10 October 2023

Video caption,

Watch: Panic after car crashes into Chinese consulate

San Francisco police have shot and killed a man who crashed his car into the Chinese consulate on Monday.

A police statement said the unidentified man was shot after officers arrived at the scene.

Footage online showed a blue Honda car in the lobby and dozens of people fleeing the consulate building.

A consulate statement condemned the incident, adding that it posed a “serious threat” to the safety of its staff and other people at the scene.

“We strongly condemn this violent attack and reserve the right to pursue responsibility for the incident,” it added.

China’s foreign ministry has accused the unidentified individual of breaking into the consulate to hurt people inside the office.

The consulate has since temporarily closed parts of its office and has lodged solemn representations – a phrase for expressing diplomatic discontent – to the US, urging authorities to ensure that the matter is properly dealt with.

Police said that an open and active investigation was under way but have not revealed much information.

“When officers arrived here on scene, they found the vehicle had come to rest inside the lobby of the Chinese consulate. Officers entered, made contact with the suspect and an officer-involved shooting occurred,” said Kathryn Winters, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department.

“The suspect was later pronounced deceased at the hospital,” she added.

She said that the police were coordinating with officials from the US state department for the investigation, adding: “There’s very little information that we can give at this time.”

Police say they are still trying to ascertain exactly how many people were in the office at the time of the incident.

Pictures from the consulate soon after the car was driven into the building, show a heavy police presence with the consulate building in the city’s Japantown area cordoned off.

Queue barriers and chairs lay toppled in the lobby, while other pieces of furniture were damaged.

No injuries have been reported from inside the consulate.

San Francisco will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation next month with Chinese President Xi Jinping expected to attend.

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News

Directors Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas and actors James Caan and Robert Duvall all spent several weeks in a western Nebraska. It was 1968, and while the movie got little attention at the time, it proved pivotal in the evolution of Hollywood.

Friday, August 18th 2023, 7:54 AM MDT

Updated: Sunday, August 20th 2023, 9:30 AM MDTBy Leo Adam Biga, Flatwater Free Press

Rex Peterson trick riding while on tour.

Provided by Stephen Mack via Flatwater Free Press

Four years before the release of “The Godfather,” a nearly unknown contingent consisting of director Francis Ford Coppola and actors Robert Duvall and James Caan rolled into a western Nebraska town. 

They weren’t alone. Future mega-director George Lucas, cinematographer Bill Butler and actress Shirley Knight joined them in Ogallala for the Coppola feature “The Rain People.” It was 1968, and though the resulting work received little attention at the time, it went on to play an outsized role in the evolution of Hollywood and cinema.

Three films, plus a TV miniseries, emerged from this Hollywood-Nebraska intersection, including a no-holds-barred documentary Duvall made about a rambunctious trick-riding rodeo family, the Petersons.

The film, “We’re Not the Jet Set,” premiered in New York City to good reviews but fell out of circulation due to subsequent rights issues. It paints an unvarnished family portrait, complete with coarse, politically incorrect language.

“It’s true to who we were,” said Kris Peterson Springer, who appears in the doc with her siblings, parents and paternal grandparents. “I’m in no way embarrassed or ashamed by it.”

K.C. Peterson, Kris’ brother, regards Duvall’s largely self-financed labor-of-love as a gift bestowed on the family, perhaps the ultimate home movie. 

The Petersons plan to organize a public screening of it at the Prairie Theatre in Ogallala during an upcoming family reunion. 

This incongruous melding of cowboy hospitality and high art originally happened by accident as the freewheeling production of “Rain People” wended its way from the East Coast to the South to the Midwest. The loose route left plenty of room for inspiration and discovery.

“We were on the road, God, for that whole picture. I had really no idea where we were going from day to day,” Caan said before his death in 2022.

The movie might never have ended up in Nebraska if a location scout traveling ahead didn’t happen upon Ogallala. After seeing it, Coppola decided that’s where the story would culminate. The last four weeks of shooting unfolded there. 

“Once there, we felt at home and there were many good places that suited our story,” said Coppola, 84. “The people were nice and … we were all happy there.”

