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Tepid spoof ‘Renfield’ big on violence & gore

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“Renfield”Rated R. At the AMC Boston Common, AMC South Bay and suburban theaters.Grade: C+An infrequently clever parody of “Dracula” films, “Renfield” is set in modern-day New Orleans where Robert Montagu Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), the long-suffering servant of Dracula (Nicolas Cage), has been holed up with his master, who was almost incinerated in the manner of Hammer’s 1958 reboot “Horror of Dracula.” In an attempt to revive his master, Renfield has the ravaged vampire hidden away in a subterranean lair full of used, hanging blood bags and the drained bodies of victims Renfield has lured to their deaths.The comedy is very broad – Dracula biting off a finger and sucking it like a straw – very violent and needless to say gory. The city is run by a gang of – uh – bloodthirsty criminals led by the godmother Bellafrancesca Lobo (a fun, underused Shohreh Aghdashloo), whose ne’er-do-well son Tedward Lobo (Ben Schwartz, TV’s “Parks and...

Monica Bellucci goes for a hit in ‘Mafia Mamma’

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

Monica Bellucci ranks among the world’s great beauties, an icon of Italian pulchritude, an international symbol of glamour.But “Mafia Mamma”?!An intentionally outrageous farce mocking Mafioso tropes – and especially the “Godfather” saga – Bellucci plays Bianca, a key boss in the most powerful Mafia family in Calabria.The boss of bosses has died and his will demands that his American granddaughter Kristen (Toni Collette) replace him.  Kristen is a frazzled housewife. With her son off to college, there’s her philandering husband and, at work, a sexist boss.  Needless to say, she knows zip about Italy where she’s flown in for the funeral, much less about running her newly met mob family.“I read the script and laughed out loud — the film was so funny! I was so happy to be part of this because I’m a huge fan of Toni Collette. I knew her, of course, as an actress. But I didn’t know this amazing energy she has in real life,” Bellucci, 58 and in a black Valentino jacket, b...

Boys gymnastics All-Scholastics

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

Noyal Benny (Burlington)Nathan Bunten (Burlington)Devin Hazen (Burlington)Christian Katende (Burlington)Lorenzo Leary (Lowell)Ryan Lin (Newton)NOYAL BENNYBURLINGTONAfter taking a fifth in the pommel horse at the state championships a year ago, Benny capped off his senior year in style by winning the event as Burlington captured the team title. A high honor roll student, Benny plans on majoring in kinesiology in college.NATHAN BUNTENBURLINGTONThe sophomore earned a pair of perfect scores in the regular season, registering a 10.0 in both the floor exercise and still rings. Bunten scored a 10 to win the floor exercise at the States and followed that up with a 9.4 to win the parallel bars. A Level 10 gymnast, Bunten trains at Brestyan’s in Burlington.DEVIN HAZENBURLINGTONThe junior won the All-Around at the State Championships with a score of 47.2. Hazen also won the high bar (7.5) and rings (8.0). Hazen also plays football and trains in boxing. His longterm goal is to attend Norw...

Editorial: Buying an EV? You may not have a choice

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

President Biden really, really wants you to buy an electric vehicle.He’s doing his best to make sure you don’t have a choice.As Rollcall reported, the Biden administration’s latest move is designed to put the squeeze on automakers in the form of much tougher standards for greenhouse gas emissions.The standards proposed Wednesday by the EPA for light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles are by far the strictest ever proposed by the agency.In green terms, it sounds good: for light-duty vehicles, the EPA will require an increasingly stringent greenhouse gas standard. By model year 2032 it would result in an industry-wide average target of 82 grams of carbon dioxide created per mile traveled. That would be 56% lower than the model year 2026 standard set in 2021.For medium-duty vehicles it is proposing to increase stringency to a target of 275 grams of carbon dioxide per mile by model year 2032, a 44% reduction compared to model year 2026 standard. In 2018 the agency estimat...

Dear Abby: Gay couple struggles with estranged mom

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

Dear Abby: I’m a gay man. My husband and I have been together almost nine years, married less than one. Seven years ago, my mother-in-law decided I was no longer “allowed” to speak to her or her family. When my husband asked her why, she was unable to give him a clear answer but insists it has nothing to do with us being gay. Anytime my husband mentions my name or the life we have together, she changes the subject. I offered to write her a letter, but my husband doesn’t think it would be a good idea. He used to be close to his family, but with each passing year the relationship becomes more strained.My mother-in-law followed a similar pattern when my brother-in-law married his wife. When they had their first child, my MIL’s behavior did a 180 and she welcomed them into the family. Now that we’re married, my husband and I have begun the process of adopting from the foster care system. I assume my in-laws will want a relationship with their grandchi...

