LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Digging into deep-pocket gluttony, Martin Scorsese’s dark comedy “The Wolf of Wall Street” highlights a world rich in drugs, fast cars and private jets. The American dream is amplified, yet those indulging in it are never satisfied.In the film’s opening segment, trading tycoon Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, declares, “Money is the best drug. It makes you a better person.” This was the motto fueling a host of hustling stockbrokers in the late 1980s and early 1990s

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― The battle for AP entertainer of the year came down to the Girl on Fire and the Queen of Twerk.Jennifer Lawrence edged out Miley Cyrus by one vote in the Associated Press’ annual survey of its newspaper and broadcast members and subscribers for Entertainer of the Year.There were 70 ballots submitted by U.S. editors and news directors. Voters were asked to consider who had the most influence on entertainment and culture in 2013.Lawrence won 15 votes. Cyrus had 14. Netflix was a

“The Attorney,” loosely based on the early years of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, set a Korean box office record for attracting more than 540,000 movie goers on Saturday, the highest gross attendance for a single day in December.According to the Korean Film Council, the directorial debut film of webtoon artist Yang Woo-seok drew 541,614 movie watchers on the day, far outnumbering its competitors “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and “About Time,” which marked 151,839 and 132,722, respecti

The Attorney Opened Dec. 18Drama. Directed by Yang Woo-seokIn 1981, Busan-based tax lawyer Song Woo-seok ends up defending young students who have been tortured for possession of “illegal” literature and suspicion of being communist sympathizers. Before getting involved in the case, Song had been very successful as a tax lawyer, but his experience defending the young men makes him consider specializing in human rights cases. The movie is loosely based on late President Roh Moo-hyun’s early years

Spike Jonze is reluctant to call his new film “Her” ― a melancholy romance about a man who falls in love with a sentient, learning and loving operating system ― “science fiction.”He doesn’t want to talk about technology and the modest leap it makes from our cloud- and smart phone-obsessed present to a digitally romantic future.“It’s not about technology,” he says. Then he corrects himself. “It is, obviously, ‘about’ technology. Just not to me. It’s such a big idea ― that you could, one day, have

A film inspired by former President Roh Moo-hyun has topped the local box office in just the first two days since its release, according to data released by the Korean Film Council on Friday.The data showed that “The Attorney” drew some 372,256 viewers on Wednesday and Thursday. The fictional film also accounted for 34.6 percent of movie reservations for this weekend, followed by Hollywood blockbuster film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” which only took 15.4 percent of reservations.The fil

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Just in time for a new movie about the making of “Mary Poppins,” the 1964 Disney classic starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke has been selected for preservation at the Library of Congress so future generations of Americans can see it.On Wednesday, the library inducted 25 films into the National Film Registry to be preserved for their cultural, historical or cinematic significance. This year’s selections include Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” the space race film “The Ri

American filmmaker Valerie Veatch talks high-tech Korean culture with new documentary

More than 200 million people were expected to have watched films in theaters this year as of Wednesday, setting a record in Korean cinema history. Last year, a total of 194,890,587 people hit theaters to watch films in Korea. Korean films alone attracted 118,160,000 viewers this year, exceeding last year’s record of 114,613,190. The market share of Korean movies also reached 59.1 percent this year, surpassing that of foreign films, which stood at 40.9 percent. This year saw releases of English-l

Popular local films draw more people to the movies

WELLINGTON (AFP) ― Director James Cameron announced Monday he will film three sequels to his record-breaking epic “Avatar” in New Zealand after striking a deal with the government for increased production subsidies.Cameron said the movies, with a combined budget of at least NZ$500 million ($415 million), would be shot back-to-back and released from late 2016.Aside from an increased subsidy that will account for up to 25 percent of the films’ budget, Cameron said New Zealand offered highly skille

The number of moviegoers is expected to break the 200 million mark this year, the Korean Film Commission said on Monday. The commission said local movie theaters sold 199.3 million tickets as of Dec. 15 and the figure would likely exceed 200 million by the end of this week, based on the average ticket sales on weekdays. Korean movies performed strongly this year, securing close to a 60 percent share in competition against big-budget Hollywood films.“Miracle in Cell No.7” emerged as the biggest K

James Cameron will be returning to New Zealand to film three sequels to ``Avatar,'' his enormously popular movie about the blue inhabitants of Pandora.The director made the announcement Monday in the capital Wellington with producer Jon Landau and Prime Minister John Key. The films will be made by Lightstorm Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox.``Avatar,'' released in 2009 and shot in New Zealand, won three Academy Awards and is the highest-grossing film in history, with an international box

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Opened Dec. 12 Adventure. Drama. Fantasy. Directed by Peter JacksonHobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) join 13 dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to travel into the Kingdom of Erebor. The group is on a mission to defeat the fierce and greedy dragon Smaug in order to reclaim the dwarves’ homeland, Erebor. The dwarves were once prosperous and lived with great wealth but their kingdom was sacked by Smaug,