The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Will the first installment of a new fantasy tale based on JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit prove to be the ultimate nerdgasm, following on from years of intense expectation? Or will director Peter Jackson playing around with new high-definition media ruin it for everyone? Early Internet comment and reviews suggest that Jackson has surpassed himself, making clever use of his huge directorial discretion and budget, and the full effects of the new technology will not be seen except by audiences at a very few selected cinemas with the appropriate technology. The dark mood of the Lord of the Rings trilogy has permeated the generally light-hearted tale, which has also been expanded to include some quite intense battle sequences, that might not be suitable for young or timid children. There is plenty of humor, along with the foreboding of evil, and the cast is never less than superb.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
Incompetent, irresponsible men in charge of young children. It’s been done before, and it doubtless will be done again simply because kids doing wacky things, dads freaking out, not to mention the changes in sexual dynamics and the potential to get gynecological, provide far too much material for cheap humor. On the male side there are Chris Rock, Dennis Quaid and others, but they are utterly overwhelmed by the women, who include Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks and Anna Kendrick. With star power to spare, the filmmakers have not seen much need for refinement or skill in the screenwriting, the content following a well-trodden path, making predictable, brainless entertainment that will still sell tickets over the holiday season.
Holy Motors
An over-the-top concoction of a movie that is likely to leave some audiences bewildered, but is unlikely to leave many bored. Leos Carax, the director who created the stunning The Lovers on New Bridge in 1991, is back with his leading actor Denis Lavant, in this extravagant tale of Monsieur Oscar, a shadowy character who morphs from one life to another, taking on the roles of captain of industry, assassin, beggar, monster and family man. Carax leads with an assured hand and has had critics falling over themselves to praise this magnificently cinematic work that sees the director bring ravishing modern style and intense emotions and combining them flawlessly.
Faust
Following on from his iconic accomplishments in films Moloch, Taurus and The Sun, which all deal with the uses of power, Russian director Alexander Sokurov plunges into the ultimate legend of the evils of power with his own take on the legend of Faust. Familiarity with the legend through the works of Marlowe, Goethe, or Gounod is more likely to impede than assist understanding of Sokurov’s film, which resolutely ignores the established interpretations and follows its own path. You can expect stunning visuals, a torrent of dense subtitles, and a degree of obscurity about what is actually going on that is likely to leave all but lifelong fans of the director’s work struggling.
Vicky Donor
Ayushmann Khurrana and Yami Gautam, newcomers to the Hindi film industry, are the stars of Vicky Donor, a slick romantic comedy about a professional sperm donor. Khurrana is Vicky, a 25-year-old slacker who lives with his mother and grandmother above his mom’s beauty salon. He makes good money donating sperm to Dr Chaddha (Annu Kapoor), and then falls in love with Ashima (Gautam), a beautiful banker. Unfortunately, his occupation is a bit of an embarrassment now that he is getting serious about love. Good acting, a strong script with plenty of humor, both sperm-related and otherwise, and an emotional investment in the characters make this potentially grossout comic material into a clever, enjoyable piece of entertainment.
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
April 21 to April 27 Hsieh Er’s (謝娥) political fortunes were rising fast after she got out of jail and joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in December 1945. Not only did she hold key positions in various committees, she was elected the only woman on the Taipei City Council and headed to Nanjing in 1946 as the sole Taiwanese female representative to the National Constituent Assembly. With the support of first lady Soong May-ling (宋美齡), she started the Taipei Women’s Association and Taiwan Provincial Women’s Association, where she
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
It is one of the more remarkable facts of Taiwan history that it was never occupied or claimed by any of the numerous kingdoms of southern China — Han or otherwise — that lay just across the water from it. None of their brilliant ministers ever discovered that Taiwan was a “core interest” of the state whose annexation was “inevitable.” As Paul Kua notes in an excellent monograph laying out how the Portuguese gave Taiwan the name “Formosa,” the first Europeans to express an interest in occupying Taiwan were the Spanish. Tonio Andrade in his seminal work, How Taiwan Became Chinese,
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