Latest news with #Leviathan
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' Review: Tom Cruise Flies High in a Thrillingly Doom-Laden Series Grand Finale
In the don't-try-this-at-home climax of 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,' the thrillingly doom-laden last chapter of the 'M:I' series, Tom Cruise does something you expect — he's featured in the kind of elaborate stunt sequence that's become this 30-year-old series' trademark — but he also does something you may not expect. He tops himself in the most outrageous way. He literally flies beyond all the stunts he's done before, leaving us in an exhilarated state of awe. Cruise, as the unstoppable IMF agent Ethan Hunt, is trying to catch up with Gabriel (Esai Morales), the film's serviceably sinister villain, who wants to gain control of the Entity, the film's apocalyptic projection of artificial intelligence and everything it's capable of — like initiating global nuclear war, just because it can. Hanging around Gabriel's neck is the digital 'poison pill' created by Ving Rhames' tech wizard Luther. If Ethan can get his hands on that device and slip it into the podkova (a gadget the size of a cell phone that contains the Entity's source code), he can trigger the end of the Entity's power. The two men are in primitive propeller planes. Gabriel is flying a yellow-and-black one, and Ethan…well, he has climbed aboard a red one with a bad-guy pilot, and as the planes zoom through a sunlit canyon and then out into the open air, he attempts to gain control of it. More from Variety 'Loveless' and 'Leviathan' Filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev Sets Next Movie 'Minotaur' With MK2, CG Cinema (EXCLUSIVE) Quentin Tarantino Gives Advice to Young Filmmakers at Cannes: 'You Only Have So Much Time' on Set. 'How You Use' It 'Will Define You' Sylvie Pialat, Producer of Cannes' Opening Film 'Leave One Day,' Sets Projects With Directors Emmanuelle Bercot, Atiq Rahimi and Gustav Kervern (EXCLUSIVE) This means walking on the wing and dangling from a thin bar and wriggling his way from the passenger seat into the cockpit, all while the plane is rocketing forward. When I've seen barnstorming daredevil plane sequences, like in 'The Great Waldo Pepper,' the stunt people up there tend to be quite staid. But Tom Cruise, filmed in drop-dead close-up, scrambles around that plane as if it were a set of monkey bars, his face mashed into rubber by the G-force of the wind, the grassland stretching out a mile below him. After tossing out the pilot, he slithers onto Gabriel's yellow plane, and that's when the action becomes too dizzying for words. Cruise is crawling over the plane, and now it's tilting sideways, nearly upside down, so he's hanging off it, and I was literally gawking at the screen going, 'How in God's name did he do this?' Because what we're seeing looks…impossible. And here's what fuses it all. Two years ago, when Cruise took that motorcycle sky dive off a cliff in 'Dead Reckoning Part One,' it was impressive, to be sure, but all I remember experiencing was the abstract physical daring of it. In 'The Final Reckoning,' Cruise is doing something on that plane that no stunt person could do as well — he's acting. He bends his limbs around the metal with every fiber of his fear and desire, showing us the ferocity of Ethan's will to defeat evil, which matches up with Cruise's own will not just to entertain us but to leave us in a state of rapt disbelief. In 'The Final Reckoning,' Tom Cruise is out to save movies as much as Ethan Hunt is out to save the world. He's doing what he does on that plane so that we don't have to. Up until then, 'The Final Reckoning' is more of a churning slow burn. Yet the film is good enough to remind you how much fun it is when something is truly at stake in a high-flying, twisty-plotted, solemnly preposterous popcorn movie. There are moments when 'The Final Reckoning' is preposterous — I'd say knowingly so, though at the screening I attended there was derisive hipster laughter. No one would claim that this is the breeziest of the 'M:I' films. The sequences that I remember most fondly from the series have a nimble sense of play — Cruise hanging from a wire in that breathless heist in the first 'Mission: Impossible,' his vertiginous suction-cup scaling of the Burj Khalifa in 'Ghost Protocol,' all the trap-door tuxedo-party deceptions. 'The Final Reckoning' is two hours and 49 minutes long, and it grinds along with a furrowed-brow anxiety about the precariousness of civilization in the age of omnipotent technology. Yet that gravitas works for the movie. A.I. was merely a creeping threat in 'Dead Reckoning.' Here it's a specter whose time has arrived, and that's part of what makes this a more potent adventure. A line that keeps getting repeated by members of the IMF team (and becomes a running joke) is 'We'll figure it out.' And that means: When the world hangs by a thread, necessity will always be the mother of split-second espionage invention. 