News

Exclusive: Poldark star Aidan Turner is to play a doctor with a dark side in a new drama for ITV from Bodyguard and The Pembrokeshire Murders producer World Productions.

The British broadcaster has ordered a small-screen adaptation of Michael Robotham’s novel The Suspect.

The five-part series will also star Shaun Parkes (Small Axe), Sian Clifford (Fleabag), Camilla Beeput (Peep Show), Adam James (Doctor Foster) and Anjli Mohindra (Vigil).

The series is being written by Gangs of London writer Peter Berry.

It follows Doctor Joe O’Loughlin, played by Turner, who appears to have the perfect life – a devoted wife, a loving daughter, successful practice as a clinical psychologist, media profile and a publishing deal. He’s even a hero online after rescuing a young patient who was ready to jump from the tenth floor of the hospital where Joe works.

When a young woman is found in a shallow...

Relying on the field of history within a film can be a double-edged sword, for the success of such an endeavor may shed some much needed or new light into a country’s past and present, but can also fall flat when the focus is too much on pathos and the understanding of events on a superficial level. In his home country of South Korea, director Won Shin-yeon’s film “The Battle: Roar to Victory” has already been one of the commercially most successful films of his career. Given his previous films, such as “The Suspect”, the director has proven his predilection for the genre film while also exploring interesting topics within Korean society, for example, the troubled relationship with North Korea.

“The Battle: Roar to Victory” will screen at Florence Korea Film Fest 2020

At the core of “The Battle: Roar to Victory”, we have one of the most important...

The director of Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies, Pearl Jam’s Jeremy and many more reflects on his career and some of the movies that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Arlington Road (1999)

The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

Firewall (2006)

The Orphanage (2007)

Nostalgia (2018)

Avatar (2009)

Titanic (1997)

Chef (2014)

The Laundromat (2019)

Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)

Demonlover (2003)

Under The Sand (2000)

Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Under The Skin (2013)

The Great Beauty (2013)

Slap Shot (1977)

Network (1976)

Straw Dogs (1971)

The Pawnbroker (1964)

Star Wars (1977)

The Exorcist (1973)

Jaws (1975)

The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)

All The President’s Men (1976)

Liquid Sky (1982)

The Brother From Another Planet (1984)

City Of Hope (1991)

Stop Making Sense (1984)

Snowpiercer (2013)

The Flintstones (1994)

Matinee (1993)

Batman (1989)

Transformers (2007)

A History Of Violence (2005)

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

Psycho (1960)

Psycho (1998)

Mandy (2018)

Phantom Thread (2017)

Magnolia (1999)

Boogie Nights (1997)

The Master (2012)

There Will Be Blood (2007)

The Mustang (2019)

Inherent Vice (2014)

The New World (2005)

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

The Last Word (2017)

Cocaine Cowboys (2006)

The Burglar (1957)

What Lies Beneath...

The bomb that blew a hole in Richard Jewell’s life — the bomb that killed two people and injured 111 others in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park in 1996 — was small enough to fit into a large green backpack. But it was dense and deadly with metal piping and nails.

And somewhere inside, its clock was counting down.

From afar, the bomb could escape notice. Close up, though, and the threat was terrifying: Federal officials called it the largest such explosive device they had ever seen, weighing at least 40 lbs., wired to an alarm clock, with a steel plate positioned to direct...

“That’s definitely stolen.” It’s a phrase that you never want to hear in a movie theater. However, it’s being said more and more as people flock to see Asian movies. While we think of plagiarism more along the lines of schoolwork and getting essays online, does it have a place in the film industry? And is it really a “plagiarism movie,” or just an adaptation of a classic Hollywood plot?

How, What, and Why?

No, this isn’t a movie, but we’re getting there! First, we need to look at what plagiarism is, versus adaptation. Plagiarism is stealing something. Like a movie theme. Adaptation is changing a movie theme to fit a certain demographic. Asian films are often accused of plagiarism because they are often similar to Hollywood classics. However, they usually fall under the category of adaptation, meaning that enough changes have been made. Now that we know the difference,...

