Creative resistance can bring justice: Activist filmmaker Iara Lee

Brazilian of Korean descent wants to unite people for action through artThough she started off as a hippie movie junkie ― who wanted to “do art for art’s sake” ― and has made more than five highly-regarded documentary films, this tough and fierce Brazilian of Korean descent no longer wants to call h

Aug. 21, 2011

BOX OFFICE

Bridesmaids (U.S.)Opening Aug. 25.Comedy. Directed by Paul Feig. Annie, (Kristen Wiig) whose bakery business just failed, is also having a hard time because of her annoying roommates and her unfulfilling love life. While living a life of misery, her life-long best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolf) gets e

Aug. 19, 2011

Future uncertain for low-budget horror franchise, now on its fifth movie

The “Final Destination” series has skirted death many times.Originally conceived as a sample script for “The X-Files” in 1995, it made the unusual transition into a feature film five years later. That horror movie was thought of by executives at New Line Cinema as a low budget one-off, but when it b

Aug. 19, 2011

Bollywood film on caste stirs controversy in India

NEW DELHI (AP) ― A star-filled Bollywood film on India’s caste system churned up passionate debate as it opened Friday, with angry lower caste groups trying to torpedo its release, saying it reinforces social prejudices against them.The furor makes clear that caste ― the millennia-old Hindu custom t

Aug. 14, 2011

Keb Mo, personal on ‘The Reflection’

Keb Mo“The Reflection” Yolabelle International/Ryko/Warner Music GroupWith bluesy guitars, groovy Hammond organs, and Keb Mo’s rich, smoky voice, “The Reflection” is a warm, mellow ride from start to finish. Like a smooth-jazz station all its own, “The Reflection” is never rowdy or boastful. It just

Aug. 12, 2011

Another gem from John Hiatt

John Hiatt “Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns” New West RecordsA charming photo in the CD booklet for “Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns” shows John Hiatt in profile wearing a toothy grin, and why not? On his 20th solo album, Hiatt remains at the top of his game.There are no surprises left in his musical

Aug. 12, 2011

Adkins returns to heartfelt topics

Trace Adkins“Proud To Be Here”Show Dog-UniversalOn his previous album, Trace Adkins came out stomping and snarling like a riled-up snake, creating the hardest-rocking album of his career. But the album failed to generate any top 10 hits.Understandably, on his new collection “Proud To Be Here,” the t

Aug. 12, 2011

BOX OFFICE

Helen, the Baby Fox (Japan)Opening Aug. 18.Drama. Directed by Keita Kono. Taichi, a little boy who does not have many friends at school, lives with his mother alone. Soon, his working camerawoman mother moves to another town for a project by herself and makes Taichi to live with her boyfriend, Yajim

Aug. 12, 2011

Actors, and maybe audiences, have issues with ‘The Help’

Viola Davis didn’t want to wear the uniform. The Oscar-nominated actress was thrilled at the chance to star in “The Help,” the film based on the best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett. But it was a movie about maids in the Jim Crow South.And “I had to get past the fact that I’d be playing a maid.”It

Aug. 12, 2011

EIDF celebrates non-fiction films

EBS event to screen 51 documentaries on TV and in theatersA total of 51 documentary films from 29 countries will be screened on TV and in theaters in Seoul this month, along with educational workshops and pitching sessions for newly emerging filmmakers.The 8th EBS (Educational Broadcasting System) I

Aug. 10, 2011

Students explore Korea through lenses

For the past six years, Korean and American university students have gathered at Ewha Womens University to participate in the Harvard Summer School in Seoul program. This summer, the program offered for the first time “Cinema Seoul: Documenting Korea Through Film,” a course that presented students w

Aug. 8, 2011

Alleged sex film of young Monroe gets no buyers

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ― There were no buyers Sunday at the auction of a 1940s stag film that an events promoter claims shows a young Marilyn Monroe having sex before she became a movie star.The auction was a flop. Nobody came forward willing to pay Mikel Barsa’s starting price of 2 million Ar

Aug. 8, 2011

Blind (Korea), Opening Aug. 11

Blind (Korea)Opening Aug. 11Thriller. Directed by Ahn Sang-hoon. A female university student goes missing one day and later is discovered as a victim of a hit-and-run. Assuming the kidnapper and the driver are the same person, the police begin their investigation but fail to capture the criminal. Th

Aug. 5, 2011

Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon (Korea), Opening Aug. 11

Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon(Korea)Opening Aug. 11Action. Directed by Kim Han-min. When the second Manchu invasion of Korea occurs in 1636, a young man named Na-mi (Park Hae-il) loses her sister Ja-in (Moon Chae-won) and her fianc on their wedding day. The Qing soldiers kidnap the couple after complet

Aug. 5, 2011

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (U.S.), Opening Aug. 17

Rise of the Planet of theApes (U.S.)Opening Aug. 17Action. Directed by Rupert Wyatt. Will Rodman (James Franco), a San Francisco-based scientist whose father (John Lithgow) suffers from Alzheimer’s, develops a cure for the disease and tests it on apes. Rodman takes one of the tested baby chimpanzees

Aug. 5, 2011

Larry Crowne (U.S.), Opening Aug. 18

Larry Crowne (U.S.)Opening Aug. 18Romance. Directed by Tom Hanks. Larry (Tom Hanks), a mid-aged man who just got fired from his work for lacking a college education, decides to attend a local community college to find more career opportunities. As a divorce who lives alone, Larry almost lost his hou

Aug. 5, 2011

Hong Gil-dong 2084 (Korea), Opening Aug. 18

Hong Gil-dong 2084 (Korea)Opening Aug. 18Animation. Directed by Lee Jeong-in. In 2084, a young man named Hong Gil-dong lives with a little boy named Cheol alone near a city named Yuldo. Gil-dong was abandoned by his older brother Il-dong as a child, and had to live on his own ever since. One day, Gi

Aug. 5, 2011