Set in the year 2194, JUNG_E portrays a desolated Earth in the 22nd century that is no longer habitable due to climate change where humans are forced to live in a man-made shelter built for survival. Amid the chaos, an internal war breaks out in the shelter.
Victory – meaning the end of the war – now hinges on finding a way to clone the legendary mercenary Jung_E into a scalable robot.
The Korean movie shot up to #1 on Neflix in USA after just 1 day of streaming. I'm going to watch it again. I love it for the visuals specially the scary robots that can walk, skate, and leap to kill their prey. The emotional sequence between mother (JUNG_E) and daughter makes this AI movie a little different from other sci-fi movies and I like it. The ending reminds me of one of my favorite AI movies, Alex Garland's Ex Machina.
tags: Korean movie, mystery, Park Chan-Wook, police investigation, thriller
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
An insomniac detective becomes infatuated with a young and beautiful widow after she becomes the prime suspect in his latest murder investigation.
Park Chan-Wook (director of Old Boy) deftly tackles a "platonic love story" between a police detective and his main murder suspect. The highly stylized movie is almost perfect with its story, screenplay, acting, directing, cinematography, music, and a touch of humor. The movie is long at 2 hours 18 minutes and too complicated [maybe just for me] that it needs a second and maybe a third viewing to fully appreciate. I was entertained and liked it nevertheless.
Quirky lead detective Hae-Joon has trouble sleeping and his relationship with his wife looks headed towards divorce territory. He carries several small stuff, example - eyedrops, in his jacket that has 12 pockets and his pants has extra pockets too. Then he meets the beautiful and enigmatic widow who is much younger than her deceased husband who died while climbing a steep and rocky mountain. One of the detectives asks why anyone would want to climb it and that it should be illegal to climb the said peak. Detective Hae-Joon is too nice to the suspect from the get-go even buying sushi boxes for their lunch which means he is already infatuated with her. He keeps an eye on her almost 24/7, sleeping and spying on her in his car on the parking lot, recording her every movement including her eating habits like ice cream and leaving the left over melting outside of the fridge. In other words, he is obsessed but at the same time trying to find if she killed her husband.
I like these dialogues
Det. Hae-Joon to murder suspect Seo-Rae, thereby confessing to her how he feels
You said I have "class". Do you know where that comes from? Confidence. I used to be a very confident police officer. But...Because of this obsession I have for a woman...I screwed up the investigation. I am collapsing.
Detective's wife to him and when she took a phone call for him
You're only happy when surrounded by murderers and violence. Congratulations. There's been a murder.
The murderous widow is played by Chinese actress Tang Wei who became famous in the 2007 Ang Lee movie Lust, Caution. She doesn't seem to age since that movie came out. She's 42 now but still looks early 30s. She's so pretty, has a very nice voice both in Korean and Mandarin languages, and is a very good actress. She's married to Korean director screenwriter Kim Tae-Yong and speaks very good Korean. In the movie she occasionally speaks Mandarin to her telephone app to translate into Korean.
tags: Korean movie, mutant virus, Netflix tudum, nonstop action
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From Netflix
A man wakes up missing his memories. Directed by a mysterious voice from a device in his ear, he sets off on a hostage rescue mission rife with danger.
Joo Won loses his boyish image and he bulked up adding more than 14 pounds in muscles, has buzz cut hair and tattoos. He is naked wearing only a thong in the opening scenes which includes a bloody seemingly endless knife fight inside a bath house full of yakuza and one naked lady with a gun. I have never seen so many naked butts in a movie in all my life. 😆
The action is dizzying and really nonstop. I like it regardless of the CGI and story. Netflix needs more entertaining action movies like this.
A baby box is a small space, where parents can leave behind their babies anonymously. Sang-Hyun (Song Kang-Ho) finds new parents for a baby left in a baby box and makes a special deal with them. He calls himself a broker of good will. Sang-Hyun works with Dong-Soo (Gang Dong-Won) in this endeavor. They get involved with So-Young (IU), who placed her baby in the baby box, but has now come back for her baby. Meanwhile, Detective Soo-Jin (Bae Doo-Na) and Detective Lee (Lee Joo-Young) chase after Sang-Hyun and Dong-Soo.
