Boston, MA
‘Silent Night’ a violent winner from John Woo
The revenge thriller “Silent Night” marks the return of the great Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo (“Bullet in the Head,” “Hard Boiled,” “Face/Off”) to the U.S. in 20 years. Set in downtown Los Angeles, the dialogue-free film wastes no time in blasting off. We see Joel Kinnaman’s Brian Godluck, an electrical repairman, running down an alley chasing after gang members, whose four-wheeled shootout with another vehicle has taken the life of his young son with a stray bullet.
Brian wears a blood-stained reindeer sweater with a bulging nose at his stomach. His face is a mirror of grief and vengeance. Instead of white doves, “Silent Night” gives us a single red balloon as a symbol of the soul that has been prematurely snatched at Christmastime. Brian catches up with the perpetrator (Harold Torres) and smashes his windshield only to be shot in the throat and deprived of his voice.
The silence at the heart of “Silent Night” is only verbal. We hear everything else, especially the physical violence, the car engines, the screeching tires, the bullets. The film is alive with sound.
As Brian’s grieving wife Saya and the mother of the dead boy, Academy Award nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno delivers a performance full of stoic grace. Brian’s drinking and refusal to communicate with her outside of a few texts finally breaks her spirit. Saya leaves.
But Brian goes to the Los Angeles police department office of Detective Dennis Vassel (Scott Mescudi aka Kid Cudi) and takes photographs of the suspects’ mugshots hanging on Vassel’s office wall and embarks upon a dark journey. He stops drinking. He installs a chin-up bar and weights in his home’s workspace. He begins to work out fanatically. The welding and sawing we hear in the background of some scenes could be Brian, transforming himself into a killing machine (Kinnaman has already played RoboCop). He buys guns and learns to use them. He takes photographs with a telescopic lens of the drug-dealing gang members who killed his son, especially a man named Playa (Torres) and his beautiful junkie girlfriend. Brian takes a calendar and marks the next Dec. 24 as the night he will “Kill Them All.” Merry Christmas.
The percussive sound design and driving score of Marco Beltrami (“World War Z”) are more than enough to keep you glued to the screen. Brian buys a cosmetically-challenged Mustang 5.0 and using his welding tools customizes it for battle. “Silent Night” is part “Road Warrior,” part “Taxi Driver” and part “Scarface.” Say hello to my little friends, you can imagine Brian saying, if he could.
One wishes that Woo and screenwriter Robert Archer Lynn (“Already Dead”) had realized that making Brian white and his adversaries Latino adds a racial element that was not necessary to the story. The boy’s mother is Latina. Why not his father? Still, Kinnaman (“Suicide Squad”) is completely committed to his role. The effort he puts into the film’s fights is clearly enormous, and Brian’s grief for his son’s death is palpable. You never for a moment forget why Brian is on a rampage.
All the Woo hallmarks are here, the firepower, standoff, premonitory parrot on a windowsill, symbolic balloon, a music box. As Playa, Torres (“ZeroZeroZero”) is frightening. Playa’s face tattoos are tiger stripes. In a Santa Claus coat, Playa dances in a romantic parody with his junkie girlfriend. They are Death and the maiden. He sends her to confront the intruders. That she resembles Saya is not lost on anyone. Brian’s stairway climb to get to Playa recalls the final battle of Travis Bickle, as well as Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” films. The father and the killer are brothers under the skin. “Silent Night” might not be the new “Die Hard.” But I just know that I’m going to see it again.
(“Silent Night” contains extreme, graphic violence)
“Silent Night”
Rated R. At the AMC Boston Common, AMC South Bay and suburban theaters. Grade: A-
Boston, MA
Pelicans' Brandon Boston honors a late friend in his pregame ritual. 'You don't ever recover.'
Boston, MA
Boston College Football Coach, Players Talk Impact of 1984 Team on 40th Anniversary of Hail Flutie
Saturday was an important day for the Boston College football program.