'The Final Reckoning' is an ode to winging it. By now we've seen more than enough movies turn on the prospect of the planet being destroyed, and that doesn't automatically mean there's anything at stake in them. (Just think of such empty vessels of end-of-the-world action as 'Armageddon' or 'X-Men: Apocalypse.') But in 'The Final Reckoning,' Cruise and his 'M:I' partner and director, Christopher McQuarrie, ratchet up the doomsday fervor with enough conviction — and obsession — to carry you along on hairpin turns of suspense. The film glances back, in several quick-cut montages, to all seven of the series' previous films, taking Ethan's defining trait — his propensity to go rogue, which of course is what he does when he can't accomplish his mission any other way — and folding that into the film's symphonic sense of peril. The Entity, which is presented as the logical culmination of A.I. (i.e., a force that isn't necessarily going to be on our side), is out to control everything, to tap into the world's nuclear-weapons systems and destroy the human race. Total power is the outgrowth of its intelligence. But Ethan is almost a cousin of A.I. — over and over, he has been someone willing to gamble with the fate of the world. 'The Final Reckoning' has a few patchy moments, but I think it's the most enveloping entry in the series since 'Ghost Protocol,' because it finds a new way to make the impossible elating. Instead of fooling us with rubber masks and digital illusion, the film is all about pushing outlandish situations to the wall, where Ethan has to act at a split second's notice. Early on he's captured, along with Hayley Atwell's debonair Grace, and as they sit in a dungeon in handcuffs, he teases out a fake molar that will toxify him if he bites into it; that proves to be the way out. After a while, Ethan comes in from the cold, appearing at a meeting led by the U.S. president, Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett), as the IMF-head-turned-CIA suit Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) and other dour brass look on disapprovingly. Ethan asks to be given control of an aircraft carrier (named after George H.W. Bush — a bit of we-didn't-know-how-good-we-had-it nostalgia geared to the age of Trump), and the president gives him the approval…on the sly. It's here that the film turns into a very different sort of mission, a dense action caper set in the frozen sea. William Donloe (Rolf Saxon), a defrocked CIA analyst who was exiled after Ethan's heist in the first film, returns. He's the one who knows the exact location of the Russian submarine that was tricked by the Entity into blowing itself up at the start of 'Dead Reckoning' — and that's where they'll find the Entity's source code. The sequence where Ethan dives deep into the Bering Sea to burrow into the carcass of that submarine has the kind of quiet floating logistical majesty I loved as a kid in the underwater sequences of 'Thunderball.' The submarine, jogged by Ethan's weight, keeps creaking and falling and turning, spilling water around inside, which gives the sequence, slow as it is, a spectral enchantment. But the film also has plenty of down-to-the-wire tension, as when Benji (Simon Pegg) directs a bomb defusion through the fog of his collapsing lung. And it's the hellbent jacked sincerity of Cruise's movie-star performance that makes it all mean something. Ethan's loyalty has become a major theme (he won't leave one of his team members behind), but despite the game contributions of Atwell and Rhames, whose Luther delivers the series' moving sendoff, Ethan has rarely been out on his own the way he is here. Is this truly the series' final reckoning? We're now in an era where John Wick can snap back to life, and where even the death of James Bond, in 'No Time to Die' (a movie that feels like a cousin to this one — though I think 'Final Reckoning' is better), came off like a parlor trick. I expect 'The Final Reckoning' will prove to be one of the must-see movies of the summer, and at the end of it Ethan Hunt is very much alive. Yet an element of the film's power is that it's genuinely saying goodbye to these characters, to that reconfigured 1960s chicanery, to Ethan's more-Bond-than-Bond mojo. Besides, what's Tom Cruise going to do for an encore? In 'The Final Reckoning,' he's more than just the top gun of danger junkies. He has turned the spectacle of doing his own stunts into a popcorn art form. Best of Variety The Best Albums of the Decade
Arab News
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
How will Saudis in future view the current era of the Kingdom?
