sign in sign up
<<
Home , 88 Minutes, Antonio Banderas, Bette Davis, Golden Shell, Joan Crawford, Righteous Kill

A R O U N D T O W N 發光的城市 17 TAIPEI TIMES • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2008

Other releases

Compiled by Martin Williams

Melody’s Smile A deceptive title, this; the original French title is La Chambre des Morts, which gives viewers a much better idea of what’s in store (the Chinese translates as “Sample of For two movie titans, a Smile,” which is somewhere in between). raved about this “horror classic,” in which single mother and detective Melanie Laurent closes in on a duo of sick puppy kidnappers as a ransom goes missing. a long-awaited The multiple viewpoint style of Rashomon collides with The Silence of the Lambs in this depiction of the worst and best that humanity has to offer.

Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 A sequel to the 2005 original, this film is essential viewing for anyone who has lived in Tokyo. Following several story strands, Part 2 mixes good-natured clash neighborhood and family with another widescreen and go presentation of unusually detailed and moving special effects macho-a-macho with each other in this that recreate the Japanese capital of the late . Variety paint-by-the-numbers police thriller and the Japan Times disagreed on the accessibility of this film for those who didn’t see the first one; that debate is quickly shut down by a quick trip to the DVD store. By MANOHLA DARGIS NY Times News Service, New York One Piece The Movie: Episode of Alabaster — The Desert Princess and the Pirates if only were alive! The pulpmeister of the horror lolla- Part 8 in Japan’s One Piece palooza What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? certainly knew how to build a theatrical saga has Princess Vivi Oh, grand showcase for his corrugated divas ( and ), of Alabaster and our trusty band while the hapless hasn’t a clue what to do with his (Al Pacino and Robert De of Straw Hat Pirates travel once Niro). In these two godheads of 1970s cinema go macho-a-macho with again to the scorched kingdom. This time it’s to do battle with each other — furrowing brows, bellowing lines, looking alternately grimly serious and a formidable crocodile who heads a criminal network and who somewhat bemused — in a B-movie (more like C-minus) duet that probably sounded like has designs on the kingdom’s subjects, and is prepared to use a grand idea when their handlers whispered it in their ears. the most nefarious means to take power. Lots of fight scenes De Niro and Pacino have squared off only once before on the big screen, in Michael for the faithful. Mann’s 1995 thriller, Heat, in which they spent most of the film in separate story lines, joined only by the parallel editing and a late-act, disappointingly anticlimactic meeting at a diner. They share far more face time in Righteous Kill, playing well-seasoned 4bia New York City Police Department detectives and long-term partners who take turns In case you don’t get the pun, this clucking at each other like hens while swaggering around town like gamecocks. True film is also listed as Phobia. Four to strut, pouf and wattles, Pacino’s cop goes by Rooster, while De Niro is just Turk, of Thailand’s better suspense which doesn’t appear to be short for , though it sure does help to pass the time directors deliver short pieces for if you think about it. this “portmanteau ,” Time, alas, doesn’t so much pass in Righteous Kill as crawl, despite the usual but with titles like Happiness, Tit overcutting, which tries to pump energy into the inert proceedings. Avnet, whose last For Tat, In the Middle and Last Fright, it may seem more like movie was the clunker (one of Pacino’s worst), is not a natural director, to Twilight Zone: The Movie than Creepshow; the last episode RIGHTEOUS KILL put it kindly. His handiwork is most evident in the unsteady tone, though to be fair it’s even takes place on an aircraft. Still, ghostly images on a always hard to know who deserves most of the blame for this kind of star-struck, suit- cellphone, curses, ghost stories that come true and animated DIRECTED BY: Jon Avnet crammed (eight producers, three executive producers, one co-producer) mush. Suffice corpses should please fans of the latter minor classic. it to say that everything from the camera placement to the cheap use of the consistently STARRING: Robert de Niro (Turk), Al good, lamentably underemployed Carla Gugino is shoddy. (Note to Avnet: Yes, Gugino Pacino (Rooster), Curtis Jackson has breasts, but, really, her acting is more interesting.) The Love of Siam (Spider), Carla Gugino (Karen Corelli), Like most actors, Pacino and De Niro need a strong hand, some kind of visionary This pastel-shaded Thai youth Robert de Niro and Al Pacino have squared John Leguizamo (Detective Perez), authority to put them in their best light and prevent them from leaning on the tics and off only once ���������on the big ������������� screen ������before Donnie Wahlberg (Detective Riley), Brian film pits female fans of a boy tricks — Pacino tends to turn up the volume, while De Niro glowers until he looks band frontman against his Righteous Kill. Photos courtesy of Catch Play Dennehy (Lieutenant Hingis), Trilby Glover (Jessica), Rob Dyrdek () ready to pop — that now too often mar their performances. Righteous Kill, a clutter unstoppable desire for another of recycled cop-movie and serial-killer film cliches (it’s hard to believe that the screen- young gentleman who has RUNNING TIME: 100 MINUTES writer, Russell Gewirtz, also wrote Inside Man), is far from their worst effort. And the reentered his life, all the while two have some nice moments with each other and some of the other actors. Pacino coping with dysfunction in the latter’s family. Amid military TAIWAN RELEASE: TODAY seems to be genuinely moved during his final showdown with De Niro, or maybe he’s coups and the protests of an autocratic middle class, Thailand just a sweet sentimental fool. keeps churning out gay and ladyboy-themed flicks such as this to the delight of local audiences, a phenomenon one would be hard pressed to find anywhere else. Variety says the film courts gay audiences and their straight friends; one could add to this list undiscriminating fans of boy-band music. City cinema weekend box office takings Winds of September PLUS (Sept. 13 and Sept. 14) Source: Group Power Entertainment Corp The Pain of Others With local productions Cape No. 7 and Orz Boyz doing splendidly at the box office, the producer of Winds of September, a coming of age drama set in Hsinchu, is re-releasing the film to boost its modest haul. There are two more incentives this time around to see it. The first is a cut price ticket of NT$150; the second is a bonus, award-winning short film from 2005 by Winds director Tom Shu-yu Lin (林書宇), The Pain of Others, a drama about military service. Screening Cape No. 7 Hellboy II: The Golden Army Mamma Mia! Orz Boyz You Don’t Mess With the exclusively at Xinyi Vieshow. (海角七號) (地獄怪客II:金甲軍團) (媽媽咪呀!) (囧男孩) Zohan (特勤沙龍) NT$8,187,336 NT$3,476,094 NT$878,604 NT$860,516 NT$574,797

