NYAFF XXIV Review: In THE SUSPECT, Won Shin-Yeon’s Blistering Spy Thriller Finds Its Way Home
“The Suspect” enjoyed its Special Screening at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival
gong yoo
SEOBOK: PROJECT CLONE Unleashes On Disc And Digital From Well Go USA Next Month!
Well Go USA is proudly taking the home entertainment reigns on one of last year’s most thrilling bits of intriguing and explosive sci-fi cinema, with director Lee Yong-zoo’s Seobok: Project Clone. The film will roll out on Digital, Blu-Ray and DVD beginning February 15! A former special agent (GONG Yoo) is called in for a secret mission: safely escort the world’s first human clone (PARK Bo Gum), whose body may hold the key to defeating death itself. But as the enemy closes in, the pair is forced to make an impossible choice.
SEOBOK: Lee Yong-Joo’s New Sci-Fi Drama Takes The Day-And-Date Route This April
https://youtu.be/V_8GVUYN380 Lee Yong-ju’s new dramatic sci-fi thriller, Seobok, has stood the test of time after facing delays last year due to the pandemic. The new domestic release strategy nowadays lies with CJ Entertainment taking a first-time day-and-date approach, releasing the film in theaters and through CJ ENM’s in-house streaming service, TVing on April 15. Seo Bok tells the story of Ki Heon (Gong Yoo), a former intelligence agent who is terminally ill, given the task to safely transport Seo Bok (Bo-gum), who is the first human clone. Because the clone holds the secret to immortality, everyone is on the run to get their hands on him as to extract that secret. Ki Heon will do everything within his power to shield the clone from people with evil intentions. Seo Bok also stars Jo Woo Jin, Jang Young-nam and Park Byeong-eun.
SEOBOK: Don’t Miss The International Teaser For Gong Yoo’s Latest Sci-Fi
Third-time director Lee Yong-joo is taking his inspiration from a peculiar era for his latest turn at the helm, Seobok, observing its story from the basis of ancient Chinese history and an alchemist and explorer’s search for a life elixir to help nourish an emperor. Time will tell how that fits into Lee’s narrative here, but the campaign has been on-going for some time now, and the new sci-fi thriller starring Gong Yoo (Train To Busan) and Park Bo-gum (The Admiral: Roaring Currents) is running an international teaser trailer out of CJ Entertainment. A local release is expected in December. Seo Bok tells the story of Ki Heon (Gong Yoo), a former intelligence agent who is terminally ill, given the task to safely transport Seo Bok (Bo-gum), who is the first human clone. Because the clone holds the secret to immortality, everyone is on the run to get their hands […]
THE SILENT SEA Casts Bae Doona, Gong Yoo And Lee Joon For Netflix For New Sci-Fi Space Drama
Korean sci-fi mystery series, The Silent Sea, is in the works at Netflix. Artist Studio will produce the pic which is based on a shortfilm of the same name, whose director, Choi Hang-yong, has also boarded the project. Bae Doona (Sense8, Stranger), Gong Yoo (The Age Of Shadows, Kim Ji-young: Born 1982) and Lee Joon (Lucky, Father Is Strange) will star in the futuristic thriller, which centers on members of a special team sent to secure a mysterious sample from an abandoned research facility on the moon just as Earth has undergone a process of desertification. Per Netflix’s announcement on Monday, Bae Doona will play astrobiologist Doctor Song Ji-an, who is determined to uncover the truth behind an accident at the now-abandoned Balhae Base research station on the moon; Gong Yoo joins as Han Yun-jae, the dauntless exploration team leader tasked with carrying out the crucial mission with limited information, […]
Watch The U.S. Trailer For Kim Jee-Woon's Thrilling Spy Flick, THE AGE OF SHADOWS
Things are looking lively for I Saw The Devil and The Last Stand helmer Kim Jee-Woon whose latest, The Age Of Shadows, is being noted as a worthy Oscar contender. It’s also great first for Warner Bros. as it is their first Korean production, and with a director like Kim now poised for more stellar work to follow, including a live-action adaptation of the hit anime feature, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. Bear these in mind when you look at the trailer for The Age Of Shadows, now leaving numerous, upbeat reviews in its wake after premiering in Venice prior to its Toronto screenings as of Friday. The high production value and intensity here speak highly to Kim’s ability to craft a fictional tale around an albeit real-world period era, and with morsels of intrigue, action and danger to top it all off. Indeed, it’s a good time to be a […]
Zombie Thrillride, TRAIN TO BUSAN Is Up For A Remake
The past 24 hours have been electric with echoes of a possible reimagining of filmmaker Yeon Sang-Ho’s hit zombie thriller, Train To Busan. That news now comes by way of THR‘s Heat Vision column who report of a bidding war now underway between Sony, 20th Century Fox, Gaumont, Canal+ and EuropaCorp and others pursuing the rights to the film. As a follow-up to Yeon’s 2014 animated movie, Seoul Station, Train To Busan sees actor Gong Yoo (The Suspect) as a father struggling to reconnect with his young daughter, only to get swept into an epic battle for survival when a mysterious viral outbreak consumes the Busan-bound bullet train they’re on. The film opened in South Korea and in select territories in the U.S. last month, and much to our delight as shown in the film’s expedient box office returns, beating Jon M. Chu’s Now You See Me 2 and the […]
