Movies to watch

After my last post about the list of recommended dramas to watch, now, I am going to introduce some movies for those who are too lazy to watch the typical many episodes of a drama series.

Korean movie

1. Train to Busan 1 (2016) and 2 (2020)

The story started with a chemical leak at a biotech plant that causes the start of a zombie apocalypse that spreads slowly across South Korea. Seok-woo, a fund manager who is estranged from his daughter decided to take his daughter, Su-an, who wants to spend her birthday with her mother, to Busan by train from Seoul Station. As the train departs, signs of chaos from the epidemic reach the station, an infected woman runs into the train unnoticed. She then turns into a zombie and attacks an attendant followed by many crew and passengers later. The remaining passengers quickly secure themselves by running towards the front cabin of the train and lock the door between the cabins. Seok-woo try to secure safe travels for Su-an and himself. At the last part of the Train to Busan 1, only two people reach Busan safely. To know who they are, just watch this movie. It gave me a heart attack when I was watching it because of the jumpscares from the zombies. Furthermore, their make ups look so real that it became even scarier.

As for the sequel to Train to Busan, titled Peninsula, it is a story about a Marine Captain Jung-Seok, who brings his elder sister, his nephew Dong-Hwan, and his brother-in-law Chul-min to a ship to escape a zombie outbreak in South Korea. During the journey, he encounters a family with a young child asking for help, but he ignores the family and keeps driving. While they are inside the cabin of the ship, an infected man turns into a zombie and infects numerous people including Dong-Hwan. Four years later in Hong Kong, Jung-Seok and his friend, Chul-min, are recruited by Chinese mobsters for a mission with two other Koreans to return to the quarantined peninsula and retrieve an abandoned food truck full of money. During that mission, his team was attacked by zombies and a rogue militia from Unit 631 after they found the truck. Jung-Seok is the only one who survives as he is rescued by two sisters: Joon and her younger sister Yu-Jin. Joon drives to a hideout where they live and Jung-Seok realizes that Min-Jung, their mother, was the lady who pleaded for his help four years ago. They then work together to get back the handphone, which was given by the Chinese mobsters from Unit 631 as an emergency contact, so that they can call for help and escape from there. To know how they escape from the quarantined peninsula, please watch this movie.

2. Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013)

This film is about a mentally disabled man with the brain of a 6-year-old child, Yong-gu, who was wrongfully imprisoned for murder. A police commissioner’s daughter dies in an accident after slipping on wet pavement and a brick dropping on her head. However, Yong-gu was arrested for a rape and murder attempt because he was trying to perform CPR to save the child. He builds friendships with the hardened criminals in his cell, who in return help him to meet his daughter again by smuggling her into the prison. What made me surprised was, this movie was based on a real-life story. There was really a man who was tortured and pleaded guilty under duress with the accusation of rape and murder attempt to a 9 years old girl on September 27, 1987, in Chuncheon before he was finally exonerated in November 2008. I cried so hard while watching this so I suggest you to prepare a box of tissue.

3. Memories of Murder (2003)

This film is also based on a real-life case where at least 10 similar murders happened in the Hwaseong area between October 1986 and April 1991. The killing spree had also been known as the Hwaseong serial murders. Lee was arrested although he initially denied any involvement in the serial murders. However, on 2^nd October 2019, police had announced that Lee had confessed that he killed 14 people, including all the 10 serial murders victim and 4 others. The film started with the body of a young woman who is found brutally raped and murdered. Two months later, a series of rapes and murders commences under similar circumstances. Hence, a special task force is set up in the area, with two local detectives; Park Doo-Man and Jo Young-Goo, joined by a detective from Seoul, Seo Tae-Yoon, who request to join in the investigation. Seo Tae-Yoon finds a pattern in the case from the evidence collected. There was a picture of a woman wearing red on a rainy day on the victim’s profile. Therefore, they set up a trap in order to forestall another murder. Unfortunately, another woman is found dead with an umbrella speared through her pubis in another location. The solution to these murders grows fainter by the time and drives the detectives to ever greater despair. I have a reminder to all of you that intend to watch this; please do not eat while watching this movie.

Chinese movie

1. Monster Hunt 1 (2015) and 2 (2018)

Monster Hunt 1 takes place in a parallel world with an ancient China setting, where the Humans existed alongside the Monsters. They shared the world peacefully until the so-called selfish Humans drove the Monsters out from their homes because Humans wanted to take over the land. The story begins with Song Tianyin, a man who becomes pregnant with the Monster Queen’s baby during a civil war. He then encounters a Monster-hunter named Hua Xiaolan and both of them embark on an adventure to protect the baby from villains of the Human and Monster worlds alike. It is quite funny while watching Song Tianyin giving birth to the Monster baby, Wuba.

Monster Hunt 2 is about Wuba’s own journey through the monster realm while the darker forces of the evil monster king are searching for Wuba. He meets Tu and BenBen, a human-monster team that rescues him multiple times. Meanwhile, Huo and Song are in search of Wuba and reach Monster Hunter Bureau. All of them fight with the boss of the darker force, rescue Wuba, and Wuba finally reunited with his family. Wuba is really cute and I think he is very lucky as he always gets help from others whenever he is in danger.

2. The Witness (2015)

This film is a remake of the 2011 South Korean film “Blind”. It is about a blind woman, Lu Xiao Xing, who used to be a rookie cop escaping from a dangerous kidnapper and catching him. There are several women in the city who begin to disappear without a trace, she wanted to help with the case but her request to be reinstated as a police officer had failed. On her way back home, she called a taxi but gets into the kidnapper’s car accidentally. Luckily, she had successfully escaped from the car and reported this to Captain Lu. She is able to recall the details about the car and the driver although she is blind. There is a teenager, Lin Chong, who comes as an eyewitness about this. Xiao Xing and Captain Lu have a hard time believing his credibility because what he reported is in contrast with what Xiao Xing had reported. After some days, the kidnapper followed Xiao Xing into a bus and this was noticed by Lin Chong. He called her through their smartphone and help her escape by acting as her eyes using her phone camera.

These are just some of the movies out of my favourite movies’ list. Hope you enjoy it!