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August 26, 2015
The Hong-yi Games
The acting is better than the swordplay in Memories of the Sword
by Kristian Lin Fort Worth Weekly
Memories of the Sword Starring Kim Go-eun, Lee Byung-hun, and Jeon Do-yeon. Directed by Park Heung-sik. Written by Park Heung-sik and Choi Ah-reum. Not rated.
The same week that The Diary of a Teenage Girl expands to Tarrant County (see above review), another teen movie hits our theaters. It’s called Memories of the Sword, and even though it’s somewhat derivative, this attractive and well-acted South Korean film is the sort of the martial-arts adventure that fans of the genre (or moviegoers freaked out by the idea that teenage girls have sex) might be more comfortable with.
The highly convoluted plot is set roughly 1,000 years ago, where Hong-yi (Kim Go-eun) is as carefree as any girl can be who’s training to kill two specific people. She’s crushed when Sul-rang (Jeon Do-yeon), the blind woman who has raised her, reveals that she herself is one of her targets. Years ago, Sul-rang and her lover Duk-gi (Lee Byung-hun) led a popular uprising, only to betray their cause and murder Hong-yi’s real parents. Now the girl has to avenge them by killing the woman she thinks of as her mother, plus a man who’s an immensely skilled fighter and the head of the country’s military.
You can easily see the influences at work with director/co-writer Park Heung-sik. The swordfighters flying through the air recall Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, individual fight sequences are heavily influenced by scenes from the Kill Bill movies, and the historical pageantry and sumptuous costumes are reminiscent of Zhang Yimou’s Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The only time Park achieves the fluidity of those films is during the climactic sequence when Hong-yi stages a singlehanded assault on a heavily guarded castle. That almost compensates for the howler of a plot development when one character, having been run through with a sword, is cured by … acupuncture! Wow, those medieval Korean acupuncturists must have been really good.
Fortunately, this film has some of the best actors South Korea has to offer. Lee has shown off his fighting skills in Hollywood movies like Red 2 and Terminator Genisys. Here, he also gets to project streaks of sadism and thwarted love in his villain, and he’s particularly menacing in a scene when this traitor turns on his new boss and shows his true colors to an impotently spluttering king (Kim Tae-woo). Conversely, Jeon is better known as a dramatic actress — if you haven’t seen her soul-cleaving performance in Secret Sunshine, you need to — but she looks quite credible whether she’s handling a sword or playing the guilt-ridden teacher bringing retribution down on herself. Lee Kyeong-yeong contributes some badly needed comic relief as an old swordmaster who tutors our heroine to fulfill her mission. A lead actress needs a powerful presence to hold up in this company, and the relative newcomer Kim Go-eun is more than equal to the task, whether she’s slicing her way through the royal guard or getting drunk at a bar after discovering her family secret. These actors keep Memories of the Sword watchable and give us faith that we’ll see them in better projects. |
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August 27, 2015
'The Magnificent Seven' rides again
By Adrian Gomez / Asst. Arts Editor, Reel NM
Some Hollywood heavy hitters – seven of them – are coming to the Land of Enchantment.
Denzel Washington is returning to film “The Magnificent Seven” along with Chris Pratt, Cam Gigandet, Matt Bomer, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee and Peter Sarsgaard.
This version of the classic follows the story of seven outlaws and gunslingers who band together to defend people from a killer who owns most of their town. It is generally based on the 1960 motion picture of the same name, which starred Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach and Charles Bronson.
The film is another version of the cult classic “The Seven Samurai.” Washington and Hawke have both filmed in New Mexico and were a powerful pair in the good cop, bad cop hit “Training Day.”
According to the New Mexico Film Office, the production will employ about 275 New Mexico crew members, nine New Mexico actors and about 60 New Mexico background talents. The production will film at locations throughout the state.
“New Mexico is the perfect backdrop for this film, and our facilities, crew and talent will help this incredible lineup of stars tell a great Western story,” said Nick Maniatis, New Mexico Film Office director.
The film will be directed by Antoine Fuqua, who recently was at the helm of “Southpaw” and “The Equalizer.”
The production begins filming Wednesday at Santa Fe Studios and is looking for men, women and children with a “Western look” for background casting. A casting call is scheduled for Saturday at the Wild West Fest in Old Galisteo. It will run from 3 to 9 p.m.
Casting directors will also be on hand to take photos of potential extras to be considered for this and other New Mexico productions. Event entry is free for hopefuls who arrive in their cowboy or cowgirl finest. Headshots and casting registration sessions will be available throughout the day.
More information can be found at wildwestfestinoldgalisteo.eventbrite.com. |
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#TheMagnificentSeven #ChrisPratt #ByunghunLee
Photo credit: prattprattpratt (Thankyou Chris Pratt!)
Chilling on set with Korean superstar and all around great guy #ByungHunLee aka #BillyRocks of the #MagnificentSeven
800 horse falls!!! That's a new movie record!!!
A horse fall is a stunt. When a stuntman falls off a horse. We've done over 800 on this movie!! So far so good. No injuries. Man or horse. This movie is going to be incredible. More to come!
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September 7, 2015
Malaysia clears Korean banana-flavored milk
Source: The Korea Times
Korean food maker Binggrae's banana-flavored milk will be sold in Malaysia, after gaining certification as halal food, the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs said Monday.
The milk received halal certification in March and submitted the certification to the Malaysian government in June.
A total of 14.4 tons valued at $30,000 will be shipped at first, according to the ministry.
A Binggrae spokesman said the company would export 50 tons of the milk to Malaysia between now and the end of the year.
