'The Man Standing Next' ('Namsanui bujangdeul'): Film Review

The South Korean entertainment industry has seen numerous relationships make and break with time. However, there were two break ups that we couldn't completely get over: Lee Min Ho and Suzy Bae, and Song Hye Kyo and Hyun Bin.

While a new deadly pandemic continues to grip attention worldwide — understandably — the documentary Wake Up: Stories From the Frontline of Suicide Prevention throws the spotlight back on an ancient and no less complex scourge: suicide. A major contributor (along with substance abuse) to the inexorably rising number of deaths of despair in the United States, suicide is now a leading cause of death for several demographics, particularly young men.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticWith “Da 5 Bloods,” Spike Lee follows his long overdue Oscar win for “BlacKkKlansman” by revealing a side of the Vietnam story that’s seldom told. Through the Trojan horse of a treasure-hunt adventure movie, the director explores the mindset of Black soldiers who fought for their country at a time when African Americans were being oppressed at home.

South Korean viewers haven't warmed up to The King: Eternal Monarch. The K-drama series was deemed one of the most anticipated shows of the year, especially since Lee Min Ho was making his comeback following his military training.

Ellise Shafer editorNew Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has called out President Trump in an Instagram post, telling him that NFL players kneeling during the national anthem has nothing to do with the American flag itself, but with issues of racial injustice.“Through my ongoing conversations with friends, teammates, and leaders in the black community, I realize this is not an issue about the American flag.

A poorly imagined crime flick that comes nowhere near justifying its 2.5-hour running time, Olivier Megaton's The Last Days of American Crime adapts a graphic novel in which the U.S. government has built a mind-control ray — maybe this is that 5G conspiracy the Alex Jones crowd has been ranting about? — that will soon prevent would-be villains from breaking the law.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticThese days, searching for solace amid a global pandemic and nationwide protests, film critics frequently find themselves referring to “the movie we need right now,” lavishing that cliché description on anything that offers the slightest comfort or context in a world turned upside-down. Let me assure you, Netflix’s “The Last Days of American Crime” is not that movie.

This year's Scripps National Spelling Bee, which was scheduled to take place last week, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 may well have been the only force capable of preventing an Indian American competitor from winning the contest for the 13th year in a row.

You’ve seen Kevin James play a Queens delivery man, a mall cop, a retired cop, a biology teacher turned MMA fighter, a zookeeper (in Zookeeper), the president of the United States, an animated Frankenstein, and a straight firefighter pretending that he’s gay. But it’s fairly certain that you’ve never quite seen him as he is in Becky, a stylish and very gory home-invasion thriller from the directing duo of Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott.

Milkwatertakes its title from "The Consecrating Mother" by Anne Sexton, the Pulitzer-winning mid-20th century American poet who wrote with stark confessional candor about the intimate physical and emotional experience of womanhood. That makes it natural to expect a singular focus in Morgan Ingari's likable first feature about a directionless young woman who impulsively decides to become a surrogate for an older gay man she barely knows.

The phrase “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” which has often (and perhaps erroneously) been attributed to American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, was a familiar saying by about 1920. And it makes perfect sense that the phrase roughly coincides with the dawn of cinema, because filmmakers have been cinematically paraphrasing it for much of the last 100 years.

In a recent piece for The New Yorker, Bill Buford movingly recounts the kind of romantic apprenticeship most aspiring chefs imagine when they hear the word "stage": Having moved to Lyon to absorb French food culture, the American humbly offered himself as a student hoping to learn from the crusty character who made the town's best bread. A skill was passed from master to learner, a friendship developed, and a new evangelist for the region's traditions was born.

After South Korean actor Lee Jung Jea sent The King: Eternal Monarch star Lee Min Ho a coffee truck to the sets of the SBS drama, the actor received a gift from another friend. Like Jung Jae, Min Ho's friend Jung Il Woo too decided to surprise his friend and actor with a coffee truck. The King: Eternal Monarch lead took to Instagram and shared a picture of the sweet gesture with his fans. The actor posed with the truck on the sets. 

A head-snapper of a debut from Andrew Patterson, “The Vast of Night” is one of those eerie indies that uses the trappings of genre (alien invasion in this case) as a launchpad into its own brand of American weird. Located somewhere to the left of a lost “X-Files” episode set in the UFO-haunted 1950s, it unspools over the course of one night in a flyspeck New Mexico border town.

The King: Eternal Monarch is fast pacing towards the finish line. With the episodes that aired last weekend, the plot intensified.

Lee Min Ho is making sure he puts his best foot forward with The King: Eternal Monarch. The SBS/Netflix series sees the actor marks the return of the South Korean actor from his military enlistment. The actor plays Emperor Lee Gon on the series. The actor shares the screen with Kim Go Eun for the first time. While the ratings in South Korea haven't met the expectations, Min Ho is leaving no stone unturned to deliver a memorable performance. 

The show will debut next month

There is no way to sugarcoat this. The King: Eternal Monarch hasn't been the best K-drama of 2020.

There are no two ways about it: Lee Min Ho oozes the regal vibe in The King: Eternal Monarch. The South Korean actor marks his return to the small screen after completing his military enlistment with the SBS drama. Although the K-Drama series is getting mixed reactions from fans, Min Ho still holds a special place in everyone's hearts. However, a BTS fan reimagined the series with the band's eldest member Jin. The ARMY member took to Twitter to share their views with a poster.