1. BEFORE SUNSET/SIDEWAYS: Superb writing and acting, unobtrusive but expert direction and, above all, unflagging intelligence made these two observant, romantic misadventures the best films of the year. Imagine that working; Hollywood usually doesn't.
2. CONTROL ROOM: In the flood of political documentaries, this was the only one that encouraged us to question messages from all sides, including whichever side we like to believe. ... And, crucially, to suspect parts of "Control Room" itself. Neither Michael Moore nor Bill O'Reilly will ever understand that kind of honesty, the rest of us need to.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WARNER MOIVES
3. BAD EDUCATION/KINSEY/THE MOTHER: In this red state nightmare trifecta, badly behaving gays, sex researchers with murky motives and a granny who refuses to be a proper bereaved widow powerfully proved that to deny desire is to undervalue one's own, and everybody else's, humanity. And if these ingenious films are any indication, being naughty can also lead to great art.
4. I (HEART) HUCKABEES: The search for spiritual peace in our corrupt modern world is funny, people! Or can be, if it doesn't leave you too traumatized. Just like we all do when we seek to know what it's all about, Davd Russell's one-of-a-kind riff on life's great cosmic joke danced on the edge of profundity and inanity. Only more gracefully.
5. DOGVILLE/THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS: Lars von Trier is Europe's most provocative mad movie scientist. These two films -- a three-hour, bare-stage critique of provincialism and power (with Nicole Kidman's best-ever film performance), and a playfully sadistic "making of" documentary like no other -- broke down everything we take for granted at the movies, then built their own unique forms out of the rubble.
6. MILLION DOLLAR BABY: Clint Eastwood delivers another masterpiece. This is not news anymore. Oh, it's a lady boxer movie. Well, that's, uh, unexpected. It also contains Clint's best acting and directing work to date. And it's an unparalleled example of lighting and tonal control. OK, then; media duly alerted.
7. THE BLIND SWORDSMAN (ZATOICHI)/HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS/KILL BILL -- VOL. 2: Martial-arts movies got taken in all kinds of imaginative directions this year by Japanese (Takeshi Kitano), Chinese (Zhang Yimou) and American (Quentin Tarantino) directors with limited experience in the genre. It showed, beautifully, in an exhilarating explosion of new ideas and broken tired rules.
8. RAY: Jamie Foxx's channeling of soul legend Charles was nothing short of phenomenal, but the presentation of music, cultural history and the blind genius' understandably darker qualities made for a rocking movie that never missed a high note -- and man, were there plenty of them.
9. GOOD BYE LENIN!/NOTRE MUSIQUE: One thing that we should acknowledge Europeans know: No matter how much the world progresses, man's propensity for self-delusion and violence will always prevent paradise on Earth. Two totally different filmmakers, young German ironist Wolfgang Becker and grizzled French New Waver Jean-Luc Godard, got to the core of this matter with a post-communist family comedy and a hyper-aestheticized philosophical essay. The real connection? Both films still have hope.
10. THE INCREDIBLES: The first big, computer-animated feature that expressed its director's personal worldview, Brad Bird's superhero satire was also faster, funnier and more visually distinctive than anything the still-young format has seen before. Fight mediocrity, heck yeah!
March 10 to March 16 Although it failed to become popular, March of the Black Cats (烏貓進行曲) was the first Taiwanese record to have “pop song” printed on the label. Released in March 1929 under Eagle Records, a subsidiary of the Japanese-owned Columbia Records, the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) lyrics followed the traditional seven characters per verse of Taiwanese opera, but the instrumentation was Western, performed by Eagle’s in-house orchestra. The singer was entertainer Chiu-chan (秋蟾). In fact, a cover of a Xiamen folk song by Chiu-chan released around the same time, Plum Widow Missing Her Husband (雪梅思君), enjoyed more
Last week Elbridge Colby, US President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defense for policy, a key advisory position, said in his Senate confirmation hearing that Taiwan defense spending should be 10 percent of GDP “at least something in that ballpark, really focused on their defense.” He added: “So we need to properly incentivize them.” Much commentary focused on the 10 percent figure, and rightly so. Colby is not wrong in one respect — Taiwan does need to spend more. But the steady escalation in the proportion of GDP from 3 percent to 5 percent to 10 percent that advocates
From insomniacs to party-goers, doting couples, tired paramedics and Johannesburg’s golden youth, The Pantry, a petrol station doubling as a gourmet deli, has become unmissable on the nightlife scene of South Africa’s biggest city. Open 24 hours a day, the establishment which opened three years ago is a haven for revelers looking for a midnight snack to sober up after the bars and nightclubs close at 2am or 5am. “Believe me, we see it all here,” sighs a cashier. Before the curtains open on Johannesburg’s infamous party scene, the evening gets off to a gentle start. On a Friday at around 6pm,
A series of dramatic news items dropped last month that shed light on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attitudes towards three candidates for last year’s presidential election: Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Terry Gou (郭台銘), founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It also revealed deep blue support for Ko and Gou from inside the KMT, how they interacted with the CCP and alleged election interference involving NT$100 million (US$3.05 million) or more raised by the
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