The schedule paralleled the fictional road trip of its pregnant protagonist, Natalie (Knight). She flees suburban housewife life for the open road, traversing Long Island, Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and Nebraska to “find herself.” She gets involved with a brain-damaged ex-football player (Caan) and a motorcycle cop (Duvall). The maternal and romantic entanglement ends in tragedy.

Though arriving by chance, Duvall and Caan formed enduring friendships with the Petersons and another ranch family, the Haythorns. The experience also reinforced relationships among the film artists that led to alliances and projects pivotal to “New Hollywood.” 

Coppola was still finding his way as a filmmaker. 

Duvall, now 92, was a last minute replacement for Rip Torn. 

Getting the short notice gig proved fortuitous for Duvall’s career, said Knight. 

“That changed a lot of film history actually, if you think about it, because he started doing all that work with Francis.” 

“Rain People” provided Caan with the most challenging role of his career until playing Brian Piccolo in “Brian’s Song.” “I was like depressed through that whole picture, mostly because of this character I played.” 

Despite his discomfort, Caan said it was a great opportunity. 

“Just from talking to him (Coppola), I knew he knew actors. When we started working together I knew he was something special. The guy pretty much knew about everything.”

New USC film school grad Lucas came along for the ride to document the making of the movie. His short doc chronicling “Rain People” was released as “Filmmaker – A Diary by George Lucas.” 

“George’s film is excellent – he caught the spirit of this exciting trip,” said Coppola, “which for us was an adventure into filmmaking.” 

Duvall and Caan remembered the quiet, scrawny Lucas wielding a camera and sound system strapped to his chest to capture behind the scenes moments. 

Knight, who thought Lucas “was adorable,” took away an important lesson.

“Be nice to everybody … because that assistant could turn out to be George Lucas.”

Soon after wrapping in Ogallala, Coppola and Lucas formed American Zoetrope in San Francisco. “Rain People” was the production company’s first release. Under the Zoetrope banner Coppola produced the younger filmmaker’s first two features: “THX 1138” in 1971, starring Duvall, and “American Graffiti” in 1973.

In between the Lucas films, Coppola made “The Godfather,” then “Godfather II” and “The Conversation,” cementing his reputation as a contemporary American master.

While Coppola slogged through “Apocalypse Now,” Lucas parlayed the unexpected popularity of “American Graffiti” to turn his Saturday matinee fantasy “Star Wars” into Hollywood’s biggest franchise and the foundation of his LucasFilm-SkyWalker Ranch production and effects empire. 

“George Lucas was, and still is, like a younger brother to me. I knew early on he was a great talent, and though a different personality to my own, one that was very helpful and stimulating to me,” Coppola said. 

The emergence of Coppola and Lucas marked a new wave encroaching on the failing old studio system out of touch with counter-culture youth audiences. Though “Rain People” did little business and received lukewarm reviews, it served as a bridge project for those involved. 

Butler, the cinematographer, contributed to “The Godfather” and replaced Haskell Wexler on “The Conversation.” He went on to photograph “Jaws” for yet another film school “brat,” Steven Spielberg. 

“Rain People” led Coppola to cast Duvall in “The Godfather” films, “The Conversation” and “Apocalypse Now” and to cast Caan in the first “Godfather” and later in “Gardens of Stone.” 

“I liked working with them very much, and yes, they were on all the early lists of names for ‘The Godfather,’” Coppola said.

“George (Lucas) got to meet Bobby and knew he should be in ‘THX 1138,’” he added. 

The many crosscurrents resulting from “Rain People” were rare for an art film, said film scholar Thomas Schatz, emeritus chair of the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of “Hollywood Genres.”

“The Rain People” was part of “a strain of offbeat off-Hollywood road movies” that served as “character studies of American nomads, inward journeys of discovery and aimless travelogues through the American outback,” said Schatz, an Omaha native.

The 1969 movie marked the start of Coppola banding together collaborators who would join him in “his later assault on mainstream Hollywood,” Schatz added.

It is now regarded as an important early work by Coppola, who counts it among the favorites of his own films. 

“It has value, I think, beyond being an early film of mine,” he said, “but as one of the first films to touch on the theme of ‘women’s liberation.’”

