‘American Sniper’ Trailer #2: Bradley Cooper is at War

There are a few cinematic biopics that will open in limited released on Christmas Day this year, so that they can be taken into consideration for the big awards shows in early 2015. One such project is American Sniper, as directed by Clint Eastwood and scripted by Jason Hall (Paranoia), based on the memoir “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History” by the late Chris Kyle.

Kyle is portrayed in Eastwood’s film by Bradley Cooper, and the first American Sniper trailer highlighted one of the numerous incidents in his life where Kyle had to decide whether or not to shoot down a potential threat – knowing all too well that he would have terrible consequences to face should his instincts prove off… either way.

The second theatrical preview for American Sniper (watch it above) is on the whole more conventional in its design than its predecessor. However, by offering a somewhat vague yet all the same compelling portrait of Kyle, this trailer leaves you intrigued and wanting to know more about his story. Also featured prominently here is Sienna Miller as Kyle’s wife, Taya Renae Kyle, though she doesn’t have a whole lot to do in the trailer beyond worrying about her husband’s well-being (and with fair reason, at that).

American Sniper was passed over for recognition at the 2015 Golden Globes ceremony, but so far reviews for the movie has been pretty respectable on the whole. Eastwood’s recent films have tended to get a lukewarm reception from critics, but Sniper has earned praise from the likes of THR, with its review applauding the movie for being “a taut, vivid and sad account” of Kyle’s life. On the opposite side of the fence, though, EW calls Sniper a “repetition of context-free combat missions and one-dimensional targets.”

Other cinematic memoirs that will be opening in limited release next week (and then expanding after New Year’s Day) include the Louis Zamperini biography/war drama Unbroken - which, like Sniper, didn’t land any Globe nods from the Hollywood Foreign Press – as well as the Martin Luther King Jr. drama Selma, which received four Golden Globe nods. All of these films (Sniper included) seem to have something worthwhile to offer to the general moviegoing public, though, all this awards season talk aside.

American Sniper begins an Oscar-qualifying limited theatrical release in the U.S. on December 25th, 2014; it expands nation-wide on January 16th, 2015.

http://screenrant.com/american-sniper-movie-trailer-2014/

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- not given

   WHEN- not given

   WHAT- There are a few cinematic biopics that will open in limited released on Christmas Day this year.

   WHY- They can be taken into consideration for the big awards shows in early 2015.

   WHERE-not given

   HOW-not given

Keywords：

   1. cinematic：電影

   2. biopics：傳記片

   3. predecessor：前任

   4. intrigued：好奇

   5. prominently：顯著

   6. on the whole：總體上

   7. lukewarm：溫

   8. taut：拉緊的

   

Shanghai to curtail Chinese New Year celebrations after deadly stampede

Shanghai is toning down Chinese New Year celebrations by cancelling events and limiting people at tourist spots after a stampede killed 36 people seven weeks earlier.

Revellers, many of them young women, were trampled to death on New Year’s Eve after flocking to the historic riverfront, known as the Bund, a popular tourist destination.

Police on foot patrol and driving golf cart-like vehicles kept an eye on tourists who flocked to the Bund on Wednesday, the eve of the traditional festival.

Large stretches of the Bund remain closed off to the public by a temporary wall put up by the city shortly after the accident.

“Shanghai is safe. That was just a chance accident,” said one tourist from the southern province of Fujian, taking a group photo with family and friends near where the crush occurred.

In the wake of the accident, the Shanghai government has cancelled at least five events during the week-long holiday, including a food fair and traditional bell-ringing at the Longhua temple.

The city has also announced it will restrict the number of visitors at more than 70 tourist spots, including the viewing platform of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the flagship Shanghai Museum.

Restrictions on numbers have not been announced for the Bund, where the crush also injured 49 people. However, police and security guards were limiting access to an elevated promenade along the riverfront through just a few designated points.

“This kind of accident is common in China, everyone going in one direction without thinking,” said another tourist from central Henan province, who gave his surname as Chao. “The government is giving it lots of attention now.”

An investigative report blamed police and city officials, who were aware of overcrowding but failed to act and communicate the risk to higher-level authorities.

In January, the city announced that 11 officials would be punished, with four removed from their posts.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, has called on local governments nationwide to control large gatherings at tourist spots during the Chinese New Year.

At the Yu Garden, another tourist site located on the site of Shanghai’s former old city, metal barriers and security guards loudly blowing whistles kept the crowds in check.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1718053/shanghai-tones-down-chinese-new-year-celebrations-after-fatal-stampede

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-not given

   WHEN- New Year’s Eve

   WHAT- a stampede killed 36 people

   WHY-not given

   WHERE- Shanghai

   HOW- trampled to death

Keywords：

   1. curtail：縮短

   2. stampede：踩踏

   3. flagship：旗艦

   4. promenade：漫步

   

2 NYPD police officers 'assassinated'; shooter dead

By Joshua Berlinger, Ray Sanchez and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN

updated 11:43 PM EST, Sat December 20, 2014

Officer Rafael Ramos sat in the driver's seat. Officer Wenjian Liu was at his side.

