Latest news with #AbrahamLincoln
Edmonton Journal
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Adventures in Streaming: When the president becomes an action figure
'Get off my plane.' In 1997, Harrison Ford uttered that line to Russian terrorist Gary Oldman in the Wolfgang Peterson movie Air Force One (streaming on Paramount+). It didn't seem a culturally pivotal moment at the time, but it apparently opened some sort of pipeline wherein U.S. presidents would become action heroes in films as diverse as Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and Olympus Has Fallen. Article content Article content Prime Video is currently streaming two different variations of the formula (which, let's face it, was created in a Hollywood lab utilizing Die Hard as the agar in the petri dish). Article content Heads of State stars John Cena as Will Derringer, a newly elected American president, leaping into the White House after a career as a movie action hero. (One can only feel nostalgia toward the 2006 satire Idiocracy which portrayed that notion as ridiculously far-fetched.) Article content His feel-good presidency goes wrong when a vengeful Russian terrorist (Paddy Considine), launches an assault on an Air Force One mission to Europe for a NATO conference, with the British Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), caught up in the crossfire. Clarke is ex-military and, once the two leaders parachute to safety, he is given to mocking Derringer's pretend fighting experience. If their spark-striking conflict seems familiar, Cena and Elba shared an even more deadly enmity in The Suicide Squad. Article content Article content The film is helmed by Ilya Naishuller, the Russian director who made Hardcore Henry and the Bob Odenkirk actionfest Nobody. Naishuller is skilled at live-action cartoons, but when the stakes are raised, that makes for some tonal needle scratches as we go from mass murder on Air Force One to Cena being smacked in the face with sheep udders as he and Elba are smuggled out of Belarus on a livestock truck. Waiting in the wings to confuse things even further is Priyanka Chopra Jonas, in John Wick mode, playing Noelle, Sam's love interest and saviour. Article content With its relentless action beats, and it's road-movie squabbling, it's mostly silly, disposable stuff. But you have to admit, it's certainly an interesting time for a Russian filmmaker to make an American action movie with a Russian villain in cahoots with a would-be American demagogue plotting to destroy the NATO alliance.
Vancouver Sun
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Adventures in Streaming: When the president becomes an action figure
'Get off my plane.' In 1997, Harrison Ford uttered that line to Russian terrorist Gary Oldman in the Wolfgang Peterson movie Air Force One (streaming on Paramount+). It didn't seem a culturally pivotal moment at the time, but it apparently opened some sort of pipeline wherein U.S. presidents would become action heroes in films as diverse as Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and Olympus Has Fallen. Prime Video is currently streaming two different variations of the formula (which, let's face it, was created in a Hollywood lab utilizing Die Hard as the agar in the petri dish). Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Heads of State stars John Cena as Will Derringer, a newly elected American president, leaping into the White House after a career as a movie action hero. (One can only feel nostalgia toward the 2006 satire Idiocracy which portrayed that notion as ridiculously far-fetched.) His feel-good presidency goes wrong when a vengeful Russian terrorist (Paddy Considine), launches an assault on an Air Force One mission to Europe for a NATO conference, with the British Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), caught up in the crossfire. Clarke is ex-military and, once the two leaders parachute to safety, he is given to mocking Derringer's pretend fighting experience. If their spark-striking conflict seems familiar, Cena and Elba shared an even more deadly enmity in The Suicide Squad. The film is helmed by Ilya Naishuller, the Russian director who made Hardcore Henry and the Bob Odenkirk actionfest Nobody. Naishuller is skilled at live-action cartoons, but when the stakes are raised, that makes for some tonal needle scratches as we go from mass murder on Air Force One to Cena being smacked in the face with sheep udders as he and Elba are smuggled out of Belarus on a livestock truck. Waiting in the wings to confuse things even further is Priyanka Chopra Jonas, in John Wick mode, playing Noelle, Sam's love interest and saviour. With its relentless action beats, and