Knight, who was actually pregnant by the time shooting commenced, embraced Coppola’s freewheeling vision. 

“I think what was happening with women at that time was they were coming out of the ’50s as lovely housewives in aprons into an era when women were becoming doctors and lawyers, entering politics and becoming independent,” Knight said. “Natalie was caught up in that.”

All the movie people met locals, but Duvall and Caan got to know them personally. The actors encountered a scene straight out of the movies when they met the tough and colorful ranchers. 

Fade in on a 1968 summer day in Ogallala. The sleepy agricultural and former railroad hub had been largely bypassed by the nation’s social-political churn except for some of its boys going off to Vietnam. Cut to the arrival of a small caravan of cars, vans and trucks whose occupants marked them instantly as outsiders.

Word traveled fast about these long-haired strangers with lights, cameras, cables and big city ways. It wasn’t long before Duvall and Caan, both admirers of the West and horses, asked around where they could find some mounts. They were directed to the Peterson’s circle pen just outside of town. 

Duvall still remembers the day and their encounter with the family patriarch, B.A. Peterson. He invited them to come down and ride horses any time … just before asking – in colorful language and in the same breath – if they were having any luck in town. 

Duvall recognized a cinematic family when he saw one. 

“Oh, boy, a very unique family, a rodeo circus mentality. They were kind of an identity unto themselves even in that small community I think.” 

The actors came back to ride, rope and swap stories. Duvall and Caan moved into The Lazy K next to the Peterson spread. They bought cowboy boots and had one of the Peterson brood, K.C., polish them. K.C. said he and his family took an instant liking to the actors. The family made quite an impression on them. 

“There were some pretty rough and tumble people back then,” said Duvall. 

“Yeah, they were a wild group,” Caan confirmed. “They would fight in the middle of the living room, and, oh boy, I mean fist fight, and he’s (B.A.) sitting back in a chair saying, ‘Now, no hitting in the face’ Those were the rules.”

“We had good times together. You’d tell B.A. a joke and he’d laugh for five minutes. He had a great sense of humor, that guy,” recalled Duvall.

K.C. said his father “didn’t care what he said to anybody, he didn’t care who you were. He didn’t let us call him daddy, you called him B.A. The film brought everything out about him.” 

Duvall, cinematographer Joseph Friedman and sound man Stephen Mack, who also edited the film, captured the family in all their raucous reality – the politically incorrect language, rowdy behavior and all. 

“We let it come from them. It’s their life,” Duvall said.

K.C. said his father could read a person and he trusted Duvall, giving him unbridled access to family without fear of misrepresentation or exploitation. 

“Bobby wasn’t going to change it, he was just going to put it out there how it was,” said K.C. “You won’t see another film like it, it’s totally different.” 

Duvall said he wouldn’t call the film “a pure documentary because there were certain scenes we set up … but it’s what they do and so it comes out of pretty pure behavior.”

K.C. recalled Duvall at his family’s house “all the time.” He stayed in the motel next door and would bring his wife and step-daughters to the Peterson place.

“My mom would have them sit down for a meal. She’d just feed them all. Then the next thing you know Bobby would say, ‘Hey, we need to film this.’ Bobby and crew followed us everywhere. You never knew when they might turn on a camera. And that’s kind of how it went. ”

After sharing so many intimate scenes together, Duvall was like a family member. At his invitation, some Petersons even visited him on the “The Godfather” set. 

“Jet Set” film locales include the Peterson home near the South Platte River and open rangeland. Events depicted include a cattle branding, a wild west show, the Nebraskaland parade in downtown North Platte, a graduation and an amateur boxing match. Long-gone sites figure prominently in “The Rain People,” including the Lazy Skyline Drive-In and Reptile Ranch. A house fire in Brule also makes quite a scene.

North Platte Telegraph reporter Todd von Kampen, an Ogallala native, said the Coppola film “really does capture the Ogallala I knew from my childhood.”

For Duvall and Caan, western Nebraska’s influence didn’t end with “The Rain People” or “We’re Not the Jet Set.” 