The star of Ryu Jun-yeol continues to ascend. He starred in the adrenalin-fuelled ensemble film “Hit-and-Run Squad” earlier this year before getting his first leading role in “Money”. He is also to be honoured with the Rising Star Asia Award later this month at the New York Asian Film Festival. Shortly after, he will be back on-screen in his latest starring role in director Won Shin-yun’s historical “The Battle: Roar to Victory”.

Synopsis

The story of the national independece army who fought for four days for a miracle in the Battle of Fengwudong where they won for the first time. Over a 4 day period, a fierce battle took place between Korean independence militias and Japanese forces in Manchuria, China. The militia includes Hwang Hae-cheol, who is a master with the sword, and Lee Jang-ha, who is an expert marksman.

Tacky English title aside, the film comes with some heavy names attached to it,...

Hong Kong-born action director Ringo Lam, who directed the influential crime film “City on Fire,” has died.

Hong Kong media outlets reported the director, who was born Lin Lingdong, was found unresponsive in bed on Saturday by his wife. He was 63.

The 1986 “City on Fire” is considered a landmark film about Hong Kong triads, and won best director at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It was a major influence on Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs.” Lam followed that film up with “Prison on Fire” and “School on Fire.”

“Tarantino has never tried to hide his love for ’70s cinema, and this is part of what makes his take on ‘City on Fire’ so interesting,” wrote IndieWire in an explanation of Tarantino’s influences.

With several “Reservoir Dogs” shots recalling “City on Fire,” such as the image of four men in black suits and a man shooting a cop with with two guns,...

The London Korean Film Festival 2018 Teaser Screenings presents crime thriller Memoir of a Murderer at London’s Regent Street Cinema and Arts Picturehouse Cambridge, Monday 21 May.

Serial killers are popular figures in South Korean cinema, and their shocking tales of murder hold a tight grip on the neck of their box-office. In Memoir of a Murderer, one elderly killer’s grasp loosens as his memory begins to fail, but a dangerous new foe is ready to take his place…

In his youth, Byung-su was a ruthless serial killer, but now he’s fallen prey to foes every bit as vicious as his younger self: old age and Alzheimer’s. Having long since given up his hobby of removing from society those he felt unworthy of life, the former murderer has settled into a quiet existence looking after a daughter who has no knowledge of his heinous crimes. While a diary...

After a long gap following his 2013 hit, the spy-action thriller The Suspect (starring Gong Yoo), director Won Shin-yun is back with another eagerly anticipated thriller. Memoir of a Murderer (not to be confused with the recent Japanese hit Memoirs of a Murderer) carries forward the rich Korean tradition of gritty, suspenseful films featuring complex characters.

Sol Kyung-gu (No Mercy), Kim Nam-gil (Pandora), Kim Seol-hyun (Gangnam Blues) and Oh Dal-su (Master) star in leading roles.

Kim Nam-gil (left) and Sol Kyung-gu in Memoir of a Murderer (2017) (Source: Hancinema.net)

The film features Sol in the role of Kim Byeong-soo, an ex-serial killer suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. He has been living a normal life with his adopted daughter, Eun-hee (Kim Seol-hyun), for several years, when a new series of murders makes him confused if he has begun killing again. He also suspects Eun-hee’s boyfriend Tae-joo (Kim Nam-gil), who...

Warner Bros’ Korean-language production is directed by Park Hoon-jung (New World).

South Korean sales company Finecut has picked up Warner Brothers’ third Korean-language production, V.I.P., directed by Park Hoon-jung (New World, The Tiger).

The crime thriller stars Jang Dong-gun (My Way), Kim Myung-min (Deranged), Park Hee-soon (The Suspect) and Lee Jong-suk (The Face Reader).

The story follows a North Korean defector, the son of a key political figure, who turns out to be a prime suspect in a series of murders. A national intelligence agent, a detective and a North Korean officer all collide in their attempts to capture him.

Presented by Warner Bros Pictures, V.I.P. is produced by Park’s own production company Gold Moon Film and co-produced by Peppermint&company, Inc., whose credits include I Saw The Devil – for which Park wrote the screenplay – and New World.