Local organization fights back against City of San Diego housing plan with lawsuit

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

SAN DIEGO - A local organization is fighting back against a housing plan passed by the San Diego City Council last month. That ordinance would add more housing within a mile of transit stations. “It spreads density around, it’s not a responsible approach to urban planning," said Tom Mullaney with Livable San Diego, who is spearheading the newly filed lawsuit against the City of San Diego. He claims the city is pursuing high density housing without proper planning. “When I say it's adding density everywhere, it’s really adding density everywhere," Mullaney shared. The challenge comes after council's five to four vote of an ordinance back in February of "Sustainable Development Areas," otherwise known as "SDA's." It allows for multi-unit construction up to one mile from transits, instead of half a mile. Mullaney worries the move could have adverse consequences.“This is going to result in fewer people using mass transit because the developers would build farther away. They will build ...

Fire at garment factory in Pakistan kills 4 firefighters

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Four firefighters died and nearly a dozen others were injured after a massive fire broke out in a garment factory in the southern Pakistan port city of Karachi, rescue officials and police said Thursday.The cause of the blaze, which ripped through the factory Wednesday night and eventually caused it to collapse, was not immediately known, police said. Earlier, heavy gray smoke suddenly rose from the factory. Firefighters had almost extinguished the blaze when the collapse occurred.Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of the firefighters from the rubble of the factory.Several firefighting vehicles were dispatched to the scene in an industrial area of the city, where many factories are located, officials said. Officers were also assessing the impact of the fire at an adjacent building.Karachi is the capital of southern Sindh province, where such incidents are common. In August 2021, at least 10 people were killed in a massive fire at a chemical factory in Karach...

North Korea fires ICBM that may have been new type of weapon

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in a month, possibly testing a new type of more mobile, harder-to-detect weapons system, its neighbors said, in an extension of the North’s provocative run of missile tests. The launch prompted Japan to issue an evacuation order on a northern island, and though it was later retracted, it shows the vigilance of North Korea’s neighbors over its evolving missile threats.South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staffs said the missile launched on a high angle from near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang fell in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan following a 1,000 kilometer (620 miles) flight. The Joint Chiefs of Staff described the missile as having a medium or longer range. The U.S. National Security Council called it a long-range missile and Japan’s defense minister an ICBM-class weapon. South Korea’s military believes North Korea launched a new type...

Category 4 Cyclone Ilsa lashes northwest Australian coast

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A severe tropical cyclone lashed the northwest Australian coast with strengthening winds and increasing rain Thursday as authorities warned the population to prepare for destructive gusts of up to 275 kph (170 mph). Cyclones are common along the sparsely populated Pilbara coast and fatalities are rare, but authorities fear that Ilsa’s extraordinary wind speeds could take some in its path by surprise.Cyclone Ilsa reached Category 4 intensity Thursday over the Indian Ocean and is expected to be the first storm on that scale to cross the Pilbara coast of Western Australia state in a decade, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said.Category 4 cyclones have maximum mean wind speeds of 160-199 kph (99-124 mph) with wind gusts of 225-279 kph (140-173 mph). They are the second-most severe storm on the Australian scale of five.Ilsa is expected to cross the coast somewhere in a 450-km (280-mile) span between the iron ore export town of Port Hedland and the Indigenous ...

Denver mayoral candidates discuss what sets them apart

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:24:04 GMT

The results of the April 4 municipal election aren’t certified yet, but the runoff race for the Denver mayor’s office between Kelly Brough and Mike Johnston marched forward Wednesday with a forum where the two candidates agreed with each other plenty but also sought to create some separation.Brough and Johnston met on the University of Denver campus for the event, which was hosted by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Denver Partnership and the city’s visitors and tourism bureau, Visit Denver.None of the 16 people who ran for Denver mayor earned more than 50% of the vote in the first round of voting. That triggered an instant runoff between the top two vote-getters, Johnston with 24.4% and Brough with 20%, according to unofficial results. The two are seeking to persuade most of the city’s electorate to vote for them in a race that will conclude June 6 and name the city’s first new mayor in more than a decade.Brough appeared to be comfortable...