Holiday movies: from Joseon tailors to magical Middle-earth

There’s a reason why people say “save the best for last.” At least, that is the case here on the silver screen, as a vast lineup of films is pieced together to celebrate the most wonderful time for theater goers. From a biopic of Steven Hawking and a hobbit’s journey through Middle-earth to the Joseon era for a glance of colorful clothes of the royal families, there is something for everybody. Here’s what we have to look forward to.‘Theory of Everything’A well-crafted biopic of brilliant scienti

Dec. 11, 2014

Kirk and Anne Douglas reflect on 60-year romance

BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) ― Kirk Douglas is done with writing. The rakish screen legend with the famously dimpled chin made that abundantly clear on a recent afternoon at his Beverly Hills home, a few days before the release of his poetry collection “Life Could Be Verse: Reflections on Love, Loss, and What Really Matters.” “To me, this is my best book, and my last book,” said Douglas, seated next to Anne Douglas, his wife of over 60 years. It was a pronouncement that came up more than a few

Dec. 11, 2014

Keanu Reeves to visit South Korea next month

U.S. movie star Keanu Reeves will visit South Korea early next year to promote his new film “John Wick,” the film’s importer said Thursday.Reeves will arrive in Seoul on Jan. 7, in his first trip to the country since “Street Kings” (2008), Joy N Contents Group said.“John Wick” is an action thriller about a retired hit man seeking vengeance for the killing of his dog. During the visit, the actor is scheduled to attend a press conference and a red carpet premiere of the film at a theater in Seoul

Dec. 11, 2014

Kim Min-hee cast in Park Chan-wook’s new thriller

Korean actress Kim Min-hee was cast in Park Chan-wook’s upcoming Korean film “Agassi (Lady),” opposite the male lead Ha Jung-woo, its producers said Tuesday. The model-turned-actress, best known for starring in “Helpless” (2012) and “Very Ordinary Couple” (2013), will play a young, wealthy heiress, who falls for a female petty thief, played by rookie Kim Tae-ri.  Actress Kim Min-hee. (Yonhap)Park’s new thriller is a screen adaptation of the 2002 crime novel “Fingersmith” by British author Sarah

Dec. 9, 2014

‘Hunger Games’ tops slow weekend at the box office

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay ― Part 1” continues to dominate the domestic box office, but awards season hopefuls “Wild” and “The Imitation Game” proved their might with impressive limited release showings on this sleepy post-Thanksgiving weekend. In its third weekend in release, “Mockingjay ― Part 1” earned an estimated $21.6 million. Lionsgate’s penultimate chapter in the massively successful franchise has now earned $257.7 million domestically, according to studio estimates

Dec. 8, 2014

‘Roaring Currents’ earns record $2.58m in North America

LOS ANGELES ― A South Korean mega-hit movie about a 16th-century Korean admiral’s astonishing victory over Japanese naval forces became the top-selling Korean film that has ever been shown in North American theaters, earning more than U.S. $2.58 million, the movie’s distributor said Sunday.The film, “Roaring Currents,” posted the box-office haul nearly four months after it was released in 30 cinemas in the United States and Canada on Aug. 15 under the title “The Admiral: Roaring Currents,” accor

Dec. 7, 2014

Pope Francis film in works in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES ― A biographical film on Pope Francis’s childhood and life as a cardinal and archbishop before becoming pontiff will be shot next year in his native Argentina, producers said Friday.The pope will be played by Dario Grandinetti, a prolific 55-year-old actor who gained international recognition with his 1992 film “The Dark Side of the Heart” and is also known for his role in Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s 2002 film “Talk to Her.”Filming will begin in January under Spanish director

Dec. 7, 2014

‘Homesman’ surprising, beautiful, wonderfully strange

It’s been a while since we’ve received a memorable western. It’s been a very long time since one was as unforgettable as “Unforgiven” or “True Grit.” And one that is at once an 1850s feminist epic, a morbidly amusing prairie farce and a revisionist action-adventure yarn is pretty much unheard of.That’s exactly what Tommy Lee Jones gives us in “The Homesman,” the spiky and relevant pioneer fable he directed and cowrote. He also costars with Hilary Swank and a cast including John Lithgow, Meryl St

