oldboy

OLDBOY: Remastered, Restored And Returning to Hit People With Hammers And Hard Truths This August

The most prolific of three known incarnations, Park Chan-wook’s 2003 thriller, Oldboy, has stood the test of time. That said, NEON, now twenty years after its initial release, is prepared to release its remastered and restored version of the dramatic psych action thriller featuring Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae and Kang Hye-jung. Oldboy continues its reign to this day as one of the biggest emerging successes of the early 2000s Asia Extreme era of cinema. Based on the work of manga creators Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, the movie tells of a businessman thrust into a nightmare world of mystery and danger after being kidnapped and given only a week to find his captors. What ensues is a series of shocking reveals that elevates the film’s unnerving tension, all violently boiling up to a conclusion rife with chilling fervor. Par for the course with one of the most memorable one-take action sequences […]

Greg Rementer's Past Catches Up To Him In The New Shortfilm, DILEMMA

Lee B. Golden III

Actor and stuntman Greg Rementer took to YouTube this week to host his latest starring/directorial effort titled, Dilemma. The new shortfilm showcases Rementer as a troubled loner who is ambushed and kidnapped by a small group of thugs and must fight his way out as his only means of a second chance at life. Dilemma also marks Rementer‘s new foray into the New Year as an inspiring multifaceted filmmaker, with four and a half years of stuntwork and acting in his background, and years of martial arts training since childhood, all of which have earned him some significant career milestones in films like The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2 Guns, Oldboy and Sylvester Stallone’s latest, Escape Plan and Grudge Match. With an inherent interest in directing and second unit directing over the last couple of years, Rementer hopes that Dilemma will be the start of something new going into 2014 […]

See Misia Ff's Fitting Tribute To Korean Cinema In Her Music Video, KARTONEM

Lee B. Golden III

Director Spike Lee’s reprisal of Park Chan-Wook’s cinematic revenge classic, Oldboy, didn’t exactly hammer in some good box office ratings, but that hasn’t dimmed the adamant love and appreiciation that fans share for the story that Park inspired in 2003. With that in mind, the folks over at Polish martial arts action and performance troupe, Stunt Forces created the destructive visuals emulated in the iconic hallway fight scene set to the tone of writing and directing duo Natalia Jakubowska and Luke Gronowski‘s newest music video featuring Lemko-Polish rock singer and musician Misia Ff performing Kartonem, which centers its entire theme of romance and heartbreak in the first verse: “Ja za tobą murem ty za mną kartonem” which basically translates to “My love is like a rock, yet yours is like cardboard.” Stunt Forces has been around for about eight years now and their work, which you can view at their […]

The Bailey Review: OLDBOY (2013)

Lee B. Golden III

SYNOPSIS: An advertising executive is kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement. When he is inexplicably released, he embarks on an obsessive mission to discover who orchestrated his punishment, only to find he is still trapped in a web of conspiracy and torment. REVIEW: From the moment I heard Hollywood was tackling an interpretation of Old Boy, I thought, “Why?! Why would you feel the need to put this story in another live-action format? South Korea did an amazing job adapting the manga into another art form. It’s perfect! Leave it alone! Why am I still talking to myself? Whyyyyy??!!”. I remember hearing Spielberg’s name attached with Will Smith to star, and then eventually the Spike Lee/Josh Brolin pairing. I try to keep an open mind when I see any film. I love movies so much. They are my favorite form of escapism. But Chan-wook Park’s adaptation, […]

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Watch A New Featurette For OLDBOY

Lee B. Golden III

Film District has unveiled a new two-minute featurette ahead of the release of director Spike Lee‘s Hollywood re-imagining of filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s 2003 revenge thriller, Oldboy. The featurette highlights actor Josh Brolin‘s transformational process between stages of filming, through weight gain and weight loss, and training for the physical scenes involving the action, courtesy of the film’s fight choreographer, J.J. Perry. Oldboy is written by Mark Protosevich and also stars Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, James Ransone and Samuel L. Jackson. The film will release on November 27, 2013. SYNOPSIS: OLDBOY is a provocative, visceral thriller that follows the story of an advertising executive (Josh Brolin) who is abruptly kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement. When he is inexplicably released, he embarks on an obsessive mission to discover who orchestrated his bizarre and torturous punishment only to find he is still trapped in a web of conspiracy […]

