Title: Oldboy
Director: Chan-Wook Park
Synopsis: Based on Japanese manga of the same name by Minegishi Nobuaki and Tsuchiya Garon, this is part of Chan-Wook Park’s “Vengence Trilogy”. A man is inexplicably abducted, and held prisoner for 15 years. Once released (again, without reason), he has 5 days to find out why he was abducted, and by who.
Verdict: An awesome shocker of a movie - this kept me firmly in my seat right the way though, and in doing so, has secured a place in my top 10 movies of all time.

Title: Ring aka Ringu
Director: Hideo Nakata
Synopsis: Within a week of watching a mysterious videotape, a group of teenagers are dead. The bodies are found gruesomely contorted, their eyes frozen as if they had seen something more terrifying than any physical threat. The video then becomes an urban myth.
Verdict: You have most likely heard of The Ring, in one form or another. The Cult classic has seen two successful (although inferior) remakes for the US market. However Hideo Nakata’s original is still much more chilling, as well as the two sequels.

Title: Hard Boiled
Director: John Woo
Synopsis: Inspector Yuen, nicknamed ‘Tequila’, is a courageous cop who shoots from both hips, never reloads and never misses. A tough guy with a soft spot and infinite charm, Tequila is the only man for the job of cleaning up the city, and when his partner is killed in a spectacular shoot-out, he decides to take the investigation into his own lethal hands.
Verdict: Without “Hard Boiled”, we would have no Die Hard - Woo’s Hong Kong gunfight extravaganza is without a doubt an awesome movie, and helped to cement Chow Yun Fat’s career as an action star. With a bodycount this big, you can’t pass up this movie.

Title: Casshern
Director: Kazuaki Kiriya
Synopsis: After the planet has been ravaged by chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons and the entire human race is dispirited and exhausted by half a century of war between Europa and the Eastern Federation. The only hope for long term survival lies with geneticist Dr. Azuma and his breakthrough ‘neo-cell’ treatment that is accidentally used to resurrect Dr. Azuma’s dead son, who is brought back to life as legendary hero Casshern.
Verdict: I threw this in for the Anime fans, as its prettymuch as close to the ridiculous anime action you can get in a live action movie. The visuals are amazing, and the fight sequences will make your jaw drop. However I’d recommend watching this on a biiiig tv!

Title: In The Mood For Love
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Synopsis: Hong Kong, 1962. Chow (Tony Leung) is a junior newspaper editor with an elusive wife. His new neighbour Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) is a secretary whose husband seems to spend all his time on business trips. They become friends, making the lonely evenings more bearable. As their relationship develops they make a discovery that changes their lives forever…
Verdict: In this sumptuous exploration of desire, internationally acclaimed director Wong Kar-Wai creates a world of sensuality and longing that will leave you breathless.

Title: Ju-On
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Synopsis: An eerie tale of a family who is brutally killed in their own home, leaving behind an evil spirit lurking in the shadows. When an unknowing homecare worker enters, the spirit is awakened and a terrifying chain of events begins, passing through all who step foot in this dark house.
Verdict: Known in the west as “The Grudge”, Ju-On is another Asian movie that has spawned American remakes. Ju-On differs from the Ring in this aspect as the same Director helmed both the Japanese and American versions of the movie. As a result, the American remakes stand up surprisingly well to the originals. I would recommend both versions, but for purists, you need to see the Japanese version first.

Title: Sympathy for Mr Vengence
Director: Chan-Wook Park
Synopsis: A deaf mute worker saves all his money for his sister who requires a kidney transplant. He has the wrong blood type to be able to donate one of his kidneys, so he arranges a trade with a group of organ dealers: one of his kidneys, and 10 million won, in return for their finding a kidney for his sister. However, a legitimate kidney becomes available for transplant. Unfortunately, he no longer has the 10 million won required for the hospital to perform the operation. He and his girlfriend, a terrorist seeking to change how the poor are treated in Korea, kidnap his former boss’s daughter. But events spiral quickly out of control…
Verdict: Another part of the “Vengence Trilogy”, this movie spawned a sequel in the form of “Lady Vengence”… and as all movies in the trilogy, this is a must see. Sad, dark, depressive and fascinating at he same time, along with cold violence, I can’t recommend this movie enough.

Title: Lady Vengence
Director: Chan-Wook Park
Synopsis: Intense and inventive, the film follows the progress of beautiful, impassive Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young-Ae) after she’s released from prison having served 13 years for the kidnap and murder of a young boy. Once on the outside, she hooks up with some former cellmates, a preacher who thinks she’s an angel, the detective who originally arrested her and the daughter she gave up for adoption, gathering around her all the people needed to carry out an elaborate plan of revenge.
Verdict: The third, and final part of the “Vengence Trilogy”, Korean director Chan-Wook Park makes the series indispensable with Lady Vengence. This is striking and ghoulishly entertaining stuff, a highwire act poised between horror, tragedy, comedy and exploitation. Often brutal, sick, and shocking…. Lady Vengence does the rest of the trilogy proud.

Title: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Director: Ang Lee
Synopsis: Martial arts masters Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) and Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) battle against evil forces to recover their stolen sword, the legendary Green Destiny.
Verdict: If you haven’t seen this movie, you must have been hibernating for the past few years. Ang Lee’s masterpiece pays homage to the martial arts movies of old in this majestic, and action-packed epic. Beautiful scenery, a touching story along with kick-ass martial arts make this a must see for any action or martial arts fan.

Title: Hero
Director: Zhang Yimou
Synopsis: In pre-Imperial China, feared warrior Nameless (Jet Li) is granted an audience with the ruler of the most powerful of the seven warring kingdoms (Chen Daoming). Posing as a minor official, Nameless sets about his mission of revenge by relating the tale of how he defeated the three most fearsome of the ruler’s adversaries. However, nothing is as it seems and Nameless is placed in great personal peril as the king suggests a very different version of events which brought him to the palace…
Verdict: If you liked Crouching Tiger, Hero is right up your street… Although I see Hero as a more action-packed version. Again, the movie is jaw-droppingly beautiful, and the choreography of the fight sequences is just amazing.

More Asian movies you must watch

Title: Ong Bak
Director: Prachya Pinkaew

Title: Audition
Director: Takashi Miike
Title: Battle Royale
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Title: Drunken Master
Director: Yuen Wo Ping
Title: Seven Samurai
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Title: Police Story (1985)
Director: Jackie Chan
Title: Infernal Affairs
Director: Andrew Lau ; Alan Mak
Title: A Tale Of Two Sisters
Director: Kim Ji-woon

Title: The Eye
Director: Danny Pang ; Oxide Pang
Title: Tetsuo: Iron Man
Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Jump for full article. [jamesbuckingham]