Latest news with #TheDevil'sAdvocate
Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
My parlor, myself
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Yikes! If there's a lesson here, it's don't let journalists into your home. Or anyone else, for that matter. Advertisement But celebrity chaff simply cannot exercise self-restraint. Earlier this month, about three dozen New York eminentos such as Lin-Manuel Miranda and Spike Lee invited The New Yorker to invade their living rooms, with predictable results: They In his living room hovering well above the Manhattan skyline, investor and philanthropist Alex Soros appeared bored with owning half the world. His fiancee, Huma Abedin, looked annoyed, and they aren't even married yet. The Rev. Al Sharpton posed near a portrait of himself; the Democrats' answer to Advertisement I was charmed to see the magazine's portrait of 'Anna (Delvey) Sorokin, con artist,' whom I mistakenly assumed was still in prison. Memorably portrayed by Julia Garner in the Netflix series ' doing what she does best — being fabulous. Last year lifestyle doyenne Martha Stewart suffered a similar unforced intrusion when she posted a photo of the redecorated living room at her Skylands estate in Seal Harbor, Maine. 'The lack of color is drab,' one commenter People can be so cruel! Circa 1997, Donald Trump allowed the production team of 'The Devil's Advocate' into his Manhattan apartment to shoot some scenes. (I learned this from director Tony Gilroy's 'If you look at the movie, that's his [expletive, expletive] apartment with all Versailles gilt and the high-rise windows. It's just so perfect.' Advertisement I don't believe Donald has yet offered a tour of the living quarters of the Trump White House. In the highly unlikely event that I were to invite you or anyone else into my living room, there wouldn't be much to see: some family photos, a few miniature Viking ships from God knows where, a piece of Inuit art from too close a friend for regifting. A visit to my 'study' — no, you're not invited there, either — would yield up a bit more information, e.g., a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) battle flag, a clip from The Onion ('Wife Always Dragging Husband Into Her Marital Problems'), an original cartoon by Paul Szep depicting former congressman You would have to be there. But I can assure you, you won't be. Alex Beam's column appears regularly in the Globe. Follow him
Straits Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Andor season 2: The political Star Wars thriller makes a return
Andor 2 Disney+ ★★★★★ In 2022, the first season of Andor made a great impression on critics and Star Wars fan s b y doing something no one believed was possible – in the story of the Rebel Alliance versus the evil Empire, the science-fiction series uncovered a gripping political thriller. Showrunner and writer Tony Gilroy specialises in stories of men seduced into the arms of a corrupt regime, who later use their insider knowledge to topple the system, as seen in his screenplays for the legal thrillers The Devil's Advocate (1997), Michael Clayton (2007) and the first three Bourne spy films (2002 to 2007). Set five years before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), the prequel to Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), the series follows Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as he moves from apolitical cynic to becoming the determined intelligence officer seen in Rogue One. In the early episodes, he, like many of Gilroy's heroes, is complacent. He is a thief, living only for himself and his adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw). A brush with the brutality of imperial rule shakes him, so that by the end of the first season, he is a man with nothing to lose, ready to be recruited into the rebel cause. The show's second and final season premieres on Disney+ on April 23. Here are three reasons to watch it. Villains who see themselves as the good guys Andor answers the question of how Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine can run an empire from their desks. Regimes may be founded on ideology or a cult of personality, but cannot thrive without a civil service. Empires persist because middle managers and desk jockeys keep trying to hit monthly quotas. The imperial civil service, in all its sprawling, cubicle-packed glory, is where former security officer Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) finds himself in Season 1. From here, he must ascend the ranks by being more thorough and ruthless than the next guy. Characters like Karn and imperial security officer Dedra (Denise Gough) – a highly intelligent woman who has to be twice as tough as her male colleagues to be viewed as an equal – are layered and believable. In Season 2, in a sly twist, viewers might even find themselves rooting for Syril and Dedra. After all, they are two people trying to live their best lives, who happen to own fascist jackboots. Competent evil versus incompetent good The squabbling side of the Rebel Alliance is highlighted. In real life, rebel militias often burn out through infighting and mutual mistrust long before they can make a dent in the central government. In the Star Wars movies, being reckless and spirited are the reasons the rebels succeed; in Andor, it is why they fail. In another of the show's nods to real politics, the few competent rebels are those from the ruling class, such as the aristocratic Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly, reprising her role from Rogue One) and wealthy antiques dealer Luthen (Stellan Skarsgard). Luthen casually sends his people to their deaths – in war, clean hands on either side are a fantasy. It is not afraid to get political There are so many references to the current state of affairs that the show can be said to be the D isney+ streaming service's closest thing to political critique . In Season 1, Andor is a smug centrist who believes the imperial forces will bother only certain groups. As long as he blends into the majority, he will be safe. That theory is shattered in one blackly comic encounter with security forces, who could not care less about his identity or his crimes. All they are interested in is rounding up the politically powerless for the prison labour force. In Season 2, the allusions to present-day headlines are more stark. The empire, as represented by weapons director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), is desperate for a resource grab through military action, but baulks at being seen as the aggressor. What do Darth Vader's people do? They bring in marketing experts to teach officers how to poison galactic opinion against the natives they are about to destroy. The Sith Lord would approve. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
