In late 2021, the world the first look at a hotly anticipated new Jason Statham-Guy Ritchie movie. It had the silly title of Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. It had Aubrey Plaza and Hugh Grant and Josh Hartnett and Cary Elwes. It had a great poster. It was supposed to come out the following month, then it was bumped to March. Then it went mysteriously AWOL from the release schedule. Now over a year later, it’s resurfaced as suddenly as it disappeared.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Operation Fortune will finally hit theaters very soon, on March 3, when it will open opposite Creed III. Statham plays a super spy with the unbelievable name of Orson Fortune. Orson Fortune seeks to take down a dangerous billionaire (Grant) peddling dangerous new weapons technology. To do so, Orson Fortune enlists the baddie’s favorite actor (Hartnett) to help deceive him. Judging from the trailer, action and hilarity appear to ensue.
Why Operation Fortune went missing is a bit complicated. Last year The Evening Standardreported that the film was removed from the release calendar because it featured “Ukrainian baddies,” and after Russia invaded Ukraine it was seen as being in bad taste, at least then. There’s also some business involving its initial distributor, STX, which ended its distributing wing due to restructuring. Its U.S. distribution rights were only recently purchased by Lionsgate, who will release it instead.
Operation Fortune will be Richie and Statham’s fifth film together. The two got their big break with 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. They reunited for Snatch and Revolver, then they didn’t do a movie together again until 2021’s Wrath of Man. Now look at them.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre will be released on March 3. You can watch the trailer in the video above.
Another evening, another scroll through a “best movies on Netflix” list.
But this isn’t just any best movies on Netflix list. Oh no. This list has slightly more to offer: It’s also a rundown of what’s new each week and whether they’re watch-worthy. Plus, the list itself is confined to movies that have scored a lucrative 70 or more on Metacritic, which describes itself as aggregating the “opinions of the most respected critics writing online and in print.” Basically, it’s more snooty than Rotten Tomatoes.
Here are this week’s new releases and the list of absolute best movies on Netflix, at least according to highly rated critics.
What’s new this week (Feb. 13 to 19)
Note:These movie descriptions have been pulled straight from Netflix press releases and occasionally IMDb.
Monday
Squared Love All Over Again (2023): Polish romcom. “A celebrity journalist and a down-to-earth teacher find their relationship in rocky waters when a job gets in the way of their new life together.”
Tuesday
A Sunday Affair (2023): Drama. “Lifelong best friends Uche and Toyin fall for the same complicated man, which tests their loyalty to each other as they face a heartbreaking revelation.”
All The Places (2023): Mexican dramedy. “Two siblings who haven’t seen each other in 15 years mend their relationship while fulfilling a childhood dream: a motorcycle road trip through Mexico.”
Jim Jefferies: High n’ Dry (2023): Standup. “No topic is off limits for Jim Jefferies as he muses on stoned koalas, his dad’s vasectomy confusion and his sex drive.”
Re/Member (2023): Japanese teen horror. “Six high schoolers stuck in a murderous time loop must find the scattered remains of an unknown victim to break the curse and finally see another day.”
Wednesday
Possessed/Rasuk (2022): “A teacher must put aside his personal traumas to rally his school in a fight for survival against a group of violent, possessed students.”
Thursday
47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019): British thriller. “Two sisters join their two classmates on a cave dive to explore submerged ruins, only to find themselves hunted by a shark with heightened senses.”
Cirkus (2022): “Chaos and comedy take the spotlight when a ringmaster and his band of acrobats set out to revive the fading culture of classic circus entertainment.”
Ouija (2014): Horror. “When their friend mysteriously dies, a group of grieving teens seeks connection via an old ouija board that conjures up a nightmare from the other side.”
The Woman King (2022):Historical drama. “A historical epic inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.”
The Womb (2022): Indonesian horror. “Grappling with an unplanned pregnancy, a woman turns in desperation to a mysterious older couple who promise to take care of her baby.”
Friday
Unlocked (2023): Korean mystery. “A woman’s life is turned upside-down when a dangerous man gets a hold of her lost cell phone and uses it to track her every move.”
Sunday
Whindersson Nunes: Preaching to the Choir (2023): Standup. “It’s the end of the world and he knows it. Whindersson Nunes reflects on current affairs, social media, religion and more in this stand-up special.”
