Sky and Sea

하늘과 바다 (Ha-neul-gwa Ba-da)

 Directed by Oh Dal-gyoon
Drama
104min
Opening Date : Oct 28, 2009

 Singer-turned-actress Jang Na-ra, nominated for The Best Actress Award at the Daejong (Grand Bell) Film Festival, the country's most prestigious film awards, plays the role of an autistic musician in the movie ``The Sky and the Sea,'' which is the story of the friendship between three friends ― Sky, Sea and Jin-gu. However, their moment to leave one another comes closer.

. 

 Cast
Jang Nara as Ha-neul
Hyeon Junie as Ba-da
Yoo Ah-in as Pizza delivery person, Jin-goo
Lee Ji-hee as Si-yeong
Choi Jeong-woo as Jeong-hwan

Baek Hyeon-sook as Ba-da's mother
Jeong Hye-won as Mi-mi
Kang Soo-yeong as Ha-neul's mom
Lee Da-eun as Performance producer
Kim Se-jin as Seung-hyeon
Han Ji-hoo as Kang-ho

  Ladies, have you booked your Origins Mega-Bright Mini Facial appointment yet? It's FREE! :-D
 How to train a newborn baby’s sleeping habits? #HuggiesCouples tests ur knowledge and rewards u! 
 The #DewMoreWinMore contest form is here, the more labels & tabs u have, the higher ur chances to win awesome prizes!

Invincible Lee Pyung Kang

천하무적 이평강 (Taming of the Heir)

 Genre: Romance
Episodes: 16
Broadcast network: KBS2
Air time: Monday & Tuesday 21:55
Broadcasting dates :
Nov 09, 2009 ~

 Cast
Nam Sang-mi as Lee Pyung Kang
Ji Hyeon-woo as Woo Ohn Dal
Seo Do-yeong as Edward (professional golfer)
Cha Ye-ryeon as Kwan Ja Rak
Park Ki-woong as Jo Sun In
Choi Myung Gil as Je Hwang Hu (Ohn Dal’s step-mother)
Kim Heung-soo as Je Young Ryu (Ohn Dal’s step-brother)
Yun Mi Joo as Jo Bi Yun
Lee Phil-lip
Ahn Hye Kyung
Shin Na Ri

Synopsis
Lee Pyung Kang’s father unfortunately met with an untimely death before completing his ambitious work as a golf course designer. Pyung Kang came to terms with the reality as she supports the family. Eight years later, Pyung Kang who wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps to become a golf course designer, she does chores at a resort town where she meets Ohn Dal, the owner’s eldest son. Ohn Dal’s charismatic father Pyung On demands him to pass the semi-pro qualification test in a month. When he fails to make it, Ohn Dal is told that he will be removed from the inheritance list due to his incompetence. To make matters worse, his father collapses from a sudden stroke and in the midst of misfortune rumor circulates that Ohn Dal’s step mother and her son are going to take over the resort town. Being cornered, Ohn Dal has no other choice but to stand on his own feet, but for Ohn Dal who lacks competence and determination, retaking the resort is beyond his capacity. Ohn Dal and Pyung Kang, who are on bad terms with each other from the first time they met, join hands. And Pyung Kang’s journey to taming the spoiled heir finally begins!

Production Credits
Director: Lee Jung Sub
Screenwriter: Park Kye Ok

  Join #NikonMotionHero contest and upload your motion shots to win Nikon Cameras & Lens today!
  Put your Kilkenny knowledge to the test and win yourself a tablet!
 How to train a newborn baby’s sleeping habits? #HuggiesCouples tests ur knowledge and rewards u! 
  Experience the journey of #FrisoGUTDays at 1 Utama, 22-26 Feb.
  Never need to touch the dispenser again while they’re dirty with #DettolNoTouch  
  Get up close with the Petronas Sprinta Yamaha Racer Zamri Baba. #petmos
  Zamri Baba is not only a racer, but has interest in business. Perhaps it’ll be the other way for all of you! #PETMOS

