Asian monster flick D-War tore up the box office in its native South Korea this past summer. Slightly retitled to Dragon Wars by distributor Freestyle Releasing, the film did surprisingly well in the US, grossing more than $10 million, making it the most successful Korean picture released in America. (Total worldwide box office was $66 million, according to Box Office Mojo). It didn't screen for critics, but I saw it anyway, propelled by a childhood love for Godzilla and his monstrous friends.

Director Shim Hyung-Rae's film is incredibly cheesy and nonsensical, but strangely satisfying if you're a fan of monster movies in general and keep your expectations just barely above zero. Unfortunately, the lead characters, played by Jason Behr and Amanda Brooks, are wan and colorless, in part because their roles are so thinly written. Happily, B-movie greats Robert Forster and Chris Mulkey are on hand to juice things up. Most of the production budget was evidently spent on the special effects, which would have been state of the art ten years ago. It's the kind of movie that made me roll my eyes and mutter to myself throughout. Yet days later I found myself quoting some of the more outrageous lines and scenes to others. The DVD includes a featurette entitled "5,000 Years in the Making," storyboard to screen "animatics" and conceptual art gallery.

Japanese auteur Takashi Miike has made dozens of films in almost every conceivable genre (the remake of his horror flick One Missed Call was just released this weekend), but Big Bang Love -- Juvenile A is, I believe, his first foray into the homoerotic prison drama genre. Mark Schilling of The Japan Times noted that it "differs from much of his previous work (especially his recent commercial outings) in its theatrically stylized sets, complex narrative strategies and basic tone." The DVD includes an interview with Miike, "behind the scenes special," an image gallery, trailers and program notes.

Did you see The Host? I didn't think so. Despite it being one of the better-reviewed movies of the year (92% fresh, according to Rotten Tomatoes, and at Cinematical both James and Jeffrey liked it, to varying degrees), what was most commonly called 'a Korean monster movie' failed to cross over to a broad audience outside South Korea, where it smashed box office records. It was by no means a complete failure -- it earned more than two million dollars in its US release, a very respectable amount for an arthouse picture -- yet something limited the word of mouth. Was it the unusual mixture of genres, the hairpin curves shifting from dysfunctional family comedy/drama to horror and then back again? Were people expecting more rampaging by the monster? Were the Korean cultural references and political satire too confounding? Was it the subtitles? I saw it with two very different festival audiences (Fantastic Fest in Austin: mostly Caucasian; AFI Fest in Los Angeles: mostly Asian), and both received The Host rapturously. As a big fan of the film, I'm as baffled as anyone else.

Perhaps people will respond differently, and in greater numbers, when the next Korean monster movie, D-War opens in late August and Los Angeles is terrorized by a giant serpent. Freestyle Releasing certainly must hope so; it's planning to put that sucker out on 1500 screens, according to Variety. D-War stars Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Robert Forster (yay!) and Chris Mulkey; with the latter two personal faves on board, it can't be all bad. The budget was originally reported to be $70 million, though Korean producer/distributor Showbox now says that price included start-up costs for a local effects house. Even at a reported $32 million, the budget is three times what Showbox forked out for their previous monster movie (you guessed it: The Host). Frankly, the trailer on the Korean site looks pretty cheesy; still, it's in English, it looks to have some camp appeal and late August is traditionally a dead time at the box office, so maybe the kids will check it out. May the best monster win.

It might be hard to believe, but Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs turns 15 today. Now, before you haul out the abacus, you've probably noted that 1992 + 15 = 2007. Reservoir Dogs premiered in October of 1992 the last time we checked, and it seems like only yesterday there was much fanfare over the tenth anniversary edition of this film (which was released in 2002), complete with five different covers for the same DVD ... collect them all! Perhaps 14 just wasn't as sexy of a number, and of course Lionsgate wants you to double dip when the HD-DVD version comes out at some point, so that leaves us with a 15th anniversary edition a year early. Although if you want to get extremely technical with the dates, Tarantino actually workshopped some of the scenes from Dogs at Sundance in 1991, so is this the date they're shooting for?

At any rate, the packaging alone is pretty cool on this release. They've housed the DVD in a metal case that looks like a gas can, and when you slip the interior packaging out, it is in the shape of a huge matchbook from "Uncle Bob's Pancake House," which is where Steve Buscemi tells everyone "I don't tip" as Mr. Pink. The whole package is sort of a gruesome reminder from one of the scenes in the movie. When the tenth anniversary DVD came out, Lionsgate sent out fake foam rubber ears announcing the release, which have become highly collectible among fans. I guess they like reminding us how violent the torture scene in this movie really is.

Tarantino's now cult-classic film opened the door for ultra-realistic violence in films, but it also helped usher in a new era of non-linear storytelling. After this movie came out, writers and directors began to play with the concept of time a lot more often, using flashbacks and flash-fowards to help make a simple story a lot more interesting, to show it from different angles and perspectives, and to flesh out character development. Tarantino didn't pioneer this technique, but he made such extensive use of it that you can still the effects of it in movies today.

The film also helped establish Tarantino's visual "look," from the black suits with the skinny ties, to the minimal sets with dialogue-heavy scenes. It also showcased his love for vintage and 70s music through "K-Billy Super Sounds of the 70s," on the radio throughout the movie, and DJed by deadpan comedian Steven Wright. Additionally, he took chances on B- and sometime C-list movie stars who had either fallen from the limelight, or had not worked in quite some time, which is something he continues to do -- reviving the careers of John Travolta, Robert Forster, Pam Grier and others.

Tarantino is a self-proclaimed cinephile, and in this movie he has lifted several scenes and plot elements directly from other films, particularly from Ringo Lam's excellent City on Fire which stars Chow Yun-Fat. If you haven't seen it, rent it some time and you'll see how similar the two films are, down to exact scenes. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and while Dogs isn't a direct ripoff, it comes close at times. Tarantino has claimed that he steals from all of his favorite movies, and if that's the case, then Dogs is no different.

Today also sees the release of the Reservoir Dogs video game (featuring the voice and likeness of Michael Madsen), which promises to bring the same ultra-violence to your home gaming systems. It seems an odd choice to make a game out of this film, given the extreme violence and open and closed plot, but we've also seen Scarface and The Godfather made into games as well recently, so stranger things have happened. Just don't look for Jackie Brown: The Game anytime soon. We hope. ...