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Behind the lens with ‘Hunger Games’ Jo Willems

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

A prequel to an extraordinarily successful franchise, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” begins 64 years before Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen volunteered to be a tribute and fight in a televised life or death match as entertainment for the downtrodden population.It is also decades before Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) gains control to become Panem’s sadistic, dictatorial president.In this latest adaptation of a Suzanne Collins’ bestseller, Snow (England’s Tom Blyth, 28, who also stars as Billy the Kid in the Epix western series) is young, idealistic and, almost instantly, in love with the young tribute Lucy Gray Baird (“West Side Story”’s Maria, Rachel Zegler).If Lucy is the songbird of the title, the question becomes: Does that make Coriolanus the snake?Belgian-born cinematographer Jo Willems knows that capturing the excitement, the reality of the vicious Games and Lucy’s countrified musical numbers in a packed bar are key to understanding the passio...

Nicolas Cage made for ‘Dream Scenario’ role

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

Nicolas Cage demonstrates once again that he is the lodestone of madness, the captain of the crazy ship, the no-idea-too-out-there-for-me champion as far as contemporary American actors go. In “Dream Scenario,” a film written and directed by Norway-born Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself”) and produced by Ari Aster (“Midsommar”), Cage plays Paul Matthews, a not particularly interesting tenured biology professor in some unidentified American state (the film was shot in Toronto).Paul, who has a graying beard and a circle of dark unkempt hair around a bald pate, is not invited to the chic dinner parties given by his colleague Richard (Dylan Baker). But Paul and his wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) have a working marriage. They have two semi-well-adjusted adolescent daughters: Hannah (Jessica Clement) and Sophie (Lily Bird, “Beau Is Afraid”). In his classroom, we see Paul talk about zebra coloration and the advantage of “sticking out.” Earlier, in what turned out to be a dream sequence, P...

Editorial: MBTA fixes rival cost of Big Dig

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

Move over Big Dig, the MBTA is in hot contention for the State’s Priciest Boondoggle title.The notoriously over- budget Big Dig highway project was initially estimated to cost $2.5 billion when it began in 1991. It ended up costing a whopping $14.8 billion when it was finished  in 1997. Transportation officials later put the estimate of the complete cost of the Big Dig (allowing for principal and interest) at some $24.3 billion.Now, MBTA officials put the price of fixing the mountain of issues that have plagued the transportation agency at a head-smacking $24.5 billion.The T’s assessed the state of its trains, tracks, signals, construction equipment, etc. and the findings were grim, according to the State House News.Nearly two-thirds of MBTA assets are not in good repair. Passengers who’ve been booted off dead trains and herded on to buses, or waited far too long for the next train to inch toward them on one of the many slow zones could attest to that. It wasn̵...

Champion: Where is outrage at Hamas over Gaza death toll?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

It’s something close to a law of nature that the farther people are from a conflict, the more simplistic their views about its causes and solutions. That couldn’t be more apparent now in Gaza, where Israel’s invasion is drawing howls of outrage around the world.That outrage is well-deserved. There is no question that the Israel Defense Forces could and should be doing more to avoid civilian casualties. Yet the fact that the anger of so many is directed only at Israel is disturbing, because there are two armed forces responsible for the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza. The other is Hamas.Hamas invited the Israeli invasion with the barbarism of its terrorist attack on Oct. 7, and it has been open about how it fully expected Israel to retaliate. Recent reporting by the Washington Post would, if verified, underscore that this was the purpose of its attack, dubbed operation al Aqsa Flood, and that Palestinian deaths weren’t a bug in that plan but an essential part of it. “The blood of the...

‘Cat Person’ navigates uncharted waters of dating

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

With it’s close-up look at the invisible, often unfathomable gulf between the sexes, “Cat Person” manages laughs and horror.Margot (Emilia Jones of “Coda”), 18 and in school, works at a movie theater refreshment counter and meets the much taller, who knows how much older Robert (Nicholas Braun, “Succession”).He eventually asks her out on a date. That it does not go well is perhaps prophesied in the Margaret Atwood quote that begins Susanna Fogel’s feature film: “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.”“That, in a nutshell, is what the movie is,” Fogel, 43, said in a Zoom interview. “For both actors, the subtext that’s going on underneath is an unfortunate situation. Neither one is comfortable with the other and is unable to be completely open on what they feel, what they want.  Because they’re still relative strangers.“So, every time they interact, there’s a subtext. When he’s a little bit critical, the subtext ...

