Review: ‘Next Goal Wins’ is fun but lacks serious depth

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:12:06 GMT

By Mark Kennedy | Associated PressIn “Next Goal Wins,” a soccer coach comes from far away to lead a hapless group of athletes. He’s a fish-out-of-water type, ill-suited for the job, but rises to the occasion and everyone feels good at the end. Wait, you’re thinking, that’s the plot of “Ted Lasso.” Well, only kind of.Writer-director Taika Waititi — the manic, slightly unhinged mind behind “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Jojo Rabbit” — offers a sports movie that’s not, of course, a sports movie and the opposite of whatever Jason Sudeikis was doing on his TV series.“Next Goal Wins” — “inspired by true events” — stars Michael Fassbender as a bitter Dutch-American soccer coach assigned to help the struggling American Samoa national team qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The team is an international laughing stock and still stinging from having been on the wrong side of the worst loss in inter...

Review: ‘Napoleon’ is a riveting, off-kilter experience

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:12:06 GMT

By Jake Coyle | Associated PressFor such a famed historical figure, Napoleon has made only fleeting appearances in movies since Abel Gance’s 1927 silent film.Stanley Kubrick had grand designs for a Napoleon epic that went unmade. (Steven Spielberg is attempting to revive those plans as a series ). Napoleon and his bicorne hat — more icon of history than a real character — mostly only pops up in time-traveling odysseys like “Time Bandits” or “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”The party, though, is finally on in Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix. Scott doesn’t do anything small, not even famously diminutive French emperors. And his two-hour-38-minute big-screen biopic serves up a heaping historical spectacle complete with bloody European battles and massive military maneuvers.But don’t mistake “Napoleon” for your average historical epic. Our first sense that this may not be a grand glorif...

Opinion: Don’t repeat post-9/11 Islamophobia during Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:12:06 GMT

In the days, weeks and months after the Sept. 11 attacks, as President George W. Bush’s administration launched its so-called war on terror, nearly all space for nuance, dissent and debate in the United States was quickly eradicated. When we most needed to ask ourselves the tough questions, listen to those questioning the conventional wisdom and consider the long-term consequences of our actions, doing so was nearly impossible in Washington, the media and public discourse.Today, history is repeating itself. This time we know better, and there’s no excuse to not stop it.Hamas’ heinous attacks and the Israeli government’s response — collective punishment of 2 million people in Gaza — have created one of the most combustible and escalatory moments in the Middle East in a half-century. With more than 11,000 Palestinians already dead, according to the health ministry in Gaza, and many more injured and countless at risk, we cannot afford to continue making the same mistakes.Fa...

Review: ‘May December’ is scandalous but also deeply soulful

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:12:06 GMT

By Lindsey Bahr | Associated PressThere is hardly a false note in ” May December, ” an audaciously self-aware, mischievously funny and emotionally complex drama that defies simple categorization.Filmmaker Todd Haynes, working from a script by newcomer Samy Burch, deftly mixes cheesy movie of the week tropes with the psychological depths of Bergman to make this wholly singular piece that never quite lets the viewer relax on solid ground.The set up involves an actor, Elizabeth Barry, played by Natalie Portman, who is spending some time with the real person she’s decided to play in a film. That subject is Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore), who, when she was 36, was arrested and imprisoned for starting a physical relationship with a 12-year-old boy. Two decades later Gracie and that boy, Joe (Charles Melton), are married with three kids, one in college and twins about to go.There have been cheap, seemingly exploitative movies made about them before, which we get bri...

Russian authorities ask Supreme Court to declare the LGBTQ ‘movement’ extremist

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:12:06 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian Justice Ministry on Friday said it has filed a lawsuit with the nation’s Supreme Court to outlaw the LGBTQ “international public movement” as extremist, the latest crippling blow against the country’s already beleaguered LGBTQ community in the increasingly conservative country. The ministry said in an online statement announcing the lawsuit that authorities have identified “signs and manifestations of extremist nature” in “the activities of the LGBT movement active” in Russia, including “incitement of social and religious discord.” Russia’s Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing to consider the lawsuit for Nov. 30, the ministry said. It wasn’t immediately clear what exactly the label would entail for LGBTQ people in Russia if the Supreme Court sides with the Justice Ministry. But the move in itself represents the latest, and by far the most drastic, step in the decade-long crackdown on gay rights in Russia unleashed under President Vl...

Twist Bioscience: Fiscal Q4 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:12:06 GMT

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (AP) — SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (AP) — Twist Bioscience Corp. (TWST) on Friday reported a loss of $46.2 million in its fiscal fourth quarter.On a per-share basis, the South San Francisco, California-based company said it had a loss of 81 cents.The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 94 cents per share.The maker of synthetic DNA for the biotechnology industry posted revenue of $66.9 million in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $63.4 million.For the year, the company reported a loss of $204.6 million, or $3.60 per share. Revenue was reported as $245.1 million.For the current quarter ending in December, Twist Bioscience said it expects revenue in the range of $67 million to $68 million.The company expects full-year revenue in the range of $285 million to $290 million._____This story was generated by Automa...

Everton handed 10-point deduction for breaching Premier League’s financial rules

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:12:06 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Everton was deducted 10 points by the Premier League on Friday for breaching the competition’s financial rules.The club reported three-year losses totaling nearly 372 million pounds ($454 million) last season. The league’s profit and financial sustainability rules allow clubs to lose a maximum of 105 million pounds ($128 million) over a three-year period or face sanctions.Everton has 14 points after 12 games. The penalty drops the team to four points, which is the same as last-place Burnley.The club said it was “shocked and disappointed” by the ruling and will be appealing against it.___AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerSource

Ruoning Yin, Nasa Hataoka share lead with 63s at LPGA season finale in Florida

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:12:06 GMT

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Ruoning Yin hit the ball so poorly on the practice range that she wasn’t expecting much Thursday in the CME Group Tour Championship. The big surprise was a 9-under 63 and a share of the lead with Nasa Hataoka in the chase for the $2 million prize.Yin opened with five birdies through eight holes, played bogey-free and got a bonus at the end when her fairway metal took a good hop off the collar and onto the green at the par-5 17th for one last birdie.Hataoka and Yin led by one shot over Minjee Lee, who made a 30-foot birdie putt from off the 18th green at Tiburon Golf Club.“I do my warmup and I don’t feel today is the day,” Yin said. “I was not in the mood for chatting. After nine holes, ‘OK, 5 under. Maybe I shouldn’t talk that much.’ I think this course really suits me. The fairway is wide open. The greens are not that hard. It’s not that long.“Just tried to hit every fairway, every green and make the putt.”Hataoka began her round with 11 consec...

Powerful earthquake shakes southern Philippines, causing ceilings to fall at malls

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:12:06 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A powerful undersea earthquake shook the southern Philippines on Friday, causing ceilings in shopping malls to plunge to the ground as shoppers screamed. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and no tsunami warning was in effect.The magnitude 6.7 quake was located 26 kilometers (16 miles) from Burias at the southern tip of the Philippines, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was centered at a depth of 78 kilometers (48 miles), it said.Videos posted on social media showed ceilings falling at two large malls as pillars swayed and people cowered and shouted in fear. The SM City General Santos mall and Robinsons Gen San mall announced temporary closures. There were no reports of injuries.The Philippines experiences regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. Source