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Thursday, September 25, 2014

I Need Romance 3


Given Synopsis (viki.com): 
Has a jaded 33-year-old woman really given up on love? Shin Joo Yeon (Kim So Yeon) works as a merchandizer for a home shopping network. After years of surviving in the tough corporate world and having a long-term relationship go down the drain, she has decided to give up on love. But will she change her mind when a childhood friend, Joo Wan (Sung Joon), and her boss, Kang Tae Yoon (Namgung Min), both younger men, vie for her affections? “I Need Romance 3” is a 2014 South Korean drama series directed by Jang Young Woo. It is the third installment of the popular “I Need Romance” franchise, which includes “I Need Romance” (2011) and “I Need Romance 2” (2012).

Review:
        This was actually a really good drama for me. I fell in love with the characters and how the main leads worked out so well together with different personalities. As always, I Need Romance dramas are quite predictable as to who she is going to end up with. Only this time, they added more context to the second lead character and showed the female lead's stress about whether it would work out if she stayed with him. At the same time, I liked that this drama didn't have a wishy-washy character. It felt like she was going back and forth at times...but if you actually sit down and think about it, she actually sticks with her decision. I just really don't like the second lead and  I never even considered him an option. But he was a big part of the drama as he was trying to win back his love while dating her. I felt that the second lead was just very indecisive and very sleazy in that aspect.
       I Need Romance dramas usually have disappointing endings for me because in the previous two dramas, I preferred the second lead greatly. In this drama, my choice was very clear and it remained clear to the very end. The guy that I liked became the main lead and that is all that matters to me. The relationship was beneficial to both sides physically, emotionally, and mentally. It was a comfortable and straightforward relationship. No doubt, both characters are extremely loyal once they dive into the relationship. I loved this drama and how it was set up and how easy it was to choose a character that never annoyed me. As always, it was very female empowering and I really liked that. The women were fierce. And I really appreciated the minor characters finding romance through different ways and how each of them had different issues/annoyances/etc. This was actually my favorite I Need Romance drama out of three stories because the main couple didn't do a lot of things that made me angry. Maybe because I just knew that things were going to work themselves out.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Hot Young Blood


MOVIE

This movie was really enjoyable to me because it just made me imagine who I'd be in a scenario like that. Would I be one of the followers or the badass leader chick?  It was a little bit extreme at some parts and it felt a little too exaggerated at times. However, it was funny.
Basically Lee Jong Suk's character is a player. Park Bo Young's character is the leader of the girl gang. The leader in the boy gang liked her and allowed her to have this invincible position. However,  Park Bo Young continues to love her childhood friend (Lee Jong Suk) who has grown apart from her. As Lee Jong Suk begins to pursue the new girl from Seoul, Park Bo Young stays silent about it and watches with envy. She soon notices that the new girl may not be what everyone thinks she is. Upon that, she gets into a fight and leaves the school after being wrongly accused. Park Bo Young feels conflicted about her feelings for Lee Jong Suk while Lee Jong Suk is confused about his. She tells the gang leader guy that she doesn't like him and is willing to give her invincible position for Lee Jong Suk's safety, gets beat up after getting removed, and both find themselves and achieve goals before coming together once again.
It was very cute ending and I got a good laugh out of a lot of the parts. Some parts were not realistic but I don't think that was the movie's intention. It was more focused on adolescence and the comedic factor.

Enjoyed it....mainly because I just really love Lee Jong Suk and Park Bo Young and because there were just too many funny and exaggerated scenes.

It's Okay, That's Love

16 EPISODES
Given Synopsis (viki.com):
Jang Jae Yeol is a mystery writer and radio DJ. He suffers from a obsession. Ji Hae Soo is going through her first year fellowship in psychiatry at a University Hospital. She chose psychiatry because she doesn't want to perform surgeries. After she meets Jang Jae Yeol, her life goes through big changes.

