Carey Mulligan takes on Daisy in ‘The Great Gatsby’

When Daisy Buchanan attends a party at Jay Gatsby’s mansion in the new film version of “The Great Gatsby,” she’s wearing a crystal-coated chandelier dress by Prada and a drool-worthy pearl and diamond headpiece by Tiffany.The look is the glamour of the Jazz Age personified.Such costumes were a big help to Carey Mulligan, who plays Daisy in director Baz Luhrmann’s interpretation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic, which many consider the defining novel of America’s 20th century.“To be wearing lit

May 10, 2013

Ryu Seung-ryong wins top prize at Paeksang

Actor Ryu Seung-ryong won the grand prize at the 49th Paeksang Arts Awards on Thursday for his performance as the mentally disabled man with the mind of a 6-year-old child in this year’s box-office hit drama “Miracle in Cell No. 7.” “‘Miracle in Cell No. 7’ is a low-budget film with a number of flaws,” said Ryu after accepting the prize. “I think a lot of people liked the film, in spite of its shortcomings, because it stood by those who are marginalized in society.”Meanwhile, actress Kim Min-hee

May 10, 2013

Will Smith shares his parenting philosophy

Working together with his son for a sci-fi movie was a “difficult mental, emotional and spiritual shift” for him, said Hollywood actor and rapper Will Smith in Seoul on Tuesday.“My most important job was parenting,” said Smith, who visited Seoul with his teenage son, Jaden Smith, to promote their sci-fi thriller “After Earth” ― in which they co-starred as father and son. “But sometimes parenting conflicts rather aggressively with producing. The greatest challenge for me was overcoming the warrio

May 7, 2013

Jeong Jae-young, Han Ji-min to co-star in rom-com

Jeong Jae-young and Han Ji-min have been cast as leads for an upcoming romantic comedy, the film’s distributor Lotte Entertainment said. According to Lotte, the movie, titled “Plan Man,” is a story of opposites of contrasting qualities. Actor Jeong is playing a man named Jeong-seok, a borderline mysophobic who also gets extremely anxious when things don’t go as he planned. His love interest, So-jeong, will be played by Han. Her character is everything the opposite of Jeong-seok; she is spontaneo

May 6, 2013

Baseball players to appear in gorilla film

Top baseball players will have cameo roles in director Kim Yong-hwa’s upcoming flick “Mr. Go,” about a gorilla that plays baseball, the film’s producer Showbox/Mediaplex said. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin and Cincinnati Reds outfielder Choo Shin-soo make brief appearances in a baseball game scene in the movie about a young Chinese girl named Weiwei who moves to Korea with her gorilla after her grandfather ― the only family she had ― passes away.Weiwei’s late grandfather owned a circ

May 6, 2013

Box Office: Montage, Dear Dolphin, Helter Skelter

MontageOpening May 16Thriller. Drama. Directed by Jeong Keun-seob.A kidnapper disappeared 15 years ago without a trace. Five days before the case’s statute of limitations expires, someone anonymously leaves a flower at the crime scene. A few days later, another kidnapping takes place using the same method on a similar target. Three people team up to solve the case before it’s too late: the grandfather (Song Young-chang), who lost his granddaughter right in front of him, the mother (Uhm Jung-hwa)

May 3, 2013

Is NPR’s ‘Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!’ ready for its closeup?

You might think that putting the NPR News quiz show “Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!” on the big screen, in movie theaters all over the country the night of May 2, would just be a way of celebrating its 15 years on the air, of paying tribute almost of the very day in May 1998 that playwright-screenwriter Peter Sagal took over and made the program a hit.And you’d be right. Almost. Sagal says it’s all about lowering the bar.“It’s very hard to fight that image of perfection that radio creates for us,”

May 3, 2013

Movie portrays struggles of modern family

“Boomerang Family” is, as its title suggests, a story of a modern Korean family and its struggling members “returning” to their caring mother. “Failan” (2001) and “Maundy Thursday” (2006) director Song Hae-sung has adapted author Cheon Myeong-gwan’s novel to create a work that’s an entertaining mixture of comedy and engaging, heart-felt family drama.The film opens with a rather grim, violent scene, in which In-mo (played by Park Hae-il), a penniless filmmaker, is beating up a man who seems to ha