New York Times
14-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The Clippers enter playoffs as NBA's hottest team. The goal? ‘Stay the course'
SAN FRANCISCO — Poise. That's what the LA Clippers needed to win only their second nationally televised game of the season. Poise and pressure tend to go together. In the 1997 movie 'The Devil's Advocate,' Al Pacino's character states, 'Some people, you squeeze them, they focus; others fold.' 'I think it's very important to stay poised,' Clippers head coach Lue said prior to his team's road game Sunday against the Golden State Warriors for the right to clinch a playoff spot outright and avoid the Play-In Tournament. 'If you're up yelling and going crazy at the refs and going crazy in the huddles, you kind of lose sight of what's at stake. I don't want to be that coach that's going crazy and doing things out of the ordinary. It's just give your team confidence, give them a calming presence in the timeouts, and that way, they can go on the floor and do the same thing. That's just always been my motto.' Advertisement The Clippers needed that poise when they were down 12 in the second quarter to the Warriors, as Jimmy Butler ate up LA's second unit with Stephen Curry off the floor. They needed it when Norman Powell struggled through a difficult shooting game, only to find a way to make go-ahead field goals to end the second and third quarters. They needed it when Curry scored 18 of his team-high 36 points in the fourth quarter, giving the Warriors a 111-107 lead with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. The Clippers needed poise to stop the Warriors on their final possession of regulation, when every other NBA game on Sunday was over and other teams were watching what was transpiring at Chase Center. They also needed poise to never trail in overtime and secure a 124-119 win that completed a regular-season sweep of the Warriors, capped a season-best eight-game winning streak and gave them back-to-back 50-win seasons and the fifth seed in the 2025 NBA playoffs. 'We got down 12, I just told the guys (to) stay the course,' Lue said postgame. 'Being down 12 is not a lot for us if we can just do what we're supposed to do, do what we're capable of doing. Our guys did that for the rest of the game. I think we came in, had the lead at halftime by one, and then it was just kind of a back-and-forth game.' The Clippers enter the postseason having won 18 of their last 21 games. They're the hottest team in basketball, with the NBA's best offense and defense since March 6. But they were wary of what they would have faced had they not run through the tape Sunday. The preparation began at the end of Friday's road game against the Sacramento Kings. A 10-point Clippers lead at the 4:57 mark evaporated to one point with 3.9 seconds left. Keegan Murray intercepted a James Harden inbounds pass to give the Kings a chance to steal the game, but the Clippers survived as DeMar DeRozan missed a prayer, preserving a 101-100 Clippers win. With NBA Commissioner Adam Silver looking on, a glimpse at the closing moments and final possession for the Kings, who fall 101-100 to the LA Clippers tonight in Sacramento. — Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) April 12, 2025 Lue scoffed at the notion that he should be concerned because his team almost squandered Friday's game. He has seen his team survive endings like that before this season. 'Quit saying 'concerned' all the time,' Lue said. 'I'm never concerned. Like, it's part of the game. … It was a huge win for us, so I'm not concerned about anything.' Advertisement That game set up Sunday's win-or-sort-of-go-home heavyweight brawl against the Warriors. Everything wasn't on the line in the Bay; Golden State head coach Steve Kerr noted that it didn't feel like a Game 7. But the winner secured a playoff spot, and the loser would have two cracks at a Play-In Tournament home game to clinch. That's where the concerns started for Lue — and perhaps the fan base of the Clippers, as well. This team hadn't lost a game all April but had to win a nationally televised road matinee in the most hostile of territories to avoid the Play-In Tournament. When the Clippers made the Play-In Tournament in 2022, they won 42 games despite Kawhi Leonard missing the entire season with right knee ACL surgery and Paul George missing more than half of the season with a torn ligament in his shooting arm elbow. That Clippers team had no shot at a top-six seed given the circumstances, but they had double-digit fourth-quarter leads in Minnesota during the 7-8 game and against the New Orleans Pelicans during the 8-9 game. The Clippers lost both Play-In games, the latter without George (COVID-19) against a Pelicans team that had six more losses than them during the regular season. 'If you're nine and 10 games ahead of the ninth and 10th seed, and then you fight this hard to get here, you know … and then, those teams are good,' Lue said Friday night in Sacramento, wary of potential Play-In teams like the Dallas Mavericks who have a losing record. 'Those teams are good enough to win two games. All you got to do is get hot for two games, and you're in the playoffs. So, it's tough. Kind of like to disregard the 82 games that you're playing during the regular season, and it comes down to two games. Anybody can get hot. Anything can happen. It's a tough situation.' Perhaps the Clippers had a right to be spooked. But they could still value the 82-game season. They had a chance to complete the regular season while also controlling their own playoff destiny. The good news for them is they had a team capable of getting it done. Leonard felt like Friday's game in Sacramento was particularly difficult in terms of not getting calls while he navigated the defense. There was a moment late in the game where he was sent tumbling to the floor with no call, left to bellow 'foul!' His face still had an open wound by Sunday. RE: Kawhi not getting calls — Law Murray 💭🚫 (@LawMurrayTheNU) April 12, 2025 But Leonard's dealt with worse. This time last year, he wasn't at full strength following an All-NBA campaign because of his knee. He didn't debut this season until January. But on Sunday, he scored 33 points while the Clippers outscored the Warriors by a game-high plus-minus of 17 points in Leonard's 47 minutes and 25 seconds played. 