The Martian
High hopes are in order for the latest film by Ridley Scott, who has brought us beloved classics such as Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise and Alien while staying relevant with recent hits (or not) such as Prometheus. The Martian stars Matt Damon as an astronaut who is presumed to be dead and left behind on Mars by his crew. He must find a way to survive while ground control debates on whether to rescue him or not. So what makes this film stand out from other survival movies such as fellow space epic Gravity and last week’s Everest? For one, critics say that this film is actually quite humorous, though falling on the darker side (dude hates disco yet it’s his only source of entertainment, making the perfect excuse for a 70s-themed soundtrack). They also say that it gives plenty of narrative to mission control back home and his crewmates, avoiding the one-person monologue often seen in films where someone is trapped somewhere. We also hear that Damon is quite spectacular.
A Most Violent Year
This crime epic has been out in the US since 2014, but is only premiering in Taiwan this weekend. Its title refers to 1981, which is statistically the deadliest year in the city’s history up to that point with more than 120,000 reported robberies and 2,166 murders. The story follows a first-generation immigrant (Al Pacino, wait, no, Oscar Isaac) and his Brooklyn mafia daughter wife (Jessica Chastain) who fight to protect their American Dream and expand their heating oil business while dealing with corruption and mob violence. Isaac’s character is faced with raising cash while under investigation for fraud while his company trucks keep getting attacked by an unknown source. Determined to succeed, the film follows the protagonist slowly plunging deeper and deeper into midst of things and doing what he needs to do, whether he likes it or not.
Absolutely Anything
Let’s take a moment of silence, as this is the late Robin Williams’ last film — OK, he doesn’t actually appear in it, he provides the voiceover for the protagonist’s talking dog. It’s also Terry Jones’ (of Monty Python fame) first directorial feature in 20 years, and features all living Monty Python cast members. The film is based on a pretty weak premise, however, with a group of aliens bestowing upon an unhappy schoolteacher the power to do, well, absolutely anything, just to test his moral compass. If he succeeds, he joins their council, if he fails, they destroy Earth. It’s really hard to see how anything original or interesting can be made out of such a tired plot, even with the combined funny firepower of Monty Python and Williams involved. Unfortunately, most critics seem to agree.
Cooties
What happens when you try to combine the disturbing psychological horror of Saw with the cheesy, happy teeny-bopper dramedy of Glee? This zombie comedy is literally the answer, as it is a collaboration between their respective creators. The film takes place in a town called Fort Chicken where the children are turned into the living dead after ingesting, uh, infected chicken nuggets. Elijah Wood plays the teacher who, instead of developing his students’ minds, needs to keep his brains from being eaten. Critics say the unlikely pairing actually works, resulting in a ridiculous, tongue-in-cheek product that’s not really scary, pretty funny, pretty gross and pretty entertaining if you aren’t offended by adults bashing their way through hordes of brain-hungry children.
Knock Knock
A dude can only dream of two attractive women showing up at his door, making themselves at home and finally seducing him for a threesome in the bathroom. For Evan Webber (Keanu Reeves), a happily married architect who encounters the exact scenario while his wife and son are on vacation, it’s only the beginning of a nightmare that probably will never end. It’s a modern, glossier update of the campy 1977 exploitation film Death Game, which features two hippie chicks instead. Webber initially refuses the women’s advances but slowly gives in as the whole thing turns dark, sadistic and deadly. It’s hard to see how this will end well for the chap.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless