The sequel of the 2012 Hollywood blockbuster "The Avengers" will be partly filmed in South Korea where the first installment made a big hit, its studio announced.Major scenes of the superhero sequel titled "Avengers: Age of Ultron" will be shot in the South Korean capital in addition to other international locations, including Johannesburg, South Africa; Aosta Valley, Italy; and London, the Burbank, Calif.-based Marvel Studios said Tuesday.This will benefit the local film industry in South Korea

Feb. 19, 2014

“Never underestimate the meanness in people’s souls,” author Alice Munro once wrote. “Even when they’re being kind ... especially when they are being kind.”Steve McQueen’s award-winning slavery saga “12 Years a Slave” is a thorough study on human cruelty, and what it is capable of. In the film set in Louisiana in 1841, harrowing living conditions and hard-to-watch violence constantly overlap with exquisite shots of nature, such as gently flowing water, the full moon, and painfully beautiful suns

Feb. 18, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) ― Early in “Captain Phillips,” the cargo ship captain (Tom Hanks) and his wife (Catherine Keener) drive from their Vermont home to the airport where he’ll take a flight to his next job, one that will bring him face-to-face with the less fortunate on the other side of the globe. Like the chatter of so many couples, their conversation turns to their general feeling of economic uncertainty. “It just seems like the world’s movin’ so fast,” says Phillips, wondering about the future thei

Feb. 18, 2014

The force of “Gravity” was strong at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday ― but it was the unflinching drama “12 Years a Slave” that took the top prize. Steve McQueen’s visceral, violent story of a free black man kidnapped and forced into servitude in the 19th-century U.S. South was named best picture. Its star, Chiwetel Ejiofor, took the male acting trophy. Ejiofor thanked McQueen, a visual artist who turned to filmmaking with “Hunger” and “Shame,” for bringing the story to the screen. Hol

Feb. 17, 2014

In an awards season that seems to have a ceremony for every facet of filmmaking, the Make-up and Hair Stylists Guild awards returned after a 10-year hiatus with an award for Johnny Depp.The actor received the first-ever distinguished artisan award for his work in films like “Edward Scissorhands,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Alice in Wonderland.”Depp’s award was presented by his long-time collaborator and makeup artist Joel Harlow, who is nominated for an Academy Award this year for

Feb. 17, 2014

 “The Lego Movie” built a huge lead over the weekend’s new releases at the box office. In its second outing, the Warner Bros. animated film featuring the voices of Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks and Will Arnett earned $48.8 million to take first place, according to studio estimates Sunday. That brings the domestic box-office total of the film, based on the toy brick-building franchise, to $129.1 million, cementing it as one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. “It’s crossing over to all audien

Feb. 17, 2014

 12 Years a Slave (U.S., U.K.)Opening Feb. 27In 1841, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free African-American New Yorker, is kidnapped by slavers in Washington, D.C., and sold into slavery in Louisiana. There, he is enslaved to work on farms in the South, after being renamed “Platt,” and becomes the property of a plantation owner (Benedict Cumberbatch). This film is an adaptation of the 1853 memoir of the same title by Northup, who was an educated carpenter, musician and a family man before

Feb. 14, 2014

“So” is how “That Awkward Moment” begins every “awkward moment.” As in “So, what are we doing here?” Or “So, where do you see this relationship going?”That’s the dating man’s lesson of “That Awkward Moment,” that “For girls, nothing good ever comes after ‘So.’” It’s a chatty romantic comedy in the modern mode ― rude, nude and crude ― with some funny, writerly riffs on relationships and how to avoid them.There are laughs, in the lead couple’s “meet cute” moment in a bar, when she (Imogen Poots) t

Feb. 14, 2014

Placing cultural heritage sites like Gyeongbokgung Palace on the backburner, global citizens helped the city of Seoul produce its new “promotional” art house film that portrays the essence of the city in its rawest form. “Bitter, Sweet, Seoul” is the latest film project by the famous Park brothers, directors Park Chan-wook and Park Chan-kyong, who have taken an unconventional approach to the typical city tourism video documentary and given the country its first globally crowd-sourced movie premi

Feb. 12, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Shirley Temple, the dimpled, curly-haired child star who sang, danced, sobbed and grinned her way into the hearts of Depression-era moviegoers, has died, according to publicist. She was 85. Temple, known in private life as Shirley Temple Black, died Monday night at her home near San Francisco. She was surrounded by family members and caregivers, publicist Cheryl Kagan said. “We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly

Feb. 12, 2014

A Korean comedy film about an old woman who suddenly recovers her physical youth has exceeded the 6 million audience mark in local theaters, the movie’s local distributor said Wednesday.Starring Shim Eun-kyoung, “Miss Granny” has attracted 6.03 million viewers through Tuesday, the 21st day after opening, pushing the animated Disney film “Frozen” down from the No. 1 spot on the daily box-office chart, CJ Entertainment said. It cited official box-office data from the Korean Film Council.“‘Miss Gra

Feb. 12, 2014

BERLIN (AP) ― Actor Shia LaBeouf hit the Berlin Film Festival in memorable style Sunday, first walking out of a press conference for the film “Nymphomaniac Volume I” and then wearing a paper bag over his head at the red carpet premiere. The actor posed for photographers in a stylish tuxedo ― and a paper bag with eyeholes and the words “I am not famous anymore” written across it. LaBeouf has frequently used the statement on his Twitter page, and he was identifiable by a tattoo on his hand. The un

Feb. 10, 2014

 Venus Talk (Korea)Opening Feb. 13Comedy. Drama. Directed by Kwon Chil-in. Shin-hye (Uhm Jung-hwa) is a capable TV producer and a single woman in her 40s. She used to date her co-worker, the current chief of their TV network, but he left her for a younger woman who also happens to be Shin-hye’s junior colleague. She has two best friends, Mi-yeon (Moon So-ri), a housewife who is not satisfied with her sex life with her rather docile husband, and Hae-young (Jo Min-soo), a single mother who wants h

Feb. 7, 2014