【Saturday Cinema】"12 Years a Slave," embracing courage to break through adversity
Last updated 2026-09-26 — Produced by Brad Pitt and directed by maverick filmmaker Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" is adapted from a true and inspiring story of the brave fight for freedom. It depicts the life of Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free Black man living in New York on the eve of the American Civil War...
Produced by Brad Pitt and directed by maverick filmmaker Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" is adapted from a true and inspiring story of the brave fight for freedom. It depicts the life of Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free Black man living in New York on the eve of the American Civil War, whose life suddenly takes a tragic turn when he is kidnapped and sold into slavery. He is forced to submit to the brutal and tyrannical slave owner Edwin Epps (played by Michael Fassbender) and endure countless hardships in the darkness, spending twelve years as a slave. Throughout it all, he never forgets his longing for freedom and his desire to return to a life of liberty—until he meets Bass (played by Brad Pitt), a kind-hearted Canadian abolitionist...
Only by embracing courage can one break through life's adversities. (Image source / from the We Like Movies fan page)
12 Years a Slave
12 Years a Slave
Release Date: 2014-03-14
Duration: 2 hours 14 minutes
Director: Steve McQueen ("Shame")
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Salt"), Michael Fassbender ("X-Men: First Class"), Benedict Cumberbatch ("Star Trek Into Darkness"), Brad Pitt ("Moneyball")
Barcelona, I Love You
Barcelona Summer Night
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Air Rescue
NON STOP
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Release Date: 2014-03-14
Duration: 1 hour 36 minutes
Director: Dani de la Orden
Cast: Alex Monner ("Wild Flowers"), Javier Nieto ("Welcome to the Cute Restaurant"), Claudia Vega ("EVA")
On the night of August 18, 2013, during a midsummer evening, a comet that appears only once every few hundred years streaked across the Barcelona sky. That same night, some people’s romances came to an end, while others were just beginning. A total of 567 love stories unfolded under Barcelona’s starry sky, including six incredible love tales...
Today marks the one-year anniversary of Rosa and Richard’s relationship, but fate has it that they run into her ex-boyfriend Albert. Nice guy Joan invites all his friends for dinner that evening, including the wife of his secret crush, Judith. There are also childhood sweethearts Jillian and Sara, a talented young footballer named Jordi with a hidden secret, best friends Oriol and Adrián both chasing the same girl, and a couple, Laura and Charles, facing a “baby” crisis. New love or old? Friend or lover? The most touching love stories all take place in this most romantic city.
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Release Date: 2014-03-14
Duration: 1 hour 46 minutes
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra ("Orphan")
Cast: Liam Neeson ("Taken"), Julianne Moore ("The Love Punch")
40,000 feet in the air, 500 miles per hour, 146 passengers’ lives—all rest on his shoulders.
The indestructible “ultimate dad” on screen, Liam Neeson, after rescuing his wife and daughter in the "Taken" series, faces yet another unexpected mission in his latest film, "Air Rescue." This time, he plays a federal air marshal who, following 9/11, is authorized to carry a gun on planes. On an overseas flight at 40,000 feet, he embarks on a heart-stopping, minute-by-minute rescue operation that will leave you breathless.
Federal air marshal Bill (Liam Neeson) is on duty aboard a flight from New York to London. As the plane crosses the Atlantic, he suddenly receives a series of mysterious text messages demanding that he contact the airline and arrange for $150 million to be transferred to a secret account within 20 minutes—or else one passenger will be killed every 20 minutes. Surveying the diverse passengers around him, Bill must outwit the hidden perpetrator and protect everyone on board under extreme pressure.
At first, Bill has a few seemingly trustworthy people around him, including the female passenger seated next to him, Jen Summers (Julianne Moore), and the flight attendant Nancy (Michelle Dockery). But as the deadly text messages from the cunning perpetrator keep coming, he finds himself increasingly cornered—with nearly every passenger a potential suspect and every person a possible next victim. Bill must rely on all his past training and instincts to think fast under mounting pressure, risking his own life to uncover the real culprit on the plane.
"Air Rescue" is produced by Joel Silver, the powerhouse producer behind global hit franchises like "Sherlock Holmes" and "The Matrix." Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, it marks his second collaboration with Liam Neeson after "Unknown." Alongside Neeson and Julianne Moore, the cast includes Michelle Dockery (from "Downton Abbey") and Oscar-nominated, SAG Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, who plays flight attendants aboard the British Airways flight from New York to London.
