Killers
The lineup of uninspiring films released this week begins with Killers, which early critical reviews have mercilessly panned and may signal the demise of the promising actress Katherine Heigl from Grey’s Anatomy as a serious contender for the epithet of Hollywood leading lady. The film stars Ashton Kutcher as Spencer, a secret agent, and Heigl as the unsuspecting spouse living a lovely middle-class life until, of course, Spencer’s past revisits him and the action begins. Heigl’s character is at first appalled by the guns and car chases, and then delighted. Unfortunately, Killers doesn’t take the audience along for the ride.
She’s Out of My League
Genre fodder of the rom-com persuasion that is less objectionable and derivative than Killers, but is certainly not about to rock anybody’s weekend. The premise is simple: nice geeky guy with low self-esteem meets super gorgeous woman who doesn’t care that he ain’t cool. Alice Eve proves that for her, being beautiful is a cinch, and Jay Baruchel is perfectly adequate as an inadequate guy. Any bets on whether it will end happily ever after?
Please Please Me! (Fais-moi plaisir!)
By master comedian Emmanuel Mouret, who both directs and stars in this French bedroom comedy. The story has Mouret as Jean-Jacques, a man in a happy relationship with girlfriend Ariane (Frederique Bel), but confesses that he has lustful thoughts for another. In the manner of French films of this type, Ariane encourages her boyfriend to quench his desires by indulging them. This provides plenty of opportunity for clever physical comedy, and while Please Please Me! is likely to please some with its sexual innuendo, it is far from being Mouret’s best work.
Letters for Father Jacob (Postia pappi Jaakobille)
Low-key Finnish film by director Klaus Haro that tells the simple story of Leila (Kaarina Hazard), a woman recently released from prison where she served a life sentence for murder. She finds work with a pastor who spends his days responding to letters from people in need. His compassion for others does nothing for her, until the letters stop and Father Jacob looks into the abyss. The story takes place against beautiful, if sometimes rather bleak, Finnish scenery. Fine cinematography and a solid script give this minor release, originally made for Finnish television, a life that lifts it above many more ambitious features.
Rabbit Without Ears 2 (Zweiohrkuken)
Following on from the success of Keinohrhasen, which enjoyed some popularity here as a cute little romantic/sex comedy for the European movie set, Til Schweiger’s sequel seems to have tripped up. The movie finds most of its humor in the lavatory. There is a kindergarten element to assist with this, and contrived romantic jousting as a couple use their former boyfriend and girlfriend as weapons to fight their way out of their disintegrating relationship. The combination of gross-out situations and sexual innuendo may work for some.
The canonical shot of an East Asian city is a night skyline studded with towering apartment and office buildings, bright with neon and plastic signage, a landscape of energy and modernity. Another classic image is the same city seen from above, in which identical apartment towers march across the city, spilling out over nearby geography, like stylized soldiers colonizing new territory in a board game. Densely populated dynamic conurbations of money, technological innovation and convenience, it is hard to see the cities of East Asia as what they truly are: necropolises. Why is this? The East Asian development model, with
June 16 to June 22 The following flyer appeared on the streets of Hsinchu on June 12, 1895: “Taipei has already fallen to the Japanese barbarians, who have brought great misery to our land and people. We heard that the Japanese occupiers will tax our gardens, our houses, our bodies, and even our chickens, dogs, cows and pigs. They wear their hair wild, carve their teeth, tattoo their foreheads, wear strange clothes and speak a strange language. How can we be ruled by such people?” Posted by civilian militia leader Wu Tang-hsing (吳湯興), it was a call to arms to retake
This is a deeply unsettling period in Taiwan. Uncertainties are everywhere while everyone waits for a small army of other shoes to drop on nearly every front. During challenging times, interesting political changes can happen, yet all three major political parties are beset with scandals, strife and self-inflicted wounds. As the ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is held accountable for not only the challenges to the party, but also the nation. Taiwan is geopolitically and economically under threat. Domestically, the administration is under siege by the opposition-controlled legislature and growing discontent with what opponents characterize as arrogant, autocratic
When Lisa, 20, laces into her ultra-high heels for her shift at a strip club in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, she knows that aside from dancing, she will have to comfort traumatized soldiers. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, exhausted troops are the main clientele of the Flash Dancers club in the center of the northeastern city, just 20 kilometers from Russian forces. For some customers, it provides an “escape” from the war, said Valerya Zavatska — a 25-year-old law graduate who runs the club with her mother, an ex-dancer. But many are not there just for the show. They “want to talk about what hurts,” she
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