Whew. Now that I'm back from Cannes, it's time to dive back into checking out what's going on in the world outside the glamor and glitz of the world's sexiest film industry trade show. Of course, one of the first things I wanted to catch up on was what's been going on in the world of Twilight fandom. Before leaving for Cannes, I snagged a copy of Stephenie Meyer's' newest book, The Host, and I devoured it every night while on the trip.

Quick thoughts on The Host: Compelling and dramatic story, great characters, and it pretty much has "adapt me into a movie, please!" written all over it. For those not in the know, the book is a tale about an alien invasion by a race of intelligent parasitic beings who take over the body of a host and obliterate the "soul" of the person who previously resided there.

Ever since it premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, Bong Joon-ho's The Host (Gwoemul) has been earning a lot of fans all over the place (including this very blog), and we started hearing the sequel rumblings almost immediately. (And the flick really holds up well to repeat viewings if you ask me. Queue it and see!)

We've been hearing little dribs and drabs recently, but Twitchfilm's Todd Brown just shared some info that seems to confirm a prequel direction. According to Twitch, "the script is being handled by Korean comic artist Kang Full and is set three years prior to the events of the original film." One possible plot structure involves the excavation of an ancient stream ... an excavation that awakens not one but several ravenous beasties. The producers seem to be shooting for a 2009 release date.

Unfortunately we'll have a new (as yet unnamed) director in the prequel/sequel chair, but since I'm such a pathetic sucker for anything with a giant monster in it, I remain happily optimistic.

2007 was an above average year at the movies, far better than the depressing state of 2005 or 2006. And for me it was also the year of the Western. By coincidence I happened to be studying the Western in a graduate course taught by Jim Kitses, who is arguably the #1 Western movie scholar in America. During my semester, 3:10 to Yuma, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and No Country for Old Men opened in theaters, and we studied them in class. Two of these would have made my top ten anyway, but looking at them in-depth gave me even greater pleasure and made me even surer of my choices. Seraphim Falls and There Will Be Blood were also Westerns of a sort, and the number and general high quality of these films make this the strongest year for the genre since the early 1970s, or perhaps even the late 1960s.

The most frustrating thing about the year is that three of my favorite movies didn't qualify for list consideration. David Lynch's Inland Empire opened in 2006 but didn't screen for the San Francisco press until early 2007. (You can look for it on my best-of-the-decade list instead.) Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep is a masterpiece, and an essential part of the history of American cinema. It had its official theatrical debut in 2007, but I decided that its contribution to cinema has more to do with 1977, when it was made, than 2007. Finally, Quentin Tarantino's uncut version of Death Proof was a revelation, and far, far better than the truncated version that most people saw in Grindhouse. It screened at Cannes and then went straight to DVD in the U.S., so it, too, was disqualified. No matter. I came up with ten excellent films anyway.

1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, USA)
Normally I like to save my #1 slot for a film by a proven master, and Dominik is far from that; his only other film, Chopper, failed to prepare me for the astonishing, haunting dreamlike quality of this new film. I have to admit I thought about this movie just about every day since I saw it. It's too easy to label this as a "revisionist Western," since it contributed so many new ideas to the genre. It's by far the best Jesse James movie ever made, and certainly one of the greatest Westerns I've ever seen.

It has the greatest, most literal title since Snakes on a Plane, but hopefully Dragon Wars won't be as disappointing. The South Korean movie -- which features American actors, settings and dialogue -- has already made a ton of money back home, and it's due to open in the U.S. on September 14. I shouldn't have to tell you what it's about, since the title explains all you need to know, but here goes a try: an evil, giant, serpent-like creature arrives in Los Angeles with an army of soldiers and monsters in order to find an ancient 'gift', which is located inside a 20-year-old girl, who is the reincarnation of a Korean who possessed the 'gift' 500 years ago. The 'gift' is some sort of magic that will turn the serpent-like creature into a dragon. A local reporter, who happens to be a reincarnated warrior who protected the girl centuries ago, now has to stop the ancient creatures and save her. Makes no sense to me, and so it probably makes less sense to you, so let's just say it's about what the title says: dragon wars.

