Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Go See: "The Avengers"

I love an action packed film with action heroes!  What better way to enjoy 2 hours and 22 minutes of your life but to watch the latest film, "The Avengers", directed by the sci-fi junkie, Joss Whedon


It was star studded to the gills with Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo (he plays the Hulk), Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Tom Hiddleston (he plays Loki, Thor's brother and was also in War Horse).   Now I'm not into the comic books and don't know all of the back stories on the characters, (thank god they made them into movies!) but it was awesome to see all of these super heroes unite and fight the good fight.  You will be thoroughly entertained by all the special effects, especially if you live in New York City.  There was some bad ass fighting going on so am now inspired to take self defense classes. Enjoy!!

Can't Wait: Shanghai Calling

Yea, I'm going to admit it.  I do have a major crush on Daniel Henney, which would explain why I'm so excited to see this film that he stars in, "Shanghai Calling".  Directed by Daniel Hsia.  I got the opportunity to interview this first time director on the closing night at the 2012 Asian Pacific Film Festival and learned how thrilled he was to have worked with Daniel Henney, Eliza Coupe, Alan Ruck and Bill Paxton

"Shanghai Calling" is a romantic comedy about a NY attorney who relocates to Shanghai on an assignment and how he must deal with many cultural barriers, discover romance and save his job. 

This film doesn't have any US release dates but has most recently screened at a few film festivals.  Cross your fingers for domestic distribution!

Go See: Joyful Reunion

Wow, where has the time gone?  Well, it definitely flies by when you're having fun and I have been having soooo much fun!  (I just returned from a two week holiday in Korea and Thailand.)

So many things to catch you up on but we'll start here with a film that touched my heart...and my stomach!  I covered the red carpet for the 2012 LA Asian Pacific Film Festival on the closing night for Audrey Magazine and got to see a screening of the film, "Joyful Reunion" which was directed by Tsao Jui-Yuan.  This touching film (which was inspired by Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman") centered around two daughters, their relationship with their vegetarian restauranteur aging father and lost love.

Director Tsao Jui-Yuan describes his film, “If EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN is said to be a film that uses savory, affection and sexual desires to explore man and woman’s family relationship and social issues then, JOYFUL REUNION will instead be using the simplicity, neutrality and purity of food to portray a long-awaited love…of course, Ang Lee did a great job. I don’t expect myself to surpass his result, but I just hope both films will shine equally in their respective era.”

So, if you're a fan of foodie films such as "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Big Night", go see this film.  And also bring some tissue as there are quite a few touching moments!


Tuesday, April 17, 2012

KoreAm Interview with Director Bong Joon-ho

Okay, the moment you've been waiting for - finally! Check out my interview in KoreAm (December 2011 edition) with Film Director Bong Joon-ho. I caught up with him as he was in town for the Busan West Asian Film Festival where they premiered his film "The Host" in 3D.

Monday, February 13, 2012

How Well Do You Know Oscar?


Well, I flunked a phone interview to audition as a Pop Culture Junkie for a game show as I was proposed the question - Name 10 films that won "Best Picture"? And what came to my pea-brain mind? "Titanic" and "Schindler's List". I was a bloody deer caught-in-the-headlights. What the hell?!? So, I did my research and made a mental note of these. I'm ready now for my big audition - bring it on! I mean, could YOU name ten of these films on the spot?



Best Picture Awards

1928 (1st)

Sunrise Wings

1929 (2nd)

The Broadway Melody

1930 (3rd)

All Quiet on the Western Front

1931 (4th)

Cimarron

1932 (5th)

Grand Hotel

1933 (6th)

Cavalcade

1934 (7th)

It Happened One Night

1935 (8th)

Mutiny on the Bounty

1936 (9th)

The Great Ziegfeld

1937 (10th)

The Life of Emile Zola

1938 (11th)

You Can't Take It With You

1939 (12th)

Gone with the Wind

1940 (13th)

Rebecca

1941 (14th)

How Green Was My Valley

1942 (15th)

Mrs. Miniver

1943 (16th)

Casablanca

1944 (17th)

Going My Way

1945 (18th)

The Lost Weekend

1946 (19th)

The Best Years of Our Lives

1947 (20th)

Gentleman's Agreement

1948 (21st)

Hamlet (1948)

1949 (22nd)

All the King's Men

1950 (23rd)

All about Eve

1951 (24th)

An American in Paris

1952 (25th)

The Greatest Show on Earth

1953 (26th)

From Here to Eternity

1954 (27th)

On the Waterfront

1955 (28th)

Marty

1956 (29th)

Around the World in 80 Days

1957 (30th)

The Bridge on the River Kwai

1958 (31st)

Gigi

1959 (32nd)

Ben-Hur

1960 (33rd)

The Apartment

1961 (34th)

West Side Story

1962 (35th)

Lawrence of Arabia

1963 (36th)

Tom Jones

1964 (37th)

My Fair Lady

1965 (38th)

The Sound of Music

1966 (39th)

A Man for All Seasons

1967 (40th)

In the Heat of the Night

1968 (41st)

Oliver!

