News

“The Sporting Image” is the summer 2024 edition of the Notebook Insert, a seasonal supplement on moving-image culture.Illustration by Ivy Johnson.The 1990s were a turbulent decade for Park Chan-wook the director, whose first two films, The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992) and Trio (1997), were unmitigated box-office disasters. But it was also an illustrious decade for Park the film critic, whose writing for Screen, Kino, and Sports Chosun had developed a cult following. Before Joint Security Area (2000) put him on the map as a filmmaker, he was known for his sharp critical insights and dynamic prose. Meanwhile, he worked at the video rental store Movie Village in Seoul, where he initiated hundreds of cinephiles into the work of Leos Carax, Kim Ki-young, and Abel Ferrara. I was twelve when the R-rated Lady Vengeance (2005) came out. I didn’t have the patience to wait until I turned eighteen, so I decided...

One more video recap to enjoy as a last look back at the movies of 2023. Vietnamese film critic Nguyên Lê has revealed his Cinema Montage 2023 video, featuring a look at his Top 25 Best Films from last year (+ 2 extras). Oppenheimer won the Academy Award for Best Picture a few weeks ago, ending the 2023 awards season. Though that doesn't mean we can't still continue to celebrate all the great movies from last year. His video features many of my personal 2023 favorites as well, including: A Thousand and One, American Fiction, Godzilla: Minus One, Past Lives, Perfect Days, The Promised Land, and The Taste of Things. Plus other underrated gems like Polite Society, Sleep, Monster, Knock at the Cabin, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. The video comes in under 3 minutes and is a wonderfully short and sweet reminder of all the beauty cinema offers us every year.

Welcome to the enchanting world of Asian cinema, where the magic of storytelling transcends time and culture. In this blog post, we embark on a captivating journey through the seven wonders of Asian cinema, exploring the rich tapestry of films that have captivated audiences worldwide. From the hauntingly beautiful landscapes of Akira Kurosawa's Japan to the vibrant energy of Korea, we will delve into the diverse cinematic traditions that have shaped the cultural fabric of Asia. Prepare to be transported as we uncover the hidden gems, the iconic masterpieces, and the untold stories that have left an indelible mark on the global film industry.

7 Wonders Of Asian Cinema That Takes You Through Time And Culture Flashbacks

As the camera pans across the lush landscape of an Asian country, the viewer is immediately transported to a different time and culture. The vibrant colors, intricate costumes, and unique architecture all work together to set the scene,...

Big Ed from 90 Day Fiancé hints at his return to the franchise in March 2024. He suggests that he and Liz Woods will be on a new show, potentially 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? season 8. Ed teases his relationship status with Liz and hints that they may still be together.

Big Ed Brown from the 90 Day Fiancé franchise almost confirmed his appearance on 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? season 8. The controversial reality star last featured on 90 Day: The Last Resort with Liz Woods. The couple revealed their relationship issues in the therapy-oriented spin-off, suggesting they would be better off without each other. However, Ed worked on his immature behavior and proved to Liz that he could be a great partner to her. Eventually, Ed and Liz left the resort as an engaged couple while briefly discussing their plans to move to Arkansas.

Recently, Ed went live on...

Popular actor Nicolas Cage recently expressed his frustration and difficulty at seeing his work become a viral meme.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Cage described coming to terms with his work becoming a meme, as well as his eventual disappointment that more critical discourse didn't materialize from it. "I might have been the first actor who went through a kind of meme-ification," Cage said. "One person had cherrypicked from all these different movies where I was having meltdowns, but without any regard for how the character got to that place. I was frustrated because I didn’t know what people were taking from the movies other than that." Perhaps the best example of this cherry-picking without acknowledgment of his work is the "Nicholas Cage Freak-Out Montage" on YouTube, which spells his name wrong and has over 1.6 million views.

How a Nicolas Cage Viral Video Led to His Next...

David Fincher said he’s not one to go back and re-watch his films. “I don’t. I’m not brave,” he said at the Tribeca Festival. “I’m fundamentally like, look, no, I can’t. It’s like looking at middle school pictures. I don’t want to even acknowledge that.”

“But I do find myself having to adjust, you know,” as he remasters several of them, including Seven, he said during a Q&a, where the person asking the questions was his longtime friend and fellow acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh. The two said they’ve been talking about twice a week for the past 20 years and regularly share their work in progress.

“There’s a lot of sh*t that needs to be fixed, because there’s a lot of stuff that we now can” fix, Fincher said of remastering “But I’m fundamentally against the idea of changing what it is.

Creed III has a knockout soundtrack with songs to keep the blood pumping and the heart soaring in the Rocky spin-off. The ninth installment in the Rocky franchise finds the Italian Stallion's protégé Adonis Creed (director and star Michael B. Jordan) facing the opponent of his career in Damian "Diamond Dame" Anderson. Dame reenters Donnie's life just as it's reached the top, a childhood friend with a chip on his shoulder over serving prison time for an altercation the former World Heavyweight Champ actually started, and composer Joseph Shirley amplifies the emotional current that undercuts their bouts with a moving score.

The Creed III soundtrack is produced by J. Cole's Dreamville Records, known for utilizing strong underground artists, and features Morray, Headhunters, Ari Lennox, and J. Cole's re-imagining of a classic Dr. Dre song. And since no movie in the Creed or Rocky franchise would be complete without epic walkout songs,...

Strange machines, parasites and deadly ritual transport you to alternate times and places in this month’s most unique and intriguing genre books. Here are our top picks for the best new science fiction books in September 2022.

