Cramer Remix: Someone forgot to tell Trump about the Trump rally

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January 12, 2017

It looked to Jim Cramer on Wednesday that someone forgot to tell Donald Trump about the Trump rally.
The averages quickly fell after Trump’s press conference in which he called for more price competition for drug companies. While the market managed to shrug off the comments by the close with technology stocks leading the way, it was a cause of concern for Cramer.
«I bet Health and Human Services is going to do something about this whipping boy that will involve substantive rollbacks before this episode is over,» the » Mad Money » host said.
Cramer said he has known Trump for years, and he is «not really a stock guy» and has never been that interested in the market. It was clear to Cramer that Trump’s love was always real estate.
However, Cramer reminded investors that just because Trump is pro-business, that doesn’t necessarily mean he is pro-stock market. In his world, he thinks if business does well than everyone does better. And he is OK with knowing that some industries will do worse if he believes they should be punished.
Trump has also made his intention clear to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act when he takes office. The problem is that no one knows what he will replace it with.
«We are looking at a very confused environment for the health care sector, especially the health maintenance organizations that are so heavily impacted by the law,» Cramer said.
It could be impossible to predict what could happen to health care providers like UnitedHealth , Aetna , Cigna and Humana , along with the millions of people who will lose insurance coverage and their subsidies if Obamacare is repealed.
The only winner of the group worth owning is UnitedHealth, Cramer said, even as it has run 14 percent since the election. UnitedHealth has already removed itself from the health care exchanges. Other competitors are still participating and even profiting from the exchanges, which makes them more vulnerable of the repeal actually occurs.
Pajama traders that used to plague the stock market opening every morning have mysteriously disappeared since Election Day, and Cramer was determined to find out why.
The term «pajama trader» was coined by Cramer to refers to traders who control the opening of the stock market based on extraneous data, like the futures, and news events from overseas.
Yet, it seems that the volatility caused by these nefarious traders for years has simply dissipated. They were right there distorting the market open during the Italian bank restructuring, a struggling financial system and Brexit. Now they are gone.
«We are all for the better for getting rid of this artificial, silly, infantile, immature trading,» Cramer said.
Cramer is always a fan of break-ups that unlock value for shareholders. Even better, when a company creates a new spinoff as a standalone company, it’s always worth him taking a look.
AdvanSix is the new spinoff from Honeywell that is the manufacturer of nylon 6 resin, chemical intermediates and ammonium sulfate fertilizer.
«I could see how a fresh spinoff like AdvanSix might seem enticing, but at this point, I think it’s too speculative to recommend after such an epic run,» Cramer said.
However, Cramer does like AdvanSix’s markets amid the current economic environment, which makes him like the stock. He just wants it to come down a bit first so it is less of a risky play.
The NFIB Research Foundation issued a report this week that indicated that small business optimism just had the biggest increase since 1980, when Ronald Reagan was elected.
If this is an indication that companies are going to expand, Cramer said that means they must invest in new technology. Pegasystems is a software company that helps to develop custom applications for marketing, sales, customer relationship management and business process optimization.
Pegasystems’ client list includes AIG, PayPal and Kraft, among others. Cramer spoke with Pegasystems founder, chairman and CEO Alan Trefler on what makes Pega unique from the competition.
«We have three core technologies that we have put together into one unified platform. Very different from our competitors, which have bought lots of stuff and franken-stacked them and stitched them together,» Trefler said.
In the Lightning Round , Cramer gave his opinion to a few stocks from callers:
Berkshire Hathaway (B Class) : «If anything, I am interested in buying more. I think the stock is incredibly undervalued. »
Westar Energy : «A good utility company. I happen to favor Dominion and my charitable trust name American Electric Power. «

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© Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/11/cramer-remix-someone-forgot-to-tell-trump-about-the-trump-rally.html
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Trump's Border Tax Threat May Weaponize the Dollar

