Brexit hardliner Boris Johnson won the contest to lead Britain's governing Conservative Party on Tuesday and will become the country's next prime minister, tasked with fulfilling his promise to lead the U.K. out of the European Union "come what may."

Downtown business owners will get a chance to question city leaders and the police chief Tuesday evening about the city's loosened homeless laws that allow for sitting, lying or camping in public places without penalty.

Inspired by one of the most anticipated movies of the year, The Lion King: The Gift showcases Beyoncé’s talent as a music curator and artist while drawing from multiple African influences to make one of the best albums of 2019.  The last time Beyoncé released music was summer 2018, in the form of EVERYTHING IS LOVE, a surprise collaborative album with her husband Jay-Z. The Houston native is back in the spotlight to provide music for Jon Favreau’s “The Lion King,” as well as the voice to one of the film’s main characters, Nala. The Lion King: The Gift is richly drenched in sub-Saharan African beats, rhythms and soul, paying homage to the Southeast African homeland of the movie. Throughout the album’s interludes, Beyoncé weaves the original story of the movie while providing a unique and refreshing take on the music of “The Lion King.” The film’s album is packed with an impressive lineup of performers from today’s music — the likes of which haven’t been seen since Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther: The Album (Music from and Inspired By). Beyoncé included artists such as Tierra Whack, Jay-Z, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, 070 Shake and Pharrell Williams to bring the music to life. This stream of collaborative efforts pays off in tracks such as “NILE” and “WATER.” Beyoncé opens the album with James Earl Jones, who voices Mufasa in the film. The king of the jungle kicks off the album, talking about love, pride and harnessing the power within oneself — a core message found in the heart of the animated 1994 film and the first song of the album, “BIGGER.” In the opening hook for “BIGGER,” Beyoncé sings: “If you feel insignificant, you better think again. Better wake up because you’re part of something way bigger. You’re part of something way bigger. Not just a speck in the universe.” This opening reflects the struggle that Simba faces throughout the majority of the movie after losing his father. It also alludes to Beyoncé’s sense of empowerment — a message she has been championing since the start of her music career.   #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; width:100%;} /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Want more content like this in your inbox every morning? Songs like “FIND YOUR WAY BACK,” “DON’T JEALOUS ME” and “JA ARA E” are true gems within the album because Beyoncé brings the fruits of African music into the pop spotlight. The Nigerian voices in “DON’T JEALOUS ME” sonically give the album a voice and a beat that runs with the soul of the movie. Though the album has many strong points, “SCAR” is probably the lowest point in the album. The album’s conclusion is an anticlimactic finish to a strong movie. Unlike the movie’s ending scene, the song feels unfinished and fails to unite the narrative.  The Lion King: The Gift may be based off of the film, but it is very much a Beyoncé album. “FIND YOUR WAY BACK” is a spiritual sequel to “DADDY LESSONS” in Lemonade while “MOOD 4 EVA” is an ode to her success as an artist. The singer incorporates her husband, daughter and story into the album. 4 out of 5 stars Listening time: 54 minutes and 19 seconds  

For a film all about alligators, this sure lacks bite. “Crawl” is a horror film directed by Alexandre Aja that follows competitive swimmer Haley (Kaya Scodelario) and her father (Barry Pepper) as they try to escape a gator-infested crawl space in the middle of a hurricane. Unfortunately, “Crawl” suffers under the weight of its horrid writing and invincible characters.  Kaya Scodelario pioneers the film with her depiction of Haley. It seems as if Scodelario truly puts out her best effort, but the horrendous script casts her in a bad light. She aggressively navigates the intense water scenes and pushes through horrid exposition dialogue. In terms of physical capability, she definitely nails the part.  Barry Pepper complements Scodelerio with his performance as Haley’s father. He gives a pretty run-of-the-mill performance and boringly hits all of the distant dad movie tropes. Pepper doesn’t seem to take into account the dire situation his character is in when delivering lines. After being brutally mauled and injured, he has no problem sitting up straight and clearly delivering exposition. It’s extremely distracting and takes the audience out of tense situations.  If there’s anything positive to say about “Crawl,” it’s that it features some pretty gnarly kills. A ton of unsuspecting victims perish in ridiculously morbid ways. These scenes will surely resonate with longtime fans of the genre as the scenes often pay homage to classic films such as “Jaws.” The cinematography is relatively effective as well. The setting of the film is appropriately menacing with dark tones, murky water and minimal light sources.  Unfortunately “Crawl” is short on redeeming qualities. What could’ve been a purposely ridiculous blast of a horror film results in a tonally inconsistent mess. The writing couldn’t have been less on the nose, with characters stopping during tense scenes to forcefully bring back “themes” presented in the film.  Within the first few minutes, Haley’s father calls a young version of Haley an “apex predator,” which couldn’t be more cringe-worthy given that the film is about surviving an alligator attack. In another instance, Haley is courageously told by her father to power through and keep swimming in a completely forced callback to the days when her dad coached her in the competitive sport.  It seems as if the writers mapped out the action before thinking about actual character development, thus all of these moments seem awkwardly stuck in. On top of the horrid writing, “Crawl” has difficulty establishing true danger and tension despite its terrifying premise. Moments where minor characters die are certainly effective, yet when it comes to the main characters, the gators’ teeth seem to be made of rubber.  The two protagonists are bitten and slammed all over the place on multiple occasions, but they still triumph scene after scene with minimal signs of true injury. Every horror film usually requires some suspension of disbelief, but when main characters seem invincible from true injury, the danger of the villain feels significantly tame.  “Crawl” is an extremely weak film that fails on almost all notable fronts. This could’ve been a fun horror film with a neat theme, yet its poor writing sticks out like a sore thumb.  2 out of 5 stars