Tom's Reviews

Phew, after reviewing one non-Korean movie ( Time Share , a not so good Spanish film) I think I need to renew my avid, perhaps slightly unhealthy obsession with strange Korean movies no one else DARES to review. That's right, I'm a bit of a daredevil when it comes to reviewing films, only three critics reviews on IMDB, let me at 'em. Today's flick is The Chase , not to be mistaken with the British game show of the same name (which is pretty awesome by the way), a Korean action/comedy/thriller/mystery hybrid that's pretty good and offers some fresh insights into an overdone genre. The Chase, written and directed by Hong-seon Kim ( The Con Artists ), is a film about a landlord who's tenants are being murdered and he's having none of it. He teams up with an ex detective, and together the two gramps go for a romp around their town to find the killer. Me and my sister watched this one together, and before watching it we had a quick peek at the trailer. Oh boy i...

It may seem like I only watch Korean films, and you'd be almost correct if you assumed so. I actually watch more films than I review, and today's film was Time Share . I wasn't going to review Time Share , mainly because it's critic's review section on IMDB (which coincidentally seems to be where I get all my "clicks") is already pretty full. But, I figured my blog was too Korean orientated, so I thought I'd spice it up. Time Share it is. I am so mixed on Time Share it is honestly frustrating. The film, directed by  Sebastián Hofmann ( Halley ) and written by  Sebastián Hofmann  and  Julio Chavezmontes ( Halley ), has a really intriguing premise. The way it's described on IMDB is as follows: " Two haunted family men join forces in a destructive crusade to rescue their families from a tropical paradise, after becoming convinced that an American timeshare conglomerate has a sinister plan to take their loved ones away." Now you'd be ...

I forgot I owned an Amazon Prime account; I'm constantly on Netflix searching for obscure movies to review that I miss the Prime logo on my PS4 and never give it the time of day it deserves. So today, having really scoured the weird Korean titles Netflix has to offer, I went to Prime and got myself a weird Chinese title. The Laundryman , directed by Chung Lee and written by Chung Lee and Yu-Hsun Chen ( The Village of No Return) is not what I'd call a great film, not even what I'd call a good film. It's a film, it has all the components to make one, in fact it has all the components to make a great film, but it doesn't use them well, and to add insult to injury it feels like it's low budget. Let me explain. Here's the Amazon description of this film: "A hitman is quite literally haunted by the ghosts of his past in this unique blend of supernatural action-comedy set in the neon-lit world of cynical psychics, seductive mob bosses, and clever cops....

Forgotten is one of those films that I could criticise to the end of time, but actually love deep down. It's a flawed film for sure, but it has a lot of redeeming qualities that make it shine above the rest, and I think that's mostly down to it being Korean. I know I know. Tom likes another Korean movie! What a surprise! But in all seriousness, there's something about the way they make films that means they could take a crap idea and make it watchable at least. Forgotten , directed and written by Hang-jun Jang ( Spring Breeze ), is a thriller about a twenty-one year old who suspects not all is right in his family after his brother Yu-seok (Mu-Yeol Kim, The Gangster, The Cop and The Devil ) is abducted and mysteriously returns nineteen days later. Now you see Forgotten's plot is okay, and I mean that in the most neutral way. It's not great, it's not bad, it's just okay. For starters it's almost entirely predictable from the beginning, or at least it w...