ommunist North Korea typically runs a news item at the actress will receive Olaciregui, said mother in a car crash. true-life film about the 1970s C rolled out its version of time of the festival praising him as a lifetime achievement award at “This year, given the criticism The festival will also feature Baader-Meinhof terrorist gang the red carpet this week when the a “genius in cinematic art.” the San Sebastian film festival received by the Venice Film retrospectives of the works of for an Oscar as best foreign reclusive state opened its biannual In state media reports late on which got underway yesterday Festival, we feel we have a potent British filmmaker , movie of the year, its film export international film festival, allowing Wednesday monitored in Seoul, in northeastern with 15 and competitive festival. Maybe director of Distant Voices, Still board said on Tuesday, just its masses to watch forbidden the North said the festival “was movies in competition for the we were better at convincing Lives, of the comedies of 93- hours before the VIP premiere of foreign films. opened with due ceremony,” best movie award. directors to take part,” he added. year-old Italian filmmaker Mario the movie in Munich. Movies are near to the heart of which included an all-women She will receive an honorary Among the films in competition Monicelli and of Japanese post-war Launched under the German leader Kim Jong-il, a fan of Daffy marching band. Instead of stars in Donosti — which means San for the festival’s Golden Shell . title Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, Duck, designer clothes, it brought ageing Sebastian in the Basque language for best film is British director Last year’s Golden Shell for the movie describes the rise and and , cadres in dark suits to the stage. — along with Spanish actor Javier ’s Genova best film went to Hong Kong-born fall of a group of urban terrorists who is thought to In recent years, the North has Bardem who earlier this year won starring as a widower Wayne Wang’s (王穎) A Thousand who conducted bank robberies, have a library of screened about 70 films from his first Oscar for his supporting who takes his two daughters Years of Good Prayers. kidnappings and assassinations about 20,000 films about 30 countries at the festival, role in No Country for Old Men. to after the death of their has nominated a while dreaming of a communist that includes that include its own movies as Streep has won two Oscars revolution in West Germany. all of the James well as films from Europe, the US — in 1980 for Kramer vs The initial nomination for the Bond movies, and the Asia-Pacific region. Kramer and in 1983 for Sophie’s February 2009 Oscars was made intelligence North Koreans can normally Choice — and been nominated by a panel of judges appointed by sources have said. be thrown in jail for watching 12 other times. the German Films board. About Kim, who unauthorized foreign movies. Organizers expect some 100 countries are expected to is suspected of But during the 10-day festival, 200,000 people to attend the 56th make similar nominations. suffering a stroke in they have seen films such as edition of the festival, the oldest A short list of five foreign recent weeks, usually Bend it Like Beckham and Whale and most prestigious event of films from round the world will does not attend the Rider, which is a far cry from its kind in the Spanish-speaking be selected as final nominees by event. But his state’s the home-grown product that world, over its 10 days. the Academy of Motion Picture propaganda is heavily steeped in its state’s This year’s festival will feature Arts and Sciences in January, machine communist ideology. films from all five continents and with the winner to be announced In other festival news, US fewer movies from Latin America. Feb. 22, 2009. — agencies “We have plenty of established Spanish actor and his German actor Til Schweiger arrives at the directors this year like Kim Ki-duk, wife, US actress , arrive premiere of the film The Baader Meinhof Kore-Eda, Christophe Honore at the 56th San Sebastian International Complex at the Delphi Cinema in Berlin on or Michael Winterbottom,” the Film Festival yesterday in San Sebastian, Tuesday. photo: Reuters director of the festival, Mikel northern Spain. photo: epa