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REVIEW: The Zone of Interest is 2023’s most important film

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

It’s been nearly 80 years since the end of the Holocaust, the most infamous of all genocides. But in the 20th and 21st centuries, there have been many other genocides. The Tutsi in Rwanda, the Uyghur in China. For almost all points of history, in one of corner of the world there is a genocide occurring. It’s unfortunately becoming a defining aspect of humanity, but many humans think of those who commit genocide as not quite human. Who are those to choose to commit genocide? How do they live their day?Christian Friedel in the Zone of Interest, courtesy of Elevation Pictures.The Zone of Interest is a Holocaust film specifically concerned with this question. It stars Christian Friedel (from the White Ribbon and Babylon Berlin) and Sandra Hüller (from Toni Erdmann and Anatomy of a Fall) as the Commandant of Auschwitz Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig. The film doesn’t engage in the depiction of the atrocities, but instead concerns itself with the domestic life of the mar...

Movie Review: Clooney’s ‘Boys in the Boat’ is an underdog saga that’s both stirring and a tad stodgy

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

Director George Clooney both begins and ends “The Boys in the Boat ” on a sun-dappled lake. It’s a seductive sight, calm and soothing, and aptly reflects the ethos of a film that often feels like one has walked into an oil painting: well-crafted, lovely to look at, and rather old-fashioned.Telling the true-life story of the University of Washington rowing team, a scrappy group that — incredibly — reached the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Clooney has gone for stirring and a bit stodgy, pleasing and a bit predictable. Given the craft involved, this is hardly a fatal flaw. And yet, when Joel Edgerton’s coach character surveys his team at one point and remarks, “We need an edge, Tom,” we think: Ah, yes. A little edge here would be nice.In place of edge, we do get moments of beauty, especially when the boys get into those boats. Rowing is, though, the last thing on the mind of Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), a homeless college student, when we first meet him. We’re in 1936 Seattle, deep into the Grea...

Flames seen coming from top of house in Austin

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

CHICAGO — Firefighters are battling a house fire Thursday evening on Chicago's West Side.The house fire is in the 100 block of North Waller. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines This is in the city's Austin neighborhood.Flames were seen coming from the top of the house. Specific details about the fire aren't clear at this time. This story will be updated.

Skilling: Chicagoland may see a rainy Christmas

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

Today's near 50-deg high temp at Midway and the 47 at O'Hare are mid-November level temps which push Dec's temp surplus to nearly 7-deg above normal and more than 5-deg warmer than the opening 21 days of December a year ago. The 47 deg max at O'Hare comes in 12-deg above normal.  Only 11 of the past 153 Dec 21's for which we have records of official high temps have been AS WARM OR WARMER than today—placing this day's 47-deg high among the warmest 7% of Dec 21 max temps on the books here in Chicago.We were about to head into a sub-zero chill on tomorrow's date one year ago and head into a Christmas 2022 which featured a high of just 14-deg.  THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN THIS YEAR.  In fact, temps may not drop below freezing the next 7 days—until perhaps next Friday morning.Additional warming is on the way.  Temps Sunday could rise to within a few degrees of 60-deg. A high is predicted---a reading 22-deg above normal and more typical of early November than well into December.And a ...

Strangers throw 'dream wedding' for couple while husband battles cancer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

A group of strangers were able to pull of a "dream wedding" for a much deserving couple.Dave Voggesser and Kate North lived just blocks away from each other growing up, but didn't connect until decades later. But only a year later, Dave proposed to Kate on Christmas Eve."I finally found somebody that I was completely comfortable with," Voggesser said. ‘He’s so tiny and so fluffy’: Baby sea otter finds home at Shedd Aquarium after nearly 3,000 mile journey But plans for their wedding were dashed just months later, when the couple received devastating news."Thinking there's not a care in the world and then he calls me two days later and says I may have pancreatic cancer," North said.Vacations were replaced with chemo, surgeries and countless hours at Northwestern's Living Well Cancer Resource Center. While Dave became a patient, Kate became a caregiver. Chicago teen on a mission to help others experience fresh air, nature "She said we are planning to get married," Cheri Hunt, the ...

