Film & Entertainment BlogWatch
Most of the blogs on this page are film-related, but Mark Russell’s Korea Pop Wars is a bit broader. If you know of any other film blogs with a specifically Korean angle, let me know.
Posted 45 hours ago: Why do Koreans love The Mummy franchise? Despite horrid reviews around the world and a pretty mediocre opening in the United States, THE MUMMY 3 had one of the strongest openings of the year, with about 2.1 million admissions (or about $13.5 million). Note: THE MUMMY RETURNS has just 2.3 million admissions in its entire seven-week run, back in 2001 ... [
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Posted 3 days ago: I want to update this week's box office, but for some reason KOBIS is being really slow this week. The official government site is indicating last weekend's top film, MUMMY 3, had about 240,000 admissions. But Universal Pictures International says that MUMMY 3 sold about 2.1 million tickets (about $13.5 million), which is rather radically different. Maybe the person in ... [
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Posted 4 days ago: Not a lot of updates again. And, yeah, I know I sound like a broken record about that. But at least my excuse this time is a little more interesting -- I have, at last, received the galleys for POP GOES KOREA. Currently going through them, catching all the errors I can, ponder whether certain items have gone out of ... [
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Posted 9 days ago: Sorry for not writing much these days (yet again). Been very busy with a bunch of fun and interesting projects. Might try to write about some of them some time soon. But in the meantime, here is the latest Korean box office. As you can see, THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD is holding up nicely. Distributor CJ Entertainment says ... [
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Posted 17 days ago: No surprise, THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD was the top film last weekend, pulling in about 2.2 million admissions since it opened on Thursday. That is good enough to be about the third-best opening for a Korean film ever (after D-WAR and THE HOST). It is also behind PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 3 and SPIDER-MAN 3. Still, good company.John ... [
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Posted 19 days ago: Oh my god. The trailer is out for WATCHMEN. You can have your DARK KNIGHT. You can enjoy your THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD. But this trailer for WATCHMEN is absolutely gorgeous. And it looks exactly like the comic book.Now, if only someone would make MIRACLEMAN into a movie... [
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Posted 20 days ago: This year's Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) kicked off last night. So naturally it is raining now. Taking place during Korea's rainy season, PiFan is usually a pretty wet festival. Not that I mind -- anything to keep temperatures down makes me happy.PiFan opened with the animated film WALTZ WITH BASHIR, which I quite liked, despite the depressing subject ... [
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Posted 3 weeks ago: John Woo's epic RED CLIFF got off to a pretty good start last weekend, as it had the biggest opening weekend for any Chinese-language film ever in Korea. With over 800,000 admissions in its first four days, distributor Showbox thinks it might be able to make it to 3 million admissions before its run is over, which would make it ... [
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Posted 4 weeks ago: I have now seen THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD - twice! - and I can confirm that Kim Jee-woon's "eastern Western" is a heck of a lot of fun. Lots of great action from beginning to end (with three major action sequences that kick some serious butt), very few slow spots, plenty of laughs throughout -- everything you would ... [
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Posted 4 weeks ago: A good opening for HANCOCK in Korea, with a solid $6.5 million weekend. Koreans seem to like Will Smith (like pretty much everybody on the planet). I thought HANCOCK was okay... did not like Smith as the surly drunk (found it most unbelievable). But the movie from the big surprise to the climax was fun and interesting. Plus it has ... [
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Posted 5 hours ago: I don’t usually comment on fashion, usually because I don’t care enough about what makes fashion “good” or “trendy” or “cutting-edge.” But I DO know bad fashion when I see it, and while I was scrolling through a bunch of the latest photos hitting the (internet) wire, I was taken aback by how uniformly bad things looked at the Gucci ... [
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Posted 8 hours ago: Kim Min-hee poses in red for a scene in the upcoming KBS rom-com series Love Marriage. This recent shoot took place in a club in Seoul’s trendy Apgu neighborhood, wherein Kim wore clothing and accessories totaling a cost of 25 million won, or approximately $25,000. Apparently the fashionista actress handles much of the styling of her own character in the ... [