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January 12, 2017

Is fiscal war the new currency war?
President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose a “major” border tax on U. S. manufacturers that make products abroad to sell in the U. S. could fuel the next leg in the post-election dollar rally, some analysts reckon.
In his first post-election press conference, Trump doubled down on his proposal to impose policies aimed at boosting onshore production of U. S. goods and services through penalties on imports. “There will be a major border tax on these companies that are leaving and getting away with murder,” Trump said on Wednesday, without elaborating. “You’ve got a lot of places you can move,” he added. “As long as it’s within the U. S.”
His pronouncement on Wednesday followed a Jan 3. tweet in which the Republican castigated General Motors Co. for its Mexico car plant, channeling the “make-where-we-sell” political movement.
General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U. S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U. S. A.or pay big border tax!
The impact of any such border-tax policy, the implementation of which would likely require an act of Congress and may be prohibited (PDF) by World Trade Organization rules, could be significant for the greenback—and for emerging markets in particular.
Policy-driven efforts to boost America’s net trade position, either through an increase in tariffs or a border-adjustment tax, could trigger a fierce appreciation of the dollar, which would tighten financial conditions across the world.
Fiscal devaluation—an attempt to boost competitiveness through changes to the tax system—could upend projections for the dollar this year, which has staged a post-election advance amid expectations of higher interest rates and fiscal stimulus.
“We believe the FX market is too sanguine about the possibility of border adjustment being included in a final [fiscal] package,” Morgan Stanley strategists led by Todd Castagno wrote in a prescient report on Tuesday.
The dollar fell while demand for U. S. Treasuries rose in the wake of Trump’s tumultuous press conference. Nevertheless, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the currency against 10 of its peers, remains 4.9 percent higher since the election.
In simple terms, the border-tax policy is a destination-focused corporate tax that boosts exporters while disallowing deductions for imports, which would come as a blow to retailers and automakers in particular, given the high import component in their supply chains.
Traditional economic models suggest that exchange rates would fully adjust to changes in external competitiveness. In other words, the ensuing dollar strength would raise the cost of U. S. exports for foreigners and reduce import costs for U. S. business by a corresponding margin, offsetting the tax penalty on importers. That means that the net effect on the trade balance would be neutral.
However, given that currencies are rarely, if ever, at levels considered “fair value” in purchasing-power-parity terms, there’s no guarantee that this fiscal policy-induced shock to the terms of trade would be quickly, or fully, offset by changes in the foreign exchange market.
Morgan Stanley foresees a smaller rise in the dollar in the event of a 20 percent border-adjustment tax, rather than a one-time 25 percent appreciation of the dollar, as implied by textbook theory.
“We think a 10-15 percent rise in USD is reasonable,” Castagno and his team wrote. “Even if we don’t get a full exchange rate offset, the policy will still have a large impact on U. S. competitiveness and, therefore, the dollar.”
In other words, their projections suggest Trump may succeed in endowing exporters with a competitiveness boost since the dollar is unlikely to adjust fast enough to absorb the tax change. This view is echoed by Mark McCormick, of TD Securities Inc., who predicts the dollar may advance by 10 percent. “Exchange rates are unlikely to adjust rapidly enough in order to internalize the tax change,” the analyst wrote on Jan. 6. “In other words, a border adjustment tax is likely to boost the USD but the net change (USD strength and export subsidy) will likely still favor U. S. exporters and production.”
Market tremors from the tax would be felt around the world.
“In short, while the fiscal effects on the USD could be substantial by themselves, the implication from changed trade fundamentals could actually be a ‘yuuuge’ deal,” Martin Enlund, chief currency strategist at Nordea Markets, wrote in a note on Monday, nodding to a common expression favored by the U. S. president elect.
A further rise in the dollar’s trade-weighted value would add insult to injury for emerging markets, which are already grappling with the sharp rise in dollar-servicing costs in local-currency terms, tighter liquidity conditions, and pressure on currency pegs, he noted.
“Exchange rate adjustments are never as easy as theory would have it, and gray swans abound,” he adds, alluding to events that can be anticipated only to a certain degree. After all, exchange rates are driven by a slew of forces, including capital flows, interest rates, Federal Reserve policies, and global trade policies, while currency dynamics in U. S. protectionism are unique.
“Higher tariffs might have a similar impact: U. S. assets are likely to benefit from a flight to safety or flight to quality bid in the face of a global stagflationary shock,” Bank of America Corp. economists, led by Ethan Harris, concluded in a report in October.

