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Great cast the secret ingredient in winning ‘Flamin’ Hot’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

Directed by Eva Longoria, making her feature film debut after directing television for several years, “Flamin’ Hot” tells the disputed-by-some story of real-life figure Richard Montanez (Jesse Garcia, “Quinceanera”), a doting husband and father and uneducated maintenance worker (i.e., janitor) at Frito-Lay, who has a dream of a creating a spicy line of of Latino-aimed products. When we first meet Richard, he has very little going for him outside of his kids and his loving, supportive and hard-working wife Judy (the remarkable Annie Gonzalez). By a stroke of luck, Richard, who was raised in a migrant camp, lands a full-time job at Frito-Lay, which is part of the empire of PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico (Tony Shaloub). On the Frito-Lay factory floor, Richard meets self-made engineer Clarence C. Baker (a worth-his-weight-in-gold Dennis Haysbert). Because his own father belittled him all his life, Richard has scant faith in himself, although Judy has striven to build his confidence up. ...

Franks: It’s worth noting when mainstream media gets it right

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

When the media does its job, it ensures that we have fewer instances when we look back and say, “What the heck happened?” Just take the case of New York Rep. George Santos. The media did not properly verify and vet his credentials until after he was elected to Congress. This was a “what-the-heck-happened” moment. Now his congressional district unfairly suffers a diminished presence in Congress as Santos defends himself in court against sweeping fraud charges.How about another example of the media failing us?It protected a man wearing a hoodie during most of his campaign for the Senate, following his stroke. With little media criticism they allowed Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman to participate in only a handful of debates and public appearances. The media refused to see that there was a problem here. Fetterman’s mental and physical health has been an issue even before he was sworn into the Senate. For a while he had spent more time in a hospital than on the Senate floor. While ...

Liftman: Standing firm against technology takeover

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

I’m a middle age guy who still enjoys kicking back with my local Sunday paper. I can honestly say I didn’t go quietly when service to my 12-year-old Blackberry was finally turned off over the summer. I still use my old plug in GPS unit and listen to CDs and FM radio as my only means of getting my musical fix for the day.  Moreover, I have no use for QR codes and can frankly say that there are a bunch of dusty DVDs on hold for me at the library.  I still have long phone conversations with my friends and reserve my texting to sending short bursts of information just to get a quick point across.  Call me a dinosaur, but this is my reality, as I proudly stand firm on my conviction that less technology is the best technology.On a daily basis, we cheat ourselves out of the full package that life has to offer.  Whether it be popping in ear buds in order to tune out others on the T or willfully avoiding an awkward but necessary phone call by sending an e-mail or text instead, th...

‘Devilreaux’ a so-so ‘Candyman’ knockoff

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

Knockoffs of Bernard Rose’s 1992 prescient horror film “Candyman” don’t come much more flagrant than Thomas J. Churchill’s low-budget horror offering “Devilreaux.” With its talented lead (Virginia Madsen) and a creepy score by none other than Philip Glass (!), “Candyman” was a bit of a one-of-a-kind. Based on a short story by Clive Barker set in a poor section of Liverpool, “Candyman,” switches the setting to Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing development and turns an eye on America’s heritage of lynching and slavery.In short, “Candyman” is a lot more than your average piece of B movie-making. “Devilreaux” is a lot less. Set in New Orleans and environs, “Devilreaux” begins when a police lieutenant named, ahem, Briggs (Krista Grotte Saxon, speaking with an accent not found in the Big Easy) interviews a traumatized young woman named Lexy (Monae Moyes), who says her companions at a “historical farm/museum” in the area have all been horribly killed. She says t...

Editorial: Climate least of our worries as China eyes Cuban spy base

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

As John Kerry looks forward to reaching an accord with China over climate change, the communist country is making moves to build a spy base 100 miles off the U.S. coast.Something is wrong with this picture.Climate czar Kerry sees the world through Green-tinted glasses.“We very much hope to be able to find the pathway to a breakthrough that could make a huge difference,” Kerry told CNBC’s Tania Bryer at the January World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.That was right before a Chinese spy balloon wafted over the U.S. As NBC News reported, that balloon was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to block it from doing so, according to two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official.That didn’t deter Kerry from mulling a visit to China to for a climate chat. He said last month that China invited him to visit “in the near term” for talks on averting a glob...