The two cops weren't at their usual precinct -- normally, the pair was assigned to downtown Brooklyn, but they were working a "critical response" detail in an area with higher crime, police said.

That's where they were slain, ambush-style -- Saturday afternoon as they sat in their patrol car, New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said at an evening news conference.

The gunman approached the passenger side of the patrol car and took a shooting stance, witnesses told police. He opened fire several times, striking both officers in the head, Bratton said.

They were "shot and killed with no warning, no provocation," Bratton told reporters. "They were quite simply, assassinated."

The gunman was found dead in a nearby subway station from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The families of the fallen officers rushed to Woodhull Medical Center on Saturday, as dozens of their comrades gathered in a show of support.

Ramos had just turned 40 this month; Liu got married two months ago.

Both dreamed of being police officers, Bratton said.

"One of the unfortunate realities of policing is that you put that blue uniform on and you become part of the thin blue line between us and anarchy," Bratton said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Bratton met with the families of the victims. De Blasio said that Ramos' 13-year-old son couldn't comprehend what had happened to his father.

"When a police officer is murdered, it tears at the foundation of our society," the mayor said. "It is an attack on the very concept of decency."

Police identified the shooter as Ismaaiyl Brinsley.

He arrived in New York from Baltimore, but had a residence in Atlanta. Bratton said that Brinsley was somehow connected to Brooklyn, but would not discuss that information.

Bratton said at this time, there was no indication Brinsley was connected to any terrorist groups or organized entity.

Police were investigating posts Brinsley allegedly made on social media. Bratton said that the suspect had earlier shot and seriously wounded a woman believed to be his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore.

Baltimore police received information that Brinsley had made threatening comments about police, and sent a warning to police in New York, Bratton said.

That message came almost the same time the ambush happened.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the attack "an unspeakable act of barbarism."

De Blasio also called the shootings an "assassination."

"It is an attack on all of us," he said. "It is an attack on everything we hold dear."

A White House official says President Barack Obama was briefed on the shooting.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/20/us/new-york-police-officers-shot/

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- two cops

   WHEN- Saturday afternoon

   WHAT- shot and killed

   WHY- not given

   WHERE- Brooklyn

   HOW-not given

Keywords：

   1. precinct：管理區

   2. slain：被殺

   3. provocation：挑釁

   4. comrades：同志

 

Ting Hsin food firm boss charged over tainted cooking oil

The head of a lard supplier in Taiwan was formally charged yesterday with deliberately selling adulterated cooking oil.

The indictment of Wei Ying-chun, one of four brothers who run the Ting Hsin International Group, was delivered by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office. Charges include fraud and forgery.

Wei was already in custody in Chunghua county in the centre of the island on a charge linked to a cooking oil scandal implicating another subsidiary of the group.

It has been accused of using oil meant for animal feed in its products.

Another subsidiary of the firm, Wei Chuan Foods Corp, Taiwan's second-largest food manufacturer, was found to have sold food products made with gutter oil, a potentially harmful mixture of waste oil recycled from restaurant fryers and slaughterhouse byproducts.

Bowing to public pressure, Wei had resigned from his positions as chairman of three of the group's subsidiaries.

Ting Hsin has said it will shut down its oil manufacturing business in Taiwan.

It will also donate NT$3 billion (HK$765 million) to the government or government-designated foundations to help restore the reputation of Taiwan's food industry.

Critics described the move as a token gesture aimed at propping up its business across the strait.

Its oil manufacturing operations in Taiwan generated only US$65 million last year, about 0.08 per cent of the group's revenues. The firm's food business on the mainland generated US$10 billion.

President Ma Ying-jeou, who has declared the contaminated cooking oil scandal a national security issue, said the food industry might lose NT$16 billion following a series of food safety fiascos.

Lard supplier Chang Guann was fined NT$50 million last month for selling a product containing gutter oil as cooking oil. Several firms were also found last year to have illegally added colouring agents to cooking oil, or blended olive oil with cheaper products such as cottonseed oil and sold it as pure olive oil.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1621238/billionaire-chief-lard-firm-charged-fraud-over-taiwan-tainted-oil-scandal

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- the head of a lard supplier

   WHEN-yesterday

   WHAT- charged

        WHY- deliberately selling adulterated cooking oil

       WHERE- Taiwan

   HOW-not given

Keywords：

   1. forgery：偽造品

   2. custody：拘留

   3. subsidiary：附屬的

   4. contaminated：污染