I'll ditto both Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Highly recommended if you like Tarantino films. If you're very squeamish about bodily injuries though, you might want to look elsewhere.
I'll add 3-Iron, another Korean film, this time by Kim Ki-Duk, about a guy who breaks into houses and lives there while their occupants are away on vacation. Kim Ki-Duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, ... and Spring is also excellent. Both films are beautiful beyond words.
Nobody Knows, a Japanese film about a family of young children who are abandoned to live on their own, is really sad but worth the effort.
Shopgirl isn't out on DVD yet, but add it to your queue now. It's an underappreciated film with Claire Danes and Steve Martin. There's a hilarious subplot with a character played by Jason Schwartzman who becomes a roadie for a band.
If you like classic film noir, I recommend the very fun neo-film noir The Ice Harvest with John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton.
Kung Fu Hustle is writer/director/producer/star Stephen Chow's homage to the classic Shaw Brothers kung fu films of the '60s and '70s. I thought it was the most visually inventive film I had seen since Amélie, though Sin City which was released a month later gave it a run for its money in that department. Fans of martial arts films will love every frame of this film and its deft combination of highly kinetic action sequences, campy comedy, and romance. In addition to many classic kung fu film references, Chow's film also references The Matrix, Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons, Kubrick's The Shining, and Ghostbusters. This film may not be for everyone, but I think a lot of people who aren't fans of the martial arts genre would still enjoy it. One of the most enjoyable films I saw last year.
If you like Kirsten Dunst, Elizabethtown is worth seeing. Just don't expect it to be as good as Cameron Crowe's best films such as Almost Famous.
