A mindlessly thuggish action sequel... and what are they doing with Sharon Stone?
He books a holiday with his family to a run-down amusement park where he used to cavort as a teenager. Summery nostalgia is soon replaced by bone-crunching rage, when locals prove inhospitable, the police (headed by Colin Hanks's ratty sheriff) despicably corrupt, and the whole locale a playpen for a take-no-prisoners crime boss named Lendina (Sharon Stone).
The appeal of the film is basic and, frankly, monotonous. In scene after scene, Hutch bends over backwards to be polite. Some sort of affront is caused – such as an arcade owner clipping Hutch's teenage daughter behind the ear. He tries, manfully, to turn the other cheek. But this aggression will never stand. He blasts back in, sends every assailant flying, and hardly ends a sequence without causing something to explode.
This is the Hollywood debut of Indonesian action director Timo Tjahjanto, who knows his way around a wince-inducing fight sequence, but seemingly not much else. Connie Nielsen is once again wasted as Hutch's wife, presumably because it would be too implicitly emasculating, even in this cartoon setup, to have her partake in the carnage. Eight-six-year-old Christopher Lloyd, as Hutch's dad, attends the holiday, only to vanish for about an hour with no one batting an eyelid.
Odenkirk's rueful magnetism lifted the first film quite a bit, but this one is a heavier, more thuggish burden: he can only do so much. It's sad, too, that Stone sketches us such a superficial villain. She has steely swept-back hair and carries around a French bulldog, but these are lazy shortcuts to characterisation. A lot of her dialogue is insupportably dire. It's not the choice turn we're craving.
Nobody 2 is at least watchable until the effects-stuffed finale, which looks depressingly sloppy – like the mangiest stuff by Kingsman's Matthew Vaughn or Wanted's Timur Bekmambetov.
The whole film gets worse as you step away. The moral universe in which Hutch reprimands his teenage son for getting into brawls, only to hospitalise dozens of goons himself with snarling relish, is winkingly hypocritical – something acknowledged as a joke, but vapidly shrugged off before the next rampage. You get the impression nobody much cares.
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The Guardian
12 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Now it's about personal happiness': popular Granny Wang dating show belies China's plummeting marriage rate
The crowd is sweltering under a red and gold awning, but Granny Wang has them rapt. Packed into the space in front of the 62-year-old's small stage, and spilling out on to the wooden bleachers above, hundreds of people have gathered to hear Granny Wang – real name Zhao Mei – play matchmaker to young men and women at a daily show in a theme park in Kaifeng, an ancient city in central China's Henan province. One man who volunteers to be set up comes on stage and tells Zhao that a previous relationship broke down due to a lack of time. 'Well, now that you've met your ideal partner here, you'll have the time,' she assures him, and the crowd cheers. Zhao has played the character of Granny Wang for eight years and introduced the matchmaking element of her show in 2023 – which brought her viral fame. Last year she went from having a few hundred thousand followers on Douyin, a Chinese social media app similar to TikTok, to more than 7 million, and has been called 'China's Cilla Black', a reference to the late host of the British TV show Blind Date. But with some audience members arriving several hours early and enduring the mid-August heat to grab a front-row spot for the raucous and somewhat camp performance, Zhao could just as well be Henan's Madonna. Most of the people in the audience are families looking for a way to entertain their children during the school holidays. But it seems that about one in five of them are looking for love. 'I just do not want to stay single,' said Wang Mengjia, 18, after an unsuccessful spin on Zhao's stage. Zhao has revived the character of the village matchmaker, a role that is going out of fashion now that many people meet online, through friends – or, increasingly, not at all. While there is a growing 'love industry' of matchmaking services from local governments and commercial enterprises alike, would-be cupids face an uphill battle in China's cities where the marriage market is increasingly being shunned altogether. Despite Zhao's packed shows, China's marriage rates have plummeted to record lows, a trend that is increasingly treated as a national crisis. Last year, the number of registered marriages dropped by a record 20%, falling to just over 6m, down from 7.7m in 2023. Compared with a decade earlier, the number of couples tying the knot each year has halved. The trend is particularly apparent among urban, educated women. More than 40% of urban 25- to 29-year-olds have never married, up from 9% in 2000, according to analysis from Wang Feng, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. Some of this is because of China's ageing population. Decades of the one-child policy, which was scrapped in 2016, forced the population into decline, meaning that the pool of people of marrying age has been shrinking. But, analysts say, demographics alone don't explain the trend. 'The deeper change is in attitudes,' said Lijia Zhang, a writer who is working on a book about marriage in China. 