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Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Plague' Review: Joel Edgerton in a Thrilling Drama That Captures the Terror of Adolescent Masculinity
Charlie Polinger opens his thrilling and uneasy directorial debut feature The Plague with an arresting sequence that quickly establishes the haunting undertones of this adolescent psychological thriller. The ambient, muffled sound of sloshing water is set against a shot of the bottom of a pool. One by one, swimmers drop into the massive indoor basin. Their spindly legs move awkwardly as they try to get in sync. It's 2003, and these are the middle-school-aged attendees of the Tom Lerner Water Polo camp. From this angle, Polinger and his cinematographer Steven Breckon make these kids look like phantasmic figures. An eerie sense of unreality runs through The Plague, which premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard sidebar. Working from a screenplay he also wrote, Polinger uses horror conventions to tease out the psychic terror and intimidation of pre-teen social codes. In the age of renewed questions about and considerations of the manosphere, The Plague is a prescient title. Polinger's film is not as dark as Netflix's popular miniseries Adolescence, but it does circle similarly unsettling themes — like the way the terms and tenets of masculinity are dictated by arbitrary rules, or the cost of nonconformity among young men. More from The Hollywood Reporter Cannes: 'Militantropos' Directors on Identity and the Limits of Art: "The War Has Become Part of Us" Cannes: Salty Pictures Sets Martial Arts Drama '8 Limbed Dragon,' Starring UFC Fighter Jingliang Li (Exclusive) Ethan Coen, Wife and Writing Partner Tricia Cooke on Lesbian B-Movies, Trump, Re-Teaming With Joel Key performances carry The Plague and alleviate the occasional strain of overwrought direction. Relative newcomers Everett Blunck (stellar in Griffin in the Summer) and Kayo Martin portray opposite ends of youthful angst with an engaging sincerity and terrifying accuracy. Martin, with the subtlety of his judging expressions, seems especially made for his role as Jake, the resident cool kid who weaponizes his sharp attention to detail. The actor plays well against Blunck, who portrays Ben, a new camper trying to figure out where he fits among the various cliques. An anxiety-inducing sound design (by Damian Volpe) and score (by Johan Lenox), coupled with an appropriately icy visual palette built on grays and blue, help tell Polinger's nail-biting story. When Ben (Blunck) arrives at the water polo camp, he quickly notices the hold that Jake (Martin) has on the other boys. The teen with the mess of blonde hair functions as a ring leader and, with his approval, Ben becomes part of the crew. The other boys call Ben, who just moved from Boston, 'Soppy' on account of the fact that he garbles the 't' in the word 'stop.' One thing Polinger makes clear early on is how closely Jake scrutinizes the other boys — noticing minor characteristics that differentiate them from one another — and uses those observations to mock them. This skill keeps Jake in power, making him an intimidating person to everyone, including the boys' coach Daddy Wags (Joel Edgerton, in a brief but effective turn). Ben watches the others too, and he quickly picks up that no one hangs out with Eli (Kenny Rasmussen, also excellent). The quiet child keeps mostly to himself, eating lunch in the locker room and occasionally sleeping there too. According to the other kids, Eli has the plague, a vague disease that allegedly begins with a rash and renders the infected unable to socially function. Jake warns Ben to stay away from Eli and to wash his body should he accidentally get too close. In a clever move, Polinger never establishes if the plague is real because even if it isn't, the fear it sows is. The remainder of The Plague follows Ben as he tries to reconcile social acceptance with his own moral code. He understands that people shouldn't be exiled for their differences and yet the idea of losing his place within the hierarchy keeps him up at night. Blunck deftly portrays Ben's inner turmoil and the anxiety his journey produces. Polinger deploys jump scares, intimate close-ups (especially of Jake and Ben staring at one another) and elements of body horror to recast these coming-of-age dilemmas as high-stakes, nightmarish challenges. When the director widens his scope, to survey the broader social behaviors on display, The Plague adopts a primal urgency and the film possesses the feverish energy of William Golding's Lord of the Flies or Claire Denis' Beau Travail. In one of those scenes Polinger observes the boys during lunch, excitedly speaking over each other and laughing. The camera ominously cuts (editing is by Henry Hayes and Simon Njoo) between views of the group and the faces of individual campers. For the most part, they are children having a good time, but if you look closely you can see a flash of panic beneath the cheerful visages. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Menomonee Falls is getting its first Wisconsin State Historical Marker thanks to Fussville