Star’s Lover

스타의 연인 (Celebrity’s Sweetheart)

 Cast : Choi Ji-woo as Lee Ma Ri
Yoo Ji-tae as Kim Chul Soo
Lee Ki-woo as Jung Woo Jin
Cha Ye-ryeon as Choi Eun Young
Ki Tae-yeong as Son Ha Young
Choi Philip as Kang Woo Jin

 Previously known as: 오! 나의 여신님 / Oh! My Goddess
Chinese title : 明星的?人
Genre: Romance
Episodes: 16
Broadcast network: SBS
Broadcast period: 2008-Dec-10 to 2009-Jan-29
Air time: Wednesdays & Thursdays 21:55
Broadcasting dates :
Dec 10, 2008 ~

Synopsis

Lee Ma Ri is a famous actress that is actively pursued by four men. The four men come from different backgrounds and have different aspirations. One is a literature graduate student who dreams of becoming a writer (Yoo Ji Tae), another is a famous photographer (Choi Phillip), the third is the heir to a major chaebol family (Ki Tae Young), and the last man chasing after Ma Ri is a young executive who works at a media corporation (Lee Ki Woo).

Extended Cast
Lee Joon Hyuk as (Ma Ri’s bodyguard)
Shin Min Hee as Kim Yu Ri (Chul Soo’s sister)
Jung Woon Taek as Jun Byung Joon
Shim Eun Jin as (Byung Joon’s girlfriend)
Song Young Kyu
Yang Hee Kyung as (Ma Ri’s stylist)
Kim Ji Young
Sung Ji Roo
Shin Hyun Joon (cameo)

Production Credits
Production Company: Olive Nine
Director: Boo Sung Chul (부성철)
Screenwriter: Oh Soo Yun

Quick: An Action-Comedy That Will Make Your Head Explode

Let's pretend for a moment that you're a movie director and a highly amusing action-comedy script comes across your desk. From the looks of it, if you can get the required budget and the right actors, the action sequences promise to be breathtaking and the best comedic bits will be gut-bustingly funny. The problem is that the parts in between them are, frankly, kind of boring and border on the incomprehensible. What do you do? Do you bring in another writer, a crackerjack script doctor perhaps, to tighten up the exposition and iron out the wrinkles or do you go back to the original screenwriters and say, "Give me more action, more slapstick, and less talk." I'm guessing Cho Beom-gu took the latter approach -- many times in fact -- because while Quick still has a few, fairly short, dull explanatory sections that tell us why this rash of bombings is happening throughout Seoul, it's a hell of a lot less concerned with explaining why the leather-clad pop diva Ah-rom (Kang Ye-won) has a time-bomb motorcycle-helmet strapped to her head and more committed to having her scream nonsensically and gesticulate wildly as former-boyfriend/expert-motorcyclist/indie-courier Gi-soo (Lee Min-ki) races from one location to the next. Who cares why these two ex-lovers are being forced to execute a series of death-defying assignments when you get to see so many spectacular car pile-ups and so many glamorously fiery explosions? Not me.

You'll see Gi-soo's motorcycle leap from buildings, smash through glass, crash through steel, outrace trains, cop cars and overweight detectives running nonsensically after him on foot. The implausible part is a major contributing factor to why Quick is so deliriously good. The ridiculousness elevates the movie, even as it extends outside the action. How crazy does it get? How about when a weary, naked Ah-rom showers with her helmet on or when Gi-soo's self-deluded romantic rival Myeong-sik (Kim In-kwon) backbends under a sixteen-wheeler careening and aflame right above him? While that particular moment is clearly the result of some fancy green screen CGI special effects, Quick is by no means without its own dose of reality. Stick around for the closing credits which reveal behind-the-scenes footage of the bruises, the bang-ups, and the broken bones suffered by both the cast and their body doubles who skid motorcycles under trucks or propel their bodies recklessly through space for the perfect shot. The risks taken may seem crazy when you consider that they're all just for a silly action pic but personally, I think their efforts were worth it.