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Posted 22 hours ago: Sorry for the delay. I had no intention of dropping My Sweet Seoul, but I also found myself dragging my feet to keep watching. I’ve had a hard time working up the interest, even though I do think the drama is high-quality. Strange dichotomy, that. I wish I could like the series, I really really wish I could. But I ... [
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Posted 27 hours ago: 2007 Miss Korea Lee Ji-sun crowns the new Miss Korea, Na Ri. The 52nd Miss Korea Pageant took place on August 5 in Seoul, at which Na Ri was awarded the top prize. Additionally, the two Miss Korea sun (선) finalists were Choi Bo-in and Kim Min-jung. The four Miss Korea mi (미) finalists were Kim Hee-kyung, Lee Yoon-ah, Jang ... [
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Posted 32 hours ago: Summer is the season for chilly gothic and horror entertainment, so KBS takes the post-Women in the Sun time slot to launch its new horror series, Hometown of Legends, as its Wednesday-Thursday programming for the month of August. Or, should I say, new OLD series. There was an earlier version that aired in the late ’90s, which had approximately 70 ... [
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Posted 41 hours ago: A lot better than the previous episode, since all the stuff that was set up in Episode 15 starts to play out now. (Still no Zorro, Orroz, or fancy horse tricks, though. I’m being patient — they’re probably winding up for the big finish, with four episodes remaining — but I’d better have me some action shenaniganery back in full ... [
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Posted 2 days ago: Way back in January, actor Song Il-kook had a run-in with a female reporter, Kim Soon-hee, leading to some pretty ugly allegations. Their confrontation reportedly arose when she asked the actor for an interview and he refused. While he stuck to his statement that he hadn’t touched her, that their shirt sleeves hadn’t even skimmed as they passed each other, ... [
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Posted 2 days ago: A couple more photos have been released in promotion for the upcoming broadcast of cable program Kim Haneul’s Travel Diary in Italy, which airs on August 6 and 13 as an On Style and ETN joint production. Kim Haneul filmed the show back in April and traveled through Florence, Milan, Montalcino, and other well-known Italian cities. The camera follows the ... [
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Posted 3 days ago: Jo Hyun-jae follows Jae Hee and Lee Ki-chan for army duty on August 5. I kind of love the image above, drawn up by fans depicting a combat boot shackled (with love!) to a traditional woman’s gomushin shoe. (The poster is one of many produced by his fan club Ever Jo Hyun-jae, and the words above the shoe-couple read “We’ll ... [
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Posted 3 days ago: This was an episode with a lot of maneuvering for future conflicts. That means that there are a lot of things going on, and we see lots of hints at what’s to come — but as an individual episode, it wasn’t as fun as I’ve come to expect of Chil Woo. It was necessary, yes, but not as goofy. I ... [
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Posted 3 months ago: With the persistent problems with the Korean press in the past (film_blog/portraits/the_strange_ca~ Then again, he has a consistent record of getting recognition from foreign critics and audiences: he received the Best Director awards at the Berlin International Film Festival, for Samaria (2004) and at the Venice Film Festival 3-Iron (2004). So honors are nothing new for him, but a major ... [
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Posted 3 months ago: Happy happy joy joy Korean TV and film stars celebrated... themselves, I suppose, for The 44th PaekSang Arts Awards (http://isplus.joins.com/100sang/) last week (Thursday, April 24) in Seoul (aired on SBS), and the greater good of all things screen-related, big and small. Not much to say about the "content", since I must admit I haven't seen a whole lot of the ... [
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Posted 3 months ago: One of my colleagues - a true connaisseur of all things anime - brought this to my attention yesterday: Studio Flying, the animation team that worked on Aachi & Ssipak, is coming back with a spectacular-looking project, Mad Monkey. The format if the film is basically a series of 3 OAVs (70 minutes total) that will be directly released on ... [
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Posted 4 months ago: I have not had the occasion to comment on the hallyu (Korean Wave) panel that I had the chance to moderate, on August 23rd. Nor did I have much time to blog much, of late... swamped as I was in my recent duties. At any rate, since I am evoking the “Is the Korean Wave dead” roundtable, I should mention ... [
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Posted 4 months ago: I have not had the occasion to comment on the hallyu (Korean Wave) panel that I had the chance to moderate, on August 23rd. Nor did I have much time to blog much, of late... swamped as I was in my recent duties. At any rate, since I am evoking the “Is the Korean Wave dead” roundtable, I should mention ... [
