South Korean comedy, action & fried chicken: Byeong-heon Lee's genre-mash, EXTREME JOB

Of all movie genres, so they say, comedy has the most difficult time crossing cultures. TrustMovies thought about this old saw while viewing the new genre-jumper, EXTREME JOB from South Korea, which turns out to be a pretty odd mix of comedy and violent action.

As directed by Byeong-heon Lee (no writing credit is translated via English subtitles, nor does any writing credit appear on the film's IMDB site), the movie's first half is mostly comedy, while the second part is pretty much violent action scenes. Interestingly enough, the comedic portion works best, with the humor alternately broad and somewhat more subtle, abetted in both cases by noteworthy comedic performances.

Director Lee (shown at right) keeps the comedic action flowing smartly and amusingly, as our team of barely-heroes and a single heroine (above and below) foul up one maneuver after another, much to the dismay of their lawman boss.

There are competing cop teams here, with ours clearly the underdog, and fairly soon the boys and girl have set up shop watching the bad-guy drug-runners from the bizarre home base of a low-end, take-out, fried-chicken establishment.

Via the usual coincidental-if-manipulative plot machinations, the team ends up buying the restaurant and coming up with such a fabulous fried-chicken recipe that the place becomes a record-breaking crowd pleaser.

The five leading performers here are each good/funny enough to often surmount the silliness on view and make the movie at least watchable. But even their good work isn't quite enough to compensate for some really ridiculous plot devices that crop up during the second half.

By the time it is revealed -- with literally nothing to back this up -- that each member of our dumb-ass team is a crack martial arts fighter of one sort or another, you'll be scratching your head and murmuring, Huh?, even as they are taking out what amounts to a small army of villains. Ah, well, it's the movies, right?

Extreme Job goes on too long, too. By the time we reach the final fighting match between the hero and his nemesis, you'll be hoping someone cries "uncle" as soon as at all possible. Still, for those willing to suspend disbelief, logic and pretty much all else, the movie may just pass muster.

From CJ Entertainment and running 111 minutes, Extreme Job opened this past Friday in Los Angeles and Buena Park and will hit major cities all across the US and Canada this Friday, February 1. To locate a theater near you, click here, and then click on Find a Theater, then keep clicking on View More until you locate something near you.

From South Korean, Noh Dong-seok's GOLDEN SLUMBER is a fun conspiracy/chase thriller that boasts a delightful lead performance

Several smart things distinguish the new South Korean action movie GOLDEN SLUMBER, the first of which is the fact that the film's success rests upon its unusual idea of friendship and kindness as the twin columns that hold firm its fast-paced plot via the character of its hero, a sweet young delivery man suddenly enmeshed in a political conspiracy that goes right to the top of the government. Friendship and kindness in a conspiracy thriller? Yup. And how bracing, enjoyable and finally even moving this is!

South Korea has come into its own as the purveyor of slick, entertaining and fast-paced action movies -- sometimes transgressively sexual and violent movies, too -- but this may the first I remember that relies on the positive and kindly characteristics of its hero, rather than his fighting skills, to see him through the crises. And as portrayed so beautifully and skillfully by Gang Don-won (shown above and below, and earlier seen in The Secret Reunion), this unusual performance wins us over in a flash and keeps us rooting for our hero throughout.

The film was directed by Noh Dong-seok, (two photos above) who appears to be a first-timer in the "action thriller" realm. If  true, his work here is pretty extraordinary. He is able to give us oodles of necessary exposition in a zippy pre-credit sequence that sets up just about everything that's necessary for us to know, and once this set-up is in place, the movie keeps unfurling at break-neck speed, with much of the dialog, too, full of plot points dished out with brevity and wit. Do pay attention.

Along the way, the movie also deals with some rather profound questions about why the state might choose to use and toss away so blithely, if nastily, a model citizen such as our hero. The reason given here will make you think and then wince.

The arc of the friendship that anchors the movie goes back to a rock band -- named Golden Slumber -- made up of our hero and his friends from a decade past. How and why these friends come back into his life help propel the film and give it some extra surprise and oomph. "Trust no one," one of his old friends tells him near the film's beginning, and while may be words worth honoring, he finds that he must finally trust someone. But who?