Screener Review: TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016)
Director: Yeon Sang Ho Lead cast: Gong Yoo, Ma Dong Seok, Jung Yu Mi, Kim Soo An Seok Woo and his daughter take a high speed train to Busan. Just as the doors are about to close, a passenger infected with a mysterious virus dashes aboard and soon feeds on one of the attendants, causing a chain reaction, and quickly transforming the potential father-daughter journey time into a zombie fest on wheels. You can run to the nearby car, but how far can you really run on a moving bullet train? When assessing Train To Busan, it’s important to keep in mind that this is a zombie movie; it’s meant to deliver entertainment value, not intellectual or emotional enlightenment. Once I came to that agreement with myself, I found that I actually enjoyed it a lot. Though I must admit there were a couple scenes that tugged at my feelings, […]
Check Out The New Trailer For Kim Jee-Woon's THE AGE OF SHADOWS
I Saw The Devil and The Last Stand helmer Kim Jee-Woon has returned with a thrilling new period pic, The Age Of Shadows, which now has a first trailer circulating online. You can expect this one to make the festival rounds while a date is currently pending for Warner Bros.’s premiere Korean this September release of the film, and with actors Song Kang-Ho and Gong Yoo leading the cast. SYNOPSIS: Set in the late 1920s, The Age of Shadows follows the cat-and-mouse game that unfolds between a group of resistance fighters led by Gong’s character, trying to bring in explosives from Shanghai to destroy key Japanese facilities in Seoul, and Japanese agents trying to stop them. Song plays a talented Korean-born Japanese police officer who was previously in the independence movement himself and is thrown into a dilemma between the demands of his reality and the instinct to support a greater […]
Get Your Kicks And Thrills In The New TRAIN TO BUSAN Trailer
Straight from the festivities at Cannes and with prospects awaiting its releases in multiple territories, director Yeon Sang-Ho’s newest venture, Train To Busan (the follow-up to his 2015 animated feature, Seoul Station) is getting a July 20 release in Korean cinemas. Last month’s first teaser was pretty short but very sweet with a glimpse into the chaos-ridden environment offset by a viral zombie outbreak, but now we have a full-on trailer that immerses you further into mankind’s contained battle on the undead. SYNOPSIS: A mysterious viral outbreak pushes Korea into a state of emergency! As an unidentified virus sweeps the country, Korean government declares martial law. Those on an express train to Busan, a city that has successfully fended off the viral outbreak, must fight for their own survival… 453 km from Seoul to Busan. The struggle to survive by those who have others to protect! Get on board to […]
TRAIN TO BUSAN Is Packed With Anarchy In The First Teaser Ahead Of Cannes
Filmmaker Yeon Sang-Ho is setting a course for Cannes next week with a midnight premiere of his South Korean zombie epic, Train To Busan. The film is a follow-up to his 2015 anime feature, Seoul Station, now with Yeon seuging into a live-action debut with The Suspect star Gong Yoo as one of dozens of passengers aboard a KTX train fighting to survive amid a sprawling zombie uprising. Anime is considerably Yeon’s speciality having garnered him plenty of praise since previously hitting the Cannes scene with the first of three titles, the 2011 anime, The King Of Pigs. Alas with Train To Busan, Yeon becomes a trailblazer as the first South Korean director to attend Cannes with both live-action and anime on his resume, and the film has a new teaser rolling online this week which clearly indicates just how good he is at what he does, which makes this […]
Now Available: THE SUSPECT (2013)
Director Won Shin Yeon has a new murder thriller coming soon this year called A Murderers Guide To Memorization. It’s got a great plot and I’m glad I finally got to sample his directing chops with Well Go USA’s The Suspect starring Gong Yoo. The film bodes as a slick action thriller, toned like an Asian response to Bourne in almost every way you can imagine, and even adhering to one’s own love-hate relationship with shakycam style of fight choreography. The action is smart and spectacular in some places although it almost gets dizzying between a few shots. On a side note, Asian action aficionados will be glad to see Asian cinema journeyman, martialartist, actor and stuntman Kim Won-Jin (Operation Scorpio, My Wife Is A Gangster, China Strike Force) directing the action and even showcasing his skillset with lead actor Yoo. The plot is VERY deep in-scope with layer upon […]
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