Warner Bros Pictures in Korea previously presented Kim Jee-woon’s The Age Of Shadows and Lee...

Bottom Line : A fast paced zombie thriller with strong performances from the leads that’s well worth a watch. But surprisingly its not the zombies that are the star of this show, that honour goes to Kim Eui-sung and Kim Su-an.

Train to Busan is director Yeon Sang-ho‘s first non animated film (he also wrote and directed the excellent animated films ‘King of Pigs‘ and ‘The Fate‘ ). Its been the runaway hit of the year for Korean cinema; It was the first film this year to reach the 10 million viewers milestone at the Korean box office and has also been storming the box offices across Asia (Hong Kong for example).

Surprisingly this is actually the first film in over 15 years of acting for main star Gong Yoo ( The Suspect, Age of Shadows, Silenced ) to pass the coveted 10 million milestone.

So What’s it all about?

Starring Gong Yoo,...

Age of Shadows, a historical drama from director Kim Jee-woon, has been selected as South Korea’s official entry into the 89th Academy Award’s foreign language category. The film, Warner Bros.’ debut Korean language feature, is perhaps a slightly controversial choice in what was a relatively strong year, with the early favourite, Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, also considered for selection.

Age of Shadows, set in 1920’s annexed Korea, tells the story of a group of resistance fighters trying to smuggle explosives into the country under the nose of the occupying Japanese forces. The movie stars Song Kang-ho (Snowpiercer, The Throne) as a Japanese officer of Korean descent with somewhat confused loyalties, and Gong Yoo (Train to Busan, The Suspect) as the spearhead of the Korean resistance. Off the back of recent star performances, Song was invited to join AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) last year...

Animation maestro Yeon Sang-Ho‘s first live-action feature, Train To Busan a.k.a. Busan Bound, its teaser was released last week. Starring Gong Yoo, Ma Dong-Seok, Jeong Yu-Mi, Choi Woo-Shik and Ahn So-Hee, it directly follows the events of Yeon’s third animated film Seoul Station ( which is currently in post-production) , as a zombie plague grips the passengers on a train heading from Seoul to Busan.

Director Yeon broke onto the scene with the animated title The King of Pigs, which netted numerous awards at domestic and international film festivals. Train To Busan will feature as a midnight screening at the 69th Cannes Film Festival, according to Kofic.

Heart-throb Gong Yoo, who proved his box office clout with the spy thriller The Suspect, plays a father trying to save his daughter from the zombie virus that finds its way on to the train bound for Busan.

Train To...

A man sobbing in the shower whilst a female body strangled to death, in an apartment waiting for repossession. Naked and unflinching from the beginning, The King of Pigs (2011) tracks two friends Kyung-Min and Jong-Suk, who rendezvous after fifteen years of mutual silence. Upon reuniting, they reminisce about their middle school days over soju, with flashbacks revealing their tough ordeals.

Director Yeon Sang-ho had a terrific debut with The King of Pigs winning numerous awards at domestic and international film festivals, and his more ambitious follow-up The Fake (2013), which deals with religious cults in Korea, was even more successful garnering enormous acclaim around the globe and plenty of festival invitations.

Following The Fake, Director Yeon went into production on his zombie apocalypse animation Seoul Station, which follows a man sleeping rough in the major railway station in Seoul who begins to exhibit bizarre symptoms that sweep across the city, triggering pandemonium.

Warner Bros. Pictures is set to finance and distribute its first ever Korean-language film with "I Saw the Devil" and "The Last Stand" director Kim Jee-woon's 1930s period drama "Secret Agent".

Song Kang-ho ("Snowpiercer") stars in the film alongside Gong Yoo ("The Suspect") with filming to begin in October in China and Korea. The film will deal with the history of Organization of Righteous Bravery, a part of the armed independence movement during Korea under Japanese rule.

Despite its small size, South Korea has become one of the most thriving box-office markets on the planet. Warner is a direct distributor in the country, and so will handle the Korean theatrical release.

Source: Variety...

