Righteous Ties: Ganging up on the Gang With a Giggle

It's great to be popular whether you're in high school or in the slammer. You'll always have friends to sit with during lunch and someone to confide in should times get tough. The major difference between the two is that when someone back-stabs you in the latter environ, he'll be doing it with a rusty spike. That's what Chi-sung (Jeong Jae-yeong) finds out in Jang Jin's lighthearted prison-break movie Righteous Ties. Serving seven years for attempted murder, this loyal mob goon develops a close-knit clique of prison pals who help him escape and exact revenge on the mafia Don who's done him wrong. Chi-sung is especially lucky because he happens to have two best friends, too: One on the outside -- Joo-joong (Jeong Joon-ho) -- who defies code and informs him of the big betrayal; the other on the inside -- Soon-tal (Ryoo Seung-yong) -- who has some payback issues of his own. (Chi-sung's girlfriend provides him with cash and a cellphone. Really, some guys have all the luck!) True to form for a jopok comedy, the violence of Righteous Ties can be jarringly brutal as fight sequences forgo slapstick for deft choreography. Overall, this pic is funny without being a true comedy. That's it's hard to classify may be its greatest appeal.

Unborn but Forgotten: Forgive Me, Baby, for I Have Sinned

The big screen has spotlit terrorizing websites before but the one in Lim Chang-jae's Unborn but Forgotten may be the first to specifically target women who have had abortions. Whether the movie qualifies as pro-life is another matter however since the primary sin uniting these women turns out to be who they've screwed not how they've terminated their pregnancies. Really, it's hard to believe Lim is advocating a full-term when you finally learn who the father is. I don't want to give it all away or suggest that Unborn but Forgotten is easy to understand because there's something enjoyably incomprehensible at work here. Reporter Su-jin (Lee Eun-ju) is doing a short documentary on a cyber cop (Jeong Joon-ho) who's investigating mysterious deaths caused by a website that magically inflates the women's bellies right before death. That this website was created by a deranged artist means one Klimt-like painting and a creepy performance installation with dolls and a fetus will come into play. The neighbor upstairs is prim and secretive; a boyfriend/anchorman is cold and demanding. Can you fault Su-jin for being a bundle of nerves as she tries to survive the website's curse? At times during this movie, you'll be a little unnerved, too.