it's road-movie squabbling, it's mostly silly, disposable stuff. But you have to admit, it's certainly an interesting time for a Russian filmmaker to make an American action movie with a Russian villain in cahoots with a would-be American demagogue plotting to destroy the NATO alliance. G20 stars another Suicide Squad vet Viola Davis as American president Danielle Sutton, obliged to kick butt when the titular conference, taking place in South Africa, is hijacked by security forces led by a crazed Australian mercenary played by Anthony Starr, who has honed his villain act on the superhero series The Boys. At least G20 has a consistent tone, attuned to Viola Davis's gravitas. Sure, many people are killed. But at least Danielle and her estranged teenage daughter (Marsai Martin), will get closer in the process. In the face of all this exhausting fantasy, the movie that best reflects realpolitik is the most ludicrous of all. Rumours (screening on Crave), is a caustic satire from Guy Maddin, writer Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, now an established trio (The Forbidden Room, The Green Fog). Eschewing big, elaborate production values, the movie is set in Germany's lush, idyllic countryside (it was filmed in Hungary), where world leaders congregate on a mission to draft a statement in response to an unspecified global crisis. The money is in the cast, toplined by Cate Blanchett as the German chancellor, backed by an international assortment including Charles Dance as the American president, and a sublime Roy Dupuis as the lovelorn Canadian Prime Minister, a man determined to redefine the term 'affairs of state.' The premise is maddeningly but deliberately vague, yet even more fantastical as one of the designated threats is reanimated, onanistic bog people. Left on their own, the world leaders busy themselves on creating the perfect, unctuous political speech, hilariously delivered at the end by Dupuis. It's not so much an illustration of the banality of evil so much as a scathing portrait of self-serving political speak: the evil of banality.
Ottawa Citizen
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Ottawa Citizen
Adventures in Streaming: When the president becomes an action figure
'Get off my plane.' In 1997, Harrison Ford uttered that line to Russian terrorist Gary Oldman in the Wolfgang Peterson movie Air Force One (streaming on Paramount+). It didn't seem a culturally pivotal moment at the time, but it apparently opened some sort of pipeline wherein U.S. presidents would become action heroes in films as diverse as Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and Olympus Has Fallen. Article content Article content Prime Video is currently streaming two different variations of the formula (which, let's face it, was created in a Hollywood lab utilizing Die Hard as the agar in the petri dish). Article content Article content Heads of State stars John Cena as Will Derringer, a newly elected American president, leaping into the White House after a career as a movie action hero. (One can only feel nostalgia toward the 2006 satire Idiocracy which portrayed that notion as ridiculously far-fetched.) Article content His feel-good presidency goes wrong when a vengeful Russian terrorist (Paddy Considine), launches an assault on an Air Force One mission to Europe for a NATO conference, with the British Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), caught up in the crossfire. Clarke is ex-military and, once the two leaders parachute to safety, he is given to mocking Derringer's pretend fighting experience. If their spark-striking conflict seems familiar, Cena and Elba shared an even more deadly enmity in The Suicide Squad. Article content Article content The film is helmed by Ilya Naishuller, the Russian director who made Hardcore Henry and the Bob Odenkirk actionfest Nobody. Naishuller is skilled at live-action cartoons, but when the stakes are raised, that makes for some tonal needle scratches as we go from mass murder on Air Force One to Cena being smacked in the face with sheep udders as he and Elba are smuggled out of Belarus on a livestock truck. Waiting in the wings to confuse things even further is Priyanka Chopra Jonas, in John Wick mode, playing Noelle, Sam's love interest and saviour. Article content With its relentless action beats, and it's road-movie squabbling, it's mostly silly, disposable stuff. But you have to admit, it's certainly an interesting time for a Russian filmmaker to make an American action movie with a Russian villain in cahoots with a would-be American demagogue plotting to destroy the NATO alliance.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How much will killing the penny cost?
