Lester holt salaryl

4/22/2024

The Seventh Party System HOLT: “Good evening from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. I’m Lester Holt, anchor of “NBC Nightly News.” I want to welcome you to the first presidential debate.The participants tonight are Jeb Bush, Jerry Brown and Bernie Sanders. This debate is sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. The commission drafted tonight’s format, and the rules have been agreed to by the campaigns.The 90-minute debate is divided into six segments, each 15 minutes long. We’ll explore three topic areas tonight: Achieving prosperity; America’s direction; and securing America. At the start of each segment, I will ask the same lead-off question to both candidates, and they will each have up to two minutes to respond. From that point until the end of the segment, we’ll have an open discussion.The questions are mine and have not been shared with the commission or the campaigns. The audience here in the room has agreed to remain silent so that we can focus on what the candidates are saying.I will invite you to applaud, however, at this moment, as we welcome the candidates: Democratic nominee for president of the United States, Gerald Brown, and Republican nominee for president of the United States, Jeb Bush, and Reform nominee for president of the United States, Bernard Sanders.”
Superman Lives Review Entertainment Weekly, June 22, 1999It was certainly a bold choice to enlist Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) to helm the first Superman film since 1987's critical and commercial flop, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, the final outting for Christopher Reeve's iconic portrayal of the comic superhero. Burton had success previously, directing the first two Batman films starring Michael Keaton as the titular caped crusader. However, it was difficult to imagine the quirky director known for making odd misfits the protagonists of his films being the man to create the world for the famously optimistic, outgoing boy scout.Enter Superman Lives, where the vigilante superhero Superman (Nicolas Cage) leads a double life as Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, dating star colleague Lois Lane (Courteney Cox) and paling around with his good friend Jimmy Olsen (Chris Rock), all the while unaware of his true origins as the last Kryptonian. But sinister forces are working against him, and megalomaniac billionaire businessman Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) soon forms an alliance with the extraterrestial menance Brainiac (Christopher Walken), creating the gestalt entity Lexiac to kill Superman once and for all.The first two Batman films were definitely aided heavily from the inclusion of their charismatic villains, whether in Jack Nicholson's Joker or Danny DeVito's turn as the vile Penguin, but there's a great lack of that here. Spacey's performance is commendable, delivering well on his trademark charm as a slimy, greed-obsessed heel as similarly seen in his Swimming with Sharks and The Unusual Suspects roles, but he's wasted here. He appears sparingly, and oftentimes has his performance obscured by poor computer-generated effects meant to allude to his Lexiac persona. Walken, who had prior portrayed the original character Max Shreck in Burton's last comic book film, suffers from these special effect heavy pitfalls, though is able to shine more simply due to the granduer owed to his presence. One memorable scene features Walken's Brainiac going toe-to-toe with polar bears in the Great White North as he breaks into Superman's Fortress of Solitude.Cage's Superman is a stark departure from Reeve's performance, but not necessarily a bad one. He's without question the Burtonized Superman we all had expected to see following the announcement of their partnership. His long, flowing locks draw comparisons to his comic counterpart, who had taken to the mullet look in the successor to the highly marketed “Death of Superman” plotline from earlier in the decade, which this film takes heavy inspiration from. He has an unusual charm to him, at times off-putting but also capable of pulling the audience into his plight of loneliness in the world.This is certainly not your daddy or granddaddy's Superman. Cox's Lois Lane by contrast bares intense similarities to Margot Kidder's take on the character, so much so she fails to make it her own in many ways, and is unable to make much of the role particularly notable or engaging. Special mention goes to WCW wrestler and former vice presidential candidate Ric Flair's go at the hulking mute Doomsday, who Luthor and Brainiac create to do the hero in. One can only assume the casting of the outlandish Nature Boy stems from Ted Turner's breakout success at the polls three years ago, although it's unknown how much the Reform Party will contribute to Superman Lives's box office this summer.It's safe to say the film suffers from an identity crisis. At times, it wants to be that optimistic Reeve Superman, but also wishes to carve itself a unique niche as the kid who listens to Marilyn Manson's Superman. It's difficult to say if it's a success. You have to give it to Burton though, it's entertaining. That'll probably be good enough. B-

No way this guy is serious.