‘Heroes of the Golden Mask’ needs saving

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

Billed as the final performance by the late actor Christopher Plummer, who died in February 5, 2021, “Heroes of the Golden Mask” (or “Masks,” references differ) is a weak animated effort, telling the story of a band of five warriors. One of them is a homeless kid from Chicago who take on an “evil conqueror” in an ancient Chinese kingdom named Kun-Yi (voiced by Ron Perlman). The other “heroes” of the film’s title are Li (Natasha Liu Bordizzo, “Day Shift”), a plucky young woman whose father Jiahao (Byron Mann) falls in battle in opening scenes; the big, round and blue Antlantean hammer-wielder Aesop (Patton Oswalt), shape-shifter Zhu (Osric Chau), who can transform into any of the 12 creatures of the Chinese Zodiac, and over-sized Incan warrior Zuma (Zeus Mendoza).When these warriors don their golden masks, they are endowed with superpowers. Li becomes armed with a mystic bow that never runs out of arrows. Aesop’s hammer becomes super-charged. Zuma can fire beams of light....

Dear Abby: Woman’s final wishes create angst in the family

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

Dear Abby: I am 76. My husband and I planned our final wishes for cremation because I have had a lifelong fear of being buried underground. My children from my first marriage are Jewish and very much against cremation. When I told them my wishes, they attacked me with a barrage of negatives about cremation, such as, “You won’t go to heaven,” “You won’t see your deceased mother or grandson in heaven,” “We won’t be able to say kaddish for you,” etc., so I immediately changed my plans. My husband and I purchased side-by-side crypts, thinking it was an acceptable alternative.I was wrong. For the last month, they have continued to push me to change to a regular burial. I finally had enough and told them to respect my choices and never discuss this with me again. So now, no contact at all except an occasional text from my grandchildren. Any advice or help would be appreciated. — Unhappy in FloridaDear Unhappy: I assume from your ...

Delayed justice: 3 states remove all time limits on child sex abuse lawsuits

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Ann Allen loved going to church and the after-school social group led by a dynamic priest back in the 1960s.The giggling fun with friends always ended with a game of hide and seek. Each week, the Rev. Lawrence Sabatino chose one girl to hide with him. Allen said when it was her turn, she was sexually assaulted, at age 7, in the recesses of St. Peter’s Catholic Church.“I don’t remember how I got out of that cellar and I don’t think I ever will. But I remember it like it’s yesterday. I remember the smells. The sounds. I remember what he said, and what he did,” she said.Allen, 64, is one of more than two dozen people who have sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine, over the past year, seeking delayed justice since lawmakers allowed lawsuits for abuse that happened long ago and can’t be pursued in criminal courts either because of time limits or evidence diminishing over time. More survivors are pursuing cases as states increasingly conside...

Supreme Court voting rights ruling stuns minority voters, who hope it expands their representation

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — This week’s Supreme Court decision ordering Alabama to redraw its congressional districts was seen by many minority lawmakers and voting rights activists as a stunning victory with the potential to become a major stepping stone for undoing political maps that dilute the strength of communities of color.Hank Sanders, a former Alabama state lawmaker who has long been politically active in the state, knew there would be a decision since the court heard arguments in the case last fall. He was not anticipating being happy with the outcome, given that previous rulings of the conservative-leaning court had essentially gutted some of its most important provisions.“I was afraid they were going to go ahead and wipe out section 2,” he said, referring to the part of the Voting Rights Act at stake in the Alabama case.He was at his law office Thursday in Selma, scene of one of the most pivotal moments in the Civil Rights Movement, when news of the 5-4 ruling in favor...

Judge weighs challenge to gag order in University of Idaho killings

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:41:13 GMT

A judge overseeing the case against Bryan Kohberger, charged with killing four University of Idaho students last fall, is set to hear arguments Friday over a gag order that largely bars attorneys and other parties in the case from speaking with news reporters. A coalition of more than 30 media organizations has challenged the order, saying it violates the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and a free press, as has a lawyer for one of the victim’s families. But prosecutors and the defendant’s lawyers insist it’s needed to prevent prejudicial news coverage that could damage Kohberger’s right to a fair trial.“It remains appropriate to have an Order reminding lawyers and their agents of the rules of engagement in this country and that we try cases in court, not in the press,” one of Kohberger’s attorneys, Jay Weston Logsdon, wrote in a memo to the court this week.Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary in connect...