'It's great,' Leonard said of getting back to the playoffs after all he's been through. 'Now, gotta stay the course and be able to feel how I'm feeling now and try to keep that moving. Like I said, I want to have a healthy offseason, and that's what I'm trying to do.' Powell didn't have his best game, scoring only 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field and missing five of six 3s. But his 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer ended a stretch that saw Leonard, Harden and Curry all make 3s in the final minute of the first half. Powell's sweeping hook gave the Clippers a lead going into the fourth quarter. Advertisement The entire game, Powell felt the encouragement from his teammates. 'I was a little frustrated with how I was playing at that moment,' Powell said Sunday. '(Harden) came to me and told me none of that matters; I'm a great player, just continue to stay focused in the moment until the next play. But that's what team is. You lift each other up, you cheer each other on and figure out how to get a win.' The primary defender on Curry was Kris Dunn, a former lottery pick who had to find his way back into the NBA after injuries slowed his progression. Dunn, drafted fifth by the Timberwolves in 2016, has only played in 33 minutes during the playoffs. He was able to stay poised defensively on a day Curry had eight turnovers. Now, Dunn gets to contribute to a playoff team. 'These players are too great in this league, Steph and others,' Dunn said after compiling three steals in 35-plus minutes at Golden State. 'You just got to keep a fighting mentality. Keep trying to make it tough on them and, you know, make some big plays.' While Dunn will miss out on a chance at an All-Defensive team selection because of league rules (Dunn played in 74 games, but reached 20 minutes in only 53 of them, nine short to be eligible), Ivica Zubac went up against Defensive Player of the Year candidate Draymond Green and put his final stamp on a banner year. LA's center had 22 points on 11 of 16 field goals and recorded his 29th 20-point game of the season. Zubac had only 16 20-point games in his first eight NBA seasons combined. Additionally, for the 10th time this season, Zubac finished a game with zero personal fouls. He also outrebounded the entire Golden State starting lineup, 17-14. But Zubac was more in awe of Harden's accomplishments. Harden, who drained five 3-pointers for the game, put the team on his back in overtime, scoring 12 of his game-high 39 points in the extra period. He gave his team the lead for good with a moonshot of a 3-pointer over Butler. 'James hitting those 3s, the second one he hit over Jimmy. I felt like it was in the air for like five seconds,' Zubac said. 'It was fun, man. Big-time players … a game like this, high stakes, I feel pretty confident.' The Clippers now have bigger things to play for. A team that wasn't even projected by Las Vegas to win 40 games remains a top-five team in the Western Conference for the fifth time in six years. They get to face the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the playoffs Saturday afternoon, a team that features MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and former Clipper Russell Westbrook. But Denver also just fired championship head coach Michael Malone, who led the Nuggets to a semifinals win over the Clippers in the 2020 bubble after the Clippers had a 3-1 lead with previous head coach Doc Rivers. Advertisement Last year's Western Conference fifth seed was the Mavericks. They went on to beat the Clippers in the quarterfinals and advance to the NBA Finals after entering the postseason as the NBA's hottest team. It's been a successful season for the Clippers, but there is no way they're content with that. Leonard has had too much time taken away from him. Harden has made the playoffs each year since being drafted in 2009, with a championship the last thing missing on his résumé. The Clippers have had 14 straight winning seasons without a finals appearance. Poise led them into the playoffs. Why stop now? 'We want to go a little further,' Zubac said. 'Our goal was obviously to make the playoffs, but we're not happy or whatever. We're happy we got in without being in the Play-In, since everyone doubted us. It feels good to prove everyone wrong. People saying we're going to win 30 games, 35, whatever. To win 50 games … it feels good, but we got some more work to do.' (Photo of Steph Curry and James Harden: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
BBC News
29-01-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Bold prediction - 'Rashford will be back in Amorim's team scoring goals'
BBC Radio Manchester's Gaz Drinkwater believes Marcus Rashford will stay at Manchester United, saying Ruben Amorim's criticism after the club's win at Fulham was to challenge the 27-year-old to get back in the on the latest episode of The Devil's Advocate, Drinkwater argued the boss' tough choice of words was a message to the England striker. "It tells me Ruben Amorim doesn't necessarily want to sell Marcus Rashford," Drinkwater said. "It seems he's putting a challenge on Rashford - 'train properly and you will be in my team'."There is a door open."It's the way Rashford takes this. What worries me is that as soon as the comments were said, he put on his Instagram story: 'Great game, boys'. Is this him just trying to paint himself in a good light because he knows he's getting criticised by the manager?"If United were settled on selling Rashford and everyone wanted him gone including Amorim, he would have just said: 'I've just not selected him'."Here's a prediction - Rashford doesn't go anywhere and is back in Ruben Amorim's team in the next two weeks and he's scoring goals." Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
