Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Undoubtedly the major cinema event of the week, if not of December, and for fans, probably the most anticipated picture of 2013. Part two of a trilogy based on what was the slimmest of JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth novels, the massive three part treatment of a relatively simple story has provided director Peter Jackson the kind of freedom he never had in the densely plotted Lord of the Ring adaptations. He also has the kind of budgetary reach that any director would kill for, based on the massive success of those earlier movies. And Jackson delivers in spadefuls, creating a second installment that surpasses the first in its energy and momentum. The story is mysterious and exotic, but it is told with a geniality that was buried under the portentousness of the first series. Running two hours and 40 minutes, the action never sags, and for fans and newcomers alike, The Desolation of Smaug offers the kind of rollicking adventure story that we have not seen since the best of the Indiana Jones movies.
Oshin
Oshin was originally a TV series that proved one of the most watched Japanese TV dramas of all time when it was first released in the mid-1980s and was hugely popular in Taiwan and around Asia. It is the story of a young girl who grows up in impoverished circumstances and endures through many, many, many hardships (the original series ran for 297 episodes), and is set at the end of the Meiji era and into modern times. Oshin has become an iconic character recognized around Asia even by people who did not watch the series, a symbol of endurance through hard times and forbearance in the face of adversity. In the movie, the role of the young Oshin is played by Kokone Hamada, who according to publicity material, was selected from 2,471 applicants for the role. Oshin is unapologetic melodrama, and it is advisable to have a plentiful supply of hankies or tissue to see audiences through to the end.
I’m So Excited
A new Pedro Almodovar film is always to be welcomed, though it has been a long time since the master of the neurotic has achieved the kind of unsettling weirdness of Law of Desire and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which made him an international name. In I’m So Excited it is clear that the director and the cast are having the time of their lives in an entertaining romp that follows the crew and passengers of an airplane that is experiencing technical problems on a journey that is likely to end in flames. Death is looming, and this being an Almodovar film, the thing that is on everybody’s mind is sex. Death and sex are the foundations of Almodovar films, and in I’m So Excited, neither has seemed so much fun. Taken for what it is, there is plenty to keep fans entertained.
Delivery Man
Sometimes it just isn’t that easy to hate Vince Vaughn, who comes up with some truly terrible movie ideas, but also occasionally manages a mix of comedy and sentiment that is difficult to loathe. Such is the case with Delivery Man. The story follows David, an affable underachiever who discovers that he has fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago. Now he must decide whether or not to come forward when a number of them file a lawsuit to reveal his identity. Family, fatherhood, responsibility and bonding all get a workout, and David discovers something about how life can be made to have meaning. Vaughn’s usually snarky tone has been smoothed out with mid-life crisis philosophizing, and curiously enough, this is what makes Delivery Man an above average comedy.
Love, Marilyn
No one epitomizes the rise of celebrity culture more than the character of Marilyn Monroe, and Love, Marilyn, a documentary in which the great and good of Hollywood read from newly discovered journals and letters left by the actress and speak about her, takes a revealing look into the personality behind the icon. There is also archive footage from those who knew her and worked with her. Director Liz Garbus has brought together a list of Hollywood royalty that ranges from Lauren Bacall to Glenn Close, Joe DiMaggio to Lindsay Lohan. The picture of Marilyn Monroe revealed here is something utterly different from the dumb blonde of popular mythology, and fleshes out a character who worked relentlessly, overcoming what even friends suggest was somewhat limited acting skill, to be a great actor and a happy person. Both were incredibly difficult tasks.
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