Big Deal: Corporate Cruelty

Choi Yun-Jin's Big Deal is a pretty scary movie. Not because there are vampires or werewolves or a mad slasher on the loose. What's wreaking havoc and causing chills are corporate overlords who have only one thing on their mind: Money. Seok Jin-woo (Son Hyeon-ju) is the nepo baby who's inherited a thriving soju empire that he jeopardizes by making foolish wagers on the golf course among other places. Choi In-beom (Lee Je-hoon) is a business strategist who recognizes the faltering company as his chance to orchestrate a merciless takeover followed by downsizing and a profitable resale. Neither character can imagine a motive outside their bank accounts.

The only one in this cutthroat world who seems to give a damn is divorced, alcholic, all-too-trusting Pyo Jong Rok (Yoo Hae-jin), a high-ranking exec who is about to learn that CEOs, lawyers, judges, journalists, account managers, and so on do not share his code of ethics. Or any code of ethics. The only rule for sleazy powerbrokers like Gordon (Byron Kim), nasty double-crossers like Koo (Choi Young-joon) or backstabbing dealmakers like Mark (Daniel C Kennedy) is win at all costs. The ends justify the meanies! To its credit, Big Deal shows that sometimes a price is paid... but its not by the monsters at the top.

Escape: You Go, Girl!

You remember the movie trope of the diabolical homosexual? Well, that all-but-obsolete evil gay man is back in Lee Jong-pil's delicious North-Koreans-on-the-run movie Escape. This time he's taken the form of Ri Hyun-sang (Koo Kyo-hwan), a queeny major who we first observe when he's putting on a layer of chapstick with his pinky extended. The stereotype doesn't end at shiny lips either. He's got pomaded hair and high cheekbones, a bottle of hand lotion in the jeep and a backstory of winning international music contests with his flawless piano playing. Naturally, there's a young vaping pretty boy (Song Kang) who's part of that painful past, too.

Right now, this fabulously femme villain -- who never has a hair out of place -- is in mad pursuit of a pair of soldiers looking to escape North Korea's totalitarianism. One is Im Gyoo-nam (Lee Je-hoon) for whom Ri likely has a crush. The other is Gam Dong-hyuk (Hong Xa-bin), his lazy-eyed sidekick who is obviously doomed to die from the very start. Will the cute one make it to South Korea though? It certainly seems possible when a gang of nomadic, pistol-packing women exiled from town show up in the woods with artillery and attitude. Then again, hell hath no fury like a gay man scorned! Plus who wouldn't like the skin-enhancing properties that come with a quicksand mudbath, conveniently located at the 38th parallel.

Time to Hunt: Stop Following Me!

Yoon Sung-hyun's heist-gone-wrong thriller Time to Hunt takes its time building up to its catalyst crime — the robbery of an illegal gambler's den — then turns into a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game in which crazed, corrupt cop Han (Park Hae-soo) stalks the four thieves even after he's retrieved the most-valued goods. Unaware of why they're being so viciously pursued puts these criminal buddies in a more precarious position than usual because they know there's nothing they can offer to make things right. This especially baffles Joon-seok (Lee Je-hoon) who's orchestrated the crime just days after serving three years in prison. He sees a better tomorrow for him and his buddies in Taiwan but first he'll have to make sure that the narcoleptic Jang-ho (Ann Jae-hong), the momma's boy Ki-hoo (Choi Woo-sik), and insider Sang-soo (Park Jung-min) survive for two more days.

You might think that they've got a decent shot at doing so considering their impressive cache of firearms but Han is not your typical hitman. He's more like a super-villain who can take any number of shots to the body and a fall into a river, and still have more than enough energy to reload and get back to shooting his sniper again. That makes for some heart-racing chase scenes that are only enhanced by an incredibly effective soundtrack and some truly lush cinematography. Judged as pure escapist fare, Time to Hunt ranks fairly high — especially since it clocks at well over two hours and this pandemic has left me with hours to fill.