What?!

. . . or monster flicks -- Japan is God (pardon the pun) in this respect.

Korea had this REALLy neat film called "Natural City" a few years back . . . was the closest thing, I thought at least, to them getting to some kind of sci-fi greatness on the other hand. REALLY had the feel/look of being in the "Blade Runner" universe, quite actually, and to go on a slight tangent here, ergo, more of an "indirect connection" to "Blade Runner" way the hell more than the, um, er, provacative "I.K.U." labeled itself.

Anyone who's got access to KBS America knows this film was being QUITE hyped at one time (saw it referenced on a damn COOKING show on the network for Pete's sake, w/footage and all. To me, nothing we've seen before -- large scaly angry creatures, flying and otherwise, permanently destroying land values for the next thousand years. The footage, actually, with the ancient armies marching into a contemporary city . . . now, THAT's something I've not seen before, I'll admit.

But, I can wait for it air on Sundance or IFC or . . . heck wait 'til I earn enough points for the free rental at the store down the road. Free tickets would also suffice.

I don't "D-War" action figures'll be flying off the shelves.

Director saying "give it up for me, please!" Shakespeare sorta' did this same thing at the end of "The Tempest," but, in this vein? Yeah, tha's kind of hilarious. Should chuck in loops of the chorus to Jackos' "Bad" while he at it. Too funny. Take group picture with the D-War creatures at the end, too, be all pal-like. Cripes, now I GOTTA see this motha'.

Yep, how could I forget "The Host." Monster flicks, sure, Korea has more than a few (Joon-ho Bong's "Memories of Murder"'s more of a "monster flick" to I; with less anti-U.S. sentim' to boot). They need to do a competent, no-holds-barred, off-the parental ratings chart film 'bout the Kwangju Massacre (they have a few, including one in the chute, which . . . I honestly haven't heard too much about) in the '80s. That's Seoul's REAL monster.

North Korea's [!]got their own monster flick in "Pulgasari." Yeah, kidnapped a South Korean film director and all to make the film. The "creature" helps the populace fight off royalty, somefin like that, yeah, see? North Korean flick.

I gotta say, though, I liked watching "Transformers." The changings, etc., all there . . . done in a time of cinema history where, heck, yes, the tech's there, DO IT. I think Bay shoulda' gone the Pete Jackson route and released 1 each summer for three years or whatever. even if I didn't like it. Very casual fan of robots in disguise here, but, man, I gotta say, I kinda' liked it.