Megamind
Although it was shown in cinemas last weekend as part of a promotional campaign, Megamind officially opens today to what will probably be large crowds eager to see the latest offering from DreamWorks, which has earned itself a weak track record in recent years by cynically squeezing money from the Shrek and Madagascar franchises. Megamind seems to signal a creative return to form, and while it glories in packing in a vast array of superhero references from numerous recent animation features from The Incredibles to Despicable Me, it has such good fun turning the usual superhero tropes on their heads that it is hard to take offense. Directed by Tom McGrath, who brought us the first two Madagascar movies, the film also features some fine voice talent including Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt and Tina Fey.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
After a shaky start, The Chronicles of Narnia plod on into their third installment, which follows closely after Prince Caspian, the second film. The Narnia installments so far have been notable for their rather low-budget special effects and retro vibe that preserve the dated children’s story quality of the books, published in the 1950s. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the most technically ambitious of the Narnia films to date, but the trailer suggests the same old hokey effects, though now enhanced with digital 3D. On the plus side, it is directed by Michael Apted, a thoughtful director (Gorillas in the Mist, 49 Up, Amazing Grace), albeit with limited experience with fantasy adventure.
South Taiwan Film Festival
For those living in or near Tainan and starved for art house cinema, the South Taiwan Film Festival (2010南方影展), organized by alumni from audiovisual-related studies at Tainan National University of the Arts (國立台南藝術大學), is just what you need. The festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and following screenings in Chiayi and Kaohsiung, the event will take up residence at the Ambassador Cinema Tainan (台南國賓廣場) located at 66-68, Jhonghua E Rd, Eastern District, Tainan City (台南市東區中華東路一段66-88號) from today until Dec. 12. A detailed schedule can be found at southfilmtw.pixnet.net. Tickets are NT$150, available at the door.
Son of Babylon
A road movie from Iraq that focuses on a journey taken by a small boy, Ahmed, and his grandmother, in search of his father. Regional politics — the US occupation, the Kurdish atrocities — are discreetly backgrounded, creating an intimate picture of the massive human toll that resulted from the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the perhaps misguided or just inadequate effort to put it right. There are moments of powerful emotion, but also passages of discursive exposition that slow the film. Director Mohamed Al-Daradji touches on the country’s open wounds — many of which continue to fester — and his efforts were recognized at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival with the Amnesty International Film Prize.
Grand Champion
Cinematic filler from 2002 being brought to local screens to meet the needs of the festive season, this film will more than adequately serve the needs of people looking for something nice, with children and animals, and an upbeat, inspirational message. Directed by actor Barry Tubb, a Texas native who was a bull-riding champion at age 15 (in a junior division), Grand Champion tells the story of Buddy and Hokey (a calf), who work their way through the ranks of several Texas stock shows to finally win the coveted title of Grand Champion. All sorts of charming characters help them along the way.
Pianomania
A documentary that provides a glimpse into the world of the concert pianist and those who help create the divine sounds that bring the world’s most discerning audiences to their feet. The focus of Pianomania is Stephan Knupfer, the tuner for Steinway & Son, whose job it is to ensure the sound quality of the concert pianos played by the likes of Lang Lang (郎朗), Alfred Brendel and Pierre-Laurent Aimard is as near perfect as is humanly possible. While the minutiae of piano tuning might seem to be dry stuff, at 93 minutes, Pianomania is well gauged and likely to prove fascinating to classical music fans.
Berlin 36
Minor German flick about athlete Gretel Bergmann, a top high jumper during the 1930s who was first expelled and then invited back into the country’s track and field establishment. (The invitation was backed by threats of reprisals against her family). Bergmann, who was Jewish, subsequently suffered all manner of indignities as the Nazi authorities conspired against allowing her any substantial achievements. Berlin 36 adds a story of Bergmann’s rivalry and friendship with Marie Ketteler, a character loosely based on Dora Ratjen, a woman athlete, also preparing for the 1936 Olympic games, who was subsequently discovered to be a man.
The Intruder (Kew ar-khard)
Thai exploitation movie that provides an unusually high body count and lots of gore. Directors Thanadol Nualsuth and Thammanoon Sakulboonthanom go for the jugular, unleashing hordes of snakes onto a group of people trapped in a low rent apartment block. The acting is energetic, though most of the cast members get it in the neck pretty quickly. This is Snakes on a Plane, only in an apartment building, and minus the tongue-in-cheek humor. Ideal for schlock horror fans.