April 30, 2013

Seo Taiji releases concert DVD

Singer Seo Taiji is releasing a DVD package called “ETP FESTIVAL 08 09 Seo Tai-ji,” SeoTaiji Company announced Monday. The package contains a Blu-ray disc and two DVDs containing the live recordings of his 2008 and 2009 concerts at ETPFEST (Eerie Taiji People Festival). The package also has a documentary on the festival since its inception in 2001.“The Blu-ray will provide his fans with the most vivid scenes of the concerts. Seo Taiji will be the first in Korea to release the full recordings in

April 29, 2013

Hyun Bin returns as King Jeongjo

Actor Hyun Bin is returning as King Jeongjo, the 22nd ruler of the Joseon era, in blockbuster movie “Yeogrin (King’s Wrath),” Choicecut Pictures announced Monday. In picking a historical film as his first piece since his discharge from the military on Dec. 6, 2012, the popular heartthrob is attempting a new venture. It will be his first role as a king and his first period piece. Hyun Bin will play the role of King Jeongjo, who is widely regarded as one of the most successful and visionary rulers

April 29, 2013

Reopening movies bring touch of nostalgia

   Movies that stole the box office more than 10 years ago are tugging on the nostalgia of Korean moviegoers by reopening at local theaters. Despite its long hiatus, they are showing strong ticket power. Even if you haven’t seen Shunji Iwai’s movie “Love Letter,” you may still recognize the famous line “Oggenkideska,” meaning “How are you?” The movie reopened on Feb. 14 to celebrate Valentine’s Day following the “first love” fever sparked by the Korean movie “Architecture 101.” Despite its small

April 29, 2013

Celine and Jesse come again ‘Before Midnight’

Meet Celine and Jesse again, this time in Greece.After its very successful world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in January, the follow-up to the famous “Before Sunrise” (1995) and “Before Sunset” (2004) is finally arriving in theaters in Korea next month. Its well-loved protagonists ― Celine and Jesse, again played by Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke ― are now on a vacation in Greece, talking about all kinds of things including aging, kids and careers.Like its predecessors, the film, titled “Befo

April 28, 2013

'Iron Man 3' tops box office on weekend

The newly released U.S. blockbuster “Iron Man 3” easily outpaced its rivals to lead the local box office this weekend.“Iron Man 3,” featuring Marvel Comics characters, drew more than 890,000 moviegoers on 1,368 screens nationwide on Saturday alone, according to the Korean Film Council. The film, released on Thursday, is expected to surpass the 2 million mark of total ticket sales on Sunday -- even faster than last year’s box office hit “The Avengers,” which also featured Iron Man series’ hero To

April 28, 2013

Box Office: Helter Skelter, Welcome to the Punch, A Song for You

Helter SkelterOpening May 2Drama. Thriller. Directed by Ninagawa Mika.The story is based on Kyoko Okazaki’s comic book “Helter Skelter,” published in 2003. Top star Ririko (Erika Sawajiri) has had so many plastic surgeries that every part of her body has been touched up except her eyeballs and nails. As she grows more popular, she becomes more obsessed with her beauty. Ririko becomes the icon of beauty but her reign does not last forever. As the new super rookie gets popular, she becomes preoccu

April 26, 2013

‘Mud’ is as authentically Southern as today’s cinema gets

The cinema’s leading purveyor of Southern Gothic, Jeff Nichols, hands Matthew McConaughey his latest tour de force turn in “Mud,” a down and dirty if entirely-too-long mythic melodrama in the “Tobacco Road” tradition.Nichols (“Shotgun Stories,” “Take Shelter”) has cooked up an exotic stew that includes obsessive love, a woman unworthy of it, a criminal on the run and a Huck Finn coming of age tale set against a dying way of life in backwaters Arkansas.Ellis (Tye Sheridan, terrific) is a poor kid

April 26, 2013

‘The Rocket,’ ‘Kill Team’ take up Tribeca honors

NEW YORK (AP) ― The Laos adventure “The Rocket” and the Afghanistan War documentary “The Kill Team” have taken top honors at the Tribeca Film Festival.In an awards ceremony Thursday evening in New York, festival jurors selected Kim Mordaunt’s “The Rocket” for best narrative film. Its 10-year-old star won best actor. The young Sitthiphon Disamoe stars as Aholo, who enters a rocket festival to help save his poverty-stricken family that’s been uprooted for the construction of a dam.Taking best docu

April 26, 2013