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: American consumers will pay $6 million more annually for goods and services as merchants round up prices to account for the fading availability of the U.S. penny after it's no longer minted next year, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond estimated in a report this month. 'As pennies phase out, businesses are likely to round cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents, resulting in a 'rounding tax,'" the Fed bank's report said. The additional collective cost to Americans is still less than the $85.3 million the federal government lost last year on production of some three billion new pennies, according to the report. Dive Insight: The penny bearing President Abraham Lincoln's profile has been in circulation since 1909, and the coin in any form has been passing from hand to hand since 1793, according to the United States Mint. While the one cent coin was initially made from copper, the latest versions are mainly zinc with a copper coating. In February, President Donald Trump, who had been in the White House for less than a month, called on the U.S. Treasury to stop making pennies, citing the cost inefficiency. A single penny costs 3.69 cents to make, according to the Richmond Fed report. A Treasury Department official confirmed in late May that the U.S. Mint had placed its final order for the blanks that become pennies. The blanks are expected to run out early next year, leading to the end of production, but the penny will remain in circulation as legal tender. The decision comes as countries around the world, including the U.S., increasingly turn to electronic payments and digital alternatives. Just last Friday, Trump signed a bill that provides a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, a digital asset that is typically pegged to a fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar. Cash, including coins, remains an important form of payment for some U.S. households, particularly those that are unbanked and underbanked. In a 2022 survey regarding cash, 93% of respondents said they have no plans to stop using cash, according to a 2023 Federal Reserve Financial Services report. Still, a lot of the coins are stuck between couch cushions or laying on sidewalks. And the Fed services arm estimates that $10 billion to $14 billion is sitting in those ubiquitous coin jars that consumers throw their loose pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters into when they empty their pockets. Slowly coins are making their way back to the bank. Coinstar, the company that allows consumers to count and cash in their coins at its kiosk, said in a release Tuesday that it has 15 million consumers signed up to transfer coins to accounts at its kiosks. The share of U.S. transactions made with cash continues to decline, with only 14% handled by that method in an October 2023 consumer survey, according to research on cash use by the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank. With the extinction of the penny, the nickel will become more important in transactions. If the nickel were ever to be discontinued, the rounding by merchants would have a much more significant impact, lumping an additional $56 million cost annually onto consumers, the Richmond Fed report predicted. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Calgary Herald
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Adventures in Streaming: When the president becomes an action figure
'Get off my plane.' In 1997, Harrison Ford uttered that line to Russian terrorist Gary Oldman in the Wolfgang Peterson movie Air Force One (streaming on Paramount+). It didn't seem a culturally pivotal moment at the time, but it apparently opened some sort of pipeline wherein U.S. presidents would become action heroes in films as diverse as Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and Olympus Has Fallen. Article content Article content Prime Video is currently streaming two different variations of the formula (which, let's face it, was created in a Hollywood lab utilizing Die Hard as the agar in the petri dish). Article content Article content Heads of State stars John Cena as Will Derringer, a newly elected American president, leaping into the White House after a career as a movie action hero. (One can only feel nostalgia toward the 2006 satire Idiocracy which portrayed that notion as ridiculously far-fetched.) Article content His feel-good presidency goes wrong when a vengeful Russian terrorist (Paddy Considine), launches an assault on an Air Force One mission to Europe for a NATO conference, with the British Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), caught up in the crossfire. Clarke is ex-military and, once the two leaders parachute to safety, he is given to mocking Derringer's pretend fighting experience. If their spark-striking conflict seems familiar, Cena and Elba shared an even more deadly enmity in The Suicide Squad. Article content Article content The film is helmed by Ilya Naishuller, the Russian director who made Hardcore Henry and the Bob Odenkirk actionfest Nobody. Naishuller is skilled at live-action cartoons, but when the stakes are raised, that makes for some tonal needle scratches as we go from mass murder on Air Force One to Cena being smacked in the face with sheep udders as he and Elba are smuggled out of Belarus on a livestock truck. Waiting in the wings to confuse things even further is Priyanka Chopra Jonas, in John Wick mode, playing Noelle, Sam's love interest and saviour. Article content With its relentless action beats, and it's road-movie squabbling, it's mostly silly, disposable stuff. But you have to admit, it's certainly an interesting time for a Russian filmmaker to make an American action movie with a Russian villain in cahoots with a would-be American demagogue plotting to destroy the NATO alliance.
