Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 873

'Catching Fire' Lights Up the Box Office

Welcome to the Box Office Report, where we're ready to accept Jennifer Lawrence as our new lord and savior. 

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate): $161 million in 4,163 theaters

Katniss Everdeen broke all the records. At least, she broke the records available to her. Catching Fire is now the biggest November opening ever, besting Twilight, and fourth on the all-time opening weekends ever. That feat is especially impressive considering Hunger Games doesn't rely on 3-D ticket prices to bloat totals. 

2. Thor: The Dark World (Beuna Vista): $14 million in 3,713 theaters [Week 3]

Consider this: Thor, the two-week reigning box office champion, has only grossed $8 million more than Catching Fire domestically. That's how big Catching Fire's opening weekend was. Not to diminish Thor's achievements as a steady, reliable franchise, but it's not even in the same league. Few movies are.

3. The Best Man Holiday (Universal): $12.5 million in 2,041 theaters [Week 2]

Soon there will be a Best Man movie for specific holidays, not just the vague concept of a holiday. Let's throw around some new ideas: The Best Man Christmas, The Best Man Easter, The Best Man Father's Day, The Best Man President's Day, The Best Man Talk Like a Pirate Day. There's an endless well of material to draw from.

4. Delivery Man (Beuna Vista): $8.2 million in 3,036 theaters

Let's watch Swingers again and forget Vince Vaugh's twilight years never happened? Glad we could all come to an agreement. Everything after, say, Four Christmases should be burned forever. Over at Deadspin, Will Lietch tried to determine where everything went wrong. 

5. Free Birds (Relativity): $5.3 million in 3,071 theaters [Week 3]

This is the last week for Lynyrd Skynyrd jokes. Goodbye forever, tyrryble  Lynyrd Skynyrd jokes. 

       

Kerry: Iran Deal 'Not Built on Trust'

CBS

Guess what dominated the conversation on the Sunday morning political talk shows? If you guessed the coming Denver Broncos and New England Patriots game, you are wrong. The historic nuclear deal with Iran was on everyone's mind. Secretary of State John Kerry toured the big shows to sooth critics who think the U.S. and the five other countries made a mistake Saturday in Gevena. “Everybody has a right to be skeptical because there are indications that there are people in Iran who have wanted to pursue a weapons program," Kerry said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “That's why we don't take anything at face value. That's why you don't take it for granted.” Kerry explained the agreement doesn't mean the U.S. has forgotten who's on the other side of the negotiating table. “There's nothing built on trust,” Kerry said. “You don't have to trust the people you're dealing with, you have to have a mechanism put in place whereby you know exactly what you're getting and you know exactly what they're doing." During an appearance on CNN's State of the Union, Kerry responded directly to Israeli fears about the deal. “Israel is threatened by what is going on in Iran, but I believe that from this day, Israel is safer,” Kerry said. On ABC's This Week, Kerry assured members of Congress who believe the U.S. should increase sanctions instead of dealing diplomatically with Iran that they'll learn to love his hard work. "I believe Congress will recognize that this deal actually has a great deal of benefit in it," Kerry said. He also promised things will get very ugly, very quickly if Iran doesn't comply with the new rules. "The sanctions can be turned back up, [Obama] always has every other option available to him as commander in chief," Kerry said.

On Fox News Sunday, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker said Congress could draft new legislation in response to Kerry's deal with Iran. "All of us want to see a diplomatic solution here. I think it’s now time for Congress to weigh in because people are very concerned that the interim deal becomes the norm," Corker said. The ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee promised to hold the White House accountable some how. "I’ve crafted legislation to hold the administration and the international community’s feet to the fire over the next six months to ensure that this interim deal is not the norm," he said. Corker also said both houses could seek additional sanctions. "I think there are going to be some people that want to impose additional sanctions, that’s another effort that we may well take part in," he said. Corker explained why he and other believe diplomacy is not the best option with Iran. "I think, from their perspective, they view this administration as weak," Corker said. "I think, from their standpoint, they see this as their window of opportunity to negotiate with an administration that has shown that it really doesn’t have a lot of the intestinal fortitude that other administrations have had."