This YA movie tells the story of Ellie Chu, a shy Asian American discovering her sexuality in the remote town of Squahamish. A straight-A yet friendless student who has a side-hustle writing papers for her classmates, Ellie helps footballer Paul Munsky write a love letter to Aster Flores. But it turns out Aster is perfect for Ellie instead. A story of self-acceptance told with a delicate touch, The Half of It is a joy.
The Incredible Jessica James introduces a delightfully self-possessed main character played by an equally delightful Jessica Williams. The confident and independent Jessica James goes on a blind date where she ends up talking about nothing but her ex. A fresh take on the breakup movie with an empowering lead, this is an easy hit for an entertaining night in.
2017’s Okja comes from Parasite director Bong Joon-ho — which should be incentive enough to watch it. Part cheeky dark comedy, part surreal environmental thriller, Okja follows a young South Korean farmer girl whose pet pal is a genetically enhanced super-pig. But Okja is the target of a big corporation that wants her delicious flesh. With an English supporting cast including the likes of Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, Okja sucks you in with its sweetness before showing you a distressing close-up of the meat industry.
Inspired by a true story, this crime drama out of Australia is an effectively unsettling — and grim — psychological thriller. Sean Harris stars as a man suspected of the abduction and murder of a teenager. Joel Edgerton plays an undercover cop tasked with drawing out the truth via an unlikely friendship.
A psychological thriller that dives deep into the surreal. I’m Thinking of Ending Things definitely won’t be for everyone, but it connects you to the frustrations of the young woman (Jessie Buckley) at its heart, who grapples with breaking off her seven-week-relationship with her boyfriend Jake (Jesse Plemons). While it overstays its welcome a little, I’m Thinking of Ending Things always keeps you on your toes, with atmospheric cinematography and strong performances from Toni Collette and David Thewlis as Jake’s fairly odd parents. Fans of director-writer Charlie Kaufman will be pleased.
Two movies named The Call came out in 2020. Watch the South Korean one, a time travel thriller revolving around, yep, a phone call. Twenty-eight-year-old Seo-yeon finds a phone buried in a closet in her childhood home. It rings — and the caller, it turns out, is living in the same house 20 years earlier. Twists right up to the final moment, plus a wild cat-and-mouse chase that alters the past and present make this a must-watch.
This taut thriller set in the remote Scottish Highlands is far from an idyllic getaway. Prepare for a full-on nerve-wringing nightmare that its protagonists are desperate to wake up from. Vaughn and Marcus set out on a lads’ weekend hunting trip, but after a night of drinking, they find themselves facing events they never could have planned for. Calibre lives up to its name, delivering a slick package of grim, gripping drama. Let the full force of this one wallop you.
The fifth film on Angelina Jolie’s directing CV turned out to be her best. Based on Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung’s memoir, the biographical thriller recounts the horrors Ung suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge. With an empathetic lens framing a shocking story from the perspective of a child, First They Killed My Father is a unique war movie made with control and finesse.
If you’ve had a bad day, this might be the movie for you. When the police refuse to help with a robbery, nursing assistant Ruth and her weird neighbor Tony take matters into their own hands. I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore spots the idiosyncrasies of everyday life, before escalating its story into dark places with even darker humor. With a touch of Coen Brothers’ flair, its perfectly packed 96 minutes will leave you surprisingly emotional.
The third time Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel about World War I has been adapted into a film. The 2022 version, directed by Edward Berger, adds the perspective of a German official trying to negotiate an armistice to end the war. Mainly, we follow 17-year-old Paul Bäumer, an idealistic young German soldier who’s confronted by the painful realities of war. A visual spectacle that can, unsurprisingly, be distressing.
Spike Lee’s fierce war drama follows a group of aging Vietnam War veterans who return to the country in search of the remains of their squad leader — as well as buriedtreasure. With a frenzied energy coursing through it, Da 5 Bloods gives you a look at the Vietnam War through Black experiences, delivering an all-too-timely critique of racism and warfare.
Spanning the lives of its mobsters over multiple decades, The Irishman pulls off a 3-and-a-half-hour crime saga. But don’t worry — you can break up this tour de force if you need to. Always clever and entertaining, with Martin Scorsese favorites Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci commanding the screen, The Irishman creeps up on you, offering a haunting look at aging mobsters and the havoc they wreak.
