Disney borrows from Pixar’s best for ‘Wreck-It Ralph’

Disney Animation takes a page out of Pixar’s well-worn playbook for “Wreck-It Ralph,” a screwball farce with a novel setting and more edge than your average Disney ‘toon.Where “Toy Story” showed us the off-duty shenanigans of a kids’ toy collection and “Monsters, Inc.” took us behind the scenes of the bogeyman business, “Ralph” finds fun in the outside-the-arcade-game life of the characters trapped in those games, forced to play hero, pawn or villain forever. Or until the game falls out of favor

Nov. 2, 2012

Kim Ji-woon wins award from U.S. Filmmakers Alliance

Korean filmmaker Kim Ji-woon, best known for his 2003 horror “A Tale of Two Sisters” and 2010 thriller “I Saw the Devil,” won a coveted prize from U.S. Filmmakers Alliance ― a group of cineastes working for and promoting independent movies ― according to local movie house and distributor CJ Entertainment.Kim was given the Vision Award at the annual VisionFest celebration hosted by the organization on Wednesday. The prize is given to an “established filmmaker whose artistic ambition and consisten

Nov. 1, 2012

Police: Gene Hackman slaps homeless man

Gene Hackman slapped a homeless man the actor said had gotten aggressive toward him and his wife, police in Santa Fe, N.M., said.No one was arrested or injured in the Tuesday incident, which Hackman said began when the man approached him and his wife in a menacing manner, police told E! News.Hackman said the man called his wife, Betsy, a derogatory name so he responded by smacking him. Police Sgt. Andrea Dobyns said the blow was “more like a slap than a punch.”Police got involved when the allege

Oct. 31, 2012

Disney buys Lucasfilm, new ‘Star Wars’ film in 2015

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- Disney is to buy George Lucas’s renowned film studio including his “Star Wars” franchise, the entertainment giant said Tuesday, announcing plans for more films in the legendary sci-fi series."Star Wars 7” will be released in 2015," with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future, said the Walt Disney Co, announcing the deal worth over $4 billion for Lucasfilm.The deal “combines a world-class portfolio of content inc

Oct. 31, 2012

'Gwanghae' sweeps Daejong Film Awards

Director Choo Chang-min’s period drama “Gwanghae: the Man Who Became the King” (Masquerade) swept the 49th Daejong Film (Grand Bell) Film Awards on Tuesday, winning 15 prizes including the best picture, best director and best actor. Meanwhile, Venice film fest-winning “Pieta” director Kim Ki-duk left during the ceremony. Kim’s “Pieta,” which had been nominated for six awards, including best director and best picture, received the best actress award. Director Kim was given a special jury prize fo

Oct. 30, 2012

Rep says actress Mila Kunis isn‘t pregnant

Mila Kunis’ publicist says the U.S. actress is not pregnant, despite media reports claiming she is.The “Black Swan” starlet has been dating her former “That ‘70s Show” co-star Ashton Kutcher since April.The Huffington Post said she recently sparked baby buzz when she was photographed in Los Angeles wearing a loose-fitting tank top.But Kunis’ publicist is shooting down the speculation.“She is not pregnant,” Kunis‘ representative told RumorFix, separately clarifying to the MailOnline, “She is not

Oct. 30, 2012

Box Office

Skyfall (U.K.)Opened Oct. 26Action. Adventure. Thriller. Directed by Sam Mendes. While on a mission in Istanbul, James Bond (Daniel Craig) gets shot by his fellow field agent Eve (Naomi Harris), and goes missing after falling off the train. As soon as the news of a disaster spreads around, the identities of every active undercover MI6 agent are stolen and leaked on the Internet. What’s worse, the secret service is attacked by a mysterious enemy, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) who blames the cause o

Oct. 26, 2012

Victoria Justice grows up, leaps to the big screen

“I’m a big girl, now,” Eva Marie Saint famously purred to Cary Grant in Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest.”“Yaaaas,” Grant drawled back. “And in all the right PLAY-sez.”So it is with Victoria Justice, former child star, now a stunning young brunette trying to make her way in the big girl world.“I’m 19,” she says. “So no curfews. I can do what I want!”She laughs. What she wants, right now, is to do movies, to star in a hit. Justice, late of TV’s “Victorious,” is the latest in a legion of Disney/ Ni