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© Source: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/donal-trump-dollar-border-tax-threat/2017/01/11/id/768063
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Funding Your Future: How to save money while getting fit

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January 12, 2017

Financial expert Rachel Langlois with Cyprus Credit Union tells us how we can save while trying to get fit.
Gyms: decide what you are looking for
Other Options: if you don’t want a gym membership
Check for employer benefits! Many companies reward their employees that are trying to stay healthy.
For more great financial tips, you can go here.

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© Source: http://fox13now.com/2017/01/11/funding-your-future-how-to-save-money-while-getting-fit/
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Why China waded into the semi-regulated wilds of Bitcoin exchanges

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January 12, 2017

January 11, 2017
— China is investigating three major bitcoin exchanges, officials announced Wednesday.
Chinese central bank officials say their investigations of BTCC, Huobi, and OKCoin in Beijing and Shanghai are part of an effort to ensure the trading platforms are appropriately licensed, have anti-money-laundering systems in place, and are not manipulating the market.
“The recent bitcoin price is highly volatile,” said Shanghai officials from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) in an online statement that was translated by Bitcoin Magazine. “To prevent risks and uphold financial stability, PBOC … met the major heads of BTCC to know the current status of Bitcoin trading.” The central bank plans to conduct in-person inspections of these companies on January 17, according to CoinDesk , a digital currency information site.
The global trading of digital currencies such as Bitcoin happens outside of the established banking system – the appeal for many investors – buffering these investments against forces that affect the traditional stock market, such as elections, Brexits, and asset bubbles. But their shadowy existence also renders digital currencies volatile and hard to regulate, in some cases leaving investors unprotected from fraud or security breaches.
So while the PBOC investigations may represent an effort to protect investors from the risks associated with trading digital currency, many observers suggest that there’s another issue at play in China: some of the country’s wealthiest citizens are buying up bitcoin in yuan, selling it abroad, and storing the profits offshore to get around government limits on foreign currency exchange and to get their money out of the country. At a time of declining yuan, officials have become increasingly concerned about this new investment category and its impact on the economy.
“Regulators have always been passive about bitcoin. Tighter regulation is inevitable going forward,” Qiu Difan, a Shanghai-based economist at SWS Research Co., a unit of Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co., told Bloomberg earlier this month.
More bitcoin regulation in China will legitimize the currency and turn out to be a good thing for the digital-currency industry in the long term, says Adam White, vice president of Coinbase, which runs an American digital-currency exchange, in a phone interview.
«It could be a stamp of approval,» he says, noting that when the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network began regulating virtual currency in 2013, its value shot up.
Until its value plummeted nearly 14 percent as of Wednesday afternoon in response to the investigation news, Bitcoin had been experiencing stellar – if volatile – growth, unlike most government-backed currencies, which fell last year. This is largely attributable to the growing number of Chinese investors, who constitute up to 98 percent of bitcoin traders, by some estimates.
In early January, the value of one bitcoin moved north of $1,000 after a year of trending up, having started at $380 in November 2015, as Business Insider shows .
White says that $100,000 is processed through global bitcoin transactions every minute.
China, where banks are not allowed to deal with bitcoin transactions, is only one of many countries grappling with how to regulate the new currencies, which are made possible by a technology called blockchain, a technology that allows information to be transferred and stored online publicly, though pseudonymously. Of course, this also is a boost for illicit activity, which has become associated with cryptocurrency exchanges and their self-regulating and anonymous nature.
Regulators disagree about how to define and manage digital currencies. Some countries, including China, Russia, and Thailand , have tried to ban certain forms of trade of the currencies.
The United States has started to regulate these exchanges, but remains divided on how to define digital currency. In 2014, the Internal Revenue Service defined it as «property» for federal tax purposes, while the Securities and Exchange Commission calls it «currency» and the Federal Trade Commission says it’s a «commodity. »
Some US states – such as New York, which last year introduced digital currency regulations to protect consumers – are starting to develop and impose their own rules.