Fussville, which has since become a part of Menomonee Falls, was once a thriving community. Fussville was located along what is today Appleton Avenue, Lilly Road and Good Hope Road and had many amenities of an old-fashioned community, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story from 2017. It had a post office, brewery, blacksmith, a stagecoach inn and several taverns. Now, Fussville will have the distinction of receiving Menomonee Falls' first Wisconsin State Historical Marker. There will be a dedication ceremony on May 21. "It was a German community that everyone talked about in little whispers," said Carole McGibany, a local historian who collected people's stories about Fussville and put together the historical marker application. When she moved to Menomonee Falls in 1991, McGibany said Fussville reminded her of Poniatowski in Marathon County where her grandparents had their farm. "Its four corners contained Holy Family Catholic Church, a grocery store and a tavern," McGibany said about Poniatowski. With her years of compiling people's stories of Fussville, she considers herself an "adoptive daughter" of Fussville. Fussville was named after the Fuss family, one of the first families to settle in that community in 1845, McGibany said. The Fuss family included the Fuss patriarch, Johan Fuss, his wife Anna Clara and their 11 children. Johan Fuss helped establish the first Catholic church in Fussville so people did not have to make the trip to Milwaukee to attend a Catholic mass. When McGibany was drawn to find out more about Fussville, she immediately sought out parishioners at St. Anthony Parish, which became the first landmark in the area. Johan Fuss helped establish what was then called St. Anthony the Hermit Church on Jan. 17, 1846. It was a primitive building about 30 feet long with a dirt floor and no plaster on the walls. McGibany said many current members of St. Anthony Parish are familiar with Fussville's history and may have had older family members who lived in the community. McGibany, who wrote the book, 'Glimpses: Memories of St. Anthony the Hermit Parish and the Lost Community of Fussville, Wisconsin," said she learned the German immigrants were lonely and isolated and were the foundation of Fussville. "This (historical) marker is in honor of them, of all the people who shared their stories, and now, this (marker) will last forever," she said. From 1844 until the late 1950s, the community became an ideal place for farming. Because of its proximity to Appleton Avenue and Good Hope Road, two major roadways, it was along the way to Milwaukee and other nearby places. But Fussville started to decline after the incorporation of the village of Menomonee Falls in 1892, according to the Journal Sentinel story. The post office closed in 1903. Because roads and transportation in the area had improved, Fussville was no longer a necessary stop for travelers. Fussville was eventually annexed into Menomonee Falls in 1958. When Appleton Avenue widened in 1971, many of the homes and businesses were demolished to make room for the expansion, local historians said in a news release. All that remains in the area that used to be Fussville is St. Anthony Parish, North Hills Country Club and a small collection of residences. Within the last three years, the village has invested in the Fussville area, with then-village president Dave Glasgow telling the Journal Sentinel in 2022 that the area had been neglected. The area now includes Fussville Station, a multi-use development which features new apartments and retail space. Third Space Innovation Brewhouse opened in Fussville Station in June 2024 with a 112-seat taproom, a full bar and an outdoor patio. Tennessen Flats, a 173-unit, four-story apartment, opened in March 2025, according to its Instagram page. The historical marker dedication ceremony will begin on the southeast corner of Appleton Avenue and Good Hope Road at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21. The ceremony will include remarks from village officials, a team of researchers and past residents who will reflect on Fussville's past, present and future. At 4 p.m., the celebration will shift to Third Space Innovation Brewhouse with live music by St. Anthony Parish School graduates Sean McGibany and Jack Reesman. More: A community health center, eye clinic and church sanctuary have recently opened in the north suburbs More: Check out these 2025 Memorial Day events in and around Milwaukee Cathy Kozlowicz can be reached at 262-361-9132 or Follow her on X at @kozlowicz_cathy. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Menomonee Falls is getting its first Wisconsin State Historical Marker
Washington Post
14-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Pope Leo's views on LGBT Catholics are a mystery — but we have clues
Michael J. O'Loughlin is executive director of Outreach, an LGBTQ Catholic publication, and author of 'Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear.' My husband and I stood in St. Peter's Square waiting for white smoke, our eyes darting from the giant screens near us to the tiny chimney in the distance. As minutes ticked by, the crowd grew in size, but expectations seemed to diminish. Yet shortly after 6 p.m., white smoke appeared. The cardinals had elected a pope.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Biden's team walked back idea of a public cognitive test in 2024 over optics concerns, new book says
