The Korea Herald

Disney prepares a toy offensive with ‘Infinity’

Aug 12, 2013

GLENDALE, California (AP) ― With cartoony posters plastering the walls and toy figures standing at attention on nearly every flat surface, a once ordinary conference room on Disney’s Glendale campus has been transformed into the colorful war room for “Disney Infinity,” the ambitious project from the company’s interactive division that combines real-life toy figures with virtual worlds.“This is like being in my bedroom,” says “Infinity” executive producer John Vignocchi while bouncing around the
Cho Jae-hyun wins acting prize at Montreal Film Festival

Aug 12, 2013

Actor Cho Jae-hyun won the best actor prize at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada, for his performance as a hunchback in director Jeon Kyu-hwan’s film “The Weight.”In the 2012 film, Cho plays a mortician who accepts the corpses of those who died without any family or friends to pay for the funeral. Cho is said to have agreed to star in the low-budget movie for free.Director Jeon won the Queer Lion prize at last year’s Venice International Film Festival for the m
Summer days with movies of all genres

Aug 11, 2013

2013 Cine-Vacances Seoul screens movies featuring everything from vampires to samurai at the film archive Seoul Art Cinema until Aug. 25
Box Office: The Flu, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Terror Live

Aug 9, 2013

The FluDrama. Action. Directed by Kim Sung-soo.Opening Aug. 14A deadly strain of the avian influenza virus H5N1 suddenly spreads, causing widespread destruction in Bundang, a city of high-rise apartments outside of Seoul. The disease infects its victims through the respiratory system and it takes only 36 hours for the infected to die. People are helpless against the airborne disease and the number of infected increases quickly, spreading chaos. As a precaution against the worst-case scenario, th
Tom Hanks films to open, close London Film fest

Aug 9, 2013

LONDON (AP) ― The London Film Festival is getting a double dose of Tom Hanks.Organizers announced Thursday that the festival will close Oct. 20 with “Saving Mr. Banks,” which stars Hanks as movie mogul Walt Disney.Hanks also plays the lead role in the festival’s opener, piracy thriller “Captain Phillips.”Based on real events, “Saving Mr. Banks” tells the story of the fraught page-to-screen journey of children’s classic “Mary Poppins.” Hanks plays the American filmmaker, with Emma Thompson as the
Long-lost Orson Welles film turns up in Italy

Aug 8, 2013

NEW YORK (AFP) ― A long-lost silent film directed by Orson Welles in 1938 has been recovered from a warehouse in northeastern Italy, where it will be screened in public for the first time in October.“Too Much Johnson” was originally intended to be shown as a prologue to a slapstick comedy at the Mercury repertory theatre in New York, but it was never finished.Until staff at the Cinemazero art house cinema in Pordenone, Italy found the work print in a warehouse earlier this year, it was thought t
‘The Terror Live’ to get North American release

Aug 8, 2013

After marking 2 million viewers within just six days of release, “The Terror Live” will be released in seven cities in North America starting on Aug. 9, the movie’s investment distribution company Lotte Entertainment announced Thursday. The North American premiere will take place at CGV theater in Los Angeles on Friday, followed by New York, Atlanta, Seattle, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Toronto. More screens may be added depending on the film’s performance. Meanwhile, nearly 3 million people have s
Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep to reunite for ‘The Good House’

Aug 7, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― More than a dozen years after their last film together, Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep will reunite on screen for an adaption of Ann Leary’s darkly comic small town New England tale, “The Good House.”De Niro and Streep memorably starred together in 1978’s “The Deer Hunter,” as well as 1984’s “Falling in Love” and 1996’s “Marvin’s Room.”FilmNation Entertainment announced Tuesday that it acquired the rights for “The Good House” from Jane Rosenthal, De Niro’s producing partner. She
Media Rating Board OKs screening of Kim Ki-duk’s controversial ‘Moebius’

Aug 7, 2013

The Korea Media Rating Board has lifted its ban on the screening of filmmaker Kim Ki-duk’s “Moebius” in Korea, after the director re-submitted the film twice and cut two minutes and 30 seconds from the original version. “Moebius” received an R rating, which prohibits teenagers under 18 from seeing the movie.The film initially received a “restricted screening” rating from the state-run rating agency in June, for its controversial subject matter ― especially for scenes that depict incestuous encou
Sci-fi film 'Snowpiercer' tops 4 mln viewer mark in record time

Aug 7, 2013

South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho's English language debut film, "Snowpiercer," has attracted more than 4 million viewers in seven days of opening, its local distributor said Wednesday.The film, starring top Korean actor Song Kang-ho alongside Hollywood thespians Chris Evans, Ed Harris and Tilda Swinton, attracted an accumulated total of just over 4 million viewers on Tuesday, according to CJ Entertainment.It took only seven days for the flick to surpass the milestone after opening, which if c
Makoto Shinkai’s latest work arrives in Seoul

Aug 6, 2013

‘The Garden of Words’ a touching tale of growing up and moving on
Sharon Stone happily unrecognizable in new role

Aug 6, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― Actors make physical transformations for roles all the time; it’s what they do. Still, many have found it truly stunning to see Sharon Stone ― who at 55 still looks unnervingly like the sleek, blonde, leg-crossing femme fatale she played two decades ago in “Basic Instinct” ― appear dark, severe, ungainly and nearly unrecognizable in “Lovelace.”“NOBODY recognized her,” says Amanda Seyfried, who plays Stone’s daughter, the “Deep Throat” star Linda Lovelace, in the film that opens F
Animated film showcases the power of manual drawings

Aug 4, 2013

Anime director Makoto Shinkai, known for his “5 Centimeters Per Second,” is set to unveil his new animated film “The Garden Of Words,” a coming-of-age story that draws upon the sentimental love between a young high-school boy and an older woman.Takao Akizuki, a 15-year-old boy who wishes to be a shoe designer, finds no motivation in life and struggles to pursue his dream. One rainy day, he encounters a mysterious woman at a Japanese garden. The spark in their first encounter lures them to retur
Sci-fi film 'Snowpiercer' draws 2.5 mln viewers in 4 days

Aug 4, 2013

South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho's box office hit "Snowpiercer" drew more than 2.5 million viewers in the first four days of its opening, a market tracker said Sunday. The film, starring top Korean actor Song Kang-ho alongside Hollywood thespians Chris Evans, Ed Harris and Tilda Swinton, attracted more than 840,000 viewers on Saturday, bringing the accumulated total to 2,506,969, according to the Korean Film Council. The number of local cinemas showing the movie also increased from 848 t
Box Office: The Place Beyond, The Terror Live, Snowpiercer

Aug 2, 2013

The Place Beyond the PinesCrime. Drama. Directed by Derek CianfranceOpened Aug. 1Motorcycle stunt rider Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) works in a traveling act for state fairs, barely makes ends meet. During the fair in New York, Glanton gets a visit from his ex-lover Romina (Eva Mendes) who recently gave birth to his son. Glanton quits his job as a stuntman to stay in town to provide for his family, but turns to robbing banks. This puts him on a collision course with ambitious rookie cop Avery Cro