The Three Musketeers
The cinematic version of the story goes all the way back to 1948 with Gene Kelly as the young D’Artagnan and Lana Turner as the evil Milady de Winter. The 1993 film, with Kiefer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen headlining, did little to replace Richard Lester’s classic from 1973, and now we have a version of this much told tale for the 21st century. Now the role of the intriguing Milady de Winter is taken over by action star Milla Jovovich, and the whole movie has left Alexandre Dumas’ Paris far, far behind, sporting battles between zeppelins equipped with cannon and lots of wire-assisted acrobatics. The occasionally stunning action sequences are not sufficient to make up for the flabby middle section, in which the filmmakers try, not quite successfully, to reproduce something akin to a plot. Unlike Lester’s earlier version with its bawdy streak, this new outing is aimed at a mid-teen audience, playing out like a high school adventure story with swords and lovely clothes.
In Time
“Time is money” is a phrase that gets a real working over in In Time, a film with a very pretty cast in the shape of Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. The story is set in a future in which the clock runs out for people when they hit 25, and then they need to get more time; and time costs. Only the rich can purchase time, living to a great age (though without aging). Will Salas (Timberlake) gets given a whole bunch of time by a rich man who has had enough, but this newfound temporal wealth makes Salas a target for criminals and other assorted nasties. Plenty of action, but the lack of chemistry between the leads just about sinks the film. High production values and a veneer of sophistication mean that In Time has its moments, but they simply don’t last long enough.
Warrior
A film in which the inspirational uplift of Rocky meets the new fight medium of MMA (mixed marital arts). Tommy (Tom Hardy) is an ex-marine who has been engaged in Iraq and is still looking for a fight. He hires his father, a former coach gone to seed (Nick Nolte), to train him up as an MMA fighter. His estranged brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton), a physics teacher, engages in street fighting to earn extra money. Unbeknownst to each other, they are both eyeing a big prize fight in which they will find success, redemption and possibly revenge. The two brothers are clearly destined to go head-to-head. There is plenty of teary turmoil among big, strong men, but there is physical turmoil as well, with some stunning fight sequences.
Pick the Youth (皮克青春)
Riding the wave started by Cape No. 7 (海角七號), first-time director Chen Ta-pu (陳大璞) joins forces with producer Yee Chih-yen (易智言), director of Blue Gate Crossing (藍色大門), to make yet another movie of youthful rebellion and rock ’n’ roll dreams. There are plenty of familiar themes, from the geeky music prodigy and the school bad-boy to the pretty girl who vacillates between the two, and, of course, a host of variously disapproving or sympathetic adults. Though largely derivative, there are some solid performances and moments when shredding guitar riffs pass adequately for an expression of adolescent frustration.
Sleepwalker in 3D
A new release by Oxide Pang (彭順), this time taking his vision of the dark places in which dreams and reality meet into a new dimension — 3D that is. Yi, played by Sinje Lee (李心潔), is a young woman who suffers from recurring dreams and also has a problem with sleepwalking. When a man walks out of her dreams and into her life, the boundary between sleep and waking blurs into a terrifying belief that she may actually be a murderer. Pang is a master of this style of occult horror, and this new release is unlikely to disappoint his fans.
If Not Us, Who? (Wer wenn nicht wir)
Bernward Vesper and fellow university student Gudrun Ensslin begin a passionate love affair in the stifling atmosphere of provincial West Germany in the 1960s. They become the core of what was to become the Red Army Faction, and in many respects If Not Us, Who? can be seen as a prequel to the The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008). Though the drama of its protagonists gets bogged down by dense scenes of political debate, the film scores well for its painstaking attention to detail, which was provided by eminent documentary filmmaker Andres Veiel, and strong performances by the cast members.
The Ways of Wine
Interesting stylistic experiment in which Argentine director Nicolas Carreras uses a documentary style to tell the story of a world-famous sommelier who must reconnect with the grape after losing his sense of smell. It follows the story of real-life sommelier Charlie Arturaola, and combines techniques taken from reality TV and drama in chronicling his journey through Argentina’s famous Mendoza wine region, where Arturaola uses every possible technique to stimulate his senses. A sure hit for oenophiles with its real grasp of the subtleties of wine tasting, but its lack of dramatic punch might limit its audience.
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Stars of Milos
The second feature film based on the Fullmetal Alchemist manga and anime franchise that presents what is a substantially original story with characters that feature only in the movie.
2011 Documentary Film Festival, New Taipei, New Vision (2011機不可失主題紀錄片影展)
The fifth edition of the CNEX Documentary Film Festival opens tomorrow with a lineup of more than 55 nonfiction works from around the world. Organized around the theme of “crisis and opportunity,” the festival has put together four sections showcasing works that explore issues ranging from global financial crises and natural disasters to personal challenges and change. Highlights include several award-winning documentary films by China’s Jia Zhangke (賈樟柯). The nine-day event takes place at several venues across Taipei, including the auditoriums at Eslite Xinyi Store (誠品信義店) and Dunnan Eslite Bookstore (誠品敦南店) as well as Banciao Cultural Center (板橋多功能文教館) in New Taipei City. For more information, visit cnexff.pixnet.net/blog. Tickets cost NT$100 per screening and are available from 7-Eleven ibon and Hi-Life (萊爾富) Life-ET kiosks, NTCH ticketing and online at www.artsticket.com.tw. Read page 16 in tomorrow’s edition for full coverage of the event.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and