Race to Witch Mountain
The always magnetic Dwayne Johnson stars in an updating of the fondly remembered 1975 Disney film Escape to Witch Mountain. Two aliens in the guise of children appear in
ex-con Johnson’s cab and ask for help to locate their spaceship, which the puzzled cabbie is shortly compelled to provide as government goons close in. More action-
oriented than the original, but harmless and fun for the kids and undemanding oldies. Fans of the original will be delighted to hear that child actors Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards have cameos in the 2009 version.
Last Chance Harvey
Dustin Hoffman is Harvey, a man whose professional and personal life is at low ebb. Visiting London to attend his daughter’s wedding, he receives news that he has been fired and, worse, his daughter would rather someone else give her away at the ceremony. But then he meets Emma Thompson in a pub, and everything changes. Fans of the stars might enjoy this serio-romantic comedy, though critics were lukewarm and box office in the US was hardly better.
My Bloody Valentine
The Hollywood horror movie remake machine grinds out another retread of the late 1970s/early 1980s, a time when horror films were served straight and with precious few Freddy Kreuger-style one-liners. Augmented by gruesome effects (and full female nudity) in 3D, the story has the owner of a disused mine return to the nearby town to sell it; inconveniently, he’s back on Valentine’s Day, the 10th anniversary of a killing spree, and the bodies are set to pile up again. Director Patrick Lussier was editor for most of horror icon Wes Craven’s later films, so he has real pedigree. But the remake of Craven’s most infamous and brutal film, Last House on the Left, was offered to someone else; expect that in theaters later this year.
Tokyo Sonata
A salaryman hides the fact that he is unemployed from his wife and two sons, and things only get worse as family tensions accumulate. In a Lonely Guy-style development, our anti-hero meets a friend in similarly dire circumstances — and who has become something of a specialist in keeping the illusion of dignity intact — before fate deals a series of low blows. Veteran director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s comeback movie was praised by the Japan Times and was a triumphant winner of the Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes film festival.
252: Signal of Life
Apocalyptic special effects are the star of this show as Tokyo once again succumbs to an overwhelming disaster — a storm system this time, with a tsunami thrown in for good measure. The human side of the plot is like Sylvester Stallone’s Daylight: a bunch of survivors are in subterranean peril and need rescuing, but in this case the hero of the day is on the outside looking for a way in — and needing to tell lies to do so.
7 Days to Leave My Wife
This Thai comedy expects audiences to believe that a dull and unattractive (and married) salesman would be incredibly attractive to a femme fatale-type colleague who dresses to kill. Naturally, his wife soon catches on and the hijinks start. Imagine The Woman in Red with infantile sight gags and without the charm of Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner (or the ultimate come hither look from Kelly LeBrock) and you’re on your way. Starts tomorrow at the Baixue theater in Ximending.
A vaccine to fight dementia? It turns out there may already be one — shots that prevent painful shingles also appear to protect aging brains. A new study found shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20 percent. The research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is part of growing understanding about how many factors influence brain health as we age — and what we can do about it. “It’s a very robust finding,” said lead researcher Pascal Geldsetzer of Stanford University. And “women seem to benefit more,” important as they’re at higher risk of
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
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