Anyway, if you're really curious and want to know more specific information about the crazy, hard-to-follow plot, MTV Movies Blog has some helpful visual aids that provide some background about the different creatures we'll see in the movie. There seem to all be paintings rather than screen captures, and include Dawdlers, Dragons, Bulcos, Imoogis and Evil Imoogis. The Evil Imoogie, named Buraki, is the serpent-like creature mentioned above that attacks L.A. Apparently Buraki really, really wants to become a dragon, which is shown as being similar to the long, Eastern-styled dragon familiar via Chinese mythology. Meanwhile, the Bulcos, described as mutated birds, look more like the Western type familiar to fantasy fans. The Dawdlers are the coolest looking, though, mainly because they rocket launchers attached to their backs make me think of Dino-Riders. Admittedly, I'm probably more confused after looking at these renderings, but at least I'm intrigued. Despite the crazy plot, I think Dragon Wars (formerly, and also, known as D-War) is going to be another cool monster movie from the country that gave us The Host.

Many of us at Cinematical have written about just how great the Korean, record-breaking horror flick called The Host is. It is no perfect film, but it has heart, laughs and this funny way of sticking with you. I still smile every time I think of the over-the-top gymnasium scene (check out the DVD to see what I'm talking about). While we're lucky enough to be able watch it from our own comfy couches starting tomorrow, some people are seeing it for the first time. The film has made its way into India, and grossed a respectable 8.39 million Rupees ($208,000) in its first week there on 62 screens, selling 72,500 tickets -- something to note since it seems to be the first Korean flick released in the country.

The success of this Korean flick doesn't seem to be some one-of-a-kind feat, and another film is hot on the killer tadpole's tail. Variety has reported that a new monster movie, D-War, has grossed a super-solid $20.3 million in South Korea after only give days -- just missing the record-breaking opening for The Host. Unlike the other, D-War is a Korean flick with U.S. actors, and it follows a Korean legend about a giant snake that's got its sights set on Los Angeles. The film, which stars Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks and Robert Forster, is going to be released stateside on September 14 under the name Dragon Wars. Horror might be struggling, but monster movies are going good and strong.

If you missed The Host during its theatrical run, now you can catch up with one of the best movies of the year. it's been well covered at Cinematical (reviews by James Rocchi and Jeffrey M. Anderson, interview with director Bong Joon-ho by Scott Weinberg, brief comments by yours truly) and Magnolia has issued a collector's edition, packed with features, on DVD, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. The single-disk regular edition on DVD includes only deleted scenes and an audio commentary by the director. Don't expect a straightforward monster movie; there's plenty of dysfunctional family melodrama and a cracked sense of humor popping up at unexpected moments.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll again beat the drum for Sean Ellis' Cashback, which I mentioned yesterday in the Indie Weekend Box Office report. It's also from Magnolia, but unlike The Host, Cashback is part of Magnolia's 'limited theatrical release slightly in advance of the DVD to generate some publicity' program; I don't know how successful the program has been, but I'm glad that more people may be checking out this dryly humorous, dreamy fantasy of a young single man. The disk includes the short film that the feature was based on, as well as a "making of."

Tom Tykwer's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer struck me as a pretty picture whose glittering charms lay entirely on the surface. But Kim Voynar had a different reading altogether, calling it "a deeply mesmerizing exploration of one man's desperate search for his own humanity ... very much more than your average serial-killer story." On balance, I think this is a film that generates discussion; therefore I recommend it. The Dreamworks DVD is skimpy on the features, with only "The Story of Perfume" on board, so a rental may be best.

Back when Pulp Fiction came out, Quentin Tarantino began publishing lists of his favorite movies in various interviews. To a film buff, these were something of a small revelation. Tarantino had not been so much influenced by the usual Citizen Kane or Hitchcock as he was by a plethora of semi-forgotten, underappreciated trash movies. Suddenly movies like Brian De Palma's Blow Out (1981), Jack Hill's Coffy (1973) and Jim McBride's remake of Breathless (1983) gained in respectability; they had influenced a new American classic, and so there must be hidden greatness within their second-rate frames. Likewise, Tarantino helped breathe new life into already established classics like Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday (1940) and Jean-Luc Godard's Band of Outsiders (1964). He created a film-buff smorgasbord.

