Review: The X-Men struggle to the end in ‘Dark Phoenix’

The first day of school is a promise

This week, thousands of Manitoba students will walk through school doors carrying backpacks filled with new supplies, new hopes and, for some, new worries.

For parents and caregivers, this may be a familiar September routine — shopping for school supplies, adjusting schedules, preparing lunches and getting children ready for another year of learning.

For educators and school staff, it is the beginning of another demanding year.

But for Manitoba, this week should mean something more. It should be a renewal of our promise to every child.

For newcomer pizza purveyors, it’s all about crafting solid foundations

A recent poll conducted by an Internet-based market-research firm determined that close to 20 per cent of people eschew their leftover pizza crust.

Some argued that the residual crust lacks flavour. Others submitted that it’s too hard or crunchy to enjoy sans toppings. Given that information, what are we to make of Crusty Craft Pizza, a five-month-old takeout spot whose owners are so confident in their European-style pizza crust that they’ve chosen to highlight it in their business moniker?

Whenever somebody informs them they don’t like pizza crust, their response is, well, they haven’t tried theirs, says Oleksii Samokvhal, who together with his wife, Iryna Mehedyn, opened Crusty Craft Pizza in early April, at 1311 Day St. in Transcona.

“It’s thin in the middle, with raised edges we hand-form ourselves,” says Mehedyn, a native of Ukraine who, like her Kyiv-born husband, relocated to Winnipeg to escape the conflict in their home country.

Pointing fingers at Tories three years after election tiresome, accomplishes nothing

There is a point in every government’s life when blaming the previous government stops being an explanation and starts becoming an excuse.

For Manitoba’s NDP government, that point has arrived.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe was asked last week about a grievance filed by Crown attorneys over excessive workloads and a government attempt to keep a report documenting those workloads out of an upcoming arbitration hearing.

Wiebe said he couldn’t discuss the arbitration case.

Letters, Sept. 8

I recently read Manitoba Hydro’s integrated resource plan (IRP) and the independent review by Daymark Energy. I’m no expert, but it seems clear that Hydro’s plan to add three new gas combustion turbines to the Brandon power station is going to cost Manitobans a lot more than we bargained for.

‘Soapy disco’ for your ride

For Kyle Thompson, foam is where the heart is.

As a high school student at Winnipeg’s Transcona Collegiate, one of his classes required him to create a business plan. He was cleaning vehicles part-time at the Chamois Car Wash and Detail Centre, so he used the assignment to envision a car wash of his own — one with a Regent Avenue address.

Fast forward some 25 years later and that dream is a reality. Thompson is the co-owner and general manager at Flamingo Express Car Wash.

Located at 868 Regent Ave. West — east of the row of car dealerships that call the thoroughfare home and across the street from an Amazon distribution hub — Flamingo opened last month.

Review: The X-Men struggle to the end in 'Dark Phoenix'

The good news is "Dark Phoenix " is neither an apocalypse nor is it "X-Men: Apocalypse," but this latest installment is not exactly a solid step forward or a satisfying ending for anyone.

It's supposed to be the culmination of 20 years of X-Men movies, and yet it feels more like a rushed and inconsequential spinoff than something that we've been building toward for two decades. Perhaps that's because we've barely gotten to know this version of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), whose transformation into the all-powerful Phoenix is the thing that divides the X-Men into a tiny civil war.

A brief flashback to 1975 shows a young Jean's defining trauma, when the telekinesis she can't yet control results in a horrific car crash and her becoming an orphan. She's taken in by Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) who offers her help and guidance and tells her that she can decide to use her powers for good, which is not exactly top of mind for her when, 17 years later, she absorbs a deadly cosmic energy field.

The main action is set in 1992, a decade after the events in "Apocalypse" and 30 years after the events in "X-Men: First Class," and you might find yourself wondering just how old are all of these mutants and what is their skin care regime. If there is a reason this had to be set in 1992, the movie certainly doesn't give you any explanation, nor does it really attempt to capture the look of the early '90s at all in costume or production design. But it's 1992, the title card says so, and Charles is riding high on a tide of public goodwill. The X-Men are finally being regarded as heroes and he's become the public face of the operation, with a direct line to the President of the United States and everything.