Most Popular
-
1
Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
-
2
[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
-
3
Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
-
4
Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
-
5
Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
-
6
'Super Rich in Korea' will leave viewers appreciating Korea more: producers
-
7
Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
-
8
Probe of first lady on Dior bag allegations set to begin
-
9
'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
-
10
Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
-
Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Snowpiercer’ hits screens in Korea
Bong Joon-ho’s much-anticipated sci-fi thriller “Snowpiercer” hit local theaters on Wednesday amid growing expectations from moviegoers. Adding another dramatic element is the release of “The Terror Live,” also a promising flick starring top-performing actor Ha Jung-woo.Attention was placed on which Korean movie would be the box-office winner in the coming weeks -- a period during which many Koreans flock to air-conditioned multiplex cinemas to beat the heat.The initial winner is Bong’s “Snowpi
July 31, 2013
-
Tilda Swinton: Making ‘Snowpiercer’ was like ‘being in kindergarten’
What was it like to work with Korean director Bong Joon-ho in making a dystopian sci-fi thriller?According to famed British actress Tilda Swinton, it was like “being in a kindergarten.”“What made me decide to be in a Bong Joon-ho film? Bong Joon-ho,” the actress said in a press conference promoting their latest collaboration, “Snowpiercer,” in Seoul, Monday. “Not only his work, but really, the person. We met maybe two years ago and we became friends instantly. And we wanted to play together. I c
July 29, 2013
-
Cinema greets music in Jecheon
Film buffs and music lovers will likely be found in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, next month, as this year’s edition of the annual Jecheon International Music Film Festival is just around the corner. Celebrating its ninth edition this year, the upcoming JIMFF will screen 95 music-themed movies, including 11 world premieres.French director Martin Le Gall’s “Pop Redemption” is opening the upcoming edition kicking off on Aug. 14. The film is a comical cinematic portrait of a satanic rock ban
July 28, 2013
-
Jennifer Aniston says she, Theroux ‘already feel married’
NEW YORK (AP) ― Jennifer Aniston is dismissing rumors surrounding her upcoming wedding to Justin Theroux and is setting the record straight.The 44-year old actress was promoting her new film, “We’re the Millers,” on Saturday when she told the Associated Press that she and Theroux are doing fine, and have not set a date, postponed their wedding, or argued about where to get married.Aniston and Theroux began dating more than two years ago. They got engaged last summer, but their lack of wedding pl
July 28, 2013
-
Box Office: The Terror Live, Snowpiercer, The Wolverine
The Terror LiveCrime. Directed by Kim Byung-woo.Opening Aug. 1Due to an unsavory incident, star anchor Yoon Young-Hwa (Ha Jung-Woo) is pulled from the TV news and is now hosting a radio show. One day during his live show, Yoon receives a phone call threatening to blow up a bridge in Seoul. At first, he takes it as a joke and tells the terrorist to proceed, but soon he realizes that the threat is real. Realizing this could be his one chance to get back to being a newscaster, Yoon broadcasts the p
July 26, 2013
-
Young women reach profanity parity with ‘The To Do List’
Screen comedy has taken a decided turn towards the blue in recent years, driven by such runaway raunchy hits as “The Hangover” and “Tropic Thunder.” You can trace the trend back to “Wedding Crashers” or even “There’s Something About Mary,” and the mainstreaming of comic crude has only picked up steam of late.But it’s taken a while for female-centered comedies to catch up in the cursing and crudity.“And it’s about time,” cracks Kristen Wiig, whose “Bridesmaids” (2011) first offered up equal time
July 26, 2013
-
IMAX, Wanda to open 120 new cinemas in China
SHANGHAI (AFP) ― North American entertainment giant IMAX Corp. said it plans to open up to 120 new cinemas in China after reaching agreement with Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group.The deal, announced Wednesday, brings Wanda’s commitment for IMAX cinemas in China to as many as 210, according to an IMAX statement.IMAX also announced it would cooperate with AMC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wanda, to install five to 10 new cinemas in the United States and extend lease terms on all venues to 13 years
July 26, 2013
-
Free film festival slated for August
A free film festival kicks off Aug. 16 for two weeks in Seoul.Organized by Cine de Seoul and sponsored by private corporations including CJ E&M, Mister Pizza and AskVERITAS Asset Management, the 2013 Seoul Citizen Film Festival will be held at venues throughout Seoul. Han River riverside parks, Cheonggye Plaza and a cafe will be converted into temporary theaters. At one venue, Seoul Children’s Grand Park, moviegoers are free to bring their pets along. Screenings begin every night at 8:30 p.m.The
July 25, 2013
-
‘The Terror Live’ offers ample entertainment
After roles as a dorky man in “Love Fiction” and a hapless North Korean agent in “The Berlin File,” Ha Jung-woo returns as a driven, selfish news anchor who receives a terrorist threat during his live radio show in his latest film “The Terror Live.”The film is an ambitious, thorough and highly entertaining project ― arguably one of the best local thrillers so far this year ― created by up-and-coming director Kim Byeong-woo. Ha, whose previous collaborations with emerging directors including Na H
July 25, 2013
-
Spike Lee launches Kickstarter campaign for film
