‘The Exorcism’ review: Crowe stars in meta horror flick that’s only so possessing

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First, there’s the inspiration behind the new movie “The Exorcism” — the idea that the filming of the acclaimed 1973 film was cursed, which is a thing of rich cinema lore.

Then there’s the appealing horror movie-within-a-horror movie structure, the flick built around an exorcism movie with, yes, a possessed girl and a haunted priest.

And, finally, there’s the fact that its director and co-writer, John Miller, is the son of Jason Miller, who portrayed the ill-fated Father Karras in “The Exorcist,” and who told a story about a priest stopping him on the street while the movie was being made and saying, “When we dare to unmask the devil, the devil retaliates.”

All of it is much more interesting than “The Exorcism” itself, which, like so many horror endeavors that have come before it devolves from a promising start to too silly to be scared by or even taken vaguely seriously.

Co-penned by John Miller’s life partner, M.A. Fortin, the two having previously collaborated on the screenplay for the reasonably well-received 2015 comedy slasher “The Final Girls,” “The Exorcism” does hold your interest for a while.

It opens with a fairly well-executed sequence in which the actor who will play the priest in the fictitious movie works on his movements through a three-tiered house set constructed on a soundstage while reading his lines. That is until he’s killed, quickly but gruesomely.

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Next, “The Exorcism” benefits from the presence of its star, Russell Crowe. Once the star of blockbusters and acclaimed films, such as 1999’s “The Insider” and 2000s “Gladiator,” the New Zealand-born, Australian-raised actor more recently has been front and center of less memorable fare such as “Unhinged” and, well, “The Pope’s Exorcist.” And yet he still has this undeniable gravitational pull when he’s within the frame.

Instead of portraying a priest, as he did in last year’s “The Pope’s Exorcist,” he’s an actor portraying a priest (what range!) in this movie-in-a-movie affair.

Crowe’s Tony Miller only snagged the gig after the other actor’s death, this being the former’s first meaningful gig after years of public, alcohol-fueled embarrassments. He now wonders if his late wife’s battle with cancer was really the excuse for this self-destructive behavior he once thought it was.

“Her being sick gave me a reason to just disconnect,” he tells an unseen priest during a Catholic confession.

Before filming begins, his attitude-filled 16-year-old daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins, “Sherrybaby”) — who calls him “Tony,” which he doesn’t love — returns home, her father having pulled strings to get her school expulsion reduced to a suspension.

Soon, they’re both on set, Lee working as a production assistant and Tony immediately disappointing the film’s high-minded director, Peter (Adam Goldberg), who believes he’s making a psychological drama disguised as a horror flick. Peter has no reservations about trying to pull a better performance from Tony by reminding him of his recent failures as a person, as well as his traumatic time years earlier as an altar boy.

Tony begins to unravel, but, of course, there may be something darker than subpar acting afoot.

That’s all well and fine, and, for a while, “The Exorcism” is intermittently — if also only mildly — scary as Tony takes his work and demons home with Lee. Before long, though, this roughly 90-minute offering is going predictably over-the-top, with an unmistakably otherworldly on-set incident involving Tony somehow not shutting down the production.

Like the movie-within-the-movie, “The Exorcism” trudges on, with supporting players who include wonderful-to-see “Frasier” alum David Hyde Pierce, playing a priest with a degree in psychology consulting on the production; “Avatar” franchise star (and fellow Aussie) Sam Worthington, as an actor who looks up to Tony and also is playing a priest; and singer-songwriter Chloe Bailey, as an actress who portrays the young woman who becomes possessed in the film and who becomes romantically entangled with Lee.

Ryan Simpkins, left, David Hyde Pierce and Chloe Bailey share a scene in “The Exorcism.” (Courtesy of Lightsavior Productions)

(It seems possible the film being made in “The Exorcism” is a remake of “The Exorcist,” which, in reality, saw the reboot effort “The Exorcist: Believer” be poorly received last year by audience members and critics alike. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter.)

