Ender’s Game
It’s big, it’s bold and it is undeniably spectacular, but the new film by Gavin Hood suffers from a number of faults that have afflicted his earlier work: a profound lack of humor. Hood burst onto the popular consciousness in 2005 with Tsotsi, a film that followed the life of a homeless black boy in the backstreets of Johannesburg. It was not a film that required a light touch. But when dealing with extraordinary rendition in the star-studded Rendition, or superhero exploits in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, irony, if not humor, would have been appreciated. With Ender’s Game, a thoughtful and magnificent astro-adventure that pits a child against alien hordes intent on the world’s destruction, Hood provides metaphors, moral dilemmas, and soul-searching aplenty, and the onscreen battles take starfleet engagements to a whole new level -- but oh, for something to lighten the load! A sequel-ready ending further weakens the drama, and while Ender’s Game fails to be all that it could be, it is packed with so much material most people would be hard-pressed not to find something they liked about it.
Machete Kills
A sequel to Machete, the 2010 Robert Rodriguez splatter fest that was anchored by the iconic, if long-suffering, character actor (and former felon and ex-boxer) Danny Trejo. Trejo plays a machete-wielding killer who is hired by the US government to battle his way through Mexico to take down an arms dealer who is about to launch a weapon into space. With Trejo in the lead, you can expect a high body count, and with Rodriguez in the director’s chair, you know the blood is going to be in your face. And that is the best reason to go watch Machete Kills, a top-notch B-movie that knows exactly what its customers want. Throw Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas and Charlie Sheen into the mix, and you know that Rodriguez is out to have some fun. Don’t expect logic, or nuance, or anything that is going to get in the way of people being killed for your entertainment. As one of the character’s in the film says, “Machete kills. That’s what he does!” And that about sums this film up.
Blue Jasmine
It was getting to the point where it was becoming hard to be a Woody Allen fan anymore. Match Point, Scoop and Cassandra’s Dream were a low point, redeemed ever so slightly with more recent work such as Whatever Works and To Rome with Love, which were at least interesting, but also a little bit workmanlike. With Blue Jasmine Allen has found a muse in Cate Blanchett, and created what may be his best film in a decade. Blanchett is Jasmine, a New York socialite who has been taken for everything she has by Hal (Alec Baldwin), and has come to San Francisco to impose on her much less wealthy sister (Sally Hawkins). She is fighting a losing battle with her memories, and her narcissistic hang-ups and their consequences begin to overwhelm her and everyone around. Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern, one of the most sober of film critics, goes so far as to say that “Cate Blanchett tops anything she’s done in the past” with this role that is hilariously funny while also being absolutely tragic.
Frances Ha
A film for writer-director Noah Baumbach -- who most recently directed Greenberg, which has a strong claim to being the best of all Ben Stiller’s movies -- is back with what may be his most compassionate and nuanced film since The Squid and the Whale. Shot in velvety black and white, recalling the tones of Woody Allen’s Manhattan, Frances Ha tells the story of a New York woman who throws herself headlong into the realization of her dreams, even as we discern that the possibility of their actualization is constantly dwindling. Like some early Allen pictures, Frances Ha is an ode to the city of New York and the people, in all their variety, who live there. It watches the character of Frances, played by Greta Gerwig, struggling to invent herself. Gerwig sparkles, and actress Micky Summer (daughter to musician Sting), is a perfect foil in a slight tale that manages to be charming, effervescent, playful and deeply sad all at the same time.
English Vinglish
Veteran Bollywood actress Sridevi stars in a light-hearted drama about a quiet, sweet-tempered housewife who despite her considerable homemaking skills endures endless slights from her husband and children due to her reluctance to learn English. Things come to a head when she visits Manhattan to help in wedding preparations for a niece’s wedding, and is inspired to sign up for language classes. The development is pretty predictable as a story of female empowerment, and there are some gentle hints of romance that never conflict with a story centered on strong family values. There is a nice performance by Cory Hibbs as the camp English teacher, and some musical interludes that root the film firmly in the Bollywood tradition are good fun. While English Vinglish never courts controversy about ethnic or gender issues, its cheerful spirit and good humor make it an enjoyable introduction to Indian cinema. Dialogue is mostly in English.
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
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
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
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your