Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction (機器俠)
Hong Kong’s China-market-friendly (read: suffocatingly naive) version of Michael Bay’s Transformers series holds back until late before the action kicks in. A policeman must look after a cyborg that has joined the force, but romantic complications between the robot and “his” colleagues take the plot hostage before an evil cyborg can do his thing. As the title suggests, there’s more love stuff in this one, but the reviews are even worse than for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which at least had splendid effects. Note: The English title is reversed in some markets. Directed by Jeff Lau (劉鎮偉), perhaps best known for Operation Pink Squad (霸王女福星) and its sequel from the late 1980s.
Looking for Eric
“Eric” is none other than Eric Cantona, retired French soccer superstar and hero to Manchester United fans, and now actor. In this film by working-class-champion director Ken Loach, he is also a key character in the life of another Eric (Steve Evets), an English postman and soccer nut whose life is going down the toilet. Footballer Eric then proceeds to help postie Eric get his life in order, though violence threatens to get in the way. A must-see for United fans and anyone who admires Cantona, who co-produced this strange film.
The Ugly Truth
After a weekend of previews, The Ugly Truth’s season proper starts today. Set in a California news station, producer Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up) is required to fix sinking ratings by bringing in sexist consultant Gerard Butler (300), who also acts as a kind of antihero Cyrano de Bergerac for the lovelorn Heigl as she woos some doctor. This one seems to adopt sexism as a source of humor and sympathy rather than villainy. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers suggested that viewers looking for a romantic treat “toss this ugly-ass crap to the curb” and see (500) Days of Summer instead, but Taiwanese audiences will have to wait until Nov. 20 for that privilege.
Pandorum
Intriguing title and poster art give way to an amalgam of classic and not-so-good sci-fi/horror moments in Pandorum, a German-American co-production. Dennis Quaid leads a largely continental cast as two space travelers find themselves on board a vessel whose salvationary purpose they can’t remember and which is afflicted with an Event Horizon-style tendency to induce madness — and a batch of nasty creatures ready to pounce. Oh, and there’s a countdown to a massive explosion. In space, no one can hear the kitchen sink scream.
Whiteout
Kate Beckinsale is a law enforcement officer in the Antarctic who suffers the inconvenience of having to probe the continent’s first homicide. This only brings her tormented past to the surface as she tries to solve the crime and fend off a killer. Despite its lack of sci-fi, this film’s set-up, plot and embellishments merely activate memories of John Carpenter’s classic remake The Thing. Based on a reputedly much tougher graphic novel and directed by Dominic Sena, prominent music video maker and director of Gone in Sixty Seconds and Swordfish.
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50