Thomas Hobbes, the English philosopher born in 1588, found himself in a world full of turmoil — a period when war seemed on the horizon and doubt was the only truth. Hobbes' vision of that era was deeply shaped by these difficult circumstances, and his outlook serves as a counterpoint to the positive change taking place in Saudi Arabia today — not as a time of fear and uncertainty, but as an era of optimism, progress, and transformative change. His work, particularly articulated in 'Leviathan,' reflects a pervasive sense of dread that permeated his philosophy. He famously remarked, sarcastically, about his life, suggesting that his birth was a direct result of his mother's panic at the news of the Spanish Armada sailing toward England, saying: 'Fear and I were born twins together.' This perspective mirrors the tumultuous times Hobbes lived through and invites reflection on how varying circumstances — whether favorable or adverse — shape individuals' perceptions of the world around them. Some might argue that the profound connection between philosophy and the historical context in which it develops is sometimes overlooked, whether that context is characterized by conflict or uncertainty. Unfortunately, while Hobbesian pessimism persists in many parts of our Arab world, those living in Saudi Arabia are having the opposite experience, defined by boundless optimism and unprecedented opportunity. One might ask: how will young Saudis perceive the Kingdom in the coming years? As the progress of Vision 2030 suggests, they may one day reflect on these years as a time when 'hopes and opportunities exploded' — a remarkable period when the nation wholeheartedly embraced innovation, progress and global engagement. Living through this era has profoundly shaped the worldview of those in the Kingdom, fostering a connection to critical issues such as artificial intelligence, technology, the environment, tourism, sport, business and more. Countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emerge as unparalleled beacons of hope, energy, and ambition, illuminating a path forward. Nine years after its launch, Saudi Vision 2030 has fostered a profound sense of nationalism and hope for a brighter future among the Saudi people while igniting the energy, aspirations, and optimism of the Kingdom's youth. Nasser bin Hamed Al-Ahmad Under the bold and visionary leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Kingdom has embarked on an extraordinary journey toward prosperity, progress, innovation and empowerment. This new generation — inspired by the principles of Vision 2030 — is eager to unlock the country's full potential and is passionately committed to spearheading change. In a region that has too often, disappointingly, been perceived as constrained by stagnation or overshadowed by turmoil, the people of Saudi Arabia are challenging outdated norms. Nine years after its launch, Saudi Vision 2030 has fostered a profound sense of nationalism and hope for a brighter future among the Saudi people while igniting the energy, aspirations, and optimism of the Kingdom's youth. Moreover, this transformative vision has resonated deeply with the approximately 15 million non-Saudis living in the Kingdom, uniting them with their Saudi counterparts in a shared commitment to building a prosperous and dynamic future. At the same time, it has inspired foreign residents to transfer the Kingdom's vison to their own country. While initial skepticism was inevitable, the progress achieved thus far underscores the vision's potential to serve as a transformative force in the region. As the Kingdom continues to evolve, it stands as an example of the power of bold leadership, innovative thinking and collective determination in shaping a more prosperous and dynamic future. Ultimately, the crown prince's leadership is a beacon of inspiration, reminding us that hope and determination have the power to transform nations and the very essence of the human spirit, which any nation needs to build a community that will ignite and inspire. • Nasser bin Hamed Al-Ahmad is a political researcher and writer with more than seven years' experience in political media. He specializes in analyzing political trends in the MENA region and the US. X: @nasseralahmad3
New Indian Express
25-04-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
On the nature of violence
Nuclear sabre-rattling is back after a peaceful intermission. Following a serious attack on Ukraine, Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said that, if threatened, his country reserves the right to nuke. The same day, in response to India unilaterally threatening to hold the Indus Waters Treaty 'in abeyance' following the Pahalgam shootings, Pakistan made a barely-veiled reference to the nuclear option. Coincidentally, new research shows that violence usually flows from the motive of revenge. Which is another way of saying that, as in Europe and South Asia, violence tends to be an endless cycle, and Francis Fukuyama's 'end of history' was always a mirage. Is the human race fundamentally violent, as the news and pop culture suggest, or is violence created by a small minority of sociopaths who are present in all societies? If it's the latter, did law and government evolve to protect the peaceful majority? Until the late 20th century, these basic questions were addressed mainly through the lens of ideals and ideology the 'noble savage' attributed to Jean-Jaqcues Rousseau versus the 'nasty, brutish and short' lives bereft of central authority, which Thomas Hobbes wrote of in Leviathan. Now, data analysis offers new insights. Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011) showed that while the incidence of violent death peaked in prehistoric societies, hunter-gatherers were more peaceful than the first farmers. That supported the educated guess that settled life created immovable property and fights over ownership. In an article published this month in Works in Progress , Phil Thomson and John Halstead used new data to elaborate on Pinker's discoveries. They say the human race has been farming and urbanising for only 4 percent of its history. Everyone was a hunter-gatherer for 96 percent of our past, when differences were less likely to be settled by force. Violence is not really in our heritage. Thomson and Halstead reported an unexpected finding: prehistoric subsistence farmers exhibited more violence than mature agricultural societies, which seems counterintuitive. They suggest modern humans look violent because of the scale of damage we can inflict, rather than the number of outbreaks. They found that revenge is the most frequent motive, not competition. Perhaps that's why cycles of violence persist, like the bad blood between India and Pakistan. The most intractable revenge tragedies concern imaginary or fictitious historical wrongs, which fuel the careers of demagogues, who perpetuate violence. The authors note 'our fear of violence, heightened abilities for empathy and communication, squeamishness about blood and guts, and innate dislike of bullies are, in part, solutions to the problem of violence', Indeed, hunter-gatherers ganged up against bullies who tried to gain absolute authority. But paradoxically, absolute authority has been a feature from the dawn of civilisation, and extreme inequality is visible in archaeological records. So, some analysts have focused on the enabling conditions for violence, like gross inequality, which are embedded in the substrate of society. In the introduction to Violence , his 2008 collection of 'six sideways reflections' on the most disturbing trait of the human race, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek made a distinction between 'subjective' violence, whose perpetrator is clearly identified and which is amplified in culture, and 'objective' violence, the enabling conditions which lie beneath but go unnoticed because they are all too familiar. The first is 'symbolic' violence implicit in language. Hate speech, which engages our attention, is only the tip of the iceberg. It is built on racist, casteist and classist ideas embedded in everyday language. And underlying everything is the vast substratum of 'systemic' violence, the product of the everyday functioning of politics and the economy, a vast machine which churns out inequality on a global production line. The working of this machine has been drawing adverse attention from well before the age of production lines. William Blake wrote of 'dark satanic mills' in the 18th century. Caliban, the wild man in Shakespeare's The Tempest , was a product of colonialism, which in turn was a product of mass production and global commerce. Today, international differences might invite a trade war, rather than violent conflict. While it is not as sudden as a nuclear holocaust, it does serious damage to the well-being of populations. Žižek's introduction to Violence closes with a retelling of an old Soviet joke that reflects mid-20th century politics and Lenin's advice to young people to never stop learning: Marx, Engels and Lenin are asked, by the god they all scorned, if they would prefer a wife or a mistress. Marx conservatively chooses a wife, the friskier Engels wants a mistress, and the tactically prudent Lenin wants both. He wants to be able to tell each woman that he must be with the other, and escape both to 'a solitary place to learn, learn and learn'. The paradox of the present is that while mortality due to violence has plummeted, threat perceptions have soared so high they constitute the most valuable feedstock of politics and geopolitics. Conservatives and liberals, or India and Pakistan, spend more time stoking public anxieties about the other side's ambitions. Even as the number of violent incidents falls, violence is assuming a more central role in our lives. It is more important than ever to study its causes and effects—to 'learn, learn and learn'. Pratik Kanjilal | Fellow, Henry J Leir Institute of Migration and Human Security, Fletcher School, Tufts University (Views are personal) (Tweets @pratik_k)
News.com.au
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Harness racing: Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin stable will have its first runner in New Zealand