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

Type: Novel

Publisher: Tor Books

Release date: September 27

Den of Geek says: Neon Yang’s Tensorate series of novellas was an inventive, adventurous secondary world. We’re excited for the release of their debut novel.

Publisher’s summary: It’s an old, familiar story: a young person hears the voice of an angel saying they have been chosen as a warrior to lead their people to victory in a holy war.

But Misery Nomaki (she/they) knows they are a fraud.

Raised on a remote moon colony, they don’t believe in any kind of god. Their angel is a delusion, brought on by hereditary space exposure.

Kollywood This has come right in time for her 35th birthday, which falls on Wednesday.Digital NativeYouTube ScreengrabLady Superstar Nayanthara has a bunch of films lined up for release and the teaser of her next titled Netrikann was released on Wednesday. This has come right in time for her 35th birthday, that falls on November 18. Tipped to be another woman-centric thriller, the film is directed by Aval fame Milind Rau. The film went on floors in September last year and is currently in the post-production stage. Nayanthara plays a cadet at a police academy who loses her eyesight after a car accident. The film is believed to be an official remake of Korean thriller Blind, about a visually impaired woman who gives testimony in a hit-and-run case, and is then forced to confront the killer on her own. The teaser has plenty of gripping scenes, with an unseen killer on the loose.

“Frozen 2” iced out all its competitors in China this weekend, sliding out in front of the pack to top the local box office with a $53.2 million debut – the best ever for a Disney animated film in the Middle Kingdom. “Frozen 2” made more in three days than the original “Frozen” made during its entire Chinese theatrical run ($48 million) in 2014.

It was also the third-highest opening weekend ever for an animated film in China.

“Frozen 2” currently has viewer ratings of 9 and 7.3 out of 10 on the Maoyan and Douban platforms, respectively. Musicals have historically not been very popular in China, something reflected in the comments of those who gave less favorable reviews. “After five minutes there’s a short music video, after another 10 there’s another long one! Has Disney gone crazy?” wrote one on Douban.

Awkwafina’s “The Farewell” was initially scheduled to debut last Friday as well, but it was pulled at the last minute,...

Even as his latest film “Parasite” has only just released in South Korean cinemas after winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes and hot on the heels of the news that he is to receive the Excellence Award at the 72nd Locarno Film Festival, we have our first look at Song Kang-ho’s next film “The King’s Letters”.

Synopsis

A historical film about King Sejong who risked everything of his to invent the Hunminjungeum (Korean Script) for his people and the people who weren’t recorded in history.

“The King’s Letters” will be Song’s first historical film after 2015’s “The Throne”. Director Jo Chul-hyun, who also worked as a scriptwriter on “The Throne”, has managed to gather quite the star cast for his debut film. In addition to Song Kang-ho, the film also star Park Hae-il as the Monk Shin-mi, who was instrumental in the creation of the Hangul script,...

Join our newsletter to get more stories like this During last night’s premiere of The Bachelor, Chris Harrison teased that some unseen footage was about to air. What he didn’t know was that it was a tribute to him as he had been the host of The Bachelor since 2002. His mom was in Dallas, Texas, to help introduce this special montage. While it aired, Chris watched with tears in his eyes, taking a journey down memory lane. And while viewers loved seeing a younger Chris Harrison, some thought the montage meant that Chris was saying goodbye to the franchise. […]

The post Is Chris Harrison leaving The Bachelor behind? Montage confuses everyone appeared first on Monsters and Critics.

This weekend sees the release of “Hearts Beat Loud,” a winsome new indie about a father (Nick Offerman) and a daughter (Kiersey Clemons) who unexpectedly form a band together during the summer before the kid goes off to college. Riding a poppy, heartfelt soundtrack by Keegan DeWitt (whose songs are brought to life by the actors who sing them), “Hearts Beat Loud” is a nice reminder that movies are a peerlessly effective mechanism for bringing new music into our lives.

With that in mind, here are our picks for the 10 best original songs from the movies of the 21st century.

10. “Montage” (from “Swiss Army Man”)

Pop-pop-corn pop-pop-corn pop-pop-corn pop-pop-corn

pop-pop-corn! pop-pop-corn! pop-pop-corn! pop-pop-corn!

It’s already stuck in your head. This self-referential ear worm — the highlight of the exquisitely strange soundtrack that Manchester Orchestra wrote for Daniels’ exquisitely strange first movie — is dropped right into the middle of “Swiss Army Man,...

In Vengeance, the latest game from Mighty Boards and the mind of Gordon Calleja, up to four players recreate the same kind of blood-soaked revenge sequences that we’re more used to seeing in movies like Kill Bill and Death Wish. With card and dice drafting plus a unique take on miniatures combat, Vengeance presents a complex setup at first, but the memories of stacking decks and placing dens soon gives way to fast, crowd pleasing combat and a satisfying variety of options.

I speak often about how important it is to link the theme of a game with its mechanical components. The longer and/or heavier in weight a game is, the more I believe that to be true. Where Vengeance is concerned, the link between game phases (beginning The Wronging and then alternating between Montage and Fight scenes) could not have been handled better.

In The Wronging phase,...

India is riding the Hallyu wave.

The term — used to describe the global popularity of entertainment made in Korea — has started popping up in Bollywood circles as Indian audiences cotton on the charms of K-Pop.

As official remakes of Hollywood films gather steam in India's Hindi-language film industry, Bollywood is also looking to Korea for inspiration. In somewhat of a banner year, 2016 saw two Korean remakes: one of 2010 revenge drama The Man From Nowhere, which was called Rocky Handsome in India, and one of the 2013 thriller Montage, retitled TE3N in its Bollywood version.

Rocky Handsome featured...