Resident Evil: Extinction
Milla Jovovich returns as post-apocalyptic ubervixen Alice in the third big-screen spinoff of the best-selling video game. Less claustrophobic than the first two slaughterfests, this time the zombies are stalking the ruins of Las Vegas.
Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad
It's the season for illnesses in the Japanese family. Last week gave us Alzheimer's disease in Memories of Tomorrow; now we have this filial piety-cum-terminal illness flick for which the Taiwanese distributor is putting up a decent advertising campaign. An author reminisces about life as a child with his mother in the country after walking out on his father, then as an adult looking after his mother as she succumbs to cancer. The title refers to the famous city landmark, and it plays an important symbolic role. Based on a bestselling autobiography, the film also did well in Japan.
One Piece The Movie: The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle
Released in Japan last year, this is the seventh of eight (and counting) animated features that retell sequences from the popular manga/anime series One Piece about a band of pirates. Those who are not fans of the series may struggle to catch up with the characters and the context of the story, but by all accounts the quality of animation is good and promises an entertaining entry point for One Piece neophytes. Great for kids, though two female pirate characters (one an archeologist and the other a teenage navigator) are accompanied by sound effects for their large, bouncing breasts.
The King Maker
A Thai production from 2005 whose only familiar face to most local filmgoers would be that of John Rhys-Davies, who played the dwarf Gimli in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The epic story of court intrigue set in the 16th century stars former English boxer Gary Stretch and involves expensive battle scenes, plush scenes of romance and apparently very bad acting. It's not clear which of these earned Taiwan's restricted rating.
Tazza: War of Flowers
An unusual film, this: a Korean saga of cutthroat professional gamblers. Variety magazine praised its "involving characters and devil-may-care tone" and particularly Kim Hye-su (who had a part in horror omnibus Three five years ago) for "looking every voluptuous inch a legendary femme fatale." A popular, invigorating and stylish film based on a Korean manga, this would be worth seeing to remind one of just how awful most of those Hong Kong gambling pics really were. Opens next Wednesday in limited release.
China’s military launched a record number of warplane incursions around Taiwan last year as it builds its ability to launch full-scale invasion, something a former chief of Taiwan’s armed forces said Beijing could be capable of within a decade. Analysts said China’s relentless harassment had taken a toll on Taiwan’s resources, but had failed to convince them to capitulate, largely because the threat of invasion was still an empty one, for now. Xi Jinping’s (習近平) determination to annex Taiwan under what the president terms “reunification” is no secret. He has publicly and stridently promised to bring it under Communist party (CCP) control,
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk
On Sept. 27 last year, three climate activists were arrested for throwing soup over Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh at London’s National Gallery. The Just Stop Oil protest landed on international front pages. But will the action help further the activists’ cause to end fossil fuels? Scientists are beginning to find answers to this question. The number of protests more than tripled between 2006 and 2020 and researchers are working out which tactics are most likely to change public opinion, influence voting behavior, change policy or even overthrow political regimes. “We are experiencing the largest wave of protests in documented history,” says
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