Oct. 26, 2012

Koo Hye-sun presents conjoined twins tale on screen

After the successful press screening of fantasy drama “A Werewolf Boy,” another fantasy-like film, featuring a pair of conjoined twins, was unveiled to the press on Thursday.A second feature-length film by actress-turned-filmmaker Koo Hye-sun titled “The Peach Tree” is almost like a cinematic version of a children’s story, filled with imaginative and original exploration of the human condition. The film tells the story of Sang-hyeon (Jo Seung-woo) and Dong-hyeon (Ryu Deok-hwan), who were born as

Oct. 25, 2012

Four local actors voice Hollywood-animated film

DreamWorks Animation’s ‘Rise of the Guardians’ to be released next monthThe original “Rise of the Guardians” stars Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin and Jude Law.For the film’s Korean release, however, four local actors have been selected to voice the fantasy characters. Titled “Rise of the Guardians,” the computer-animated fantasy film is an ambitious project by the U.S. animation studio DreamWorks. Based on American author William Joyce’s “The Guardians of Childhood” book series, the film

Oct. 24, 2012

Few share spoils of Korean film revival

 On Saturday, local period film “Gwanghae: the Man Who Became the King” (Masquerade) surpassed the 10 million mark in attendance, becoming the second Korean film this year to reach the milestone.The film reached the mark in just 38 days, only about two months after director Choi Dong-hun’s star-studded heist film “The Thieves” achieved the same feat. Only five other local films, including Bong Jun-ho’s 2006 monster flick “The Host” and Yoon Je-kyoon’s disaster film “Haeundae,” have ever passed t

Oct. 22, 2012

‘Masquerade’ surpasses 10 million viewers

The Korean historical film “Masquerade” surpassed the 10 million mark in attendance, the film’s distributor said Saturday.The film reached 10,000,248 viewers as of 8 p.m. Saturday, according to CJ Entertainment. Only six other local films have so far reached the mark.“Masquerade,” directed by Choo Chang-min and starring Lee Byung-hun, reached the milestone in 38 days.It is the second local film to draw more than 10 million fans in 2012 after “The Thieves,” which broke the all-time attendance rec

Oct. 21, 2012

‘Rust and Bone’ named best picture at London Fest

LONDON (AP) ― “Rust and Bone,” Jacques Audiard’s soaring story of love, loss and killer whales, was named best picture at the London Film Festival on Saturday.The movie is a thriller-cum-melodrama about the unlikely relationship between a bare-knuckle boxer (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a whale trainer, played by Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard, who suffers a tragic workplace accident.The president of the award jury, British playwright David Hare, praised it as “a film full of heart, violence

Oct. 21, 2012

Box Office

Lawless (U.S.)Opened Oct. 18Action. Crime. Thriller. Directed by John Hillcoat. The Bondurant brothers run a successful moonshine business in Franklin County in 1931. One day, newly arrived Special Deputy Charley Rakes (Guy Pearce) visits the family and blackmails them for a cut of the county bootleggers’ profit. Forrest (Tom Hardy), the oldest of the family, refuses and threatens to kill Rakes if he comes back again. Forrest later meets with the other bootleggers and tries to convince them that

Oct. 19, 2012

A ‘Cloud Atlas’ journey for the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer

As they swept through airports while making their ambitious, risky new movie, “Cloud Atlas,” directors Andy and Lana Wachowski got used to answering a surprisingly tough question from customs officials.“They’d say, ‘What’s your movie about?’” said Andy. “It’s about the sum of human experience. They always look up and go, ‘Oh, really ...’”“Our target audience is customs officials,” whispered Lana.Actually, their target audience is grown-ups.The Wachowski siblings made “Cloud Atlas” together with

Oct. 19, 2012

James Bond not stirred by 3-D

NEW YORK (AP) ― Celebrating his 50th birthday, James Bond has been learning some new tricks ― but 3-D isn’t one of them. Producers of the spy franchise say they have no interest in a making a Bond film in 3-D. The upcoming “Skyfall’’ is the first Bond film to be released since “Avatar’’ made 3-D a common and often lucrative practice for blockbusters. “3-D is fantastic for the right material, but we’re not sure Bond is the right way to go,’’ said “Skyfall’’ producer Barbara Broccoli in a recent i

Oct. 19, 2012

‘A Company Man’ star ‘understands’ office grind

So Ji-sub talks about having few friends, being drawn to loner charactersIt’s hard to imagine actor So Ji-sub empathizing with Seoul’s urban professionals, while living the life of a celebrity. His environment has been red carpets and film premieres, not an office where everyone wears suits and does long hours.“Many think I wouldn’t understand what it is like,” So says in an interview with The Korea Herald. The actor recently starred as an exhausted white-collar worker in his film “A Company Man

Oct. 18, 2012