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© Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/new-economy/2017/0111/Why-China-waded-into-the-semi-regulated-wilds-of-Bitcoin-exchanges
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Here's why stocks reacted so strongly to the Trump presser

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January 12, 2017

The markets, for a short while, had a hiccup around President-elect Donald Trump’s press conference. The big question: why?
Drug stocks dropped as Trump said drug companies will «not get away with murder. »
Lockheed Martin dropped when he said he would bring the cost of the F-35 fighter jet «way down. » Defense names in general dropped.
But why? Trump has already made these statements. There was little else directly market moving, yet stocks moved. The dollar dropped and bond prices rallied.
The answer lies in where we are in the markets right now: priced for perfection. The market is a little like a coiled spring, ready to break out one way or the other. Stocks are near historic highs. Consumer confidence is high. Investing sentiment is very bullish and volatility is low.
That’s all good news, but it’s a volatile mix. That’s because stocks have moved on expectations that earnings in 2017 are going to be much higher than 2016, partly on a better economy in general but it’s been turbocharged by Trump’s promises of lower taxes, less regulation and fiscal stimulus.
That’s where the risk lies, in the very real possibility that there is going to be some kind of disappointment. And the market is not in the mood for any disappointment.
We saw this in the third quarter when slight misses in earnings expectations caused a notable drop in stocks.
With markets nearly 10 percent higher since then, the nervousness is even greater. Evercore ISI said it perfectly this morning: the «bar on earnings has risen as expectations for growth have increased. »
What we need, as my colleague Jim Cramer mentioned this morning, is a bridge. We need a bridge between the current market mentality that has high expectations for a 2017 earnings boost and the likely guidance we are going to get: an attempt to lower expectations.
Here’s what needs to happen: the bridge is a belief by market participants for the next few months that better numbers will be coming down the road and that expectations for much higher revenue and earnings growth are not wildly inflated.
If that mentality takes hold, the markets can look forward to a relatively peaceful few months, with lots of mostly sideways action.
If the market stops believing that mantra, it’s going to be a rocky winter.

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© Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/11/heres-why-stocks-reacted-so-strongly-to-the-trump-presser.html
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In the music spotlight: The Tubes