Trail-drive tales told by Walt “Waldo” Haythorn, a fellow rancher and friend of B.A. Peterson, informed Duvall’s 2006 mini-series “Broken Trail.”  

“Being around those people, the real thing, that helped me when I went on to do things … especially my favorite part, Augustus McCrae in ‘Lonesome Dove’ and ‘Broken Trail,’” said Duvall, a National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

Caan took up Denny Peterson on an offer to join him at the Haythorns for a herding and branding.

“Boy, that was some experience. It’s a great tradition actually. These guys come from all over, the neighboring ranchers, like the Petersons. And then all the wives, boy what a feast they put out. A spread for all the hands. By four o’clock … I was done, I was hurtin’ boy.” 

On the last day of the four-day branding, Caan was accorded the honor of roping. “You’re tied onto your saddle and rope these big old calves out of the herd and drag ’em by the pit. I was flanking ’em and spread-eagling for two or three days.”

Caan got so into working cowboy ways he began entering weekend roping events. “It was just in my blood,” he said. 

Eventually, studios banned him from competing due to injury risk. He credits his interest in ranching with forming the foundation for “Comes a Horseman,” a western he produced and starred in with Jane Fonda.

After “The Godfather” Caan and Duvall re-teamed on Sam Peckinpah’s “The Killer Elite” and remained best friends until Caan’s death. Caan felt their shared “blatant honesty” and ability to make each other laugh contributed to their strong on-screen chemistry.

Members of the Peterson clan leveraged their horsemanship into becoming in-demand Hollywood animal trainers and wranglers. 

K.C. worked on the Duvall film, “Geronimo: An American Legend.” Older brother Rex Peterson has a list of credits ranging from “The Black Stallion” to “The Horse Whisperer” to “Hidalgo” to “1883.”

“He’s the most like his dad I guess of the guys I know. … He ain’t got time for a lot of how ya’ doins and stuff,” Duvall said.

Peterson has helped make many A-list actors look proficient on horseback, including Viggo Mortensen, whom he worked with on “Hidalgo”. Peterson’s iconic Stetson hat and handlebar mustache are his trademark look, though he’s rarely “hunted” the camera to get on screen himself, even when Duvall shot “Jet Set.” 

He did, however, relent for a close-up in the 2021 miniseries “1883” and for a small part in the new Mortensen western “The Dead Don’t Hurt.”

And he’s the subject of an in-progress documentary project by Paul Brozen, “Hats, Horses and Hollywood – The Rex Peterson Story.”

Duvall is quick to note that he doesn’t deserve credit for the Petersons’ successful entry into Hollywood. “They totally got that on their own,” he said. But the legendary actor is glad the family still treasures the film he made about them.

“It’s very moving to hear that,” he said, “because you never know if they’re going to accept something real.”

The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.

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Courtesy Attorney John Burris

Banko Brown was fatally shot by a man who never identified himself as a security guard, a lawyer for the Brown family says.

CNN
 — 

The security guard who fatally shot Banko Brown, a transgender man who was suspected of shoplifting from a San Francisco Walgreens in April, must pay $1,500 in fines for code violations, says the agency that regulates security services in California.

Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony is being fined for carrying a concealed firearm and for uniform violations, according to a citation order from California’s Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.

The notice, issued by Deputy Chief Samuel Stodolski, says Anthony did not have a concealed weapons permit at the time of the shooting but was carrying a gun in a zippered pouch on the tactical vest he was wearing on April 27.

The citation order says Anthony was wearing a sweatshirt without “bureau-approved patches on each shoulder,” which should have said “private security” and the name of his employer, when he was on duty at a downtown Walgreens.

“(That) may be the reason (Brown) was trying to get away or resist as much as he can,” Brown family lawyer John Burris said during a phone call to CNN on Friday. “Nowhere did he (Anthony) say that ‘I’m a security guard.’”

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins declined to file criminal charges against Anthony, saying he acted in self-defense. In May, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office would investigate that decision.

According to a report released in May, the security guard told investigators Brown repeatedly threatened to stab him.

Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle/AP

Asia Hubbard, ex-girlfriend of Banko Brown, speaks outside City Hall, Monday, May 15, 2023, after a march from the Market Street Walgreens in San Francisco, following District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ decision not to prosecute security guard, Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony, for confronting and killing Brown, who was suspected of shoplifting inside the store. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

San Francisco security guard will not be charged in fatal shooting of suspected Walgreens shoplifter

Surveillance camera video also released in May shows the moment when Anthony attempts to stop Brown from leaving the store before Brown shoves him. A physical altercation ensues, the footage shows, where Anthony holds Brown on the ground and then releases him after about a minute. Brown begins to leave before turning around and moving toward Anthony, who shoots him.

Anthony must pay the $1,500 total for three fines within 30 days of the citation, which was issued on Monday, or he could face “disciplinary action” by the bureau. He can contest the decision with the disciplinary review committee, the citation order says.

Anthony has not responded to requests for comment from CNN.

The security company that employed Anthony, Kingdom Group Protective Services, also faces a $5,000 fine from the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services for failing to submit an incident report within seven days of the shooting, as well as failing to “maintain an accurate and current record of the proof of completion of the trainings” for Anthony.

The security company was also given 30 days from the citation date, July 13, to pay its fine. The company has not returned CNN’s request for comment.

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News

From Ben Kesslen

April 10, 2023 | 11:31 a.m

A five-year-old girl was shot dead in the East Bay on Saturday while riding in her parents’ car to a family dinner.

Eliyanah Crisostomo’s family was driving on Interstate 880 in Fremont, California when she was shot, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The incident happened around 6:40 p.m. Saturday, according to the Chronicle. Little Eliyanah, just two weeks shy of her sixth birthday, was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, where she was pronounced dead. No suspects have been named.

Eliyanah Crisostomo, 5, was killed while riding in her parents’ car.Twitter

Little Eliyanah was just two weeks away from her sixth birthday.Facebook

No suspects were named in the little girl’s death.Santa Cruz Police Department

The family was out for a birthday dinner at the Outback Steakhouse in Milpitas, California.

“She died within 30 seconds of the incident,” said a GoFundMe campaign organized on behalf of the family.

“Eliyanah was a fun-loving little girl who loved life, had a generous heart and bonded closely with her three siblings, especially her brother who was 11 months apart,” the site reads.

“Both were so looking forward to Easter before the family was torn apart by this tragic event. Eliyanah would have been 6 years old on April 21st.”

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Winnie Goh, a Southern California entrepreneur behind dog accessories company & Mutts Co., has garnered a lot of attention on Instagram and TikTok since sharing her harrowing experience of being caught in a drive-by shooting in San Francisco on June 11 . The horrifying incident, which Goh describes as “one of the most traumatic experiences” of her life, happened just a minute after she started driving.

Goh was visiting her boyfriend in San Francisco and had borrowed his car to drive down Geneva Street in the Crocker Amazon neighborhood near McLaren Park. Goh recalls hearing several gunshots while driving and then noticing a car with a gun sticking out of the window when she looked to the left. Realizing she was caught in the crossfire, she felt a sharp pain in her leg and saw blood. Only then did she realize she had been shot.

An X-ray taken after the incident revealed that the bullet had entered Goh’s leg, leaving fragments scattered throughout her body and causing a fracture. SFPD has investigated the case, but despite the sense of urgency, no arrests have been made.

While the case is still unsolved, one undeniable truth prevails: Goh is extraordinarily lucky to have survived. In her social media posts, she thanks her friends, family and the SFPD for their support during one of the most difficult times of her life. According to Yahoo Finance, Goh is giving away handmade first responder dog toys from her company to doctors, nurses, paramedics, police officers and firefighters, as well as the general public, after the incident.

As Goh’s story continues to resonate throughout the community, it goes a long way in raising awareness of the accessible and contemporary dangers associated with gun violence. This captivating story is a powerful reminder that even everyday, harmless actions – like driving down a street in broad daylight – can lead to life-threatening situations. As part of the ongoing investigation, the San Francisco Police Department is encouraging anyone with information to come forward and help bring the perpetrators to justice.

