Star Wars, parts I-III

Yeah, OK, they're bad. You know what's good though? The art direction.

Mother

One of the best crime dramas I've ever seen. Korean directors don't play fair, and this one fucks expectations mercilessly. I never noticed how good the acting was. That's how good it was.

The Man From Nowhere

Over-the-top tale of revenge about a Chinese superagent in Korea. I'd call it Tarantino-esque if it weren't more likely that Tarantino is taking from guys like this director.

The Chaser

Decent crime flick. Lots of incongruous comedy amidst the gore. I dig the scrappy, low-budget finesse of a lot of these Korean productions. The unfamiliar storytelling conventions are also refreshingly disorienting. It's nice to really not know what's going to happen next. You're trained by Hollywood to know that the cute kid is going to be OK in the end. No such guarantees here.

Outrage

Killer opening sequence. Then immediately loses steam with a meandering plot involving yakuza killing each other in increasingly horrible and less interesting ways. Beat Takeshi does his twitchy-faced thug thing again. A borderline racist subplot featuring an African diplomat.

Thin Red Line

Visionary. I'm afraid of that word. Usually means a director is going to tilt at Stanley Kubrick and it's going to suck to be us. There's no other word for this one though. Moves with hypnotic fluidity between inner and outer reality. Every shot—especially in the first third—is like a Bible verse.

Nora Ephron

A narcissistic mediocrity. Her "classic" movies are moldy cheese. The quintessential well-connected east coaster, good only at PR and getting her famous friends to do shit for her.