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Money matters:
Graham Macdonald MBMG International Ltd.
What are prudent investment strategies these days?
The short term answer is to hold cash, cash and more cash.
We’re happy to do just that - holding high levels of cash within our Guernsey
regulated protected cell client portfolios, conserving capital while looking for
the next opportunities.
The longer term answer is, of course, that cash is only one of multi-asset
classes and that smart contrarians will always unearth opportunities. What we
preach for our clients has been practised by Scott Campbell and the
Midas/MitonOptimal team and by the large US endowments. Scott himself noted last
week that this approach, in the hands of the ten largest US endowments, has
considerably outperformed the median institutional fund, retail funds, indices
and also the smaller endowment funds.
Scott took time out to take a look at how they’ve managed this and how they are
positioning now for a very different investment backdrop in the 10 years ahead.
Recently the big 10 endowments have entrusted 32% to hedge funds - compare this
to 13% in smaller endowments and nothing in retail funds. The “big boys” have
achieved this by cutting back listed equity exposure to just 33% as opposed to
56% for smaller endowments and anything up to 100% for most institutional and
retail investment funds. The “top 10” have also invested much more aggressively
in real estate, natural resources, venture capital and private equity - more
than double the rate of small endowments and beyond comparison with funds which
often have zero or negligible exposure to these areas that have yielded strong
returns of late.
However, that still amounts to a snapshot of where everyone should have been
allocating their assets - what can we expect going forwards? Scott cited a
recent article in the FT which claimed that, following the collapse of the
credit bubble, many, if not all, endowments are looking at the opportunities in
distressed debt. This may be a very good time to announce that this week MBMG is
publishing a research paper on the distressed opportunities afforded by current
market conditions. Scott makes the important point that although the endowments
have examined several opportunities to buy distressed loans, they are tending to
remain on the sidelines as they don’t yet consider that the terms are favourable
enough and they believe that in the distressed sector things will get worse (for
sellers) and by implication much better for buyers. This backs up the results of
our own research where we conclude that the pricing on leveraged loans has blown
out way more than that of distressed and therefore the opportunities are in the
leveraged loan sector currently as Scott recently highlighted during his visit
to Bangkok.
Concern over climate change is another big area of interest to the
super-endowments and Scott notes that they are also looking to exploit
opportunities in energy and other real assets. Like Scott, they’re not looking
to make a major move just yet into listed equities generally, although ‘Frontier
Markets’ (the second tier of emerging markets, which have not yet significantly
emerged) such as the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa are interesting to
them as they are largely uncorrelated with the West and have good growth
prospects.
Finally super-endowment managers are apparently spending a great deal of time on
the receiving end of presentations about farmland (particularly in emerging
markets) as agricultural commodity prices are rising sharply due to the increase
in developing world demand. Increased supply can only be affected by cultivating
new land or by radically improving productivity of existing farmland. The closer
that the land is located to the big emerging economies (read Chindia mainly),
thereby reducing transport costs, so much the better. This is the ultimate play
on the commodity theme and because most western world farmers already operate at
full production capacity; farm land in Africa, South America and Asia at a
fraction of the price may turn out to be a good politically risk adjusted bet.
What if the stagflation that we fear turns out to be ‘just’
inflation?
Scott points out that traditional bonds tend to “have a shocker in
inflationary times” although inflation linked bonds do have much better
defensive qualities. We remain underweight fixed interest although any interest
rate spike could be a short term buying opportunity. Gold and other commodities
have an inflation hedge element to them and there will be opportunities in both
physical commodities and commodity equities at different times.
In general, equities suffer during inflationary periods because of rising input
costs causing reduced margins. Profit margins and earnings outlooks depend
heavily on a business’s PR sector’s ability to pass on costs - identifying price
takers vs. price makers helps stock pickers outperform the general market
significantly. Within our portfolios our major stock pickers are Warren Buffett
of Berkshire Hathaway and William Gray of Orbis. We remain confident in their
ability to outperform. Overall, PE ratios tend to trend significantly lower when
inflation is higher than 3-5% (and also indeed when it’s below 0%) and,
therefore, the PE sweet spot of recent disinflationary high growth times is most
likely over and stocks are likely to correct until more appropriate PERs for the
prevailing conditions are in place. This could imply a Dow closer to 8,000 than
its current level of 11,000+ and a long time until we regain last November’s
14,000+ levels.