Review:
I can't put into words the amount of love I have for this drama. I loved it. It was just one of those dramas that made you feel like laughing, crying, and also bubbly inside. The characters were so real. All had their flaws and their good sides. You can see the real representation of interactions between normal friends/family. The acting was spot on. As always, Gong Hyo Jin and Jo In Sung never fail to impress me. D.O's acting was quite surprising to me because usually idols do a pretty shitty job at acting.
       The whole story line was amazing to me. It was such a psychological twist when you realize that Kang Woo is a representation of Jang Jae Yeol and that Kang Woo was imagined due to guilt-caused schizophrenia. And unlike a lot of amazing dramas, the ending left me warm and satisfied. I loved it for how realistic and how much I can relate to everything. Not to mention, the chemistry between the two main leads wasn't just loving and passionate. They were like a real couple where their love doesn't fade. Again, I appreciated that there was no second lead trying to ruin the relationship. Glad to see appearances of dramas where a second lead and a love triangle is NOT necessary.
        Also, the way they dealt with mental illness and portrayed it was well done. Mental illness is often stigmatized (especially in Asian countries). People tend to view it negatively and don't understand how easy one can have/get mental illness. This drama showed that and it probably enlightened many viewers that mental illness shouldn't be stigmatized because it can happen to anyone. It shows that lives can continue to go on with or without the illness and that they are just people. That was why this drama was touching and enlightening.
Absolutely 100% pleased with this drama.

Monday, September 15, 2014

The Greatest Love

 
Given Synopsis (viki.com):
A former K-pop girl group singer discovers she can extend her 15 minutes of fame by associating herself with a top actor so that she can continue to support her family. Goo Ae Jung (Gong Hyo Jin) is a former leader of the popular girl group National Treasure Girls until an internal scandal caused the group’s disbandment and her fall from grace. Years later, Ae Jung makes a living by appearing on game shows and variety shows as a C-list minor celebrity so that she can support her father, brother and nephew as the sole breadwinner. After several run-ins with top actor Dok Ko Jin (Cha Seung Won), Ae Jung discovers that being associated with an actor at the top of his game helps to raise her status and increases her demand on television and radio shows. Ko Jin, on the other hand, experiences a strange palpitation whenever he hears one of Ae Jung’s past hit songs, which he mistakes for love, and he decides he wants to help Ae Jung emerge from under the shroud of scandal from her past. But Kang Se Ri (Yoo In Na), Ae Jung’s former group mate, again feels competitive with her when Yoon Pil Joo (Yoon Kye Sang), an oriental medicine doctor, sets his eyes on Ae Jung. Will Ae Jung’s 15 minutes of fame be finally over? “The Greatest Love” is a 2011 South Korean drama series directed by Park Hong Kyun and Lee Dong Yoon.

Review:
   It has been a while since I watched this and I can't really recall much of what I initially felt upon watching it. I do remember thinking that though it was a fluffy kind of drama, I probably wouldn't watch it again. It didn't give me much of a strong impression. It was a light-hearted watch that made you smile because of the cute moments the characters shared. A lot of the moments were cliche drama moments. Very light-hearted and didn't leave a strong impression on me.

God's Gift-14 days



Given Synopsis (viki.com): 
When a mother loses a child, she harbors many regrets and broods about the many things she would have done differently if given another chance. Kim Soo Hyun (Lee Bo Young) always pushed her daughter, Saet Byeol (Kim Yoo Bin), to not only do well in school but also to always come in first place. But tragedy strikes when Saet Byeol is kidnapped and killed, leaving Soo Hyun and her husband, Han Ji Hoon (Kim Tae Woo), with no clues as to who could have done such a terrible thing and why. Detective Ki Dong Chan (Jo Seung Woo) struggles to find the killer, while Detective Hyeon Woo Jin (Jung Gyu Woon), who shares a past with Soo Hyun, tries to do what he can. But when Soo Hyun is given a chance to go back in time to change the course of events, can she find the killers and save her daughter’s life in time? “God’s Gift – 14 Days” is a 2014 South Korean drama series directed by Lee Dong Hoon.

Review:          
  God's Gift-14 days was absolutely amazing and drama-filled in the beginning. The suspense was building, the acting was superb, and the personalities of the characters and their ways of grieving were amazingly palpable. I had high hopes for this drama and I saw great potential for this drama to be an all-time favorite of mine. It started off so wonderfully. My friends were raving about it, I was encouraging my friends to watch it, and friends were asking me if I saw it. This drama was really well-received by both genders because it was about a mother's love and struggle upon finding out that her daughter has been kidnapped and murdered. The mother gets a chance to go back two weeks in time and try to stop the tragedy from happening and save her daughter. But regardless of what she did, history was repeating itself in different forms and she knew that at this rate, her daughter's abduction and death was inevitable.
        I was sucked into it because the actors and actresses portrayed an appropriate reaction to the scenarios. I could actually see the reality in this fiction. However, as it went on...I grew extremely frustrated with what was happening. I noticed in the few dramas that I watched, action dramas bore me. If you give me long scenes where the characters are fighting these bands of bad guys with their cool fighting skills, I will be bored to a point where it is tiresome to watch. It started off okay because I was still wrapped up on the process that this was a mother's struggle to find her daughter's killer and prevent the kidnapping. However, the more she began to fighting hands-on with suspects, the more she irrationally exploded in front of cops about how she knew the future, and the more the guy helped her fight and do all these things because he experienced the time traveling, the more frustrated I got. It just felt like it was stupid of them to make certain plans or actions. No one felt the time shift. They don't know what is going to happen and so these main characters need to get it in their head that they have to go through clues and other ways to lead the cops to her daughter. While I was watching the main characters figure out how to do that (after realizing their initial plans were horrible), I was infuriated at how careless the daughter was. She's so little and I didn't understand why she thought it was okay to just run off randomly. It's horrifying. No one knows where the child is going, who is going to get the child, and why she is running off. They experienced a lot of close-to-death situations because the child would run off and cause everyone to go into a frenzy. I just got so frustrated with Saet Byul because her mother made it very clear that she wanted her to stay next to her and to not run off. But as always, she doesn't listen and then cries when she gets scolded. There were a lot of annoying characters such as Saet Byul's dad because I was just very suspicious about his demeanor and the way he talked and what he said. And I felt pity for the mother as she worked so hard to keep her daughter alive while her daughter was ungrateful and unknowing of what was to happen. At her age, I would have expected her to be a bit more obedient toward her mother instead of running around and making friends with adults like a rebellious teenager would. The child gave a sense of stupidity because she's acting like a teenager but with the knowledge capacity and innocence level of a three year old.
          As more fighting scenes started showing and the political sub-plot revealing a greater scheme, I began to tire with the drama.  It began to lose it's sense of reality. Why would the government use a random child to perform this? Why use this child? Why was this girl not listening to her mother? Why does everyone look suspicious? Is someone going to die? These questions began to pile and it made watching this drama excruciating. I kept watching it and I expected a great ending. Did I get that ending?


The answer is NO.

The ending was the worst way to end a drama. The child was saved and the male character's problems were resolved. He realized the situation and he could have lived with Saet Byul and have a happily ever after. He could have ended up with the female lead because everyone was rooting for them to be together. However, it ended horribly. It felt ridiculous that he felt the need to sacrifice himself when the child was alive, he was alive, and everything was resolved. I felt that the director was going for a more profound and philosophical ending when really it just left everyone in a state of disappointment and "Did I really waste so many hours on this drama for this?"
        My friends were disappointed with the ending. I was disappointed.
         I felt like this drama could have been so much more but it wasn't. There was too much action and hands-on fighting (LIKE WHERE ARE THE COPS?...OH RIGHT, THE COPS ARE PART OF THIS SCHEME TO MURDER THE CHILD) And the ending was stupid. The characters became increasingly stupid in their actions and decisions. Everyone was a suspect in the viewers' minds and it just became a very tiring drama to watch.

