s aged like a fine wine.Only two other teams that qualified for the Div. 7 state tournament averaged more points than sixth-seeded Amesbury (9-2) this year, and they have an opportunity to try to outscore one of them when they take on No. 1 Uxbridge (12-0) in the Div. 7 Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium, Friday at 3 p.m.The Spartans’ division-best 41.4 points per game is as hard as any to keep up with, but Amesbury’s 36 per game is up for the challenge.“(We) play tough football and use all four downs to do it,” McQueen said. “If we go forward, it’s pretty tough to stop us. The guys have been good at staying on schedule for most of the year and finding ways to finish drives.”The Redhawks are 1-0 in Super Bowls with a lone appearance in 2008, while Uxbridge is 2-0 with repeat titles from over 3...

Dear Abby: Hubby hands over hassles to son

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

Dear Abby: Our son plays a college sport for which he receives four complimentary tickets for each game. It works out well because there are four of us in his immediate family.However, my husband has been asking friends of his to join us at games by offering them free tickets. Our son then must find a teammate with unused tickets and ask for them. My husband gives no warning. He just announces a couple of days prior to a game that he has invited so and so. Then, on game day, we are responsible for getting these friends in and seated with us.More than once, we haven’t been able to enter stadiums and see our son before games, or the beginning of a game, because his friends are late and he must stay behind to meet them.My take is this: These are public sporting events. Our son is given tickets for IMMEDIATE family. If a friend expresses a desire to go to a game, send them the schedule and say, “Awesome! Here’s the schedule. See you there!” and recommend an onlin...

Man suspected of fatally stabbing mother-in-law dies in pursuit crash

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:16:36 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- A 41-year-old man suspected of fatally stabbing his mother-in-law at a South Bay home is dead after leading police on a pursuit and crashing into a freeway divider, according to police.Around 8 p.m. Wednesday, officers were called about a stabbing in the 1500 block of Yanonali Avenue in Chula Vista, police said in a release. When authorities arrived, they attempted to stop a car that was leaving. When the vehicle did not pull over, police began chasing the driver.Officers entered the home and found the man's 69-year-old mother-in-law had been stabbed, police said. Paramedics took the woman to a hospital, where she died. Mikey Williams pleads guilty to single count of making criminal threats Police also found the man's 42-year-old wife with cuts on her arm. She was taken to a hospital, where she was in stable condition.Meanwhile, the driver led police on a chase for 25 minutes before crashing into a divider on the northbound Interstate 805 and Interstate 8 i...