American Ultra
The dude from The Social Network and that chick from Twilight form an unlikely team in this stoner action comedy that promises as many bloodbaths as bong hits. Since marijuana is illegal in Taiwan, we’re assuming people will watch this movie sober, which undoubtedly will result in many questions about the premise of Mark Zuckerberg actually being a slacker who works at a convenience store who is actually a secret sleeper CIA agent, who, unbeknownst to himself, has immense butt-kicking powers that, once awakened, allows him to turn the spoon he was using to eat ramen with into a deadly weapon. And as for why Bella Swan has forsaken handsome vampires and charming werewolves to take care of this loser, even though he eventually turns into a lethal weapon … wait, something just doesn’t sound right ... Just forget about those two — Connie Britton, Topher Grace, John Leguziamo and Walton Goggins make up the main supporting cast, which is, like, pretty cool.
The Intern
No, it’s not The Internship, which featured Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as 40-something year old Google interns, but the premise of The Intern is similar, with an even older Robert de Niro taking on the lowly position as part of a “senior internship program.” He starts working at an online fashion company run by a seemingly tough Anne Hathaway with mostly younger employees. It’s pretty much pure lighthearted dramedy, as the 70-year-old intern charms his coworkers, imparts his wisdom and spends more and more time with his boss (one scene shows her teaching him how to use Facebook), who eventually runs into trouble at her company and at one point in the trailer declares the intern as her best friend. It’s not explained in the trailer why de Niro would take such a position, which, in an age where the trailer often explains the entire plot, actually makes you want to watch the movie and find out.
Iris
Speaking of old age, this documentary takes it to another level with an 88-year-old director and 93-year-old protagonist, both icons in their own right. This is documentary pioneer Albert Maysles’ second-to-last film, as he died in March, reportedly shot with no plan and no script. It stars New York fashionista Iris Apfel, a self-styled “geriatric starlet” always eccentrically dressed with her signature giant round spectacles. It explores her personal world, her wit, wisdom and grit, her shopping expeditions and her house full of collected (hoarded?) items that she shares with her 101-year-old husband Carl. It appears to be an honest portrayal of a old woman who won’t slow down and only knows how to be one thing: herself, even showing a scene where she flirts with Kanye West. It’s hard to believe how such a fascinating woman, while well known in the scene, never became a public name until New York’s Metropolitan Museum put together an exhibit of her outfits in 2005. Maybe it’s because, as she has said, she never wanted to do a documentary until she met Maysles.
What We Did On Our Holiday
This British feel-good comedy may appear to be a bit cheesy, but the trailer shows genuine warm-heartedness and laughs and the reviews are mostly positive. Writer-directors Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin are known for their sitcom Outnumbered, whose unique feature is its semi-improvised dialogue from cute yet precocious children. The film contains those beloved elements and more, following a separated couple who journey with their children to Scotland to visit the husband’s ailing father on his birthday. The couple are determined to lie about their relationship, and instruct their children to do so too. There’s also the husband’s uptight rich brother, which provides another source of comedic relief. Yet, the fun-loving father just wants a birthday free of family drama, while everybody bickers on. The children provide spontaneous energy to counter the adult’s troubles, and critics call the resulting product an refreshing and endearing film.
Riding the Breeze (南風)
This appears to be another one of those “passion of youth” bicycle movies that highlights the scenery of Taiwan in a thinly-veiled tourism promotion campaign. Actually, forget about the thinly-veiled part — the film was awarded the Taiwan Tourism Contribution Award (臺灣觀光貢獻獎) by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. Luckily, we live in a beautiful country that’s hard to get sick of looking at. A collaboration between Japan and Taiwan, the film features a 26-year-old Japanese woman facing both love and career crises who comes to Taiwan to interview a well-known cyclist and ends up on a journey around the country with the 16-year-old daughter of a bicycle shop owner who harbors a dream of becoming a model. Of course things go wrong, and the highway adventure picks up from there.
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
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