Love 020 微微一笑很倾城 (2016) Chinese

Jing Boran, Angelababy 

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

I figured having loved the show, I would have to give the movie a try sometime. I'm glad I did. It was very good. In some aspects I would say better than the drama, but both are definitely well worth watching. The movie obviously had a better budget, because the CGI and sets were way better, and way more realistic. I also think all the acting was better too. I think that both Jing Boran and Angelababy were able to show more realistic and fleshed out characters in less than 2 hours than in the whole length of the series. I love the micro-expressions that give us insight into the "gaming god" character of Xiao Nai. I also loved seeing a more nerdy, gamer girl version of Bei Weiwei. She was way more engaged and I actually believed she played games instead of just looking perfect and pretty. But there really was only 2 hours to put in the whole plot, so everything does feel like it's moving at a lightening pace and is way over simplified. I really missed them spending more time on the side characters, and especially the plotline of the awkward relationship between Hao Mei and KO. They only had time for like two scenes that mentioned that whole mess, which is a real shame. So on the whole, both are great for different reasons. It's only when you are comparing the two that you'll notice the production quality is way better for the movie, and the leads in the drama are so pretty that you don't really mind that they aren't the best at acting. It's fine. I still love both and recommend both as great. But if you only want to spend a few hours, the movie is the way to go, if you want to invest for a long haul, watch the drama.

429. Princess Weiyoung 锦绣未央 (2016) Chinese

Tiffany Tang, Luo Jin, Vanness Wu, Mao Xiaotong, Li Xinai 

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

Princess Weiyoung is just a hot mess of drama. It was a delightful hot mess, but also happened when I had my drama anxiety explosion that made me literally pause everything I was watching in favor of binge watching We Bare Bears. Sometimes the ridiculous drama where everyone is evil except the leads is fun and sometimes people's mothers are dying and I can't deal with that in the middle of a pandemic. However, after taking some time, I still came back and finished it, because it was ridiculous and I had to see the train wreck at the ending. It actually had a better ending that I expected. More... realistic, if you can believe that when everything was so over dramatic that it wasn't ridiculous. I just like that they didn't force a completely happy ending and were able to give us some tragedy that also wasn't forced. I had a whole thread on Twitter about this, because it was so 😲😲😅😅😂😂 that I had to shout out my feelings to the Twitterverse. You can probably get more details and spoilers from that thread then here. But at least you can know that it was crazy, dramatic, and I generally loved it, even then rolling my eyes and laughing every two seconds.

411. Signal 시그널 (2016) Korean

Lee Je Hoon, Kim Hye Soo, Cho Jin Woong, Jang Hyun Sung, Jung Hae Kyun

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: B

I honestly don't remember why I didn't watch this one as it was airing. The two possibilities are that it was either not subbed on a site I subscribe to (I think that's the most likely) or that I was watching too many heavy/dark dramas at once and I couldn't. I do usually need to watch like 3 fluffy types to every 1 heavy one. Call it escapism. Anyway, once I miss the concurrent airing window, it's way easier to put it off in favor of currently airing ones, so even when I knew it was available on the Netflix, I still waited until my love of Kim Hye Soo made me finally just do it. (You'd think my love of Lee Je Hoon and Cho Jin Woong already would have, but I guess not). It's all about timing. Anyway, it's one I always wanted to watch, heard so much good about, and now finally did. It was worth all the praise too. It literally wrenched every emotion from me. Every single kind. All the feels! It was good.

355. What's With Money? 얘네들 머니? (2016) Korean

Jung Da Bin, Cha Hak Yun, Hong Bin, Chan Mi

Drama Rating: 2/10     Neck Score: A+

I was bored, I found it on Kocowa, and it had Vixx members in it, so I watched it. It was terrible. Basically a glorified educational video on how to be smart with money, with some ridiculous makjang in it. I guess it was designed to help high school students be financially savvy, but it is so boring and horribly written. What acting skills N and Hongbin have were not enough to make up for dialog that was basically reading a financial textbook out loud rather than something people would actually say. It's weird because Hongbin is the rich boy gone crazy so he's rebelling and sulky, and N is the poor good kid who is super financially savvy, and that dynamic was weird. Really, the best actor was probably the mean girl, but she might just have had the best written part, and it was the classic mean rich girl. Basically the show was nonsense, and at the end there was a weird Liar Game style contest where they were summoned to a team quiz off to deem their worthiness to join the financial club (cult?), but it made no sense. Then, to add insult to injury, there were supposed to be epilogues about all of the characters, which you had to vote to see, but since it was way later, they were not on Kocowa, so I didn't get to see any of them. I suppose I could maybe find them on YouTube, but I didn't care enough. But that ending had a very Click Your Heart webdrama feel to it. Best part of the show: it's super short. Ten 15 min episodes with N and Hongbin's cute faces trying desperately to act with some of the worst writing. Everyone was a trooper, but they all could only do so much.