Marry Me, Please

결혼해주세요 (Kyeol-hon-hae-joo-se-yoo)

 Chinese Title : 跟我結婚吧
Genre: Romance, family
Broadcast Network: KBS2
Air time: Saturday & Sunday 19:55
Broadcasting dates :
Jun 19, 2010 ~

 Synopsis
This drama tells the story of four couples that live under the same roof getting married.

Cast
Kim Ji Young
Lee Jong Hyuk
Baek Il Sub
Go Doo Shim
Han Sang Jin
Oh Yoon Ah
Ryu Tae Joon
Sung Hyuk
Lee Hwi Hyang
Lee Da In
Jung Soo Young
Kang Soo Han
Lee Tae Im
Yoon Jung Hee

Production Credits
Director: Park Man Young
Screenwriter: Jung Yoo Kyung

 Put your Kilkenny knowledge to the test and win yourself a tablet!
Join #NikonMotionHero contest and upload your motion shots to win Nikon Cameras & Lens today!
   Tell a short story of how you will put Ford Ranger to the ultimate test. Go crazy - you might win one yourself!
 How to train a newborn baby’s sleeping habits? #HuggiesCouples tests ur knowledge and rewards u!
  Experience the journey of #FrisoGUTDays at 1 Utama, 22-26 Feb.
  Never need to touch the dispenser again while they’re dirty with #DettolNoTouch 

Wet Dreams

몽정기 

Director : Jeong Cho-sin(정초신)

Cast : Kim Seon-ah(김선아)
Lee Beom-soo(이범수)

Genre : Comedy
Running Time : 94min
Opening Date : Nov 06, 2002

Supporting Cast
Jeon Jae-hyeong
Jeong Dae-hoon
Kong Hyeong-jin

Kim Ae-kyeong
Sin Hyeon-tak

 Tell a short story of how you will put Ford Ranger to the ultimate test. Go crazy - you might win one yourself!
 I think everyone who double-parks at banks should get this!
 Put your Kilkenny knowledge to the test and win yourself a tablet!How to train a newborn baby’s sleeping habits? #HuggiesCouples tests ur knowledge and rewards u!
 Experience the journey of #FrisoGUTDays at 1 Utama, 22-26 Feb. 
 Never need to touch the dispenser again while they’re dirty with #DettolNoTouch  
Being green is so 2012. Have you pledged to Live Green this year?

 

Night Fishing: There's a Great Horror Film Playing on Your iPhone

The universal language of the movies ended with the advent of the talkies. Or so people say. But watching Park Chan-wook's Night Fishing, the short film he made (on an iPhone no less) with his brother Chan-kyon, leads me to disagree. Even without subtitles, this mini-movie speaks volumes, especially in its opening sequence, basically an addictively watchable music video featuring the South Korean indie ensemble The UhUhBoo Project. Watch those fantastical first few minutes in which the four band members jam on an abandoned country road while a kat -- a traditional wide-brimmed hat -- floats magically through the air as the world turns upside down then tell me you think that English is necessary.

Actually the Park brothers subvert the need for dialogue quite a bit throughout Night Fishing. In other sections of the film, you'll find the fisherman (Oh Kang-rok) singing to himself (language unimportant) or listening to the radio (language unimportant) for short stretches. Even the night itself speaks its own comprehensible tongue as the wind blows through the reeds and some bells atop a fishing pole are set to ringing. Later a shaman (Lee Jung-hyun) conducting an elaborate ritual at the fisherman's funeral reminds us that symbolic visuals too speak a language all their own. Talking is so overrated, isn't it?