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The Monuments Men
The Monuments Men
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Need for Speed
NEED FOR SPEED
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Release Date: 2014-03-14
Duration: 1 hour 59 minutes
Director: George Clooney of *The Ides of March*
Cast: George Clooney (*Gravity*), Matt Damon (*The Bourne Identity*), Cate Blanchett (*The Aviator*), Jean Dujardin (*The Artist*), Bill Murray (*Get Smart*), John Goodman (*Argo*)
*The Monuments Men* is adapted from one of the greatest real-life treasure hunts in history. During World War II, all artworks looted by the German Nazis were slated for destruction. Under the directive of President Roosevelt, an elite unit was formed with the primary mission of retrieving these precious cultural treasures from the Nazis and returning them to their rightful owners.
This special elite unit was composed of museum curators and art experts from various backgrounds, all highly skilled and knowledgeable about artistic treasures but unfamiliar with firearms. To prevent the loss of human civilization, they had to race against time, risking their lives to safeguard the greatest cultural relics in history. How could this group of non-professional soldiers, faced with an seemingly impossible mission, safely extract the treasures and escape the danger zone under such resource-scarce conditions?
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Release Date: 2014-03-14
Duration: 2 hours 11 minutes
Director: Scott Waugh of *Act of Valor*
Cast: Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper (*Captain America*)
Produced by DreamWorks Pictures, *Need for Speed* brings the high-octane culture of supercars racing over 400 km/h to the big screen. The film’s hero stakes everything on an impossible racing journey, where what begins as a quest for revenge ultimately becomes one of redemption.
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Little Magic Sisters: Yoyo and Ningning
Majjocco Sister Yoyo & Nene
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Boar Mountain Hot Spring
The Boar King
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Release Date: 2014-03-15
Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes
Director: Ryūhei Hirose of *Sakura no Ondo*
Cast: (Voice) Sumire Uesaka (*Summer Wars*)
Yoyo lives in a magical world, until one day she is whisked away by unknown forces to another realm—modern-day Japan. In this completely unfamiliar world, Yoyo meets a boy named Tazaki. Suddenly, Tazaki’s town is attacked by evil forces; his parents turn into monsters, and the entire town is shrouded in eerie tension. Yoyo, along with Tazaki and her younger sister Ningning, must risk everything to save the town!
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Release Date: 2014-03-20
Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes
Director: Guo Zhendi
Cast: Lu Yijing, Tsai Chen-nan, Wu Yiting, Su Da
“I thought I was lost, but I found my direction.”
In the midst of a mountain downpour, Meique loses her husband A-Rong, and Boar Mountain Hot Spring is buried by a flash flood, leaving the inn in jeopardy. Meique, who had wanted to join her husband in death, is saved by hunter Zhengnan who comes to help clean up the hot spring. She learns that this was A-Rong’s request before he went missing, and is shocked into letting go of her despair...
A-Rong’s daughter Afen vows never to return home, but comes back to the mountains for the funeral. There, she unexpectedly meets a Garmin satellite road surveyor, who helps her find strength amid her grief—and love quietly blossoms as well. Just as the desperate villagers prepare to sell the land and relocate, they receive an unexpected invitation to a banquet from the supposedly dead A-Rong. Did A-Rong really die? What secrets was he hiding? Meique and Afen try to uncover the truth through the camera left behind by A-Rong. Along the way, they unintentionally bid farewell to the past, and a new direction in life emerges...
This film is directed by Guo Zhendi, who won the Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary. It was shot in the mountainous scenic spots of Baolai and Qishan in Kaohsiung, Hupotan in New Taipei City, Ruyi Lake, and Waishuangxi in Taipei. With a typhoon disaster as the backdrop, the story weaves together family struggles across generations and the aftermath of a devastating catastrophe. The resilience of the characters reflects the indomitable spirit of wild boars. Each individual story becomes an outlet for life, helping them let go of the past and embrace the future.
The film boasts a stellar cast, including Golden Bell and Asia-Pacific Film Festival award-winning actress Lu Yijing, veteran actor Tsai Chen-nan, Chen Muyi, rising theater actress Wu Yiting, and Su Da, as well as special appearances by heavyweights Wu Nien-jen and Tai Pao. The powerful performances of the actors spark brilliant chemistry, making this the warmest film of spring 2014.
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