So-called comedy desperately needs a script

Austen adaptation a handsome, delicate cinematic dance

Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles) can look rather bedraggled in this new version of Jane Austen’s first published novel, which has once again ignited the “loose hair” controversy that has raged among Janeites since the casually coiffed 2005 reimagining of Pride & Prejudice.

Purists might be vexed, possibly even discomfited or discomposed by some of the details in this take on Sense and Sensibility, part of a wave of Austen adaptations and Austen-adjacent material released to mark the 250th anniversary of the writer’s birth.

Would prudent Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) be penning letters to a man to whom she is not engaged? Would even spirited Marianne be running barefoot through the woods?

Possibly not. But if director Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean) and rookie screenwriter Diana Reid don’t adhere to the strict letter of Austen’s work, they catch much of its spirit. This is a vivid and deeply felt examination of the enduring power of sisterhood, which is at the core of not just the 1811 novel, but of Austen’s own life in the profound importance of her relationship with her sister Cassandra.

Klein would redirect money to fix derelict arenas

Rerouting funds slated for bike and walking paths to aging rinks is on mayoral candidate Kevin Klein’s radar.

“We have some arenas — and they seem to specifically be in the north end — that are not getting the attention they deserve,” Klein said.

“We have to spend the money wisely maintaining (arenas), because we don’t have the cash to rebuild them.”

Klein spoke to reporters Saturday after hearing the president of the River East Royal Knights had been locked out of his Terry Sawchuk Arena office.

City’s drug, homelessness crises overlooked on campaign trail, front-line groups say

Those on the front lines of coping with the city’s deepening homelessness and drug crises express concern at civic election candidates’ lack of attention to the issues

Women wearing appropriate clothes to gym not asking for men’s opinions

Prior to last Saturday, I was the blissful sort of person who could say “who is that, again?” when I heard the name Shane Gillis.

Now, I know him as the comedian who said “women just dress like whores now” at the gym during his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live — a show that fired him in 2019, by the way, for being racist and homophobic on a podcast yet continues to invite him back as a host for some reason.

Gillis also likened women’s short shorts (the kind one might wear to lift weights, say) to neon fishing lures.

“And don’t look. You’re not allowed to look. For real, don’t look, because they are filming,” he said.

Disgraced ex-dean landed job at German university after fleeing Winnipeg

Before he was arrested in a posh Paris suburb, the disgraced dean of Manitoba’s only law school — who fled the country following a 2020 expense scandal — kept a low profile at a German university.

Misused ensemble, underconfident script keep Street Fighter game adaptation from landing its blows clean

Adaptations of fighting games come built-in with a major problem: how does one tell a coherent story about a game with no true protagonist?

Sadly, Street Fighter doesn’t know.

When it debuted in 1991, Street Fighter II (upon which most of this film is based) featured 12 “world warriors,” eight of them playable and with their own motives.

Managing such a cast requires a script capable of efficiently introducing them and then giving everyone decent reasons to interact — or homing in on a few and letting the rest be set dressing. Director Kitao Sakurai opts for the latter, focusing on Japanese warrior Ryu (Andrew Koji), American Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) and Interpol agent Chun Li (Callina Liang).