Prepare For Cinematic Bliss With Parasite

Please forgive the vagueness of certain parts of this review of Parasite, as you're bound to have heard by now, this is a movie that's best to go into with little in the way of expectations on what exactly you're getting into. Some movies merely use empty twists as a substitute for actual storytelling and then there are films like Parasite that are a master course in how to do twisty-turny storytelling right. Every inch of this intricately put-together production has a greater purpose and that includes the brilliantly executed revelations that upend the plot. Far be it from me to spoil such shocking moments so let's instead spend this review combing over what a miraculous creation Parasite is in as spoiler-free of terms as possible.

Train to Busan Is A Poignant Ride You Won't Want To End

Our current golden age of horror movies doesn't just apply to American horror features like Get Out, A Quiet Place or Hereditary, plenty of recent pieces of foreign horror cinema have also contributed to the onslaught of modern-day high-quality horror fare. Among the very best of those horror films, foreign or otherwise, is Yeon Sang-ho's Train to Busan, a 2016 zombie tale that I finally got around to watching for the first time last week. I'll be forever kicking myself for not discovering this title far sooner. It's been so long since a movie left me so constantly holding my breath in sheer dread and terror. Why did I waste time watching CHiPS when I could have been experiencing Train to Busan??

Psychokinesis Makes For A Great (Allegedly) First Foray Into Superhero Movies For South Korean Cinema

Superhero movies have been a major fixture of American cinema for decades now but why should Americans have all the fun? Countries all over the world have produced their own superhero movies to varying degrees of success, including the Australian comedy Griff the Invisible, the Japanese comedy Zebraman and last year's Russain blockbuster Guardians, which features a dude who transforms into a giant bear. One of this year's newest example of a foreign superhero movie was Psychokinesis, the newest film from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho and a movie that has been called the first South Korean superhero movie (I have my doubts about that).

Layers of Ambiguity Fuel The Beautifully Filmed Thriller Burning (SPOILERS)

SPOILERS BELOW

Director Lee Chang-dong's newest motion picture Burning is a thriller, but it takes a little bit of time before it reveals itself as just that. At first, the audience is just following around aspiring writer Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) as he putters around in his day-to-day life doing deliveries to earn money as he tries nearly everything, including getting his neighbors to sign a petition, to ensure that his violent father doesn't get a harsh prison sentence. While going about his life, he runs into childhood friend Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo) for the first time in ages. The two promptly go out for dinner where Shin reveals that she's about to go to Africa as part of her desire to fulfill her Big Hunger, a term meant to refer to a persons desire to find out their purpose in the universe. 

Okja Is A Monster Of A Movie Capable Of Great Absurdity And Equally Great Emotions

Okja is not director Bong Joon-Ho's first time around the science-fiction track, but each time he comes into the genre, he tackles a new corner of science-fiction. For The Host, he was making a film in the style of classic monster movies while Snowpiercer is like any number of super-violent and allegorical high concept movies John Carpenter made in the 1980's. What kind of storytelling terrain does his newest science-fiction venture, Okja, occupy? Interestingly, it seems like its storytelling sensibilities hew closer to both ecologically aware science-fiction movies and heartwarming tales that filter the "a boy and their dog" stories through science-fiction means i.e. The Iron Giant and Big Hero 6.

The Host Is The Monster Movie With The Most!

All kinds of genres have gotten a revamp in the 21st century (for instance, comparing 20th century and 21st century superhero movies is akin to comparing apples and submarines, as Jeffrey Katzenberg might put it) and the o'l monster movie hasn't been immune to the kind of audacious reimaginings this centuries filmmakers have applied to other genre mainstays of world cinema. Matt Reeves 2008 feature Cloverfield used the found-footage filming method to bring the viewer up close and personal to a monster attacking a city and how it affects normal people, Guillermo Del Toro gave the Kaiju genre his own distinctive charm and creativity with Pacific Rim and one of the most beloved movie monsters of all-time debuted this year in Monster Trucks.

Deceit And Romance Are Parallel Forces In The Handmaiden

My unfamiliarity with the works of South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook meant I walked into my screening of The Handmaiden with a sense of uncertainty wafting over my being. I'd heard plenty of positive things about this project, but like I said, I haven't seen past Park Chan-wook films like Stoker and Oldboy, so I had no idea what kind of atmosphere, themes or recurring storytelling ideas run through his work. My lack of exposure to his past efforts means I can't say exactly how The Handmaiden fits into his body of work as a whole, but I can say that I'm extremely curious to see other pieces of work Park Chan-wook considering just how entertaining and well-crafted The Handmaiden is.