Scott notes that Real Estate, both housing and commercial property, was a great
inflation hedge during the period of runaway inflation in the 1970s, partly
because commercial property offsets inflation with rent increases (many
contracts are automatically inflation adjusted) effectively ensuring that
commercial property performs like inflation-linked bonds. Also, there can be a
comfort factor that causes a flight to real rather than paper assets in
uncertain times, but this time around that effect has been seriously undermined
by the extent to which the commercial property sector in the US, Europe,
Australasia and UK is significantly overvalued.
Hedge Funds overall have no performance correlation to higher inflation,
deflation or stagflation. However, certain hedge styles are more correlated with
bonds or equities and it goes without saying that it would be a good idea to
avoid these and instead to overweight global macro plays, CTA funds, equity
market neutral approaches and some arbitrage strategies. Conditions should
provide a fertile hunting ground for our hedge partners at Man Investments.
Summary
A portfolio that exploits the upside potential of current conditions
but also limits risk in the current uncertain conditions will most likely
feature the following factors:
Asset class diversification
Underlying investment manager diversification
Active management
Discipline
Contrarian thinking
Anyone with USD20 billion upwards of their own money could start one of
America’s 10 largest endowments; at MBMG we seek to replicate this for sums down
to USD50,000.
Carpe Diem!
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The above data and research was compiled from sources
believed to be reliable. However, neither MBMG International Ltd nor its
officers can accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the above
article nor bear any responsibility for any losses achieved as a result of any
actions taken or not taken as a consequence of reading the above article. For
more information please contact Graham Macdonald on
[email protected]@mbmg-international.com.com
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Snap Shots: by Harry Flashman
Frame to frame with Harry
 Over
the years, the questions I receive tend to be about the same subjects,
but I did get something new the other day. The reader (Darcy) went on to
write “Bought the D 40 X. Lovely bit of equipment suitable for my needs.
I will ask a little advice now and then as I work my way through all its
tricks if you don’t mind. I have already picked up a neat infrared
remote shutter control and have tested it out to 30 meters. I also
picked up a twin battery pack that should give me plenty of backup
power. I will look for an AFS VR 200 mm zoom in a couple of months. A
question though, I know most of the time it is power economical to leave
the LCD off but occasionally it is needed for viewing. I have trawled
through the book and menus for both turning it on and also extending the
viewing time of the menus but I’m damned if I can find anything about
either items. Any suggestions?”
Darcy is of course correct that the LCD is certainly a power drain with
any digital camera, be that compact or D SLR, and this is why the
manufacturers will suggest you use the optical viewfinder. Personally I
like the optical viewfinder and have mine set up with a grid pattern on
it so I can check horizons and verticals before releasing the shutter.
With the Nikon D 40 X, you should be able to turn the screen on and off
at will by using the “Info” button which is near the shutter release
button should do the trick. Remember too that most D SLR cameras only
view through the eyepiece, unless they have a “live view” function,
which the D 40 does not. The LCD is therefore for reviewing an image
after it is shot, and setting your menu options. Finally, if you can’t
find what you need in the destruction manual, then go directly to Nikon
HQ and they will be able to assist. Sorry I cannot be more specific, but
each camera brand and each camera model can have individual
characteristics that the factory sales representatives know intimately.
One frequent problem that photographers have with Auto-Focus (AF) is
getting out of focus results when photographing couples. They frame up
well, hear the focus set ‘beep’ and yet the people are not in focus in
the final rendition. Geoff wrote “I have a Pentax (model not given)
Autofocus SLR and am generally happy with it and its performance, other
than when I am taking people shots. Many times the print comes back and
the people in the shot are soft and blurry. I have even used a tripod,
in case I was getting camera shake. Any ideas on this? Is it a usual
problem with the Pentax?”
Geoff’s problem is easy to fix. AF cameras have a central spot in the
viewfinder to find the focusing point in the picture. That AF point is
not very large, and obviously does not cover the entire image in the
viewfinder. What happens is that when photographing two people, the AF
beam goes through between the people and the camera is then
auto-focussed on the background, not on the couple in the foreground.
Check your images Geoff and I am sure you will find you have a crisp
background and the soft foreground.
