2018.4.28 Now Playing
Action, adventure, SF/ 149/ English/April 25
The Avengers and their allies are working together to fight against the powerful villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) to prevent him from ruining the entire universe.
The infamous tyrant Thanos is trying to collect all six Infinity Stones, which are artifacts of unimaginable power. After he gets them all, Thanos plans to use the power of these mystic stones to eradicate half of the universe’s population.
Compared to the plot of 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War,” where the Avengers split into two factions, this movie depicts how the Avengers are reunited with a single purpose, willing to sacrifice their lives to protect innocent lives. This is the first collaboration between the Avengers and their cosmic counterparts, the Guardians of Galaxy.
The film features a large cast of Marvel superheroes, including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and many others. Additionally, the film stars Thor’s mischievous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston).
Dangal (12)
Drama, action/ 161/ Indian/ April 25
Based on a true story about the Phogat sisters, this film tells the story of former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan) and his two wrestler daughters. Set in India, Phogat is a hardworking father training his wrestler daughters for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Before the birth of his four daughters, Phogat sadly had to quit wrestling due to financial difficulties. Afterwards, he aspired to one day help his future son win a gold medal. However, after his wife gives birth to four daughters, Phogat gives up this dream.
Phogat changes his mind after his young daughters beat up two boys in their neighborhood. Seeing a future for his two daughters, Geeta (Fatima Sana Shaikh) and Babita (Sanya Malhotra), Phogat trains them hard.
This film tells not only the story of a father pursuing the gold medal that he was never able to achieve through his two daughters, but also how he helps his daughters fight against the patriarchal boundaries of Indian society.
This film stars acclaimed actor-director Aamir Khan, who is known to have starred in “Ghajini” (2008), “3 Idiots” (2009), “Dhoom 3” (2013) and “PK” (2014).
This movie received multiple awards, including the Best Actor, Best Film, Best Director and Best Action awards at the 2017 Filmfare Awards, which annually honors the best Hindi language Indian films.
Thriller/ 103/ Korean/ April 25
Everything seems to be going perfectly for rising politician Lee Gyeong-seok (Oh Man-seok), until he meets a suspicious writer, Kim Sun-tae (Ji Hyun-woo). Lee, currently married to Yeom Ji-eun (Cho Eun-ji), whose father is an influential member of parliament, is also having an affair with Lee Ji-young (Lee Eun-woo). Recently, he was announced as a mayoral candidate and is on a mission to hide a politician’s slush fund at a vacation home.
This all changes when Kim enters the picture. Though Kim is a writer, he disguises himself as a caretaker of the vacation home and closely examines Lee’s actions. In return, Lee finds Kim’s presence bothersome as he is afraid that someone might find out about his affair and the slush fund. Additionally, Lee is struggling to find a way to put the money inside the house without getting discovered, but things get messy.
Drama/ 95/ French/ April 26
Based on Roland Barthes’s 1977 novel, “A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments,” this romantic comedy portrays the love story of Isabelle (Juliette Binoche), a Parisian divorcee and painter, and her many romantic interests, including married banker Vincent (Xavier Beauvois), handsome actor L’acteur (Nicolas Duvauchelle), fellow artist Marc (Alex Descas) and more. Even her ex-husband Francois (Laurent Grevill) enters her life again and things seem to go well. But, their relationship doesn’t last for long.
Isabelle’s journey of looking for true love is pretty rough. While searching for “the One,” she finds that each of her suitors has a significant flaw, or two.
Directed by Claire Denis, this film is co-written by Denis and novelist Christine Angot. This movie won the SACD prize from France’s Writers, Directors and Composers Guild at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Drama/ 135/ Korean/ April 26
This is a re-release of a film directed by Lee Chang-dong that first hit theaters in January 2000. As the directorial debut of Lee Chang-dong, this film portrays how a depressed 40 year-old named Kim Yeong-ho (Sol Kyung-gu), who is on the verge of suicide, thinks back to 20 years ago and meets his first love, Yoon Soon-im (Moon So-ri).
In the present, Kim is married to Yang Hong-ja (Kim Yeo-jin), but his marriage is not happy as both are having affairs. He lays on the train tracks, about to end his life, but a miracle seems to happen when he shouts “I want to go back again.”
In this order, Kim’s past is revealed through a flashback, first as a student aspiring to become a photographer, then as a soldier, a police officer and finally an investor who loses money in the stock market. This movie is not just about depicting events that lead up to a man’s suicide but it also introduces some of the major events in Korea’s modern history.
This film was chosen as the opening film for the 1999 Busan International Film Festival and was invited to Director’s Fortnight in 2000. This movie is being released ahead of Lee’s new feature “Burning,” which will compete at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Drama/ April 19/ Spanish/ 104
A young transgender woman Marina (Daniela Vega) and her boyfriend Orlando (Francisco Reyes) are happily in love and have just moved in together. While Marina makes a living as a singer and a waitress, Orlando is much richer as he owns a textile mill. Their bliss doesn’t last for long as Orlando collapses and dies in the emergency room due to a brain aneurysm.
Shocked at his sudden death, Marina flees the hospital, leaving the hospital staff and the police to become suspicious of her.
To make matters even worse, Orlando’s ex-wife Sonia (Aline Kuppenheim) and his son (Nicolas Saavedra) deny Marina’s existence. Sonia even warns Marina to not show up to the funeral or his wake, forbidding her presence.
Directed by Sebastian Lelio, this film has won many awards, including the 2018 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Den of Thieves (15)
Action, crime, drama/ April 19/ English/ 123
Los Angeles is the bank robbery capital of the world. This crime thriller tells the story of a crew of bank robbers trying to break into the Federal Reserve Bank in Los Angeles.
The plot unfolds as the team of robbers is fleeing from a scene after shooting a security guard. Led by Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber), this group of Marines turned robbers, including Enson (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) and Bosco (Evan Jones), is being chased by the police. One officer, “Big Nick” O’Brien (Gerard Butler), is obsessed with catching them and has been monitoring Merrimen and his crew for a long time.
Directed by Christian Gudegast, this film is set to be followed up by a sequel, but the sequel’s release dates have yet to be confirmed.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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