Director Cary Joji Fukunaga gives you a sobering look at the life of a boy who becomes a child soldier in a West African country embroiled in civil war. Idris Elba stars as the ruthless Commandant along with the astonishing Abraham Attah as the young Agu. A confronting yet quietly hopeful snapshot of war from a human perspective, Beasts of No Nation needs to be on your radar if it isn’t already.
Mystery
Some would say Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is better than 2019’s Knives Out. Some. Rian Johnson’s followup to his masterfully subversive whodunit wisely puts on a different coat. It sends Daniel Craig’s benevolent private investigator Benoit Blanc abroad to a mysterious get-together with tech billionaire Miles Bron and his friends. The satirical characters are big, the laughs are big and there’s even a stunning message about bending the truth. Is it at least comparable to 2019’s Knives Out? Definitely.
The film adaptation of Tim Minchin’s hit musical, based on Roald Dahl’s classic book. It offers something different from the 1996 movie starring Mara Wilson — what you want when retreading familiar territory. Alisha Weir plays Matilda, the child genius who stands up to a stunningly realized Miss Trunchbull, played by Emma Thompson. A clear theme of how to handle bullies runs through this retelling, with impressive child performers and surprisingly pump-you-up tunes. Not as memorable as the original, but still a supremely entertaining time.
The title of this comedy-drama might sound familiar, but its focus is an unconventional tale. The Forty-Year-Old Version follows Radha, a playwright and teacher who finds herself drawn to the forgotten passion of her youth: rapping. Inspired by writer, director and star Radha Blank’s real life, this beautiful diary of a struggling artist will inspire and hit home, with relatable themes of failure and unfulfilled potential.
Tennis-playing buddies Michael (Mark Duplass) and Andy (Ray Romano) receive devastating news: Michael has terminal stomach cancer. Struggling to let go of his dying friend, Andy joins Michael’s road trip in search of medication to end things before they get too painful. Folding comedy into melancholy, Paddleton eases the touching friendship at its core into deftly-affecting places.
Eddie Murphy returned from his acting break with a glorious performance as Rudy Ray Moore, a comedian who played a character called Dolemite in stand-up routines and blaxploitation films from the ’70s. Dolemite Is My Name follows Moore from his job at a record store to the big screen. Tracking Moore’s rise to fame and its bizarre and enthralling turns, Dolemite Is My Name does justice to both Moore’s and Murphy’s talents.
Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn starring in a comedy-drama with something to say about modern marriage? Private Life is a unique and relatable slice of a New York middle-age couple’s struggles with different avenues to have a child. But because Hahn and Giamatti are in it, it sparkles with wit and charm. Add Kayli Carter to the mix as Sadie, a college dropout, and you have another layer to this compelling movie about the unpredictability of heading into a new stage of life.
Jake Johnson co-writes this comedy from prolific indie director Joe Swanberg (he was behind the Netflix anthology TV series Easy as well). Win It All follows Eddie, a gambling addict who agrees to stash a duffel bag of cash for a local thug heading to prison. Making one of many questionable decisions, Eddie dips into the funds. If you’re a fan of simple, grounded storytelling with a focus on character, Win It All is a delight that brings out Johnson’s humor and charisma.
The Meyerowitz Stories is a bittersweet comedy-drama told through Noah Baumbach’s grounded lens. The titular stories concern dysfunctional adult siblings, played by Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller, trying to live in the shadow of their father. An effervescent cast, including Dustin Hoffman, play these intelligent, albeit miserable, characters as they weave their poignant tales.
This indie gem might have flown under the radar, so if you’re looking for a modern romcom overflowing with charm, definitely give Tramps a watch. Callum Turner and Grace Van Patten star as Danny and Ellie, a sincere good kid and a streetwise girl who attempt to carry out a shady deal for a little cash. Tightly scripted and deftly avoiding hackneyed territory, Tramps will effortlessly win your heart.
Guillermo del Toro rarely disappoints and his take on Pinocchio is no exception. More than just a kids’ story, del Toro unfurls a trademark moving gothic fairy tale rooted in what it means to be alive. With significant deviations from the story we all know and memorable new creature creations, including skeletal rabbits and an ethereal wood sprite, this version of Pinocchio might just be the very best — not least because it keeps the astonishing art of stop-motion animation alive. A must-watch. Warning: You will shed a tear at least once.