What has to be done is to employ the ‘focus lock’ capabilities of the
camera. Set up your shot as usual, positioning the two people as you
want. Now swing the camera away until one of the people is now central
in the viewfinder and depress the shutter release half way. As the
camera focuses on the one person, keep the shutter release half
depressed to ‘lock’ the focus and now swing the camera back to recompose
the shot and then fully depress the shutter release. The focus point is
now at the same distance as the subjects so you will get correctly
focused prints. This is much easier than reverting to manual focusing.
Modern Medicine:
by Dr. Iain Corness, Consultant
Multi/mega vitamins - are they good for you?
There are many people in the world who swear by
multivitamins. Mega-vitamins is a megabuck industry, and are credited with
improving your health, your love life and fixing everything from falling
chins to falling arches.
As we get older, we tend to become more and more desperate about our bodies.
I admit to getting angry with my own physical frame that it is letting me
down as I get older. I don’t want these sun cancers on my skin and I don’t
like the groans from the joints. Perhaps I need a top-up of some vitamin?
The latest trend is to take daily doses of antioxidants such as beta
carotene, vitamin A and C or selenium to protect yourself against cancer,
heart disease or signs of premature ageing. There is some scientific ‘proof’
that has found that people who have a high level of antioxidants in their
diet have a lower risk of heart disease and certain cancers. That is why the
nutritionists say we should eat at least five portions of fruit and
vegetables a day. However, studies also seem to suggest that taking those
same antioxidants in pill form may not have the same effect and may even be
harmful. Horrors!
“There’s still conflicting evidence about whether taking certain vitamin
supplements can affect a person’s risk of cancer,” says Dr Alison Ross,
science information officer at Cancer Research UK. “These products don’t
seem to give the same benefits as vitamins that naturally occur in our
food.”
The British Heart Foundation agrees. A spokesman saying, “Research does not
support the claim that taking extra antioxidants in the form of supplements
will benefit the heart.”
But surely, if this were the case, why do so many people pop the
multivitamin pills? We know we need vitamins, and many of us have poor
diets. Replenishing the stores is then surely ‘good medicine’. I remember
reading that a breakfast cereal had one third of your daily dietary vitamin
requirements. Three plates and you can’t go wrong!
Let us begin to listen to some experts in the field, and not the back of the
cereal box. Catherine Collins, chief dietitian at St George’s Hospital in
London is reported as saying “The whole idea that you must meet some vitamin
and mineral target every day of your life is a marketing myth. You can eat
lots of fruit and veg one day and not much the next but over a week you will
still get the right amount of nutrients. There is very little scientific
evidence of any benefit whatsoever in taking a daily multivitamin - even in
old people. You cannot exist on a poor diet then shore yourself up with a
multivitamin. The idea that taking high quantities of vitamins will give you
a health boost - like putting premium petrol in your car - is complete
nonsense.”
Dr Toni Steer, nutritionist with the British Medical Research Council’s
Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge, supplements cannot compete with real
food because when we eat fruits and vegetables the vitamins and nutrients
interact with other chemicals to produce positive effects on the body. “If
these same vitamins are pulled out and isolated in pill form, there is no
guarantee at all that they will have the same effect.”
Another nail in the multivitamin coffin came from the US journal of the
National Cancer Institute which found that men with prostate cancer who took
more than seven multivitamins a week were 30 percent more likely to get an
advanced and fatal form of the disease. This came after a large, though
hotly contested, review published in the journal of the American Medical
Association in February which found that people who took antioxidant vitamin
tablets (particularly vitamins A and E, and beta-carotene) were more likely
to die earlier than those who did not. Oops! That isn’t something you will
read on the back of the multivitamin bottle.
Let’s look at the megadose Vitamin C to ward off the common cold, as claimed
by Linus Pauling. This has been disproved by the scientific community. Also,
it does not slow cancer. In fact, Linus Pauling died from prostate cancer.
Oops!
 Heart to Heart with Hillary
Oh Hillary,
Your answer (11th July edition) to Unsure from USA when he posed his question;
“Surely some of the bar girls are different?” was so sad. If it is OK to apply
the British Standard (BS) Duck Test, “If a bird looks like a duck, swims like a
duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck” to the Bar Girls, then
it is probably just as pertinent to apply it to all women. If one was to ask the
question; ‘Are all women the same, will my wife rip me off when our relationship
ends?’ Ask Greg Norman ($103m), Paul McCartney ($48.7m), Prince Charles
($45.2m), etc., etc. I can only say thank god for the 0.01 percent and hope that
your correspondent Unsure has found, or does find, a lady from amongst that
small group. Bless you Hillary for trying to protect the uninitiated or naïve
from the rapacious amongst the gentler sex. Do please qualify the advice though
by saying, that a Thai Bar Girl is really no different from many other ladies,
bar girls or not.
