Dancer-turned-actor Kwok is summer star of Chinese movies

HONG KONG (AP) ― May is the month of Aaron Kwok in Chinese movies.The dancer-turned-singer-turned-actor stars in two of the month’s major releases ― Gu Changwei’s romance “Love for Life,” and Oxide Pang’s crime thriller “The Detective 2” ― and has earned rave reviews from both directors.The 45-year-old Hong Kong entertainer’s versatile performances in two closely timed releases are testimony to hi

May 5, 2011

'Hurt Locker' team plans film on bin Laden hunt

The filmmakers behind the war-on-terror drama ``The Hurt Locker'' are moving forward with an action thriller about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal have had the bin Laden project in the works, and now that the al-Qaeda leader has been killed, a person close to the filmmakers said Monday that the film is more relevant than ever.The as-yet-untitled fil

May 3, 2011

Box Office

Mao’s last dancer (Australia)Opening April 28Drama. Directed by Bruce Beresford. A drama based on an autobiography by Li Cunxin. Eleven-year-old Li (Chi Cao) from a poor Chinese village is taken to Beijing by Madame Mao’s cultural delegate to study ballet. A few years later, Li is invited to perform with the Houston Ballet by its director. As the first Asian to be invited, Li soon becomes a star o

April 29, 2011

Reese Witherspoon occasionally welcomes disorder in her life

LOS ANGELES ― As far as tightly wound actresses go, Reese Witherspoon tops the list. She insists upon a strict sense of order in her life. Her production company is called Type A, a moniker her latest costar, Robert Pattinson, says fits her strong sense of self perfectly. And even when she appears to be having a spontaneous moment, lamenting that her well-orchestrated career built around an avoida

April 29, 2011

Universal soups up ‘Fast and Furious’

LOS ANGELES ― Hoping to transform one of its few successful film series into a top-tier global franchise, Universal Pictures has refueled “Fast and Furious” with an international backdrop, a bigger production budget and a new genre.Audiences will witness the results of that strategy Friday when “Fast Five” debuts as the first of Hollywood’s summer season releases. The movie abandons the world of i

April 29, 2011

Jude Law in Austria for ‘360’ film

VIENNA (AP) ― Hollywood actor Jude Law is among the stars of “360” ― a new movie partly set in the Austrian capital in which the British heartthrob plays a man whose marriage has hit a lull.The film is directed by Fernando Meirelles and inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s play “Reigen,” or “La Ronde.”While storyline specifics are being kept under wraps, screenwriter Peter Morgan told reporters Tuesday

April 27, 2011

Emma Watson takes break from Brown University

Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movie series, is to put her studying on hold.“I’ve decided to take a bit of time off to completely finish my work on ‘Harry Potter’ … and to focus on my other professional and acting projects,” posted Watson on her site Emmawatson.com, explaining her decision.“I will still be working towards my degree ... it’s just going to take me a sem

April 24, 2011

How Sidney Lumet fought showbiz blacklist

LOS ANGELES ― I’d almost forgotten what an unabashed liberal Sidney Lumet had been until I read an essay by New York Post critic Kyle Smith, an unabashed conservative who has little good to say about Lumet’s signature work, seeing it as emblematic of the weak-kneed moral relativism of lefty do-gooders. Taking apart Lumet’s “12 Angry Men,” Smith dubs it an “ur-myth of liberal fantasy,” saying “one

April 22, 2011

Box Office

Norwegian Wood Opening April 21Drama. Directed by Tran Anh Hung. Upon hearing the Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood,” a Japanese businessman reminisces about the intense romance of his university days in Tokyo, set against the turbulent student riots of the late 1960s. Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), an aloof university student at the time, had lost Kizuki -- his best friend in high school -- after

April 22, 2011

Director Max Winkler’s persistence pays off with ‘Ceremony’

LOS ANGELES ― When Max Winkler set out to make a movie, he made one thing clear: He didn’t want any help from his Hollywood veteran father, no matter how tempting the prospect.Editing his directorial debut, “Ceremony,” out of his boyhood bedroom put Winkler mighty close to Dad ― Henry Winkler, still remembered best as the Fonz from “Happy Days.”“I would walk down the hall and I would have a spring

April 22, 2011

‘Journals of Musan’ to screen with English subtitles

“The Journals of Musan” will be shown with English subtitles at Cinecode Sonje in Samcheong-dong this week. A scene from “The Journals of Musan” (JINJIN Pictures)“The Journals of Musan” is director Park Jung-bum’s debut feature, about a North Korean defector Jeon Seung-chul (Park Jung-bum) who originally came to South Korea to live a better life, but finds it difficult to be happy with his defecto

April 21, 2011

‘Ghost’ selected for Cannes short film competition

The short film “Ghost,” directed by Lee Jung-Jin (a.k.a. Ma Dahci), has been selected for the Short Film Competition of the 64th Cannes Film Festival. “Ghost” is a 10-minute thriller about a criminal hiding in an empty house in a deserted town where gentrification has been discontinued.  “Ghost” by Lee Jung-jinThe Short Film Competition is an official competition category that highlights young tal

April 21, 2011

Animated documentaries tell real-life stories

Canadian director brings film about artists with Down syndrome to Women’s Film FestivalCanadian animation director Shira Avni makes films that are “in between genres.”“Animated documentaries don’t fit into doc festivals, nor do they fit into anime festivals,” Avni told The Korea Herald in Seoul last week. “But they get invited to both.”Her 2009 animated documentary, “Trying Your Own Shoes,” which

April 18, 2011

Box Office

Norwegian Wood Opening April 21Drama. Directed by Tran Anh Hung. Upon hearing The Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood,” a Japanese businessman reminisces about the intense romance of his university days in Tokyo, set against the turbulent student riots of the late 1960s. Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), an aloof university student at the time, had lost Kizuki -- his best friend in high school -- after

April 15, 2011

We all ‘Scream’ for Wes Craven’s latest

Horror movie fans haven’t had much to scream about lately, but that may be about to change.With “Scream 4,” which opens Friday, director Wes Craven pumps fresh blood into his landmark horror franchise set in the not-so-sleepy town of Woodsboro, Calif.Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, veterans of the three previous “Scream” movies, return along with original writer Kevin Williamson,

April 15, 2011

Monaghan’s Midwestern roots keep her grounded despite fame

In the new thriller “Source Code,” Michelle Monaghan plays a Chicago woman described by the Jake Gyllenhaal character as “beautiful,” “decent” and “honest.” Beauty comes cheap in the movies. Hollywood boasts an eternally full quota of attractive nuisances, the nuisance part (separate from the beauty part) being the expressive limitations of those who achieve stardom without really having much star

April 15, 2011

World‘s first 3D porn film’ opens in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Movie-goers flocked to see what is billed as the world’s first 3-D porn film as it opened to packed cinemas across Hong Kong on Thursday, with some screenings selling out completely.Loosely based on a piece of classical Chinese erotic literature, the $3.2-million Cantonese-language movie “3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy“ features orgies, swinging and some very graphic sex scene

April 15, 2011