I have now seen THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD – twice! – and I can confirm that Kim Jee-woon’s “eastern Western” is a heck of a lot of fun. Lots of great action from beginning to end (with three major action sequences that kick some serious butt), very few slow spots, plenty of laughs throughout — everything you would want from a summer blockbuster.

On Sunday, I got to see the Cannes version of the film, then on Monday was the official press and VIP premiere at the Yongsan CGV. The new version of the film is only slightly different, with a small addition at the opening and an additional scene at the ending… nothing too huge, but they improve the movie, I thought. Especially the new ending.

As for the story itself, it is pretty basic (and well described in earlier reviews). Set in 1930s Manchuria, TGTBTW is the story of a hidden treasure map and the three guys hunting for it. Jung Woo-sung plays “The Good,” and does a great job pulling off the action scenes and stunts (he apparently broke him arm filming the big action sequence in the middle of the film). Lee Byung-hun is the cool assassin, aka “The Bad,” hired by the pro-Japanese businessman to get the man. And Song Gang-ho is suitably weird as “The Weird,” a ball of chaotic energy who stumbles across the map early in the movie.

In addition, there are rival gangs, the Japanese authorities, the occasional opium dealer and more to add to the energetic mix.

Okay, it is not a perfect film… it does drag a little in a couple of places and there are several scenes that would not hold up to careful analysis or logic. But it is more than enough fun to compensate for those problems. Definitely raises the bar for Korean movies (at least for blockbusters).

Most amazingly for a Korean movie, TGTBTW has no annoying crying scenes, nor does it end in tears. Seriously, think about it. I cannot think of any movie in the Korean top 25 that did not end with a climatic weepy scene. Maybe D-WAR, but that film was an oddball in every way (plus I was laughing at the film so much, it is hard to remember what the director intended). TAZZA, perhaps… But THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD is all fun and totally worthwhile.

Hopefully CJ Entertainment will release the film with English subtitles, at least in a couple of locations.

UPDATE: Just got it confirmed from CJ Entertainment that TGTBTW will be showing at Yongsan CGV with English subtitles, starting July 17 (opening day). So check it out.

A good opening for HANCOCK in Korea, with a solid $6.5 million weekend. Koreans seem to like Will Smith (like pretty much everybody on the planet). I thought HANCOCK was okay… did not like Smith as the surly drunk (found it most unbelievable). But the movie from the big surprise to the climax was fun and interesting. Plus it has been quite a while since I was that surprised by a film.

Otherwise, not a lot going on in the top-10 this week. The top six films did okay, but the rest of the films barely pulled in small change. INCREDIBLE HULK was the biggest drop, falling from fifth to 13th. MY MIGHTY PRINCESS flopped from eighth to 15th (making just $170,000 since it opened).

FYI, the old Jeremy Irons/Robert DiNiro film THE MISSION is playing in Seoul on a couple of screens — on the old Dream Cinema (beside Seodaemun subway station) and somewhere else. It has made about $20,000 since June 26… not bad for a 20-year-old movie.

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

Not much to say this week about the box office. PUBLIC ENEMY RETURNS is still doing well, up to 2.7 million admissions. KUNG FU PANDA is about to pass 4 million admissions and should become the biggest foreign film of the year shortly.

Oh and I should note how poorly Kwak Jae-young’s MY MIGHTY PRINCESS did. Worse than DAISY. Ouch.

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

The organizers of the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) made their official announcement of this year’s fest earlier in the week. And as usual, it looks like a pretty loaded festival, with oodles of special sections for just about every taste.

PiFan will open on July 18 and run until July 25. Opening film is WALTZ WITH BASHIR by Ari Folman. Closing film is the world premiere of CYBORG, SHE, the latest by Kwak Jae-young. All told, PiFan will screen 205 films from 39 countries.

Highlights this year include:

Great news — the Korean Film Archive is finally putting out a 4-DVD box set of Kim Ki-young’s movies. It’s about time!

Kim, of course, is one of Korea’s most famous directors from the 1960s, most notably for his 1960 thriller THE HOUSEMAID (which also featured a young Ahn Sung-ki).

The box set will feature GOREOJANG, PROMISES, CHUNGNYEO and, best of all (imho), I-EOH ISLAND.

Now, you may notice that Kim’s best-known film, THE HOUSEMAID, is not included in the box set. But do not fear — I was told today that THE HOUSEMAID is going to be released very soon on its own.

You might also like to know that the Korean Film Archive’s screening room in Sangam-dong is in the middle of a Kim Ki-young retrospective, with most of the films being shown with English subtitles.

If you want to learn more about Kim Ki-young, Seoul Selection published a book about the great director recently. You can order a copy here.

At long last, a Korean film is back on top of the box office, Kang Woo-suk’s PUBLIC ENEMY RETURNS. Like you would expect from a Kang film, it opened strong, with 1.4 million admissions over the weekend (around $7 million). The big question is how well it will hold up over the next couple of weeks. Kang’s SILMIDO kept on strong to 11 million admissions, but ANOTHER PUBLIC ENEMY and HANBANDO fell off more sharply, ending up with 3.9 million million admissions each.

The other Korean movie in the top-10, CROSSING, is quite interesting, considering it has not even been officially released yet. Release is set for June 26, but already the film is on 100 screens. In case you have not heard, director Kim Tae-gyun’s CROSSING is about North Korean defectors and the terrible dangers that await then as they try to get out of North Korea, through China, to freedom.

With so many thousands of people taking to the streets in recent weeks over American beef and Lee Myung-bak, it will be interesting to see how much of a response an actually important subject draws.

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)

Sorry for putting this week’s top-10 up so late. Crazy busy week here.

KUNG FU PANDA is really on a tear, beating out a couple of big new entries in its second weekend. Nearly 1 million tickets in its second weekend? With $16 million so far, if PANDA keeps it up, it could become the most successful animated film ever in Korea (assuming you don’t consider films like RETURN OF THE KING to be animated).

IRON MAN finally dropped out of the top-10 this week (it was xxth), giving it a final total of 4.3 million admissions, or $27.8 million.

I was surprised that the two Korean films, LIFE IS COOL and LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON, had such limited releases (just a dozen screens or so). Are their distributors trying a soft release? Or did they just give up?

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)