Ever the reactionary, Rep. Mike Rogers also criticized the deal on State of the Union. “We’ve taken away the one thing that brought them to the table,” the Michigan Republican said. “We have just rewarded very bad and dangerous behavior.” Rogers believes Iranians were starting to break after years of crushing economic sanctions. Now, he says the diplomatic agreement will lead to violence and disruption. “What we are finally starting to do is impact the elite class in Iran. Finally, we were getting to the place where they were ready to bite,” Rogers said. “We may have just encouraged more violence in the future than we’ve stopped.”

       

New 'Sherlock' Trailer Reminds You He's Almost Back from the Dead

Contrary to what some religious pamphlets may tell you, resurrection isn't actually possible. You'll be shocked to learn, then, that Sherlock Holmes is not dead.

That's the running theme in the latest trailer for the next season of Sherlock, the BBC series slated to return after a two year hiatus on January 9. (The show airs on PBS Masterpiece in the U.S.) When viewers last saw the good detective he was, well, in dire straights. So this trailer wants to remind you he is, in fact, on his way back. 

The new footage opens with a shot of a someone visiting Holmes' very shiny, very convincing grave. But we slowly see the shocked reactions, particularly of Martin Freeman's loyal Watson, as people learn the good detective is still alive. They even give you some handy hashtags to use leading up to January premiere. The final shot shows Benedict Cumberbatch lording over London's streets like a ghost watching from above. 

       

Surprise! Israel Hates the Historic Nuclear Deal with Iran

AP

Last night, a historic agreement with Iran was struck to curb the country's suspicious nuclear program. Israel, the country that believes it will be the target of an eventual Iranian nuclear attack, wasn't pleased. 

The deal, struck last Saturday evening after marathon talks at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, was the first agreement in nearly a decade to circumvent Iran's suspicious nuclear program. The P5+1 countries — United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia — believe Iran has a clandestine program building a nuclear weapon. Iran maintains its nuclear advancements are merely to provide an alternative energy source to its successful oil industry. And yet, Iranian clerical Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei still approved last night's result.

Not everyone was celebrating the diplomatic acrobatics required to pull something like this deal off. Even Slate conceded this deal was, "a good one." But no, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hated it. What a shocker, right? "This is not a historic agreement, it's a historic mistake," he said shortly after the deal was announced. Every one else was all hugs. Per Reuters: 

[European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton] and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hugged each other. Kerry and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov shook hands. Minutes later, as Iran's delegation posed for photos, Zarif and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius embraced. France had taken the hardest line on Iran in recent talks.

Here's what they were celebrating. The dirty details of the deal, and what they mean for Iran, explained:  Iran continues to enrich uranium to five percent, a level at which nuclear power can function but far enough away from weapons grade capability.  All existing uranium enriched to 20 percent will be converted into oxide. No new centrifuges will be installed and progress on the Arak heavy-water facility, which could produce plutonium when finished, another ingredient in an atomic bomb, will be halted.

That's more or less what we learned on Saturday. In exchange, Iran receives roughly $6 or $7 billion in sanction relief. About $4.2 billion in oil revenue held in foreign banks will be unfrozen, and limits on Iran's automotive industry will be reduced.

President Obama applauded the deal from the White House Saturday evening.  “Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure,” he said, “a future in which we can verify that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon.” The Iranians agreed: confidence can and will be built with this deal. "This is only a first step," Iranian Foreign Minister and chief negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters. "We need to start moving in the direction of restoring confidence, a direction which we have managed to move against in the past."

But there are safeguards built in to ensure swift punishment if the terms aren't met. Obama promised to "ratchet up the pressure," if Iran doesn't follow through on its promises. 

Not everything in the deal was settled with a nod and a handshake, though. Iran remains at odds with the world powers. As we've always known, this is a stop-gap deal designed to foster new talks. The New York Times explains: 

The United States did not accept Iran’s claim that it had a “right to enrich” under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. But American officials signaled last week that they were open to a compromise in which the two sides would essentially agree to disagree on how the proliferation treaty should be interpreted, while Tehran continued to enrich.

So talks will continue in six months when this very-short-term deal expires. Then, the world powers hope to completely eliminate any chance Iran has of building a nuclear bomb. 