The Sea Beast joins Netflix’s collection of stellar family-friendly animated adventures. A young girl named Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) stows away on the ship of sea monster hunter Captain Crow (Jared Harris), becoming wrapped up in a thrilling journey through uncharted waters. Bringing originality to the high seas and swashbuckling characters, The Sea Beast is a must-watch chapter of enchanting fantasy.
One of the best family movies on Netflix. From some of the same people who made Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse comes this adventure to save the world involving Mom, Dad, the kids and their slobbery, bug-eyed dog. But amid the robot apocalypse, led by Olivia Colman’s sinister Siri, really The Mitchells vs. the Machines is about a strained relationship between movie-loving daughter Katie and her technophobe father. The technology-inept parent gags are rife, the colors frenetic and the character growth moving. A near-perfect package with the timeless message that embracing your weirdness is a superpower.
This award-winning French film begins with a severed hand escaping a refrigerator in a laboratory and embarking on a Paris-wide search for the rest of its body. What an opening! With a few flashbacks and elegant animation, this strange, satisfying story delves into loss, both physical and emotional, in the most poetic of ways.
Vampires vs. the Bronx is a unique comedy-horror in more ways than one. Set in the New York borough of the Bronx, it follows young Miguel Martinez, a big-hearted kid helping to raise money for his struggling local bodega. But it’s not just new designer clothing stores threatening to move in: Creepy pale residents with a taste for blood are eating up people and their properties. A commentary on gentrification with goofy charm, twists and thrills, Vampires vs. the Bronx is a fresh, entertaining spin on the genre.
His House is a horror flick that, yep, hits close to home. Revealing its supernatural evils through a harrowing human story, it follows Bol and Rial, a refugee couple from Sudan, who struggle to adapt to their new life in an English town. Don’t expect straightforward jump scares — His House plays into the psychological specters of the past, adding even more corridors of torment. A heartrending, powerful piece.
This smart psychological horror is partially drawn from co-writer Isa Mazzei’s experiences as a camgirl (or webcam model). Yet Cam is no documentary, following Alice Ackerman, a young camgirl who one day discovers an exact replica of herself has taken over her show. This unique thriller flashing red with the threat of technology is an excellent feature to hit play on.
One of the more successful Stephen King adaptations, this horror drama based on the novella 1922 is a slow burn with a mesmerizing performance at its core. Thomas Jane, who you’ll also know from Boogie Nights and 2004’s The Punisher, gives one of his career best performances as the ever proud Wilfred James, a farmer who makes the totally wise decision to murder his wife with the help of their teenage son. The consequences are harrowing on multiple levels (if you don’t like rats, you really won’t like rats after this).
If you were mesmerized by The Haunting of Hill House, then Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King novel Gerald’s Game is a must-watch. A couple goes on holiday at an isolated lake house, where one thing leads to another… and Carla Gugino’s Jessie ends up handcuffed to the bed with no visible escape. Gugino puts in an immense performance, packing out the enclosed bedroom setting. Expect narratively and emotionally satisfying conclusions, with melancholy-suffused horror that surges into quiet triumph for its haunted characters.
More than a decade after her previous film, Bright Star, extraordinary filmmaker Jane Campion has unfolded the director’s chair again to oversee The Power of the Dog. She ended up winning an Oscar, so it was a good move. The Western centers on Phil Burbank, a domineering rancher who uses the power of toxic masculinity to have his way, mocking his brother for falling in love. The Power of the Dog is a mesmeric exercise in the subtle shifts of emotion and power in relationships. Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst are immense, helping to bring Campion’s masterful vision to life.
Paul Greengrass (Jason Bourne) directs Tom Hanks in this moving Western. Civil War veteran Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd discovers a young girl years after she was captured by Native Americans as a baby. While helping return her to her family, he does his usual job of traveling to towns and reading newspapers for a small fee. Don’t expect high-octane action: This road movie is fueled by character development and the beautiful views. Still, you’ll want to settle in for a comforting ride with pure sympathetic Hanks at the steering wheel.
The Coen Brothers kick up the western dust with an anthology film that gives you six vignettes all set on the American frontier. One of them is about the titular Buster Scruggs, a chipper singing cowboy who casually sets off a shoot-up in a cantina. But there’s a dark twist that keeps you on your toes. Sewing the rest of its stories together with a constant black humor, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a Coen Brothers winner.
