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Plot runs aground in ‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

Based on Chapter 7 (aka “The Captain’s Log”) in Bram Stoker’s 1897 classic horror novel “Dracula,” “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” was expanded by writers Bragi F. Schut (“Escape Room”) and Zak Olkewicz (“Bullet Train”) into a full-length feature directed by Norwegian filmmaker Andre Ovredal of the sublime 2010 entry “Troll Hunter.” The film is brought to us by Universal Pictures, the studio that made its name with its Golden Age of Horror in the 1930s. That all sounds great, right?Well, the results are mixed at best. The action begins with the discovery of a wreck on the shores of Whitby, England in 1897, its masts shattered, sails in rags. Cut to four weeks earlier and the Demeter, a cargo vessel under the command of the soon-to-retire Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham, “Game of Thrones”), is loading a shipment of 50 large crates to convey from Wallachia to London.One of the crates breaks free and almost kills a boy named Toby (Woody Norman), the Captain’s grandson...

Ira Sachs makes film about intimacy, gets NC-17 rating

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

Ira Sachs has been making gay films for over 30 years but “Passages,” a gay, bi and hetero drama, marks the first time he’s been slapped with an NC-17 rating.His film, which premiered at Sundance last January, is now going out unrated, uncut.“Passages,” set in cosmopolitan Paris, stars three of Europe’s most notable new stars – Germany’s Franz Rogowski, England’s out gay actor Ben Whishaw and France’s Adèle Exarchopoulos, best known for the sexually provocative “Blue is the Warmest Color.”When Rogowski’s director impulsively begins an affair with Exarchopoulos’s grade school teacher that changes everything for each of them. It leads to recriminations, lies and an explosive coupling between the two men that led to the rating.It all began, Sachs, 57, said in a Zoom interview, “During the pandemic. I craved a kind of cinema, as well as a kind of experience, that I really missed. And that was one of intimacy and passion.“I wanted to have experiences and I wanted to use cinema to create ...

Lowry: Rational Americans not sold on Hillary’s ‘village’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

Hillary Clinton can’t say she didn’t warn us.In a 3,500-word essay on “The Weaponization of Loneliness” in The Atlantic, the former secretary of state and presidential candidate says her jejune 1996 book, “It Takes a Village,” forecast the country’s current crisis of loneliness and offered still-relevant solutions.And, oh yeah, hapless lonely people exploited by authoritarian right-wingers basically kept her from the White House in 2016 (and here you thought it was Russia).Now, social isolation is a real social problem in America, as Hillary correctly recounts in her essay, and it has contributed to the Trump phenomenon. But that it has been uniquely weaponized against progressives, or that conventional progressive policies are the antidote to this deep-seated phenomenon is as absurd and self-serving as you’d expect from a woman who managed one of the more shocking losses in U.S. presidential history and has been offering excuses ever ...

John Angelos sought development rights to state-owned parking lots as Orioles negotiate new Camden Yards lease

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

As part of seeking an agreement on a new lease that will bind the Orioles to Baltimore, club chairman and CEO John Angelos sought commercial development rights to three state-owned parking lots that sit on valuable land between Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium.Angelos has long said publicly that signing a new agreement with the Maryland Stadium Authority for the state-owned ballpark would be about more than the MLB team’s home field. As part of his idea to create a surrounding “live-work-play” area, four people with knowledge of his request told The Baltimore Sun that Angelos proposed getting the rights to lots A, B and C.One of sources familiar with the negotiations said Angelos’ idea for the parking lots came up earlier in the talks with the administration of Gov. Wes Moore, but is no longer on the table. That is not the direction a final deal is headed, the source said. Another source emphasized that in any negotiation...

Great cast shoots for the stars in sci-fi comedy ‘Jules’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

The great Academy Award-winner Sir Ben Kingsley leads a strong cast in the modest science-fiction/fairy tale “Jules.” Written by TV veteran Gavin Steckler (“Review”) and directed by well-known indie producer Marc Turtletaub (“Little Miss Sunshine”), “Jules” tells the quirky tale of an old man who lives on his own in a leafy suburb (“Jules” was shot in Boonton, N.J.), where the highlight of his week is the town meeting at which he recommends a new crosswalk and a change to the town’s perfectly suitable slogan. Also certain to be at the town meeting are older, civic-minded, local residents Joyce (Jane Curtin) and Sandy (welcome TV veteran Harriet Sansom Harris).In his backyard, the old man, whose name is Milton Robinson (Kingsley in a shaggy wig) has a bird feeder, a patch of prized azaleas and a couple of smaller buildings. A widower, he, like many older Americans, likes watching “C.S.I.” reruns. He has a son he hasn’t heard from and a singleton, veterinarian daughter nam...

