Scientologists deny auditioning for Tom Cruise bride

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― The Church of Scientology denounced as “hogwash” Wednesday a report that it auditioned candidates to be Tom Cruise’s girlfriend, while the star’s lawyer branded the claims “tired old lies.”Vanity Fair quoted sources as saying the controversial church tested actresses as potential brides in 2004, after his split from Nicole Kidman and before he met and married Katie Holmes, who recently divorced him.The report included details of a failed match with an Iranian-born  actress, w

Sept. 6, 2012

Kim Ki-duk returns with brutal revenge tale

Lives of loan shark victims explicitly captured on ‘Pieta’After “Arirang,” the self-reflective documentary about his personal failings and struggles, director Kim Ki-duk returned to the movie scene with a gruesome revenge tale ― about a cruel debt collector running into a woman who claims to be his mother. “Pieta,” which is one of 18 films vying for this year’s Golden Lion prize in Venice, is Kim’s 18th feature-length film. The movie has almost every element that would make an audience uncomfort

Sept. 6, 2012

Korean morality tale premieres at Venice film fest

 South Korean director Kim Ki-duk brought his brand of excruciating emotion and troubling imagery to the Venice film festival Tuesday with his condemnation of extreme capitalism in “Pieta”.The film revolves around a brutal loan shark played by Lee Jung-jin who prowls the back alleys and small workshops of a central area of Seoul that is quickly going out of business and being replaced by skyscrapers.Kim said at a press conference that he had been inspired by Michelangelo‘s famous “Pieta” statue

Sept. 5, 2012

Fundraising for new Korean film draws large response

The number of participants in a rare fundraising campaign for a local film project has topped the 10,000 mark, the movie’s production company said Monday.The project to make “26 Years,” a new film based on a famous Webtoon by Kang Pool featuring the 1980 Gwangju people’s uprising for democracy, has drifted for years due to financial problems.This situation prompted Cheongeorahm Film, a local movie studio that organized the project, to launch a campaign among citizens on June 25 to raise the mone

Sept. 4, 2012

Actor Michael Clarke Duncan dies at 54

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Michael Clarke Duncan, the hulking, prolific character actor whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in “The Green Mile’’ and such other box office hits as “Armageddon,’’ “’Planet of the Apes’’ and “Kung Fu Panda,’’ has died at age 54.Duncan died Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a heart attack, said his fiancee, reality TV personality Rev. Omarosa Manigault, in a statement r

Sept. 4, 2012

Actor Michael Clarke Duncan dead at 54

(AFP)LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Michael Clarke Duncan, the hulking, prolific character actor whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in ``The Green Mile'' and such other box office hits as ``Armageddon,'' `'Planet of the Apes'' and ``Kung Fu Panda,'' is dead at age 54.Clarke died Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being tr

Sept. 4, 2012

‘You cannot get away from your past’

Korean-Canadian director Yi speaks on her work, connection to her rootsFilmmaker and journalist Yi Sun-kyung grew up in a Canadian city where her family was one of only a half-dozen Korean households in town. That small community was what shaped her view on Korea as a little girl. It was the world where she was pressured not to be a reporter, but a teacher or a nurse. For many years, she tried to stay away from it as much as possible. “There was competition and gossip,” the filmmaker told The Ko

Sept. 3, 2012

Winds of economic crisis at Venice film festival

VENICE, Italy (AFP) ― For all the glamorous seaside partying at the Venice film festival, there is a distinct air of austerity at this year’s edition for an industry that is questioning its economic future.The festival line-up has been slimmed and the star wattage toned down while even some of the movie plotlines reflect various forms of fallout from the financial crisis ― from family and relationships to faith and spiritual values.“The main recurring theme is the crisis. The economic crisis, wh

Sept. 3, 2012

Scientology-inspired ‘The Master’ casts spell at Venice festival

VENICE, Italy (AFP) ― The film “The Master” cast a spell on viewers at the Venice festival on Saturday with Philip Seymour Hoffman playing a charismatic leader loosely based on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.Hoffman’s character takes a troubled World War II vet played by a feral Joaquin Phoenix under his wing in this latest work by Oscar-winner Paul Thomas Anderson, director of “Boogie Nights” and “There Will Be Blood.”The film starts with Phoenix as Freddie Quell and his rapid descent into

Sept. 2, 2012

Box office

The Traffickers (Korea)Opened Aug. 29Crime. Thriller. Directed by Kim Hong-sun. Sang-ho (Choi Daniel) and Chae-hee (Jung Ji-yoon) are a married couple on a cruise for their first trip to Weihai, China. However, Chae-hee suddenly disappears while Sang-ho is away. He soon finds out that Chae-hee’s pictures, belongings as well as her records of boarding the ship have been completely removed. On the other side of the cruise ship, Young-gyu (Im Chang-jeong), the best known human trafficker in the ind

Aug. 31, 2012

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is just looking for a little big screen luck

Movie fans, those with too much time on their hands, love to ponder the imponderable.Why did America flock to see “Ted”? How did Tyler Perry build an empire by donning a dress? What is new about “The Hunger Games,” other than its haven’t-seen-many-movies audience?And why isn’t Jeffrey Dean Morgan a star?In an era when Hollywood has all but given up that Leo DiCaprio’s voice will ever change and has cast its net far afield looking for macho leading men ― Gerard Butler from Ireland, Jason Statham

Aug. 31, 2012

‘The Thieves’ now 2nd top-selling Korean film

“The Thieves” has outperformed “The King and the Clown” to become the second most popular Korean film ever shown at home, according to an industry tally.“The Thieves” has attracted 12.31 million viewers as of 5 p.m. Thursday, breaking a record set by the all-time No. 2 Korean film “The King and the Clown” (12 million) in 2005, Mediaplex Co., the distributor of the latest film said on Friday.Directed by Choe Dong-hoon, who is known for “Tazza: the High Rollers” and “The Big Swindle,” the new heis

Aug. 31, 2012