London Boulevard
A drama from Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed) based on a novel by best-selling crime writer Ken Bruen. There is plenty happening in the story, but most of the movie’s ideas seem to get used up in the first half hour before it descends into a litany of violence between leads Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley that is unrelieved by any real chemistry. Farrell is a hard case just out of Pentonville with all kinds of friends who don’t want him going straight. He gets into a kind of Costner-Houston The Bodyguard relationship with Knightley, an over-the-hill diva looking for something to cling on to. There is some good dialogue, though a bit heavy on the geezer-ish Brit-gangster idioms. Someone should tell Monahan that this vein has long since been mined out by Guy Ritchie.
The Smurfs
The first in what has already been rumored to be a trilogy based on the goofy blue elves from the mind of Belgian artist Peyo and turned into a popular TV series in the 1980s. The film, inevitably in 3D, has not won any rave reviews, but is grudgingly admitted to have charm enough to get parents and kids through a hot summer vacation afternoon. Sitcom star Neil Patrick Harris and Glee’s Jayma Mays are more than adequate as the New York couple who rather unwillingly adopt the blue animated creatures after they accidentally travel through time and space from their home, bringing along arch foe Gargamel, played by Hank Azaria with great panto abandon.
Diner Escargot (Shokudo katasumuri)
Also released under the title Rinco’s Restaurant, Diner Escargot is yet another movie in the ever-expanding niche of Japanese food films in which the hero or heroine finds inspiration, liberation and self-knowledge through the preparation and appreciation of food. This is a superior example of this well-worn genre, with director Mai Tominaga, an award-winning animator now moving into feature films, taking the story in imaginatively different directions. The film mixes animation and live action in clever ways while relating how Rinco (Kou Shibasaki), after being dumped by her boyfriend, opens a diner and starts creating food perfectly suited to her customers’ psychological needs, taking the film into the realm of magical realism.
Suckseed
Thai comedy about a group of talentless high school students who for various reasons, including macho and romantic rivalry, decide to form a band with the unpromising name of the film’s title. Their lack of musicianship and even good sense sees the group causing turmoil in various settings, including an amusing scene of the band playing a children’s party. Naturally, things come to a head in a battle of the bands in which personal rivalries are laid bare amid guitar solos and frantic drumming.
Vertigo/The Birds/Psycho
A trio of vintage Hitchcock films comes to the big screen courtesy of distributor iFilm. A good chance to revisit these classics. More information can be found at www.facebook.com/ifilmclassics.
Climate change, political headwinds and diverging market dynamics around the world have pushed coffee prices to fresh records, jacking up the cost of your everyday brew or a barista’s signature macchiato. While the current hot streak may calm down in the coming months, experts and industry insiders expect volatility will remain the watchword, giving little visibility for producers — two-thirds of whom farm parcels of less than one hectare. METEORIC RISE The price of arabica beans listed in New York surged by 90 percent last year, smashing on Dec. 10 a record dating from 1977 — US$3.48 per pound. Robusta prices have
A dozen excited 10-year-olds are bouncing in their chairs. The small classroom’s walls are lined with racks of wetsuits and water equipment, and decorated with posters of turtles. But the students’ eyes are trained on their teacher, Tseng Ching-ming, describing the currents and sea conditions at nearby Banana Bay, where they’ll soon be going. “Today you have one mission: to take off your equipment and float in the water,” he says. Some of the kids grin, nervously. They don’t know it, but the students from Kenting-Eluan elementary school on Taiwan’s southernmost point, are rare among their peers and predecessors. Despite most of
The resignation of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) co-founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) as party chair on Jan. 1 has led to an interesting battle between two leading party figures, Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如). For years the party has been a one-man show, but with Ko being held incommunicado while on trial for corruption, the new chair’s leadership could be make or break for the young party. Not only are the two very different in style, their backgrounds are very different. Tsai is a co-founder of the TPP and has been with Ko from the very beginning. Huang has
Nine Taiwanese nervously stand on an observation platform at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport. It’s 9:20am on March 27, 1968, and they are awaiting the arrival of Liu Wen-ching (柳文卿), who is about to be deported back to Taiwan where he faces possible execution for his independence activities. As he is removed from a minibus, a tenth activist, Dai Tian-chao (戴天昭), jumps out of his hiding place and attacks the immigration officials — the nine other activists in tow — while urging Liu to make a run for it. But he’s pinned to the ground. Amid the commotion, Liu tries to