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The latest collaboration between Netflix and Adam Sandler‘s Happy Madison Productions, “Don’t Say Good Luck” is markedly more delicate and deeply felt than most films bearing that imprint, though it’s still proudly mainstream in sensibility — unafraid of sentimentality as it lunges directly and most effectively for viewers’ heartstrings. Hart’s family-friendly “Stargirl” films for Disney+ showed she could balance mega-streamer house style with human-feeling storytelling; her more adventurous 2018 superhero indie “Fast Color” demonstrated a mature, cross-generational approach to frequently juvenile genre fare.

Those skills serve Hart well in her broadly empathetic latest, which should play relatably both to adolescents beginning to assert identities outside their parents’ control, as well as to elders grappling with a lifelong duty of care to their children and an obligation, sooner or later, to let go. For suburban mom-of-three Elizabeth (Lynskey), who balances childcare with a job running a popular local deli alongside her husband Ted (Max Greenfield), that may be too soon: Years after beating cancer, she’s dismayed to learn it has returned, this time with a tougher prognosis.

The script, co-written by Hart and producer/partner Jordan Horowitz with story scribe Laura Hankin, limns this crisis without any of the usual expository medical-consultation scenes; the focus throughout is intimately domestic, as Elizabeth reckons not just with her health but with how to alternately protect and prepare her family in the face of a worst-case scenario. Her boisterous pre-teen twins Ethan and Caleb are too young to grasp quite what’s at stake; high school sophomore Sophie (Sandler) has rather more vivid memories of going through this anguish before.

But Sophie has a lot on her plate besides, beginning with the lead role in her school’s ambitious spring production of the Broadway musical “Waitress” — an unexpected coup over resident drama-club queen Mallory (an excellent Elyse Bell, bringing more nuance to this nascent-diva role than initially meets the eye), after her unassuming but purely sung audition strikes a chord with kindly teacher/director Ms. Parker (Stephanie Beatriz). It’s more work and pressure than she bargained for, putting strain on her relationship with longtime best friend Carolyn (Scarlett Estevez), who’s on her own path of queer self-discovery, and that’s before mounting family drama makes it increasingly hard for her to leave everything behind on stage.

There’s a lot of room here for flat teen-movie stereotypes, but “Don’t Say Good Luck” — the title a running bit between Sophie and Elizabeth, who cherishes her daughter’s thespian dreams — is persistently, pleasingly fair to all involved, finding complicating seams of vulnerability in characters set up as foils or antagonists. Jack (Jack Champion), Sophie’s handsome co-lead and crush, is neither dreamboat nor dickhead, just a boy not yet in command of his various talents; Linda (Bebe Neuwirth), Elizabeth’s officious mother, may run a little cold, but controls what she can to counter life’s ungovernable cruelties. As family tensions build, her sweeter other half Dale, played with winningly soft squareness by Steve Buscemi, gives Sophie the plain, solid advice she needs: “You can let it out,” he counsels. “If not with me, then with somebody.”

It’s a potentially corny line delivered with finely tuned gentleness, which goes for much else here. Lynskey, so good at playing weary, careworn decency, makes heart-to-heart dialogue sound, well, actually from the heart, rather than mawkishly platitudinous; Sandler returns her sincerity with a lovely performance that captures the needy, girlish terror and exploratory adult curiosity at play in her character.

Her vocals, bright and plaintive and without musical-theater affectation, are exactly as imperfect as they need to be, though Hart gifts her with a full, climactically blossoming musical sequence at exactly the right moment, singing the signature Sara Bareilles ballad “She Used to Be Mine” — at which point any misty-eyed viewers who have barely been hanging on up to this point will likely take Buscemi’s advice. Commendably thoughtful and quietly humane for much of its running time, “Don’t Say Good Luck” also knows just when to let it out. %!s()

That, of course, is exactly why those cartoons were impossibly great. To those of us who grew up on them, watching Wile E. Coyote do everything in his power to catch and kill the Road Runner gave off a charge of reckless endangerment that was hilarious and cathartic. It was also disarmingly casual. Every time Wile E. got blown to smithereens by a faulty detonator, or dropped 1,000 feet off a cliff to a distant puff-of-smoke crash landing, we experienced the comedy of pure aggression — and the comedy of ironic resilience. That Wile E. always bounced right back in the next scene lent the crazed destruction a weirdly optimistic undercurrent.

