Showing 61 - 70 of 102
From talking bears to frog stranglers
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 21/02/2016
» An entertaining family film which has been showing on HBO in recent weeks is Paddington, the tale of the talking bear from “darkest Peru” who ends up getting into all sorts of scrapes in London.
To make something popular, just ban it
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 18/10/2015
» Respected American judge Potter Stewart once observed: “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.” That appears to be what we are experiencing with the Ministry of Culture’s ban on the film Arbat, concerning a novice monk who misbehaves.
Image, faith and the age of intolerance
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 17/10/2015
» At some point, religion breeds a culture of intolerance. It then becomes a form of absolutism, all the more toxic in the climate of nationalist fervour and dictatorial bombast. See the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages, the Wahabism of present-day Saudi Arabia, or in some parts of Buddhist Myanmar. Now bravo, Thailand is flirting with that fundamentalist trap — we’re not quite there yet, thank heaven, though the door has swung open and the chanting has already begun.
Thailand urgently needs to tackle development traps
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 28/07/2015
» About two weeks ago while having supper with my family, my wife received a phone call from former prime minister Anand Panyarachun. So far, so good. But when my wife turned the phone over to me and said, "Khun Anand wants a quick chat with you", my instincts told me I had written something irritating and was about to be lectured by a former prime minster. However, my concerns quickly dissipated, because to my surprise I had just earned a different kind of lecture: an invitation to the Amartya Sen lecture series which was held last Tuesday at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bangkok. Phew! Dodged another bullet.
We can learn from Selma marches
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 12/03/2015
» This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches which were led by Rev Martin Luther King Jr and many other civil rights activists. These three marches by ordinary American men and women, mostly of African descent, still stand as historical landmarks of the triumph of the human spirit over grave injustice and the dark forces of segregation.
‘Citizenfour’ rings eerily close to home
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 21/02/2015
» Come Oscar night tomorrow, Edward Snowden, still holed up in Moscow, won’t be joining the glitterati in Los Angeles though the film in which he is appears likely to snatch a golden doll. Unless there’s a major upset, Citizenfour should win Best Documentary, and the spectre of massive national surveillance, indiscriminate spying and the thorny scuffle to find balance between national security and the sanctity of human rights will, hopefully, steal some of the vacuous limelight that characterises the Oscars.
Cannes Report: The Coens and Dutch gallows humour
Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» The hottest ticket in Cannes over the weekend is, surprisingly, a pre-Bob Dylan tale of a struggling folk singer steeped in his own hilarious myth: "Inside Llewyn Davis" is the new film by Joel and Ethan Coen starring Oscar Isaac as the title character, with the supporting act by Carey Mulligan (redeeming herself quite nicely from the nonsense of "The Great Gatsby", which opened Cannes last Wednesday) and Justin Timberlake, among others.
Cannes report: The joyful jury
Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» <b>CANNES, France -</b> One of the great mysteries is how you judge movies.
Cannes report: Festival favourites
Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» After 11 days of hits and misses, of expectations fulfilled and dashed, the 66th Cannes Film Festival will announce the Palme d'Or winner on Sunday.
A lesson from Oscars democracy
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» The United States is a model of modern democracy. Just look at the Oscars. After the tearful speeches and crumpled handkerchiefs, the pizzas, the history-making selfie, the crisp tuxes and plunging necklines, the self-congratulatory parties, the Slave who defies gravity, the umpteenth heartbreak of Leonardo DiCaprio and the star-making moment of Lupita Nyong’o — after the drum roll, it’s worth looking back to see how the model of modern democracy decides its "best" movies. Of course, by voting.