'In the past, when the country was poor, marriage was an economic necessity … Now it's about personal happiness, more than anything else, not filial duty or social obligation. Many urban, educated women no longer see marriage or motherhood as essential to a fulfilling life.' Hao Jingyi, 19, agrees. 'If I don't meet someone suitable, I would enjoy more freedom and comfort living alone … women are increasingly disappointed with men these days,' she said, as she waited for Zhao's show to start. The Chinese government hopes to change her mind. China's leader, Xi Jinping, has called on women to 'actively cultivate a new culture of marriage and childbearing' and has promoted a more traditional, patriarchal type of politics. China's leadership is ideologically opposed to singledom and officials have a practical concern: falling birthrates. Even people who do couple up are increasingly rejecting parenthood, as young people – women in particular – worry that childrearing is too expensive and competitive. Last year China's birthrate was just 6.77 births per 1,000 people, a slight increase on 2023's record low of 6.39 but still dramatically lower than the figure from a decade ago. The Chinese authorities have introduced a slew of policies at national and local levels to encourage marriage and childbirth. This year the government rolled out an annual childcare subsidy of 3,600 yuan (£370) until the age of three and several provinces offer bonuses or extra holiday days for newlyweds. But many women feel it is not enough. Practicalities aside, there are other factors driving these trends. In July, the Chinese internet was briefly abuzz with the news of chat groups on the encrypted messaging app Telegram which, according to Chinese media reports, contained tens of thousands of Chinese men who shared pornographic pictures and videos of women, often taken without their consent, in the 'MaskPark tree hole forum'. Women were outraged, with many feeling that the authorities did not do enough to protect them from sexual harassment. Violet Du Feng, a Chinese film-maker whose latest documentary, The Dating Game, follows men enrolled in a dating camp, said there was an increasing ideological gap between the sexes. She said the imbalance created by the one-child policy – there are now more than 30 million more men than women in China – had led to 'dissatisfaction about gender equality'. But while feminist activism used to be quietly tolerated, in the past decade the Chinese Communist party has cracked down on civil society, and the space to protest against issues such as sexual harassment has virtually disappeared. 'Typically, in a more democratic society, you can point your finger at power,' Feng said, 'but in China, you cannot.' So, 'people are just pointing their fingers at each other. That creates even more extreme hostility between men and women.' Feng noted that when she was born in 1979, her mother had access to full-time, free childcare before she was two months old. When Feng had her own daughter in 2014, 'there was nothing'. It's not just women who are tired of the pressure to marry. Zhang Hongguang, 21, from Shandong province, attended Zhao's event with his sister, who had persuaded him to join her in renting fancy-dress costumes for the outing. But the next day he had to return to his home town to grudgingly attend a blind date arranged by their parents, who had paid a matchmaker to set him up with someone. 'I don't like it, but it was the only way my parents had,' he said, adding that he preferred to just stay at home with his cat. His sister, Zhang Hongqian, a 24-year-old pilates teacher, had also been forced on several unsuccessful blind dates by their parents. 'I'm not in a rush to find a partner,' she said. 'If I can avoid getting married, I'll choose not to get married.' Additional research by Lillian Yang
The Sun
13 hours ago
- The Sun
Maura Higgins hints she causes ‘utter carnage' in ‘greatest moment of Traitors history' after signing up for US version
Maura Higgins hints she causes 'utter carnage' in 'greatest moment of The Traitors history'. Back in January, the former Love Island star was confirmed to be part of the cast of the fourth series of the US version of The Traitors. 7 7 7 Maura, 34, recently returned from Scotland where she filmed the show with the likes of Real Housewives stars Lisa Rinna and Caroline Stanbury. Actor Alan Cumming is the host of the hit Peacock murder mystery challenge show and he teased that the new edition will be the most dramatic yet. In a new interview with The Playlist, the presenter teased that some of the scenes are "utter carnage". "In this new season, there is chaos again, once more. There is chaos and it's brutal. It's brutal. "About halfway through, there is a scene in it that is the greatest moment in Traitors history. "Honestly, I just cannot wait for the world to see it. It's utter carnage and utter just mad. It's just brilliant!" Later, the former Dancing on Ice contestant hosted a Q&A for her four million followers on Instagram where she hinted that she agrees with Alan's comments. She appeared on camera in a grey cropped vest top and a beige baseball cap over her wavy brunette locks after sharing a quote from Alan on her story. One of her fans asked: "Have you recovered yet from Traitors and the rumoured chaos drama?" The reality veteran admitted that she almost 'forgot' the fact that she filmed the hit US series. The Traitors US returning for a new series - but with a huge twist "Do you know what's the craziest thing? Is that I actually do forget that I've done it. "Like it feels so long ago but it's not that long ago. I can't obviously say much about it." Nodding her head