News of 2018 As Seen from Satellite Imagery Puts Our Troubles In
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04.01.2019 fri Movies: Destroyer Books: “Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood” by Karina Longworth Music: Other People’s Stuff by John Mellencamp Wine: The Rhodanien Analogue Food: What the latest dieting studies tell us Macau Daily Times | Edition 3202 | 04 Jan 2019 News of 2018 as seen from Seen from high abovesatellite imagery puts our troubles in perspective AP PHOTO X2 PÁTIO DA ILUSÃO illusion DRIVE IN Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer ICOLE IDMAN AS A N K AP PHOTO HARDENED LA COP IN ‘DESTROYER’ different Nicole Kidman ma with distinction of its own stares out at us under the in the genre, an almost always Aharsh Los Angeles sun of the male-dominated one. neo-noir “Destroyer.” We meet Det. Erin Bell (Kid- The actress who famously don- man) as she stumbles to a crime ned a prosthetic nose for “The scene, cowering at the morning Hours” has here gone to greater sun. The other detectives, fa- and grittier lengths of transfor- miliar with her hard-drinking mation. Her eyes are sunken. apathy, don’t take her seriously. Her skin is hardened. Her sta- Looking over the dead body, re is provocatively hollow. She she sees a dyed $100 bill that looks dead inside — nearly so triggers a memory, one that on the outside, too. for Bell never receded into the Such metamorphoses have long past, anyway. She knows who been standbys of Oscar seasons did it, she says in a hoarse, ras- both past (Charlize Theron in ping voice. Silas is back, she “Monster”) and present (Chris- later tells a confidant. tian Bale in “Vice”). “Nearly” Taking up what seems to be unrecognizable is the goal, her first case in years, Bell em- not actually disappearing. The barks on a quest for the Silas in Nicole Kidman portrays Detective Erin Bell in “Destroyer” point isn’t to forget who you’re question, a ruthless gang leader watching, it’s to impress upon (Toby Kebbell) whom Bell be- you the masterful changeabili- came close to 16 years earlier ting. The flashbacks, in which like this one. Gone is the film’s antihero protagonist. some butt, and it’s thrilling to ty of the actor beneath all the in an undercover operation with Kidman appears more resplen- rainbow-colored playground Bell is an unapologetically cor- see her stretch in new bad-ass makeup and wig. her partner-turned-boyfriend dently herself, gradually ex- of “La La Land,” back is the rupt detective who thinks little directions. Her Los Angeles Karyn Kusama’s “Destroyer” Chris (a first-rate Sebastian plain how Bell came to be such underbelly Michael Mann so of tampering with evidence or, detective in “Destroyer” makes presses a little too much, in Stan). The job ended tragically, an empty shell of a woman, es- memorably trafficked in. For to secure a desperately needed for an intriguing if overly bleak both Kidman’s showily chame- we can tell, but the full story tranged from her teenage dau- noir-heads like myself, that tip, sinking much lower. Her descendant of the Philip Mar- leonic performance and in the will only be pieced together ghter Shelby (Jade Pettyjohn). feels good. Kusama (“The In- pursuit of Silas isn’t motivated lowes who came before her. relentlessly grim and fragmen- throughout “Destroyer,” which In a series of encounters across vitation”) has a muscular grip by justice but by vengeance and ted tale of a hardboiled L.A. toggles between the two time- a sunbaked and sinister Los on the locale and the material, soul-destroying guilt. “Destroyer,” an Annapur- detective haunted by a trauma lines. Angeles, she draws ominous- including a handful of riveting Kidman’s performance may na Pictures release, is rated from her past. But while “Des- The schematic frame of “Des- ly closer to both Silas and her set pieces. be overcooked but it’s rigo- R for language throughout, troyer” can be overwrought and troyer,” penned by Phil Hay past. Those scenes and others gain rous and tough. Along with violence, some sexual content mechanical, it’s an often gri- and Matt Manfredi, is equal It’s been a while since we’ve something by being staged her supporting performance in and brief drug use. Running pping, well-crafted crime dra- parts frustrating and illumina- had a Los Angeles on screen from the perspective of the “Aquaman,” Kidman is kicking time: 123 minutes. BOOK IT tTUNES IN ‘SEDUCTION,’ HOWARD HUGHES’ MELLENCAMP PUTS FEARLESS HOLLYWOOD NO HAVEN FOR WOMEN TOUCH ON AMERICAN CLASSICS ollywood history for the oddball character Leo- the ballyhoo. After all, the n his youth John Mellencamp the #MeToo move- nardo DiCaprio played in only two movies he direc- was known to be cocky. That Hment, Karina Longworth’s 2004’s “The Aviator.” But ted, “Hell’s Angels” and AP PHOTO Ibrashness