       

Josh Hutcherson Is Super Foiiiiine

The end of November is always a secondary, slightly forgettable waiting period before Saturday Night Live, like much of New York, hits a stride during the holiday season. Despite that, last night's episode was still plenty of fun. 

After an uneven first few months, Saturday Night Live hit its stride. The show is still working out its hierarchy after last year's big departures. How the show will deal with Seth Meyers leaving in January for Late Night is still a major question mark. The new cast members are still fighting to break out from a crowded pack. The show can't have a black female host every night. All of that said, they deliver at a pace that may not blow you away week to week but, sketch for sketch, perhaps delivers more consistently than last season. A very promising December will answer whether that's a recurring trend or Sunday morning delusion talking. 

There were almost no stakes last night. It was the episode before the show brings in a heavy hitting December line up of veterans designed to make you forget about all of those very big problems. Josh Hutcherson's stature doesn't measure up to Saturday Night Live getting Jennifer Lawrence. She is probably indisposed anyway. But Peeta performed admirably and participated in nearly every sketch tonight. Let's not take points away from a host who wore a few different masks and seemed up for the job. He let Vanessa Bayer eat corn from his hand for Peeta's sake. But Hutcherson did not impress us enough to land on this week's rankings, falling just short of...

2nd Runner-Up

...Beck Bennett. The new cast members have all struggled to make a name for themselves in the limited airtime granted to them. Coming into this season, Bennett easily had the biggest profile thanks to some commercial work. But John Mihliser and Kyle Mooney have arguably had the greatest success on the show so far. (We're pulling for you, Noel Wells!) Bennett made a break for it last night with the Baby Boss sketch. 

The lack of physical comedy on the show has been an issue. Most sketches are four cast members standing around trading one-liners. (Except last week's perilous Rob Ford sketch, of course.) So it was nice to see some physical energy! It wasn't exactly a Chevy Chase-worthy fall or anything, but someone finally remembered physical comedy can get laughs. This choice was in no way definitive among the Wire brain trust. It nearly tore this experiment apart. But here we are, making the best of it and going for broke.  -- C.S. ["No comment." -- J.R.]

1st Runner-Up

After delivering such a strong debut season last year, Cecily Strong's ascendence to the Weekend Update desk has been a double-edged sword. It was great to see her rewarded for good work, but while she smooths things out behind the desk, it feels like her growth in regular sketches has been stunted a bit. Not this week, though. She's certainly playing second-fiddle to Bryant on "Girlfriends Talk Show," but her and Bobby Moynihan's recurring sketch where they call out their co-workers for their various personal foibles gives her a fantastic, nasty showcase. I was also  tickled by her accent work in the vet hospital sketch.

It should also be noted that this was a solid Weekend Update, particularly when it came to Strong's jokes. She's developing a steadier hand, guiding the audience through the punchlines and getting everybody to adapt to her cadence. The under-appreciated challenge of a two-person Update desk is that you're bouncing between the delivery styles of two different comedians. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were on the same page for so many years that we've maybe forgotten what a challenge that is. So I'll throw a few degree-of-difficulty points Strong's way. — J.R.

MVP

Much as last season came to be (at least partly) defined by the ascendance of Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong, this season has thus far been pretty well dominated by Aidy Bryant. Last night's episode put all of Bryant's best qualities on display. "Girlfriends Talk Show" manages to get better and better with every repetition, which not only makes it an anomaly among SNL recurring sketches, it also speaks quite well of Bryant (and Strong) as performers willing to tweak and hone and perfect their characters. Bryant's in her sweet spot when she's playing women of rapidly unspooling desperation, and Girlfriends plays into that perfectly. 

Bryant's Weekend Update character was a bit of a left turn from that kind of desperation, nicely giving her the chance to play a stridently obnoxious Worst Flier In The World. Yeah, she's bringing Panda Express on an airplane! Chicken and broccoli! — J.R.

       

So, Did 'Doctor Who' Fans Enjoy 'The Day of the Doctor'?

Fifty years on, the dedicated and possibly psychotic fans of BBC's Doctor Who are going strong, and on Saturday gathered to celebrate the classic series with an anniversary special simulcast in 75 countries across the world.

