Box Office

Taken 2 (U.S.)Opened Sept. 27Action. Crime. Thriller. Directed by Olivier Megaton. While on a trip to Istanbul, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), a retired CIA agent with a particular set of skills, gets a surprise visit from his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen) and his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), and is rejoiced by the sudden family reunion. However, the reunion turns into a disaster when Lenore is taken by anonymous kidnappers. Fortunately, Kim manages to escape the scene but is on the run from the

Sept. 28, 2012

Joseph Gordon-Levitt time travel in ‘Looper’ with Bruce Willis

If an actor’s face is his fortune, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is rolling the dice, big time. “Looper,” the sci-fi time-travel extravaganza that opens Friday, stars Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Jeff Daniels, Paul Dano, Piper Perabo and ... who’s the guy on the movie poster?It’s Gordon-Levitt ― looking slightly more recognizable than he is in the movie, directed by Rian Johnson and in which Gordon-Levitt plays Joe Simmons, a hit man ― or “looper” ― for the mob, circa 2044. Time travel isn’t possible in

Sept. 28, 2012

Werewolf tale brings out beast in Song

Jo Sung-hee's upcoming film 'A Werewolf Boy' brings fantasy genre to local cinemaFor fans of Song Joong-ki, his upcoming film may come as a surprise. For local moviegoers, it will be a rare opportunity to see a one-of-a-kind film character never before shown in Korean cinema. Song, who is largely recognized for his pretty-boy looks, is returning as a beast, or a “wolf-boy” in director Jo Sung-hee’s upcoming fantasy romance “A Werewolf Boy.” The upcoming flick tells the story of a teenage girl Su

Sept. 27, 2012

Two genres mix in unique fortuneteller tale

Director Shin Jeong-won returns with comic-horror movie ‘Ghost Sweepers’One of the most anticipated local films this year was finally unveiled on Monday, mixing two seemingly irreconcilable genres for a unique fortuneteller tale featuring malicious ghosts and crime.“Ghost Sweepers” is director Shin Jeong-won’s ambitious project to create another film that belongs to his own, distinctive style, which he calls as the genre of “comic-horror.” The film, a fortuneteller tale taking place in Korea’s r

Sept. 25, 2012

‘Bittersweet Life’ set for remake

The Korean thriller, “Bittersweet Life,” which starred iconic actor Lee Byung-hun, is poised to be remade in Hollywood. Writer and director Kim Ji-woon’s 2005 crime thriller was about the turmoil involving family rivalries in the Korean mob.Allen Hughes, producer of the popular Jack the Ripper horror film “From Hell,” which starred Hollywood actors Johnny Depp and Heather Graham, will be in charge of the film’s remake, according to an online news outlet. Huges also directed the post-apocalyptic

Sept. 23, 2012

Box Office

Spy (Korea)Opened Sept. 20Drama. Comedy. Action. Directed by Woo Min-ho. Agent Kim (Kim Myeong-min) is a typical family man who lives with his wife and two children, struggling with rising rent and low pay, which he earns from selling illegal Viagra imported from China. But, that is just a camouflage. For 22 years, Kim, a North Korean agent, has lived a double life, disguised as an ordinary man. After 10 years of not hearing from his mother country, brutal agent director Choi (Yoo Hae-jin) finds

Sept. 21, 2012

‘The Master’: Much ado about not much

The first hour of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” contains some of the most rapturous filmmaking of the year.The time is post-World War II America. The streets gleam with hope and possibility. Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), an emotionally disturbed loner who already had trouble fitting in with his fellow sailors in the Navy, has landed a job as a portrait photographer at a swanky department store. The superb cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. (“Tetro,” “Youth Without Youth”) lights the se

Sept. 21, 2012

Cinema box offices on course for record year

The number of movie tickets sold at domestic theaters is expected to hit a record high this year, thanks to the growing popularity of Korean films.According to the Korean Film Council, 128 million tickets were sold at movie theaters in the first eight months, an increase of 20.2 percent from the same period last year. If the number continues this trend for the rest of the year, the tally for all of 2012 will reach 180 million, a 13 percent increase from 160 million last year, officials said.The

Sept. 20, 2012

Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta sees strong overseas sales

South Korean director Kim Ki-duk’s new film “Pieta” has achieved many significant sales deals since its Golden Lion win at the Venice International Film Festival early this month, according to the film‘s sales agency.Pieta’s sales agency Finecut said on Thursday that it signed four deals to distribute the movie to foreign countries after receiving multiple bids for the rights during the recently closed Toronto International Film Festival.The deals are in addition to previously announced sales to

Sept. 20, 2012

Filipino exchange student takes film on poverty to Pyongyang

With a tuft of bushy blond bangs, his slight frame and beaming smile held up designer jeans and a trendy school bag. But Nash Ang’s boyishness belied a cinematic penchant for revealing the grueling poverty in the Philippines.In his hour-long documentary, “Live To Dive” (Lusong), Ang explores how Totoy, 11, and Pirot, 10, eke out a living for their families by diving for scraps of garbage like discarded plastic bottles and bits of metal in the severely polluted waters beside the ramshackle area o

Sept. 18, 2012

Keira Knightley: ‘I had no life’ besides acting

NEW YORK (AP) ― Keira Knightley seems to be in a good place personally and professionally. She’s engaged to marry musician James Righton and stars in the film adaptation of “Anna Karenina’’ alongside Jude Law.The 27-year-old tells Vogue magazine’s October issue, there was a time when she wasn’t in such a good place.She recalls a time when the fame from such roles as “Bend it like Beckham’’ and the “Pirates of the Caribbean’’ franchise was too intense. She says she “literally had no life outside

Sept. 17, 2012

Neeson returns with ‘Taken 2’

Irish actor says he likes ‘Oldboy’ and ‘The Chaser’ during his visit to KoreaActor Liam Neeson, famous for his role as the vengeful father in Luc Besson’s 2008 high-grossing film “Taken,” said the thriller has made him an “action figure” in Hollywood, during his first visit to Seoul on Monday. The Irish actor arrived in Korea on Saturday to promote the 2008 movie’s sequel, “Taken 2.”“I seem to be have been re-envisioned as an action figure ever since the first ‘Taken’ came out,” the actor told r

Sept. 17, 2012