Dec. 5, 2014

Box Office: Five Eagle Brothers, Big Match, Late Spring

Five Eagle Brothers (Korea)Opened Dec. 4Comedy, Thriller. Directed by Jeon Hyung-joon.The film “Five Eagle Brothers” is the story of five half-siblings who always bicker and fight in a village named Deoksuri. One day, their parents suddenly disappear from the village and the quibbling siblings are given a mission to search for their parents. Actors Yoon Sang-hyun, Song Sae-byeok and Hwang Chan-sung of K-pop boy band 2PM star as the brothers. Big Match (Korea)Opened Nov 26Action, Comedy. Directed

Dec. 5, 2014

Witherspoon loses her vanity and herself in ‘Wild’

Reese Witherspoon finds a role worthy of her in “Wild,” playing a woman who hikes her way out of a tragic past, one painful, traumatic step at a time.A find-yourself-by-testing-yourself drama in the “Into the Wild” or “The Way” mold, “Wild” sends Cheryl (Witherspoon) on a self-imposed spiritual quest to make amends for the damage she’s done to herself and others. A hiking novice with a writerly bent, she is drowning in a quagmire of needle drugs and degrading sexual encounters when she sets out

Dec. 4, 2014

Hong’s ‘Hill of Freedom’ wins top film award in Nantes

Young-sun (Moon So-ri, left) and Mori (Kase Ryo) in a scene from “Hill of Freedom” (Cluecian)Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s latest work, “Hill of Freedom,” won the Golden Montgolfiere Award, the highest prize at the Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes, France, on Tuesday.The annual film festival is devoted to introducing outstanding films from Asia, Africa and South America. “Hill of Freedom,” Hong’s 16th film, depicts the Japanese man Mori, played by Kase Ryo, who returns to Korea to tr

Dec. 3, 2014

[Herald Interview] Song Sae-byeok’s career enjoys late dawn

Actor Song Sae-byeok is not the most well-known actor in Korea, but he has infused his characters with an intensity and unique likability that makes people remember him. Following a brief appearance in Bong Joon-ho’s “Mother” (2009), his supporting role as the perverted, corrupt official Byeon Hak-do in the period film “The Servant” (2010) drew laughter on account of his nonchalant, comic poise and earned him a best new actor award. Recently, he played the part of a violent stepfather in “A Girl

Dec. 2, 2014

Secrets galore in ‘Imitation Game’

World War II, for those a little rusty on their history, wasn’t won by Brad Pitt or General Patton or Captain America. It was won by a bunch of nerds led by a socially inept, puzzle-obsessed mathematical genius who also happened to be homosexual at a time when homosexuality was illegal in Great Britain.Their work, breaking enemy codes, was “Ultra” secret, the ultimate secret of the war. Ironically, it was entrusted to a man who was already quite accomplished at keeping secrets in his personal li

Dec. 2, 2014

Cumberbatch shines as wartime code-breaker

’Tis clearly the season for Oscar-worthy performances by British actors playing mathematical geniuses facing daunting personal odds. Sound overly specific? Consider: A few weeks ago we had “The Theory of Everything,” starring Eddie Redmayne as the brilliant physicist Stephen Hawking. And now we have Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game” as Alan Turing, the man chiefly responsible for cracking the vaunted Enigma code used by the Germans in World War II. But even though Turing literally cha

Nov. 28, 2014

Box Office: Big Match, Late Spring, Set Me Free

Big Match (Korea)Opened Nov 26Action, Comedy. Directed by Choi HoWhen Choi Ik-ho (Lee Jung-jae), a professional mixed martial arts fighter, finds out that his brother Choi Young-ho (Lee Sung-min) has suddenly disappeared, he receives a mysterious call from a genius named Ace (Shin Ha-kyun). Ik-ho is forced to become a marker inside a special game designed by Ace for wealthy gamblers. Ik-ho has no choice but to play this real-time life-or-death game if he wants to save his brother and his own lif

Nov. 28, 2014