And really, how much needs to be said explicitly when the topic is life and death. The first half of Night Fishing is surreal but pretty easy to follow: A middle-aged loner has a freakish encounter with a resurrected drowned woman who gets entangled in his fishing lines. (Because this is a Park flick, of course a hook gets caught in her lip and she vomits water repeatedly in his face upon returning from the dead.) The second half is a bit more cryptic: The drowned woman is leading a spiritual ceremony involving self-baptism, the cutting of a long translucent fabric, and a young girl (Kim Hwan-hee) in a wheelchair. I can't say this latter part makes total sense in the end but given the entire film is only about a half-hour long, Night Fishing never tries the patience. To the contrary, it invites repeated viewings.

With technology making filmmaking as readily accessible as the phone in your pocket, now anyone can create a mini-masterpiece without a lot of money. All they need is a cool script, great actors, a willingness to test the limits of technology, and the singular vision of a true artist. Don't believe me? Pick up your phone and play Night Fishing now.

My Boss, My Hero

두사부일체 (頭師父一體) (Doo-sa-boo-il-che)

 Director : Yoon Je-kyoon(윤제균)

Cast : Jeong Joon-ho(정준호)
Jeong Woong-in(정운인)
Jeong Woon-taek(정운택)

Genre : Comedy/Action
Running Time : 98min 35mm
Opening Date : Dec 14, 2001

Supporting Cast
Oh Seung-eun
Song Seon-mi
Park Joon-gyoo
Kang Seong-pil
Ki Joo-bong
Park Tam-hee

Jo Dal-hwan
Jeong Kyung-ho
Ji Dae-han
Lee Jae-goo

 

  Experience the journey of #FrisoGUTDays at 1 Utama, 22-26 Feb.

  Never need to touch the dispenser again while they’re dirty with #DettolNoTouch  

 Being green is so 2012. Have you pledged to Live Green this year?

 Check out #ZaloraMY the trending Online Shopping for new fashion & footwear with just a click

 

 

Hello My Love

헬로우 마이 러브 (Hello My Love)

Directed by Kim Aaron
Screenplay by Kim Aaron, Kim Eun-joo, Kim Ji-eun
Drama, Melodrama, Romance
95min
Opening Date : Oct 08, 2009

Ho-jeong (Jo An) is shocked and heartbroken when her boyfriend of 10 years suddenly comes out of the closet and decides to leave her for a man. An unconventional romantic comedy unfolds as Ho-jeong tries to win him back from a rival she never imagined having. All ages admitted.

Cast
Jo An as Kim Ho-jeong
Min Seok as as Yoo Won-jae
Ryoo Sang-wook as Lee Dong-hwa
Yang Eun-yong as Yeo Jin-yeong
Kim Min-gyo as Park Moon-gi
Kim Jeong-min as Lee Ha-na/Voice of girl with story

Min Ah-ryeong as Im Ji-hyeon Jo Yoo-hee
Seong In-ja as Won-jae's mother
Park Yeong as Won-jae's grandfather
Benjamin Krueger as Marty
Kim Bong-soo as Professor No
Lee Kyeong-sil as Female shaman
Jeong Mi-seong as Judge
Hong Joon-gyoo as Ho-jeong's husband
Kim Bo-ra as Wine bar worker
Lee Jong-won as Taxi driver
Song Hyeok-jo as Motel owner
Choi Seung-ho as Broadcasting company engineer
Lee Jae-hee as Cycling man 1
Kim Tae-hoon as Cycling man 2
Ahn Seok-cheon as Man in formal wear 1
Kim Tae-ho as Man in formal wear 2
Lee Oong-hee as Basketball man 1
Kim Bong-seong as Basketball man 2
Kim Seon-il as Security guard
Kim Ji-hyeon as Wedding shop worker
Park So-hee as Young Ho-jeong
Yang Hyeon-woo as Young Won-jae
Jeon Mi-rin as Yoo-hee's daughter
Kang Hyeon-joon as Voice of husband in story
Oh Se-jeong as Voice of wife in story
Kim Ji-hye as Performer - piano
Park Chan-hyeok as Performer - guitar
Kim Bong-gwan as Performer - bass
Kim Sang-don as Performer - drum
Sin Hyeon-tak - Cameo