Expectations were high going into the the show's 50th anniversary episode, called "The Day of the Doctor," that promised to answer some of the complicated series' oldest questions. After spanning three different time zones, reintroducing a handful of old doctors, even more old characters and destroying and then saving an entire planet, head writer Steven Moffat, the poor soul tasked with appeasing the show's fans, has done it. "We needed a lot — and, for the most part, we got it," writes Hitfix's Liane Starr. 

The episode centered around a key point in the show's extensive history — the fate of the planet Gallifrey. Not everyone was impressed with the execution, of course. The Guardian's Viv Groskop took issue with the 120 minute episode's scattershot storytelling — the three time zones likely played some part in that. But Starr praised Moffat for his ability to alter the Doctor Who continuity with grace: 

That Moffat manages to change this result (and yet not change the Doctors' understanding of it) is a great reward that alleviates some of the darkness we saw last season but doesn't rob the show of the more sophisticated throughlines we've grown used to seeing. It's really only when you watch early episodes of the show, specifically Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor, that you remember that the show was once more of a rip-roaring good time, with more of an emphasis on adventure than dire, lasting consequence.

One universally loved part of the 50th anniversary episode was the onscreen chemistry between the 11th and most recent doctor, Matt Smith, and his predecessor, David Tennant. The Telegraph's Ben Lawrence explains: 

Tennant is edgy and mercurial, likely to turn on a pin. Smith is gentler, with a boyish eccentricity and other-worldly strangeness. They sparred terrifically with a fair amount of trademark humour. 

Moffat can breath easy knowing Doctor Who fans aren't about to knock down his house and demand their money back. The loved it. On Twitter — the cultural judge, jury and executioner — fans shared their immediate reactions, and they were (mostly) positive: 

The ending actually had me jump out of my seat and shirek. #TheDayOfTheDoctor

— Zac Thompson (@Jimbus_Christ) November 23, 2013

Doctor Who verdict: great cameos, wayyyyy uneven storytelling.

— Sarah Weinman (@sarahw) November 23, 2013

Imagine #TomBaker will be trending well into Sunday. Brilliant. #LovedThe50th #DoctorWho

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) November 23, 2013

Now Moffat can turn his attention towards the show's annual Christmas special, where he'll handle a transition from one Doctor to the next. Smith will pass the TARDIS to Peter Capaldi, who, keen-eyed fans may have noticed, made a very brief debut in "Day of the Doctor." 

       

Florida Rep. Trey Radel Preferred Colombian Cocaine

Prior to his leave of absence to seek help for addiction, Florida Representative Trey Radel had a preferred source for his cocaine. It was not American. 

It seems Radel, the embattled Florida Republican busted for buying 3.5 grams of cocaine from an undercover cop, used to talk about his drug use with friends before entering politics. In an interview with the Associated Press, brought to our attention by Talking Points Memo, Mike Adams, a former producer on Daybreak, Radel's pre-political career conservative talk radio show, said they used to about drugs. Particularly the two discussed the quality of cocaine in Colombia, then one of the Congressman's favorite vacation spot. 

Radel was a fan. "I would mention, 'How was the stuff?'" Adams recalls. "And [Radel] would say, 'Oh my God, it was phenomenal. Nothing like you get here.'" No American favoritism here. 

That Radel openly discussed his drug use with coworkers prior to his political career seems troubling. Though, there's a chance Radel kept his drug use private, and he merely noticed a kindred spirit in Adams. The AP notes Adams struggled with addiction too.  

Radel admitted in D.C. Superior Court this week to purchasing (overpriced) cocaine from an undercover officer in Washington's Dupont Circle. Shortly after, the Florida congressman said he would take a leave of absence from office, and entered a Florida rehab facility. Radel said he'd pay the $250 fine and a year of probation. 

       

Florida Rep. Trey Radel Preferred Columbian Cocaine

Prior to his leave of absence to seek help for addiction, Florida Representative Trey Radel had a preferred source for his cocaine. It was not American. 

