Brave
Pixar and Disney are back with another stirring tale of adventure laced with humor, this time set in a Scotland of the mythical past. The story of the feisty Princess Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald, whose charming Scottish brogue alone is worth the price of admission), who disdains the advances of various suitors and whose willfulness unleashes a terrible evil into the land. Of course, she shows her mettle by stepping up to this challenge. A strong UK cast includes Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane and Julie Walters, give the characters depth and appeal, and though the story itself lacks a little in originality, and the fact that the attraction of the Celtic Revival score might be limited, production values are what you can expect from the makers of Toy Story and Wall-E.
Streetdance 2
Classy sequel to the surprisingly effective Streetdance, with a largely new cast, but a story of boy meets girl, rivalry and a big competition where the underdog proves that they can stand up to the biggest and best has played out innumerable times before. The 3D is used with restraint, and proves remarkably effective in highlighting the choreography, with effect achieved through the athleticism of the dancers (many street dance professionals) rather than through fancy camera work. A vast array of dancers from around the world are brought together by protagonist Ash (Falk Hentschel) to beat a crew calling themselves Invincible. Eighty-five minute running time keeps things brisk but does not provide enough time for characters to be given much more than a rough sketch.
Cesare deve morire
Walking the difficult line between documentary and drama, this new production by veteran directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani is a fascinating behind the scenes look at the staging of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar by inmates of the high security Rebibbia prison in Rome, home to Mafiosi, drug dealers and murderers, who are encouraged to provide their own take on the themes of loyalty and betrayal as they adapt the play, bringing in the rhythms of their native speech and highlighting aspects of their own lives. A number of the inmates turn in powerful performances on stage, though some of the supposedly casual comments seem too scripted to be taken entirely at face value. The film bubbles with ideas, which can be read has an indirect commentary about the nature of contemporary Italian politics, a meditation about the value of art and its psychological costs and much else.
Cheri
Director Stephen Frears (The Queen) and screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Atonement), the duo who brought us the delights of Dangerous Liaisons are back with a Belle Epoque romp starring Michelle Pfeiffer as an arch seductress who is commissioned by a rich and gossipy matron (Kathy Bates) to teach her 19-year-old son a thing or two about women. He learns all too fast and the scandal rings around elegant Paris society. Despite the extraordinary talent that has been brought together for this production, the concept and execution is all just a little too twee, with none of the barb and bite of their previous Dangerous collaboration.
Hotaru The Movie: It’s Only A Little Light In My Life
Yet another manga-based movie from Japan featuring two well-loved characters Hotaru Amemiya (Haruka Ayase), known for her school girl looks and large cup size, and Seichi Takano (Naohito Fujiki) taking a vacation and living their own private version of the Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck classic Roman Holiday. This is a sequel to Hotaru no Hikari, in which Amemiya, a ditzy interior designer with no interest in relationships falls in love with her boss, who she marries at the end of the first film. This movie is their honeymoon, which in the nature of such productions, injects new interest into the story simply by shifting to an exotic location. Primarily for fans of Ayase and her mammary assets.
Father’s Lullaby (手機裡的眼淚)
Feature debut by architect and composer Simon Chang (張世), this drama pondering the capriciousness of fate is so full of coincidence that a total suspension of disbelief is required to engage with this story of a Mashiro, a student at a medical school in Taiwan who falls into despair following the March 11, 2011 tsunami in Japan. He is persuaded to take an occasional nuisance call from a Japanese girl with a fatal illness by a couple who he meets at the hospital, who have been battered after trying to intercede in a case of child abuse. Melodramatic tropes abound in a story that is riding the wave of the regional appeal of Japanese actor Tamio.
Steve Jobs Visionary Genius
This is a cinematic hagiography of Apple computer’s visionary leader. The film seems to go out of its way to see only the positive aspects of Steve Jobs and his accomplishments. It looks both at his private and public life, but frames the story as an epic struggle of a genius fighting against the constraints of mortality, foregoing any meaningful exploration of the nuts and bolts of his achievements as a marketing whiz kids or as one of the more extraordinary human beings of the 21st century.
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
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located