Keb Mo “The Reflection” Yolabelle International/Ryko/Warner Music Group With bluesy guitars, groovy Hammond organs, and Keb Mo’s rich, smoky voice, “The Reflection” is a warm, mellow ride from start to finish. Like a smooth-jazz station all its own, “The Reflection” is never rowdy or boastful. It just cruises along at an easy pace, like a Sunday morning when you’ve got nowhere to go, as Mo mus...

John Hiatt “Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns” New West Records A charming photo in the CD booklet for “Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns” shows John Hiatt in profile wearing a toothy grin, and why not? On his 20th solo album, Hiatt remains at the top of his game. There are no surprises left in his musical toolbox at this point, but that’s OK because it’s a big toolbox. Hiatt dresses up these 11 ex...

Trace Adkins “Proud To Be Here” Show Dog-Universal On his previous album, Trace Adkins came out stomping and snarling like a riled-up snake, creating the hardest-rocking album of his career. But the album failed to generate any top 10 hits. Understandably, on his new collection “Proud To Be Here,” the tall country star returns to what he does best, using his deep, gruff baritone to lend philo...

Helen, the Baby Fox (Japan) Opening Aug. 18. Drama. Directed by Keita Kono. Taichi, a little boy who does not have many friends at school, lives with his mother alone. Soon, his working camerawoman mother moves to another town for a project by herself and makes Taichi to live with her boyfriend, Yajima, while she is gone. As Taichi lives with Yajima, he finds a fox cub alongside a road in the t...

Viola Davis didn’t want to wear the uniform. The Oscar-nominated actress was thrilled at the chance to star in “The Help,” the film based on the best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett. But it was a movie about maids in the Jim Crow South. And “I had to get past the fact that I’d be playing a maid.” It’s an image heavy with history and meaning ― the black maid in uniform ― raising upper-class wh...

EBS event to screen 51 documentaries on TV and in theaters A total of 51 documentary films from 29 countries will be screened on TV and in theaters in Seoul this month, along with educational workshops and pitching sessions for newly emerging filmmakers. The 8th EBS (Educational Broadcasting System) International Documentary Festival kicks off on Aug. 19 with a variety of programs that celebrat...

For the past six years, Korean and American university students have gathered at Ewha Womens University to participate in the Harvard Summer School in Seoul program. This summer, the program offered for the first time “Cinema Seoul: Documenting Korea Through Film,” a course that presented students with the opportunity to view Korean history and culture from a different perspective ― behind camer...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ― There were no buyers Sunday at the auction of a 1940s stag film that an events promoter claims shows a young Marilyn Monroe having sex before she became a movie star. The auction was a flop. Nobody came forward willing to pay Mikel Barsa’s starting price of 2 million Argentine pesos, about $480,000. Barsa said it didn’t help matters that a spokeswoman for Monroe’s...

Blind (Korea) Opening Aug. 11 Thriller. Directed by Ahn Sang-hoon. A female university student goes missing one day and later is discovered as a victim of a hit-and-run. Assuming the kidnapper and the driver are the same person, the police begin their investigation but fail to capture the criminal. They then find there were two witnesses at the scene: Soo-ah (Kim Ha-neul), a visually impaired w...

Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon (Korea) Opening Aug. 11 Action. Directed by Kim Han-min. When the second Manchu invasion of Korea occurs in 1636, a young man named Na-mi (Park Hae-il) loses her sister Ja-in (Moon Chae-won) and her fianc on their wedding day. The Qing soldiers kidnap the couple after completely demolishing the town. Having a natural talent in archery, Na-mi takes the bow that used t...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (U.S.) Opening Aug. 17 Action. Directed by Rupert Wyatt. Will Rodman (James Franco), a San Francisco-based scientist whose father (John Lithgow) suffers from Alzheimer’s, develops a cure for the disease and tests it on apes. Rodman takes one of the tested baby chimpanzees, Caesar (Andy Serkis), to his house and starts to live with him. As the time passes by, Caes...

Larry Crowne (U.S.) Opening Aug. 18 Romance. Directed by Tom Hanks. Larry (Tom Hanks), a mid-aged man who just got fired from his work for lacking a college education, decides to attend a local community college to find more career opportunities. As a divorce who lives alone, Larry almost lost his house as he couldn’t find another job right away. Yet as he begins his college life, he soon start...

Hong Gil-dong 2084 (Korea) Opening Aug. 18 Animation. Directed by Lee Jeong-in. In 2084, a young man named Hong Gil-dong lives with a little boy named Cheol alone near a city named Yuldo. Gil-dong was abandoned by his older brother Il-dong as a child, and had to live on his own ever since. One day, Gil-dong happens to save the life of Ha-ryeong, a beautiful female warrior who was in danger in t...