Boston, MA

‘Silent Night’ a violent winner from John Woo

Published

7 months ago

December 1, 2023

‘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-

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Boston, MA

Justin Timberlake appears to joke at Boston concert about drink-driving arrest

Published

4 hours ago

July 1, 2024

Press Room

Justin Timberlake appears to joke at Boston concert about drink-driving arrest

Justin Timberlake has appeared to joke about his recent drink-driving arrest at a concert in Boston.

The Grammy Award-winning pop star was arrested in Sag Harbor, a wealthy village in the Hamptons in New York State last month.

In a video shared on social media over the weekend, Timberlake tells a crowd at Boston’s TD Garden arena: “Is there anyone here that is driving, no I’m just kidding.”

Fans appear to laugh and cheer as he continues to address the crowd.

Sag Harbor Village Police Department said Timberlake was pulled over at 12.37am local time (5.27am UK time) on Tuesday 18 June after officers saw him “failing to stop at a duly posted stop sign and failing to maintain his lane of travel” while driving a BMW.

An officer described his eyes as “bloodshot and glassy” and said a “strong odour of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath”, according to court documents.

“He was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot and he performed poorly on all standardised field sobriety tests,” the court papers added.

A source told Page Six, the New York Post’s celebrity and entertainment site, that Timberlake said “under his breath” during the arrest: “This is going to ruin the tour.”

Timberlake has strongly denied the allegations, with his lawyer saying he looks forward to “vigorously defending” the singer.

The 43-year-old, who first found fame as a member of the pop band NSYNC, was held overnight after his arrest until he was arraigned at Sag Harbor Village Justice Court and released.

A court date is scheduled for 26 July.

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Timberlake previously appeared to address the arrest on stage, saying “it’s been a tough week” during a performance in Chicago last month.

He is set to continue his series of US shows with performances due to take place in Baltimore, Maryland, Cleveland, Ohio, and Lexington, Kentucky.

He is due to perform in Birmingham, Manchester and London in the UK in August.

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Boston, MA

Justin Timberlake jokes about his drunk driving arrest during Boston world tour, leaving fans speechless

Published

11 hours ago

June 30, 2024

Press Room

Justin Timberlake jokes about his drunk driving arrest during Boston world tour, leaving fans speechless

Can’t Cry Me a River Over this one! In a surprising turn during his Boston concert, Justin Timberlake seemingly poked fun at his recent DWI arrest. The Forget Tomorrow World Tour singer, fresh off weeks of legal trouble following his arrest in Sag Harbor, New York, bounced back on stage with full energy. Reports surfaced earlier that a detained Timberlake mumbled concerns about the incident impacting the tour. Now, it seems he’s chosen to address the situation with a lighthearted joke, leaving fans too stunned to speak.

Justin Timberlake was recently arrested for drunken driving.

Justin Timberlake’s DWI joke

During his Boston concert stop, the SexyBack singer, took a moment to address his recent Driving while intoxicated arrest. The 43-year-old singer was mid-tour, performing at the TD Garden when a fan captured a video of him making a joke about the incident. In the clip, Timberlake asks the crowd, “So uhhh, is there anyone here tonight that is driving?” as the crowd erupted in cheers and noise, he quickly added, “No, I’m just kidding.”

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After his playful jab about the DUI arrest, Timberlake swiftly steered the conversation back on track. He jumped in with, “Is there anyone here tonight, that it’s your first time here to the show? Is there anybody here that you’ve been to 1, 2, 3, maybe 4 of our shows?,” he said before adding, “For all of you that it’s your first time tonight — on a serious note — I hope that you feel the fellowship and the love.”

Justin Timberlake was feeling ‘remorseful, ashamed’

Timberlake first addressed the situation at Chicago’s United Center, expressing gratitude to fans who supported him, stating, “I’m here … I know sometimes I’m hard to love but you keep on loving me and I love you right back. Thank you so much.”

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According to a source speaking to ET, the DWI arrest has “taken a toll on him, but he is trying to view it as a way to reset himself.” The insider further claimed that Timberlake is “feeling remorseful, ashamed, and humiliated, taking the situation seriously and acknowledging its potential impact on his family dynamic as a husband and father, as well as on his fans.”

The singer was arrested on June 18 and reportedly spent a night in custody, where he panicked over the situation. The pop star was detained by a young police officer who was unaware of the singer’s identity and asked him to undergo a breathalyzer test, which he refused. Timberlake, with red and glassy eyes, was pulled over on suspicion of running a stop sign and swerving out of his lane in the Hamptons. He subsequently failed a sobriety test. The 43-year-old, who had spent the evening at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor, Long Island, confessed to consuming just one martini before choosing to get behind the wheel.

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Boston, MA

Justin Timberlake Cracks Onstage Joke Referencing His DWI Arrest at Boston Concert

Published

18 hours ago

June 30, 2024

Press Room

Justin Timberlake Cracks Onstage Joke Referencing His DWI Arrest at Boston Concert

Justin Timberlake jokingly referenced his arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated at his tour stop in Boston.

On Saturday (June 29), the 43-year-old singer and actor cracked a one-liner about the incident during his concert at Boston’s TD Garden amid his Forget Tomorrow world tour.

“So, uh, is there anyone here tonight that is driving?” Timberlake asked the cheering crowd in a fan-captured clip posted on TikTok. “No, I’m just kidding,” he quickly added.

The comment drew a mix of gasps and laughter from the crowd. The “SexyBack” followed the wisecrack by asking the audience who’s attending for the first time and who’s seen him before, according to TMZ.

Timberlake was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in Sag Harbor, N.Y. on June 17. He was arraigned on one count of “driving while intoxicated” the following day.

“It was ascertained that the defendant was operating said vehicle in an intoxicated condition in that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” according to the police report filed by officer Michael Arkinson.

“I had one martini and I followed my friends home,” Arkinson also quoted the 10-time Grammy winner as saying in his report.

Last week, Timberlake broke his silence following the arrest during his show at Chicago’s United Center on June 21.

“It’s been a tough week,” the singer told concert-goers. “I know I’m hard to love sometimes but you keep loving me right back.” He added, “We’ve been together through ups and downs and lefts and rights … but you’re here and I’m here, and nothing can change this moment right now.”

JT’s lawyer Edward Burke Jr. has stated that he will “vigorously” defend the star against the allegations. “He will have a lot to say at the appropriate time,” Burke said in a statement.

Timberlake’s next court hearing is scheduled for July 26, the same day he is scheduled to perform at Tauron Arena Krakow in Poland.

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