Comedy/Horror
Directed by Shin Jeong-won
The majority of Korean films I have seen recently have all started out with interesting premises and gave the impression that they would be thought-provoking dramas, only for the film to turn into some kind of farce. It’s not that I mind slapstick humor; I just I wish I could watch a film that knew what it wanted to be and had some focus.
Iron Man opens in theatres across Korea April 25.
Sci-fi/Action
Directed by Shane Black
Six years of meticulous planning and production finally came to a head last year with the release of Marvel’s “The Avengers.” It was a calculated strategy to introduce a world of superheroes through their own stand-alone films, but each was connected and contained several crossovers.
Directed by Kang Hyo-jin, Action/Drama
I hate to admit it, but I’ve been slightly disappointed with a lot of the Korean films I’ve seen in the last few months. After scratching my head, wondering where the next Kim Ki-duk or Park Chan-wook were, I thought my wait for a great film was over when a friend of mine suggested I watch a film called “Punch,” (2011), which had been a success at several major Asian film festivals.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski
Sci-fi/Action
There have been mixed reactions to Tom Cruise movies in recent years. “Knight and Day” (2010), which he produced, was a failure both critically and commercially, and his most recent release “Jack Reacher” (2012) crawled over the $200 million mark, $50 million short of its anticipated return.
Directed by Kim Han-min
Action
122 minutes
After watching “My Way” and learning a thing or two about Korea’s past, I wanted to see another period piece that covered a different era in Korean history. I have always been interested in some of the Joseon period dramas on Korean TV (well, I think they are; I don’t have a clue what they are saying), which led me to Kim Han-min’s “War of the Arrows.”
Directed by Kang Je-gyu
Action/War
137 minutes
If I were a filmmaker I would hate Steven Spielberg. Not because I think his films are great, because I don’t, but if I wanted to make a war film, I couldn’t film a battle sequence without someone comparing it to “Saving Private (Bloody) Ryan”!
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Action/Thriller
157 minutes
One of the biggest surprises at the 82nd Academy Awards was a little indie film called “The Hurt Locker,” which won two Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow. In her latest film, “Zero Dark Thirty,” Bigelow is focusing on the war on terror as an account of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden.
Directed by Yim Pil-seong
Horror / 116 minutes
After recently watching “Doomsday Book,” I was in the mood for another Yim Pil-seong film and realized I hadn’t yet seen his acclaimed “Hansel and Gretel.” It won several awards at genre film festivals and has been widely praised for its inventive style.
Directed by Kim Ji-woon, Yim Pil-seong
Sci-fi anthology / 113 minutes