Your admirer and regular reader,
David, Western Australia
Dear David,
Why is it that I feel I should add the name “David” after Greg Norman ($103m),
Paul McCartney ($48.7m) and Prince Charles ($45.2m)? How much did you get ripped
off for? Unfortunately, while there is inequality between the sexes and the male
is looked upon as the breadwinner and the female as homemaker, then in the split
the male has the most to lose financially. If both contributed equally, the
split would be much more (financially) equitable. And you should also remember
the hardships that the wives go through. Polishing a golfer’s balls, stomping on
beetles with one leg and polishing crowns is not easy for a young woman. Thank
you for your kind words and keep drinking the Margaret River Verdelho!
Hi Hillary,
Why do I have a problem with the girls in the bars? Everyone seems to be able to
get one except me. I can’t understand it. They do come over to speak with me but
within one minute they have disappeared. They say to me in their broken English
‘Hello handsome man, are you alone?’ I ask them where they come from and often
it is Isaan so I reply in Thai-Laos as I can speak this quite fluently. Using
English text as I have no Thai keyboard, “Man U, Koi U poodio, bor me poosouw.”
If they are from elsewhere in Thailand I respond in Thai, as I can also speak
this. Maybe something like “Khrap pom, U kondio khrap, pom ben-sod.” All very
polite but they just turn around and walk off, maybe my accent or tones are
suspect except that I am told by other Thai people that I speak their language
very clearly. Any ideas? I wonder what one should infer from all this?
‘I aint bovvered’
Dear ‘I aint bovvered’,
What a conundrum! But easily explained, my Petal. I get the more than sneaking
feeling that you are just a little too full of yourself. Thai speaker with
perfect intonation, fluent in Laos, and also just so modest about it. And this
is while they speak what you denigratingly call “broken English” (never mind, it
was a great song from Marianne Faithfull, remember it?). That’s where you are
going wrong. You are showing off in the bar, just as you are showing off to me
(and the readers). Thais are not impressed with self-promotion and that is one
reason you are left holding your own as company. The second reason is that they
want to be able to talk amongst themselves and don’t want the customers (you)
understanding that they are really saying, “I’ll get 5,000 baht out of this
idiot. Watch me.” The third reason might be that you forgot your deodorant? So
the answer is to play dumb, enjoy their company and you can always show your
linguistic prowess later (speaking in tongues, if you get my drift).
Dear Hillary,
I saw my neighbor’s husband cuddling some woman in a bar the other evening. I
had stopped outside to answer the phone, and there he was. I did not get out of
the car, but I think maybe I should have. Should I tell his wife, whom I get
along very well with, or should I tell him not to do it? I really don’t know
what to do, but feel I should be doing something. But what?
Estelle
Dear Estelle,
Or is that “tell all”? It is extremely dangerous to become involved in the
affairs of your neighbors. If he comes to ask you what he should do, then answer
him with your opinion. If she comes to you requesting advice, then give it.
Otherwise, stay well clear. Unsolicited advice is never appreciated, by either
party, in a marriage relationship. There may be a perfectly innocent reason
behind his behavior, but you are ready to believe the worst. Don’t be a tell
tale and let your neighbors work out their problems (if indeed one exists) on
their own.
Learn to Live to Learn: with Andrew Watson
I grew up in a Yellow country
Last week I touched on a delicate issue. It was 2004 when
Britain’s race relations chief called for the abandonment of
“the policy pursued by successive governments since the 1960s of
building a ‘multicultural society’.” It might seem an age away,
but the plot has only thickened since; and the waters have only
become more muddied. As the BNP and other rightist parties in
the UK experience surges in support, simultaneously Gordon Brown
appears to have done his best to undo in a year whatever good
Labour did in the previous ten. I still remember that glorious
day, when the refreshing fragrance of the red rose swept the
unctuous Tories from power, seemingly for good.