cryptically, she added: "But it was an experience.... "I kind of went in there thinking 'yeah this is probably going to be a piece of p***.' It's a unique one I will say and I'm very glad I've done it. Maura HigginsInstagram "Like, I've done the jungle, nothing's going to be harder than that. "I hadn't watched the show so I didn't really understand the concept, like obviously I have heard stuff before. "But yeah, it's a unique one I will say and I'm very glad I've done it." She added: "But I can't say anything about it, very hush hush. The Traitors USA 2025 line-up Candiace Dillard Bassett (The Real Housewives of Potomac) Caroline Stanbury (The Real Housewives of Dubai) Colton Underwood (The Bachelor) Donna Kelce ('Mama' Kelce) Dorinda Medley (The Real Housewives of New York City) Eric Nam (Singer-Songwriter) Ian Terry (Big Brother) Johnny Weir (Olympic Figure Skater) Kristen Kish (Host, Top Chef) Rob Cesternino (Survivor) Lisa Rinna (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) Mark Ballas (Dancing with the Stars) Maura Higgins (Love Island USA Aftersun) Michael Rapaport (Actor) Monét X Change (RuPaul's Drag Race) Natalie Anderson (Survivor) Porsha Williams (The Real Housewives of Atlanta) Rob Rausch (Love Island USA) Ron Funches (Comedian) Stephen Colletti (One Tree Hill) Tara Lipinski (Olympic Figure Skater) Tiffany Mitchell (Big Brother) Yamil 'Yam Yam' Arocho (Survivor) "But what I will say is that it's going to be a very, very, very good season." The caption on the video added: "So hard not to fill you all in!!!! Coming in January," alongside a drama mask emoji. 7 7 7
Daily Mail
15 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Disney BANS theme park guest after bizarre act with character
Disney's theme parks have earned the nickname as The Happiest Places on Earth because of the immense joy and fun they provide for millions of families each year. But if you break one of Disney's strict rules, your magical vacation may be transformed into a nightmare - because the company takes its regulations very seriously. One man has learned that the hard way, after his bizarre act with a character during a recent visit to Shanghai Disneyland in China reportedly resulted in him being hit with a two-year ban. According to multiple reports, the unidentified male jumped on stage during a show on August 10 and began touching one of the characters. He reportedly attempted to dance with someone who was dressed as the red panda Mei Mei from the film Turning Red before he was escorted off stage by staff. Shanghai Disneyland said the man's behavior disrupted the park's normal operations and violated the park rules, per Inside the Magic. He was reportedly told to leave and banned from stepping foot in Shanghai Disneyland for two full years. The Daily Mail has reached out to Shanghai Disneyland for comment. Under its rules and regulations section on its website, Shanghai Disneyland states, 'Please show common courtesy, both on-site and online, to fellow Park guests, our Cast Members (including but not limited to staff and performers) and the Disney Characters, and do not use profanity or engage in unsafe, illegal, disruptive or offensive behavior.' An ex-Disney World character attendant previously shared the craziest things he saw guests do at the theme park exclusively with the Daily Mail - from someone who lied about being in Make-A-Wish to adults who had 'full-on meltdowns.' Patrick McKee, 35, from Atlanta, Georgia, spent years working at the Happiest Place on Earth as the 'person who made sure the magic ran smoothly.' Part of his job was to assist in character meet and greets - and he said he witnessed some 'truly wild behavior' along the way. He recalled 'overbearing' parents trying to 'cut the line' or 'demand something special' for their kids. And according to the worker, adults without children were 'just as extreme.' 'Some adults could completely lose themselves in the experience,' he shared. '[They set] expectations so high that when reality didn't match up, things got... interesting. 'Picture grown adults having full-on meltdowns - it was like watching a toddler tantrum, but with much bigger stakes.' He recalled one time when he told a guest that the meet and greet for a princess had ended, and they became so 'furious' that they 'threw their drink on him.' 'I couldn't believe it, but unfortunately, situations like that weren't as rare as you'd think,' he continued. 'When you're working with characters, you never quite know how a guest will react. 'I've had the most delightful conversations in line, only to see that same person do something totally unexpected when they finally met their favorite character.' Patrick said one of the most 'disturbing' things he ever saw while working at the park was a family who 'lied about being a part of the Make-A-Wish program to take advantage of the special benefits.' Make-A-Wish 'grants wishes to children with critical illnesses' in order to 'create hope and happiness for the whole family,' per the organization's website. 'It was heartbreaking because the Make-A-Wish program is designed to bring joy to children dealing with life-threatening illnesses, and seeing people try to game the system for their own gain was beyond disappointing,' Patrick said. 'There were times parents would say something along the lines of, "I wish my kid had cancer," just to get those benefits, completely oblivious to the weight and cruelty of their words. 'It's almost like people don't realize the impact of what they're saying, or maybe they just don't care in their desperation.'
