Three big-name stars ― Jang Hyuk, Park Hee-soon and Ha Jung-woo ― have worked together to create what’s reportedly the first courtroom thriller in Korea. “The Client,” which is anticipated to be released in late September, aims to combine both drama and suspense with its character-driven narrative surrounding a murder trial where the dead body is missing. “This is a courtroom thriller and the t...

The Korean film industry’s production capabilities are extraordinary, but it is unfortunate that the content is still being made for Korean people, an American visual effects expert said at a forum Tuesday. Scott Ross, co-chairman of inDSP USA, a company specializing in converting 2-D motion pictures to 3-D, said content business is the future of all economies, including Korea. Ross is former c...

A has-been filmmaker who now teaches cinema in Daegu visits Seoul. He meets up with his long-time buddy, visits his old girlfriend, drinks and dines, gets talking with some people he’s just met, and falls for an attractive bar owner who strikingly resembles with his ex. Hong Sang-soo’s 12th film, “The Day He Arrives,” offers an interesting cinematic portrait of a frustrated and often pathetic ar...

ROME (AP) ― Filmmaker Sofia Coppola went back to her roots for her wedding, marrying rocker Thomas Mars in the remote, southern Italian town where her great-grandfather was born. Coppola’s famous filmmaker father, Francis Ford Coppola, escorted the 40-year-old Sofia down the aisle Saturday to a waiting Mars, lead singer of the French band Phoenix and the father of their two young daughters. The...

Hindsight (Blue Salt) (Korea) Opening Sept. 1. Drama. Action. Directed by Lee Hyun-seung. Doo-heon (Song Kang-ho), once a legendary figure in Busan’s organized crime scene, now wants to live a quiet life while hoping to run a restaurant of his own. One day, he meets Sebin (Shin Se-kyung), a daring and spunky young girl in his cooking class. She is a secret agent and a former shooting champion, ...

Emmy the Great “Virtue” (Close Harbor) Emmy the Great’s sophomore album “Virtue” shows the continuing expansion of Emma-Lee Moss’ songwriting abilities. Her tender approach and frisky wordplay make her easy on the ears. Moss and her backing band begin with “Dinosaur Sex,” a song two minutes too long but a fun track nonetheless. It’s either fossil fuels and the demise of Western civilization, ...

Linus’ Blanket “Show Me Love” Sony Music Indie band Linus’ Blanket has finally released its first studio album, 10 years after forming. The duo, consisting of singer-songwriter Yeongene and guitarist Lee Sang-jun, debuted with their EP album “Semester” in 2003 and released another EP “Labor in Vain” in 2005. With just two EPs, the band has made a meaningful impact on Hongdae indie music scene....

Jaurim “Conspiracy Theory” Neowiz Internet Rock band Jaurim, led by vocalist Kim Yoon-ah, released an eighth album “Conspiracy Theory” on Aug. 18, three years after “Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond” in 2008. With the album release, the band announced on its homepage, Twitter and Facebook that there will be hidden signs on its album cover serving as hints for solving a “conspiracy.” The “secret bullet...

Not a lot of love affairs, real or cinematic, can have it said of them that they end better than they begin. But “One Day” ends with a heartfelt flourish that was sorely missing from its first 90 minutes. This episodic romance works in fits and starts, and captures a bittersweet faux British turn by Anne Hathaway, plainly mismatched in being paired with real-life Brit Jim Sturgess (“The Way Back”...

Talking about making films and living his dream, director Lim Woo-seong frequently used the word “Magic.” “Making movies was always a distant dream that just seemed to belong to some other part of the world,” said director Lim Woo-seong, whose second film, “Scars” has been officially invited to Zabaltegi-New Directors section of the 2011 San Sebastian International Film Festival. “It’s magical ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Bradley Cooper‘s teenage tennis practice. Lady Gaga’s first communion. A young Scarlett Johansson decorating a Christmas tree. Ryan Reynolds goofing around with his high-school classmates. Country crooner Blake Shelton as a guitar-playing kid. Among the celebrities included in the expanded database are Jon Stewart, LeBron James, Justin Timberlake, Gwyneth Paltrow, George Cloon...

‘The Crucible’ to release in September starring Gong Yoo and Jung Yoo-mi When popular novelist Gong Ji-young started publishing her online serial novel “Dogani” (The Crucible) in 2008, readers were shocked that it was based on a real-life story. Inspired by the mass sexual abuse at a school for hearing impaired children in Gwangju from 2000 to 2004, the novel attracted more than 16 million onlin...