Yeon Sang-ho has come a long way in just a few years. After two highly acclaimed animations and another in post, the filmmaker will be making his live action debut this year, with the big-budget zombie thriller Busan-Bound. The Suspect's Gong Yoo has already confirmed his appearance, while Ma Dong-seok (One on One) looks set to sign on beside him. Bleak social drama The King of Pigs announced Yeon as a major animation force in 2011, a reputation which only increased with his more ambitious follow-up The Fake (2013). Currently in post-production, Seoul Station goes further still, showing pandemonium in Seoul following the outbreak of a disease. Yeon is making his live action debut with Busan-Bound, which will reportedly cost in the $10 million range....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

The Suspect

Written by Im Sang-yoon

Directed by Won Shin-yun

South Korea, 2013

It feels safe to argue that the Bourne film series has had a major influence on the action-espionage genre. Granted, spy thrillers that grilled governments for nefarious cover-ups, as well as espionage escapades featuring greater doses of fisticuffs and explosions (such as the Bond franchise), existed long before 2002’s The Bourne Identity and continue till this day. That said, what directors Doug Limon and Paul Greengrass did to the genre was infuse it with a gritty realism in addition to combining stories of unbelievably well-trained spies and political conspiracies. How many action films, be they concerned with spies or otherwise, have strived for the similar documentary ‘in the moment’ visual style? Not all have succeeded, mind you (the term ‘shaky cam’ is used in derogatory fashion more often than not), but those that have deliver in often spectacular ways.

Popular Korean actor Gong Yoo is framed and goes on the run in “The Suspect”, a fast-paced blockbuster thriller directed by Won Sin Yeon, whose last outing was the hit Kim Yoon Jin kidnap drama “Seven Days” back in 2007. The all-action film is a bit of a change for Gong, most recently in the controversial “Silenced” and best known for his roles in romantic comedies like “My Tutor Friend” and television series such as “Coffee Prince”, and takes on the currently popular theme of North Korean spies hiding out in the south and getting caught up in murderous conspiracies. The film also stars Park Hee Soon (“The Client”) as the man charged with catching him, with a supporting cast that includes Jo Sung Ha (“Commitment”), Kim Sung Kyun (“Hwayi: A Monster Boy”), Jo Jae Yoon (“Miracle in Cell No. 7”) and actress Yoo Da In (“Re-encounter”). Gong plays Ji Dong Cheol,...

A number of Sound On Sight editors and contributors are geographically fortunate enough to make the Fantasia Film Festival an annual must-attend event. I have never been to the festival, but have followed it from afar since it landed on my radar years ago when a well-received short film I had a major acting role in called My Sweet Satan, played there.

This year’s lineup of films strikes me as substantially more intriguing than the programs of the last couple of years. Given Fantasia’s staggering breadth of programming spread across multiple weeks, the challenge is in trying to narrow a ‘most anticipated’ list down to just five films. My picks, in alphabetical order, are as follows.

****

Among the Living

Written and directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury

France, 2014

Also known as Aux yeux des vivants (The Eyes of the Living), the third feature film from the outstanding...

Exclusive: Showbox/Mediaplex also seal deals on period action comedy The Huntresses.

South Korea’s Showbox/Mediaplex has sealed a raft of deals on Won Shin-yun’s action thriller The Suspect [pictured], which has its market premiere screening here in Berlin today, and period action comedy The Huntresses.

Starring Gong Yoo from Silenced, The Suspect has sold to German-speaking Europe (Splendid Film), Japan (Twin), Hong Kong (Deltamac Hk), Taiwan (Av-Jet) as well as India and the Middle East (Krisco Media). WellGo USA previously acquired the film for North America.

About a North Korean spy cut loose, on the run and trying to solve two different murder mysteries, The Suspect clocked up around $28m at the South Korean box office after its Dec 24 release.

Starring Ha Ji-won from Haeundae, The Huntresses sold to Japan (Twin), Taiwan (Av-Jet), Indonesia (Pt Prima), Vietnam (Soundspace International), India and the Middle East (Krisco Media) and Mongolia (Taewang).

Featuring three female bounty hunters, the costume...