Badges of Fury (不二神探)
A crime thriller featuring martial arts superstar Jet Li (李連杰), who plays veteran police officer Huang. His partner is young buck Wang (played by Wen Zhang, 文章) who is constantly getting the two into hot water. There are echoes of the Bad Boys and Lethal Weapon franchises in the mix of high-octane action and buddy movie humor. For those looking to balance out the muscular antics of Li and his police pal, there is also Liu Shishi (劉詩詩), Michelle Chen (陳妍希) and Liu Yan (柳岩), who provide plenty of eye candy and cross-Strait appeal. The story, as far as it goes, involves the duo, who are forced to go undercover to trace a killer, entering the glamorous world of aspiring movie star Liu, and engaging in some very improbable wire-assisted combats with various bad guys. This is the third collaboration between Li and Wen as a martial arts duo, and the film is helped by the good chemistry between the two.
Caught in the Web (搜索)
Based on an award-winning Internet novel, Caught in the Web is this year’s nomination from China for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. The story that starts with a seemly minor infringement of civic etiquette — a young woman refusing to give up her bus seat to an elderly man, caught on video and posted online by an intern journalist — sparks a public outcry and shakes up the lives of the young woman (Gao Yuanyuan, 高圓圓), the intern journalist (Wang Luodan, 王珞丹) and many of their friends and associates. Directed by Chen Kaige (陳凱歌), the creator of classics such as Farewell My Concubine and self-indulgent dross such as The Promise, Caught in the Web shows, despite its heavily melodramatic tone, a certain edginess by being rooted in the digitally savvy, status conscious and wealthy new China.
The Internship
The first problem with The Internship is that it is a bit too much like a two-hour commercial for Google. The second problem is that Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson have done this comedy duo before, and better. The third problem is that director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Date Night) mistakes persistent efforts at charm as a substitute for actual humor. And I could go on, and on, and on. Two middle-aged goofballs find their careers in marketing obliterated by technology, and then find themselves in an intern program for Google as it selects the best and brightest. They form a team with a bunch of other losers, and inevitably, find new self-belief as they struggle against hopeless odds and a total disconnect with the modern digital world. You know the rest.
Monsters University
If you loved Monsters Inc then you will love Monsters University, a prequel with attitude, that happily covers much the same ground as the original film, without much originality or new inspiration but with plenty of energy and good humor. Solid craftsmanship ensures that most audiences are unlikely to be disappointed, and a voice cast that includes Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Helen Mirren provides a depth of characterization that is constantly entertaining. On the other hand, for fans of Pixar’s groundbreaking early work, Monsters University might disappoint, for though it is a return to form following the failure of Cars 2, it is a long way from the cutting edge of animation filmmaking that it once inhabited.
My Awkward Sexual Adventures
Billed as “the funniest Canadian sex comedy ever” in the trailer, which kind of puts the film in perspective. How many Canadian sex comedies have you seen? This one is occasionally funny and occasionally gross, as a conservative accountant enlists the help of an exotic dancer to guide him on a quest for sexual experience so that he can win back his girlfriend. Genitalia jokes get a full workout, but rather than finding inspiration from its characters, the film takes the easy route of working through a variety of stock scenarios that sees the film’s lead being a fish out of water in strip clubs and massage parlors, and attempting cross-dressing and S&M.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built