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Film Of The Week: OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN (2013)

Lee B. Golden III

SYNOPSIS: When the White House (Secret Service Code: “Olympus”) is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning’s inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President and avert an even bigger disaster. REVIEW: Actor Gerard Butler stars as Mike Banning, a former secret service agent who saves the President’s life from a freak car accident that kills the first lady, leading up to his removal and demotion to a desk job. Over a year later since then, the South Korean prime minister visits the President, when all of a sudden, Washington is taken in a hail airborne gunfire, with ground forces turning the White House front lawn into a war zone. Unbeknownst to the prime minister however, North […]

The New Trailer For OLDBOY Goes Greenband

Lee B. Golden III

The new green band trailer for Oldboy came out this week, in addition to two new promotional images for the film. Based on Mark Protosevich’s screenplay, the film sees actor Josh Brolin inheriting the title role from the previous actor, Choi Min-sik in the 2003 film of the same name, impressively showing Brolin’s adaptability to the beloved role Asian cinema fans have come to appreciate. I like Brolin as an actor as he has yet to disappoint, and I can easily see how he would have been just as equally great a pick for Batman as actor Ben Affleck in the upcoming DC Universe starter from director Zack Synder, as previously revealed in the headlines several days ago. Brolin previously starred in the live-action comic book western, Jonah Hex, which I mostly feel suffered from an underwritten script, but delivered a noteworthy effort from Brolin as the lead. That said, […]

Zhang Ziyi May Return In CROUCHING TIGER: HIDDEN DRAGON 2: THE GREEN DESTINY

Lee B. Golden III

It has been announced that actress Zhang Ziyi is back in the fray for a role in the Spring 2014 filming of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: The Green Destiny. Entertainment Weekly reports the actress may reprise her role as Jen Yu, the youthful kung fu warrioress who takes a leap of faith off of the side of Wudang Mountain, spiriting herself away at the end of the first film, the Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee and released in 2000. The film will reportedly utilize Zhang‘s role in flashbacks to explain what happened to her character after the first film. Also returning to the set next year will be actress and international action star Michelle Yeoh reprising her role as noble swordswoman Yu Shu Lien, joined by fellow Wing Chun and Butterfly And Sword co-star, international action sensation Donnie Yen who will play the character, Silent […]

OLDBOY Gets A Thanksgiving Release

Lee B. Golden III

The Wrap is reporting that filmmaker Spike Lee’s American adaptation of the classic Japanese graphic novel, Oldboy has been pushed a month back from its previous October 25, 2013 release date to November 27, 2013. The film will ultimately be competing against the Gary Fleder-directed Homefront, along with the Jennifer Lawrence actioner, The Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire, and Christian Bale’s latest action drama, Out Of The Furnace. Based on the previous 2003 Korean thriller from director Park Chan-wook, Oldboy stars Josh Brolin in a story about a man who is kidnapped by a mysterious powerful figure. When he is inexplicably unleashed into the world 20 years later, he sets out to seek the answers he needs in order to put the pieces of his life back together again, only to find himself still trapped in a web of conspiracy and torment. The film also stars Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley and […]

The First Red Band Trailer For Spike Lee's OLDBOY Is Online

Lee B. Golden III

Nearly a year after making controversial statements criticizing director Quentin Tarantino‘s pre-Civil War blaxploitation spaghetti western-inspired drama, Django Unchained, filmmaker Spike Lee re-enters the spotlight where he will await the verdict of film goers and Asian cinema fans everywhere upon the release of his next film, Oldboy, a “re-interpretation” of the 2003 Korean cult classic which was directed by Park Chan-wook. Lee’s film stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson and Sharlto Copley. The film is one of several Korean titles we can expect to continue to cross over to North America between now and next year for Hollywood adaptations, including actress Charlize Theron‘s upcoming role in the reboot of the 2005 film, Lady Vengeance. Collectively, both Oldboy movies are loosely based on an orginal story and graphic Japanese novel published and serialized between 1996 and 1998 by author Garon Tsuchiya and illustrator by Nobuaki Minegishi, about a man mysteriously kidnapped and locked […]