If the meta aspects of “The Exorcism” bring to mind the ongoing “Scream” movie franchise, it won’t come as a shock to learn its creator, Kevin Williamson, is counted among its producers.

In their filmmakers’ statement, Miller and Fortin say they began writing the film in 2019, when, during the presidency of Donald J. Trump, they watched “certain segments of the Christian faith go after LGBT folks” and “there wasn’t much that didn’t feel cursed anymore.”

Some of that emotion does come through in “The Exorcism,” which is commendable. However, it doesn’t change the fact that at best this is a quick-and-easy popcorn movie when — given its inspiration, structure and connection to “The Exorcist” — it could have been something more.

‘The Exorcism’

Where: Theaters.

When: June 21.

Rated: R for language, some violent content, sexual references and brief drug use.

Runtime: 1 hour, 33 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.

Funding instability plagues program that brings docs to underserved areas

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Michelle Andrews | (TNS) KFF Health News

For Diana Perez, a medical resident at the Family Health Center of Harlem, the handwritten thank-you note she received from a patient is all the evidence she needs that she has chosen the right training path.

Perez helped the patient, a homeless, West African immigrant who has HIV and other chronic conditions, get the medications and care he needed. She also did the paperwork that documented his medical needs for the nonprofit that helped him apply for asylum and secure housing.

“I really like whole-person care,” said Perez, 31, who has been based at this New York City health center for most of the past three years. “I wanted to learn and train, dealing with the everyday things I will be seeing as a primary care physician and really immersing myself in the community,” she said.

Few primary care residents get such extensive community-based outpatient training. The vast majority spend most of their residencies in hospitals. But Perez, who is being trained through the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program, is among those treating patients in federally qualified health centers and community clinics in medically underserved rural and urban areas around the country. After graduating, these residents are more likely than hospital-trained graduates to stay on and practice locally where they are often desperately needed, research has found.

Amid the long-term shift from inpatient to outpatient medical care, training primary care doctors in outpatient clinics rather than hospitals is a no-brainer, according to Robert Schiller, chief academic officer at the Institute for Family Health, which runs the Harlem THC program and operates dozens of other health center sites in New York. “Care is moving out into the community,” he said, and the THC program is “creating a community-based training environment, and the community is the classroom.”

Yet because the program, established under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, relies on congressional appropriations for funding, it routinely faces financial uncertainty. Despite bipartisan support, it will run out of funds at the end of December unless lawmakers vote to replenish its coffers — no easy task in the current divided Congress in which gaining passage for any type of legislation has proved difficult. Faced with the prospect of not being able to cover three years of residency training, several of the 82 THC programs nationwide recently put their residency training programs on hold or are phasing them out.

That’s what the DePaul Family and Social Medicine Residency Program in New Orleans East, an area that has been slow to recover after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, has done. With a startup grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, the community health center hired staff for the residency program and became accredited last fall. They interviewed more than 50 medical students for residency slots and hoped to enroll their first class of four first-year residents in July. But with funding uncertain, they put the new program on hold this spring, a few weeks before “Match Day,” when residency programs and students are paired.

“It was incredibly disappointing for many reasons,” said Coleman Pratt, the residency program’s director, who was hired two years ago to launch the initiative.

Until we know we’ve got funding, we’re “treading water,” Pratt said.

“In order to have eligible applications in-hand should Congress appropriate new multi-year funds, HRSA will issue a Notice of Funding Opportunity in late summer for both new and expanded programs to apply to be funded in FY 2025, subject to the availability of appropriations,” said Martin Kramer, an HRSA spokesperson, in an email.

For now, the Teaching Health Center program has $215 million to spend through 2024.

By contrast, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services paid hospitals $18 billion to provide residency training for doctors in primary care and other specialties. Unlike THC funding, which must be appropriated by Congress, Medicare graduate medical education funding is guaranteed as a federal entitlement program.

Trying to keep THC’s three-year residency programs afloat when congressional funding comes through in fits and starts weighs heavily on the facilities trying to participate. These pressures are now coming to a head.