Two Weeks



Given Synopsis (viki.com):

An aimless man wakes up one day, in a pool of blood with a dead woman next to him. Jang Tae San (Lee Joon Gi) had always lived his life without much meaning, but all that changes on that ill-fated day. As he is wrongfully accused of murder, Tae San also learns that he has a daughter, Soo Jin (Lee Chae Mi), who has been diagnosed with leukemia. The next two weeks of his life will determine his fate and whether he can save his daughter’s life. “Two Weeks” is a 2013 South Korean drama series directed by Son Hyung Suk.

Review:
       Two Weeks was really interesting at first but it began to drag and I got bored as it went. I don't know if it's a pattern but if a drama is focused on action and fighting more than relationships and story line, I can't fall in love with it. This didn't leave a strong impression on me. Most likely won't watch again. However, this drama does have praise-worthy factors. It was touching and it had suspense/mystery. It was a whole package for many viewers. It just wasn't the one for me.
        The actors did an amazing job. I knew Lee Jun Ki from his previous dramas and I decided to watch it mainly because of him. The child actress was absolutely adorable.I was not familiar with the mother but she did a pretty good job at her role and you could almost feel the connection she had with the child. The whole concept of the plot--the guy suddenly finds out that he's a father after many years because he can donate body organs to his daughter because he's match, he finds out his daughter is sick, and two weeks before the surgery date, he gets caught up in a murder mystery and gets framed as the suspect. Very dramatic, very moving as he tries to reach his daughter that he felt love and guilt toward.
       It was a pretty moving concept with the sub-plot and gun and fist fights but it just never left a strong impression on me and I really don't have much to offer as to how I feel toward this. I didn't despise it but I didn't love it either. It was just "okay."

Cunning Single Lady


Given Synopsis (viki.com): 
Could she have been a little too rash in divorcing her husband? Na Ae Ra (Lee Min Jung) marries the nerdy genius Cha Jung Woo (Joo Sang Wook) but divorces him when he fails to achieve the success she wants. Although a little self-absorbed, Ae Ra learns that life is not that glamorous as a divorcée and learns to live on her own through sheer hard work. But when Ae Ra finds out that her ex-husband went on to achieve success after their divorce and is now the president of D&T Software Ventures, a venture capital company, she schemes to win him back. But can Ae Ra carry out her plan when Gook Seung Hyun (Seo Kang Joon) has his eyes set on her and his older sister, Gook Yeo Jin (Kim Gyu Ri), also vies for Jung Woo’s heart? “Cunning Single Lady,” also known as “Sly and Single Again” and “Devious Divorcée,” is a 2014 South Korean drama series directed by Go Dong Sun.

Review: 
          This felt like Hi My Sweetheart in some ways. However, Hi My Sweetheart was a high school to adulthood based drama while this mostly focused on their adult life. Instead of missing opportunities like in Hi My Sweetheart, it was divorce that caused the distance and the change in characters. However, I love these kind of dramas solely for the fact that under the facade of being a cool CEO, the guy is still the dork that he was before and it takes that one girl to reveal it.
      I actually enjoyed this drama. It was well-done as a relationship that was "once married, now divorced." There was a love triangle going on at first. But thankfully, I didn't worry about it too much because her choice felt evident. As usual, there were some disputes and some moments that annoyed me (because a lot of things are quite simple but get complicated by characters). The process was cute. Some parts, it felt like it was losing the essence of how strong the girl lead was originally. But this was actually really well done and allowed the relationship to mature and to address the untold cracks that caused the divorce in the first place. It was cute and I liked the actors.

The Suspicious Housemaid


Given Synopsis (viki.com): 
Can a stoic new housekeeper help the Eun family recover from the tragedy of losing a mother? Park Bok Nyeo (Choi Ji Woo) is a mysterious housekeeper who never cracks her serious demeanor and is rumored to be able to do anything that is asked of her by her employer. Her new charges are Eun Sang Chul (Lee Sung Jae), a recent widower, and his four troubled children, Han Kyul (Kim So Hyun), Doo Kyul (Chae Sang Woo), Se Kyul (Nam Da Reum) and Hye Kyul (Kang Ji Woo). Can the enigmatic new domestic worker help the family members heal their emotional wounds? “The Suspicious Housemaid,” also known as “The Mysterious Housemaid” and “The Mystery Housemaid,” is a 2013 South Korean drama series. Inspired by the 2011 Japanese drama “I Am Mita, Your Housekeeper,” the series is directed by Kim Hyung Shik.

