Tai Chi Hero (太極2英雄崛起)
Following on from Tai Chi 0 (太極1從零開始), Stephen Fung’s (馮德倫) planned trilogy about a simple country kid who learns the mysteries of Tai Chi in order to save his village, Tai Chi Hero takes everything to the next level. Leading man William Feng (馮紹峰) not only does his chop-socky action sequences, but also has a real chance to get it on with Angelababy (楊穎), and there are villainous foreign soldiers (led by actor Peter Stormare) and lots of improbable steampunk military hardware. The first installment made it huge at the box office in China and appealed to kungfu fans around the world with its technical accomplishment and determination to entertain, whatever the cost. Of course, Tai Chi Hero is also silly and shameless, but what’s not to like.
Frankenweenie
Tim Burton is the undisputed master of the dystopian fairy tale and while his recent takes on classics like Alice in Wonderland and Sweeney Todd might not have been to everyone’s taste, his talent for reworking classic material and making it his own is prodigious. With Frankenweenie a tale of the love between a boy and his dog, and the disastrous results that ensue when he brings the animal back to life, has great potential for retro magic and a touch of spoof. Burton plays with such hallowed cinematic material that he has inevitably caused some offense, but his energy and invention carry all before it, and Frankenweenie is nothing short of a delight.
Chasing Mavericks
A sports movie with a coming-of-age theme that might have come right of a screenwriters’ DIY. Young kid (Jonny Weston) with no direction meets older dude (Gerard Butler) who does something awesome (in this case, surfs giant waves). Kid wants to learn to be the best, has problems with friends and family, but finally faces up to his own demons, achieves his goal and, lets not forget, also scores with the hot chick as well.
Eva
Spanish take on Steven Spielberg’s AI: Artificial Intelligence that shows good sense in using its relatively limited budget to good effect. Alex, a Robot programmer, is given a project to build an artificial child, which he models on Eva, the 10-year-old daughter of his brother and his former lover Lana. The time spent with the child makes Alex suspicious that there are secrets in Lana’s past that he has yet to discover, even while his feelings for her are rekindled. Imaginative, intelligent and an outstanding performance by Claudia Vega as Eva.
Sasha
German film about a young pianist whose comfortable life changes when his homosexuality is exposed, after his younger brother begins an affair with his supposed “girlfriend.” The film, in German and Serbo-Croatian, features some strong acting from the young cast, and good support from the adults, particularly from Predrag Bjelac as Sasha’s father.
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
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
A pig’s head sits atop a shelf, tufts of blonde hair sprouting from its taut scalp. Opposite, its chalky, wrinkled heart glows red in a bubbling vat of liquid, locks of thick dark hair and teeth scattered below. A giant screen shows the pig draped in a hospital gown. Is it dead? A surgeon inserts human teeth implants, then hair implants — beautifying the horrifyingly human-like animal. Chang Chen-shen (張辰申) calls Incarnation Project: Deviation Lovers “a satirical self-criticism, a critique on the fact that throughout our lives we’ve been instilled with ideas and things that don’t belong to us.” Chang
Feb. 10 to Feb. 16 More than three decades after penning the iconic High Green Mountains (高山青), a frail Teng Yu-ping (鄧禹平) finally visited the verdant peaks and blue streams of Alishan described in the lyrics. Often mistaken as an indigenous folk song, it was actually created in 1949 by Chinese filmmakers while shooting a scene for the movie Happenings in Alishan (阿里山風雲) in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), recounts director Chang Ying (張英) in the 1999 book, Chang Ying’s Contributions to Taiwanese Cinema and Theater (打鑼三響包得行: 張英對台灣影劇的貢獻). The team was meant to return to China after filming, but