Being green is so 2012. Have you pledged to Live Green this year?
Check out #ZaloraMY the trending Online Shopping for new fashion & footwear with just a click

The Restless

중천 (中天) (Joong-cheon)

Director : Jo Dong-oh(조동오)

Cast : Kim Tae-hee(김태희)
Jeong Woo-seong(정우성)
Heo Joon-ho(허준호)

Genre : Drama/Action/Melodrama/Fantasy
Running Time : 105min 35mm
Opening Date : Dec 20, 2006

Synopsis
It is AD 924, at the end of the United Shilla Dynasty. Continuous riots sweep the land ruled by a corrupted government. Evil forces are rampant and malicious demons roam the land. YI Kwak, born with the powers to see spirits, joins the royal demon hunting squad, ‘Chuh-yong-dae’ after losing his fiancee, Yon-hwa to evil demons. YI Kwak excels as the most talented warrior of Chuh-yong-dae and the royal squad seems to gain momentum as powerful fighters against the forces of darkness. Then one day, YI Kwak drifts into Joongcheon, the world of the dead through a strange shrine. Joongcheon, the intermediate world between Heaven and Earth, a place souls remain for 49 days, preparing for reincarnation.

Supporting Cast
Park Sang-wuk (박상욱)
Kim Kwang-il (김광일)
Yoo Ha-joon (유하준)
Park Jeong-hak (박정학)
Jeong Seok-yong (정석용)
Yoon Won-seok (윤원석)

Being green is so 2012. Have you pledged to Live Green this year?
Check out #ZaloraMY the trending Online Shopping for new fashion & footwear with just a click
 The unbelievable happens. Volkswagen is offering free services for 45,000km (or 3 yrs) and a FREE Touch n' Go card worth RM500!

Always Be Boyz

올웨이스 비보이 (Always Be Boyz)

 Directed & Screenplay by John Kwon
Drama
80min

Opening Date : Dec 24, 2009

 Riding on the popularity of Korean B-boys, the film takes viewers on a journey through the fascinating world of B-boying, beat boxing, rapping and DJing. Seven, the leader of a B-boy crew, struggles to find a sponsor so that his team can enter an international B-boy event. Meanwhile he meets a ballerina and falls hopelessly in love.

All the world's a stage for Korean B-boys.
Korean-American director John Kwon's 'Always Be Boyz' won the Narrative Feature Jury Prize at the San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival in mid-March.
Meanwhile, Korean American Benson Lee's 'Planet B-boy' picked up the Best Documentary Feature Award and Comcast Audience Award at the festival.
'Always Be Boyz' stars Maximum Crew, a Korean B-boy group, and depicts an autobiographical story about break-dancers.
Planet B-boy also tracks the lives of world break-dancers based on the 2005 Battle of the Year, an annual International B-boy crew contest in Germany.
The release dates for the two films haven't been set yet.
Meanwhile, members of Last For One, the Korean B-boy crew in Planet B-boy, are scheduled to appear soon on NBC TV's 'Carson Daly Show' and 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show'.(http://joongangdaily.joins.com/)

Cast
Sebin Oh as Seven
Yoo Gwang-joon as Seven's brother
Daegwan Shin as Wake Up
Heewoo Roh as Mickey
Seungyong Sung as Ostrich
Park Hyeong-joon as Kyeong-woo
Kim Yong-won as Eagle
Maximum Crew
Won Chae-yeong
Ahn Ji-eun
Yoo Deok-kwon

   The unbelievable happens. Volkswagen is offering free services for 45,000km (or 3 yrs) and a FREE Touch n' Go card worth RM500!
  The seats are running out fast! Only 7 more days before these good holiday deals end
  Check out your knowledge on nutrition and health by #NestleNutrivia 
  Tell a teddy bear story and win an Acer laptop!