Flash forward 13 years to 2007. Tarantino has a new movie out, the bottom half of Grindhouse, in which he sings the praises of a cult road movie called Vanishing Point (1971) among other titles. And yet, for some reason, I had absolutely no urge to rent that movie when Grindhouse had finished up. Perhaps it's because Tarantino's passion had turned into something a little more dutiful. Rather, my cinematic slaverings had turned elsewhere, to a relative newcomer that had been recently initiated into the Tarantino camp with the inclusion of his Grindhouse trailer: Edgar Wright. His exciting, hilarious, and enthusiastic Hot Fuzz (164 screens) had got me thinking about the veiled merits of its buddy cop double bill: Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break (1991) and Michael Bay's Bad Boys II (2003).

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.

Is it time to bring back the giant monster movie? Given the dismal state of the world at the moment and the general amount of fear and hopelessness in the air, the time couldn't be better. The next question, then, would be: what do giant monster movies have to do with current events? Just about everything, it turns out. The first two giant monster movies, The Mysterious Island (1929) and King Kong (1933) coincided with the Great Depression. Perhaps audiences found it cathartic to pin their invisible troubles on a visible beast. Giant monster movies took a breather for a while until the 1950s, when looming threats of atomic energy and Communism sent ordinary citizens into fits of terror. A virtual army of giant beasties stomped and swam forth from drive-ins and Saturday matinees all through the decade, from the beloved: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Them! (1954) and It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) to the wretched: Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), Earth vs. the Spider (1958) and The Giant Gila Monster (1959).

Japan added their smash-hit Godzilla franchise, spawning dozens of movies and various spinoffs. In the US, Godzilla was just another giant monster movie, and was released in 1956, edited, dubbed, re-titled "King of the Monsters" and riddled with new footage of American actor Raymond Burr. Of course, Hollywood chipped in with its big-budget American version in 1998, but times here were fairly good (at least in retrospect) and the movie failed to enter the zeitgeist. However, in 2004 the original, unedited, subtitled Godzilla opened for its 50th anniversary re-release. Critics in honest-to-goodness newspapers reviewed it and found it excellent, including an all-out rave from David Sterritt in the Christian Science Monitor, and positive reviews in the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. (Only Roger Ebert turned up his nose, while turning down his thumb.)

With the non-stop flow of Hollywood films parading through American multiplexes, it's sometimes easy to forget that the U.S. isn't the only country in the world making movies -- not by a long shot. This week on Trailer Park we're looking at trailers from around the world.

Sunshine
With film's like Trainspotting and 28 Days Later under his belt, British filmmaker Danny Boyle certainly knows bleak. Earth's sun is dying, and after one crew of astronauts failed in the attempt to reignite it (I'm sure it's just the pilot light), a new crew is dispatched as the last hope for humanity. 28 Days star Cillian Murphy is here, along with an interesting multi-national cast including Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans and Michelle Yeoh. Boyle's track record alone has me excited about this one, although I wish the trailer had explained a bit more. Cillian Murphy's narration summarizes the plot, then we're treated to a barrage of action sequences. Interesting, sure, but I wanted a little more insight into the human drama I've come to expect from Boyle. At any rate, I'll be eagerly awaiting this one. Here's what Erik Davis thought of it.

The Host
There's a new domestic trailer out there for this Korean monster flick that's been getting lots of buzz for awhile now. Plans are already afoot for a U.S. remake, but the original will be hitting U.S. theaters on March 9 (news of U.S. distribution for the film was mentioned here). This trailer has English dialogue spoken by what appear to be American characters, so I'm not clear on whether the majority of the film is dubbed or subtitled (I'm sincerely hoping for the latter). Three generations of a Korean family are thrown into turmoil when their youngest member is taken by one of the most horrific movie monsters I've seen in many a day (and you don't even see it all that clearly). This trailer seems to play up the humor of the dysfunctional family more than the Korean trailer did. If enough of us go see this one, maybe we can render the remake superfluous before it's even made. Something to think about.