From Netflix’s impressive stash of international films comes Spanish sci-fi horror The Platform. Its high-concept story centers on a tower that delivers food to people on each of its many levels via a platform. Those at the top snag the best and most abundant spread, which is devoured as the platform lowers down the levels. Social commentary rings throughout this dystopian thriller, which takes shocking, occasionally gruesome turns all the way to the bottom.
This psychological period drama from Chilean director Sebastián Lelio opens its storybook in the most surprising of ways. Asking you to believe in the power of storytelling, The Wonder centers on an English nurse (Florence Pugh) who’s tasked with watching a young girl in 1862 rural Ireland — a girl who appears not to have eaten for months. Nurse Wright gets to the bottom of what’s going on, while discovering the benefits of her own storytelling. The Wonder can be slow going and owes a lot to Pugh’s simmering performance, but it holds you until the gripping end.
Rebecca Hall makes her directorial debut in magnificent fashion with her adaptation of Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel Passing. It tells the story of two light-skinned Black women, one of whom chooses to “pass” as white. Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga embody the duality at the heart of this delicate story, shot in black and white. Gracefully handled, Passing is a tender portrait revealing powerful psychological depths.
Andrew Garfield takes the spotlight for this biographical musical drama about Jonathan Larson, the late composer behind Rent and Tick, Tick… Boom! The movie, helmed by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his directorial debut, follows Larson’s career and the time pressure he feels to leave a lasting impression. With joy-inducing music, a meaningful narrative about the creative process and a passionate performance from Garfield as Larson, Tick, Tick… Boom! is a graceful and feel-good tribute.
This fine British drama excavates a whole lot of buried treasure with a distinguished cast in Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James and Johnny Flynn. It’s based on the true events around the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo, yielding a priceless trove of Anglo-Saxon artifacts hidden in a burial ship. Romantic, intellectual and moving, The Dig is a full sweep of elegance.
The Boys in the Band sets a new stage for an ensemble cast who all performed the classic play-by-the-same-name’s 2018 Broadway revival. Among them, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto and Matt Bomer. The movie brings new perspectives to a birthday party celebrated by a group of gay men in 1968 New York City. The party takes an unexpected turn when a visitor from the host’s past calls in. With a cast that knows how to play off each other and compelling themes such as self-loathing and internalized homophobia, The Boys in the Band is a thought-provoking, engaging drama.
A black-and-white David Fincher tale about the unsung screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz who helped Orson Welles write Citizen Kane. Step back into Old Hollywood, with beautiful cinematography and take in the behind-the-scenes of how studio systems functioned in a different time. Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried are among the exceptional cast of this biographical drama filled with the lightness and darkness of its hero’s life.
An Aaron Sorkin drama based on a true story? The Trial of the Chicago 7 lives up to its pedigree, following the real-life trial of a group of anti-Vietnam War protestors charged with conspiracy to incite riots. With a stellar ensemble cast, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is both topical and full of compelling theatrical energy.
This sports drama from 2019 marked the second occasion director Steven Soderbergh used an iPhone to shoot a feature film (the first was 2018’s Unsane). High Flying Bird tells the story of a sports agent facing the ax unless he pulls off a company-saving plan in 72 hours. Capturing the high tensions of professional sports through a unique shooting style, High Flying Bird is a fascinating piece put together with expert direction, editing and performances.
A movie about divorce might not sound like the best viewing experience, but Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is a journey you’ll want to take. Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver give two of the best performances of their careers as Nicole and Charlie, a couple who embark on the emotionally and logistically complicated legal processes involved in prying a partnership apart. Painted with an emotional complexity that includes poignantly funny moments along with the painful ones, this is happy-sad at its best.
Set primarily in Vatican City, this biographical drama follows Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the aftermath of the Vatican leaks scandal. It’s as fascinating as it sounds. The Two Popes carves up a slice of real-life drama with a first-class two-hander featuring Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins.
Carlos Somonte
Alfonso Cuaron’s semi-autobiographical snapshot of the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City tells a small story with staggering prowess. Let Cuaron steer you through the ups and downs of a live-in housekeeper of a middle-class family. His lens captures intricately beautiful scenes in an album that quietly envelopes you with wonder and grace.
