I can only assume that “Sadako” (not to be confused with Sudoku) grossed a whopping $16.8 million in Japan—about the same amount as the American blockbusters “Battleship” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”—because of its loose connection with “Ringu,” which you may remember as the J-Horror hit that Hollywood remade into “The Ring.” But […]
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The highest grossing Korean film of all time, Dong-hoon Choi’s “The Thieves” has been repeatedly characterized by critics as its native country’s take on Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s 11” remake. While there are certainly surface similarities between the films—both deal with a band of robbers pulling off a major heist—the comparison hardly seems fair in that
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Certain literary works, especially those that traffic in the fantastical, are best left on the page because they cannot be brought to cinematic life in a manner that remains true to their original spirit. Presumably, this is the case with Qing Dynasty author Pu Songling’s “Erotic Ghost Story,” a beloved work in Chinese culture, but
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As a Southern California resident, I’ve long considered attending the annual Newport Beach Film Festival, but after watching “General Education,” which earned writer/director Tom Morris the “Breakthrough Filmmaker Award” at this year’s event, I think I can safely put that thought to bed. Any organization that would bestow such an honor upon this amateurish production,
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The long-awaited Blu-Ray release of David Lean’s 1962 epic “Lawrence of Arabia” will finally happen on November 13 (pre-order it here), but perhaps the more interesting piece of news is that the restoration is also headed for theaters. “One night only” digital presentations of older films have become common over the past few years, thanks
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If you spot someone over the age of 10 who has peed their pants this week, there’s a pretty good chance that he/she is a film buff who has just learned the news that Universal will soon be putting out a Blu-Ray set of 15 Alfred Hitchcock classics, 13 of which have never received the
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