If a week is a lifetime, then ten years must be an eternity in
politics. When I left the shores of the UK, Boris Johnson was
the classic face of Tory farce, diving head first into shambles
after shambles and becoming a parody of himself on national
television. Now he’s the most powerful Tory in Britain, elected
as Mayor of London; it’s a modern day Dick Whittington
pantomime. But, bless him, Old Etonian that he is, Boris seems
to make more sense than the widow twankies in the opposition. It
appears that he’s having the last laugh and I’m the one with egg
on my face.
Across the river at Tory HQ there is a fellow Old Etonian who is
showing disturbing signs of being competent. Well, wasn’t it
Wellington who (allegedly) proclaimed that “The Battle of
Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton?” Perhaps we’re
heading for another battle, another war, notwithstanding the
fact that we are currently engaged in two? Perhaps we’re engaged
in another already, a silent war, a war at home?
When it comes to multiculturalism, Cameron is very, very clear:
“I believe that state multiculturalism is a wrong-headed
doctrine that has had disastrous results.” Disturbingly for
someone who claims affinity with Marxist-humanism, I find myself
agreeing with him. But, as the saying goes, “If you’re not a
socialist at 20 then you haven’t got a heart, but if you’re
still a socialist at 40 then you haven’t got a head.”
Cameron maintains that state multiculturalism has fostered
difference between communities and has stopped the UK from
strengthening its collective identity. Indeed, he maintains, it
has done quite the reverse and has deliberately weakened it. The
notion of expanding Sharia law is therefore regarded as the
“logical endpoint of the now discredited doctrine of state
multiculturalism, seeing people merely as followers of certain
religions, rather than individuals in their own right within a
common community.” Labour, perhaps too late, acknowledged much
the same, witness the citizenship ceremonies introduced by the
former Labour home secretary David Blunkett.
I’ve been beyond the beaches of the UK for ten years now,
revelling in a state of international multiculturalism, where
I’m the foreigner. I often wonder to what extent I’m peddling a
brand of benign colonialism through education, spreading left of
centre doctrine at every opportunity, often to population groups
for whom the notion that “other people with their differences
can also be right” is anathema.
For me, perhaps like any global nomad, any refugee, any migrant
or immigrant, the question of “where is home?” has become an
elusive concept. My sense of belonging sometimes seems to be to
everywhere and nowhere. I’m like a “Third Culture Adult” to some
extent experiencing at first hand the world of the well
documented phenomenon of the “Third Culture Kid” (TCK).
For TCKs, there is a strange sense that making long-term
commitments to people, places, schools, or school systems is
more difficult than it should be; everything seems to be in a
state of constant change. So, a sense of cultural identity
becomes uncertain. A transitory lifestyle brings regular loss of
relationships, a sense of loss of community - loss of their
world. TCKs feel different from others and consequently might
experience difficulty in forming peer relationships, a
phenomenon that research indicates occurs more often at
university level or when returning to the country of their
passport, where disconcertingly, they are misunderstood by their
fellow countrymen. With rootlessness comes restlessness and the
frequent need to change countries and homes; the habit becomes
ingrained.
Then there’s the sensation of being powerless, a feeling that
they have no control over events and that these are often taken
out of their hands anyway by the inevitability of another move.
All of which brings a crisis of identity - “Who am I?” cry the
TCKs.
My children are TCKs and I recognize the symptoms within them.
The youngest calls England her home, even though she has spent
less time there in her eight years than five other countries;
not even six months in England.
So when I look at the UK now, from the outside in, I think of
what it must be like to be “the other” in that country, the
person for whom at least some of the TCK phenomena might apply.
And I think that I would very much like to be invited to belong
to something greater, or bigger than my small sect; that I would
like to merge into whatever was already there, become part of a
greater landscape, something more permanent. The following poem
was written by a primary school student and sums it all up
rather nicely.
Colours
I grew up in a Yellow country
But my parents are Blue.
I’m Blue.
Or at least, that is what they told me.
But I play with the Yellows.
I went to school with the Yellows.
I spoke the Yellow language.
I even dressed and appeared to be Yellow.
Then I moved to the Blue land.
Now I go to school with the Blues.
I speak the Blue language.
I even dress and look Blue.
But deep down, inside me, something’s Yellow.
I love the Blue country.
But my ways are tinted with Yellow.
When I am in the Blue land,
I want to be Yellow.
When I am in the Yellow land,
I want to be Blue.
Why can’t I be both?
