20 Oct 2023

No cure for what ails lackluster ‘Sick Girl’

by | posted in: News | 0

What has happened to the American film comedy? Has COVID killed it? I would say that the current entry “Sick Girl,” a comedy wannabe about a young woman so desperate for her friends’ company and attention that she pretends to have cancer, is like a TV sitcom on a big screen. But “Sick Girl” is not good enough to be a TV sitcom. Written and directed by former casting director Jennifer Cram, making her feature debut, and executive produced by its talented lead Nina Dobrev (TV’s “Fam”), “Sick Girl” is a clever title for this tale.

But the goodness ends there. Cue the “Friends”-sounding opening theme music. Dobrev plays Wren Pepper, a low-achieving, thirty-ish singleton who works in a gift shop in an unidentified city and yearns for more time with her beloved friends from high school (there is no mention of college). The tall, self-centered blonde Jill (Hayley Magnus, TV’s “The Mapleworth Murders”), who is also a mother, has become some sort of girl boss. Redhead Cece (Stephanie Koenig, TV’s “The Flight Attendant”) has a new baby and is totally stressed out about it, and marathon runner Laurel (Sherry Cola, “Joy Ride”) has her training to keep her busy. In an opening scene, Cece claims to have learned how to sleep with her eyes open (I did that watching this).

Wren manages to get drunk in the morning and try to leave without paying at a local bar. She ends up in jail. When her behavior further shocks her friends, Wren blurts out the lie that she has cancer.

When asked to specify, she says that she, a heavy smoker and drinker has a “little tonsil cancer.” Yes, there will be a lot of puking, but very little in the way of mirth or humor. At The Inviting Place, the modest gift and card shop, where Wren works, the customers are few and far between. Her oddly tolerant boss Malcolm (Ray McKinnon, TV’s “Rectify”) is, like almost everyone, sympathetic when he hears Wren’s news. We hear the words “Uber,” “Postmates” and “Tinder” in quick succession as if to check them off a list of magical utterances that must be pronounced in any new movie.

Wren goes to a cancer support group, where she meets Leo (Brandon Mychal Smith), a kind and handsome young man with liver cancer, who feels like it’s OK  to use harsh language in front of other people’s kids in the pet store where he works. I didn’t know if it was a character flaw, or if writer-director Cram forgot there were kids in those scenes. “Fight Club” and “A Walk to Remember,” two films that could not be more different, are referenced.

Wren talks about having sessions with her friends during which they would fire “love missiles” at her to help her heal. Wren and her friends go out drinking at a club, where the other young women are slightly younger than they. Wren, Cece, Jill and Laurel get drunk, pole dance (of course), get into hair-pulling fights and land in jail (this is Wren’s second time). An alarm clock montage accompanies Wren’s quest to “atone.” We know Wren has reached her redemption when she finally cleans her filthy bedroom (and tries to eat a sandwich that has been in her trash). I’m sure it’s possible to make a comedy about having cancer. “50/50” was not bad. “Sick Girl,” which manages to waste the talent of Wendy McLendon-Covey as Wren’s mother, is. Bad.

(“Sick Girl” contains profanity, sexual references and drug use)

“Sick Girl”

Rated R. On Digital and VOD.. Grade: C

20 Oct 2023

Editorial: Calling Hamas ‘militants’ whitewashes terrorist atrocities

by | posted in: Politics | 0

With her refusal this week to acknowledge the Hamas terrorist organization as, in fact, a terrorist organization, Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson has scored a bad decisions hat trick.

It started with hiring her sister and son to City Hall positions, a conflict of interest violation, and worsened with her pushing for a $31M cut to the BPD this summer.

On Wednesday, she used a Boston City Council meeting to describe the Hamas terrorist organization as a “militant group” and characterized the attack that killed over 1,400 Israelis, among them women, children and babies, as a “military operation.”

This white-washing of Hamas’ atrocities in the guise of a “military operation” is shamefully popular among far-left progressives. The brutal killings, including the murders of children, women and the elderly are at best “unacceptable,” but Israel’s defense against such slaughter is deemed reprehensible.

