The Housemaid (South Korea, 2010/1960)

Eun-yi is a playful young woman, a good match for a job as nanny to a precocious child, Nami, the daughter of a wealthy couple, Hae-ra and Hoon. Hae-ra will soon have twins as well. The majordomo, Mrs. Cho, is the household's cold stone center. Before long, Hoon seduces Eun-yi, and when Mrs. Cho tells Hae-ra's mother about the affair, Eun-yi is up against women with wealth, power, and no conscience. Can Eun-yi maintain her dignity and perhaps even put the family in their place?

Here's two films for the price of one. I don't know what I mean by that, but I know that you should avert your attention to this duo of films. It goes without saying, but The Housemaid (2010) is a remake of a film released in the 60's, also titled The Housemaid. The older version is a bit more melodramatic, while the remake is erotic and full of sexual tension. The cast in the new one features a couple of recognizable faces and great actors from the last years and you're most likely familiar with some of them. Oh, and the ending. The ending will come at you from nowhere, and it's downright wonderful.

Genre: Drama/Thriller

A Hard Day (South Korea, 2014)

Detective Go Geon-soo is having a hard day, and the following events happen to him in less than 24 hours: He receives a divorce notice from his wife. His mother passes away. He and his coworkers are investigated by police inspectors over alleged embezzlement. Then on his way to his mother's funeral, he drives recklessly and commits a fatal hit and run. He tries to cover-up the accident by hiding the man's corpse in his deceased mother's coffin. But someone has been watching all along, and Geon-soo gets a mysterious call from a person claiming that he was the sole witness to the crime, who now begins to threaten him.

I expected A Hard Day to be very lackluster and uninspired, but were surprised at how enjoyable it actually was. Even funny sometimes. Sure, there's not a whole lot of originality here, but it delivers a momentarily rush and the excitement rises by the minute. Not a perfect thriller, but still worth your time.

Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Japan, 2001)

The year is 2071. Following a terrorist bombing, a deadly virus is released on the populace of Mars and the government has issued a 300 million woo-long reward, the largest bounty in history, for the capture of whoever is behind it. The bounty hunter crew of the spaceship Bebop; Spike, Faye, Jet and Ed, take the case with hopes of cashing in the bounty. However, the mystery surrounding the man responsible, Vincent, goes deeper than they ever imagined, and they aren't the only ones hunting him.

The anime series Cowboy Bebop is one of the coolest shows out there. It's a space western fanatic's wet dream, with 26 episodes of superb action and funky sci-fi. The movie based on the show is no different when it comes to delivering an exciting story and amazing animation. You can easily watch the movie without having seen the series, as it is a pretty much standalone project. Even those who are new to animation should check this one out, as it is a crazy good and awesome welcome to the genre.

Genre: Animation/Action/Crime

No Tears for the Dead (South Korea, 2014)

Abandoned by his mother shortly after immigrating to America, Gon is raised by the mafia and grows up to become a cold-blooded hit-man. Though usually flawless in taking out his targets, Gon makes a terrible mistake of killing an innocent young girl. A flood of guilt takes over his life and the situation becomes worse when his boss assigns him the job of killing the young girl's mother. Gon's new target, Mogyeong, is a risk manager at an investment firm and has buried herself in work to bury her grief. She is completely unaware of her role at the heart of a dangerous conspiracy. 

No Tears for the Dead is a film I've been dying to see for a long, long time. Ever since it was announced that The Man from Nowhere director Lee Jeong-beom was making a new action film I was hyped like crazy. This led to some impossibly high expectations and that's probably why No Tears for the Dead proved to be slightly underwhelming to me. There's some unnecessary English dialogue between people who both talk Korean, and it's not as packed with amazing fight sequences as The Man from Nowhere was, but instead takes some time to develop the plot. 

Still, that's not exactly a bad thing, and this film has it where it counts and delivers some really cool, fast shots and intense shootouts. You can just tell that the director has completely mastered the art of filming an action scene. So, a good action flick that doesn't quite reach the same level of intensity of the directors previous work, but a satisfying and wonderfully shot action fest nonetheless.    

Genre: Action/Drama