This Italian film has the seal of approval from Bong Joon-ho, so let’s listen to the Oscar-winning director of Parasite and add it to this list. Written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher, Happy as Lazzaro is set in the ’70s on a tobacco farm, where good-hearted young peasant Lazzaro dutifully works. When a nobleman convinces him to help him fake his own kidnapping, a story of friendship, innocence and social commentary unfolds. A gorgeously shot, cinematic fairytale.
Zeta Cinema
This elegant Spanish film will steep you in its rich imagery and phenomenally good performances from its two leads. Susi Sánchez and Bárbara Lennie star as Anabel and Chiara respectively, an estranged mother and daughter who reunite for reasons that aren’t as clear as they first seem. The precision of the filmmaking here is worthy of soaking up for those who are partial to deliberately paced meditations on pain, love and loss. Masterful.
Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a career best performance in The Kindergarten Teacher, a drama about, yep, a kindergarten teacher. Lisa is dissatisfied with her own life, which leads her to make some questionable decisions regarding one of her young students. When Jimmy exhibits child prodigy levels of poetry writing talent, Lisa may or may not take credit for it. The Kindergarten Teacher’s slightly disturbing character study might leave you feeling conflicted, but there’s no question about Gyllenhaal’s mesmerizing performance.
Mudbound gives you a historical look at class struggle through the lens of a Black veteran and a white veteran who both still have one foot stuck in World War II. Dealing with PTSD and racism in the Mississippi Delta, with a cast that includes Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell, Mudbound’s tempest will rivet you to the spot.
New Movies Coming in 2023 From Marvel, Netflix, DC and More
It follows an asteroid miner who, after crash-landing on an alien planet, must make his way across the harsh terrain, running out of oxygen, hunted by strange creatures, to the only other survivor.
Directors:
Josh Gordon,
Will Speck |
Stars:
Anthony Ramos,
Naomi Scott,
Kristofer Hivju,
Izzy Jones
Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth says they successfully separated their first set of conjoined twins on Monday, 16-week-old sisters AmieLynn Finley and JamieLynn Finley, of Saginaw.
During a news conference Wednesday, the hospital identified the girls’ parents as Amanda Arciniega and James Finley and said they were “overjoyed to reunite with their girls and see them in their separate cribs, laying on their backs for the first time on Monday evening.”
The hospital said doctors are optimistic about the twins’ recovery and said that as they heal over the next few days their primary focus will be on breathing support and pain control.
The 11-hour separation surgery, described by the hospital as “rare” and “groundbreaking,” was the first of its kind for the children’s hospital. During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, the medical team shared their insights into the procedure and discussed the monthslong preparations that went into planning the surgery after confirming the girls were conjoined.
Cook Children’s Medical Center
The hospital said Amanda and James learned that their fourth child was actually twins during a 10-week ultrasound. The ultrasound also revealed the babies had little or no separation between them. During a subsequent appointment, it was confirmed the babies were conjoined.
Over the course of her pregnancy, Amanda met with many specialists and learned her children each had their own heart and heart sac, increasing their chances of survival and making them candidates for separation. The girls were born prematurely via C-section at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth on Oct. 3, 2022, at 34 weeks, weighing 4 pounds and 7.8 ounces.
The twins are considered omphalopagus twins, meaning they were joined at the abdomen and shared one or more internal organs. In their specific case, they were face to face and were joined from the lower part of their breastbone to their belly button. The girls also shared a liver.
On the day of the surgery, the expansive team of medical professionals consisted of three anesthesiologists, four pediatric surgeons, two plastic surgeons and 18 other clinical professionals.
Cook Children’s Medical Center
The team was separated into two teams, one for each girl. Those in purple scrub hats were on JamieLynn’s team, while Team AmieLynn wore green scrub hats, and all items associated with their surgery in the twins’ care were color-coordinated accordingly, even the girls’ nails were painted in coordinating colors.
“The team comprises dozens of medical experts from across multiple specialties. They collaborated on this procedure, leveraging the team’s expertise in treating the most difficult and complex pediatric conditions,” the hospital said.
An emotional video played during a news conference showed the preparation and process of the separation.
Doctors said it took five hours from the time the surgical teamed rolled into the surgery room to the time the twins were separated. It took another six hours to evaluate the girls for any additional anomalies and to close their chests and abdomens.
At about 6 p.m., Amanda and James got the good news that the surgery was complete and that their daughters were in different cribs.