Review: 
         This was alright for me.  Probably won't watch this again. Characters angered me too much at times. Also how does a woman act like a robot? It didn't feel realistic.  I hoped it would have been like some Robo-nanny...like Mary Poppins kind of thing...where she robots her way into the family and fixes all the messes that was left behind. All in all...ehh...
       I really liked the child actress though (Kim So Hyun). I look forward to her work where she becomes the main lead instead of the child role. The children all did an outstanding job. There were times when I found the issues portrayed annoying. I didn't like the father because of his spineless character. It was just very unrealistic to me.


Miss Korea

       

Given  Synopsis (viki.com): 
Can a former high school beauty queen help save a failing cosmetics company? Oh Ji Young (Lee Yeon Hee) used to be the most beautiful girl in her high school but she now scrapes by making a living as an elevator girl for a department store. Her former classmate, Kim Hyeong Joon (Lee Sun Kyun) works for a cosmetics company that is about to go out of business, if he doesn’t find a way to save it. He and his colleagues come up with a brilliant idea that they hope will help save their company and their community: Find a local girl that they can groom to become the next Miss Korea. Could Ji Young be the woman who can save them all? “Miss Korea” is a 2013 South Korean drama series written by Seo Sook Hyang and directed by Kwon Seok Jang, the same writer-director team behind the popular 2010 drama “Pasta.”

Review:
         This felt repetitive since it was about the competition and saving the company while rekindling a high school romance. I don't have much to say about it. It just felt very distant from me. I had trouble relating to the female character because her high school attitude vs her current attitude were polar opposites and I had trouble investing myself into the growing relationship. True, I still kept coming back to watch it and to get closure...but it was frustrating for me. The girls in the competition were catty and used relations and bribery. I did not like that. Competition was not fair and square and that angered me. Girls worked hard to abash one another through revealing secrets and causing scandals. The relationship within this drama was a sub-plot. I felt like the drama was basically about the competition and a girl rising to her full potential while finding romance in a high school sweetheart. There were a lot of "awww" moments but the chances of me coming back to this drama to watch it for those moments are highly unlikely.
        I just really appreciated the teamwork, the hard-working characters and their perseverance to maintain that "waikiki" smile, and the ability to remain strong despite other girls trying to win and sabotage chances. It was a battle of who was the smartest and who was the one that could cause the crowd to swoon. It was pretty good on those aspects. But the story-line focus didn't strike me as interesting as some dramas make it. I guess I was expecting a romance that wasn't so confusing. Half the time, I wasn't sure if they were actually going to be together or if they were just reminiscing old memories while remaining professional and friendly in their current state.  However, I stayed with this drama because it was fascinating as to how she went through the hurdles and how her relationship with the male lead matured from their high school one. So toward the end, you see a lot of high school nostalgia because things work out for both of them.

This is probably a good choice to go to if you want inspiration to work out, to study harder, to strive to be more than you are through hard work, and so forth.

Summer's Desire

       


Given Synopsis (wikipedia): 
The story may revolve around summer's desire, but it is really a love triangle between three people colder than winter itself. Yin Xia Mo is a girl loved by two men. Luo Xi is an orphan who garnered fame and fortune with his infallible charisma. Even though others believed him to be kind and smart, he was really a cold, ruthless, and wicked man who manipulated others to get what he wanted. When he was introduced into Xia Mo's family, he fooled everyone with his sweet words-except for Xia Mo, who only saw the con artist in him. Ou Chen is a rich heir whom everyone feared, and was extremely overprotective of his high school girlfriend Yin Xia Mo. When he found out that Luo Xi was living with her, he became extremely jealous. This started a chain of events-as both boys were in love with Xia Mo, but their love for her was so all-consuming that they started a war to have her. Five years ago, Luo Xi lost and was sent away to England. Yet, Ou Chen didn't win as his action caused him to lose Xia Mo's favor and his own memory. Five years later, they met again. Would history repeat itself, and would the desires of summer enter their wintry hearts?

