Safe House
Action-packed US-South African coproduction with Denzel Washington as a rogue CIA agent who takes refuge at a long defunct safe house that turns out not to be nearly as safe as the name suggests. Ryan Reynolds, an inexperienced agent managing the bolt-hole, gets dragged into a web of conspiracy and ends up on the run as well. The two big names have the benefit of a strong supporting cast that includes Brendan Gleeson and Sam Shepard, some nice South African locations, and nonstop action. Washington looks good playing the experienced and deeply cynical agent who knows that in the CIA, nothing is as it seems.
Weekend
A gay-interest movie that has won the kind of critical acclaim that takes it right out of any type of narrow lifestyle niche and places it firmly in the artistic mainstream. While it does have some echoes of Before Sunrise (1995), the overall mood is more intimate on both a physical and psychological level. Two men meet at a club, and a one-night stand builds into a powerful connection on which the clock is ticking. The pronounced sentimentality is without glibness, and the clear-eyed look at love in the 21st century manages, somehow, to avoid cynicism. Outstanding performances by Tom Cullen and Chris New, and a great effort from director Andrew Haigh, who has a long track record as an assistant editor on big motion pictures including Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and Hannibal Rising.
One for the Money
Almost nothing is right with One for the Money, an attempt to combine the chick-flick and mystery genres. Katherine Heigl has been slammed by critics for a wooden and charmless performance as Stephanie Plum, a recently divorced woman who finds a job in a bail bond business, and whose first task is to bring in a wanted local cop who is also someone from her romantic past. Based on a now 18-book series of best-selling novels by Janet Evanovich, this has all the makings of a female-friendly caper franchise, but the weary by-the-numbers story, uninspired script, and Heigl’s inability to give her character appeal, is likely to ensure that we won’t be seeing Stephanie Plum back on the big screen anytime soon.
Love (愛)
Following on from the success of Monga (艋舺), director Doze Niu (鈕承澤) is back with a big budget romantic drama stuffed with Chinese cinema’s glitterati. Niu is reported to have spent NT$300 million on this new project, which stars Shu Qi (舒淇), Ethan Ruan (阮經天), Ivy Chen (陳意涵), Eddie Peng (彭于晏) and Mark Chao (趙又廷). Despite the budget, Niu is not breaking any new ground, but playing up to the pop idol drama tropes that dominate Asian rom-coms. Niu takes on the role of a rich businessman whose mistress (Shu Qi) eventually learns that ordinary love (with Ruan) is better than wealth (and we all thought she was such a material girl). We also have to believe that Ivy Chen is fighting demons from her days on the professional road racing circuit. Whatever its absurdity, Love will undoubtedly deliver the goods as a Valentine’s Day date movie.
Bear It (熊熊愛上你)
A comedy drama from Cheng Fen-fen (鄭芬芬), building on the success of Hear Me (聽說) at the box office in 2009. The story centers on Peter, a travel agent down on his luck who comes up with the idea of teddy bear tours, in which much-loved soft toys are taken out on a journey for a small fee. Of course, things don’t go well, with car accidents and teddy bears getting lost, but these travails make Peter closer to his clients, who inevitably for a movie such as this one, include a young girl suffering from a terminal illness and kindly grandparents who understand the power of make-believe. Bear It is aiming for the laughter-through-the-tears vibe, and may very well succeed if you don’t overdose on cuteness first.
2012 Oscar Film Festival (榮耀時刻:2012奧斯卡影展)
Film distributor CatchPlay brings together a bunch of Oscar contenders (as well as Golden Globe nominees and Film Critic’s Annual Top 10 Lists) that have not yet had mainstream cinema releases in Taiwan (and a couple that have). The festival screenings are at Vieshow Cinemas Taipei Xinyi (台北信義威秀影城), 18 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路18號), and Taipei Film House (光點—台北之家), 18, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市中山北路二段18號). The event opens today and runs until March 2. The lineup: The Iron Lady, My Week With Marilyn, Machine Gun Preacher, Take Shelter, A Dangerous Method, Albert Nobbs, This Must Be the Place, Hysteria, Where Do We Go Now?, Take This Waltz, The Deep Blue Sea, Rampart, The Front Line, Coriolanus, Elite Squad 2, Midnight in Paris, The Skin I Live In, The Ides of March, The Tree of Life, Drive, 50/50, Warrior and The Rum Diary. Complete details about the films and screening times can be found at oscar.catchplay.com.
Beauty and the Beast 3D and Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D
Two classic movies make a return to the big screen in 3D format. As neither of these films was made for the 3D format, it’s hard to see what the technical tinkering will add. Probably best for people who simply enjoy the added discomfort of 3D spectacles in the cinema.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built
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