Not only did the Eagles secure bowl eligibility with a 41-21 win over the UNC Tar Heels, but it also marked the 40th anniversary of the “Hail Flutie,” a Hail Mary touchdown pass that former quarterback Doug Flutie threw as time expired to give Boston College a 47-45 win over the reigning national champions the Miami Hurricanes.
Members of the 1984 team were in attendance at Alumni Stadium and were honored as a way to mark the milestone.
After the game, Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien as well as quarterback Grayson James and offensive lineman Drew Kendall spoke about the impact of that team and how them being at the game helped them come out with the victory.
“It’s sweet,” said James. “Just being able to know what he’s done, done for this program, just being able to see guys like that come back and support, it’s awesome. It makes us want to put on a show for them and put on a show for the whole BC community, so it definitely got us going knowing that team was there today.”
Kendall emphasized that the season and that team made impacts on the program that are still felt today.
“Obviously they kind of put Boston College on the map,” said Kendall. “They were, I believe, a top five team in the country, No. 2- I’m not 100-percent, but they really put Boston College on the map and what they did has kind of allowed Boston College as a program to thrive. Of course Doug Flutie is the only Heisman at Boston College so hopefully we can get another one day but their toughness and their determination has really rubbed off through the program throughout the years.”
O’Brien shared that he showed film from the Hail Flutie game the day before the Eagles matchup against the Tar Heels as a part of preparation.
“I told them in this room on Friday, I showed them the last drive of the Miami game,” said O’Brien. “That that was a team, quite obviously, that played 60 minutes. They understood what playing 60 minutes was all about and on this screen right behind me, I showed that drive. And then, when you have the ‘84 team here, they were 10-2, ranked fifth in the country, Heisman Trophy winner in the house, you got to play well. It’s kind of in the same vein a little bit as the Red Bandanna Game, like you got to play well in these games. There’s a lot of tradition here at Boston College and for those guys to be here meant a lot to our program and it was important for us to go out there and win.”
The Boston College Eagles (5-5, 2-4 ACC) football team looks to become bowl eligible as it returns to Alumni Stadium to take on the UNC Tar Heels (6-4, 3-3 ACC).
Both teams are currently dealing with injuries in the program.
Below is a look at the latest injury updates for both teams.
[This story will be updated throughout the game with the latest injury news].
LB Caleb LaVallee | Questionable: Tar Heels linebacker Caleb LaVallee’s status for today’s game has yet to be determined. He has not played since UNC’s Nov. 2 game against FSU. He is dealing with a lower body injury and has been reportedly “monitored” this week.
RB Darwin Barlow | Questionable: Tar Heels running back Darwin Barlow’s status has yet to be revealed. Barlow’s appeared in three games this season, most recently in the team’s Nov. 2 game against FSU.
TE Bryson Nesbit | Out: Tar Heels tight end Bryson Nesbit will miss the game against the Eagles with an injury.
DB Max Tucker | Out: Eagles defensive back Max Tucker will miss the Eagles game against UNC. Tucker exited Boston College’s matchup against No. 13 SMU early in the game and did not return. Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien considered him “day-to-day.”
DB Bryquice Brown | Out: Eagles defensive back Bryquice Brown will miss the Eagles game against UNC. Brown exited Boston College’s matchup against No. 13 SMU and did not return. Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien considered him “day-to-day.”
LB Kam Arnold | Questionable: Eagles linebacker Kam Arnold’s status for today’s game has yet to be revealed. Arnold has missed Boston College’s last three games with an upper body injury.
RB Turbo Richard | Questionable: Eagles running back Turbo Richard’s status for the game has also not been revealed. Like Arnold, Richard has also missed the Eagles last three games as he’s dealing with an ankle injury.
Players Out For Season: LB Owen McGowan, CB Amari Jackson, RB Alex Broome, LB Jaylen Blackwell.
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