The Korea Herald

[Herald Review] Grandma relives youth in ‘Miss Granny’

Jan 7, 2014

In spite of actress Shim Eun-kyeong’s impressive performance, Hwang Dong-hyuk’s latest
Hanks, Bullock, Streep honored in Palm Springs

Jan 6, 2014

PALM SPRINGS, California (AP) ― Sandra Bullock shared the painful results of Googling herself, Meryl Streep shadowboxed on-stage, and Tom Hanks braced for awards season’s “celebrity mule train” at the year’s first glitzy Hollywood gala. Matthew McConaughey, Julia Roberts, Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper were among the stars who cracked jokes and praised one another Saturday night at the opening of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, a desert warm-up of sorts for more closely watched indus
BIFF’s closing film gets theater release

Jan 5, 2014

“The Dinner,” the closing film of last year’s Busan International Film Festival, is finally hitting theaters this month, according to its distributor IndieStory.Directed by Kim Dong-hyun, the film is a drama about an ordinary Korean family facing a series of financial and other misfortunes. It was screened as a world premiere during BIFF last year.The film features an old married couple, who are financially dependent on their children. Yet all of their children have their own problems, often fin
Box office: Blue is the Warmest Color, Finding Mr. Right, Shirley ― Visions of Reality

Jan 3, 2014

Blue is the Warmest Color (France)Opening Jan. 16Romance. Drama. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos), an ordinary high school girl, falls for a woman with blue hair while walking on the street one day. The two run into each other again at a lesbian bar, and Adele learns that the blue haired girl’s name is Emma (Lea Seydoux) and that she is a college student majoring in fine art. Adele, who has never dated a woman before, eventually moves into Emma’s place, stating a rel
‘August: Osage County’ may be Oscar bait, but will anybody bite?

Jan 3, 2014

“August: Osage County” travels from the stage to the screen with much of its theatricality intact. Too much. For all the scenic prairie panoramas and lived-in look of the big, rural Oklahoma house that is the setting, it still feels like a play ― with Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and pretty much everybody else projecting to the back row.It’s a sharp-tongued melodrama of cruelty, comical cursing, “big scenes” and shocking revelations. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts kept it all in th
[Herald Review] Revisiting Roh Moo-hyun

Jan 1, 2014

‘The Attorney,’ taking cues from late president’s earlier days as a lawyer in the 1980s, attracts 5 million viewers in 12 days
‘Hobbit,’ ‘Frozen’ lead box office to record year

Dec 30, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Over the bustling post-Christmas weekend, Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” continued to lead the box office, landing in the No. 1 slot for the third weekend in a row.The Warner Bros. prequel earned $30 million, bringing the domestic gross to $190.3 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.Disney’s animated adventure, “Frozen,” took the No. 2 position, earning $28.9 million over the weekend and $248.4 million domestically after six weeks at the mult
Hollywood poised for best-ever box office year

Dec 29, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Despite a string of summertime flops, Hollywood is expected to have a banner year at the domestic box office, coming in just shy of $11 billion, the largest annual take ever. But because of higher ticket prices, actual attendance at North American theaters remained flat after a decade of decline.With the current domestic box office tally nearly 1 percent ahead of last year at this time, 2013 could surpass 2012’s overall haul of $10.8 billion by more than $100 million, accordin
Hollywood struggles against new film meccas

Dec 28, 2013

In the old days, filmmakers flocked to Hollywood for its abundant sunshine, beautiful people and sandy beaches. But today a new filmmaking diaspora is spreading across the globe to places like Vancouver, London and Wellington, New Zealand.Fueled by politicians doling out generous tax breaks, filmmaking talent is migrating to where the money is. The result is an incentives arms race that pits California against governments around the world and allows powerful studios -- with hundreds of millions
Eyelike: Beatles fans, rejoice: Box set from the Beatles

Dec 27, 2013

Beatles fans, rejoice: Box set from the BeatlesThe Beatles “On Air ― Live At the BBC, Vol. 2” (Universal)Beatles fans, rejoice: More live rarities from the Fab Four are on the way to stores.Nearly 20 years after the first volume of long-lost BBC recordings sold millions of copies, a second volume is here, and with it, a coffee table book with rare photos and heretofore unseen historical documents chronicling the band’s interaction with the BBC.Like the first volume, “On Air - Live at the BBC, V
Box office: Finding Mr. Right, Blue is the Warmest Color, The Attorney

Dec 27, 2013

Finding Mr. Right (China), Opening Jan. 1Romance. Comedy. Directed by Xue Xialou. Jiajia (Tang Wei), a pregnant woman from Beijing, arrives in Seattle to have her rich, married lover’s baby. Upon her arrival in the U.S., she heads to an illegal but comfortable maternity house run by a Taiwanese lady, where she intends to stay until the baby is born. For the first few months, Jiajia continues to enjoy her lavish lifestyle, thanks to her “unlimited” credit card provided by her lover back in China
CG effects do battle in 3-D ‘Dinosaurs’

Dec 27, 2013

Dinosaurs rule the earth in this big-budget 3-D feature update of the late ’90s TV show.A supersized riff on the acclaimed BBC series of the same name, “Walking with Dinosaurs” takes rewarding advantage of a much bigger budget and state-of-the-art technology to bring its impressive collection of Cretaceous creatures to vivid life.But while the walking part’s pretty impressive, the talking part ― not so much.Apparently convinced that the film’s young target audience wouldn’t be sufficiently engag
Period blockbusters to fill silver screens next year

Dec 26, 2013

‘Hyeopnyeo,’ ‘Battle of Myeongryang’ included in 2014 film lineup
Italian ‘Slave’ posters pulled amid racism claims

Dec 25, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― The U.S. studio behind Golden Globe-nominated historical drama “12 Years a Slave,” has asked the film’s Italian distributors to withdraw posters which triggered an online storm over alleged racism.Lionsgate did not specify why it was asking for the publicity material to be pulled, but a source linked to the Italian distributors said they were in the process of removing “unauthorized” posters of the movie, tipped for glory in Hollywood’s annual awards season.The Italian poster
Tang Wei returns to Korean theaters as pregnant woman

Dec 25, 2013

Celebrated Chinese star’s romantic comedy ‘Finding Mr. Right’ arrives in Korea