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Posted 4 months ago: The New York Korean Film Festival 2007, presented by Helio and organized by The Korea Society: Paradise Murdered will be screened on - Tuesday, August 28th 2007, 9:00 PM. At the IFC Center The tiny but lively community that lives on the remote island nicknamed “Paradise Island” (Gukrak-do) is, as the epithet suggests, a peaceful, almost utopian micro-society. Or would ... [
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Posted 4 months ago: On Thursday, August 23, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm, I will be moderating a panel discussion with: Kim Yong-Hwa (director of the blockbuster comedy, 200 Pound Beauty) Michael Huh (vice president, ImaginAsian TV) Robert Cagle (assistant professor of cinema studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Recent years have seen a wave of Korean pop culture (hallyu) sweep across Asia as ... [
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Posted 4 months ago: The New York Korean Film Festival is having its second Short Film program on August 30th at Cinema Village. The theme of this year’s edition is: Universality. The purpose is “to honor the works, which communicate and connect with various culture and audience by sharing something that is core in life.” “In Your Eyes”, one of the animation finalist After ... [
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Posted 4 months ago: The New York Korean Film Festival 2007, presented by Helio and organized by The Korea Society: Unstoppable Marriage will be screened as an International Premiere on - Friday, August 24th 2007, 4:40 PM. At Cinema Village - Wednesday, August 29th 2007, 9:00 PM. At Cinema Village Unstoppable Marriage is director Kim Sung-Wook’s first movie and a good piece of romantic ... [
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Posted 4 months ago: Tazza: the High Rollers (http://www.koreasociety.org/conten~ will be screened on - Saturday, August 25th 2007, 9:00 PM. At Cinema Village - Sunday, September 2nd 2007, 6:00 PM. At BAM Rose Cinemas By some odd coincidence, as I was looking for the Japanese title of Tazza for some work I had to do in the prospect of the upcoming festival, I came ... [
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Posted 3 days ago: You may have noticed that there is no tenth ranked movie in Jeonju this week…that is because only 9 films opened in the entire North Jeolla Province!–Mummy 3 took up more than a third of all screens so there was no room for anything else. ———-Coming This Week To Korean Theaters———- A Better Tomorrow (hk)- d. John Woo, starring Yun ... [
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Posted 8 days ago: Here are the next ten films of the 203 movies produced in Korea in 1971. Click the thumbnail and enlarge the new picture that comes up to view a legible image. [
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Posted 9 days ago: Kim Jeong-yong was born in Yangju, a city in Kyeonggi Province, on November 9, 1938. Several years after graduating from high school, Kim was able to get a job in the movie industry as a cameraman and scripter. He worked under the likes of Shin Sang-ok, Lee Gyu-bong, Ku Yi-bong and Na Bong-han until he debuted with his own film, ... [
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Posted 10 days ago: ———-Coming This Week to Korean Theaters———- Boot Camp (us)-d. Christian Duguay, starring Mila Kunis, Gregory Smith An Eye For An Eye (kr)- d. Kwak Kyeong-taek, starring Han Seok-gyu, Cha Seung-won www.eye2008.co.kr Last Mistress (fr/it)- d. Cahterine Breillat, starring Asia Argento, Fu’ad Ait Aattou www.prevision.kr Mummy 3 (us)- d. Rob Cohen, starring Brendon Fraser, Jet Li http://mummy2008.kr The U.S. vs. John ... [
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Posted 12 days ago: Recently, a collection of Kim Ki-yeong’s films were released onto DVD by the Korean Film Archives. The four disk set includes Goryeojang (1963), Promise of the Flesh (1975), Ieodo (1977) and today’s topic Insect Woman (1972). While the other films in this collection will eventually get reviewed, I started with Insect Woman because its plot seemed very familiar to me. ... [
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Posted 13 days ago: Here are the next ten movies produced in Korea in 1971. Click the thumbnail and then expand the picture more by clicking to arrow that appears in the lower corner to see a legible image. Of special interest among these is the I Want to Be In Your Arms Again (71-63) which describes an inter-racial marriage. Earlier, there had been ... [
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Posted 14 days ago: Director Song Yeong-su was born in Seoul in 1942. He attended Hanyang University majoring in Theater and Film. He was a pupil of such great directors as Lee Jang-ho, Ko Yeong-nam and Jo Moon-jin. He worked under them and other directors for a decade as an assistant director starting in 1969 with Director Jo’s film Young Women to 1976 with ... [
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Posted 15 days ago: As expected, The Good The Bad And The Weird dominated the box office taking an astouding 60+ percent. However, although the film looks good and the acting is excellent..the story is rather weak and fairly standard. Nonetheless, it is likely to remain in thenumber one position for another week or so. Coming this Week to Korean Theaters 100 Feet (us)–d. ... [
