Maybe there aren't enough monsters in your life. I don't mean the fake ones, such as Frankenstein or Shrek, but lethal beasts like Gila monsters, Godzilla, and the one known as Cookie (you can see it in his googly eyes). The mutant terrorizing Seoul's riverside in South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho's rowdy creature feature The Host will fill any monster void you didn't know you had: this huge polliwoggy thing is ugly, deadly, sinewy, and smart... almost as smart as Bong, who takes everything he's absorbed from Hollywood flicks and then shows 'em how it's done.

In true '50s monster-movie fashion, we humans are to blame for the genetic mutation, which occurs when American military personnel dump a bunch of old chemicals into the Han River. The creature's first appearance is wildly thrilling, a violent interlude at a park during which it scoops up young, intrepid Hyun-seo with its prehensile tail and then heads for the water. After detainment by a gaggle of hilariously inept South Korean officials, Hyun-seo's warring family --- consisting of her immature dad, peacekeeping grandpa, profane uncle, as well as her aunt, an award-winning archer --- band together to find her. And of course they'll ultimately tussle with the amphibious beast, whose damaging rampage causes various agencies (including the U.S. military) to attack the problem with chemical weapons.

Sounds like another allegory for American aggression, but that doesn't seem to be Bong's focus. The Host is popcorn escapism at its best, with flawed yet likable heroes, killer action sequences, a silly and touching script, as well as resourceful, seamless CGI that showcases the film's scary star. It's a bold move in a $10 million movie to introduce your monster in the unforgiving light of day, but Bong nails it, employing all manner of ocular trickery to grab his audience by the eyeballs and then tighten his grip.

Monster movies have their comforting clichés, and The Host embraces a number of them --- i.e., the valiant sacrifice, not staying to watch the inferno --- while subverting a few, too, most notably filmdom's sacred kids-in-peril rule. Spielberg and Bay wouldn't dare, but if you were a monster, who would you rather eat: some tough old coot or a juicy, well-marbled tyke?

As the wintry heist noir The Lookout opens, a car full of attractive people is racing headlong into tragedy. You know it's coming, and you try to brace yourself, but ultimately you're as shocked as they are. Flash-forward a few years: Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the car's driver and a former college hockey star, is working as a bank janitor, and while he hopes to someday become a teller, the brain damage is hindering his climb up the corporate ladder.

Angered and frustrated by his new lot ("I just want to be who I was"), Chris is ripe for the picking by Gary (a chilling Matthew Goode, Match Point), an engaging sociopath whose wide grey eyes are trained squarely on Chris's bank. Despite warnings from his blind, sarcastic roommate Lewis (Jeff Daniels), Chris gets lured into the robbery by both Gary as well as a femme fatale called Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher, The Wedding Crashers). And when Chris has an 11th-hour change of heart, it all goes to shotgun hell.

Portraying the sightless guy who sees all, the ever-reliable Daniels allows us a glimpse behind the façade of an irritating stock character, but the one to watch is the 26-year-old Gordon-Levitt, quietly staking his claim as one of his generation's best. He starred in Brick (my favorite film of the 21st century) and Mysterious Skin (the only Gregg Araki movie I haven't chucked anything at), and though he seems to have cornered the market on vulnerably troubled young men, his next role is that of Mickey Rourke's psychopathic sidekick in John Madden's Killshot.

Oscar-nominated for his crackling adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Out of Sight, Scott Frank's directorial debut is not without some rookie plotholes (which I will not mention, for they are quite bearable), but he is rightly confident in his ability to tell a story with both words and pictures (cinematographer Alar Kivilo worked similarly snowy magic on A Simple Plan). Apparently everyone was at one time slated to direct Frank's script for The Lookout --- David Fincher, Sam Mendes, Michael Mann, maybe even you --- but Frank must have consulted my mom, who's fond of saying that if you want something done right, do it yourself.

The Host (R), directed by Bong Joon-ho opens Friday, April 6, at Little Theatres | The Lookout (R), written and directed by Scott Frank, is now playing at area theaters.