carried him to the big AP PHOTO “Seduction” is an astute for many years, mainly in “The Outlaw,” were troub- stage, where he became a stadium- and entertaining takedown the 1930s and 1940s, the led productions, scorned by scale rocker with an adventurous of the movie industry, the press presented Hughes as many critics and challen- spirit. press and the multimillio- a handsome if shy heir to ged to return their over- He mostly fell short of the stature naire turned wannabe fil- an oil industry fortune, a the-top costs even with attained by contemporaries named mmaker Howard Hughes. creative maverick behind good ticket sales. Most of Bruce Springsteen and Tom Pet- Hardly anyone emerges the camera, or an innovati- the two dozen others that ty, but he sometimes took bigger from the pages of “Se- ve and daring aviator — at he had a hand in producing risks. duction” unblemished by times all three. The mental also showed poor judgment Mellencamp’s fearlessness is well- selfishness and greed once illness that appeared to gain and oversight. Exceptions represented on his latest album, they are touched by the on him as the years went by like 1932’s gangster classic “Other People’s Stuff,” a collec- movie business and its pro- was hidden or downplayed “Scarface” are outweighed tion of cover songs, some of them John Mellencamp, “Other People’s mise of wealth, power and as quirkiness. by numerous embarrass- “Seduction: Sex, Lies, American classics, from four deca- Stuff” (Republic Records) fame. The better story for readers ments on the order of “The and Stardom in Howard des of work. If that promise was kept, it and listeners in those years Conqueror” (1956), whi- Hughes’s Hollywood” There’s a version of “Keep Your was mainly for the benefit of economic depression and ch famously miscast John (Custom House) by Eyes on the Prize,” the old civil neatly on “The Lonesome Jubilee,” of men even though, as war was how practically Wayne as a young Genghis Karina Longworth rights anthem, which Mellencamp Mellencamp’s finest album, with Longworth writes, women every beautiful young ac- Khan. introduced at a White House event accordion and fiddle enhancing the were integral to the rise of tress was on Hughes’ arm As Longworth makes clear, ses under personal contract in 2010. Mellencamp’s gentle in- hard-charging vibe. And there are the movies. Her book re- at one time or another. That Hughes and so many other with the promise of a shot at terpretation may surprise those not hints throughout, in the range of counts what happened to was certainly the image he men in filmmaking used stardom. expecting such soulful notes out of songwriters he’s embraced — from some of the many, many sought to convey — and the their clout to seduce women Soon enough, the women a white man from the heartland. Jimmie Rodgers to Robert Johnson women who fell into the public ate it up with the help who wanted to make mo- discovered there might not There’s also a slowed-down take on to Stevie Wonder — that Mellen- orbit of Hughes, for better of his publicists and a lazy, vies, too. Untold numbers of be more to a Hughes con- “Wreck of the Old ‘97,” the iconic camp’s brashness sometimes takes and often for worse. compliant and sometimes actresses were sold the idea tract than a paycheck. Some train song, and a Merle Travis song him where others won’t go. Howard Hughes is remem- paid-off news media. In that they, too, could become never even met him. called “Dark as a Dungeon” that That’s an essential truth about bered today, more than four his day Hughes didn’t have stars, an unrealistic expecta- The mind games and sex Mellencamp originally performed Mellencamp’s career that this col- decades after his death, as a to point and shout “fake tion fostered by the press as games that permeated Hu- for a documentary about coal mi- lection reinforces with gusto — weirdly eccentric, incredi- news!” because he was too well as the movie industry. ghes’ movie career help ning. Mellencamp’s earthy, cigare- that even when the songs are not bly wealthy man living in busy manufacturing it. Hughes, who sought to con- make “Seduction” an enga- tte-shaped growl conveys working- his own, the man takes chances. seclusion in the penthouse The women seduced by trol every aspect of his life, ging read. class honesty on both. of a Las Vegas hotel. Or as Hughes apparently bought habitually put young actres- Douglass K. Daniel, AP There are cuts that would fit in Scott Stroud, AP 04.01.2019 fri NEWS OF THE WORLD Associated Press Memorable news satellite photos of 2018 rom Russian war games to lava flows on Hawaii to raging fires in California, images gathered from high Fabove Earth by satellites in 2018 delivered a unique perspective on humanity, geopolitics and the forces of na- ture that have upended lives and landscape.