Showing 431 - 436 of 436
Three flavours
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/02/2012
» Baseball geeks will revel in the chance to cheer along with the underdog that makes it, the league-stinker that stuns the big-spender, with the help of digital tinkering. But even if you're illiterate in the great American game, this sport drama has enough of a broad sweep to hook you along with Billy Beane, the real-life manager of Oakland Athletics who, in 2001, gambled with the then-unthinkable strategy of computer analysis and took his team on a 20-match winning streak. That Beane is played by Brad Pitt _ boyish, beaming and bright-eyed _ is, if not exactly a grand slam, a pretty swooping homerun.
Parallel ambitions
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/01/2012
» We wish them the best of luck, and we pray Hua Hin International Film Festival won't turn out to be a lemon. A month ago hardly anybody had heard about this brand-new event, and now those who've heard about it are wondering if they'll take the trouble of making a trip down to the seaside town to watch the films. Our advise is, if the sky is blue and you have nothing else to do (and if you want to forsake the Bangkok Experimental Film Festival that will also happen this weekend) just go for the fun of it. Worst case, you can always decamp to the beach, or one of the seafood joints in Khao Takieb.
Rock-Solid Hollywood star
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/01/2012
» Last year in the hyperkinetic film Fast Five, Dwayne Johnson growled and grumbled playing the role of a federal agent chasing a pack of auto-bandits in Rio de Janeiro. Johnson, also known as The Rock, is a prime cut of beef that glitters in the Brazilian sun; yet the man holds his character with gravity, zipping through the breakneck action with all scowl and no smile.
Global visions
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/01/2012
» From Southeast Asian indies to Turkish policiers and Chilean dramas, the World Film Festival of Bangkok serves up a hefty cinematic portion that will enliven our theatre-going experience from today until Jan 27. Pushed back from November by the furious flood, the festival opens tonight at Paragon Cineplex with Padang Besar (I Carried You Home) and will offer around 100 titles, both short and feature-length, over the next seven days. All films will be screened at Esplanade Cineplex on Ratchadaphisek (MRT Thailand Cultural Centre), and the closing night will be an outdoor screening at The Nine, on Rama IX Road, which will feature a rare programme by Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki.
In the mood for Marilyn
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/01/2012
» Marilyn Monroe was a real woman, but through the decades she has also existed as an image _ and an imagination. The later generation, appreciating Monroe in iconic, sex pot poses and perky screen persona, associates a wide gamut of ideas, fantasies and conjectures with her and her era, the '50s. A powerful presence on the screen (her movies lose meaning when she's not in the frame), she's also a blank page on which you supply your own surmises and assumptions, theories and conclusions. It says a lot when, in probably her most famous movie from 1955, The Seven Year Itch, Monroe plays a character with no name: it's enough to know her as The Girl.
Three's A Treat
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2012
» We open the year with an unusual occurrence in the cinema-going sphere: This month there will be three film festivals slated to satisfy the thirst and curiosity of local audiences. Two of them are taking place in the cultural stronghold of Bangkok, while the other has come up with the strange choice of Hua Hin. Two of them will feature alternative cinema of vastly diverse temperaments, while the other sticks mostly with munchy fares from across Asia. All of them, luckily, are privately funded.