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January 12, 2017

Formed in San Francisco during the early 70s, The Tubes distinguished themselves as much more than a rock band. The group incorporated theater and dance into provocative and satirical early songs like “ White Punks on Dope.” By the 80’s, the sprawling seven-piece multimedia troupe found MTV-era success with top-ten single “ She’s a Beauty .”
With a large company of musicians, crew, dancers and actors in the early days, the Tubes weren’t often accused of being in it for the money. “We never made any,” says lead singer/songwriter Fee Waybill with a laugh. “We spent every dime on production. Every year, we’d dream up this fiasco that took 40 people on the road for eight months in a bus. We’d make three million dollars, and it would cost us four.”
The Tubes’ latest release is “ Live at German Television ,” capturing a 1981 studio performance. Songs include “ Talk to Ya Later ” from breakthrough album “The Completion Backward Principle.”
“It’s really a good piece from our heyday, during a big Euro-tour with the girls and the works,” says Waybill. “We do well in Europe, and we were in Germany last year. A guy who owns a record label there found this TV station, Radio Bremen, that had the film in their vault. Our promoter said, ‘Did you even know this existed?’ I said, ‘Hell, no, I don’t remember that. 1981?’ We saw it, and we all went, ‘We’re so young! We’re so handsome!’”
The Tubes now travel as a lean five-piece troupe, with four founding members. Theatricality remains important, and Waybill adopts various personas including wasted glam-rocker Quay Lewd. “I’m still doing eight or ten costume changes per show,” says Waybill. “This show is called the Mondo Pulp Tour. It’s a dual tribute to the movie ‘Pulp Fiction’ and the pulp art movement.
When they made those wildly-colored magazines in the early ’50s, it was called pulp because the paper was so cheap. It was garish and sexual with lots of cleavage, superheroes, villains, guns and monsters. I’m doing costumes and characters that fit that.”
Waybill becomes a Gene Rayburn-styled game show host while satirizing consumer culture during “ What Do You Want From Life? ”
“Sometimes the product sarcasm gets lost on the millennials,” he says. “We grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. It was 150 [degrees] outside, so what are you gonna do? We sat inside watching TV all day long – westerns and game shows like ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ ‘Concentration’ or ‘Match Game.’ We’re definitely TV babies.”
Jeff Elbel is a local freelance writer.

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© Source: http://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/in-the-music-spotlight-the-tubes/
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Wayne Brady on 'Hamilton' role: 'I've done theater my whole life'