One of the major questions/caveats of these conspiracy thrillers always hinges on how one human being can go up against the powers-that-be with any hope of success. That problem is addressed here via an older character (Kim Eui-sung, above), who initially helps our hero out of revenge and avarice but is eventually won over -- as we've been, too -- by the young man's extraordinary decency and commitment.

The movie is evidently a remake of sorts of the 2010 Japanese film of the same name. I have not seen the Japanese version, but if it's any better or more entertaining than this one, that's quite an accomplishment.

From CJ Entertainment, in Korean with English subtitles and running a relatively short (for South Korean films) 108 minutes, the movie -- after opening theatrically earlier this year in a limited engagement -- hits home video via Amazon, iTunes and Google Play tomorrow, June 5 -- for purchase and/or rental.

The new Roar Uthaug/Alicia Vikander TOMB RAIDER offers slick, fast, entertaining fun

Few mainstream movies of late have so thoroughly divided critics, if not so much audiences, as has the new version of TOMB RAIDER. According to Rotten Tomatoes (yes, a notoriously unreliable site), the good/bad vote comes in at 50/50. But, of course if RT allowed what used to be known as a mixed review (which many reviews tend to be), rather than one that must be rated either all good or all bad, this would change everything.

The first thing to be said about this latest, newest version of the original Angelina Jolie two-movie "franchise" is that Alicia Vikander, shown above, together with the movie that surrounds her, is in every way the better Lara Croft: leaner, meaner, stronger, more believable, a lot less bloated and a lot more fun.

The film's director, Roar Uthaug (shown at left) was responsible three years ago for the much smaller, tighter and very exciting Tsunami-hits-Norway thriller, The Wave. Here, he is again able to marshal his skills to make another fast-paced film that moves halfway across the world, introduces a load of various characters, has a number of terrifically handled action/special effect sequences, and ends up being a surprisingly enjoyable adventure film with a heroine so skilled and obsessive that she would no doubt find a movement such as our current Me2 quite unnecessary. No man in his right mind would mess with this young woman.

In fact, unless I missed some small moment in the film, no man makes even a slight sexual advance on our Lara. They may want to kill her, and do try their level best, but as for verbal innuendos, unwanted "touching," let alone rape -- better forget it, guys.

Laura, in fact, is father-fixated, and while any decent psychiatrist would have a field day here, the movie simply sees this as loyalty and love. Dad disappeared a decade or so back but Lara refuses to believe he's dead and so, rather than signing some papers that would allow her, him, and his business connections to move on, she instead insists that she must somehow find the old codger.

Since Dad is played (often in flashback) by the wonderful Dominic West, above, you'll hope that Lara will indeed find him. Her nemesis (at least the one she's mot conscious of earliest on: there will be more  to come!) is played with savoir faire and sleaze by Walton Goggins (below, right).

The fellow who might come closest to anything approaching a bit of romance is the young boat captain played by Daniel Wu, below, who manages to be simultaneously sexy, charming, drunk and funny and helps the movie along enormously via both his acting and his action skills.

The sturdy if fairly prosaic screenplay comes via Geneva Robinson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons, and it proves serviceable to a fault. Mainly, it's the immaculate pacing and cinema sense of director Uthaug, his three editors (click and scroll down) and cinematographer George Richmond that make the movie such a fleet-footed and entertaining adventure.

In the rather starry supporting cast are no less than Kristin Scott Thomas (above) and Derek Jacobi, so, yes, folk -- you'll be getting a smidgen of "quality," too! Mostly though you'll be getting pretty much non-stop Vikander and plenty of action. That ought to be quite enough.

From Warner Brothers and Metro-Goldywyn-Mayer, the movie opened nationwide last week and should still be playing in a theater near you. Click here to find one.

