Whip It
There’s a real-life Rollerball-type sport in the US, but without all the killing: It’s called Roller Derby. This directorial debut from Drew Barrymore fuses sports drama, youth interest, updated (pragmatic) feminism and teams of girls whacking each other on skates. Ellen Page (Juno) is the newbie in a highly competitive social and sporting environment, but it should come as no surprise that this sassy actor then takes the sport by the horns and hurls it across the stadium. Barrymore co-stars in what may be as big a stepping-stone for her as it is for the awesome Page. Also stars Juliette Lewis.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Surprisingly positive reviews greeted this squeakquel to the lucrative original from 2007, but there were also tired notices that should keep childless adults away. If male crooning chipmunks never did it for you, then maybe a rival female troupe might; this is the chief distraction in an otherwise derivative movie as Alvin, Simon and Theodore do their chipper shtick. Still, some of the effects are great — though they have to be these days.
Old Dogs
If you thought the fag jokes in Wild Hogs were the funniest thing since ... well ... humor was invented, then good news: There are more of them in this largely despised comedy from Hogs director Walt Becker and returning star John Travolta. Slapstick maneuvers abound as Robin Williams comes to terms with his unexpected fatherhood; he and biz associate Travolta suddenly find themselves babysitting — and the rest you can imagine. This pair of well-loved stars just can’t help confounding their fans by putting sub-DVD projects into theaters. Bernie Mac also appears; he died soon after completing work on this project.
The Hedgehog
A girl decides to kill herself when she turns 12 so she can avoid becoming like all the adults around her, documenting the countdown on video and commentating along the way. This pretty grim premise was the basis for a bestselling book in France; here the result is appropriately quirky and loquacious. The girl, Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) eventually opens up to the concierge (the prickly “hedgehog” of the title) in the family’s apartment block and is further inspired by a perceptive Japanese gentleman who makes her acquaintance. Notable for visual flourishes and presenting a child in such sophisticated terms; Taiwanese films rarely allow children such a complex voice. Original title: Le Herisson.
Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva
Anime time again, though this one is based on an interactive Japanese video game, not a manga. Archeologist Layton gets tangled up in a mystery involving a beautiful opera singer, a missing persons case, a child claiming immortality and — naturally — lots of puzzles. He is joined by two youthful acolytes in this first of a promised series of puzzling theatrical excursions for kids.
Ting Shan-hsi Retrospective
This Tuesday SPOT — Taipei Film House (台北光點) is featuring another of its interesting retrospectives on Taiwan-based filmmakers. This time it’s in honor of prolific writer-director Ting Shan-hsi (丁善), who died two months ago aged 73. Ting covered many genres, including time capsule-worthy movies recounting the exploits of the Republic of China’s military. The five titles on Tuesday include The Battle for the Republic of China (辛亥雙十) from 1981 and 1977’s Eight Hundred Heroes (八百壯士). There’s also a symposium at 4pm. See www.spot.org.tw/time for session details.
The 2018 nine-in-one local elections were a wild ride that no one saw coming. Entering that year, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was demoralized and in disarray — and fearing an existential crisis. By the end of the year, the party was riding high and swept most of the country in a landslide, including toppling the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in their Kaohsiung stronghold. Could something like that happen again on the DPP side in this year’s nine-in-one elections? The short answer is not exactly; the conditions were very specific. However, it does illustrate how swiftly every assumption early in an
Francis William White, an Englishman who late in the 1860s served as Commissioner of the Imperial Customs Service in Tainan, published the tale of a jaunt he took one winter in 1868: A visit to the interior of south Formosa (1870). White’s journey took him into the mountains, where he mused on the difficult terrain and the ease with which his little group could be ambushed in the crags and dense vegetation. At one point he stays at the house of a local near a stream on the border of indigenous territory: “Their matchlocks, which were kept in excellent order,
Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 In 1933, an all-star team of musicians and lyricists began shaping a new sound. The person who brought them together was Chen Chun-yu (陳君玉), head of Columbia Records’ arts department. Tasked with creating Taiwanese “pop music,” they released hit after hit that year, with Chen contributing lyrics to several of the songs himself. Many figures from that group, including composer Teng Yu-hsien (鄧雨賢), vocalist Chun-chun (純純, Sun-sun in Taiwanese) and lyricist Lee Lin-chiu (李臨秋) remain well-known today, particularly for the famous classic Longing for the Spring Breeze (望春風). Chen, however, is not a name
Towering high above Taiwan’s capital city at 508 meters, Taipei 101 dominates the skyline. The earthquake-proof skyscraper of steel and glass has captured the imagination of professional rock climber Alex Honnold for more than a decade. Tomorrow morning, he will climb it in his signature free solo style — without ropes or protective equipment. And Netflix will broadcast it — live. The event’s announcement has drawn both excitement and trepidation, as well as some concerns over the ethical implications of attempting such a high-risk endeavor on live broadcast. Many have questioned Honnold’s desire to continues his free-solo climbs now that he’s a
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