“Coyote vs. Acme,” a studio comedy that combines famous cartoon characters and live action in the style of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (and also in the style of dozens of cheesy-bad franchise hybrids like the “Garfield” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “Casper” and “Stuart Little” films), is a movie that wants to pay homage to the prankish exuberance of the “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” cartoons. The movie is about how Wile E. Coyote, after too many years of failing to catch the Road Runner, mostly because every gizmo and dastardly piece of equipment he ever put toward the task (dynamite, anvils, magnetic gloves) failed to work, decides to sue the Acme Corporation, the manufacturer of each of those faulty products. Will Forte, wearing a beard and a flop of geek hair, is Kevin Avery, the late-night-TV-ad lawyer who takes the case.

At heart, “Coyote vs. Acme” is a courtroom comedy. But the upshot of the movie is to integrate as much Road Runner-style mayhem as possible into a live-action universe. The film is chock-full of nods and references and jokey Looney Tunes Easter eggs. It could have been called “Remembrance of Rube Goldberg Bombs Past.”

Yet there’s a certain way that “Coyote vs. Acme,” next to those cartoons, feels neutered and tame. The movie will serve up an escalating gag, like the Road Runner eating metal pellets so that Wile E. can trap him with a magnet, only to see Wile E. magnetized by a speeding train. But the staging doesn’t have the sustained, rollicking ferocity that made some of those cartoons as freewheeling in their maniacal slapstick as “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” “Coyote vs. Acme” keeps giving you the feeling that it’s referencing that earlier universe, rather than immersing you in it. That’s partly because the movie isn’t trying to be a live-action Road Runner cartoon, but also because it stops short of conjuring their insane spirit.

The movie was inspired by Ian Frazier’s 1990 New Yorker story (a rather labored piece of whimsy), which treats Wile E. Coyote’s lawsuit against Acme with put-on bureaucratic seriousness. “Coyote vs. Acme,” however, is looser and lighter. It really does just want to be piece of nostalgic cartoon hijinks, and to that end it’s got a winning gregariousness. The film was scripted by Samy Burch, the gifted screenwriter of “May December” and “Late Fame,” and she does a meticulous job of orchestrating conspiracies and cartoon cameos. It’s all worked out on paper. Yet the film is missing something: the delirious fizz of true anarchic bedlam.

Wile E. Coyote is our hero, and he’s his familiar wordless disgruntled self (though he holds up funny signs on occasion to indicate what he’s thinking). But we don’t see enough of the sneaky side of Wile E., the hungry predator who’s almost like the Grinch. Meanwhile, Will Forte gives a one-note performance as Avery, the lawyer who’s stuck in a mode of desperate high dudgeon. I’ve often felt allergic to animation-meets-live-action movies, because the live-action parts tend to get reduced to monotonous cartoons. That’s kind of what happens here. Forte’s frantic ambulance chaser, Lana Condor as his legal-assistant niece, John Cena as the grimacing Acme Corporation defense attorney — it’s all thin stuff.

“Coyote vs. Acme” will play in theaters starting Aug. 28, but the movie has, of course, been through its own obstacle course. After being completed, it was shelved by its studio, Warner Bros. Pictures, only to become something of a cause célèbre among vintage cartoon fans. The movie certainly deserves to be released — and thanks to the independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment, which bought it from Warner Bros. for $50 million, that is now happening. But will the purchase prove to be worth it? “Coyote vs. Acme” would like to be a classic-cartoon version of “Roger Rabbit,” but I’m afraid it just plays like a polite and mildly likable look back at yesterday’s cartoon madness.

The film’s most winning gambit it to sprinkle “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” characters throughout the story. Tweety Bird is used nicely, as is Daffy Duck, who dominates the film’s explosive opening scene (getting trapped in goo during a top-secret Acme test film). But only two legendary characters truly get to throw their weight around — that grandiose Southern-fried sociopath Foghorn Leghorn, who’s the CEO of Acme, and the great Bugs Bunny, who is always wilier than anyone, including poor Wile E.

