Been running through Bong Joon Ho's catalogue that i havent seen..

Started with Memories of Murder

I've heard alot about this movie and really wanted to try to catch it after it showed up in NYT "100 best movies of the 2000s" list at #99. Finally got around to it last week.

It lived up to the hype. Felt like a Korean Zodiac, as it is based on a true story of Korea's first serial killer in the late 80s/early 90s. The atmosphere of a late 80s rural Korea was great. It added a darkness to the film along with Korea being under a bad regime at the time. However, the biggest thing that surprised me was how funny it was. BJH seems to teeter on the edge of dark comedy/thriller with alot of his films to where its almost off putting but it works here. I was cracking up at the bath house scene. The ending is where it really shines. I didnt "get it" at first but once i looked into it and realized what he was doing i thought it was great.

Next up was a board favorite: The Host

I'll preface this by saying im not a monster movie guy. Godzilla and King Kong do nothing for me. So, i didnt think this was the absolute masterpiece its often made out to be, but i did really enjoy it and can see why fans of the genre love it so much. I like how you're hit in the face with the monster right off the jump as it attacks in broad daylight right at the beginning. It was a nice change of pace from waiting till the movie is halfway over to reveal the monster. After doing some digging it looks like when it came out it did get some criticism for being "anti-american" as it does depict America being the bad guys that caused the monster and BJH even admits in an interview that the part about there not really being a virus was a shot at there being no WMD's in the middle east. Also the use of agent yellow symbolizing our use of agent orange. This dosen't really bother me but thought it was relevant.

I've already seen Parasite, Snowpiercer, and Mickey 17

-Parasite is probably his peak along with Memories of Murder. I though it was solid when i saw it in theatre back in 2019 but havent seen it since. I do remember thinking it was a TAD overrated though.

-I fricking love Snowpiercer. I havent seen it since it came out on netflix about 10 years ago but i thought the concept was super cool. Due for a rewatch.

-Mickey 17 is definitely his biggest flop. He leaned way to much into the comedy/goofiness in this one, and Ruffalo's performance was laughably bad. Huge dissapointment.

Still have to watch Barking Dogs Dont Bite, Mother!, and Okja. Thoughts on these or BJH in general?