The hospital said there are still some unknowns regarding the girls’ recovery, including how their bodies will respond to no longer sharing some vasculature and anatomy.
“At this stage in AmieLynn and JamieLynn’s growth and development, this was the right time for them to have the surgery,” said Dr. Mary Frances Lynch, a neonatologist at Cook Children’s Medical Center. “Separation now will benefit AmieLynn and JamieLynn by allowing them to continue reaching important growth and development milestones in their individual health journeys.”
Cook Children’s Medical Center
The emotionally overwhelmed parents shared their excitement about the successful surgery. The father of the girls said he wore a Superman shirt in honor of their strength.
“Sometimes I feel like I need to be the strength and pillar of my family and that’s what I am,” said James. “We didn’t think it was gonna happen. A lot of doctors told us that a lot of conjoined twins don’t live that long.”
The hospital said AmieLynn and JamieLynn will continue to receive care from Cook Children’s Medical Center’s neonatology and NICU teams, focusing on their healing and continued growth and development.
Bishop TD Jakes, who spoke before the news conference, met with the family and called for prayers for the children on Sunday afternoon.
Cook Children’s said it’s estimated that conjoined twins occur in 1-in-200,000 live births and that only five to eight conjoined twins worldwide survive the first few days after birth.
This is at least the third set of conjoined twins separated in North Texas children’s hospitals.
In October 2003, two 1-year-old Egyptian boys, Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim were conjoined at the head and were separated during a 34-hour surgery at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. The boys eventually returned to Egypt but periodically returned to North Texas for subsequent procedures and checkups.
Some portions of this article were obtained from prior Associated Press reports or from a statement provided by Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.
DALLAS – The roads are fine throughout most of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. With temperatures above freezing Wednesday morning, the snow that fell Tuesday night has already melted or will melt soon.
Only a handful of school districts north and west of the metroplex will start late Wednesday because of leftover snow on the roads.
Bowie, Chico, Graham, Montague, Muenster and SS ISDs delayed the start of classes by two hours. Bus routes will also be delayed two hours.
In Cooke County, Gainesville and Sivells Bend ISDs are closed for Wednesday.
While most areas of North Texas got just a dusting of snow Tuesday night, roughly 2 inches fell in Gainesville near the Oklahoma border. That prompted the closure of two school districts there. FOX 4’s Dan Godwin reports live with an update on the weather conditions.
About 1-2 inches of snow fell in those areas closer to the Oklahoma state line where the schools are closed. Some of it actually stuck to the ground.
The wintry mix turned to steady snowfall in Gainesville around nightfall and reduced visibility. Some drivers pulled into parking lots or gas stations.
“Yeah, it’s just hard to see far, you know, like long distance,” a driver said.
There is some accumulation of snow in the grass in Denton, but the ground temps aren’t cold enough for it to freeze on the road.
People who drove through the more northern parts of Collin and Denton counties also had to hold on tight to their steering wheels as the roads became slick and dangerous Tuesday night.
“It was very slippery. My car was going all over the place,” said Maribel Villarreal, who was driving on Interstate 35 toward Gainesville.
Customers at the Buc-ee’s along I-35 in north Fort Worth watched large snowflakes fall after the sun went down. That quickly turned to slush covering parked cars and the grass but didn’t build up on the ground.
Snow falling Tuesday night at Buc-ee’s in Fort Worth
“It was wet and slithery out there. Took my time on the highway just trying to get there,” said Gary Dunkley, who lives in Fort Worth.
But as of 7 a.m. Wednesday, FOX 4 Traffic reporter Chip Waggoner said there were only normal rush-hour traffic delays on the roads in the metroplex.
Meteorologist Evan Andrews said the temperature is now above freezing for all of North Texas. Anything that did stick to the ground will melt soon enough.
“We were getting snow around 35-36 degrees yesterday evening. So, it snows. It sticks to the grass. It doesn’t stick to the roads. That’s the best kind of snow,” he said. “It’s all in the 30s [now]. Not only is it in the 30s but it’s mid-30s so nobody’s freezing. You’re not going to run into a skating rink on the roadways. It’s just wet roads.”
Dallas Weather: Jan. 25 morning forecast
What little snow fell will melt quickly Wednesday although it will still feel like winter in North Texas. FOX 4 Weather meteorologist Evan Andrews gives an update in his forecast.