1969 (42nd)

Midnight Cowboy

1970 (43rd)

Patton

1971 (44th)

The French Connection

1972 (45th)

The Godfather

1973 (46th)

The Sting

1974 (47th)

The Godfather Part II

1975 (48th)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

1976 (49th)

Rocky

1977 (50th)

Annie Hall

1978 (51st)

The Deer Hunter

1979 (52nd)

Kramer vs. Kramer

1980 (53rd)

Ordinary People

1981 (54th)

Chariots of Fire

1982 (55th)

Gandhi

1983 (56th)

Terms of Endearment

1984 (57th)

Amadeus

1985 (58th)

Out of Africa

1986 (59th)

Platoon

1987 (60th)

The Last Emperor

1988 (61st)

Rain Man

1989 (62nd)

Driving Miss Daisy

1990 (63rd)

Dances With Wolves

1991 (64th)

The Silence of the Lambs

1992 (65th)

Unforgiven

1993 (66th)

Schindler's List

1994 (67th)

Forrest Gump

1995 (68th)

Braveheart

1996 (69th)

The English Patient

1997 (70th)

Titanic (1997)

1998 (71st)

Shakespeare in Love

1999 (72nd)

American Beauty

2000 (73rd)

Gladiator

2001 (74th)

A Beautiful Mind

2002 (75th)

Chicago

2003 (76th)

The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King

2004 (77th)

Million Dollar Baby

2005 (78th)

Crash

2006 (79th)

The Departed

2007 (80th)

No Country for Old Men

2008 (81th)

Slumdog Millionaire

2009 (82th)

The Hurt Locker

2010 (83th)

The King's Speech

Thursday, January 26, 2012

And the Oscar Nominees are...

Congrats to all the nominees of the 84th Academy Awards! Now the race is on (with myself) to watch all the nominated films. I have quite a bit of homework to do. Stay tuned for the awards show on Sunday, February 26th at 4pm on ABC. (And of course, stick around for my Oscar predictions. Wanna make a wager?)

84th Annual Academy Award Nominations


BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

"The Artist"(The Weinstein Co.)
Thomas Langmann, Producer
"The Descendants"(Fox Searchlight)
Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" (Warner Bros.)
Scutt Rudin, Producer
"The Help"(Touchstone)
Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
"Hugo"(Paramount)
Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
"Midnight in Paris"(Sony Pictures Classics)
Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
"Moneyball"(Sony Pictures)
Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life"(Fox Searchlight)
Nominees TBD
"War Horse"(Touchstone)
Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

Michel Hazanavicius - "The Artist"
Alexander Payne - "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese - "Hugo"
Woody Allen - "Midnight in Paris"
Terrence Malick - "The Tree of Life."

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Glenn Close - "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis - "The Help"
Rooney Mara - "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep - "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams - "My Week with Marilyn"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Demián Bichir - "A Better Life"
George Clooney - "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin - "The Artist"
Gary Oldman - "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt - "Moneyball"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Kenneth Branagh - "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill - "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte - "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer - "Beginners"
Max von Sydow - "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Berenice Bejo - "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain - "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy - "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer - "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer - "The Help."

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash - "The Descendants"
John Logan - "Hugo"
George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon - "The Ides of March"
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin - "Moneyball"
Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan - "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Michel Hazanavicius - "The Artist"
Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig - "Bridesmaids"
J.C. Chandor - "Margin Call"
Woody Allen - "Midnight in Paris"
Asghar Farhadi - "A Separation."

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR

"A Cat in Paris"
"Chico & Rita"
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
"Puss in Boots"
"Rango"

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

"Dimanche/Sunday"
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
"La Luna"
"A Morning Stroll"
"Wild Life"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

"Bullhead" (Belgium)
"Footnote" (Israel)
"In Darkness" (Poland)
"Monsieur Lazhar" (Canada)
"A Separation" (Iran)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

"The Artist"
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"

SOUND MIXING

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

SOUND EDITING

"Drive"
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse

ORIGINAL SCORE

Ludovic Bource - "The Artist"
Alberto Iglesias - "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Howard Shore - "Hugo"
John Williams - "The Adventures of Tintin"
John Williams - "War Horse"

ORIGINAL SONG

"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" - Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from "Rio" - Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett.

COSTUME

"Anonymous"
"The Artist"
"Hugo"
"Jane Eyre"
"W.E."

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

"Hell and Back Again"
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
"Pina"
"Undefeated"

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement"
"God Is the Bigger Elvis"
"Incident in New Baghdad"
"Saving Face"
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"

ART DIRECTION

"The Artist"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"War Horse"

FILM EDITING

"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"

MAKEUP

"Albert Nobbs"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"The Iron Lady"

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

"Pentecost"
"Raju"
"The Shore"
"Time Freak"
"Tuba Atlantic"

VISUAL EFFECTS

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Real Steel"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Happy New Year!

It's never too late to wish you a Happy New Year! Where have I been? Perhaps I took a hiatus from my own life. No, I wish! I've been quite busy - I am excited to announce that my first interview with Korean Film Director Bong Joon-ho was published in the December 2010 issue of KoreAm. I was so excited and honored to have interviewed such an incredibly talented director. He directed hits such as the sci-fi horror film, "The Host" and the critically acclaimed drama, "Mother", starring veteran Korean actress Kim Hye-ja. Next up, he is working on a sci-fi film titled "Snow Piercer" which is based off of a french comic book. I hear rumors that "Captain America's" Chris Evans is considering working on this film - very exciting.

So, take a look at my interview and keep reading for more of my "two-cents" on various films - old and new!