NEW YORK (AP) ― The next Spike Lee film will be a Kickstarter production.Following in the footsteps of “Veronica Mars’’ and Zach Braff, Lee has launched an online campaign to help fund his next feature film. The filmmaker on Monday unveiled his bid to raise $1.25 million over the next month using the fundraising site Kickstarter.Lee offered few details on the film but said it would be about “the addiction of blood.’’The 56-year-old director said he was inspired to crowd-source the film after hea
July 24, 2013
-
‘Snowpiercer’ powerfully explores class, privilege
Know your position, keep your position, be the “shoe.”This is what those who live at the bottom of Snowpiercer, a massive train carrying the last remnants of humanity, are constantly told to do in director Bong Joon-ho’s latest sci-fi movie of the same name. “Being the shoe” is a metaphor. The people are the bottom of the bottom, lowest of the low, and should never seek to climb the ladder, or “try to be the head.”In the very back railcar, the lowliest passengers live on protein bars made of dea
July 23, 2013
-
Superman’s past, future takes spotlight at Comic-Con
SAN DIEGO (AP) ― Superman is among comics’ most recognizable characters, and 75 years after Cleveland teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster’s Kryptonian made his debut in the pages of Action Comics No. 1, his popularity remains stratospheric.At Comic-Con International, Superman’s presence could be seen everywhere ― from attendees wearing various incarnations of his many costumes to scenes from the television series, cartoons, films, and even in comic books.“Superman was the first comic book su
July 22, 2013
-
Box Office: Snowpiercer, The Wolverine, RED 2
SnowpiercerAction. Sci-Fi. Thriller. Directed by Bong Joon-hoOpening Aug. 1Based on the French novel “Le Transperceneige” by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette, the film is set in a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off almost all living things on Earth with the sudden onset of an Ice Age. Survivors are on the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine. As time passes a class system evolves on the train, the elites inhabit the carriages i
July 19, 2013
-
Michael Pena hopes family-friendly ‘Turbo’ will bowl over his son
For a guy who rarely goes bowling and is content with breaking 100 on the score sheet, Michael Pena ― best known for his roles in “Crash” and “End of Watch” ― sure carried himself like a big shot on the lanes last Monday. But it was all in good fun, other than the fact that Pena really wanted to win.“Are you nervous?” asked Pena, 37, before the first of our two embarrassingly low-scoring games at Lucky Strike Lanes in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood. “I feel like you’re nervous.”In addition
July 19, 2013
-
‘Cold Eyes’ smashes 4 million mark
Korean thriller film “Cold Eyes” attracted 4 million viewers in just 17 days, becoming the fifth domestic film to hit the record this year ― following box office hits “The Berlin File,” “Secretly Greatly,” “New World” and “Miracle in Cell No.7.”The star-studded film, which stars actors Sol Kyung-gu, Jung Woo-sung, and actress Han Hyo-joo, tells the story of a group of detectives specializing in surveillance activities on high profile criminals. In the film, they together try to arrest the member
July 19, 2013
-
Hong Sang-soo’s latest work to compete at Locarno film festival
Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s latest work has been invited to Locarno International Film Festival’s international competition section, the film’s local promoters said.The film, titled “Our Sunhi,” tells the story of a young film student named Sun-hi (played by actress Jeong Yoo-mi) who is about to leave Korea to study overseas. Before moving abroad, she visits two of her ex-boyfriends (played by Lee Sun-kyun and Jung Jae-young) and her professor named Choi (played by Kim Sang-jung). “Our Sunhi
July 18, 2013
-
Ha Jung-woo to direct film adaptation of Chinese novel
Popular actor Ha Jung-woo will direct and star in a film adaptation of famed Chinese author Yu Hua’s 1995 novel “Chronicle of a Blood Merchant,” Korean film house NEW said.The novel, which is set from the early years of the People’s Republic of China until after the Cultural Revolution in the early 1950s to the 1980s, deals with a man who sells his blood for many years to support his family. The upcoming movie will be the first film adaptation of the novel. Author Yu’s 1992 novel “To Live” was f
July 17, 2013
-
Bong Jun-ho’s ‘Snowpiercer’ sets record with presales to 167 countries
Even before its world premiere in Seoul on Aug. 1, director Bong Jun-ho’s “Snowpiercer” has already been sold to 167 different countries, CJ Entertainment said Tuesday, setting a presale record for a film by a Korean director.Film distributor The Weinstein Company secured the distribution rights for countries in North America, the U.K., New Zealand, Australia and other English-speaking nations. French film distributor Wildside, which in the past distributed Korean films such as “Thirst” (2009),
July 17, 2013
-
Annual genre film festival arrives in Bucheon
The annual Puchon (Bucheon) International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan), considered the largest genre film fest in Asia, opens this Thursday with 229 horror, fantasy, mystery and animated films from 44 countries.This year’s PiFan celebrates its 17th edition and includes a total of 53 world premieres. Its opener is Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman’s latest animated film “The Congress.” The filmmaker, who is best known for his 2008 animated documentary “Waltz with Bashir” ― which dealt with his own
July 16, 2013
-
Hugh Jackman talks ‘The Wolverine’
Following his visit to Seoul last year to promote “Les Miserables,” Australian actor Hugh Jackman made his fourth visit to the city, this time with the sixth installment in the X-Men Film series, “The Wolverine.”The actor, who made his first visit to Seoul in 2006 and his second in 2009, was appointed a goodwill ambassador for Seoul in 2009. “Actually, Korea is the only place in the world I can go out for dinner and it is still on my Wolverine diet ― that’s Korean barbecue,” the actor, who said
July 15, 2013