Names and faces
Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday wrapped up a visit to Malta, her onetime home, where she joked that Canada’s youthful new leader had made her feel old. The British monarch has close ties to the Mediterranean island, where she lived between 1949 and 1951 while her husband, Prince Philip, was in the navy. On Saturday, she crossed the Grand Harbor in the capital, Valletta, in a traditional Maltese wooden boat. She alighted at the spot where her father, King George VI, landed in June 1943 to present Malta with the George Cross in honor of its citizens’ bravery in withstanding a World War II siege by the forces of Italy and Nazi Germany. It’s the only time a country, rather than an individual, has received Britain’s highest civilian award for valor. Later, the queen and Philip watched a buggy race at the Marsa race course before boarding a plane back to London. On Friday the monarch opened a summit of the 53-nation Commonwealth of Britain and many of its former colonies. She was toasted at a banquet by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose father Pierre governed Canada for more than a decade from 1968. The 89-year-old queen thanked 43-year-old Trudeau “for making me feel so old.” This year’s summit, which ends today, has included talks on combating climate change, violent extremism and corruption.
With Creed knocking out audiences and critics alike, Michael B. Jordan acknowledges that he would love to lace up the gloves again for a sequel. Jordan openly welcomed the possibility of a Creed 2 even before writer-director Ryan Coogler’s new chapter in the Rocky Balboa boxing saga opened to mostly rave reviews and a strong box-office performance during the five-day Thanksgiving weekend. “A character so rich as this, and the world he’s in, I want to see what happens to him next and what he does,” Jordan said in a recent interview. “Especially the way it ends off, it’s pretty cool. I think with success and time and circumstances, it would be exciting to come back and work with [co-stars] Sly [Stallone] and Tessa [Thompson] again.” The film featuring Sylvester Stallone’s seventh appearance as Rocky, now a trainer to up-and-coming fighter Adonis Creed (Jordan), had a solid holiday weekend that’s projected to hit about $40 million. New Line Cinema and distributor Warner Bros. haven’t announced any sequel plans.