Cast is topnotch
Song Kang-ho
Bae Doo-na
IU - looks pretty with long hair
Gang Dong-won
Lee- Joo-young
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda who directed the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Award winner Japanese movie Shoplifters.
tags, fantasy, horror, Korean movie, Netflix streaming, thriller
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form AsianWiki
Two women live in different times. Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) lives in the present day and Young-sook (Jun Jong-seo) lives in the past. They connect with one phone call.
I've been waiting for this movie since the start of the year and was surprised to see it on Netflix this morning available for streaming. It's another satisfying thriller from South Korea and starring one of my favorite actresses, Park Shin-hye.
2 women from different time lines connect via a land line phone call. The woman from 1999, Young-sook pleaded to Seo-yeon, the woman from 2020, to save her from her stepmother who tries to exorcise her by flogging. The 2 women became friends over the phone and Young-sook changed the past by saving Seo-yeon's father from dying by a fire accident in their house. Changing the past is never a good idea because it unleashed a serial killer, and the evil past of one of the women.
The almost 2 hour movie never lets you relax for even more than 2 minutes as you don't know who's going to die a bloody death next. Park Shin-hye and Jun Jong-seo (Burning) are both very good in the movie.
tags: action, horror, South Korean movie, Netflix streaming, zombies
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
from AsianWiki
A city is infected by a mysterious virus, which causes the city to spiral out of control. Joon-Woo (Yoo Ah-In) and Yoo-Bin (Park Shin-Hye) struggle to survive in an isolated apartment complex from those infected with the virus. Everything including internet, phone, and electricity has been disconnected around the apartment.
Yes, a new zombies movie from South Korea. How can I not love it. It stars 2 of my favorite actors, Yoo Ah-In and Park Shin-Hye. They are the only 2 people, aside from the zombies, in almost 85% of the entire movie. It wasn't boring with just the 2 of them really. There's a subtle comedy here and there that reminds me of another South Korean survival movie, Exit, only with hungry ugly zombies. Park Shin-Hye's character is the smarter of the two and sometimes rolls her eyes at her co-survivor not knowing what to do. She's very creative and skillful using contraptions and an axe to kill or chop off limbs of the monsters. There are some impossible to believe scenarios but this is just a movie. You have to suspend disbelief with any zombie movies.
Recommended for Korean, zombies, survival, action, and horror movie fans.
2 movies that have similar themes: children trained by secret government section to be assassins. Both are extremely gory and with the most awesome lead characters and plot twists. The main twists of both movies are identical.
THE WITCH: SUBVERSION
tags: Korean, Netflix streaming, 2018, thriller, 3 part movie series
from IMDB
A high school student with amnesia tries to uncover what has happened to her. All leading her into deeper troubles ultimately revealing a darkness she could not have imagined.
Rookie but gifted Korean actress Kim Da-Mi is awesome as a young female assassin and her character reminds me of Eleven. I can't wait to see Parts 2 and 3. Check-out Kim Da-Mi's 2020 Korean drama series, Itaewon Class, currently streaming on Netflix.
tags: action, Japanese movie, Tak Sakaguchi, 2016 thriller
from AsianWiki
Toshiro runs a convenience store in a small town. He lives with his young niece Sachi. In his past, Toshiro was known as "Ghost" and was a lethal member of a special covert force.
His peaceful life is soon upturned by members of his former special ops team. Sachi is kidnapped by the group and Toshiro is determined to get her back.
I can't believe Tak is 20 years older since I saw him in Versus, one of my favorite weird Japanese movies. It has comedy, fantasy, vampires, zombie ninjas, yakuza,, romance, blood and gore. I have seen probably a dozen of his movies including the equally weird but most entertaining Death Trance.
He still has his laconic acting style which I like. He wrote and directed the movie and employed his daughter Makoto as Casper, one of the child assassin trainees. She's also good at martial arts although really tiny at less than 5 feet tall. This movie is really really violent and gory. Slit throats galore like chicken at the slaughterhouse. Guns are useless because Tak's character known as Ghost, is able to dodge every bullet which ends up with the enemies killing each other. So one soldier shouted "Stop using your guns!" Knives vs guns, knives won. Lots of knives.