Leviathan owner Mick Harvey has paved the way for champion Victorian trainers Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin to try something new. For all their stunning success over 15 years, Stewart and Tonkin have never raced a horse in New Zealand. That will change when exciting two-year-old filly Ripples tackles a heat of the rich Young Guns series at Auckland's Alexandra Park on Friday night. Ripples created a huge impression winning her heat and final of the Bathurst Gold Tiara series last month. 'It's an exciting opportunity for me personally, but I'd love to think this is a great thing for the sport, too,' Harvey said. 'It's amazing to think Emma and Clayton haven't had a runner in NZ before and this is a pilot for things to come and shows them how easy it can be to do it. 'Especially racing in Auckland, which is only a three-hour flight. 'The Kiwis have been coming over and raiding our big races with huge success for decades and it's great to see the tide turning a bit now with horses like Leap To Fame, Swayzee, Just Believe and Keayang Zahara going over and winning their big races. 'I'm keen to be part of it and to encourage Emma and Clayton to do it more often, too.' Ripples is booked on a flight to Auckland on Wednesday and will challenge for favouritism from gate three. 'It's an ideal draw and we've got the best driver over there, Blair Orange, taking the reins for us,' Harvey said. 'It's the heat this week and the final a week later, so she'll only be away from home for 10 or 11 days.' Harvey had a huge opinion of Ripples, but concedes taking on the Kiwis will be another level. 'We all know how hard their top horses and trainers are to beat, but I think this is the right filly,' he said. 'Ripples isn't eligible for a lot of big Aussie two-year-old races, but there's three or four other big races for her in Auckland towards the end of the year. 'All going well, this trip will be a forerunner to going back then.' Friday night's race is a big one for the NSW-based Harvey, best known as a former part-owner of three-time Miracle Mile winner King Of Swing, who also bred one of Ripples' main dangers, The Queens Gambit (gate one). 'I still own 25 per cent of her, too,' he said. Harvey said Australia's richest juvenile race, the $500,000 Protostar at Albion Park on July 19, could be another target for Ripples. He is also focused on the Queensland Derby and Rising Sun with his brilliant recent purchase, former Victorian pacer Hesitate. 'It hasn't quite gone to plan with him a few runs so far, but he's had excuses and what's most important is that Luke (McCarthy, trainer-driver) absolutely loves him,' he said. 'He's having a bit of a freshen-up and then we'll attack Queensland with him. We think he's right up to all the big races.'
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Leviathan Gold Partners with Investment Publishing LLC for Strategic Investor Relations Campaign
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leviathan Gold Ltd. ('Leviathan', the 'Company') (LVX – TSXV, 0GP – Germany) is pleased to announce its partnership with Investment Publishing LLC ('Investment Publishing'), led by Mariusz Skonieczny, to enhance the Company's investor relations strategy. The engagement of Investment Publishing is for an initial one year term and is designed to increase awareness of the Company. Investment Publishing will aim to engage investors through public relations efforts, educational content, and direct outreach using a range of digital platforms, including social media channels, email newsletters, and investor-focused webinars. As compensation for services to be provided, the Company will pay Investment Publishing US$8,500 per month. In addition, the Company has granted Mr. Skonieczny 250,000 stock options having a two year term and vesting in equal monthly installments over a period of 12 months having an exercise price equal to $0.18. The Company looks forward to a productive collaboration with Investment Publishing as the Company continues to expand its reach and deliver value to stakeholders. Contact Information for Investment Publishing LLC:Name: Mariusz SkoniecznyEmail: marios188@ Address: 1202 Far Pond Cir. Mishawaka IN 46544 About Leviathan Gold Ltd. Leviathan Gold Ltd. is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company listed on the TSXV (LVX) and Germany (0GP). On behalf of the Company, Luke Norman, Chief Executive Officer and Director For further information please visit the Company website or contact: Luke Norman, Email: info@ Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No securities regulatory authority has either approval or disapproved of the contents of this press release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Leviathan cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by many material factors, many of which are beyond Leviathan's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to whether exploration activities will result in commercially viable quantities of mineralized materials; the possibility of changes to project parameters as plans continue to be refined; the ability to execute planned exploration and future drilling programs; COVID-19; the ability to obtain qualified workers, financing, permits, approvals, and equipment in a timely manner or at all and on reasonable terms; changes in the commodity and securities markets; non-performance by contractual counterparties; and general business and economic conditions, Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Although Leviathan has attempted to identify important risks and factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors and risks that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Consequently, undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements. In addition, all forward-looking statements in this press release are given as of the date hereof. Leviathan disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified by this in to access your portfolio