Korean action par excellence in Jung Byung-gil's eye-popping, mind-blowing VILLAINESS

TrustMovies suspects that you might have to go back as far as Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita to find an apt comparison to the new South Korean action flick THE VILLAINESS. What an opening sequence this movie has! This is eight minutes or more of pre-title action and mayhem so violent, funny and enthralling that it barely gives you time to catch your breath. And then the movie gets even better: richer, stranger, funnier and more exciting.

As directed and co-written by Jung Byung-gil (shown below), the film offers up a heroine named Sook-hee who is so daunting in her fury and commitment to revenge and justice that she'll have you rooting for her in no time flat.

As with so many of these action/mayhem movies, especially the Korean variety, the themes includes love, trust, betrayal, and parent-child relations, among other things. And, being Korean, yes, the movie is very dark. This one, in fact, may be among the darkest I've seen. (Don't let that smile on the director's face fool you. He has surprises and disappointments in store here that you would never find in an American action movie.) As for the action itself, it's A-1 and often pretty damned original, too. In the first half, we get a samurai sword-fight while on motorcycles, and the finale finds our heroine chasing a bus while driving atop the hood of her car and then proceeds into full-out, gasp-inducing chaos.

Behind it all is the Korean state/government, and while this movie may take place in South Korea, we still get a good strong whiff of a police state. Why not, given this little country's long and fraught history?

Sook-hee, played quite well by Kim Ok-bin (above, of The Front Line and Thirst) makes a strong and genuinely laudable heroine, and by the time we and she have reached the final frame of the film, the smile that appears on her bloody-but-unbowed face makes the movie's title radiate with appropriate anger, irony and sadness.

The men around Sook-hee are hardly her match, though they do try -- especially the sweet, smitten State-employed handler (Sung Jun) who falls in love with her, as well as the blast-from-the-past who suddenly reappears in her life, as a surprise "target" on her second wedding day (the latter is played by the notable Shin Ha-kyun, above).

Three of the women with whom our heroine works in the "agency" also register strongly: the sweet new recruit who becomes Sook-hee's friend, the older agency diva who is soon her nemesis, and especially the ice-queen agency head (Kim Seo-hyeong, above) for whom trust is a dirty word.

At 124 minutes, the movie does ran a tad too long (though this is relatively short for a Korean film, where audiences demand their money's worth, in quantity as well as quality). The filmmaker also packs his tale with flash-backs that fill in some of the blanks in our understanding of Sook-hee's life.

Even if you're not a fan of this kind of film, The Villainess may well win you over (or at least wear you down into "uncle"-crying submission). If you are a fan, better stick it on your "must-see" list now.

From WELL GO USA Entertainment, the movie opens this Friday, August 25, in New York City at the IFC Center, and in Los Angeles at AMC's Dine-In Sunset 5. A limited national release will follow in September. Click here and scroll down to see all currently scheduled cities and theaters.

Halle Berry fuels Luis Prieto's alternately pulse-pounding and stupid thriller, KIDNAP

Come on, admit it: Sometimes a really good bad movie can be a lot of fun. The most current example is KIDNAP, a film in which Halle Berry plays a beleaguered mother for whom it is not enough that her ex is trying to take all custody away from her. When she turns her back for a couple of minutes, her son is summarily kidnapped (and not, unfortunately, by his dad).

That the audience at the screening TrustMovies attended-- made up mostly of the general public, with a few of us critics scattered throughout  -- was alternately gasping and laughing aloud (the film is not a comedy) should give you some idea of the bizarre nonsense embedded here. This is 94 minutes of ridiculous but often exciting fun.

The director here is Luis Prieto (shown at right), and the screenwriter is Knate Lee (of the Jackass movies and Bad Grandpa, so provenance does count for something). Prieto does a bang-up job with the action, of which there is plenty, but within that action comes most of the stupidity, as well. I'll just make reference to a single scene, in which our heroine, who looks to weigh in at about 85 pounds, over-powers a huge woman who must weigh maybe 250 or more, while being choked to death in the front seat of her car, from which she manages to eject the huge woman who is, yes, behind her in the back seat. (Berry's character manages a similarly bizarre feat, much later in the film, while underwater.)