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January 12, 2017

When news broke earlier this week about actor/comedian/singer Wayne Brady stepping into the role of Aaron Burr in the Chicago cast of “Hamilton,” the reaction was joyous for most theater fans, and perhaps a tad confusing for others.
Take note: Brady is more than ideally cast in this incredible role in this marvelous musical.
Wayne Brady stars on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” | Photo © 2015 Danny Feld/The CW
He may be best-known for his television improv work on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” or guest appearances on “How I Met Your Mother” or his role as Uncle Louis on “Everybody Hates Chris.” Or for his hosting duties on the daytime game show revamp of “Let’s Make a Deal” (which is in its 8th season), or for his sold-out comedy world tour “Makin’ S–t Up.” But more importantly — listen up, stage fans — Brady has been performing in the theater for decades, including productions of “Rent,” “A Chorus Line,” and most recently his critically acclaimed turns on Broadway as Lola in “Kinky Boots” and Billy Flynn in “Chicago.”
And though he says he and “Hamilton” creator/star Lin-Manuel Miranda have been friends for years, the Aaron Burr role came about through the usual process.
“I auditioned,” Brady said, after a daylong “Hamilton” rehearsal Tuesday (his final dress rehearsal is Jan. 13; he takes over the role officially on Jan. 17). “My audition was just as good if not better than anyone else who auditioned. This was not nepotism. The truth is, if I sucked, I wouldn’t be getting this role. Why would [the producers] damage the role [or jeopardize] the show? … There’s no big name above the marquee saying, hey ‘Come see Wayne Brady in Hamilton!’ This is one show that will fly if it is Jimmy from Timbuktu in the role — as long as Jimmy is talented enough to do it. I had to kick ass to make the point as to why they should hire me.”
Brady revealed the road to Burr was a long one, though things ultimately — and quickly — unfolded late last year.
I’ve wanted to do [this role] a year ago in New York,” Brady said. “Lin and I hang in the same theater circles, along with [“Hamilton”] director Tommy Kail. And I told them I wanted so badly to try out for this role. So we had been in talks for a year for the New York production. I auditioned for Lin and Tommy. Everybody has to audition. They know what I do [theatrically]. And I said, ‘I want this badly enough — I’ll show you I can do this stuff.’ So you humble yourself and you do your best. But it ended up not working out for me because of my shooting schedule for “Let’s Make a Deal.” Luckily, this Chicago situation happened and I got a call on the 15th of December and I was out here rehearsing on Dec. 19. I learned the show in less than two weeks, but I’m a fast learner. .. I’ve done theater my whole life. I was always a swing [cast members who learn many of the key roles of a particular show and can step into a role at a moment’s notice]. I’ve always been a quick study and getting many roles under your belt in a short amount of time.”
This is really happening! I’m so glad to be in a business where I can still feel like a kid on Xmas everyday! pic.twitter.com/O6wkz8dpiw
— Wayne Brady (@waynebrady) January 10, 2017
Brady also headed to “Hamilton” fresh from his lead role as Charley Kringas in the Los Angeles production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” this past November.
“Sondheim was super difficult because I was never connected to it,” Brady said. “Lin’s music is easier for me because I’m a hip-hop fan. I am a singer and a writer and an amateur MC. Lin’s music is poetry. That cat is so smart!”
The role of Burr is one of the show’s most potent, and features almost as much stage time as that of Hamilton (played here by Miguel Cervantes).
“The most daunting aspect of the role? You want it to be absolutely perfect because the show is so dense verbally,” Brady said, “especially for Hamilton, and secondly for Burr. There’s so many places where, Lord forbid — you do NOT want to go up on a line! Because there will be someone who will go,”Did that dude just make something up in freestyle?”
“I’ve done musicals like ‘Rent’ and ‘Chorus Line’ where you really have to be a theater nerd to know the score. And you have a few theater nerds who sit in the front row and sing along. But this is a show where people who’ve never even seen the show know EVERY word of EVERY character from the [cast recording]. My daughter [13-year-old Maile Masako Brady] has seen the show six times and she knows every word of every character. She could do a one-woman version of it. People are definitely gonna be coming to the show saying ‘Don’t you screw up my song!”
“I saw the show a whole bunch, as well, and I knew a lot of the songs,” Brady continued. “There were songs that I really liked and listened to a lot, but other songs, maybe cuz they were the girls’ songs, that I didn’t listen to much. So my daughter was my study buddy. She really helped me. Believe me, she [was brutally honest] and said things like, ‘Dad that’s completely wrong’ or ‘Dad, that’s the wrong word!.’”
Brady said he’s been going back and forth between Chicago and L. A. to shoot the fifth season of “Whose Line?,” and he’s truly enjoying many aspects of Chicago.
“The food!,” Brady said, with a chuckle. “I love the food here. I never realized that Chicago is such a foodie town. And the theater community! This is the city I was going to move to [out of college at the University of Miami] if I didn’t go to New York or L. A. I wanted to work at Goodman or Steppenwolf or Second City. I just happened to take a left.”

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© Source: http://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/wayne-brady-on-hamilton-role-ive-done-theater-my-whole-life/
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Ariana Grande and John Legend to Record "Beauty and the Beast" Duet for Disney Film

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January 12, 2017

5:30 PM PST 1/11/2017
by
Colin Stutz, Billboard
Ariana Grande and John Legend are teaming up to record Beauty and the Beast’s theme song of the same name for the upcoming Disney live-action film.
The song was written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken for the 1991 animated feature Beauty and the Beast and originally sung by actress Angela Lansbury in her role as the voice of the character Mrs. Potts and then rerecorded by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson for the film’s soundtrack. It won an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy Award that year.
Oh My Disney on Wednesday confirmed the new recording, as well as three new songs written by Menken and Tim Rice, who worked together on Aladdin following Ashman’s death in 1991. The new Beauty and the Beast soundtrack is set to be released March 10.
The live-action Beauty and the Beast stars Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as Beauty and the Beast, respectively. Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald and Emma Thompson voice the film’s inanimate characters. Kevin Kline stars as Belle’s father, Luke Evans plays Gaston and Josh Gad appears as sidekick Le Fou. The film is set to hit theaters March 17.
Grande teased the recording session on Tuesday, posting a photo to Instagram with a wilting rose emoji, a nod to the film’s Enchanted Rose.
This article originally appeared on Billboard.com .

