South Korean movie “Poetry” has been selected one of the best 10 movies of 2011 by CNN. “This South Korean film about a grandmother looking for grace in the midst of a sea of trouble is one of those slow-burners that stays with you,” reported the broadcaster about the film directed by Korean director Lee Chang-dong. Starring actress Yun Jung-hee as the heroine, the movie “Poetry” tells a story ...

This is the ninth in a series on up-and-coming Korean filmmakers. ― Ed. Talking to director Min Yong-keun is as if listening to a late night radio show. The calm, eloquent man knows how to talk about the stuff he loves, without boring the listener. And it’s not surprising to find out he used to be an avid radio listener as a child, and an ardent fan of late folk rock singer and radio DJ Kim Kwa...

NEW YORK (AP) ― Hollywood loves the Next Big Thing, and four years ago, that was Barack Obama, the equivalent of a breakout movie star. “He is ‘The One,’’’ said Oprah Winfrey, his biggest and most influential celebrity champion. “The best candidate I’ve ever seen,’’ said George Clooney. Halle Berry said she’d “collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear.’’ Black Eyed Peas front...

Wonderful Radio (Korea) Opening Jan. 5 Drama. Directed by Kwon Chil-in. Has-been star Jin-a (Lee Min-jung) works as a DJ for an unpopular radio show. Yet when the show’s new producer Jae-hyuk (Lee Jeong-jin) arrives, everything about the show is about to change. He wants to revise the show’s program without Jin-a’s consent. Jin-a, who isn’t quite ready to let go of her glory days, rebels agains...

Steven Spielberg, arguably the most popular filmmaker of the 20th century, meets his match this week: Steven Spielberg. He will be opening two highly anticipated films just days apart. On Wednesday comes “The Adventures of Tintin,” based on the globally popular comics, mixing adventure, slapstick, mystery and humor in photorealistic 3D animation. “War Horse,” a poignant live-action drama about a ...

“Theaters should be owned by the people who love movies,” she told reporters during a press conference. Kim Yong-gwan, best known for his sentimental shorts “How to Operate a Polaroid Camera (2004)” and “Monologue No. 1 (2006),” chose French director Alain Resnais’ 1959 film “Hiroshima mon amour.” “I recently took a trip to Japan and went to Fukushima,” Kim told reporters. “Things weren’t so we...

In a tight race for the No. 4 spot were David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and the family sequel “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.” “Dragon Tattoo” did $12.8 million over three days and $19.4 million for four days. “Chipwrecked” took in $12.7 million over three days and $20 million for four days. A few films debuted on Christmas Day, among them Spielberg’s World War I epic “...

‘Lovable’ director Park Chul-soon traces his creative roots This is the eighth in a series on up-and-coming Korean filmmakers. ― Ed. For anyone who has seen Park Chul-soon’s feature debut “Lovable,” a moving portrait of a young girl with Savant syndrome, it wouldn’t be surprising to discover the director full of playfulness. The 28-year-old’s debut, which won the best screenplay prize at Perso...

NEW YORK (AP) ― Sandra Bullock wasn’t looking to return to acting when Stephen Daldry called about “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.” Bullock’s last film, 2009’s “The Blind Side,” was the kind of career apogee of which most actresses dream, winning her a best actress Academy Award in what essentially amounted to a coronation of Bullock as America’s most beloved female movie star. But the acco...

My Way (Korea) Opened Dec. 21 Drama. Directed by Kang Je-gyu. It’s 1938 in Japanese-colonized Gyeongseong, what is now Seoul, and young Joon-sik (later played by Jang Dong-gun) works for a farm owned by a Japanese family. His dream is to participate in the Tokyo Olympics as a marathon runner. He soon learns that Tatsuo (later played by Joe Odagiri), the grandson of the farm owner, dreams of doi...

“Rooney who?” is not a question people will be asking much longer. On Tuesday at 7 p.m., David Fincher’s adaptation of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” ― the first installment in the U.S. version of Stieg Larsson’s mega-selling “Millennium Trilogy” ― opens in theaters. And there Rooney Mara will be, pale, pierced, and punked-out, hacking into encrypted databases, sleeping with Daniel Craig (and...