Category: Movie

MOVIE REVIEW

“VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE”

Rated PG-13. At AMC Boston Common and South Bay, Landmark Kendall Square, Regal Fenway and suburban theaters.

Grade: C

Like its predecessor, the “Venom” sequel “Let There Be Carnage” is virtually a smug non-stop cavalcade of violence. With a PG-13 rating.

Don’t worry — there’s no blood from the mass mortality. No sex either, just a schoolboy-style crush on a pretty woman. The film’s target teen audience never has to worry about being embarrassed by the mushy stuff.

Once again, the comedy of having an alien symbiote living in your body and dictating what you do is the focus.

Tom Hardy’s determined reporter Eddie Brock gets an insider’s story by helping condemned murderer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson). This enrages Stephen Graham’s Detective Mulligan.

Brock has what might have been called a monkey on his back with Venom, the alien symbote, constantly popping up, having violent fits (“Don’t throw my $2,000 TV out the window!” Brock pleads.) and continually dictating what Brock should be doing.

This relationship between two misfits constitutes the series’ running gag.

Cletus is in love with the imprisoned Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris, a long, long way from her job with MI6 as Ms. Moneypenny in the Bond series). She’s got an awfully loud scream that would do Edvard Munch proud and needs to be kept in a soundproof Plexiglas box. I believe her nickname is Shriek, which she does a lot.

The state has revived the death penalty just to be able to kill Cletus but through some twisty plotting, Cletus now has an alien symbiote occupying his body that is conveniently and accurately named Carnage.

That means many, many die as Cletus skips out of prison to reunite with Shriek, and Carnage and Venom have a battle that rivals the tediousness of Batman versus Superman years ago.

It all ends up in a church, the better to have clanging church bells — a nod to “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” perhaps?

Hardy, one of our best actors, gives Brock a dim sweetness that makes co-starring with a special effect work well.

Harrelson at 60 is made up to resemble a a 60-year-old who resembles a scary-looking 6-year-old. It’s the funniest aspect of his performance.

Michelle Williams, here with a doctor boyfriend (Reid Scott), has virtually nothing to do except let us know she has Brock’s — and Venom’s — number.

Andy Serkis, so splendid as a motion capture star, directed. The story is credited to Hardy.

Despite the completion of Nord Stream 2, Europe should not expect the Russian pipeline to start deliveries this year due to bureaucracy within the EU, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Wednesday.

“Now the process of obtaining the necessary permits from the German regulator is underway. The process is not fast. The beginning of 2022 has been indicated,” Lavrov told the press.

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Experts say this could be the reason behind the current surge in gas prices, which have been smashing records for several days now. According to the press secretary of the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), Fita Wolf, Nord Stream 2’s certification may take several months, a prospect which practically forces market participants to raise prices.

To add to the problem, the pipeline’s main adversaries, Ukraine and the United States, have both vowed to complicate the certification procedure.

According to Lavrov, there will be many roadblocks before certification is finally granted.

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“I have no doubt that attempts to attack this gas pipeline will continue,” the Russian foreign minister said.

Gas prices in Europe have risen 20% since the start of trading on Wednesday. The price of October futures on the Dutch TTF exchange exceeded $964 per 1,000 cubic meters by 11am GMT, ICE data shows.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section

The increase in US consumer prices eased in August, according to the Labor Department. Despite the positive data, the country is still facing its highest rate of inflation in 13 years.

Rachel Blevins and Brent Jabbour talk to Dean John Quelch of the Miami Herbert Business School about the latest figures to find out whether the inflation rate could reach the Federal Reserve’s traditional 2% annual target.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section

European gas prices have hit another record in Wednesday’s trading, exceeding $960 per 1,000 cubic meters, as EU countries continue to argue over boosting Russian gas supplies via the recently completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The price of the October futures on the Dutch TTF exchange jumped by 20% in mere minutes, exceeding $875.84 by 8:00 GMT. Some time later, it exceeded $900 and, by 11:00 GMT, had reached $964.

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Russian experts earlier this week predicted that gas prices could climb further, up to $1,000 under certain conditions. These include the situation in Asia’s gas market, the weather in Europe and the oncoming winter season, as well as the timing of the launch of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Low gas-storage volumes across the continent and unusually high demand for the current season also add to the prospect of new record highs on the European gas market.

Despite the setbacks caused by relentless US sanctions, Russia’s newly-completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline could ease Europe’s gas shortages once it launches deliveries. Its daily capacity of gas supplies is comparable to the entire volume of liquefied gas that is now supplied to Europe. The 1,224 kilometer, $11-billion Nord Stream 2 project consists of two pipelines, collectively capable of delivering up to 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from the Siberian fields in Russia directly to Europe via the Baltic Sea.

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Russia’s Gazprom says it is ready to begin gas deliveries on October 1. All that remains is for the new pipeline to obtain all the required certification. However, this process could take up to four months, under EU rules.

Former Austrian minister of Foreign Affairs, Karin Kneissl, told RT that the current surge in gas prices could persuade regulators to speed up the certification process. 

“The [gas] supply contracts are there. And we will see to what extent the German regulator will speed up the certification process for Nord Stream 2, which, construction-wise, is done. Some people say that it could take months. But maybe the current situation will speed things up,” Kneissl said.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section

Grain production in Russia is expected to reach 118 million tons this year, including more than 75 million tons of wheat, according to a Russian Grain Union forecast.

Data by the Ministry of Agriculture shows that production of grain and leguminous crops has amounted to 98.9 million tons as of September 14, against 113.6 million tons collected last year.

Some 70.7 million tons of wheat has been threshed from 24.4 million hectares of planted area. Russian farmers have also reaped 17.5 million tons of barley. Production of sunflower and soybeans reached 1.9 million tons and over 700,000 tons, respectively.

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Russia’s booming agricultural production has surged by more than 20% over the last seven years. The country has managed to capture more than half of the global wheat market, becoming the world’s biggest exporter of grain, thanks to bumper harvests and attractive pricing. Since the early 2000s, Russia’s share of the global wheat market has quadrupled. In 2018-2019, Russia delivered 35.2 million tons of wheat to the global market.

The country is projected to retain its leadership in the world’s wheat market in the coming years.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section