LOS ANGELES ― A South Korean mega-hit movie about a 16th-century Korean admiral’s astonishing victory over Japanese naval forces became the top-selling Korean film that has ever been shown in North American theaters, earning more than U.S. $2.58 million, the movie’s distributor said Sunday.The film, “Roaring Currents,” posted the box-office haul nearly four months after it was released in 30 cinemas in the United States and Canada on Aug. 15 under the title “The Admiral: Roaring Currents,” accor

BUENOS AIRES ― A biographical film on Pope Francis’s childhood and life as a cardinal and archbishop before becoming pontiff will be shot next year in his native Argentina, producers said Friday.The pope will be played by Dario Grandinetti, a prolific 55-year-old actor who gained international recognition with his 1992 film “The Dark Side of the Heart” and is also known for his role in Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s 2002 film “Talk to Her.”Filming will begin in January under Spanish director

It’s been a while since we’ve received a memorable western. It’s been a very long time since one was as unforgettable as “Unforgiven” or “True Grit.” And one that is at once an 1850s feminist epic, a morbidly amusing prairie farce and a revisionist action-adventure yarn is pretty much unheard of.That’s exactly what Tommy Lee Jones gives us in “The Homesman,” the spiky and relevant pioneer fable he directed and cowrote. He also costars with Hilary Swank and a cast including John Lithgow, Meryl St

Five Eagle Brothers (Korea)Opened Dec. 4Comedy, Thriller. Directed by Jeon Hyung-joon.The film “Five Eagle Brothers” is the story of five half-siblings who always bicker and fight in a village named Deoksuri. One day, their parents suddenly disappear from the village and the quibbling siblings are given a mission to search for their parents. Actors Yoon Sang-hyun, Song Sae-byeok and Hwang Chan-sung of K-pop boy band 2PM star as the brothers. Big Match (Korea)Opened Nov 26Action, Comedy. Directed

Reese Witherspoon finds a role worthy of her in “Wild,” playing a woman who hikes her way out of a tragic past, one painful, traumatic step at a time.A find-yourself-by-testing-yourself drama in the “Into the Wild” or “The Way” mold, “Wild” sends Cheryl (Witherspoon) on a self-imposed spiritual quest to make amends for the damage she’s done to herself and others. A hiking novice with a writerly bent, she is drowning in a quagmire of needle drugs and degrading sexual encounters when she sets out

Young-sun (Moon So-ri, left) and Mori (Kase Ryo) in a scene from “Hill of Freedom” (Cluecian)Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s latest work, “Hill of Freedom,” won the Golden Montgolfiere Award, the highest prize at the Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes, France, on Tuesday.The annual film festival is devoted to introducing outstanding films from Asia, Africa and South America. “Hill of Freedom,” Hong’s 16th film, depicts the Japanese man Mori, played by Kase Ryo, who returns to Korea to tr

Actor talks about recent film ‘Five Eagle Brothers'

World War II, for those a little rusty on their history, wasn’t won by Brad Pitt or General Patton or Captain America. It was won by a bunch of nerds led by a socially inept, puzzle-obsessed mathematical genius who also happened to be homosexual at a time when homosexuality was illegal in Great Britain.Their work, breaking enemy codes, was “Ultra” secret, the ultimate secret of the war. Ironically, it was entrusted to a man who was already quite accomplished at keeping secrets in his personal li

’Tis clearly the season for Oscar-worthy performances by British actors playing mathematical geniuses facing daunting personal odds. Sound overly specific? Consider: A few weeks ago we had “The Theory of Everything,” starring Eddie Redmayne as the brilliant physicist Stephen Hawking. And now we have Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game” as Alan Turing, the man chiefly responsible for cracking the vaunted Enigma code used by the Germans in World War II. But even though Turing literally cha

Big Match (Korea)Opened Nov 26Action, Comedy. Directed by Choi HoWhen Choi Ik-ho (Lee Jung-jae), a professional mixed martial arts fighter, finds out that his brother Choi Young-ho (Lee Sung-min) has suddenly disappeared, he receives a mysterious call from a genius named Ace (Shin Ha-kyun). Ik-ho is forced to become a marker inside a special game designed by Ace for wealthy gamblers. Ik-ho has no choice but to play this real-time life-or-death game if he wants to save his brother and his own lif