It seems Radel, the embattled Florida Republican busted for buying 3.5 grams of cocaine from an undercover cop, used to talk about his drug use with friends before entering politics. In an interview with the Associated Press, brought to our attention by Talking Points Memo, Mike Adams, a former producer on Daybreak, Radel's pre-political career conservative talk radio show, said they used to about drugs. Particularly the two discussed the quality of cocaine in Columbia. 

Radel was a fan. "I would mention, 'How was the stuff?'" Adams recalls. "And [Radel] would say, 'Oh my God, it was phenomenal. Nothing like you get here.'" No American favoritism here. 

That Radel openly discussed his drug use with coworkers prior to his political career seems troubling. Though, there's a chance Radel kept his drug use private, and he merely noticed a kindred spirit in Adams. The AP notes Adams struggled with addiction too.  

Radel admitted in D.C. Superior Court this week to purchasing (overpriced) cocaine from an undercover officer in Washington's Dupont Circle. Shortly after, the Florida congressman said he would take a leave of absence from office, and entered a Florida rehab facility. Radel said he'd pay the $250 fine and a year of probation. 

       

Texas Democrats Are Running an All-Female Ticket

AP

Should the primaries go as expected, Texas democrats will for the first time in history run two women for the state's top positions. 

On Saturday, in front of roughly 500 supporters gathered inside the San Antonio College gymnasium, the Texas Tribune reports state Senator Leticia Van De Putte announced she's entering the Democratic race for lieutenant governor. "For years, the governor's been too busy trying to president, and for years the lieutenant governor's been trying to be in the U.S. Senate — nobody's been minding the store," she told her fans. "We cannot afford to keep kicking the can down the road because some Republicans are afraid of their primary voters." 

Van De Putte is currently unopposed with no other potential candidates in sight. She will join old friend and fellow state Senator Wendy Davis, currently running for governor, on the Democratic ticket. If Van De Putte wins the primary, and by all accounts she will, it will mark the first time two women have ever led a major party ticket in Texas. Nationally, it's only the fourth time this has ever happened.

Of course the two women face very long odds. No Texas Democrat has won either of the state's top two offices since 1994. "Republicans have held all state elected offices for more than a decade," as the Austin American-Statesman so delicately puts it. But Democrats hope Van De Putte will help woo Hispanic and women voters when the state goes to the polls next year. She'll be up against one of four Republicans, including incumbent David Dehurst, currently fighting for their party's ticket.

       

Map Shows the NSA's Massive Worldwide Malware Operations

AP

A new map details how many companies across the world have been infected by malware by the National Security Agency's team of hackers, and where the companies are located.

Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reports the NSA uses malware to infect, infiltrate and steal information from over 50,000 computer networks around the globe. This new, previously unreported scope of the NSA's hacking operation comes from another PowerPoint slide showing a detailed map of every infection leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden.

The practice is called "Computer Network Exploitation," or CNE for short, and it's carried out by the NSA's Tailored Access Operations team. A yellow dot on the map signifies a CNE infection. The NSA plants malware within a network that can flipped on or off at any time. Once a network is infected, the malware gives the NSA unfiltered access to the network's information whenever it's most convenient. The Washington Post previously profiled the team of "elite hackers" who make up the NSA's TAO division.  

The British intelligence service liked this strategy too, NRC Handelsblad reports, because they successfully duped a Belgium telecom company with a fake LinkedIn account. A strip at the bottom says the map is relative to relative to the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, the "Five Eyes" nations that share intelligence. 

The bulk of CNE operations take place in Europe, South American and Asia. Some are speculating CNE operations focus on Internet service providers, telecom giants and other similar companies to better facilitate massive information collection. 

Where the NSA's team of hackers fit into the organization's greater intelligence gathering structure is presently unclear. But another new document, a February 2012 memo leaked to The New York Times about the NSA's goals for the future, shows exactly how extensive the NSA thought its intelligence gathering would become. They wanted everything:

Intent on unlocking the secrets of adversaries, the paper underscores the agency’s long-term goal of being able to collect virtually everything available in the digital world. To achieve that objective, the paper suggests that the N.S.A. plans to gain greater access, in a variety of ways, to the infrastructure of the world’s telecommunications networks.

Prior to Edward Snowden revealing the operation to the world and ruining the fun, that is. There's now far more public and international scrutiny directed towards the bulk intelligence gathering operation.