Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
The DC extended universe has some catching up to do to its Marvel counterpart, but the franchise is making some noise by featuring two of its most iconic superheroes in its second release. Aside from being the first theatrical film to feature both Batman and Superman, it’s surprisingly also the first to feature live-action portrayals of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash and Cyborg — although Wonder Woman did appear in a 1991 Filipino Batman and Robin spoof comedy that apparently does not count. And having two superheroes fight each other apparently is not a gimmick — as comic-book director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, Man of Steel) says, “I really believe that only after contemplating who could face [Superman] did Batman come into the picture.”
Macbeth
From superpowered mutant to Wild West bounty hunter to Steve Jobs, Michael Fassbender now takes on the role of Macbeth, the tragic Shakespearean general turned king in this Palm d’Or contending adaptation. The Bard’s shortest tragedy has seen its share of cinematic features — including takes by Orson Welles and Roman Polanski, and the most recent 2006 Australian modern gangster version. So what is this one, by Australian director Justin Kurzel (Snowtown) like? Roger Ebert’s Web site describes it as containing a “few narrative tweaks and a whole lot of visceral violence.” It is gory and bleak, for sure, but it is also gorgeous — that kind of bloodshed that you simply cannot turn your eyes away from no matter how nauseous you feel. Stylistics aside, the power-thirsty and tortured Macbeth is a pretty difficult character to play — but most say Fassbender nailed the performance. And so did Marion Cotillard as the manipulative Lady Macbeth.
Mustang
Winner of the 2015 Lux Prize and nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at both the Golden Globes and Oscars, Mustang tells the story of five orphaned girls growing up in conservative Turkey. The film opens with the sisters being imprisoned in their house by conservative elders after they are seen hanging out with boys at the beach, and their grandmother removes them from school and teaches them how to cook and sew in order to marry them off. Parts of the story are based on the experiences of first-time director Deniz Gamze Erguven, who was born in Turkey but raised in France. It is not clear when the story is set, perhaps reflecting the reality that this could still happen anywhere in the world. A Turkish-language film shot in Turkey, it was France who submitted it to the Oscars reportedly because of the subject matter. Warren Ellis of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds composed the soundtrack.
The Young Messiah
Anne Rice was an atheist when she wrote her vampire novels (Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned were made into feature films), but she re-embraced Catholicism in 1998 after she nearly died from diabetes. Following another near-death experience in 2004, she decided to “dedicate her talent to glorifying her belief in God,” with Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt as her first effort. The book is a fictional account of the life of Jesus Christ from age seven to eight, as he returns with his family from Egypt to Judea, during which he starts to discover his healing powers and true background. Cyrus Norwasteh, known for the controversial The Path to 9/11, takes the helm for the film adaptation, with Adam Greaves-Neal, who has appeared in the Sherlock holiday specials, chosen out of 2,000 child actors to play, well, God’s chosen one. Norwasteh says since Jesus’ childhood is not documented in the Bible, the production team worked with religious scholars and Vatican representatives to make sure the film did not offend anyone.
Liza, the Fox Fairy
Enough with the seriousness, let us look at something whimsy, albeit a bit dark. Set in Csudapest (csuda means “miracle” in Hungarian) in 1970s pseudo-Hungary, Liza, the Fox Fairy features a lonely, 30-year-old nurse who takes care of the Japanese ambassador’s widow, and whose only friend is the ghost of a lip-synching 1950s Japanese pop singer. All this Japanese-ness comes to a head when she, for reasons we shall withhold to avoid spoiling the film, starts believing that she is a fox fairy — supposedly a Japanese legendary creature destined to live a life of solitude as all men who are seduced by her charm will die. However, while this premise is a clever way to drive the film, there is no example where this rings true in Japanese mythology. We’ll let this one slide, though — after all, the story happens in Csudapest, not Budapest.
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