The vast majority of reactions to Goh’s video have been an outpouring of support. Instagram user @iguessitsche replied: “Oh I’m so sorry this happened to you. Take good care of your mental and physical wounds. Even though you feel like you don’t need to talk about this experience any further, you do what you need to do .

Others pile on the hate for San Francisco. One TikTok user wrote, “SF isn’t what it used to be,” highlighting the fact that San Francisco remains the center of much debate and investigation for a variety of reasons.

For now, however, Goh continues to recover and witnesses the overwhelming love and support of her community. She goes on to emphasize the responsibility of individuals to work for positive change and the importance of remaining vigilant in the face of a rapidly evolving world.

The post Younger Entrepreneur Shot in San Francisco Drive-By Taking pictures appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Nine people were shot dead in San Francisco’s Mission District on Friday night, police said.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, officers responded before 9:07 p.m. on 24th Street and Treat Avenue.

“As of this writing, it appears to be a targeted and isolated incident,” police said in a tweet. “There is currently no known risk to the public.”

“I could see a victim,” said a witness who lives at the intersection, who asked not to be named. “I heard the shooting loud and clear but did not see it with my own eyes. The corner I live in is now taped up with yellow tape, cops are taking notes looking for spent shots I think.” [A victim] was cared for by three people until the emergency arrived. It looked very serious.”

When officers arrived at the scene, they found nine victims with gunshot wounds. Police called paramedics to the scene of the accident, who transported the victims to local hospitals.

The condition of the victims was unknown. The police asked the population to avoid the area.

Dying Breed, a clothing store on the corner where the shooting occurred, threw a five-year anniversary block party on Friday night, according to posts on the store’s Instagram account. Store employees declined to comment when reached by phone.

According to a witness who filmed the incident and posted footage to Twitter, a self-driving Cruise car blocked emergency medicine access to the crime scene. In the video, a police officer could be seen and heard yelling for the robotic taxi to drive away as it was blocking access to the emergency room and fire department. The cruise car was about a block from the crime scene at the time the video was captured.

“Suddenly, cops, fire engines, and ambulances were moving down Folsom toward 24th,” said Paul Valdez, who recorded the incident. “The cruise car just pulled up on Folsom. An officer got out of his car, banged on the window and shouted for the car to pull off the road and get out of the way.”

San Francisco Transportation Superintendent Jeffrey Tumlin and other city officials have publicly criticized self-driving cars as unsafe. The California Public Utilities Commission appears close to approving nearly unlimited deployment of Cruise and Waymo robotic taxis in San Francisco as early as June.

Cruise was contacted for comment but did not respond at the time of publication.

All information is provisional. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411.

This is an evolving story.

The post 9 Folks Shot in San Francisco’s Mission District appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, left, and Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day in Nintendo’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

By Jake Coyle | Associated Press

April is the cruellest month, growing lilacs from the dead land, mingling memory and desire, stirring up dull roots with spring rains. But it’s also, when I look at the clock, Mario Time.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie with its primaries is here to brighten up our dreary springs, TS Eliot be damned. That there’s a surge in excitement about a Mario Bros. movie is a once unthinkable development. The last time Mario made it to the big screen was in 1993 in the little-known live-action film starring Bob Hoskins as Mario, John Leguizamo as Luigi, and Dennis Hopper (!) as Bowser. Hoskins called the experience “af——— nightmare.”

But a lot has changed in the three decades since Super Mario Bros, the first-ever video game adaptation. A once widely derided genre is now a cash cow. The Last of Us is a smash hit on HBO. Pokemon and Uncharted are box office hits. Since Sonic the Hedgehog already has two movies in it, Mario is playing catch-up.

And The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which opens in theaters Wednesday, is a spirited and lively attempt to race to the front of the pack. A collaboration between legendary video game designer and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri (both producers) is a drastically more candid effort to capture the fun and spirit of Nintendo gaming.

And visually a dream. Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and their animators have rendered the Mario universe with cartoonish glory, combining the game’s brilliant simplicity with a more robust and equally delightful tag-glo flavor. If playing Super Mario Bros. is part of the appeal. and its many offshoots have always consisted of immersing themselves in such a sunny imaginary world – plus composer Koji Kondo’s bouncy, catchy compositions – the film has successfully mirrored that mushroom-pounding delight. It makes you want to…play Mario.

