Stieg Larsson, Lisbeth Salander and the books you are seeing everywhere!

So I have recently been drawn in to Steig Larson’s Millenium trilogy.  Living in New York, you can’t help but see people reading it all around you on the subway.  I got interested after reading a review of the first movie (The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo).  I went to see the movie in an art house theatre and I was hooked.  It is amazing how quickly you forget you are even reading subtitles, when the movie is good enough.  This led me to begin reading the books. … Continue Reading

NYAFF 2010 Coverage begins!

Coverage begins over at our sister site. Click the Picture to Beam Over.

Fanboys Screenwriter sells YA Novel for 6-Digits; Geeks Swoon

Like Detroit Rock City meets Spaceballs

Ernie Cline just sold his novel, Ready Player One, to Random House for a few hundred thousand dollars.  Cline’s claim to fame is the ultra-geeky 2008 comedy Fanboys, which found a preteen niche amid the overwhelming amount of Apatowean R-comedies that have dominated the comedic schoolyard for nearly a decade.  Now, Cline seems to have successfully made the transition from screenwriter to novelist, and the publishing-houses are swooning.  The premise of the book seems to be your basic YA “futuristic virtual game has real-life consequences” type plot, but fans of Fanboys are waiting to see what Cline does with the screenplay, which doesn’t seem to be far behind (movie rights are going up on Monday).

If this guy can sell his novel, so can you!

Chain snatchers and giant broads – The 4th Annual White Elephant Blogathon

This is my second year participating the White Elephant Blogathon; my experience last year was so enjoyable (by which I mean utter dismay) that I quickly signed up for another year of service. If you’re new to this, basically we all throw movies into a hat, draw a title from said hat and write a review about it. Usually we go for some awful movies and just try to make the best of it. This year I drew Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (a la 1958 version)… all I can say is whoever threw this name into the pot has to be godless and cruel.

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Faux Mortal Kombat Trailer: What Did You Think?

So if you haven’t seen this yet, a couple of days ago, this Mortal Kombat Rebirth trailer appeared on YouTube in an attempt to generate interest in a reboot of the franchise.  It’s more of an eight minute scene than a trailer, and it focuses on portraying various characters (e.g. Reptile, Baraka) as brutal serial killers.  What’s interesting about this trailer is that it was directed by Kevin Tancharoen, whose claim to fame is Fame (which isn’t exactly similar to Mortal Kombat).

After watching the video, I felt like it was a substandard Seven with wicked action sequences.  Unfortunately, action spectacle doesn’t really do it for me like it used to, but if you hold this against something like Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, you’re sure to see a vast improvement.  Don’t take my word for it.  Check it out for yourself, and let us here at Paper Spaceships know what you think.

Korean Film 101: Bodily Divisions

I have covered the idea of the division culture in Korean film in this very column (and probably will cover again given the prevalence of it in the culture) before focusing on the economic, technological, and social divide in both Shiri and Repatriation. I’ve also explored it within the family. However, these definitions of historical and cultural division do not singularly define the idea of Korean national division. In this article I will explore the division of mind and body in Choi In-hoon’s The Square and Kim Ki-duk’s Bad Guy (Nappeun Namja, 2002) and how they relate to the historical division and economic division respectively. Choi In-hoon’s protagonist, Lee Myong-jun, is the intellect divided from the body. He attempts to fix this trauma, and cure his loneliness through doomed relationships with two women and two nations. Kim Ki-duk’s protagonist, Han-gi (Cho Jae-hyeon), is the physical divided from the intellect. He attempts to overcome this trauma through the misogynistic male fantasy of turning a woman into a prostitute. I will attempt to illuminate these sexual divisions, and how they illustrate the re-imagining of division in Korea as an exclusively masculine enterprise. I will also show how the protagonists of both The Square and Bad Guy are drawn inevitably towards death because their lack (be it corporeal or psychic) does not allow them to function in a divided society. … Continue Reading

Korean Film 101: Repatriation

North/South division deeply affects families as well.

