Orphan
A family with too many problems adopts Esther — a Russian-accented nine-year-old girl — who becomes a much, much bigger problem that any nightmare could have predicted. This is a graphic thriller-cum-horror flick that will offend those who wish to be offended and entertain those who wish to be entertained — and contains a plot revelation that has world-weary critics searching for superlatives. Not suitable for children, and probably unsuitable for a lot of grown-ups as well (the San Francisco Chronicle approvingly called it a “two-hour nervous breakdown,” while the sniffy Washington Post called it “depraved ... filth”). From the director of the House of Wax remake and co-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio.
My Sister’s Keeper
The plot for this one is so outlandish and histrionic at first glance that you could be forgiven for staying well clear: A pre-teen discovers that she was conceived to help her sister survive a would-be genetic death sentence, and sues her family to gain distance from the medicos who need bits of her body. But the cast (Cameron Diaz as the mother, Jason Patric as the father, Alec Baldwin as the lawyer) and the director (Nick Cassavetes, John Q) treat the audience with respect and the end result is a tearjerker with a nod to the dilemmas of modern science.
Spread
Poor prospects for this sex-laced drama about a Los Angeles gigolo and the women who stump up cash for his services. Any such sleaze requires strong characters and a clever script, but neither is on display if you believe early notices from Europe. Worse, there’s no sign of Richard Gere; audiences instead must entertain the thought of Ashton Kutcher (That ‘70s Show, The Butterfly Effect) being the main man and Anne Heche his leading customer. Vulgarities abound, starting with the title.
Handsome Suits
An unattractive loser finds himself the center of much-appreciated attention when a bloated white outfit transforms him into a hunk — but will he find or lose wisdom along the way? This Japanese comedy may sound like a cross between Shallow Hal and that awful Jackie Chan (成龍) movie The Tuxedo, but reviewers in Japan and Hong Kong think some might get a kick out if it. Those not in the mood to be reminded of the superficiality of physical beauty are better off seeing Orphan.
Dream
One of the clever ideas in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street was having petrified teenagers force themselves to stay awake to avoid the razor talons of Freddy Kreuger. In this South Korean fantasy from niche director Kim Ki-duk, a similar situation emerges when a man (who only speaks Japanese) concludes that a sleepwalking woman is acting out his dream world in the real world — with sinister consequences. As with most of Kim’s films, this will leave you exhilarated or in a stony cold funk, which might just allow us to call him the Korean David Lynch.
Keroro The Movie 4
Failed interstellar conqueror Keroro, aka Sgt. Frog, is back in the fourth feature-length anime based on the popular Japanese manga. This time around, the impossibly lazy Keroro travels across the world with his host Earth family to combat a sinister dragon whose massive tail, in the visual tradition of Independence Day, has draped itself across the skylines of cities that boast the world’s most recognizable monuments. Loosely subtitled “Crushing Invasion! Dragon Warriors,” this film should deliver the goods for young fans of this most unusual anti-hero. Screens with a Keroro short, as usual.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would