Because as nice as it is to watch The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it’s not nearly as fun as it would be to play it. It’s him, Mario, but it’s not an A-masterpiece. The storyline is just a touch above the interludes of storyline you usually get between games. With the exception of Jack Black’s exceedingly lovesick Bowser (he’s part Phantom of the Opera, part Meatloaf-style ballad), there’s nothing here to deepen these characters beyond their usual 2-D adventures. Mario may be a modern day Mickey Mouse, but his kingdom resides on the console.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie begins much like Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing: in a Brooklyn pizza joint. There, Mario (Chris Pratt, passable despite the outcry) and Luigi (Charlie Day) struggle to get their plumbing business up and running. There are a few moments of stereotypical Italian life – pasta and a big family dinner – before the brothers try to fix a burst water main, dropping them through a portal and into the game’s fantasy realm. (In future Brooklyn set sequels, Mario will likely fight off waves of walkers and hipsters.)

On the other hand, Bowser reigns over a Koopa army of troops in scenes that can feel like the most surreal Triumph of the Will impersonation yet. But while zooming in or out is possible on that other side of the green tube, there’s never any mention of the possibility of lives being lost as Mario weaves his way through mushroom patches and question mark boxes. His predicament is as clear as it is in the game: he has been separated from Luigi and he must help save Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) from being forced to marry Bowser.

Game logic often dictates Mario’s movements. The shells of the turtle-like Koopas can be pushed around like ammunition. And choosing a Mario Kart vehicle is an equally difficult decision. Sometimes the overlap is less consistent. An Invincibility Star is the most coveted item in this adventure, greatly exaggerating its typical usefulness. These things take about 10 seconds.

None of this is likely to be enough to make anyone exclaim, “Oh, yes!” as they hop up and down and take off their hats. But it’s an hour and a half of superlative marketing that will whet your appetite for more Mario at home on the couch. If anything, the – as Mario would say – “okey dokey” Super Mario Bros. Movie only reinforces the distance between two vastly different media. It may be Game-On for video game adaptations, but the Mario main event is still back on Nintendo.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie”

2 1/2 stars out of 4

Evaluation: PG (for action and light violence)

Duration: 92 minutes

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OAKLAND (CBS SF/AP) — The family of Erik Salgado, a 23-year-old unarmed man fatally shot in 2020 by California Highway Patrol officers, on Tuesday denounced a report from the district attorney saying there was not enough evidence to prosecute the officers.

Salgado was shot and killed by three members of CHP’s auto-theft task force in June of 2020 on Cherry Street in Oakland. On Monday, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley publicly released the final report on the fatal shooting and said she agreed with its conclusion “that the evidence does not support criminal charges” against the officers.

READ MORE: Grieving Parents Make Tear-Filled Plea To End Gun Violence At San Francisco Rally

Salgado’s family and supporters gathered on the steps of the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. Attorney John Burris, who is moving ahead with a civil rights lawsuit over Salgado’s death, said there was no legal basis for the CHP officers to shoot into Salgado’s car.

“I think that report is a sham,” Burris said at the Tuesday news conference, adding he was disappointed but not surprised. “The decision is bittersweet because although disappointed with the decision it does allows us to go forward,”

The Salgado family said the officers involved in the shooting used excessive force, especially because Salgado was not armed. he added.

Salgado’s mother Felina Ramirez said through an interpreter Tuesday morning, “All I want is justice. I want justice for my son.”
She spoke through tears as she described never being able to see her son again.

Salgado’s sister, Amanda Majail-Blanco, says they’ve been waiting two years for answers – answers they say this report does not provide.

“We have to remember that this is an investigative report on cops investigating their own, and this shouldn’t be trusted,” said Majail-Blanco.

Prosecutors identified the officers involved as CHP Sgt. Richard Henderson and Officers Donald Saputa and Eric Hulbert. The CHP said at the time the officers were conducting a traffic stop on the Dodge sedan driven by Salgado when he rammed it against their patrols and they opened fire.

