The Laundryman 青田街一號
The Laundryman is the directorial debut of Taiwanese writer Lee Chung (李中), who apparently cannot be mentioned without referring to his famous father, writer and screenwriter Hsiao Yeh (小野). It seems to be a mishmash of genres, as the trailer opens with a laundry shop that doubles as an assassination service, but things turn paranormal when a hitman with a troubled soul starts seeing ghosts and seeks help from a cutesy, pink-haired psychic medium who turns into the vehicle for these ghosts to interact with the hitman. Like many Taiwanese movies these days, the dialogue and action seem to take place in a constant manic state, which actually could be an endearing national trademark after you get used to it. It’s an irreverent black comedy with lots of violence that is sure to entertain, but also takes a look at human nature through the absurd.
Hitman: Agent 47
The genetically-engineered assassin protagonist of the popular first-person shooter video game Hitman: Codename 47 hits the big screens again in this reboot of the 2007 adaptation. This time, Agent 47 goes up against an organization that wants to find out the secret to his powers, and replicate them. Not surprisingly, he teams up with a young woman, also with secret origins, who may have the key to it all. There’s just one problem here. In the game, the player can choose to advance by way of an all-out bloodbath, but earns more points for tactical efficiency such as conserving bullets, not triggering alarms and killing targets without collateral damage. Yet, the trailer shows Agent 47 choosing the former path (such as ramming enemies with cars) which may indicate that the movie kind of misses the point of the game, or of an assassin movie at all.
Marvel Stories
If you’re feeling blue that there won’t be any Marvel action movies until Feb. 2016, take solace in the fact that Taiwan is the only country in the world that will be showing the French television documentaries Marvel Renaissance and Marvel Universe in one setting as Marvel Stories. The first film tells the story of how Marvel recovered from its 1996 bankruptcy to take over Hollywood and become an entertainment industry trendsetter. Descriptions of the film promises juicy tidbits and insider information that would surprise the casual fan, and the audience will hear from Hollywood producers, comic book writers and Avi Arad, former head of Marvel Entertainment and founder of Marvel Studios. Not sure what the second film is about, but hey, it’s 70 more minutes of Marvel screen time you’ll get to enjoy this year.
Pixels
If you grew up playing classic arcade games like Donkey Kong and Centipede, you’ll probably be ecstatic about the film’s premise of giant, pixelated characters from these games attacking the earth and its promotional posters featuring Pac-Man devouring its way through San Francisco. The US government doesn’t know what to do, so the illiterate president (Kevin James) turns to his best friend, a former video game child prodigy-turned-sad sack loser played by, if it isn’t obvious enough, Adam Sandler. Such a promising premise seems to have been turned into a formulaic Sandler bro-comedy with him playing the same person he’s played in most of his films. Worst thing is, it’s not even an original idea — the movie was inspired by a two-and-a-half minute YouTube short film by French filmmaker Patrick Jean, which critics say is better than its feature-lenght counterpart. I won’t lie, though, the special effects are pretty cool.
The Tribe
Set in a school for deaf children, The Tribe is an innovative reason to make a silent film — all dialogue is carried out in Ukrainian sign language, and there is no music. “You don’t need subtitles or voiceovers, because for love and hatred you don’t need translation,” the trailer declares. The effects are haunting, fitting for the grim portrayal of human brutality in a school ruled by a gang of students, “The Tribe,” which deals in organized crime and prostitution. When a member of the tribe breaks all the unwritten rules in the name of love, things turn nasty. The Guardian calls it “one of the most disturbing films of the year,” presumably in a way completely opposite from The Human Centipede 3, yet hitting on the same theme of how depraved people can be.
As mega K-pop group BTS returns to the stage after a hiatus of more than three years, one major market is conspicuously missing from its 12-month world tour: China. The omission of one of the group’s biggest fan bases comes as no surprise. In fact, just the opposite would have been huge news. China has blocked most South Korean entertainment since 2016 under an unofficial ban that also restricts movies and the country’s popular TV dramas. For some Chinese, that means flying to Seoul to see their favorite groups perform — as many were expected to do for three shows opening
A recent report from the Environmental Management Administration of the Ministry of Environment highlights a perennial problem: illegal dumping of construction waste. In Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅) and Hsinchu’s Longtan District (龍潭) criminals leased 10,000 square meters of farmland, saying they were going to engage in horticulture. They then accepted between 40,000 and 50,000 cubic meters of construction waste from sites in northern Taiwan, charging less than the going rate for disposal, and dumped the waste concrete, tile, metal and glass onto the leased land. Taoyuan District prosecutors charged 33 individuals from seven companies with numerous violations of the law. This
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry consumes electricity at rates that would strain most national grids. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) alone accounted for more than 9 percent, or 2,590 megawatts (MW), of the nation’s power demand last year. The factories that produce chips for the world’s phones and servers run around the clock. They cannot tolerate blackouts. Yet Taiwan imports 97 percent of its energy, with liquefied natural gas reserves measured in days. Underground, Taiwan has options. Studies from National Taiwan University estimate recoverable geothermal resources at more than 33,000 MW. Current installed capacity stands below 10 MW. OBSTACLES Despite Taiwan’s significant geothermal potential, the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) returned from her trip to meet People’s Republic of China (PRC) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) bearing “a gift” for the people of Taiwan: 10 measures the PRC proposed to “facilitate the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.” “China on Sunday unveiled 10 new incentive measures for Taiwan,” wrote Reuters, wrongly. The PRC’s longstanding habit with Taiwan relations is to repackage already extant or once-existing policies and declare that they are “new.” The list forwarded by Cheng reflects that practice. NEW MEASURES? Note the first item: establishing regular communication mechanisms between the Chinese Communist Party
RSS