The Princess of Montpensier
Worthy French period flick that makes up for a lack of real drama with spectacular scenery and stupendous costumes. The Princess of Montpensier has its share of beautiful people lounging around, looking tormented, anguished or lustful by turns. Melanie Thierry, who plays the title character, is in love with one young man, engaged to a second, and fighting off the attentions of yet another. It can only end badly, and in this respect at least, the film does not disappoint.
Trick: The Movie 3
It’s been eight years since director Tsutsumi Yukihiko made the first Trick movie, a good-natured satire about human credulity in the face of both traditional and modern superstitions. Although it was little more than a TV show made for the big screen, the brainteasers and plot twists made it a huge hit in Japan. The third movie comes to these shores after scoring a big success back home. Features the same cast as the previous two movies, and is likely to appeal primarily to those already familiar with the franchise.
Juliets (茱麗葉)
Juliets (茱麗葉) is made up of three shorts, one each by up-and-coming filmmaker Hou Chi-jan (侯季然), documentary director Shen Ko-shang (沈可尚) and veteran commercial director Chen Yu-hsun (陳玉勳). The triptych charms with entertaining narratives and its polished production quality. Set in 1970s Taiwan, Hou’s Juliet’s Choice tells the tale of unrequited love between the disabled Ju (Vivian Hsu, 徐若瑄) and dissident college student Ro (Wong Po-chieh, 王柏傑) in an atmospheric film that eloquently captures that era’s aura. Director Shen shows his storytelling prowess with Two Juliets, which was shot entirely on Matsu (馬祖). The film connects two lovelorn women from different eras, both played by pop singer Lee Chien-na (李千娜), who won the Best Newcomer gong for her role in the movie at this year’s Golden Horse Awards. For Chen, Juliet doesn’t have to be female, but a 40-year-old, beer-bellied homosexual man in One More Juliet. Entertainer and singer Kang Kang (康康) turns in a lovable performance as a sissy gay bachelor who is convinced that he will never find love.
It is barely 10am and the queue outside Onigiri Bongo already stretches around the block. Some of the 30 or so early-bird diners sit on stools, sipping green tea and poring over laminated menus. Further back it is standing-room only. “It’s always like this,” says Yumiko Ukon, who has run this modest rice ball shop and restaurant in the Otsuka neighbourhood of Tokyo for almost half a century. “But we never run out of rice,” she adds, seated in her office near a wall clock in the shape of a rice ball with a bite taken out. Bongo, opened in 1960 by
Common sense is not that common: a recent study from the University of Pennsylvania concludes the concept is “somewhat illusory.” Researchers collected statements from various sources that had been described as “common sense” and put them to test subjects. The mixed bag of results suggested there was “little evidence that more than a small fraction of beliefs is common to more than a small fraction of people.” It’s no surprise that there are few universally shared notions of what stands to reason. People took a horse worming drug to cure COVID! They think low-traffic neighborhoods are a communist plot and call
Over the years, whole libraries of pro-People’s Republic of China (PRC) texts have been issued by commentators on “the Taiwan problem,” or the PRC’s desire to annex Taiwan. These documents have a number of features in common. They isolate Taiwan from other areas and issues of PRC expansion. They blame Taiwan’s rhetoric or behavior for PRC actions, particularly pro-Taiwan leadership and behavior. They present the brutal authoritarian state across the Taiwan Strait as conciliatory and rational. Even their historical frames are PRC propaganda. All of this, and more, colors the latest “analysis” and recommendations from the International Crisis Group, “The Widening
Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 Chang Hsing-hsien (張星賢) had reached a breaking point after a lifetime of discrimination under Japanese rule. The talented track athlete had just been turned down for Team Japan to compete at the 1930 Far Eastern Championship Games despite a stellar performance at the tryouts. Instead, he found himself working long hours at Taiwan’s Railway Department for less pay than the Japanese employees, leaving him with little time and money to train. “My fighting spirit finally exploded,” Chang writes in his memoir, My Life in Sports (我的體育生活). “I vowed then to defeat all the Japanese in Taiwan
RSS