Korean Movie Night: Life Risking Romance 목숨 건 연애 (2016) Korean

Ha Ji Won, Chun Jung Myung, Chen Bolin

Movie rating: 5/10      Neck score: A

CAMPY!!! We were looking for a comedy, but we might have picked the campiest one of our selection. Not that the others might not have been any good either. But in my experience, Korean movies in the romantic comedy genre tend to be on the campy side. Anyway, it was also really fun and a bit of a troll. It was about a mystery writer in a slump (Ha Ji Won) whose imagination keeps her creating situations where she's making false calls to 911, etc. She's constantly bailed out by her best friend who is a cop (Chun Jung Myung). But that same imagination also connects her to the mysterious and handsome man who just moved in upstairs (Chen Bolin).

Maybe another reason we thought the show was extra campy was because it was probably 75% in English, because Chen Bolin was playing a Chinese American FBI analyst. Not that he and Ha Ji Won weren't doing a very good job acting in English, but it was still not natural sounding, since it they were speaking slowly and annunciating everything to make sure they pronounced everything correctly and clearly, etc. Also, the English dialog was weird sounding because it wasn't written by a native speaker either, just to add to the campiness.

But since this is a rom-com mystery thriller, it definitely had its share of twists, but rather than being unpredictable, they trolled us all the time, so that we weren't sure who the murderer was, because they kept trolling us by making it "possible" to be anyone, even if it wasn't logically possible. There was also the trolling of us not knowing what was her imagination vs reality, because she was constantly daydreaming and letting her imagination run wild.

But for all that, it was still really funny, especially with a bulk of the comedic relief being handled by Oh Jung Sae and Kim Won Hae, who are pretty genius in that department. In fact, I absolutely loved Oh Jung Sae's character so much, he might have saved the show completely for me. I loved him and his little ponytails. So, no regrets, but yes, it was bad. The last impressions as it ended were: what the heck 😂. But really, I think that's what they were going for, so.... good job?

Korean Movie Night: The Wailing 곡성 (2016) Korean

Kwak Do Wan, Hwang Jung Min, Chun Woo Hee, Jun Kunimura, Kim Hwan Hee

Movie rating: 8/10      Neck score: B

I've been meaning to watch a real Korean horror film for a while, and my boss, who love horror films recommended this one to me.  It's weird to have Korean films recommended to me when I'm the one who first recommended them to him, but that's cool.  He just likes films in general, so why not.  This one was superbly made.  The pacing is really good, which is interesting because it's a long movie and really slow paced, but at the same time, it builds well.  Well, I don't know how slow paced it can be when it starts off with death and there is plenty of death and carnage along the way.  It's not super jumpy or violent, but it is gruesome.  We mostly see the aftermath of the murders.

It's not really jumpy scary much, more like a suspense that builds up as we watch this ordinary man, a lazy cop in a remote mountain village, try to figure out what is going on as violent murders start happening around the village.  They all have the same things in common.  One family member going crazy and murdering all the rest.  They all have a horrible rash before, and they usually commit suicide after all the murders.  Also, they are very violent and bloody murders.  People start blaming the Japanese stranger, and cite having nightmares after random encounters with him.  The suspense only builds as people closer to our ordinary man begin to be affected, including his daughter.

273. Nightmare Teacher 악몽선생 (2016) Korean

Uhm Ki Joon, Kim So Hyun, Lee Min Hyuk, Seo Shin Ae

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

After the lameness of Golden Cross, I needed to see my Grumpy Cat (Uhm Ki Joon) in something more worthy of his greatness.  What better than a webdrama where he is a teacher who is making his students live their nightmares so he can steal their souls and teach them life lessons?  Answer, lots of things, but this was also a good option.  It was actually not too bad for a webdrama.  It wasn't that creepy, sadly, and it was very moralistic and stuff, but I still liked it.  It was done in serial format, with a new kid with a new problem every two episodes.  Some of the mini story arcs were more relatable than others, which really helped with the quality or enjoyability of the story arc.  Lizabreff couldn't get into the story about the overachiever student who studied until he lost his memory of anything else, while I cared less about the girl who wanted to look perfect and be the prettiest so she went all Dorian Gray on us.  Although I liked the Dorian Gray part of it.  We also both struggled with the lonely, dreamer girl who dreamed herself a boy friend and a stalker.  Why would you want the stalker?  He turned out only slightly less scary than the boyfriend actually.  While her stupidity was the worst, I loved that one the best because it was probably the creepiest one.  The end was almost the creepiest, which I was excited for, but it stayed pretty tame and not horrific like I wanted.  Oh well.  It was very moralizing and we all learned a lesson.  The end.  The important part was that Uhm Ki Joon was amazing and I loved him, as he just stood there, being awesome and leading the kids to their doom... haha.  It was a good drama to appreciate him in, and that's what I needed, so it was perfect.