Aides for Joe Biden considered having the then-81-year-old president undergo a cognitive test to prove his mental acuity — but ultimately decided the publicity of him taking it would cause more harm than good, a new book says. In the upcoming book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, the authors — Tyler Pager of the New York Times, Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post — shed light on the critical few months before the president belatedly bowed out of his 2024 run. Although his aides were certain Biden would pass the test, some feared that the optics of him taking the test could raise concerns over his mental sharpness, according to the book, obtained by the New York Times. Biden's team discussed the matter in February 2024 — the same month that Special Counsel Robert Hur described him as a 'sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory' in his report on Biden's handling of classified documents. After the report's release, the then-president insisted, 'My memory is fine.' Months later, though, the world became worried about Biden's mental fitness after his fumbled debate performance against Donald Trump. In the wake of Biden's performance at the first debate, donors, media pundits, editorial boards and some Democrats urged the president to drop out of the 2024 race. Trump lied 30 times in the 90-minute debate, a CNN fact-check at the time found. Still, all eyes were on Biden. Later that month, the president quit the race. Even before the debate, Trump, although just three years younger than his Democratic rival, frequently played into Biden's cognitive abilities on the campaign trail in both 2020 and 2024. In 2020, Trump bragged about taking a cognitive test of his own. In an interview, he boasted about his memory recall of five words: 'person, woman, man, camera, TV.' He claimed the test was usually difficult for others, although not for him: 'If you get it in order you get extra points. [The doctor] said nobody gets it in order, it's actually not that easy, but for me, it was easy.' Back in 2022, some prominent Democrats grew concerned about Biden's age, citing his frequent gaffes and falls. David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Barack Obama's campaigns, told the Times at the time: 'The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue.' Although he praised Biden for "restoring decency' to the White House, passing notable legislation, and leading the country through the Covid-19 pandemic, Axelrod said he doesn't get the credit he deserves because of how he's perceived. 'He looks his age and isn't as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn't rooted in reality,' he said.
The Independent
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Biden's team walked back idea of a public cognitive test in 2024 over optics concerns, new book says
Aides for Joe Biden considered having the then-81-year-old president undergo a cognitive test to prove his mental acuity — but ultimately decided the publicity of him taking it would cause more harm than good, a new book says. In the upcoming book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, the authors — Tyler Pager of the New York Times, Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post — shed light on the critical few months before the president belatedly bowed out of his 2024 run. Although his aides were certain Biden would pass the test, some feared that the optics of him taking the test could raise concerns over his mental sharpness, according to the book, obtained by the New York Times. Biden's team discussed the matter in February 2024 — the same month that Special Counsel Robert Hur described him as a 'sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory' in his report on Biden's handling of classified documents. After the report's release, the then-president insisted, 'My memory is fine.' Months later, though, the world became worried about Biden's mental fitness after his fumbled debate performance against Donald Trump. In the wake of Biden's performance at the first debate, donors, media pundits, editorial boards and some Democrats urged the president to drop out of the 2024 race. Trump lied 30 times in the 90-minute debate, a CNN fact-check at the time found. Still, all eyes were on Biden. Later that month, the president quit the race. Even before the debate, Trump, although just three years younger than his Democratic rival, frequently played into Biden's cognitive abilities on the campaign trail in both 2020 and 2024. In 2020, Trump bragged about taking a cognitive test of his own. In an interview, he boasted about his memory recall of five words: 'person, woman, man, camera, TV.' He claimed the test was usually difficult for others, although not for him: 'If you get it in order you get extra points. [The doctor] said nobody gets it in order, it's actually not that easy, but for me, it was easy.' Back in 2022, some prominent Democrats grew concerned about Biden's age, citing his frequent gaffes and falls. David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Barack Obama's campaigns, told the Times at the time: 'The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue.' Although he praised Biden for "restoring decency' to the White House, passing notable legislation, and leading the country through the Covid-19 pandemic, Axelrod said he doesn't get the credit he deserves because of how he's perceived. 'He looks his age and isn't as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn't rooted in reality,' he said.