The term “quiet quitting” went viral last year, describing people who stay in their jobs but mentally take a step back — for example, working the bare minimum and not making their job the center of their lives.
Now in 2023, there is a new workplace trend on the horizon, called “quiet hiring.”
The term — a way to obtain new talent without hiring new employees — was declared one of the nine workplace trends of the year by Gartner, a technological research and consulting firm.
Quiet hiring is a strategy companies are using to fill in holes without hiring new full-time employees, according to Emily Rose McRae, senior director of research at Gartner.
Before people get concerned the trend is a just a fancy term for cutting headcount and giving more work to existing employees, McRae said it’s more specific than that.
“With quiet hiring, we’re talking about an organization strategically, at a leadership level, looking at the talent they have across the organization and where the critical gaps are and finding ways to fill those,” she said. “It’s trying to acquire new skills and capabilities without acquiring new people.”
As an example, McRae said a company may determine it needs to add five more data scientists to its team in order to meet its strategic goals for the year.
The company may then look at the hiring forecast and see it could take as long as nine months to fill those five roles, which would mean they could not meet their 2023 goals.
As a solution, the company may decide to temporarily move five employees from another department, like data analysts in the human resources and marketing department, into the five open data scientist roles, and that is quiet hiring, McRae explained.
“The idea is that you have a finite amount of talent in your organization, and you need to make a call about where it’s going to have the best impact,” McRae said. “In this case, you’re saying, ‘We’re going to intentionally deprioritize analytic support for HR and marketing for the next six months so that we can increase the productivity of our data science team, and we are saying this very explicitly. Everyone knows this.'”
According to McRae, the important distinction with quiet hiring is that a company is openly communicating with employees about its priorities and temporarily moving employees to areas that serve those priorities, versus just loading employees with more work instead of hiring more people.
“A company is saying, ‘We are intentionally deprioritizing that space right now in order to prioritize another part of the business,'” McRae said.
Why is quiet hiring a 2023 trend?
The current economic uncertainty is one reason why quiet hiring is a current trend, as companies may be more likely to slow down hiring, according to McRae.
Another reason, she explained, is a widespread talent shortage.
“We do not have enough talent for the roles that are available,” McRae said. “The jobs report that just came out said we had the lowest number of job seekers in months, so we’re not in a situation where we’re easily finding lots more talent.”
According to McRae, the talent shortage means it may take employers several months to fill a position, while the economic uncertainty means companies may intentionally keep their employee count at a minimum.
In both scenarios, she said, companies would turn to existing employees to fill mission-critical roles.
What should I do if my employer is quiet hiring?
While a workplace trend that involves being assigned to a new role may seem scary, McRae said quiet hiring should be both beneficial and reassuring to employees.
“If you were asked to do a totally different role, or to take on additional responsibilities, they’re asking you to do that because your work is valued,” she said. “They value you enough to say, ‘Please can you do this for us.'”
McRae said the key with quiet hiring is that your employer is explicitly telling you what is happening and what is expected.
That means there is also an opportunity for you, as an employee, to learn new skills, possibly transition to a different line of work within the company and to negotiate.
“One thing that an employee could get out of it is by asking, ‘OK, I will do this rotation but I actually want to move over there permanently, so how can we make that happen?'” said McRae, noting that an employee could negotiate having the company pay for additional training or providing a mentor.
McRae said she recommends that employees use the opportunity to negotiate a one-time bonus or salary increase for the time of their rotation, or a greater amount of paid time off or more flexibility if a company says it cannot increase pay.
“An employee might say, ‘If it’s not possible to increase my compensation, can we make it so that I can work from home five days a week, reducing my commute costs?'” McRae said. “Or, ‘Can we make it so that I can work flex hours, which makes it easier for me to live the rest of my life?'”
McRae added that while an individual conversation may be intimidating, if you’re part of a department or team being asked to switch roles, leverage that power and approach human resources as a group.
For example, McRae said employees could say, “This is a group wide challenge. We’d like to make sure we have an understanding of it.”
Employees should also feel empowered to “nudge” their employer towards quiet hiring.
“If there are roles within your organization that you work with a lot or that require similar skills that you think would be interesting, talk to your manager about what opportunities are available,” McRae said. “Could you do some trainings? Could you rotate in over time? You can nudge your company in the direction of quiet hiring, if you want.”