267. Sound of Your Heart 마음의 소리 (2016) Korean

Lee Kwang Soo, Kim Dae Myung, Jung So Min, Kim Byung Ok, Kim Mi Kyung

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

I was so sad when I couldn't find this anywhere, because you all know how much I love Kwang Soo.  He is my #1 actor who rivals even GD in my heart.  I had to watch him be Cho Seok, because I also am 100% in love with Sound of Your Heart and have read everything that has been translated on Line Webtoon.  Sadly that is just a fraction of what there actually is, sniff.  Basically, there is a certain laugh that I have reserved just for Sound of Your Heart.  Lizabreff knows only one thing can make me laugh like that, so she knows what I'm reading.  This show was the same.  I laughed so hard!  I think it did a good job capturing the right feeling.  Their actor choice was perfect for all of them.  Every new person introduced I was like "Yeah!  They're perfect for it!"  It was delightful.  Even before we found it on Netflix and were just watching random clips on YouTube, I was just laughing.  They did a good job.  It's a slightly different experience when the naked/bathroom humor comes in, cuz it's live action vs just the drawings.  You realize just how tall and skinny Kwang Soo is when he's streaking through the city with his bare legs and censored blur.  It was hilarious.  I loved it.  I also like how they managed to keep the webtoon feel to it, while also connecting them into a somewhat cohesive story, with some character growth and some tied in themes.  It brought it all back in for a good ending to the series, so we didn't get left hanging.  It was well done.  Highly recommended.  I want there to be more seasons.  All the seasons in the world!  More Sound of Your Heart!  More Kwang Soo!  Hurray!

Korean Movie Night: Hyung, aka My Annoying Brother, 형 (2016) Korean

Jo Jung Suk, Do Kyung Soo, Park Shin Hye

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: A

Can I just say that the genres assigned to Korean movies are all lies?  They say it's a comedy, and then you're crying by the end.  Such liars!  Well, I guess that's why this one is labelled a comedy drama, which seems like a walking contradiction, but trust me, it does it and does it well.  The situation itself is both comedic and sad, as it is about a conman (Jo Jung Suk) who uses his younger brother's sudden blindness as an excuse to get out on parole.  To make matters worse, his younger brother (Do Kyung Soo) was a judo athlete training for the Olympics when the injury happened.  Talk about depressing right there, but then there is the conman comedic element that makes it also weirdly funny.  It's just a mix of lots of emotions.  Plus you have some of my favorite actors.  I have always had nothing but praise for both of these boys, and their brotherly chemistry is the best.  Bromance between real brothers is the best.  I love seeing families coming together.  I was super impressed with Kyung Soo's ability to act blind.  I believed it.  I also loved how they look enough alike to be half brothers.   They were just great.  Park Shin Hye was... okay.  Like usual.  I liked the pace of the story, as well as the comedy.  The timing was pretty great.  Then the emotions!  Wah!  So many emotions!  All the emotions in the world!  I think I might have felt them all!  Haha, maybe an exaggeration, but hey, I am obsessed with these boys.  Jo Jung Suk makes me feel things.  It was definitely a good one that I would recommend watching, especially if you happen to love these boys as much as I do.

265. Ode to Joy 欢乐颂 (2016) Chinese

Liu Tao, Jiang Xin, Wang Zi Wen, Yang Zi, Bridgette Qiao Xin

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I started on this late, as I saw everyone tweeting about season 2, but I had been planning on watching it since back when I watched When a Snail Falls in Love.  But it was better than I thought it would be, because it is a girl power show.  The show is about the girls and not necessarily about the romance.  It takes forever for them to introduce the men, and I love it.  It totally passes the Bechdel Test as it certainly has more than two women in it and they all talk to each other about things besides men.  Not that they don't talk about men, they certainly do that too, but that is not necessarily what the show is about.  It is about their friendships, family, struggles, growth, and also about love.