A place where I can be me.
A place where I can be green.
I just want to be green.
Next week: The undeniable delights of Mantra |
Let’s go to the movies:
by Mark Gernpy
Now playing in Pattaya
Journey to the Center of the Earth: US
Action/Adventure/Fantasy – Starring Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, and
Anita Briem. During a scientific expedition in Iceland, visionary
scientist Trevor Anderson, his 13-year-old nephew and their beautiful
local guide, are unexpectedly trapped in a cave from which their only
escape is to go deeper and deeper into the depths of the Earth.
Traveling through never-before-seen worlds, the trio comes face-to-face
with surreal and unimaginable creatures – including man-eating plants,
giant flying piranha, glow birds, and terrifying dinosaurs from days
past. The explorers soon realize that as volcanic activity increases
around them, they must find a way back to the earth’s surface before it
is too late. Mixed or average reviews for the 3D version, which we won’t
see here.
The Strangers: US Thriller /Horror – A young suburban couple
returning to their isolated vacation home after attending a wedding
finds their lives suddenly thrown into chaos with the arrival of three
malevolent, masked strangers in director Bryan Bertino’s tense tale of
survival. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman star as the couple forced to
resort to violence they never thought themselves capable of as they
struggle for their lives. Mixed or average reviews.
The Dark Knight: US Action/ Crime/ Drama/ Thriller – The first
Batman movie without “Batman” in the title. I think it’s just a
wonderful film; dark, complex, and unforgettable, it succeeds not just
as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling and
disturbing crime drama. If you enjoy either type of film, don’t miss
this one. And Heath Ledger gives a performance that is terrifying in its
portrayal of an insane mind. I would suggest, however, that the film is
not for kids – it’s way too dark for them to appreciate or even
understand.
In this episode, set within a year after the events of Batman Begins,
Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent
successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City
until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as the
Joker appears, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman’s struggle against
the Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to “confront everything
he believes.” And a love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent,
and Rachel Dawes. Reviews: Universal acclaim.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army: US Action/Fantasy – Again directed
by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman as Hellboy, this again
presents a dark and difficult fantasy world full of fantastical
creatures that will leave you amazed and dazed. Almost too much of a
good thing, but see it for sure. The imagination of this movie is
unparalleled. Generally favorable reviews.
Red Cliff Part 1: China Action/Adventure – This $80-million film,
directed by John Woo, is being shown here only in a Thai-dubbed version,
and that is a real shame. This is a grand and glorious spectacle, and
tells a story that is known by heart by probably billions of Chinese,
and which they never tire of. It depicts the first setup episodes for
one of the world’s greatest battles, the Battle of Red Cliff, in third
century China, as the emperor of the Han Dynasty raises a million-man
army against two kingdoms.
Hancock: US Action/Comedy – There’s no doubt about it: Will Smith
has a lot of charisma for a majority of moviegoers, including me.
Reviewers have widely diverse views on this one. I was only minimally
amused. Smith here plays a different kind of superhero: edgy,
conflicted, sarcastic, and misunderstood. He gets the job done and saves
countless lives, but he also seems to leave an awful lot of collateral
damage as well. The people of Los Angeles have had enough.
Wanted: US Action/Thriller – A violent and bloody action film
that raises the bar to a whole new level. Visually it’s fascinating and
I would say it’s about as exciting as a movie can get. A fast-paced
thrill ride, with a dazzling mix of state-of-the-art visual effects,
adrenaline-fuelled action sequences, and nail-biting terror.
A young man (the very versatile actor James McAvoy) discovers his father
is an assassin, and when his father is murdered, the son is recruited
into his father’s organization and trained by a strangely-hypnotic man
(Morgan Freemen) to follow in his dad’s footsteps. Also starring
Angelina Jolie and Terence Stamp. Rated R in the US (and richly
deserved) for strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language, and
some sexuality. Generally favorable reviews.
Wor / Woh Mah Ba Maha Sanook: Thai Horror/Comedy – The usual
comedians and an unusual (and mad) dog.
Scheduled for July 31
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: US/Germany/Canada
Action /Adventure /Fantasy – In the Far East, trouble-seeking
father-and-son duo Rick and Alex O’Connell unearth the mummy of the
first Emperor of Qin – a shape-shifting entity who was cursed by a
wizard centuries ago. Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello.
Third in the Mummy series.
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