When, why and if a distribution company chooses to release a film theatrically is something of an enigma to modern man. Take Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance: It’s the first installment in Park Chan-wook’s critically acclaimed revenge trilogy, and yet for some strange reason, it’s going straight to video. True, it didn’t make quite the same splash on the international film fest circuit as its successors: Oldboy, (2004 Cannes winner that Tarantino can’t talk about without drooling) and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, (sadistic chick flick that makes its big screen debut next spring). Still, it’s hard to imagine Korea’s auteur of justified violence capable of pumping out anything less than cinematic perfection. Nevertheless, the bloody tale that started it all is out on DVD this week, and this one features a hard-on-his-luck man seeking retaliation against the black market scammers who didn’t buck up for the organs he sold in order to pay for his sister’s kidney transplant.

From ultra-violence in the East to family viewing in the South, we have Luc Jacquet’s March of the Penguins, a gorgeously shot travelogue of Antarctica’s most beloved pinheads as they search for the perfect mate. —SARAH ROWLAND