It is about five women who live on the 22nd floor of the Ode to Joy apartment building.  Three of them are roommates renting the middle apartment.  The other two own the apartments on either end.  Each comes from a very different background and each has a very different personality.  I found myself relating to Andie and Xiao Qu the most, but I still related and loved them all.  I related to Andie's logical frankness, and Xiao Qu's not caring and saying/doing whatever she wants attitude.  I see myself in Guan Guan as I overwork myself and never actually try to get in a relationship.  I'm definitely Ying Ying when she is pulling those faces and bouncing off the walls to cheer people up.  I related the least to Fan Jie, as she's a drama queen, but I still can see myself being the mother hen advice giver all the same.  And who isn't a little materialistic, huh?  Basically what I'm saying is that I loved them all and I cared about them all.

I also loved how it addressed issues that women face in general and especially in China.  Issues such as male/son favoritism, marriage over careers, materialism, and cyber bullying, as well as other general problems such as whistle blowing, becoming a full time employee, blind dates, adoption, and mental illness.  This also meant that I was going to get super angry that these situations existed and that our girls had to struggle through them.  I practically screamed every time that Fan's family was on screen.  They're the worst!

It was definitely not a perfect drama.  It is prone to be over dramatic, and the need for a narrator to tell us the inner thoughts of our girls was a bit silly.  I was a bit wary of how they talked about mental illness and how big a deal it was.  But overall I just loved it and was super excited for season two, which I started the minute I had finished season one.  That was weird.  Talk about change in tone and filters.  But if you are looking for a good girl show (not a perfect one, but still progressive) then I do recommend this one.

262. Baek Hee is Back 백희가 돌아왔다 (2016) Korean

Kang Ye Won, Jin Ji Hee, Kim Sung Oh, Choi Dae Chul, In Gyo Jin, Choi Philip

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A+

I've been waiting for this to be subbed for forever!  Ever since I heard about it coming.  But, since it was a drama special, it took a little while.  I'm not sure when it actually got subbed, but as soon as I saw that it was, I had to binge watch the whole thing.  It's only 4 episodes, so that is not a huge deal, but I was going to do it no matter what.  Because I love Kim Sung Oh.  So.  Much.

It has kind of a Mama Mia theme, as we have the mom and daughter and then three potential fathers.  The daughter, naturally, decides to figure out which one was her father, since they were all obviously acting so obvious.

It's about that, of course, but it really is about the mother and daughter's relationship.  When it starts out, with the family moving back to the island after so many years, they have a really bad relationship.  The daughter is in full rebellion, and the mom is fed up.  She is also hiding what she considers her dark past, so that she seems refined and proper.  The daughter thinks she is the worst, not knowing that they are really, really similar.  From the streaks in the hair to being little thugs.  The mom even changed her name, going by So Hee, so that when the daughter, Ok Hee, hears all about the legendary Baek Hee, she has no idea it's her mom.

Then she gets annoyed/amused when all the ajhussi in the town start being too nosy and kind to her, and she decides to get the most out of it.  It also is good for her, because she is starved for that kind of fatherly love, that she was never able to have growing up.  But it also helps her to learn more about her mother, now that the past gets revealed.  As if she could hide anything on an island that size.

I loved everything about this show.  From the plot, to the three stooges/fathers, to the lovely 90s past scenes, to the small town island feel.  I especially loved Kim Sung Oh.  He was so attractive in those plaid button ups over the tees with the sleeves rolled up, and his captain hat and aviators, and especially as he was such a cute, protective, nice guy.  Totally my style.

It's short.  It's cute.  It's funny.  It's heartwarming.  It gave me all the feels and I was giggling happily by the end.  Also, my phone is now full of Kim Sung Oh screenshots, so I could die happy now...

260. The King of Romance 如朕親臨 (2016) Taiwanese

Lego Lee, Cindy Lien, Gabriel Lan, Serena Fang, Ricie Fun

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

This was completely not what I expected.  All of the synopses made it sound way more about reincarnation.  I wouldn't have minded seeing more of that either, but it really didn't need it, since that wasn't really what it was about.  It was about fate, but not in that way, necessarily.  I was surprised how into it I got, considering it seemed pretty typical.  She was the typical try hard candy character, and he was the gruff tsundere.  But I did like the twists they put in to keep it from just being that.  At least they set up the misunderstandings so they were a little bit believable.  He didn't think she was a stalker until it was suggested to him, after lots of awkward encounters.  She only thought he was a pyeontae because of an unfortunate overhearing of a slang term.  Yeah, it was pretty typical, but isn't that why we like it?

I did really like how they both had their careers.  While she was a hard working chef, we also got to see that she had her problems.  Her complacent attitude about her work or anything in life.  She was like the opposite of a perfectionist, where just good enough was good enough.  Almost right, and so on.  For a workaholic like her, that was an interesting combo.  It was like she was obsessed with working, but had lost her ambition and drive for improvement or perfection.

