VIEW THIS PAGE Dragonball: Evolution
This American adaptation of the Japanese manga is being released in Asian markets before hitting screens elsewhere. Justin Chatwin (Tom Cruise’s wayward son in War of the Worlds) stars as Goku, a geeky student who must gather dragon balls to stave off the forces of evil and save Earth. Somewhere amid all the cacophony is a performance by Chow Yun-fat (周潤發), while James Wong of The X Files and Final Destination fame directs. The film claims to have a budget of US$100 million, but you wouldn’t know it from its drab Web site.
Damage
Directed by the late Louis Malle, this film was first released way back in 1992 to some praise. It’s being shown here, uncut for the first time, to capitalize on the more permissive attitude of the Government Information Office’s censors. Politician Jeremy Irons falls instantly in lust with his son’s fiancee (Juliette Binoche) and from there it’s all heavy breathing and heavy consequences, especially when Irons’ wife (the Oscar-nominated Miranda Richardson) finds out what is going on. If it makes a bit of money, Damage could augur the release of a slew of uncut versions of sex-themed potboilers from the 1990s. Basic Instinct, Showgirls, Color of Night, Body of Evidence … the possibilities are endless.
The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice
The third entry in the popular made-for-cable Librarian series sees our bookish Indiana Jones-type hero Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle) travel to New Orleans to battle a bad guy who wants to bring Dracula back to life. Naturally, such resuscitation requires the silver chalice made up of the 30 coins with which Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. Look up this hiChannel promotional screening at the Baixue theater in Ximending from tomorrow. VIEW THIS PAGE
Nine Taiwanese nervously stand on an observation platform at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport. It’s 9:20am on March 27, 1968, and they are awaiting the arrival of Liu Wen-ching (柳文卿), who is about to be deported back to Taiwan where he faces possible execution for his independence activities. As he is removed from a minibus, a tenth activist, Dai Tian-chao (戴天昭), jumps out of his hiding place and attacks the immigration officials — the nine other activists in tow — while urging Liu to make a run for it. But he’s pinned to the ground. Amid the commotion, Liu tries to
The slashing of the government’s proposed budget by the two China-aligned parties in the legislature, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), has apparently resulted in blowback from the US. On the recent junket to US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, KMT legislators reported that they were confronted by US officials and congressmen angered at the cuts to the defense budget. The United Daily News (UDN), the longtime KMT party paper, now KMT-aligned media, responded to US anger by blaming the foreign media. Its regular column, the Cold Eye Collection (冷眼集), attacked the international media last month in
A pig’s head sits atop a shelf, tufts of blonde hair sprouting from its taut scalp. Opposite, its chalky, wrinkled heart glows red in a bubbling vat of liquid, locks of thick dark hair and teeth scattered below. A giant screen shows the pig draped in a hospital gown. Is it dead? A surgeon inserts human teeth implants, then hair implants — beautifying the horrifyingly human-like animal. Chang Chen-shen (張辰申) calls Incarnation Project: Deviation Lovers “a satirical self-criticism, a critique on the fact that throughout our lives we’ve been instilled with ideas and things that don’t belong to us.” Chang
Feb. 10 to Feb. 16 More than three decades after penning the iconic High Green Mountains (高山青), a frail Teng Yu-ping (鄧禹平) finally visited the verdant peaks and blue streams of Alishan described in the lyrics. Often mistaken as an indigenous folk song, it was actually created in 1949 by Chinese filmmakers while shooting a scene for the movie Happenings in Alishan (阿里山風雲) in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), recounts director Chang Ying (張英) in the 1999 book, Chang Ying’s Contributions to Taiwanese Cinema and Theater (打鑼三響包得行: 張英對台灣影劇的貢獻). The team was meant to return to China after filming, but