As the Herald reported, the resolution filed by Fernandes Anderson calling for de-escalation and a cease-fire in Israel and “occupied Palestine” was in response to one filed earlier in the week by Councilor Michael Flaherty, who wanted to condemn “Hamas and their brutal terrorist acts against Israel.”

It’s inconceivable that a resolution to condemn terrorist acts would get pushback, but the progressive agenda is never at a loss for audacity.

In slamming Israel’s policies, Fernandes Anderson noted: “If you’re killing innocent children, in my eyes, you’re a terrorist. I don’t know what ethnicity you are, what religion you are. No matter what, you’re a terrorist. You’re a horrible person.”

We’ve seen the photos of children’s bedroom walls splattered with blood, seen the cribs soaked in it, and heard from those on the ground in Israel describe the scenes of horror after Hamas terrorists unleashed hell on Oct. 7. As the Israeli Defense Force told CNN, women, children, toddlers and elderly were “brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action.”

Did Fernandes Anderson miss the video of Shani Louk, the young German Israeli tattoo artist taken hostage by Hamas at the music festival? Footage showed the terrorists parading her near-naked body through the streets in the back of a pickup truck.

Hamas has executed other hostages. These acts more than tick off the boxes of what Fernandes Anderson considers terrorist behavior.

And when calling for a “cease-fire,” does that include the rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza? As NPR reported, more than 5,000 have been launched into Israel since the Hamas attacks began, according to the Israeli military. Or is the cease-fire just for Israel?

Though her comments were met with derision, Fernandes Anderson did get media juice out of the moment, and earned more cred with the chanting set.

At the end of the day, both resolutions were sent to the Committee of the Whole for a public hearing, after objections to a vote being taken Wednesday.

All par for the course for our city council. Resolutions and ideas, no matter how worthy, are too often hamstrung by far-left agendas.

Editorial cartoon by Gary Varvel (Creators Syndicate)

 

20 Oct 2023

Mallea: Hispanics unhappy with direction of U.S.

by | posted in: Society | 0

President Biden has a Latino problem.

That’s a takeaway from a new poll that The LIBRE Institute recently published. The poll examines the U.S. Hispanic community’s attitude to a host of policy issues, and the results highlight a challenge — and an opportunity — facing all politicians: One of America’s largest and fastest-growing voting groups is deeply dissatisfied with the status quo.

Politicians ignore the Hispanic community at their peril. It’s contributed the most to U.S. population growth over the last few years, and a new Hispanic becomes eligible to vote every 30 seconds. And Hispanics don’t just live in a few pockets of the country — they are moving to every corner.

While it is true that Hispanics care deeply about immigration, it isn’t true that they are a single-issue group. According to our poll, Hispanics care the most about inflation, and economic issues more generally are top of mind. Beyond inflation, jobs and the economy are the most important issues, regardless of party or ideological affiliation.

And LIBRE’s poll tells us that Latinos sense something is deeply wrong with the economy. Nearly four out of five Hispanics have a negative view of the economy, and 71% say the country is on the wrong track. Drilling more deeply, 84% say inflation has hurt their quality of life.

These figures help explain Hispanics’ attitude toward Biden: A majority disapprove of his job performance, while he is underwater with independent Hispanics by 28 points.

But most alarmingly, the pessimistic attitudes are most prevalent among younger voters. When asked if they agree that the country is declining and that their children will have more limited opportunities, 70% of retirement-age Hispanics agree. Still, a remarkable 85% of those 18 to 34 agree. That means six out of every seven young Latino voters think the country is declining.

Those disillusioned voters will be a force not only in the coming presidential and congressional elections but for decades to come. Politicians from both parties can appeal to this group by offering policy solutions that will genuinely improve their lives instead of treating them like an interest group.

Our years of experience working with Latinos have taught us that Hispanics want policies that advance freedom and opportunity for everyone. The same policies that will tame inflation — restrained government spending, reduced regulations, budgetary reform — are the same policies that will give Hispanics and all Americans the greatest opportunity to pursue the American dream.

Biden’s policies of heavy regulation and reckless spending have driven the inflation that has hurt so many Latinos. Hispanics can’t take more Bidenomics.

