No Halloween trickery is involved in this announcement: The Little Vampire is a treat.
Not often does a family film come along that is literate, clever, mischievous and just plain fun. Directed by Uli Edel Christiane F and Last Exit to Brooklyn) and based on the popular Little Vampire novels by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, this delightful juvenile adventure upsets the all-too-familiar autumn applecart in various ways.
First of all, the vampires, though tormented, are sweet. They'd really rather be humans, and rather than sup on their own previous species, they turn to cows, though not for the milk. This preference leads to scenes in which some hefty bovines, having joined the undead, spurn the sunlight of the field and choose the darkness of the barn, where they hang head down from the rafters, much to the bemusement of Farmer Mclaughlin (Jake D'Arcy).
PHOTO COURTESY OF HUACHAN
And what fun it is to hear Anna (Anna Popplewell), a pouty-lipped little vampire, tell Tony Thompson (Jonathan Lipnicki), a nine-year-old human, "If you ever need me, just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you?"
And to hear Anna's brother Rudolph (Rollo Weeks) speak the king's English when he bids Tony goodbye, saying, "I suppose I must take my leave."
Anyway, pleasures of all sorts are to be found in The Little Vampire, which revolves around Tony, uprooted from his home in San Diego to move with his parents to Scotland, where his father is designing a golfing resort for Lord Mcashton (John Wood), whose family has a few secrets. Tony, played with un-self-conscious charm by the actor who portrayed Rene Zellweger's little boy in Jerry Maguire, has been having repeated nightmares about a cliffside vampire ceremony involving a comet, an amulet, an incantation and the untimely intervention of a vampire killer. In the manner of adults, his parents (Pamela Gidley and Tommy Hinkley) are concerned but dismissive. To make Tony's life more difficult, Lord Mcashton's grandsons are bullying him.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HUACHAN
But Tony's dreams are portents of reality, and soon he has encountered and been befriended by Rudolph. And through Rudolph, he meets Rudolph's parents, Frederick and Freda, played with stylish comic spirit by Richard E. Grant and Alice Krige.
With the comet set to reappear, the time is ripe for Frederick to restore his vast clan to human form. But with the vampire killer Rookery (Jim Carter) lurking in the darkness and the amulet still missing after hundreds of years, it will be up to Tony to save the day. Sorry. Save the night.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had