Showing 51 - 60 of 130
Memories of my mother
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/10/2016
» Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Psycho, a subject of cinephilic and scholastic scrutiny for 40 years, is showing this Sunday at Scala. When the film was first released in the US, Hitchcock strictly instructed that latecomers would not be admitted into the screening, because it is "required that you see Psycho from the very beginning!". The Bangkok showing will follow that rule (strictly or not we can't be certain), and it's always nice and wise to be on time.
Hanuman help us from a 'happy' ogre
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/09/2016
» The crusader has returned to the gate, ready to crush the infidels. I thought the new buzzword was "Thailand 4.0", whatever that means, and yet this week we're still arguing if a portrayal of a mythical ogre in a music video is blasphemy, a transgression against the high culture of Siam, the culture that stares down from a pedestal, that exists like a taxidermied animal on the altar of an abandoned temple.
Alternative screenings this weekend
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/09/2016
» As the multiplexes are dominated by the big Thai film Fanday, two screenings this weekend should provide alternatives for Bangkok moviegoers. First, David Lean's Doctor Zhivago will play at the Scala on Sunday at noon, then a set of nine short films addressing the issue of legal reform will be screened at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre at 3pm.
Chuga-Chug! Here come the zombies!
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/08/2016
» Zombies overrunning a high-speed train, what more could you ask for.
Lawrence, Psycho and other classics on the big screen
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/07/2016
» After 62 years in AWOL, the restored version of the Thai film Santi-Vina will screen at the Scala this Friday at 8pm. Tickets are now on sale at the cinema, and they're going fast.
Female Lawrence deserves more
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/06/2016
» Gertrude Bell was an adventurer, desert explorer, cartographer, polyglot, writer, kingmaker, and an overshadowed figure during World War I. She spoke Arabic, German, French and several other languages; T.E. Lawrence sought her advice; the Arabs respected her; the British Empire wanted her to spy for them; she helped Sheikh Faisal, who fought with Lawrence against the Ottomans, become the king of Iraq. In short, a great woman who lived a full life. And now in the motion picture Queen Of The Desert, Bell is played by Nicole Kidman in her wind-kissed scarf, lovelorn smile and in a story fraught with Oriental romanticism. The great adventurer doesn't receive a great cinematic treatment after all.
Will the best films win the Oscars?
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/02/2016
» The Oscar night is also the Oscar-bashing night. It was always the night (or morning, in our time zone) of constant bemoaning and condescension, because the Academy voters, like most voters, always get it wrong, at least to million others around the world who believe, in our collective delirium, that we have a stake in this pageant taking place somewhere in Los Angeles. Things have taken a turn for the worse with the snap judgement made possible by social media; now the outrage and disbelief are so raw since they're aired in real time, on Facebook and Twitter, like I did last year when I was convinced that it was against every law of nature that Birdman, a well-crafted display of pretension and self-obsession, won over the more delicate Boyhood.
Cinema under the stars
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/02/2016
» When was the last time you attended an outdoor cinema? To be more precise, do you remember seeing a movie under the sky at Lumpini Park?
Thai movies ride the Euro circuit
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 29/01/2016
» The new year starts with a slate of new Thai films -- and some older ones -- which are already making rounds at the European film festival circuit which began this week.
Off to a quiet start
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/01/2016
» For its first two days, the 68th Cannes Film Festival hasn't managed to turn up the real heat. The world's most famous tapis rouge — or red carpet — of the Grande Theatre Lumiere might be set ablaze by the stars of the furiously hellish Mad Max: Fury Road, showing Out of Competition, but talking points early in this cine-circus include Catherine Deneuve's caricature on the cover of Charlie Hebdo and Salma Hayek gnawing at a sea dragon's heart cooked by a virgin. Otherwise, café punditry keeps up the Cannes tradition of guessing the Palme d'Or winner without anyone having seen all the contestants. Elsewhere on the Boulevard de la Croisette, things remained pretty underwhelming.