If you have fond memories of the 1981 comedy “Arthur,” that says a couple of things about you. One, you’ve been around for at least 40 years, and two, you’re probably curious about the remake, which arrives in theaters Friday.Much has changed since Dudley Moore first appeared as Arthur Bach, the merrily alcoholic heir to a family fortune who must agree to an arranged marriage or forfeit his millio

Insider’s account of city politicsPolitics and PastaBy Vincent “Buddy” Cianci Jr(St. Martin’s Press, $30)In the fall of 1974, a few days after he was elected mayor of Providence, R.I., Buddy Cianci sipped beer with a few reporters and joked about the “Philistines” he had ousted from city hall.The denizens of the Democratic machine that had run the city for 30 years had trashed the place, he said,

Andre Dubus III does not look like a man on a journey. Instead, sitting at an outdoor table at the Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, the 51-year-old author appears, finally, to have arrived. That may seem a stretch, considering his 1999 novel “House of Sand and Fog” was an Oprah Book Club selection and a finalist for the National Book Award, but Dubus has never had an easy road.The son of th

Of all the classic noir writers, perhaps none has been as tarnished by the brush of genre as James M. Cain. That’s because Cain was not just a great hard-boiled novelist but a great novelist, period, whose vision of 1930s Southern California is as acute and resonant as anything ever written about that time and place.His first novel, “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” published when he was 42, is sa

Director Lee Hyuk-sang debuts Korea’s first gay documentarySmart, eloquent and bubbly, director Lee Hyuk-sang loves being himself.“My whole worldview changed as I found out about my sexual orientation,” said Lee, who is gay. “I got to see so many things that I didn’t get to see before. And I am proud of it.”Lee’s debut film, “Miracle on Jongno Street,” is the first-ever gay-themed documentary to b

Ko Un, one of the most acclaimed living poets in Korea, shared his attachment for Prague and Czech culture at a Prague-themed book launch event held at Ceske Info Centrum (Czech Information Center) in Seoul, Thursday.The newly-released Korean language book, “Praha,” contains a total of 16 stories and essays about Prague by 14 established Czech writers, including Franz Kafka (1883-1924) and Jan Ner

Slower lifestyle can mean healthier, happier life and help protect naturePeople like it when things are convenient and efficient in the city. We are busy, not willing to wait too long and always have too much going on in our lives.But environmental specialist Park Gyeong-hwa asks, “Does our lifestyle really make us happy?”As more of us are relying on machines and fast food, we are also exposing ou

Alfred Hitchcock had a celebrated recipe for suspense: a time bomb planted under a table, people sitting at the table and only the audience being aware that something is ticking.It’s a formula for tension that’s more or less thrown out the train window by “Source Code,” the psychological thriller opening Friday and starring Jake Gyllenhaal: The movie has about eight explosions. Characters and audi

Pool (Japan)Opened March 31Drama. Directed by Omori Mika. Kyoko (Satomi Kobayashi), a middle-aged woman who had left her family to work for a guest house in Chiang Mai, Thailand, receives a visit from her daughter, Sayo (Kana). To Sayo’s surprise, Kyoko is more than happy to be in the guest house, living with kindhearted employee Ichio (Ryo Kase), young Thai boy Bie (Sittichai Kongpila), and the o

Black undies? Or white?It was a choice that confronted writer-director Zack Snyder while making “Sucker Punch,” a mostly female action-fantasy starring Emily Browning as a gun-toting, sword-swinging killer deceptively named Babydoll. She dispatches zombies and robots with the kind of brutality that made Snyder’s mostly male “300” a hit in 2007, but she also wears a thigh-high skirt that, as viewer

Murder and affectionPhoto Shop MurderBy Kim Young-ha(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)Kim Young-ha, one of the leading contemporary literary voices of Korea, has been capturing both the absurd and the mundane in our society. One of his short stories, “Photo Shop Murder,” portrays modern individuals who are desperate for affection while completely losing their morals and values.The nameless protagonist, who w

Literature Still MattersThe Use and Abuse of LiteratureBy Marjorie Garber(Pantheon Books, $28.95)In an age that prizes short bursts of electronic information, Harvard English professor Marjorie Garber asks whether literature still matters. As might be expected of someone who has spent her career teaching Shakespeare to undergraduates, she answers with a resounding “yes.”Garber sets the stage for h

26-year-old author Amanda Hocking signs a book contract worth more than $2 millionAmanda Hocking, a 26-year-old author in Austin, Minnesota who’s considered the biggest e-book seller in the world, has signed with an ink-and-paper publisher for a book contract reportedly worth more than $2 million. The four-book deal was confirmed Thursday by Hector DeJean, a spokesman for St. Martin’s Press.“I alw

Men may be overrepresented in the halls of power and executive suites, but a look around the bookshelves shows that boys are a great source of anxiety to teachers, parents and experts these days. One can’t escape titles like “The Trouble With Boys” and “Boys Adrift.”For a fascinating look into the world of boys and how they evolve into men, my money is on Hannah Pittard and her debut novel, “The F

Kim Eui-suk, new chairman of the controversy-plagued Korea Film Council (KOFIC), said he will regain public trust in the organization, after officially taking appointment Wednesday.It is the first time ever for a former movie director to take the position. Kim said his background as a film director will help him in the role. “I’ve seen the real problems and conflicts in the field because I’ve work

Seoul has gone through a lot in the past century, from Japanese occupation to the Korean War, and rapid industrialization to prosperity.Seoul Museum of History is holding two separate exhibitions featuring Korea’s capital in two different time periods that offer a rare glimpse into how the city has been transformed into what it is today.One of the exhibitions, “Seoul 1953-1963” showcases photograp

“Norwegian Wood,” “Confessions,” “Closed Note” and “Paradise Lost.”These Japanese films, set to be released in Seoul next month, have one thing in common: they are all cinematic versions of Japan’s bestselling novels.According to Cracker Pictures, one of local distributors of the films, this is no coincidence ― the trend of making book-based films has been popular in Japan for the past couple of y

I Am a Dad (Korea)Opening April 14Action. Directed by Lee Se-young and Jeon Man-bae. Jong-sik (Kim Seung-woo) is a detective whose daughter is in need of a heart transplant. Finding it impossible to afford the expensive operation for his daughter, Jong-sik receives a bribe from illegal human organ traders and drops their murder charges for them. A man named Sang-man (Sohn Byeong-ho) is falsely cha

“You can only breathe so much in corsets,” says Mia Wasikowska, who was required to wear such an apparatus, along with various bell-shaped skirts, flounced petticoats, and tight little bonnets, as she assayed the title role in the new and beautifully miserable “Jane Eyre.”“It restricts your voice and your breath, and it’s really symbolic of the repression of the day,” she observes. “That’s very mu

Back in 2000, University of Southern California film professor Amanda Pope and a former student, Tchavdar Georgiev, were traveling in Russia and some of its satellites, working on a series of short portraits of emerging leaders in the post-Soviet world. The two were in Uzbekistan when Pope heard about an amazing collection of Russian avant-garde art in a remote museum deep in the country’s desert.