Wild Horse from Shangri-La (命懸800公里)
An ethnic Tibetan “boy” — who looks more like a young man, possibly even Daniel Day Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans — refuses to let his sister lie down and die when she is afflicted with a life-threatening condition. Nicknamed “Wild Horse” for his running prowess, our hero learns of a marathon to be held in Kunming whose first prize is just enough to cover his sister’s medical expenses ... but he has to run there before he can compete. Any Chinese film with Tibetan content instantly raises red flags, but this one seems more aimed at kids than anyone else. Amusingly, and apparently without irony, the English-language trailer uses a snippet from Run Like Hell by Pink Floyd.
Bottle Shock
This is based on a true story of a clever wine taste test in 1976 that saw French judges unwittingly declare an American wine to be superior. Alan Rickman plays an elite British wine merchant in Paris who sets up the competition, Bill Pullman is the eccentric winemaker in Napa, Chris Pine is Pullman’s maturing son and co-worker and Dennis Farina is Rickman’s loyal customer and cheerleader. This film was in the cellar for more than a year before securing a release here, but its dividends should be no less bountiful.
Le Secret
Possibly taking advantage of today’s more permissive censorship regime, this obscure French drama has been dusted off after nine years for a release in Taiwan. An encyclopedia saleswoman does the dirty on her husband and child with (gasp) an American choreographer. He’s a recluse ... but he sure knows how to push her buttons. Possibly a feature-length warning against such behavior, the way Le Secret is packaged is more likely to trigger mid-life crises throughout the theater. Stars Tony Todd (Candyman) as the illicit lover; his presence makes this worth a look.
Phobia 2
The original Phobia was a Thai compendium of four horror tales; in English it was also called 4bia. But Thai audiences were not at all phobic about seeing it, hence this energetic sequel, which offers a bonus fifth tale of fear. Sinister religious practices and figures, zombie attacks, murderous vehicles and ghosts enter the frame in a selection that pleased audiences and critics, claiming the highest-grossing Thai horror movie crown.
The Triumphant Return of General Rouge
A sequel of sorts to The Glorious Team Batista, a Japanese hospital murder-mystery released here 18 months ago, Rouge places put-upon medicos in a more bureaucratic fix as the government investigators from the previous installment probe dodgy budgeting and claims of unethical practices involving a surgeon gruesomely tagged “General Rouge.” This has to be more entertaining than it sounds, especially as it stars Yuko Takeuchi (Ringu, Spring Snow) and the prolific Hiroshi Abe (Hero). Also known as The Triumphant General Rouge.
Twin Daggers
Shades of Kill Bill at the Baixue in Ximending this week as the latest DVD promo gets a run in this most inelegant of theaters. Aussie journeyman Rhett Giles stars as “Scholar,” a chappie who spends more time unraveling assassin intrigue and kicking butt than producing refereed publications. He joins a number of other would-be killers hired by a sultry lady (Coco Su) to off her identical twin (Coco Su again) before things start getting really complicated. This derivative Chinese production starts tomorrow.
Anyone who has been to Alishan (阿里山) is familiar with the railroad there: one line comes up from Chiayi City past the sacred tree site, while another line goes up to the sunrise viewing platform at Zhushan (祝山). Of course, as a center of logging operations for over 60 years, Alishan did have more rail lines in the past. Are any of these still around? Are they easily accessible? Are they worth visiting? The answer to all three of these questions is emphatically: Yes! One of these lines ran from Alishan all the way up to the base of Jade Mountain. Its
The entire saga involving the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and its Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) continues to produce plot twists at such a rapid pace that fiction publishers would throw it out for being ridiculously improbable. This past week was particularly bizarre, but surprisingly the press has almost entirely ignored a big story that could have serious national security implications and instead focused on a series of salacious bombshell allegations. Ko is currently being held incommunicado by prosecutors while several criminal investigations are ongoing on allegations of bribery and stealing campaign funds. This last week for reasons unknown Ko completely shaved
The self-destructive protest vote in January that put the pro-People’s Republic of China (PRC) side in control of the legislature continues to be a gift that just keeps on giving to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Last week legislation was introduced by KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-lin (翁曉玲) that would amend Article 9-3 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to permit retired and serving (!) military personnel to participate in “united front” (統戰) activities. Since the purpose of those activities is to promote annexation of Taiwan to the PRC, legislators
The only geopolitical certainty is that massive change is coming. Three macro trends are only just starting to accelerate, forming a very disruptive background to an already unsettled future. One is that technological transformations exponentially more consequential and rapid than anything prior are in their infancy, and will play out like several simultaneous industrial revolutions. ROBOT REVOLUTION It is still early days, but impacts are starting to be felt. Just yesterday, this line appeared in an article: “To meet demands at Foxconn, factory planners are building physical AI-powered robotic factories with Omniverse and NVIDIA AI.” In other words, they used AI
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