Editorial: IRS dropped the ball on millions of tax records: report

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles may be a lot of things, but who knew it was a management model for the Internal Revenue Service.In a move reminiscent of the RMV’s mishandling of out-of-state violations – some 10,000 of which were found before a Massachusetts trucker who should have been off the road was charged in a deadly 2019 New Hampshire crash, a watchdog report says the IRS lost track of millions of sensitive individual and business tax records.As Politico reported, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday that it found significant deficiencies in safeguarding and accounting for millions of tax records that contain sensitive taxpayer information.They should have been transferred from a closed agency facility in California. The IRS is also unable to locate thousands of records that were stored at a facility in Utah.It’s mandatory that the IRS’ store old tax records in microfilm backup cartridges, but the watchdog said it ...

Franks: Imagine if we had an age-limit amendment in 2010

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

One of my favorite movies is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The story questions what local banker George Bailey’s hometown would have been like had he never lived.Well, let’s imagine what America would be like if we had adopted an age-limit constitutional amendment in 2010.After all, in nearly every occupation, there is an established age limit. Nearly all major labor contracts have an age-limit clause. But, if you are a federal employee there are exceptions to this rule, and at the highest levels – president, vice president, senators, congressmen, and justices on the Supreme Court.Yes, the most powerful have exempted themselves from age limits, much like kings and queens. Royalty and the political elite can stay in power until their deaths.We need an age-limit constitutional amendment. We do not need term-limits instead of age-limits unless we want 10,000 anonymous folks, known as staffers, controlling America. With the elected officials term-limited out, the staffers would be the kings ...

Despite all the sex, ‘Passages’ lags

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

Think of all the crazy things you did for love. The French call it “amour fou,” and we’ve all had the sickness once of twice (or more). Directed by Ira Sachs and written by Sachs (“Keep the Lights On”), previous collaborator Mauricio Zacharias and Arlette Landmann (“Germinal”), “Passages” tells the not very gripping tale of a love triangle involving meticulous film director Thomas (Franz Rogowski, “Undine”), his gay husband Martin (Ben Wishaw, “No Time to Die”) and a young woman named Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos, “Blue Is the Warmest Color”) who inadvertently sweeps Thomas off his feet with her beauty and youthful sexuality. It seems Thomas is gay, but not quite entirely gay. Thomas and Agathe meet at a party and cannot keep their hands off one another. The next day, together again, Thomas and Agathe have more sex. At first, Thomas tells Martin about his unfaithfulness with a woman in a way that suggests he cannot believe that he did it, and that it is some sort of grand eroti...

Dear Abby: Rude guests mock woman’s treasured items

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

Dear Abby: How do I deal with guests and friends who make unfortunate comments about personal belongings in my home? For example, I have a favorite print of a woman seated at a table. A friend commented, “Oh, we used to call her Mrs. Potato Head.” About my beautiful handwoven table runner depicting sliced fruit, a guest said, “Oh, those look like women’s private parts!” I also display a beautiful statue of the three Graces, which I inherited from my beloved mother. Another friend piped up, “Oh, the three lesbians!” They have stolen the joy I had about the pieces. I can no longer look at these treasures without being reminded of those stupid, thoughtless remarks, and so I had to get rid of them. What do I do if this happens again, or how do I prevent it? — Proud of Possessions in MaineDear Proud:  No one should feel forced to get rid of objects they love because someone makes a thoughtless remark. If you get rid of anything, consider di...

Judge Chutkan to hear arguments in protective order fight in Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy case

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:05:31 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election conspiracy case against Donald Trump will hear arguments Friday over a request by prosecutors for a protective order seeking to bar the former president from publicly disclosing evidence shared by the government.The protective order sought by special counsel Jack Smith’s team has become an early flashpoint in the case accusing the Republican of illegally scheming to subvert the will of voters and cling to power after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Protective orders aren’t unusual in criminal cases, and they’re different from “gag orders” that bar parties from talking publicly about an ongoing case outside the courtroom. But lawyers for Trump — who has railed against prosecutors and U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on social media and during campaign events — say the proposed protective order goes too far and would restrict Trump’s free speech rights. In seeking the protective order, prosecutors...