The Storm Warriors (風雲II)
The Pang brothers, Danny
(彭發) and Oxide (彭順), are back, this time helming a sequel to the 1998 Hong Kong action fantasy Storm Riders (風雲). Returning from that cast is Aaron Kwok (郭富城) as Cloud and Ekin Cheng (鄭伊健) as Wind, though not Sonny Chiba or Shu Qi (舒淇), sadly. Even so, there’s fun to be had as Cloud and Wind battle the evil Lord Godless (Simon Yam, 任達華). Fans of this kind of movie — that is to say, those who can tolerate endless use of CGI — are very happy with the frenetic result. The visuals, updated special effects and studio-bound production design suggest a Chinese version of Zack Snyder’s 300. Part III is on the way.
Jump (跳出去)
“Small town girl” Kitty Zhang (張雨綺) heads to Shanghai with dreams of becoming a dancer. There she falls in with the hip-hop crowd and attracts the romantic interest of a wealthy businessman. As naive and superficial as any dance movie could be, not least because of the East Asian sanitization of American music and dance culture, but its target market would hardly care. More critical to its success is the involvement of Stephen Chow (周星馳), who wrote the story on which the screenplay is based and which is peppered with humor, slapstick and youthful energy.
Super Typhoon (超強颱風)
This profitable disaster movie screened at a recent festival of Chinese product, and seems to have impressed enough people to get a Taiwanese theatrical release ahead of much worthier titles. It may also be trying to ride on the wave of 2012, which would be a big mistake. Still, what’s to hate about a 21st century Chinese film in which the hero is an honest mayor? Super Typhoon Blue Whale bears down on a southern city, and there’s nothing any of the stock characters can do about it, though if Variety is to be believed, most of the damage in this inadvertently funny movie is inflicted on miniature sets and a few reused cars. Oh, and watch out for the creature that lurks beneath.
The Other Man
IT company boss Liam Neeson hunts down and, over chess, conversationally probes a man he believes to have had an affair with his wife, a designer of expensive shoes. The “other man” is Antonio Banderas, which would be enough to worry any level-headed husband. Underwhelmed reviewers scoffed at the film’s twists while wondering what could have been with this cast. Others might ask why they should care about the grim obsessions of such characters when they can tune in for the latest Tiger Woods update.
Tomorrow at Dawn
The promotional materials may suggest a period piece, but this French tale of military role-playing and dueling is mostly set in the present day. Musician Vincent Perez (Queen Margot) gets involved in a Napoleonic re-enactment to bond with his brother Jeremie Renier (In Bruges) and finds that his brother’s weekend warrior pals take their play-acting rather seriously. Mixed reviews greeted this film by Denis Dercourt, himself a professional musician.
Asia Pacific Film Festival
It’s the 53rd time around for this enduring event. Of less interest, perhaps, is the selection of Taiwanese films, which have mostly finished their theatrical dates. Instead, look out for an interesting selection of titles from Iran, Indonesia and South Korea, among other Asian countries. Runs for four days from next Thursday at E-DA World in Kaohsiung County. More details at www.53apff2009.com.
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and
Indigenous Truku doctor Yuci (Bokeh Kosang), who resents his father for forcing him to learn their traditional way of life, clashes head to head in this film with his younger brother Siring (Umin Boya), who just wants to live off the land like his ancestors did. Hunter Brothers (獵人兄弟) opens with Yuci as the man of the hour as the village celebrates him getting into medical school, but then his father (Nolay Piho) wakes the brothers up in the middle of the night to go hunting. Siring is eager, but Yuci isn’t. Their mother (Ibix Buyang) begs her husband to let
The Taipei Times last week reported that the Control Yuan said it had been “left with no choice” but to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the central government budget, which left it without a budget. Lost in the outrage over the cuts to defense and to the Constitutional Court were the cuts to the Control Yuan, whose operating budget was slashed by 96 percent. It is unable even to pay its utility bills, and in the press conference it convened on the issue, said that its department directors were paying out of pocket for gasoline
On March 13 President William Lai (賴清德) gave a national security speech noting the 20th year since the passing of China’s Anti-Secession Law (反分裂國家法) in March 2005 that laid the legal groundwork for an invasion of Taiwan. That law, and other subsequent ones, are merely political theater created by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to have something to point to so they can claim “we have to do it, it is the law.” The president’s speech was somber and said: “By its actions, China already satisfies the definition of a ‘foreign hostile force’ as provided in the Anti-Infiltration Act, which unlike
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