Both movies are highly recommended for fans of thriller full of blood and gore.
Korean movies currently streaming on Netflix and Amazon.
The Pirates
tags: period action and comedy
Brief description from Amazon.com
On the eve of the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, an unprecedented robbery shocks the nation-in-waiting: a whale has swallowed the Emperor's Royal Seal, and a bounty placed on its retrieval. Now, every infamous gang of thieves, thugs, pirates, and government agents take to the seas, battling the elements, creatures of the deep, and each other to possess the mother of all rewards.
Kundo: Age Of The Rampant
tags, period action, comedy, and drama
from wikipedia
The year is 1862. The late Joseon dynasty was a period of social and economic unrest in Korea, and it was also a time of great tyranny. Due to continuous natural disasters and poor harvests, poverty, hunger and death are rampant. The aristocracy rule the country and, concerned only with their own wealth, they exploit and persecute the poor.In these turbulent times, a band of fighters named Kundo rise against the authorities. They raid corrupt officials, then share their booty with the vulnerable and impoverished. While the king stands powerless against them, Kundo becomes a figure of fear to undeserving nobles, and a ray of hope in the lives of long-suffering citizens. The members of Kundo believe that their cause is more important than their own lives.
Highlight: final battle between the butcher [wielding two large meat cleavers] and a master swordsman.
Kim Seung-Keun stands on the ledge of an overpass bridge above the Han River. He’s in way over his head in debt and he’s ready to end his life right then and there. Mr. Kim then jumps off the bridge, but due to his own misfortune (or good fortune) he ends up washed ashore on a small nearby island. At first, Mr. Kim looks for every conceivable way to get off the island – which is in plain view of several nearby high rise buildings and apartment complexes. After a few days, Mr. Kim becomes acclimated to his solitary existence and he even starts to find comfort in his primitive surroundings.
Meanwhile, a young reclusive lady named Kim Jung-Yeon sits in her room, addicted to the online world of "Cyworld." She hasn’t left her apartment in three years and she doesn’t plan to leave anytime soon. In the evenings, when Jung-Yeon is finished updating her Cyworld home page, she dabbles in her other hobby which is photographing the moon. During one of those evenings, when Jung-Yeon is taking shots of the moon, she notices a "HELP" sign scrawled onto the sand of a nearby island. She then notices a strange man walking around the island and Jung-Yeon starts to view this man as her own personal alien.
Castaway On The Moon is one of my top favorite Korean movies of all time. I have seen it many many times while it was still streaming on Netflix. The movie is metaphorical and if you know or are familiar with Korea and its citizens, it's easier to understand its meaning. It is a mixture of drama with a bit of sometimes laugh-out-loud comedy, love story, and of all things, adventures in farming.
The male character tries to commit suicide but is unsuccessful and finds himself stranded on the small island in the middle of the Han River. He is very near yet so far from the city of Seoul. He tries to kill himself a second time by hanging himself with his tie but is interrupted by "call of nature". He decides suicide can wait and explores the island. He finds a discarded jjajangmyun (black soybean paste) noodle wrapper with its seasonings unused and intact. He is very hungry and the photo on the wrapper complete with carrots, green vegetables, and a boiled egg makes him even hungrier. He then with regret recalls the numerous times he refused to eat the noodles since he was a child. He vows to grow corn to make noodles from seeds dropped by birds. It's amazing that a simple noodle wrapper makes him forget his problems and the suicide attempts, and changes his overall outlook in life.
While these things are going on, he is being observed with a powerful camera by a girl from an apartment across the river. She lives with her parents but refuses to face them nor anyone else; they communicate by text messages. The girl is a hikikomori, a modern-day hermit similar to an agoraphobic.
In a sense both of them are castaways. The superb acting, directing, and script make these situations very very believable. I love this movie and cannot recommend it highly enough.
The movie is not available for streaming on Netflix and Amazon.
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I am currently reading THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir and it reminds me of this movie. There are some similarities - castaway, farming (growing potatoes), the will to survive, being observed from afar...