As Wile. E. and the Roadrunner discover that they’re frenemies who need each other, the movie ends up taking a moral stand against the Acme Corporation. It’s revealed that there’s a sinister reason why the company’s products kept blowing up in Wile E.’s face. But who wants to see Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner turned into the dramatic linchpins of a Looney Tunes “Erin Brockovich”? It’s true that you couldn’t make Road Runner cartoons today. But you can make a movie like “Coyote vs. Acme,” which melts down anarchy into presentable buddy mishegas. %!s()

After speeches, the group marched to Broadmeadows Town Park, occupying one lane of Tanderrum Drive, a two-lane road.

While the group was walking on the road, a car travelling in the same directionsounded its horn.

Protesters alleged that as the car approached the group, a passenger flung open the door twice, as if trying to push people out of the way.

Video of the incident, seen by Guardian Australia, shows a protester walking on the edge of the group in the lane where the car was attempting to pass. The video shows him turning as the car approaches and appearing to kick at it.

The car then clips the man on the legs and accelerates away.

Witnesses said it did not slow down as it attempted to pass the group.

The protester, who asked not to be identified, alleged that he heard an occupant of the car shout racial abuse before the car struck him.

The comments were not audible in the video, but Guardian Australia spoke to two others at the march who claim to have heard the alleged remarks. Several participants, including the man in the video, said they separately reported the incident directly to police within hours and in the following days.

“It felt surreal. I did not have the chance to even feel anything but shock,” the 43-year-old said.

Merri-bek Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton, an organiser of the event, said the incident contradicted the rally’s purpose, which was to support community members who were “feeling really intimidated” by a recent rise in anti-immigration rhetoric.

Bolton said the group had been in contact with police in the days before the event to make them aware of the rally and received confirmation over the phone that officers would attend, but none did so.

Athiya Zameer, the member of the group designated to liaise with police, said she believed the incident would not have occurred if police had been present.

In a formal complaint to police on behalf of the group, Zameer called for action against the driver, claiming the alleged incident had caused trauma to the person hit by the car, children present and the wider community.

“We want to make sure that people feel safe to do these actions, to raise their voices,” she said. “We live in a community [of people from] migrant backgrounds who are already traumatised by wars and the police … and to have an incident like that just traumatises them even more … that’s really unfortunate.”

In a response to the complaint, seen by Guardian Australia, police confirmed they had been aware of the planned event. The response said the incident was “being actively investigated” and police were “committed to ensuring that allegations are thoroughly assessed”.

They declined to answer questions from Guardian Australia about why officers did not attend the protest.

The Greens state MP Anasina Gray-Barberio, who attended the rally but did not witness the car incident, said “the community expects an urgent and robust response”.

“The community deserves answers … Communities of colour deserve to know that when they’re subjected to violence or racism, those incidents will be treated with the seriousness they deserve,” she said. %!s()

The day before, more than 150 flights passing through Sydney were delayed as the airport grappled with a lack of air traffic controllers, highlighting how just how delicate the rostering situation is.

While Sunday’s incident is under investigation – an air traffic controller and a tug driver were temporarily stood down for mandatory drug and alcohol testing – the issue has shone a spotlight on the severe staffing shortages of those in charge of managing air traffic, and takeoffs and landings.

‘Doing the work of two people’

While air traffic controllers are entitled to unlimited sick leave under their terms of employment, Scott Nugent, the president of the air traffic controllers’ union Civil Air, says the issue “is that we do not have enough controllers just to fill the base roster before we have any sick leave at all”.

“In practice, the only way you fill the roster is with overtime, and it relies on overtime just to do business as usual,” says Nugent.

The experienced air traffic controller says workers are getting to the point where they’ve done so much overtime that they’re exhausted. Some staff are working 10 days on and then having one day off.

“The reason you’ve seen these delays in the last week is because we increased the spacing between aircraft to maintain safety when we have less people,” he says.

“If you’re doing the work of two people, you can only take half as many planes.”

Much of the problem is tied to a pandemic-era program that incentivised a significant number of experienced staff to leave Airservices Australia, the commonwealth-owned organisation responsible for the management of the country’s skies, in 2021.

With most planes grounded due to pandemic restrictions, 140 employees aged 56 or older accepted a redundancy.

Soon after, the organisation embarked on a large recruitment drive but hirings have failed to keep up with demand.