Bad Love

못된 사랑 (Mo-ten Sa-rang)

 Director : Kwon Gye-hong(권계홍)

Cast : kwon Sang-woo(지성)
Lee Yo-won(김민정)
Kim Sung-soo(김성수)

Genre : Drama
Broadcasting dates :
Dec 03, 2007 ~ Feb 12, 2008

 Synopsis

Na In Jung struggles with her love between the rather cold and rebellious Yong Ki and a successful businessman, Soo Hwan. Kang Yong Ki is a pop culture artist. He was separated from his first love, Jo Ann, and still carries the wound that he suffered from their relationship. His half sister is Joo Ran who is married to Soo Hwan. Soo Hwan begins an affair with In Jung but he only has ambition for the CEO position of Yong Ki’s father’s company. Soon after he discovers that his ambition does not fill the emptiness that he has inside and realizes he needs In Jung. But In Jung and Yong Ki have already fallen in love with each other. Will In Jung go back to her first love or stay with Yong Ki?

Supporting Cast
Cha Ye-ryeon
Kim Ga-yeon
Park Geun-hyeong
Song Ok-sook
Kim Chang-wan
Bang Eun-hee
Choi Yong-min

  The seats are running out fast! Only 7 more days before these good holiday deals end

Sunny: Girls Just Wanna Continue Having Fun When They're Older

I knew within about three minutes that I was going to love Kang Hyeong-Cheol's Sunny, an adroitly crafted chick flick about a girl gang in high school that slowly reunites 25 years later after Na-mi (Yu Ho-jeong/Sim Eun-kyeong), the artsy one, discovers the group's tough leader Chun-hwa (Jin Hee-kyung/Kang So-ra) is dying of cancer in the same hospital at which Na-mi's soap-opera-devoted mother (Kim Hye-ok) is a patient. This chance encounter has a domino effect, as Na-mi begins tracking down the other five girlfriends, all of whom now lead frustrated lives though each for quite different reasons.

Jin-hee (Hong Jin-hee/Park Jin-hoo) has gone from potty-mouthed punk to rich-but-dissatisfied wife, Bok-hee (Kim Seon-kyeong/Kim Bo-mi) has fallen from aspiring beauty queen to prostitute, Jang-mi (Go Su-hee/Kim Min-yeong) has devolved from class clown to second-rate insurance agent... As each new friend re-enters the picture, new memories surface -- the turf rivalry with a girl gang called Generations, the teenage crush on dreamy Joon-ho (Kim Si-hoo), the life-changing day when the prettiest one (Yoon Jeong/Min-Hyo-rin) gets cut in the face by a glue-sniffer.

The performances are of the hammier variety: The cast wails when asked to cry and makes their eyes pop when a raised eyebrow would suffice. But the broad style never gets in the way of the story or prevents the flow of tears. You'd have to be one tough cookie not to soften up as Sunny flashes back and forth between the innocence of youth and what might be best referred to as the resignation of middle age. Corny and sentimental as it is, Sunny nonetheless acts as a rallying cry to re-engage with your life, to never relinquish your dreams and to reclaim your rightful place as the protagonist in your own story.

I think one of the reasons Sunny is so effective is that it understands how strongly we identify with our younger selves. "We are always the same age inside," Gertrude Stein once quipped. And she's right. Painfully so. Exquisitely so. For though the body may tire, and disappointments may mount, the inner adolescent -- ever ready for discovery -- remains intact and little changed. Step outside your own petty grievances. Look around you with fresh eyes. It's never to late for your old self to rejuvenate or your young self to be reborn.

