17 Again
Teen heart melter Zac Efron leads the cast in a pastiche of Click and all those body switch/time travel movies of the mid-to-late-1980s (Big, Back to the Future and the eerily similar title 18 Again!, for example). In this one, Zac’s loser adult manifestation (Matthew Perry) is sent back in time by a weird janitor to ... the late 1980s. There, in the irritatingly dissimilar body of spunky Zac, our hero gets his chance to straighten out his life, but not before some uncomfortable propositions. Younger male moviegoers are advised to skip this and see Splinter instead (see below). Older males might wish to see ...
Two Lovers
Joaquin Phoenix has taken a strange turn lately with a bizarre new appearance and manner and an attempt at a career in rap. Hopefully it’s a trick, because movies like Two Lovers, Walk the Line and 8MM show that Phoenix the actor should never be underestimated. This film by James Gray was made before Phoenix grew the beard; in it he is a troubled New Yorker enticed by two women (Vinessa Shaw and Gwyneth Paltrow). The emphasis here is on dialogue, character and complexity.
The Lark Farm
A movie about the Armenian genocide directed by Italy’s famed Taviani brothers sounds unmissable — unless you’re a Turkish nationalist, of course. The story follows the misfortune of a well-to-do family brought undone by massacres and expulsion. But Variety expressed disappointment at how the epic approach clouded characterization. Still, the subject matter alone may intrigue audiences dimly aware of this little understood historical outrage.
Night Train
Danny Glover continues to dabble in low budget genre fare with this nocturnal horror flick. Weird passengers and Glover’s conductor start behaving very greedily and/or bloodily when a strange box activates their worst instincts — starting with the theft of diamonds from a dead fellow passenger. Sadly, Night Train is apparently still looking for a release in the US. This and the next three titles are being released in Taipei by distributor CatchPlay as a horror festival of sorts.
Splinter
Any low budget horror opus that gets killer reviews from Variety, the Village Voice and Fangoria magazine is probably worth seeing. The central plot device borrows a bit from From Dusk Till Dawn: a couple are forced to end a night’s camping, and on the way to a motel they are held at gunpoint by another couple. But all nefarious plans are abandoned when a much more dangerous foe emerges — a creature that exists and infects through splinter-like spines — and the luckless foursome are besieged in a gas station. Gory, fun, scary and smart; not many horror films can claim all these.
Dante 01
In the future, humans will be sent to a prison in space, where they can be quietly experimented on and killed by state medicos. If this grim French mixture of science fiction and Kafka sounds like a cross between the third and fourth Alien installments — but with human cruelty replacing the Alien — then there may be good reason. It was directed by Marc Caro, a member of the team that made Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, and whose partner directed Alien: Resurrection.
The Guard Post
It was an idea whose time had come: a gory horror movie set in a gloomy military station on the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. The Thing meets Event Horizon as a military investigator on a tight schedule probes a massacre at Guard Post 506. But the forces of evil that triggered the killings couldn’t care less about his superiors’ deadlines, and start playing havoc with his own team of soldiers after awful weather traps them inside. Also known as GP506.
Fist of the North Star: The Legend of Kenshiro
This is the final episode in the recent animated revival of the popular futuristic Japanese manga — and is actually a prequel to the manga’s storyline, filling in the missing year that resulted in so much of the warrior Kenshiro’s deadly motivation and torment, including the murder of his girlfriend. This film was released last year on the 25th anniversary of the manga’s creation.
Tamagotchi: Lost Child in Space!?
That Japanese toy pet fad from some years ago may have died out for kids (and kids at heart) in most markets, but now the franchise’s first movie is here to get your little’uns addicted all over again. A chaotic story puts our child heroes into Tamagotchi land before they end up in space and are threatened by a black hole.
Seven hundred job applications. One interview. Marco Mascaro arrived in Taiwan last year with a PhD in engineering physics and years of experience at a European research center. He thought his Gold Card would guarantee him a foothold in Taiwan’s job market. “It’s marketed as if Taiwan really needs you,” the 33-year-old Italian says. “The reality is that companies here don’t really need us.” The Employment Gold Card was designed to fix Taiwan’s labor shortage by offering foreign professionals a combined resident visa and open work permit valid for three years. But for many, like Mascaro, the welcome mat ends at the door. A
The Western media once again enthusiastically forwarded Beijing’s talking points on Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment two weeks ago that an attack by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Taiwan was an existential threat to Japan and would trigger Japanese military intervention in defense of Taiwan. The predictable reach for clickbait meant that a string of teachable moments was lost, “like tears in the rain.” Again. The Economist led the way, assigning the blame to the victim. “Takaichi Sanae was bound to rile China sooner rather than later,” the magazine asserted. It then explained: “Japan’s new prime minister is
NOV. 24 to NOV. 30 It wasn’t famine, disaster or war that drove the people of Soansai to flee their homeland, but a blanket-stealing demon. At least that’s how Poan Yu-pie (潘有秘), a resident of the Indigenous settlement of Kipatauw in what is today Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), told it to Japanese anthropologist Kanori Ino in 1897. Unable to sleep out of fear, the villagers built a raft large enough to fit everyone and set sail. They drifted for days before arriving at what is now Shenao Port (深奧) on Taiwan’s north coast,
Divadlo feels like your warm neighborhood slice of home — even if you’ve only ever spent a few days in Prague, like myself. A projector is screening retro animations by Czech director Karel Zeman, the shelves are lined with books and vinyl, and the owner will sit with you to share stories over a glass of pear brandy. The food is also fantastic, not just a new cultural experience but filled with nostalgia, recipes from home and laden with soul-warming carbs, perfect as the weather turns chilly. A Prague native, Kaio Picha has been in Taipei for 13 years and
RSS