Showing 1 - 10 of 12
Cinema Politico
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 14/12/2018
» The premiere of the social-commentary film Ten Years Thailand on Tuesday night saw a number of political celebrities in the vaulted foyer of the Scala, brushing elbows with journalists, film professionals and gawking onlookers. Sulak Sivaraksa was there, as well as historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, Thongthong Chandrangsu and several political-science scholars. Big names from political parties showed up: Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from Future Forward, Parit Ratanakulserirengrit from the Democrats, Chatchat Sitthiphun and Wattana Muangsuk from Pheu Thai, Sombat Boon-ngamanong from Krian Party. Invitations had been sent out to all parties, according to the film producers, but no one from Palang Pracharat and Bhumjaithai attended the screening.
Sucking the wind out of the elections
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/05/2018
» The verb of the week is "to dood".
Scala's screening of Cleopatra harks back to a bygone era
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/01/2018
» As news of the threatened demolition of the Scala is still hanging, there's a good reason to visit the cinema this Sunday.
Our newest mission is to love the bomb
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/07/2017
» Like all soap addicts, I caught glimpses of the debut episode of the television series Love Missions last week. Not a strand of hair misplaced despite his dangerous expedition, Capt Purich (played by Sukollawat Kanarot) enters a red zone to battle terrorists after they've abducted foreign delegates from a conference in Bangkok. "This act of terrorism has a big boss behind it," intones the captain.
A patriotic romp
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/01/2017
» Smooth, slick and unabashedly patriotic, Korean spy thriller The Age Of Shadows has cooked up a winning formula. It's the 1920s, the oppressive Japanese army rules over Korea while a band of stylishly dressed resistance fighters lurk in the shadows, rattling the colonial sabre. The Japanese -- a villain du jour given that this week at the cinemas we also see Jackie Chan fighting them in World War II-set Railroad Tigers -- are punishing and manipulative, meanwhile the Koreans are clever and heroic (and fashionable). There will be a final explosion so huge the cinema shakes, and you know who'll get blown to bits.
Streep, Abe open Tokyo Film Fest
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 27/10/2016
» Meryl Streep walked down on the red carpet as light drizzle cooled the opening of the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival on Tuesday.
Giving us a bit of hope would be a real coup
Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/04/2016
» The military is riding red-hot TV ratings, proving once and for all that uniformed men are truly desirable. No, not the Thai military — sunburnt, humourless and eternally puzzled. I mean the South Korean military pretty boys, unblemished by war, unperturbed by earthquakes and other calamities — those military men in Descendants of the Sun, our Dear Leader Prayut Chan-o-cha's favourite show.
The hateful eight gang up on one activist
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/01/2016
» If your heart hasn’t been too hardened, you must have seen that the arrest of the student activist on Wednesday night was a foul act unjustified by law.
The great Lee Kuan Yew we never knew
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/03/2015
» The page has turned, and everyone wishes to read about Lee Kuan Yew. But the great mind isn’t that easy to decipher, so we pick and choose and believe that we know the recipe for success that the late Singaporean ruler — brilliant, dogged, direct, merciless — practised in his nation-building cauldron to such a spectacular outcome.
When in doubt, gag the dissenters
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 27/09/2014
» Banning is the oldest trick in the authoritarian playbook, dating back to the pre-Medici, pre-Bolshevik, pre-YouTube era. It's placebo, and yet the illusion of efficiency still works like drugs among jittery leaders and strongmen who fear papers, images, testaments and sometimes truth.