Gaps in rosters

Despite the starting salary for a qualified air traffic controller post-training being $116,990 a year – an experienced supervisor can earn a base salary of almost $300,000 – Airservices has struggled with recruitment ever since the pandemic.

In February 2024, two air traffic controllers who didn’t show up for work at Sydney airport caused cascading flight delays and cancellations across the country. Airservices narrowly avoided a similar incident in September last year.

At the same time it has been trying to plug roster gaps, Airservices has been preparing for a once-in-a-generation transformation to a new flight-tracking computer system, as well as managing past allegations of workplace bullying.

A review into workplace culture, conducted by the former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick’s firm, found 27% of staff in 2023 had experienced bullying in the past 12 months, up from 23% in 2020.

From July 2022 to 2026, Airservices says it endorsed 245 controllers, most of whom qualified in 2025-2026. Over the same four-year period, 86 controllers left the organisation.

Airservices says it now has a record number of controllers across Australia. There were 985 controllers in December 2020 and 1,073 as of July this year, according to the organisation.

However, the organisation says the demands on its workforce have also grown significantly, citing the new Western Sydney airport and its recent takeover of the airspace at Ballina in northern New South Wales.

There still aren’t enough controllers at Sydney, Australia’s busiest airport.

Tough tests and training demands

A newly qualified controller can’t just fill the gap left by a retiring veteran.

After 18 months of training, a newly qualified controller may be able to work in one position at a Sydney tower, such as helping organise the taxiways around the domestic airport.

That person wouldn’t be qualified, for example, to work on the taxiways around the international airport, or runways, which require additional training, making newer employees less able to fill urgent vacancies.

Airservices acknowledges there’s a problem. It says training experienced controllers for Sydney airport is its “top priority” but it can’t say when it will have recruited a sufficient number.

It takes about two years to train a controller, and that’s only if someone can get past the initial screening, which includes a difficult online aptitude test as one of the first hurdles.

“Only a very, very small number of people get through the application process,” says Nugent. “We’re usually talking about 2,000 people who might apply, and you hire 15 of them.”

Additionally, applicants must move to Melbourne for the mandatory training. Only offering training at one location is seen as an impediment, because some applicants don’t want to relocate given there’s a risk they don’t pass.

Airservices says it is considering different training locations, and says it has a new simulator in Sydney. %!s()

In a press release, Pearl Abyss t recaps that Crimson Desert has had 17 major updates since its release on March 19. It also notes correctly that it has finished things like months-long roadmaps in a matter of weeks, the development team one of the speediest in the business.

Pearl Abyss has also confirmed that the game’s first true DLC will be here in 2026, which is imminent, given that we’re already in mid-August, and we only have ~3 months until 2027 (plus, even Crimson Desert will probably avoid GTA VI’s release date). We did not get any details about what this DLC may contain, but given what the free updates have brought, it is likely to be substantive.

There is also confirmation that a Switch 2 version is coming, and that is targeted for a first-half of 2027 release. Perhaps the most significant news, however, is that Pearl Abyss is treating Crimson Desert as a huge new IP, and that includes expanding the game into multiplayer, an interesting addition, given how highly praised it was for its expansive single-player experience. But Pearl Abyss says that is harder than it looks:

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"Given Crimson Desert’s dynamic action combat and expansive open-world structure, there is significant potential for expansion into multiplayer modes," Pearl Abyss remarked. "However, integrating multiplayer functionality is far more complex than simply adding a new game mode; it represents a major technical initiative that requires comprehensive evaluation of server architecture, game balance, cross-platform stability, and live service operation models.”

"Accordingly, we are currently conducting extensive research from both technical and gameplay perspectives. Our overarching goal is to extend how users engage with the Crimson Desert IP over the long term, and we will share further details through our official channels as our plans materialise."

I’ve already seen some headlines talk about Crimson Desert trying to become a “ive service, given one of the lines in there, but I believe that’s a misinterpretation. It’s just talking about how its live updates are implemented, such as the 17 they’ve added before, for instance. No, I do not think we are getting seasons, battle passes and a cash shop in Crimson Desert here.

It is full steam ahead for Pearl Abyss and Crimson Desert. Chatter about the game may have faded somewhat recently, but that’s about to change with new DLC and whatever else may be planned.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy. %!s()