The House

집 (Jib)

 Directed by Ban Joo-young (반주영), Lee Hyun-jin (이현진), Lee Jae-ho-I (이재호), Park Eun-young-I (박은영 ), Park Mi-sun (박미선)

Screenplay by Ban Joo-young (반주영), Lee Hyun-jin (이현진), Lee Jae-ho-I (이재호), Park Eun-young-I (박은영 ), Park Mi-sun (박미선)

•Animation •Drama •Fantasy

82min | Release date in South Korea : 2011/03/17
Opening Date : Mar 17, 2011

 Synopsis
The Korean Academy of Film Arts has produced an animation for 3 consecutive years through a collaborative project. Considering the severe reality of Korean animation in that it lacks an industrial infrastructure, 'The House' demonstrates the possibilities of Korean animation and the efficiency of collective production. While comparing apartments in the downtown core to the shabby environment of a marginalized district, 'The House' portrays the collapse of the spirits dwelling at the house. As such the adventure of

Ga-young and the spirits in the house becomes a criticism of modern society: enlightenment via animation. Although this animation may not have the most delicate or original style, the 5 animators that worked on this film unleashed their imaginations, ultimately showcasing the power of a collective process and a pleasure of the collective imagination. (LEE Sang-yong)

 Join the Petronas Reimagining Energy Photo Contest and win yourself some Ang Pows! #PetronasCNY
  If you or your friends know what it's like to get robbed, support this.
  Check out your knowledge on nutrition and health by #NestleNutrivia 
  Join the Petronas Reimagining Energy Photo Contest and win yourself some Ang Pows! #PetronasCNY
  #DontGoBreakingMyHeart & Celestial Movies wants to send u to HK and give u Samsung Galaxy Tabs!
  Snap a photo of you and your partner today and you may win a Krabi trip worth RM 10,000! #DurexMY

Dragon Wars: D-War: Bring on the Bilingual Lizards

A Korean movie in English? Should such a thing exist, Dragon Wars: D-War is it. Written-directed by Shim Hyung-rae, and produced by Korean mainstay Showbox, this action pic relates the fabulist adventures of a young American reporter (Jason Behr), his shape-shifting mentor (Robert Forster), and his whiny blonde love interest (Amanda Brooks), all of whom are the reincarnations of Koreans (Park Hyun-jin, Ban Hyo-jin, and Lee Jong-man) from 500 years ago. Because of that, Dragon Wars can feel a bit like a parallel universe. Where else can a white hero quote Korean proverbs, a white sage rattle off implausible Korean history, and a white FBI agent (Chris Mulkey) feel compelled to kill a damsel-in-distress because of his familiarity with some mumbo jumbo Korean mythology? It's as if the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria sailed from Busan instead of Castille's Palos de la Frontera.

Yet despite being bizarrely bi-cultural if welcomely bilingual thanks to an extended flashback, Dragon Wars first and foremost speaks the language of the action movie. Your ability to like this movie depends really on a willingness to sacrifice plot and character development for the joys of special effects and car explosions. Literalists will say Dragon Wars is about a young woman's destiny to birth a phosphorescent orb that will let an enormous snake sprout legs and antlers and thereby slay his evil adversary (also a supersized serpent). Truth-tellers will recognize Dragon Wars for what it is: An unapologetic excuse to see a lot of otherworldly creatures encounter various forms of weaponry in unending battle.

From the looks of it, mankind has cultivated the art of war over the last five centuries while the reptiles have let their mastery of torpedoes grow a tad slack. A giant snake may coil itself around a skyscraper but it can eventually be slain by armed helicopters. Fireball-hacking pterodactyls can terrorize the screaming masses but a militia of black-clad SWAT team members positioned on the city's rooftops are their equals at least. In the final fight of man versus monster, humans can defend themselves quite ably. Those overweight, elephantine Dune lizards that resemble supersized bathtub-squeeze toys with rocket-blasters on their shoulders aren't unbeatable foes. Not at all. Every roar must meet a rat-a-tat-tat, every ka-boom must meet its ka-boom. In this doomsday of resurrected dinosaurs, each side will have its share of casualties. What a pity the ingenue has chosen to wear a white sweater during Armageddon. If it's the end of the world, be sensible about it.