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Posted 3 weeks ago: Take a fast-talking con-artist, a sultry cat burglar, an army on the verge of defeat, a pair of freedom fighters far over their heads and a diamond the size of your fist purported to possess divine powers. Place them in one of the most turbulant times in history and mix in a hearty dose of comedy and snappy patter. What ... [
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Posted 3 weeks ago: ———-Coming This Week To Korean Theaters———- Doraemon: The Movie (jp) - d. Yukio Teramoto www.doraemon2008.co.kr The Good, The Bad and The Weird (kr)- d. Kim Ji-woon starring: Song Kang-ho, Lee Byeong-heon www.3nom.co.kr note: This will be screened with English subtitles at the Yongsan CGV and now holds the record of being the most expensive Korean film made to date at ... [
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Posted 5 months ago: Review by Darcy Paquet Forever the Moment Handball is not the most glamorous of sports, which may explain why Forever the Moment ranks as the world's first handball movie. But like any sport, it can offer up moments of drama, as when the South Korean women's handball team competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The efforts of the players made ... [
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Posted 5 months ago: Review by Kyu Hyun Kim Wide Awake Wide Awake takes one of the real-life medical mysteries -- patients who remain fully conscious (and responsive to pain) but paralyzed during operations, called "intraoperative awareness" -- and weaves a revenge-motivated mystery plot around it. (According to experts this happens shockingly more often than we think -- approximately 20,000 to 40,000 surgery patients ... [
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Posted 6 months ago: An Interview with Bong Joon-ho by Giuseppe Sedia Born in 1969 in Daegu, Bong studied sociology at Yonsei University in Seoul. In 1994-1995 he attended the Korean Academy of Fine Arts, where he produced his first short films. His first feature-length movie, Barking Dogs Never Bite ("Flanders-ui gae") won the Fipresci Prize at the Hong Kong Film Festival in 2001. ... [
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Posted 6 months ago: Review by Adam Hartzell The Salaryman (1962) Early on in Lee Bong-rae's The Salaryman, our patriarch (Kim Seung-ho) is placed in an ethical dilemma enable the boss in his plan to embezzle money from the company, or get fired. Within these limited choices imposed by those in power over his well-being, he chooses the latter. Having given his last ... [
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Posted 6 months ago: Someone Behind You Ka-in (Yun Jin-seo, Old Boy) is a high school student, adept at fencing, with loving parents, a pretty younger sister and a hunky med-student boyfriend (Yi Ki-woo, Tale of Cinema). Everything seems to be perfect, until one day her aunt suffers a terrible accident on her wedding day. She is then graphically stabbed to death by another ... [
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Posted 7 months ago: 2008.01.03: Top news stories of 2007 Since these days I haven't been able to keep up with the old news pages or newsletter, I thought I would take this chance to look back at the top news stories of 2007 (from my perspective, at least). It's been an eventful year, as always! #1. Crisis, Crisis, Crisis. The never-ending news story ... [
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Posted 7 months ago: Review by Adam Hartzell Resurrection of the Butterfly I don't require a film to be completely inspiring and profound. I prefer it to be, but when a film provides a lackluster or non-existent impact, I encourage myself to see what significance might remain for the film in the course of a review rather than focus exclusively on the critical slam. ... [
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Posted 7 months ago: Review by Darcy Paquet Shadows in the Palace The Joseon Dynasty palace is divided into parts, like the chambers of a heart. One part belongs to the women -- or more accurately, the women of the palace belong to this space (Gungnyeo, meaning "palace woman," is the Korean title of the film). Sworn into secrecy, submission, and celibacy, the women ... [
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Posted 7 months ago: Review by Kyu Hyun Kim Paradise Murdered 1986. A group of men are fishing while listening to a live broadcast of the Asian Games. One of their poles snags on a big clamper, and the owner pulls on it delightedly. Splat! The decomposed head of a guy lands in the kettle where ramen noodles are boiling. The men scream their ... [
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Posted 8 months ago: 2007.12.01: Thoughts as the year nears its end There's a very interesting, wide-ranging debate going on over at the Korean Film Discussion Board about where Korean cinema stands now after ten years of growth and commercial development. Have commercial pressures overwhelmed the industry? Creatively, does Korean cinema provide any meaningful alternative to Hollywood at this point? What can we expect ... [
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Korean Artists Association
