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Chris Hemsworth kicks up the action in stellar ‘Extraction 2’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

Is it a spoiler just to review “Extraction 2” after the ending of its 2020 predecessor? The oldest tricks are the best. When we last saw him, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth aka Thor), whose name summons the ghosts of the Tom Clancy-school of spydom. , took a header into the Ganges, leaving us doubting his chances of survival. Are you kidding me? “Extraction,” which featured some of the most exciting action of any action film of the time, thanks to former stunt coordinator-turned-director Sam Hargrave and screenwriter Joe Russo (“Extraction,” “The Gray Man”), was a smash hit for Netflix and created a character that gave Australian actor Hemsworth a rare and coveted second signature role. Based on the graphic novel “Ciudad” by Ande Parks, “Extraction” was also the international film debut of Indian actor Randeep Hooda as Rake’s adversary. Would Hargrave’s “Extraction 2” provide an adversary as imposing and charismatic?Not quite, but Georgian gun and drug-smuggler and super-vi...

‘Blue Jean’ revisits tense life as a gay woman in Thatcher’s Britain

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

Boasting a breakthrough, award-winning performance by Brit Rosy McEwan (“The Alienist”), writer-director Georgia Oakley’s “Blue Jean” charts the dangerous and uncharted land traveled by a gay woman (a PE teacher at a public high school) in Newcastle in northeast England in 1988. At a time when Margaret Thatcher is calling for a return to “traditional values” and her supporters bemoaned the pernicious influence gay people could exert upon children, a gay teacher has to tread very carefully and even remain in the closet to safekeep her livelihood.Thatcher even passed Section 28, a law prohibiting the “promotion of homosexuality.” It remained in effect until 2000. At school and in public, Jean Newman, who lives alone in a semi-attached property, is cautious and passive. A busybody across the way keeps an eye on Jean. In opening scenes, Jean, a bottle blonde, is applying bleach to her hair. With her fair skin and make-up free face, the effect suggests a desire to be invisible. At ...

Dear Abby: BF not interested in making his own friends

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

Dear Abby: My partner, “Josh,” and I (we’re both male) have been together for two years. We met while living in LA and were fortunate to be accepted to grad schools in NYC. We’re not living together now as our schools are in different boroughs, but we see each other most weekends.Recently, Josh has been trying to make more friends, as our social network seems more heavily skewed toward people from my circles (school, past work, etc.). I have the benefit of living on a grad school campus with in-person classes. Ninety percent of my peers are within the three buildings around me. Josh’s school has more students spread around Manhattan.I’m trying to figure out how I can support him making friends organically while not feeling like I’m ignoring him or missing out on time with him. We communicate well, and I’ve asked how I can help him, or if I should give him more space (i.e., not come over some weekends to give him more free time to make ...

Gloria Estefan gets loud, Teddy Riley swings and Jeff Lynne rocks at Songwriters Hall induction

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Gloria Estefan sang a medley of her hits, Post Malone sang one of his forgotten gems, Teddy Riley swayed to New Jack Swing and Jeff Lynne rocked out to “Mr. Blue Sky” at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony Thursday night. The gala at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City celebrated a diverse group of songwriters, with Broadway represented by lyricist Tim Rice, pop from Glen Ballard and a Nashville twang from Liz Rose. Each inductee spoke about how important music was to them growing up and how it connected them to the past and future.“To those fans that have found in my music what I found in the music of the life-changing songwriters that nourished my soul throughout my life, I thank you for that privilege,” said Estefan, the first Hispanic woman to be inducted. “And I can assure you that it is just as magical from the other side of the song.”Lynne, of the prog-rock Electric Light Orchestra, who worked with the Travelling Wilburys and To...

Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall Street rally, Bank of Japan stands pat

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares logged moderate gains on Friday after Wall Street benchmarks swept higher, extending their longest rally in a year and a half. The Bank of Japan wrapped up a policy meeting by keeping its ultra-lax monetary stance unchanged, as expected. It is a standout among central banks, most of which have sought to rein in inflation by raising interest rates. The key Japanese rate has stayed at minus 0.1% for a decade and policymakers have indicated they are not convinced that current inflation, which finally has surpassed the BOJ’s target of about 2%, will be sustained. “With extremely high uncertainties surrounding economies and financial markets at home and abroad, the Bank will patiently continue with monetary easing while nimbly responding to developments in economic activity and prices as well as financial conditions,” the BOJ said in a statement.Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1% higher to 33,518.93. Share prices have been trading around their hig...

