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.
China has begun recruiting for a planetary defense force after risk assessments determined that an asteroid could conceivably hit Earth in 2032. Job ads posted online by China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) this week, sought young loyal graduates focused on aerospace engineering, international cooperation and asteroid detection. The recruitment drive comes amid increasing focus on an asteroid with a low — but growing — likelihood of hitting earth in seven years. The 2024 YR4 asteroid is at the top of the European and US space agencies’ risk lists, and last week analysts increased their probability
On a misty evening in August 1990, two men hiking on the moors surrounding Calvine, a pretty hamlet in Perth and Kinross, claimed to have seen a giant diamond-shaped aircraft flying above them. It apparently had no clear means of propulsion and left no smoke plume; it was silent and static, as if frozen in time. Terrified, they hit the ground and scrambled for cover behind a tree. Then a Harrier fighter jet roared into view, circling the diamond as if sizing it up for a scuffle. One of the men snapped a series of photographs just before the bizarre
Power struggles are never pretty. Fortunately, Taiwan is a democracy so there is no blood in the streets, but there are volunteers collecting signatures to recall nearly half of the legislature. With the exceptions of the “September Strife” in 2013 and the Sunflower movement occupation of the Legislative Yuan and the aftermath in 2014, for 16 years the legislative and executive branches of government were relatively at peace because the ruling party also controlled the legislature. Now they are at war. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) holds the presidency and the Executive Yuan and the pan-blue coalition led by the
For decades, Taiwan Railway trains were built and serviced at the Taipei Railway Workshop, originally built on a flat piece of land far from the city center. As the city grew up around it, however, space became limited, flooding became more commonplace and the noise and air pollution from the workshop started to affect more and more people. Between 2011 and 2013, the workshop was moved to Taoyuan and the Taipei location was retired. Work on preserving this cultural asset began immediately and we now have a unique opportunity to see the birth of a museum. The Preparatory Office of National