If you can believe shit like this, you'll swallow, I guess, just about anything -- including the scene in which Ms Berry puts her car in reverse, backs up onto a major highway with the traffic coming toward her at least 60 miles per hour... and does not get hit.

What? You thought you'd stumbled into a sneak preview of the Wonder Woman sequel. 'Fraid not. Still, gasping and then laughing together in a packed theater is not the worst experience in the world. So, if you've an appetite for this kind of thing, by all means indulge it.

Ms Berry looks stunning, as per usual, and the villains are as naughty and nasty as you could wish, while the young actor who plays Berry's son is properly adorable.

While one might question the intentions of an entertainment based around the kidnapping and possible death (and who knows what else prior to that) of a vulnerable child, we're now in the world of Trumpland, after all. So grit your teeth and bear up. (This film, I am told by a fellow critic, is actually three years old, having been stuck in bankruptcy limbo, because of the demise of its former distributor).

Opening nationwide today, Friday, August 4, Kidnap (now being given to us via Aviron Pictures) can be seen all across the country. Click here to find the theater(s) nearest you.

Surprise! Ben Wheatley & Amy Jumps' chatty action movie, FREE FIRE, is good, nasty fun

First off, there's the ace cast. After their last abortive collaboration on High-Rise (which also sported a very good cast), this newest effort of the writing/directing team Amy Jump and Ben Wheatley -- FREE FIRE -- turns out to be the most downright entertaining of their work thus far. It's empty as hell, regarding any meaning that might be ascertained, but watching and listening to the actors assembled here strut their very impressive stuff is certainly worth the 90 minutes of screen time. You'll snicker (enjoyably) at much of the dialog, and keep your eyes wide open at the action/visuals.

Mr. Wheatley (shown at left) and Ms Jump enjoy combining humor (usually very dark) with violence (often rather ultra), but here -- perhaps because of their cast of criminal characters, a couple of these semi-classy, most of them not -- though much of the action, once it begins, is full of gunfire, the violence seems rather toned down, while the humor is dark, yet little more than you might expect from folk such as these.

The plot entails an illegal arms deal gone bad, first via some uncontrollable rage among the participants, then later from an out-and-out betrayal. Who is responsible for the latter remains a mystery for quite awhile, adding to our interest, which is already piqued by the smart ensemble cast.

The actors include a nice mix of British/Irish/Aussie/South African/American actors -- from the up-and-very-coming Jack Reynor (above, center) to Cillian Murphy (below, left),  Sharlto Copley, Noah Taylor (above, right), a bushy-bearded Armie Hammer (above, left) and Brie Larson -- plus a lot more, all of whom are first-rate.

Jump and Wheatley have jiggered their often quite comic dialog very nicely to fit each actor so that we learn what we need to -- both plot- and character-wise -- from the plentiful words that keeping sprouting like vinegar-laced popcorn from the actors on hand. We soon know who these people are and why literally none of them are to be trusted nor cared much about. Which of course makes what happens to them go down all the more easily.

Mr. Copley, above, left, does a bang-up job as a sleazebag overly concerned with his new suit, while Ms Larson, below, as the lone woman in the crew, runs the gamut from would-be romantic heroine to me-first moll who's better with gun-play than foreplay.

Actually, just about everyone here is a very lousy shot, and considering how much ammunition is expended in the course of the film (oodles, really), it takes an awfully long time to waste the game cast. But the wasting is relatively fun, overall. Who remains -- and how and why -- is usually tricky and enjoyable in this genre of film, and so it is here. I make no great claims for the movie, but for what it is, it certainly delivers the goods. (That's Sam Riley, below, as perhaps the dumbest and most problematic of a generally dim crew.)