Salgado was struck at least a dozen times. His pregnant girlfriend was in the passenger seat and was wounded.

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Salgado was driving one of the Dodge Hellcats that was stolen a few nights earlier from a San Leandro car dealership during looting that happened around the George Floyd protests.

The report says when the officers pulled Salgado over and got out of their cars to talk to him, he tried to drive away, ramming their patrol vehicles twice. Thats’ when the officers opened fire, later saying they worried the Hellcat Salgado was driving could hit and kill one of the officers.

“The DA has said, ‘Well, I’m not really clear that that’s what happened, but right now I have nothing else to turn to.’ Why? Because there’s no video,” said LaDoris Cordell, a former judge and a former independent police auditor.

Cordell says video from body worn cameras would have taken away any doubt as to whether the shooting was justified. According to the DA, the cameras were not required by CHP policy.

“Had they had cameras on and activated, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, nor would the DA have any question about whether or not pressing charges, filing charges was the right thing to do,” says Cordell.

The 34 page report does leave the door open for criminal charges to be filed in the future “should more witnesses or evidence come forward.”

Katie Nielsen contributed to this report.

© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.

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The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office said Tuesday that the man who was shot and killed by police at the San Francisco International Airport on Jan. 20 was 37-year-old Nelson Waynezhi Szeto.

Szeto, whose city of residence is unknown, died after a confrontation with police near the BART station entrance at the airport’s International Terminal. Initial reports from officials said Szeto was armed with two handguns, but an investigation by the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office later revealed that he had two airsoft guns.

The situation started with multiple reports made about a suspicious individual in the International Terminal, officials said.

The San Francisco Police Department responded at 7:26 am and established that the suspect “appeared to be armed with a handgun,” the police department said in a statement.

Officers reportedly tried to calm down Szeto using nonlethal measures, but he continued “to advance,” and officers fired multiple shots “to neutralize the threat,” airport spokesperson Doug Yakel said in an email statement Jan. 20.

A medical team administered CPR, but Szeto died from his injuries, officials said.

A bystander in the area was also injured in the gunfire and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, Yakel said.

The California Department of Justice announced that same day that it’s investigating the shooting. Under Assembly Bill 1506, which was passed in 2020, a state prosecutor is required to “investigate incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian.”

Under the bill, Szeto is considered an “unarmed civilian” as he wasn’t in possession of a deadly weapon. Airsoft guns are considered “replica guns” and “are not considered deadly weapons unless they are used in some particular manner likely to produce death or great bodily injury (eg, as a bludgeon).”

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A big turnout of family and friends – with special recognition for David Nguyen.

San Francisco Sheriff’s Deputies saluting pictures of David Nguyen, a 28-year-old Alameda County Sheriff’s recruit who was killed on Interstate 580 in Oakland as he drove home to San Francisco after a day of training.

“Just seeing the community get together for a cause, for my brother, that keeps me going,” said David’s sister Barbara. She was there to speak along with a number of others, including the San Francisco Sheriff, to honor Nguyen Wednesday night where he was so close to graduating at City College of San Francisco.

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Alan Wong is a trustee at City College of San Francisco who served alongside Nguyen in the National Guard.

“With the support of David’s teachers, I’m moving forward with a proposal to have City College confer him an honorary degree in liberal arts and sciences to help him and his family complete his academic degree at City College,” said Wong.
Nguyen was just one unit away from a degree. His girlfriend Shanice Vaughn read a journal of his where he vowed to do better in school.

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“My solution is to enter City College with a completely different mindset. The mindset to learn, progress, and most of all not cheat myself out of an education again,” said Vaughn.

David’s family and friends are still struggling with his loss but were happy to share David’s memories on cold city evening, with his mother, who has been hit particularly hard.

Barbara says she will remember the good times.

VIDEO: Alameda Co. Sheriff’s recruit fatally shot while driving home from work on I-580 in Oakland

“He took care of me at a very young age and he would force me to do everything with him either working out, Boy Scouts, all these things. I didn’t really appreciate it when I was younger but when I look back on it now, man he was a great big brother,” says Nguyen.

Deputies tell us there is still a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of David’s killer. As of right now, no arrests have been made.

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