“Precariousness of funding is a theme,” said Schiller, noting that the Institute for Family Health put its own plans for a new THC in Brooklyn on hold this year.

The misalignment between the health care needs of the American population and the hospital-based medical training most doctors receive is a long-recognized problem. A 2014 report by the National Academies Press noted that “although the GME system has been producing more physicians, it has not produced an increasing proportion of physicians who choose to practice primary care, to provide care to underserved populations, or to locate in rural or other underserved areas.”

The Teaching Health Center program has demonstrated success in these areas, with program graduates more likely to practice in medically underserved areas after graduation. According to a study that analyzed the practice patterns of family medicine graduates from traditional GME training programs vs. those who participated in the THC program, nearly twice as many THC graduates were practicing in underserved areas three years after graduating, 35.2% vs. 18.6%. In addition, THC graduates were significantly more likely to practice in rural areas, 17.9% vs. 11.8%. They were also more likely to provide substance use treatment, behavioral health care, and outpatient gynecological care than graduates from regular GME programs.

But the lack of reliable, long-term funding is a hurdle to the THC training model’s potential, proponents say. For 2024, the Biden administration had proposed three years of mandatory funding, totaling $841 million, to support more than 2,000 residents.

“HRSA is eager to fund new programs and more residents, which is why the President’s Budget has proposed multi-year increased funding for the Teaching Health Center program,” Kramer said in an email.

The American Hospital Association supports expanding the THC program “to help address general workforce challenges,” said spokesperson Sharon Cohen in an email.

The program appeals to residents interested in pursuing primary and community care in underserved areas.

“There’s definitely a selection bias in who chooses these [THC] programs,” said Candice Chen, an associate professor of health policy and management at George Washington University.

Hospital primary care programs, for instance, typically fail to fill their primary care residency slots on Match Day. But in the THC program, “every single year, all of the slots match,” said Cristine Serrano, executive director of the American Association of Teaching Health Centers. On Match Day in March, more than 19,000 primary care positions were available; roughly 300 of those were THC positions.

Amanda Fernandez, 30, always wanted to work with medically underserved patients. She did her family medicine residency training at a THC in Hendersonville, North Carolina. She liked it so much that, after graduating last year, the Miami native took a job in Sylva, about 60 miles away.

Her mostly rural patients are accustomed to feeling like a way station for physicians, who often decamp to bigger metro areas after a few years. But she and her husband, a physician who works at the nearby Cherokee Indian Hospital, bought a house and plan to stay.

“That’s why I loved the THC model,” Fernandez said. “You end up practicing in a community similar to the one that you trained in.”

___

(KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.)

©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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AmeriCorps seeks more tutors as Minnesota children fall behind in reading and math

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WILLMAR, Minn. — Janessa Rodriguez was fresh out of high school in 2023, with no idea what her next steps would be.

Searching on the Indeed jobs website, she found an AmeriCorps math tutoring job at Roosevelt Elementary School in Willmar, a school that she attended.

“I struggled with math too, so I understood what these kiddos were going through,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t think I’d be good at it, but it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Tutors like Rodriguez help kids work on their math or reading skills individually or in small groups, a more personal approach to learning that AmeriCorps utilizes in schools across Minnesota.

The AmeriCorps tutoring program in Minnesota started with Reading Corps in 2003 and expanded with Math Corps in 2008. The organization’s goal is to get kids in grades K-3 to achieve grade-level proficiency in reading and math. However, according to AmeriCorps, fewer than a third of Minnesota students are doing so.

That’s why the organization is looking for 900 tutors across Minnesota for the upcoming school year.

“Ever since the pandemic, students have fallen behind in these areas,” said Laura Isdahl, senior manager at Reading Corps. “That’s why the need for these positions have grown.”

That’s why a more personal approach to early learning could be a solution, according to the director of Minnesota programs Christine Fankhanel.

“When students work with a tutor, incredible things happen,” said Fankhanel in a news release. “They often make more than a year’s progress during the school year.”

Rodriguez can attest to that.