REVIEW: The Flash runs into a dead end

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

Over the past ten years, D.C. Studios has released 14 films that make up a cinematic universe. It’s been constantly criticized and compared to Marvel’s more successful model, but the DCEU has had a variety of high points. The first time Batman ever fought Superman in live action, three outstanding performances from Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, and of course Jason Momoa looking amazingly attractive as Aquaman. With the studio’s newest release, the film is putting this cinematic universe in the past and jumping ahead into a new one.Ezra Miller in the Flash, courtesy of Warner Media.The Flash is both the end of a chapter, and an attempted beginning in a bold new direction. Ezra Miller (from We Need to Talk About Kevin) excels in their best performance as the speedster Barry Allen. Accustomed to his role in the Justice League, Allen discovers he can travel back in time and decides to do so to attempt to save the life of his mother (played by Maribel Verdú from Y tu m...

US guided-missile submarine arrives in South Korea, a day after North Korea resumes missile tests

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korea on Friday, a day after North Korea resumed missile tests in protest of the U.S.-South Korean live-fire drills.The USS Michigan’s arrival in South Korea, the first of its kind in six years, is part of a recent bilateral agreement on enhancing “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, according to South Korean officials.With the deployment of the USS Michigan, the U.S. and South Korean navies are to conduct drills on boosting their special operation capabilities and joint ability to cope with growing North Korean nuclear threats, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement.It said the U.S. submarine arrived at the southeastern port city of Busan but didn’t say how long it would stay in South Korean waters.The USS Michigan is one of the biggest s...

Trump’s promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

As Donald Trump became the first former president to face federal charges, he and his supporters went through a familiar routine of mounting a victimhood defense in the face of unprecedented allegations of wrongdoing. But this time, the stakes are higher.Trump upped the level of his claims and threats as he faces the potential of years in prison if convicted on 37 charges of obstruction, illegal retention of defense information and other violations. Hours after pleading not guilty, Trump claimed he is being targeted by the special prosecutor, who is nonpartisan, for political reasons and vowed to retaliate against President Joe Biden if he is elected president in 2024. “There was an unwritten rule” to not prosecute former presidents and political rivals, Trump told supporters in a speech at his golf club in New Jersey. “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of America, Joe Biden, and go after the Biden crime family.”The vow is...

Court set to rule on Iowa governor’s bid to reinstate strict abortion limits

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa court ruling expected Friday could outlaw most abortions in the state or keep the procedure legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, at least for now.Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds aims to reinstate the blocked 2018 “fetal heartbeat” law that does not allow abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. Currently, abortions are allowed up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.Most Republican-led states have severely curtailed access to abortion in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court stripped women’s constitutional right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade and handing authority over the issue to states.Reynolds signed the 2018 law despite state and federal court decisions at the time, including Roe, affirming a woman’s constitutional right to abortion. Planned Parenthood sued and a state judge blocked the law the following year. Reynolds did not appeal the decision at the time....

Biden is returning to his union roots as his 2024 campaign gears up

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:40:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden opened his 2020 presidential run at a Pittsburgh union hall, declaring, “I’m a union man. Period.” As he gears up for reelection, the president’s first political rally is being held at a union gathering on the other side of Pennsylvania, punctuating just how much Biden is counting on labor support to carry him to a second term — especially in a critical battleground state. The symmetry is no accident. Rallying labor activists on Saturday at Philadelphia’s convention center can help Biden’s campaign spark enthusiasm and tap early organizing muscle. That may eventually boost Democratic voter turnout in the city’s suburbs and other key parts of Pennsylvania, which in 2020 helped him flip the state where Biden was born from Donald Trump. “It speaks to this president’s visceral understanding that, when the labor movement in the United States is strong, the economy and our democracy are strong,” said Mary Kay Henry, internati...