[email protected]
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September 7, 2015 Period Films Open Up the Era of 10 Million Admissions
How Period Films Became the Hottest Trend in Korean Cinema in the 21st Century? The hottest trend in Korean cinema today is "historical drama," Korean historical films, or Sageuk, which means costume dramas usually set in the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). Along with modern period dramas (a.k.a. shidaegeuk), costume dramas set in the 20th century, a more recent past, historical dramas have become the driving force for modern Korean films' strong box office performance. Their great performance is proven by data. Korean cinema went through a brief recess towards the end of the first decade in the 21st century, but since 2012 it became active again with the support from its strong domestic performance. Since the summer 2012 until present as many as 8 films have scored the symbolic box office record of 10 million admissions, and 5 of them are either Sageuk or shidaegeuk. Roaring Currents (2014), in particular, attracted 17.61 million viewers and became the biggest local film of all time, manifesting the power of Sageuk.
Faction Wins the Heart of the Audience, Balancing between Historical Facts and Imagination  The strongest advantage of historical films is that they offer the two most basic pleasures of cinema: narrative and characters. "Faction" took the period film genre to a more interesting dimension. Faction is a combination of fact and fiction that refers to a fictional story made up of imagination added to historical facts. To be sure, most sageuk adapts historical facts, but what makes faction more special is that in those stories, historical facts meet imagination at very subtle and unique moments. Masquerade (2012) is a good example. This movie digs a historical fact: the unrecorded 15 days of King Gwanghaegun. Then the imagination goes as far as to create a clown who looked just like the king and make him sit in the king's throne for the 15 days. Such a setting created a story that twists familiar historical facts and figures in a new perspective. As a result, it crossed the hit status of the 10 million admissions. Among the sub genres of sageuk, faction attracts the most viewers, and The Face Reader (2013) is definitely one of them. It is set during the political turmoil where Sooyangdaegun (who became King Sejo later) kicked out King Danjong, his own nephew to take the throne. The film shows how a face reader who attempted to go against history fails in the progress. Besides, many films stimulated curiosity of the audience by looking into the hidden side of history, including The Treacherous (2015) which is set during the time when King Yeonsangun executed a number of courtiers, Empire of Lust (2015) which depicts the "war of the princes" at the beginning of the Joseon dynasty, The Fatal Encounter (2014) that deals with the attempted assassin of King Jeongjo, I am the King (2012) that illustrates the crown prince days of King Sejong who is known to be the most revered king of Joseon, and Gabi (2012) that investigates the poisoning theory of King Gojong's death. These films may be called "palace dramas" in the sense that they depict the royal family, their close relatives and courtiers. In the past, these palace dramas dealt with more or less the proven history while more unofficial historical episodes weaved with imagination add much more flexibility to the story spectrums these days. |
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Casio Oceanus in Singapore #ByungHunLee #CASIO #PanAsiaAmbassador
Casio OCEANUS Pan-Asia Ambassador BYUNG-HUN LEE OCW-G1000 #casiosingapore #casio #oceanus #byunghunlee #korea #kpop #menstyle #elegance #with #beauty #solarpower #sapphireglass #titanium #band #MADE #IN #JAPAN #jemsg
Source: factoryjemsg / Google
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September 15, 2015
#TheMagnificentSeven #ByunghunLee has finished filming?
Our thanks for the highlight by wakadayo12 and LBH DC Gallery
Photo credit: halolorraine (Haley Bennett's instagram)
My heart is full. Until next time, safe journeys my friends #MagnificentSeven #AntoineFuqua #DenzelWashington #EthanHawke #ByungHunLee @prattprattpratt @manu_rulfo @sensmeier #LukeGrimes |
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Source: Blu-ray.com / Novamedia
Joint Security Area Steelbook
1) Pre-order date/time: 28th Aug, 2015 10AM (Korea Time, UTC+9)
2) Release date/time: 25th Sep, 2015
3) Price & Print run (Total print run = 4K)
- Full slip: 2,000 copies, numbered : $ 36.99
- Lenticular slip : 1,000 copies, numbered : $ 37.99
- Magnet Lenticular slip : 1,000 copies, numbered : $ 37.99
- Continuity book : $ 1.00 (around 300page)
- One click package : 200 copies, $111 (As same numbered Full slip + Lenticular slip + Magnet Lenticular Slip)
One click pre-order gift : 1x continuity book.
4) Package details
- 2D blu-ray disc (4k Remastering)
* Subtitles : English, Chinese1,2, Korean
* Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1ch, Commentary(DIRECTOR & ACTOR), Commentary(CAST & STAFF)
* Special Features (around 90mins)
- 36 pages booklet (English, Korean)
- 6x postcard
- 5x art card
Thank you.
Novamedia |
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Photo credit: Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (thank you so much!)
Thanks for dinner! #koreanstyle #korea #charles @216jung #byunghun
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September 18, 2015
'Memories of The Sword' Japanese Release on January 23, 2016
Source: Cinemart / Thanks to the highlight at PlanetBH0712
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September 21, 2015
Han Hyo Joo, Han Ji Min, and Han Ga In Renew Contract with BH Entertainment
Source: Soompi
Despite speculations that actresses Han Hyo Joo, Han Ji Min, and Ha Ga In would all leave BH Entertainment once their exclusive contracts ended in October, it has now been confirmed that all three have renewed their contracts, deciding to stay their agency.
The speculations that the actresses would leave were founded on the fact that reputation of BH Entertainment, which was formed by actor Lee Byung Hun, had been tarnished by the actor’s recent scandal. Also, while the actresses have been signed on as leads in films and movies during their time with BH Entertainment, none were huge hits.
However, a BH Entertainment rep revealed today that “Although their current contracts have yet to officially end, the three actresses, who have been with BH Entertainment for a long time, decided to renew their exclusive contracts on the foundation of unchanging confidence [in the agency].”
Source (1) |
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