The Death and Life of Bobby Z
Also known as Bobby Z, Paul Walker (The Fast and the Furious) and Laurence Fishburne (the Matrix trilogy) star in this straight-to-DVD-in-the-US action flick. Walker is a prisoner given a chance by government agent Fishburne to get out of jail with his life by pretending to be a missing drug czar. Mayhem follows. Possibly worth a look given that Fishburne, at least, can give even mediocre films a kick. Opens tomorrow.
The Shock Your Mind! Film Festival
The Chinese title for this four-piece collection is "Festival for films that don't resemble animation," another way of saying that they're a cut above - or beside - the usual Disney/Pixar/Japanese product. Azur and Asmar is a sumptuous digital animation recounting two brothers (one Caucasian, one Arab) in search of a princess. Asterix and the Vikings is the latest adaptation of the world-famous comic series about Gaulish warriors. Princess of the Sun tells the story of Akhesa, future wife of a pharaoh, and receives praise from Variety for its "splendid job of bringing the structures and sandy vistas of ancient Egypt to life." The Spanish/Portuguese pic De Profundis is the only non-French production of the four; more longing and painterly than the others, it's set above and beneath the ocean's surface. Now showing.
Bread Superman
Yet another animated film, based on the wildly popular Anpanman cartoon series from Japan, now approaching the end of its fourth decade in one form or another. Anpanman (loosely rendered as "Bread Superman" here) is a hero with a bun for a head filled with bean paste. In this entry he and his friends teach Dorii, a doll brought to life, the meaning of her fragile existence while battling a robot sent to ruin an annual festival. Original title: Go! Anpanman: Dorii of the Star of Life. Screens with Kokinchan and the Blue Tears, an Anpanman short also made last year. Opens tomorrow.
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
From a Brooklyn studio that looks like a cross between a ransacked Toys R Us and a serial killer’s lair, the artist David Henry Nobody Jr is planning the first survey of his career. Held by a headless dummy strung by its heels from the ceiling are a set of photographs from the turn of the century of a then 30-year-old Nobody with the former president of the US. The snapshots are all signed by Donald Trump in gold pen (Nobody supplied the pen). They will be a central piece of the New York artist’s upcoming survey in New York. This
Oct. 7 to Oct. 13 The Great Dragon Flags were so lavish and intricate that it’s said to have exhausted the supplies of three embroidery shops. Others say that the material cost was so high that three shops quit during production and it was finished by a fourth. Using threads with pure gold, the final price to create the twin banners was enough to buy three houses in the 1920s. Weighing 30kg each and measuring 454cm by 535cm by 673cm, the triangular flags were the pride of the Flying Dragons (飛龍團), a dragon dance troupe that performed for Chaotian
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