Diana
Another royal drama about the Princess Diana. Alas, this film by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who made the excellent Downfall about Hitler’s last days, manages to swerve away from unforgivable tastelessness only to crash and burn in a maelstrom of cliches. UK critics have slammed the film, and even Variety magazine, taking a more objective tone, laments the film’s ineptness in treating such a complex subject. The film looks at the love affair between Diana (Naomi Watts) and Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan (Naveen Andrews), which ultimately led to the tragedy in the Pont de l’Alma underpass. Instead of looking for insight into what might have made Diana tick, Hirschbiegel seems content to play follow the thriller playbook, ramping up the emotional drama. Worse still, the clunky script by Stephen Jeffreys fails to present either Diana or Khan as real people we can sympathize with.
Inferno 3D (逃出生天3D)
The Towering Inferno with 3D and Chinese characteristics, Inferno 3D is a big-budget extravaganza by dynamic duo Oxide Pang (彭順) and Danny Pang (彭發). Starring Sean Lau (劉青雲), Louis Koo (古天樂) and Angelica Lee (李心潔), the movie is about a fire that engulfs a high-rise building in southern China and the subsequent rescue mission by the city’s fire department. The film has the usual emotional dynamic between firemen and victims trapped by the conflagration, set up through a backstory. When that is out of the way, the fire is lit and all the action centers on the building going up in flames. Lots of macho types look to find their own way to save the victims, ranging from high-wire and underwater escapes, and the directors have taken great pains to create a real sense of danger. A solid cast and big-dollar effects ensure that those looking for nothing more than effective entertainment will be satisfied.
Escape Plan
Some people just cannot wait for the next team-up of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other people simply couldn’t care less about muscle-bound actors putting away some (more) easy money for their retirement fund. Even diehard fans were probably not vastly engaged by their previous effort, The Expendables 2, but Escape Plan seems to have a plot and other cool stuff like that. Stallone and Schwarzenegger don’t really even pretend to act, which is probably for the best. Stallone is the ultimate jail breakout expert who gets double-crossed and falls off the grid in a super high security prison. He needs to get out to burn the people who did this to him. He meets Arnie, an aging inmate with a strong Austrian accent and big muscles. They plan an escape. It is all very improbable, but the film has high production values and some decent chemistry between the two stars. Above average for those who like this sort of stuff.
App
Dutch film that is being heavily marketed in Taiwan, largely based on the gimmick of its interaction with audience smart phones. Directed by Bobby Boermans, the film tells the story of a young psychology student who downloads a smartphone app and discovers that it changes her life in all the wrong ways. The app downloaded by Anna Rijnders (played by Hannah Hoekstra) gradually begins to terrorize her, distributing compromising photographs, videos and text to her friends and causing mayhem, assisted by Anna’s brother, who has recently received an electronic implant. An app that audiences can download will provide additional extras and information related to the movie during the screening, making App something of a groundbreaker in terms of cinema gimmickry. What is a little more unexpected is that early reviews suggest that the film actually has intellectual pretensions as well, and it seeks to explore the ways our smart devices come to dominate our lives. App might be the beginning of a whole new era of cinema interactivity, or just a bit of a cheap thrill. At least no one can complain if you get your phone out during the screening.
Tasting Menu
Foodie rom-com from Spain with international aspirations, Tasting Menu is a light frothy concoction that is perfectly enjoyable, if not particularly memorable. The concept: The last night of one of the world’s greatest restaurants — think a seaside elBulli — and a couple, separated for over a year, come together for a dinner that will make or break their relationship. In the background, Japanese investors look at potential new developments and a worldly-wise widow dines with the ashes of her late husband, and dishes out small dollops of wisdom to keep the protagonists on track to the expected grand affirmation of eternal love. The film is more No Reservations than Babette’s Feast, and though it has some scenes of intimately tender gastronomy, it totally lacks either the social insight of a film like Eat, Drink, Man, Women or the exuberant sexual charge of Tampopo. Tasting Menu is a bit like cotton candy, fun to look at, quick to digest and immediately forgotten.
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