Dear Abby: Supporting pal with nightmare wife

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

Dear Abby: My best friend “Owen’s” wife, “Shirley,” is a narcissist, and she’s driving everyone away from him. They have been married for 10 years. I’ve known Owen since high school. He has always been a quiet, easygoing guy. Shirley is a nightmare. She has berated him at work and has left him by himself on holidays, including birthdays. She orders him around, and she runs everything without hardly paying for anything. I am divorced and I’ve been through it.I don’t know how to tell Owen that there’s a safety net for him. I know telling him his wife is a crazy narcissist and he should leave isn’t the answer. She has berated me for “getting in their marriage.” My friend is afraid he has no support if he leaves because Shirley has alienated him from all of his friends, and the only family he has are his parents and sister, who live many miles away. She has pushed me away from him as well. What can I say to Ow...

Massachusetts ‘stuck in neutral’ on addressing transportation woes: Poll

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

Massachusetts is “stuck in neutral” when it comes to addressing transportation issues plaguing the state, residents said in a MassINC poll released Friday.Bay Staters handed Gov. Maura Healey and the Legislature mediocre scores for their handling of transportation problems, a MassINC Polling Group survey of 1,390 residents found. From traffic to road safety and continual issues at the MBTA to regional transit, grades for state officials were “middling,” the polling group said.Negative stories about the MBTA — from track problems on the Green Line to the billions it will take to repair the system — have influenced residents’ views of Healey, even though many of the transit agency’s issues predate her administration.“The state of the T and other public transit systems is the top transportation issue cited by residents, followed by traffic congestion and road conditions. Priorities do vary by region, with public transit dominant in Greater Bost...

‘Bring them home’: As the battle for Gaza rages, hostage families wait with trepidation

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

Abbey Onn lost her aunt and a young cousin when Hamas attackers rampaged through Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Now Onn is worried about what will happen to three other family members taken hostage that day as Israel pounds Gaza City in a bid to end Hamas’ control of the Gaza Strip. She wants the world to remember that Ofer Kalderon and his children Sahar, 16, and Erez, 12, are caught in the crossfire.“As long as they are hostage, we’re all hostage,” Onn says. “And we need them home so that whatever is happening there can be solved. I don’t think it’s a simple solution, but you can’t hold hostages and fight a war at the same time.”As the Israeli military tightens its grip around Gaza City, friends and family of the roughly 240 hostages held by Hamas fear their loved ones will be an afterthought for the politicians and generals directing the campaign. Hamas on Monday released video of the first hostage confirmed to have died in captivity.With much of northern Gaza flattened and face...

Karol G wins best album at Latin Grammys, with Bizarrap and Shakira also taking home awards

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — Karol G, Bizzarap, Shakira and Natalia Lafourcade, won big at the Latin Grammy Awards held Thursday.Karol G’s “Mañana será bonito” was crowned best album of the year and best urban music album.Argentine producer Bizarrap took home the awards for song of the year and best pop song for “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” with the Colombian star.Shakira, who attended the ceremony held in Seville, Spain, accompanied by her two children, Milan and Sasha, said that she wanted to dedicate the award to them “because I have promised them that I am going to be happy.”Natalia Lafourcade, who holds the title for most Latin Grammys in history, added more awards to her record-breaking list with record of the year.Edgar Barrera, who began the night as a favorite with 13 nominations, had to settle for three awards: composer of the year (a category awarded for the first time), producer of the year and best regional Mexican song. That award came for the composition “un X100...

‘No-brainer’: Alberta panel hears callers urge split from Canada Pension Plan

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:28 GMT

EDMONTON — The panel hearing feedback on whether Alberta should quit the Canada Pension Plan heard multiple callers tell them Thursday it’s time to embrace a “no-brainer” provincial program.“I think it’s time we start looking after Albertans,” a caller identified as Gary from Sherwood Park told the panel led by former provincial treasurer Jim Dinning in its fourth telephone town hall.“We already send (away) billions of dollars in equalization payments. Here’s an opportunity for Albertans to be winners.”Caller Darlene said Alberta is taken for granted by Ottawa and that other provinces will oppose an Alberta pension plan out of self-interest.“Albertans should stand up for themselves,” she said.She said Premier Danielle Smith’s government has to do a better job of reassuring Albertans who are “scared of change.”Caller Keith said Albertans are paying in more than they are getting back, and that lower contributions and higher benefits from an Alberta plan are appealing.“It’s a no-braine...