Instead, they want policies that promote freedom and opportunity. The LIBRE Initiative believes that a thriving and free economy paves the road to widespread prosperity.

LIBRE also supports initiatives to unlock America’s energy potential, make affordable healthcare available, and modernize the U.S. immigration system. These policy initiatives will attract substantial Latino support because they will improve the quality of life for everyone, including Hispanics.

The reality is that both major political parties have largely ignored Latino voters. In the last two election cycles, three out of five registered Latino voters were not contacted by politicians.

But as this polling shows, that is a mistake. Not only are Latinos a growing force in American politics, but they cannot be co-opted or taken for granted. Latinos care about the economy, healthcare and education — just to name a few. We want to see a stronger country for our children.

We are not beholden to either particular party. We want to see solutions that promote prosperity and freedom. And we vote.

Jose Mallea is the chief executive officer of The LIBRE Initiative/InsideSources.com

20 Oct 2023

‘Nyad’ a masterful dive into swimming legend’s life

by | posted in: News | 0

Four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening and two-time Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster give the world a joyful acting lesson in “Nyad,” and you won’t want to miss it. A feature film debut from directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi of the terrifying, mountain-climbing documentaries “Meru” (2015) and “Free Solo” (2018), the film is based on long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad’s 2015 memoir “Find a Way” adapted by screenwriter Julia Cox (TV’s “Recovery Road”).

Slyly slipping in some archival footage, Chin and Vasarhelyi fill in the background history.

Nyad, who took her surname from the Greek word for “water nymph” at the encouragement of her father, set records swimming across Lake Ontario and around Manhattan Island and from the Bahamas to Florida (102 miles). The action begins when Nyad (Bening) tolerates a surprise 60th birthday party thrown by her best friend Bonnie Stoll (Foster).  A Boomer born in 1949, Nyad worked for 30 years for ABC News, and she hasn’t been in the water in ages. But she’s a fierce Scrabble competitor, and she doesn’t want to “succumb to mediocrity” in her old age. Like Tennyson’s Odysseus, she dreams of a crowning, final adventure, and she concocts a plan to swim from Cuba to Key West.

At the local pool, Nyad gets into the water and doesn’t get out until after dark. She’s just warming up. Speaking to a class of children, she admits that she poops in the water during marathon swims. What are the dangers? Sharks, stingrays, Portuguese man o’ wars and venomous jellyfish.

Diana and Bonnie arrange for a team of young kayakers to protect her during the swim using an electric “shield” to repel sharks. It doesn’t however work on jellyfish. After a terrible introductory meeting, Diana enlists dyspeptic charter fisherman John Bartlett (Rhys Iffans, completing an acting trifecta) as her navigator. It is inevitable that Diana, who sports a red light on her bathing cap, will vomit seawater and hallucinate during her swim. Bonnie and the team keep close to Diana in the boat, cruising at the same speed and keeping a light on the swimmer. Bonnie and John are vigilant.

During the swims, while Diana sings and counts, we see what she is thinking. We get a rather cheesy-looking version of the Taj Mahal in one of these scenes. But we also encounter her childhood, her introduction to competitive swimming, and her sexual abuse as a child by a beloved coach.

Bonnie and Diana are a gay comedy team, arguing, bantering and fighting over Diana’s willingness to risk her life. A crowd cheers Diana on her first attempt. By the fifth, Diana is older and the crowds have gone. But she and her assistants have engineered a body suit and eerie face mask that she can wear to protect her from jellyfish at night. Yes, it is exciting to see Bening, Foster, Iffans et al reenact Nyad’s relentless five attempts to make the swim. But it is the bond between Diana and Bonnie that is the film’s beating heart and its strength. In 2013, at the age of 64, Nyad sets a record for longest ocean swim without shark cage or flippers, 110 miles. She is a true legend. But the film is a celebration of two women’s friendship and of two of America’s greatest actors putting on a great show. Onward.

(“Nyad” contains scene suggesting sexual abuse, profanity and brief nudity)

“Nyad”

Rated PG-13. At the Landmark Kendall Square. Grade: A-