If Shiri is the ultimate example of right-thinking propaganda cinema (as blockbusters are usually conservative to allow them to gain the maximum audience), Kim Dong-won’s documentary Repatriation is on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Kim is essentially the father of modern Korean documentary film having been a part of the democratization movements of the 70s and 80s his humanistic style of documentary is an extension of the political beliefs and activism he practices in daily life. I plan on writing more about him and his work in this column so keep tuned. He is one of my film heroes and a genuinely pleasant man as well. This week was the 30th anniversary of the Kwangju Massacre and I felt I needed to write about something that was political and in the spirit of the Minjung movement that worked so hard for democracy in Korea. Kim Dong-won is both of those things and his Repatriation in which he spent 12 years chronicling his relationship with North Koreans trying to get back home after being released from jail is just that. … Continue Reading

Human Centipede: a Review in 3 Segments

If you haven’t heard about Human Centipede, you’re in for a shock/surprise/treat.  Human Centipede is the story of Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser), a prominent German surgeon–a conjoined-twin specialist–who dreams of creating a “human centipede” by surgically attaching 3 people via the digestive track.  And if that sounds like something stomach-churningly disturbing, it is. … Continue Reading

Robin Hood, or as I like to call it, Robin Hood Sucks

It’s taken me a few days to sit back, relax a bit and write out this Robin Hood review. Initially, when I saw it with my brother on Thursday night at a sneak preview, I was pleasantly surprised by the film. It wasn’t anything great but I had a fun time in the theater, even though we had a guy who kept repeating the places where the film took place. The guy also got on his cellphone multiple times and didn’t trust ‘that motha fucka Lil’ John.’ Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Okaaaaaaaaaay! Ugh, finally the guy left due to my brother making fun of him by doing his exact voice but saying even dumber things, such as ‘Yo, I didn’t know the Titanic sank. Shit!’ and ‘Yo, I’m an annoying asshole. Shit!’

But I’m pushing away from the review of Robin Hood. After seeing it, on the train ride home I came to a conclusion. I liked it. But when I was walking home, I was just thinking about every flaw the film had (and there are plenty) and forgot entirely about what I actually liked about the film (which wasn’t actually that much when looking in hindsight). The more I thought about it, the more I actually started to not like it. Then even more so, loathe it. Which is a strange turn of events for a few days worth of thinking it over, talking with other people about it and coming the simple conclusion about this film.

Which is that it sucks a royal Magna Carta sized big one.
… Continue Reading

Truth and Deception: The Games of Joint Security Area

A tale of separation and friendship on the DMZ.

Park Chan-Wook’s 2000 film Joint Security Area begins with a murder mystery in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas. Two North Korean soldiers are dead and one soldier from both sides is injured as a result of a shooting on the North Korean side of the demarcation line. Both countries stand by their soldier’s depositions despite the conflicting truths of the reports. The North Korean soldier Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil (Song Kang-ho) claims that Sergeant Lee Soo-Hyuk (the injured South Korean soldier played by Lee Byung-hun) attacked them, while the South claims that the North Korean guards kidnapped Sergeant Lee. In the end it is up to a Swiss military officer from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, Major Sophie E. Jean (Lee Young-ae), to find out what really happened. She is pressured from both nations to declare both depositions true to diffuse a politically volatile situation. Slowly she discovers the truth that the North Korean guards and South Korean guards were friends who were caught in this treasonous act by an inspecting North Korean lieutenant.

She is removed from the case after inciting tensions between the two sides with her adamant quest for the truth. She confronts Sergeant Lee in the end of the film with a choice. He can tell her the truth (about who shot first in the North Korean guardhouse) and she will not leave the incriminating evidence of the friendship for her replacement, or he can refuse and she’ll leave the evidence. By telling the truth he will also protect his friend and fellow South Korean soldier. This is where game theory can be used to show the rational progression of the choices in the film. What follows is heavily dependent on spoilers so do not continue if you want to see this film untainted. … Continue Reading