‘Amazing Spider-Man’: Action-packed journey of self-discovery

“The Amazing Spider-Man,” the latest addition to the Spider-Man franchise, is not just about an action hero and large-scale computer graphics on 3-D screen, according to its director Mark Webb.Speaking at a press conference last Thursday at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Seoul joined by Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield, Garfield’s on- and off-screen love interest Emma Stone, actor Riys Ifans who plays the villain The Lizard, and producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, Webb said the action film is also a

June 17, 2012

Box Office

Deranged (Yeongasi) (Korea)Opening July 5Thriller. Directed by Park Jeong-woo. Jae-hyuk (Kim Myeong-min) is an ordinary man in his 40s who works for a medical supplies company. One day, a number of dead bodies are found floating on the Han River. The public is even more shocked when they find out the men and women jumped into the water as if they were on drugs, as seen on CCTV footage. Experts discover there is an outbreak of fatal virus-infected horsehair worms. Once infected by the deadly para

June 15, 2012

Gerwig takes her chatty charms into action with ‘Lola Versus’

“Lola Versus” is a conventionally unconventional romance in the modern mode, a comedy alternating between cute and crude and packing a heaping helping of self-affirmation into its 84 minutes.It’s got that “Where have I seen this before?” familiarity even as it updates an old formula with snappy and saucy one-liners.But best of all, it has Greta Gerwig, indie-film’s blonde-next-door. Gerwig (“Greenberg,” “No Strings Attached”) brings that hapless and unhappy neediness thing she does so well to Lo

June 15, 2012

‘Miss GO’ gets lost in shoddy comedy

 Ko Hyun-jung’s first commercial film lacks laughs, focusIt all seemed promising in the beginning. After all, the movie was going to be actress Ko Hyun-jung’s first commercial flick. The popular actress, who has been dominating the local TV drama scene by playing nothing but powerful women, was going to be a social recluse in this highly anticipated comedy. She had heavyweight actors including Yoo Hae-jin and Park Shin-yang as her co-stars.But “Miss GO,” or “Miss Conspirator,” turned out to be a

June 14, 2012

2NE1 to kick off first world tour

Popular girl group 2NE1 is kicking off the first world tour for a Korean girl group, according to their agency YG Entertainment.The four-member group is starting the tour with Seoul concerts on July 28 and 29 at the Gymnastics Stadium, Olympic Park. They are slated to tour a total of 10 cities in seven different countries in Asia, Americas and Europe.  Since their debut in 2009, 2NE1 has enjoyed popularity at home and abroad, and are best known for their hip-hop sound, powerful choreography and

June 13, 2012

JIFF programmer’s dismissal stirs controversy

Jeonju International Film Festival programmer Yoo Un-seong’s sudden dismissal from his position has been branded by cinema devotees as unjust and political.Yoo, who had worked as JIFF’s programmer for eight years, claimed in a tweet that he was “unjustly” dismissed by the festival committee on June 5. The film critic, who started working as JIFF programmer in 2004, argues he was fired for remarks he made during a JIFF press conference last month which apparently enraged many Jeonju-based reporte

June 13, 2012

Lee Je-hoon evolves

‘Architecture 101’ and ‘Fashion King’ actor shares his thoughts on movies, and taking on different challengesNo one on Korea’s film scene has been busier than actor Lee Je-hoon in the last few months.The 28-year-old actor has been involved with two movies and one drama since last year. One of the movies, “Architecture 101,” in which Lee played a shy university student who suffers heartbreak over his first love, turned out to be a huge box office triumph after its release in March. Lee, who swept

June 11, 2012

Box Office　

Deranged (Yeongasi) (Korea)Opening July 5Thriller. Directed by Park Jeong-woo. Jae-hyuk (Kim Myeong-min) is an ordinary man in his 40s who works for a medical supplies company. One day, a number of dead bodies are found floating on the Han River. The public is even more shocked when they find out the men and women jumped into the water as if they were on drugs, as seen on CCTV footage. Experts discover there is an outbreak of fatal virus-infected horsehair worms. Once infected by the deadly para

June 8, 2012

It may not be ‘Alien,’ but ‘Prometheus’ is never boring

The most electrifying sequence in “Prometheus” ― Ridley Scott’s ambitious and entertaining, if sometimes muddled new science-fiction thriller ― occurs midway through, when Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) discovers something creepy and crawly pulsating from within her womb. A scientist aboard a spaceship near the end of the 21st century ― and until recently under the impression she couldn’t conceive ― Elizabeth races to extract this foreign object, which is growing much more quickly than any no

June 8, 2012

Kim Myeong-min returns in disaster thriller

Award-winning actor Kim Myeong-min, whose previous works include MBC’s “Beethoven Virus” (2008) and period thriller “Detective K” (2011), is returning to the screen as a desperate father in the upcoming disaster thriller “Deranged” (Yeongasi).In the blockbuster flick which portrays the outbreak of virus-infected parasites in Seoul, Kim plays an ordinary man in his 40s named Jae-hyuk who works for a medical supplies company. The film begins as a number of dead bodies are found floating in the Han

June 4, 2012

Box Office

The Concubine (Korea)Opening June 6Thriller. Directed by Kim Dai-seung. Set in the Joseon era, a ruthless queen mother and former concubine (Park Ji-young) tries to concoct a plan to dethrone the current king (Jeong Chan), with whom she has no blood ties. Her goal is to somehow replace the king with her timid biological son, Prince Seong-won (Kim Dong-wook). Meanwhile, the prince falls in love at first sight with Hwa-yeon (Jo Yeo-jung), an aristocrat’s daughter, during his jaunt outside the roya

June 1, 2012

‘Snow White’ gets the comic-book movie treatment

Give credit, at least, for a clever concept: “Snow White and the Huntsman” filters a classic fairy tale through the prism of a modern, special-effects driven, action-powered blockbuster, an idea so seemingly inevitable that it’s a surprise no one has quite done it before. (Terry Gilliam’s 2005 film “The Brothers Grimm” presumably was trying for something similar, but who could tell with all that bric-a-brac on the screen?).The result, not unlike the recent Sherlock Holmes pictures, is an intrigu

June 1, 2012

New directors’ shorts to fill the silver screen

The 11th Mise-en-scene Short Film Festival to showcase 60 original piecesA lot of local aspiring filmmakers must be excited, as the annual Mise-en-scene Short Film Festival is kicking off this year’s edition.The festival, which celebrates its 11th installment this year, is dedicated to discovering new talent in Korea’s film scene. Some of the past winners of the festival include director Yoon Jong-bin, who later was invited to Cannes for his 2005 feature “The Unforgiven,” and Shin Jae-in, whose

May 31, 2012

Japan film director Shindo dead

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japanese film director Kaneto Shindo, known for hard-hitting works dealing with human nature and the effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, has died at his home in Tokyo, his office said Wednesday.Shindo, who celebrated his 100th birthday last month, died early Tuesday, producer Tetsuo Satonaka said.Shindo directed nearly 50 films, with his final work, “A Postcard” winning the special jury prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2011. Born in Hiroshima, he studied sc

May 31, 2012