Review:

          This was so-so for me. All the characters were twisted and I couldn't see myself in any of them. It felt a little bit unrealistic. The two men in the love triangle did not intrigue me or satisfy me in what I thought an ideal drama man was like.  Dramas are supposed to fulfill that desire and need to know that some men out there are perfect and realistic with flaws that can be accepted. However, this one was so dark and twisted, none of the characters were normal despite how "perfect" their surrounding and status made them look. The girl was just as twisted and icy as well.
         I did not like the characters because I felt the girl was too emotionless and too unrealistic for me. Nobody is ever that dull just because they fear being loved. People have emotions that play out regardless of childhood trauma. It doesn't have to be happy but I didn't even see the pain and desperation in the girl's eyes. It made it hard for me to feel strongly toward her. I didn't like the male leads because they were either too masochistic and needy or too controlling and demanding. I couldn't like any of them. The story line progressed toward a more softer approach as it went but I still couldn't fall for the characters at the point so Summer's Desire lost it's appeal.
         The only appeal this drama held for me were the actors. I always enjoyed their works and I'm quite familiar with their intensity in acting. However, in this drama, I felt that all three could not display their full potential because there were so many stoic moments. In all honesty, I did not feel summer in this drama. It should have been called Winter's Desire for all the emotionless characters of this drama. Dark, twisted, emotionless Winter's Desire.

Boss and Me/杉杉来了

33 episodes
Given Synopsis (viki.com):
Xue Shan Shan (Zhao Li Ying), begins to work in a major company. She may not be the smartest but she's hardworking, sweet, and caring. When she helps her boss's sister by donating blood (which is a rare blood type), her boss's sister begins sending her lunch every day. She would go outside to eat the lunch to avoid the jealousy of co-workers. However, the place she ate was actually right outside the boss's office which had stained glass. Her boss, Feng Teng (Zhang Han), a young heir to a corporate conglomerate, begins to develop a crush on her. The two build their relationship overtime in this 2014 drama.

Review:
Loved it!!!
     Xu Shan Shan is cute, bubbly, realistic. She felt human and that is why I liked her so much. The guy wasn't focused on his wealth...very down to earth. It is one of those few dramas where the rich guy didn't flaunt his wealth in a snobby way. His love for her didn't feel condescending. He liked her because of her personality and he mentioned, more than once, that he didn't care about wealth, status, or etc. He genuinely cared for her. Xu Shan Shan and Feng Teng's relationship was based on honestly, trust, care, love, respect, and equality. It felt realistic and neither were in it for materialistic things or for fun. The drama even ended on a tone with respect and a sense of feminism as Xu Shan Shan began to work toward her own business success/wealth while dating him. He supported her and encouraged her character development as she matured throughout the entire drama.  
         This drama didn't have a lot of the drama that typically revolves around rich families and girls that like the male lead. Instead, it felt like something that might actually happen. Everything felt real and not just for the sake of keeping the audience on their toes.  This was such a calming and peaceful watch. The devotion between the main characters denied me of ever feeling annoyed with minor characters. The minor characters weren't even that annoying because they felt so genuine. For example, his sister was extremely nice to Xu Shan Shan and treated her as a friend even when she had worries about the social difference.  At the same time, because she was also the friend of Yu Shu's, she was also telling Yu Shu to continue to pursue her "dreams." Yu Shu is the girl that liked Feng Teng. I didn't mind her presence that much and she wasn't that big of a threat and even became Shan Shan's friend. Throughout the drama, you also see a lot of character development and relationship development as she found her own love story. This drama was just so light-hearted, realistic, and comfortable to watch. This is definitely a drama to watch when you're in the mood for something lighthearted or after watching some turbulent drama.