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The films not to miss in 2017 Why British success at the Golden Globes does not mean there is Oscars glory ahead

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January 12, 2017

Well, it’s that time of the year again when I write “Well, it’s that time of the year again to look ahead to some of the new movies opening in the UK in the next 12 months.” As usual, January and February are stuffed full of awards season hopefuls. This year, these include the musical La Land , which I’ll be reviewing in next week’s NS , and Manchester By the Sea , a tale of grief and guilt that is the exact antithesis of La Land in terms of mood (both open on 13 Jan). Also hoping for trophies and trinkets are Jackie (20 Jan), in which Natalie Portman plays JFK’s widow, and Moonlight (17 Feb), the lyrical story of a young, gay, African-American boy growing up in Miami. Look out for Cameraperson , in which the documentary cinematographer Kristin Johnson assembles a touching visual memoir using odds and ends from films she has shot. That opens on 27 January, as does the belated sequel T2 Trainspotting , which reunites the cast and crew of Danny Boyle’s 1996 original. The German comedy Toni Erdmann (3 Feb), about the comically fraught relationship between a woman and her prankster father, took home the five top prizes at the recent European Film Awards.
After the first few months of 2017, release dates tend to be fully confirmed only for studio blockbusters, which bagsy their berths many months and even years before opening. A case in point is the Fast & Furious series: not only is the eighth instalment opening in April (with Helen Mirren a surprise addition to the cast) but parts nine and ten are already booked into the schedule — for 2019 and 2021 respectively, in case you want to leave some space free in your diary. Or book a holiday.
Later in the year, though, I’m looking forward greatly to Under the Silver Lake , a kidnapping thriller starring Andrew Garfield and Riley Keough (who was so impressive as the gangmaster in American Honey ); it’s written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, who made the chilling It Follows , and he has had the good sense to retain the services of that film’s composer, Disasterpeace. Armando Iannucci is back with his second comedy, The Death of Stalin , with a killer cast including Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, Andrea Riseborough and Michael Palin. The Snowman is a stylish-looking thriller starring Michael Fassbender and adapted by Tomas Alfredson ( Let the Right One In , Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ) from the Jo Nesbø novel. Another Swedish director, Ruben Östlund, returns with The Square , which stars Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West and concerns a museum installation space where only good things can happen. Knowing this director’s sensibility, the film should become a talking point in the vein of his previous, provocative black comedies Play and Force Majeure.
Let’s hope for good things also from Stephen Frears’s Victoria and Abdul , with Judi Dench as Queen Victoria (for a second time: she first played the part 20 years ago in Mrs Brown ) in the story of the monarch’s relationship with an Indian clerk (Ali Fazal). The screenplay is by Lee Hall, who wrote Billy Elliot. The Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan follows his Palme d’Or-winning Winter Sleep with Le poirier sauvage , while Pawel Pawlikowski, director of the highly-regarded Ida , offers the tale of a Polish love affair in Cold War. Other notable filmmakers returning this year include Lynne Ramsay with You Were Never Really Here , starring Joaquin Phoenix as a war veteran rescuing women from sex traffickers; Aki Kaurismäki with a droll new comedy-drama, The Other Side of Hope ; Todd Haynes with the children’s fantasy Wonderstruck ; and Lucretia Martel with Zama , her long-awaited follow-up to the extraordinary psychological drama The Headless Woman.
New Terrence Malick movies were once a cause for breathless anticipation. After the double non-whammy of To the Wonder and Knight of Cups , audiences may well be wary of Song to Song , formerly known as Weightless , though the cast-list is dazzling: Ryan Gosling, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Michael Fassbender, Christian Bale, Rooney Mara and Benicio del Toro. There is, naturally, a new Woody Allen film, as yet untitled; this one stars Kate Winslet, who was originally lined up as the star of Allen’s Match Point before dropping out at the eleventh hour and leaving the part open for Scarlett Johansson. And who could not be excited by the prospect of another oddball fantasy from Yorgos Lanthimos, director of Dogtooth and The Lobster? His latest, The Killing of a Sacred Deer , stars Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman. Intentionally blank faces and affectless line readings are to be expected.