From A24, Free Fire opens nationwide tomorrow, Friday, April 21. Here in South Florida you can find it at the following theaters: Aventura Mall 24, Aventura,; Miami Lakes 17, Miami Lakes,  Cobb Hialeah Grand 18, Hialeah; South Beach 18, Miami Beach; iPic, North Miami Beach; Intracoastal 8, North Miami Beach; Sunset Place 24, South Miami; Cinepolis Grove 15, Coconut Grove; Kendall Village Stadium 16, Miami; Southland Mall Stadium 16, Miami; CMX Brickell City Center 10, Miami; Oakwood 18, Hollywood; Coral Ridge 10, Ft. Lauderdale; Cypress Creek 16, Ft. Lauderdale; Sawgrass 23, Sunrise; Magnolia Place 16, Coral Springs; Pompano Beach 18, Pompano Beach; T-Bird Drive In, Fort Lauderdale; Silverspot Coconut Creek Cinemas, Coconut Creek; City Place 20, West Palm Beach; Royal Palm Beach 18, Royal Palm Beach; Cinepolis, Jupiter 14, Jupiter; Mizner Park 8, Theatres, Boca Raton, and the Cinemark Palace 20, Boca Raton. To find a theater near wherever you are, click here.

Girdler/Sheldon's early Pam Grier movie, SHEBA, BABY makes its Blu-ray debut

Ah, the irony! For those of us who've been longtime fans of black actress Pam Grier -- from her early days making blaxsploitation films through her more recent work -- the announcement that one of those early films, SHEBA, BABY, would become available in Blu-ray format seemed cause for rejoicing. That the transfer provided by distributor, Arrow Video, looks at least as good as the movie did when it hit theaters back in 1975, simply adds to the delight.

The only problem? The movie mostly stinks. Though this critic had seen all of the early Grier films at the time of their original release, the several decades in between now and then has allowed memory to grow dim. Though I believe that Coffy still holds up as the best of the bunch, followed by Foxy Brown, Sheba-Baby is an alternately silly and shoddy misfire. The reason can be summed up in two words: Jack Hill.

Mr. Hill, who was not involved in this film, was the writer/director of Grier's best early films, including the two mentioned above, along with The Big Doll House and The Big Bird Cage, and he understood how to make fast-moving, funny, exciting and -- yes, enjoyably campy -- exploitation movies. This was not the case with William Girdler (shown at left), the fellow entrusted to make Sheba, Baby, a movie that, more than anything else, simply dawdles its way along. We waste oodles of time merely getting places: walking, waiting on the elevated subway, riding in cars. What should take two or three seconds to establish goes on for 20 or 30. From the opening credits onwards, this kind of low-wattage vamping builds up until we're bored stiff. (Granted movies move faster these days than they did back then, but Girdler gives us nothing interesting to look at during all of his vamping.)

Not to speak ill of the dead (Girdler was killed in a helicopter crash in 1978, after finishing his final film), but in whatever genre you'd want to place him, this filmmaker was a third-rate hack. His action scenes are execrable, his sense of pacing mediocre, and the performances he draws from his casts are uneven to say the least. The most enjoyable job here comes from Christopher Joy (above, right) as one of the several fellows Sheba must question to get to Mr. Big (played with proper smarmy self-satisfaction by Dick Merrifield, below, right).

Plot-wise, the movie has to do with white overlords using their black henchmen to do dirty deeds to good, law-abiding blacks -- destroying their businesses in order to claim the insurance (at least, I think that was what was going on). Basically this is just an excuse for some so-so violence and bloodletting that gives Ms Grier the chance to strut her stuff --- which she does less well here than under the direction of Mr. Hill.

She does however, get to wear some nifty outfits, one after another, and she and her beautiful, sexy body and face, look sensational at all times. If this is enough for you, by all means, rent or purchase the new disc. Otherwise it's for Grier completists only.

On the disc's EXTRAS, there are a couple of good or at least funny interviews: one with movie historian Chris Poggiali regarding Ms Grier's years at American International Pictures; the other a hoot-and-a-half with the film's main screenwriter and producer David Sheldon, in which he compares -- seriously and favorably -- Mr. Girdler's work to that of Steven Spielberg. Mr. Sheldon also boasts that the script of Sheba, Baby was written literally overnight. (Are we surprised?) Trust me: This is not something you want to brag about.

Sheba, Baby -- from Arrow Video and running a way-too-long 89 minutes -- is available now on DVD and Blu-ray, for rental or purchase.