Music as Medicine: Siblings strike the right chord for patients at Glenbrook Hospital

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

Two siblings have collaborated since childhood — each growing in their respective careers. But music is in their hearts, especially in the holidays.   It’s not a grand concert hall, but it sounds like one. Every other Friday, Judi Zunamon Lewis, an English horn and oboe player, trades the orchestra pit at the Lyric Opera House for the lobby of Glenbrook Hospital. “It’s magical,” Lewis said.  Lewis' brother, Alan, joins her, though already familiar with the hospital, working there as a cardiologist.  "That’s my day job,” Alan Zunamon said. “I adore him. I have since the day I was born,” Lewis added. As kids, Judi and Alan bonded at the piano bench.   Swedish Hospital donation drive aims to help migrant families for the holidays "In our grade school, there was an upright piano on wheels and we’d wheel it from classroom to classroom and it was the Zunamon kids are here to do a concert and I'd be playing one and he's be playing the piano," Lewis said.Now, the ...

Suspect arrested on assault, arson charge in Cedar Park

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) -- One man was arrested after he was accused of assaulting "several people with a wooden board," according to a news release from the Cedar Park Police Department.On Thursday, CPPD responded to a disturbance in the 1400 block of Pagedale Drive in Cedar Park. Officers saw neighbors who confronted a man who was assaulting people with the wooden board.Police also saw the suspect had "caused significant damage to a nearby vehicle," the release said.The suspect was identified as Rodney Richard Reed, 37, of Cedar Park, according to police.As officers were taking Reed into custody, they saw "visible smoke" coming from a nearby home and "discovered a large fire had broken out inside."According to police, there were already Cedar Park firefighters on the scene treating a victim who was assaulted and "immediately mobilized to fight the fire." The Austin Fire Department also responded to the scene to assist.Reed was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault with a d...

Texas' border crackdowns remain popular despite national pushback

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Fifty-six percent of Texans support making it a state crime for an undocumented immigrant to be in Texas, according to the latest Texas Politics Project poll, showing healthy support for the legislature's major border security initiative, even as it faces possible legal peril.Even 27% of Democrats support the new state crime established under Senate Bill 4, which allows state police and judges to order migrants into Mexico. Legal experts have called the challenge to federal authority unconstitutional, and it is already the target of legal challenges from civil rights groups like the ACLU.Some legal challenges have accused Senate Bill 4 of opening the door to racial profiling and denying due process to migrants and citizens alike. Hispanics are split in their views, however.The poll found 41% of Hispanic Texans statewide support the measure, while 43% oppose.The poll surveyed 1,200 registered voters across Texas in the first ten days of December. 61% reported they...

Gov. Abbott grants clemency to three Texans

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

Editor’s note: The above video shows KXAN’s morning headlines for Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023.AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott granted clemency to three Texans.According to a statement from the governor’s office, the pardons granted the restoration of civil rights to the following Texans:Robert Phillip Marsh, 51, for theft in 1990, out of Midland County. According to the governor’s office, Marsh was sentenced to 2 years of deferred adjudication probation.Heather Christine Sherman, 33, for possession of marijuana in 2010, out of Collin County. Sherman was sentenced to serve three days of jail, according to the governor’s office.Jerry Lynn Smith, 64, for theft in 1978, out of Harris County. According to the governor’s office, Smith was sentenced to pay a $500 fine.“Having served as a trial court judge, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Attorney General, I have the utmost respect for our legal system and the unique gubernatorial power to grant clemency to Texans looking f...

Were your holiday deliveries stolen? What to know about porch piracy and what you can do about it

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:57 GMT

By HALELUYA HADERO (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — You found the perfect holiday gift online. You ordered it. A notification arrived on your phone, showing the package had arrived. But when you open your doors, the parcel is nowhere to be found.If this has happened to you, then count yourself among the unlucky group of shoppers who fall victim to package thefts — or porch piracy, as it’s commonly known.Here’s what you should know about the issue, and what to do if it happens to you.How big of a problem is porch piracy?It’s hard to tell. Most police departments don’t track package theft in its own category, which means there’s a lack of national data.The FBI’s figures do show burglary offenses and larceny-theft — a category that includes shoplifting, pickpocketing, and instances of package theft — have decreased overall in the last 20-plus years. But since both categories are broad and the agency doesn’t keep tabs on specific incidents of package thefts, it’s challenging to know ...