Michael Haneke is reunited with Isabelle Huppert in Happy End — what’s the betting that the title is ironic? — and the brilliant, scrupulous Andrey Zvyagintsev follows Leviathan , arguably his best film to date, with Loveless , about the search for a vanished child.
I’m looking forward also to Get Out , a racially-charged horror film from the production company Blumhouse. And who wants A Cure For Wellness? The trailer for this outlandish thriller suggests that the director Gore Verbinski has climbed Jacob’s Ladder all the way to Shutter Island via Shock Corridor. But Verbinski has a good track record in unusual product ( Mousehunt , Rango ). When he isn’t directing Pirates of the Caribbean films, that is.
Talking of which — there’s a new one of those, directed this time by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (who made Kon-Tiki ). Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales docks in May, the same month as Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant. The good news about this Prometheus sequel/ Alien prequel (delete according to preference) is that the Fass is back. (In other words, Michael Fassbender, easily the best thing about Prometheus , is still in the cast.) Blockbuster fans will be sated in April by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and in July by Wonder Woman , World War Z 2 , War for the Planet of the Apes , a Mummy reboot starring Tom Cruise (who also turns up in August in the larky, Catch Me If You Can -style adventure American Made ) and Transformers 5. There is also Christopher Nolan’s war movie Dunkirk , with Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh and — look away now, Zayn fans — Harry Styles.
October brings the tantalising prospect of Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049 while it’s just under 12 months until we feel the Force in time once more in Star Wars Episode VIII (Dec). But I don’t mind saying that the sequel I’m most excited about is Paddington 2 , which should be with us in November. Can you bear the wait?
As the UK papers proudly boasted this morning, “Brits won big” at last night’s Golden Globe awards.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded accolades to Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman and Tom Hiddleston for the BBC’s The Night Manager , while Claire Foy was celebrated for her turn in Netflix’s The Crown , which also won Best TV Drama. Aaron Taylor-Johnson surprised audiences by picking up the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama award for his performance in Nocturnal Animals.
So, yes, well done us. But aside from Taylor-Johnson’s unexpected win, all of these awards are for TV, not film, and so they don’t necessarily hint at Oscars glory for UK talent this year.
The US’s interest in British television has grown and grown in the last few years. British TV exports to the US rose 10 per cent to more than $800m in 2014. Downton Abbey became American network PBS’s highest-rated series in history , and Call The Midwife has also been popular on the network. BBC America has scored high ratings with Doctor Who , Sherlock , and Broadchurch, while The Night Manager and Tom Hardy’s Taboo are successful BBC co-productions with AMC and FX respectively.
Meanwhile, the growth of streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon means British programming is more easily finding an international audience. US Netflix has hosted a number of British shows including Happy Valley , Peaky Blinders , The Fall , Luther , Lovesick , and Netflix originals like The Crown , while Amazon has found American audiences for Fleabag and Ripper Street – the latter was cancelled until Amazon helped fund its recommission.
So it is true that more British television is reaching a wider American audience than ever before – and scooping up more awards as a result.
But in terms of the film industry, Brits like Taylor-Johnson winning at the Golden Globes says nothing at all. As Mark Kermode wrote back in 2011 , “In truth, the movie industries of Britain and America are inextricably intertwined […] Sadly, there’s little that’s newsworthy about that arrangement.”

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Trump revives familiar role: Provocateur

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January 12, 2017

(CNN) It’s been nearly six months since Donald J. Trump has been at the podium taking questions from reporters. But his bravado, tart taunts of reporters, and his creative use of the facts were as dominant as they were throughout his campaign.