Review: Sympathy for the Devil

Published

2 years ago

August 4, 2023

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Nicolas Cage, the noted madman actor, resident until recently in the Hollywood version of debtor’s prison, is free at last. As he told GQ last year, the paycheck from his 2022 quasi-comeback movie, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, enabled him to finally retire the multimillions of dollars of debt that he’d accumulated as a citizen of interest to the IRS and had kept him strapped to a Z-movie hamster wheel for more than a decade. Those were the years of Season of the Witch, Drive Angry, and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeancefamously awful movies, especially considering the talent of the Oscar winner whose rsum they defaced. Now, having won back control of his career, Cage said he was determined not to screw it up again. “I’m just going to focus on being extremely selective,” he told GQ. “I would like to make every movie as if it were my last.”

Unfortunately, something seems to have gone wrong. Sympathy for the Devil, Cage’s latest picture, isn’t awful, exactlynot in the bold, nutty manner of Drive Angry or Bangkok Dangerous or any of his earlier misfires. Sympathy is worse, in a wayit’s dull. Even with Cage decked out in an odd magenta-tinged hairpiece and what looks like a burgundy prom jacket, and giving forth with lines like, “Ever since I was a child, I’ve had a stuffy nose,” the movie never comes alive. The story, with its cryptic structure and colorless dialogue, strives to tantalize (and indeed does have a twist), but for the most part it fends off our interest at every turn.

Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag in the Suicide Squad movies) plays a character identified in the credits as The Driver. As the picture opens, we find him cruising anxiously through the off-the-Strip streets of Las Vegas, on his way to the hospital where his pain-wracked wife is about to give birth. Pulling into a parking garage, he’s startled to suddenly find a stranger climbing into the back seat of his car, brandishing a pistol. This is The Passenger (Nic, of course), and he gets right down to business. “I’m your family emergency now,” he says.

I’m not familiar with the film’s Israeli director, Yuval Adler, or with its screenwriter, Luke Paradise, and I can’t say I’m intent on getting better acquainted. Adler can’t do a lot with a script that parks us claustrophobically in the car to observe these two characters as they cruise along, nattering about this and that and stopping only to shoot a cop or duck into a diner (where the story does open up for a bit). Another problem is Kinnaman, a recessive actor who’s all but swallowed up by Cage’s effortless charisma. (Who else would think to burst without warning into an unrequested rendition of the old disco hit “I Love the Nightlife”?)

As the story trundles along, we begin to realize that The Passenger is weirdly knowledgeable about The Driverhas been watching him, in fact. Now, he says, they’re all going to go to Boulder City, outside of Vegas, where The Passenger’s mother is dying of cancerand where “a very important man is waiting for our arrival, waiting for you,” he tells The Driver. Jesus, what could that mean? “People always say, ‘Don’t assume the worst,'” The Passenger observes. “Why? Sometimes the worst is what you should assume.”

Sports

Sovereignty rallies to win Jim Dandy at Saratoga

Published

1 hour ago

July 27, 2025

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Sovereignty rallies to win Jim Dandy at Saratoga

Associated Press

Jul 26, 2025, 09:52 PM ET

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes champion Sovereignty rallied after losing position heading into the final turn to win the $500,000 Jim Dandy by a length at Saratoga on Saturday.

Ridden by Junior Alvarado, Sovereignty ran nine furlongs in 1:49.52 and paid $3 to win as the 1-2 favorite against four rivals, the smallest field of his career.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said Sovereignty would be pointed toward the $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 23 at the upstate New York track.

Approaching the turn, there were a few tense moments as it appeared Sovereignty was retreating when losing position to the advancing Baeza and deep closers Sandman and Hill Road, leaving Sovereignty in last for a few strides.

Alvarado said he never had a doubt that Sovereignty would come up with his expected run.

“It was everybody else moving and at that time I was just like, ‘Alright let me now kind of start picking it up,'” Alvarado said. “I had 100% confidence. I knew what I had underneath me.”

Baeza, third to Sovereignty in both the Derby and Belmont, finished second. Hill Road was another 9¼ lengths back in third. Mo Plex was fourth and Sandman fifth.

UK

Man suffers cardiac arrest onboard boat trying to reach UK

Published

2 hours ago

July 27, 2025

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Man suffers cardiac arrest onboard boat trying to reach UK

A man has died after suffering cardiac arrest onboard a boat attempting to reach the UK.

The vessel turned back towards Equihen beach on the French coast yesterday morning.

A nurse tried to resuscitate the man but was unsuccessful.

French authorities have now launched an investigation into the circumstances.

A spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, has criticised authorities on both sides of the Channel.

Jacob Burns said: “Yet again we have a tragedy in the Channel, that is the consequence of the deadly, costly and ineffective security policies implemented by the UK and France.”

Later on Saturday, a lifeboat carried migrants who have made the voyage into the Port of Dover.

Photographs showed them huddled under blankets and orange life jackets on board.

Provisional statistics from the Home Office suggest almost 24,000 people have arrived on small boats in the UK so far this year.

Towns and cities across the UK have seen protests in recent days, primarily outside hotels believed to be housing asylum seekers.

US

Michigan: 11 people stabbed in US supermarket – with six in critical condition

Published

3 hours ago

July 27, 2025

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Michigan: 11 people stabbed in US supermarket - with six in critical condition

At least 11 people have been stabbed at a Walmart supermarket in Michigan, with six in a critical condition.

Officials say a suspect is in custody – and at this stage, it is believed the attack was a “random act” that involved a folding-style knife near the checkout area.

Sheriff Michael Shea told reporters: “Eleven is 11 too many, but thank God it wasn’t more.”

The suspect, who is from Michigan, is not known to police – and was captured within three minutes thanks to “citizen involvement”.

The attack unfolded in Traverse City – and Tiffany DeFell, who was in the car park at the time, described scenes of chaos.

“It was really scary. Me and my sister were just freaking out,” she said. “This is something you see out of the movies.”

Beyond the six people in a critical condition, it is believed the remaining five were seriously hurt. All 11 are still being treated in hospital.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said: “Our thoughts are with the victims and the community reeling from this brutal act of violence.”

A Walmart spokesperson added that the retailer is working closely with law enforcement.

“Violence like this is unacceptable. Our thoughts are with those who were injured and we’re thankful for the swift action of first responders,” a statement said.