14 January 2013

The Thieves (South Korea, 2012)

In order to let things cool down from their latest heist, Popeye and his group of thieves go to Macau on a job. But the mastermind behind this job is none other than Popeye's old partner Macau Park, who escaped with 68kg of gold several years ago on their last job together. Macau Park brought Chinese thieves as well but little did they know what Macau Park planned for each one of them. 

The Thieves proved to be one of South Korea's biggest smash hits ever, and despite being a summer blockbuster, it has a lot more to offer than mindless action. It features an all-star cast with actors from both South Korea and Hong Kong, and throws them together for their most important heist yet. The photography scores ten out of ten, and the shooting scene towards the end is one of the best in recent years. An adrenaline kick that will shower you with sheer entertainment.


Genre: Action/Crime

3 January 2013

The Man Who Stole the Sun (Japan, 1979)

A misfit high-school science teacher decides to build his own atomic bombs. He uses the bombs to extort the police and forces them to give in to his own crazy demands. Soon it's a race to see what wins first: the determined cop who's after him, the bomb he's carrying, or a growing case of radiation poisoning...

With a limited budget, independent filmmaker Kazuhiko Hasegawa still managed to make an ambitious movie about the fear of an atomic bomb and how the authorities completely are in the hands of a single man. Also, it's highly interesting to see the creation of the bomb. Not a film you usually hear about, so here it is in all its atomic glory.


Genre: Crime/Thriller

1 January 2013

The Brotherhood of War (South Korea, 2004)

In 1950, in South Korea, shoe-shiner Jin-tae Lee and his 18-year-old old student brother, Jin-seok Lee, form a poor but happy family. Jin-tae and his mother are tough workers, who sacrifice themselves to send Jin-seok to the university. When North Korea invades the South, the family escapes to a relative's house in the country, but along their journey, Jin-seok is forced to join the army to fight in the front, and Jin-tae enlists too to protect his young brother.

If you're a fan of war movies with massive battle scenes, this one will probably float your boat and then some. The story isn't very original, as often with these kind of films, but it does its job well, which is to blow things up and show bodies fly away as torn apart puppets. 




Genre: Action/Drama/War