“One of the most rewarding things about this job is that light bulb moment when a kid understands a concept that they’re struggling with,” Rodriguez said. “And to not only build relationships with the kiddos, but the staff as well, it’s very rewarding.”

Rodriguez is now going to Ridgewater College, receiving tuition assistance from AmeriCorps. Tutoring, however, is not just for high school graduates or college students.

Isdahl said about two-thirds of tutors are retirees or parents who want to get back into the workforce. They also have flexible hours, with the choice of working 18, 25 or 35 hours a week, with a stipend every two weeks that is equivalent to about $15 an hour.

Isdahl also said that there is training for tutors before their positions start to ensure they feel prepared.

“I’d highly recommend it, especially for college students,” said Rodriguez. “But it’s really for anybody who wants to work with kids.”

AmeriCorps directs those interested in a position to go online for more information at join.readingandmath.org.

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St. Paul awaits ‘major flood stage’ river crest of about 20 feet Friday; Stillwater prepares for Sunday crest

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In downtown St. Paul, the Mississippi River was measuring 15 feet on Monday morning and is expected to crest around 20 feet on or about Friday — well into “major flood stage” — submerging low-lying areas in Harriet Island Regional Park and other parts of the city. The river last crested at 20 feet in March 2019.

“Models have moved down a tad since last week due to less rain than expected over the weekend, but … the hydrograph is still showing a crest at 20 feet on or around Friday,” said Clare Cloyd, a spokesperson for St. Paul Parks and Recreation.

In anticipation of river flooding, St. Paul officials closed a 3-mile stretch of Shepard/Warner Road on Sunday evening and have taken other precautionary measures at parks, trails and low-lying areas. Some one-way street segments downtown that normally connect to Shepard Road have been closed to through-traffic and converted to two-way traffic for local access to buildings. Temporarily closing Shepard Road/Warner Road is part of the city’s official flood response plan when rising river levels near the “moderate flood stage” of 15 feet. Major flood stage is reached at 17 feet.

In addition to street closings announced last week, Fourth Street between Willius Street and Commercial Street is now closed, and Childs Road will close at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

“We don’t anticipate any impact to the new construction areas along Harriet Island, but are monitoring and our (Department of Safety and Inspections) staff has made rounds of in-person contact, and frequent written communication updates to property owners along the floodplain on both sides of the river,” Cloyd said.

The St. Croix River at Stillwater

Meanwhile, the St. Croix River was at 685.1 feet in Stillwater on Monday afternoon; minor flood stage is 687 feet. The river is set to crest in Stillwater at 9 a.m. Sunday at 687.8 feet, which is just under moderate flood stage, according to the National Weather Service.

Mayor Ted Kozlowski said he and other city officials are “keeping their eyes on the sky at this point.”

“We could get more rain tonight,” he said. “It could be nothing. There’s just so much uncertainty. Any precipitation at this point is just going to extend the flood situation.”

No volunteers are needed to help prepare sandbags to reduce floodwater damage, he said, “but we’re only a 3-inch rain event from potentially needing some.”

For updated information on the Mississippi River at St. Paul go to water.noaa.gov/gauges/STPM5 For information on the St. Croix River at Stillwater go to water.noaa.gov/gauges/stlm5.

Top recorded river crests for Mississippi River at St. Paul

If and when the Mississippi River surpasses 19.02 feet at downtown St. Paul, it will be a top 10 historic recorded crest for the city. The No. 1 spot was achieved on April 16, 1965 when the river crested at 26.01 feet. For more information go to StPaul.gov/flood.

Here’s how the 20-foot forecasted crest compares to past historic levels recorded in St. Paul:

• 26.01 feet on 04/16/1965.

• 24.52 feet on 04/15/1969.

• 23.76 feet on 04/18/2001.

• 23.20 feet on 04/30/2001.

• 22.37 feet on 04/13/1997.

• 22.02 feet on 04/16/1952.

• 20.19 feet on 03/31/2019.

• 20.13 feet on 06/26/2014.

• 19.15 feet on 06/26/1993.

• 19.02 feet on 03/29/2011.

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