He was overly blunt, which is a typical trait for a male lead, but we also clearly got to see from the beginning that he was wearing a mask.  He was the cool, smart doctor, who said things too harshly, but he was also a softie.  We could tell that he cared about his patients, even when he seemed too gruff with them, as he would continue to take care of them off of work, or after his part was done.  He was an OB/GYN because he loved children and wanted to ensure their healthy and safe delivery into the world.  That's adorable.

I did say it was all about fate.  Gao Bing Bing, our female lead, is the romantic type who believes in reincarnation, and is waiting for her seventh lover, who she has dreams about from her previous lives.  Sometimes a soldier, sometimes and emperor, etc.  Wang Nuo, our male lead, is a doctor who believes in science.  They are first internet gaming friends who happen to be called Romeo and Juliet.  Then when they meet in real life, of course they don't like each other.  She thinks her fated match is her pastry chef teacher, Bruce Li (hahaha).  Wang Nuo thinks she is just annoying, especially since she doesn't take care of herself.  They meet in real life first as he steals her bike parking spot, and then as he is randomly her gynecologist.  Haha, she ran away as soon as he said she needed an internal check up.  Then he becomes her landlord... and so on.

I loved how their relationship grew.  From hating each other, to tolerating, to becoming friends, to falling in love, it was lovely to watch.  Especially as they were always on a different page, but somehow on the same page.  As they said in the show, they were on the same page of fate, or something like that.  Also, I love Lego Lee.  His acting is good.  He is especially good at crying.  He does this little lip tremble that is so good!  Also, he might be one of the only guys to snort up his snot while crying, and I appreciate that.  That's real crying there.  There were also some twists that I jokingly said would happen, then when it really did I shouted "omo, omo, daebak!" really loud because I had headphones on.  A plot twist that suddenly made everything make sense, but made that bitca first love girl go crazy.

The worst part about it was the drama at the end seemed a little forced.  All of the dramatic parts were super dramatic, that is just how most Taiwanese dramas work.  I got sick of that childhood friend/first love girl.  I wished there had been more to the second romance couple.  I don't know why she needed to break up with him just to figure out her feelings, etc.  Little things like that.  Mostly I just loved it, and especially the main couple.  They were cute, especially since they were mostly best friends, but also cute lovers.  His confession though.  Aw!

This is really long... I must have liked it... a lot.

Korean Movie Night: Sori: Voice From the Heart 로봇, 소리 (2016) Korean

Lee Sung Min, Shim Eun Kyung, Lee Ha Nui, Lee Hee Joon, Kim Won Hae, Chae Soo Bin

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: B

Lizabreff summed it up nicely when she said that if it had been anyone with less acting chops than Lee Sung Min, this movie might not have worked.  It would have been superbly campy and not the sweet tear jerker it was.  Lee Sung Min was amazing as a man who has lost his daughter and doesn't believe she was killed in the subway fire like everyone else keeps telling him.  During his crazy search to find her, he finds a crashed surveillance satellite that can trace calls and phone records.  It also has an attitude.  Shim Eun Kyung did an awesome job with the satellite robot's voice, making it sound very robot AI, but also have such character and personality.

He join forces with the robot and goes in search of his daughter, based on phone records and GPS locations.  Naturally, since this was an NSA surveillance satellite, they don't want it falling in the wrong hands, so we've got some bad English speaking actors.  We also have the NIS and KARI involved too.  Lee Ha Nui is the KARI employee, and she is awesome.  Her English was awesome too.  At first, based on the friction between her and Lee Hee Joon, the NIS agent, we were like "couple?" but then he was just a tool, so we were glad that didn't happen.  Ew.  So, it definitely had an agenda.  It was very anti-surveillance and pro-personal privacy protection.  No one seemed to have a good opinion about the NSA.  The NIS wasn't very favorable either, for that matter.  They definitely made a statement about the issues about privacy in the digital age, as well as corruption based on the power of having the sort of information that would be stored in such a remarkable surveillance satellite.

So it's going to put you through all the emotions.  I described it to my brother as "a tear jerker, but funny" and that is true.  The robot is so sassy, and Lee Sung Min is great and a little crazy.  Ryu Jun Yeol's bit part was funny.  That wig, haha.  Then all the crying parts.  It's good.  But really, it is a silly concept, so it could have been so bad so easily, but it wasn't.  It was a funny tear jerker and it was good.

221. Moonlight Drawn By Clouds 구르미 그린 달빛 (2016) Korean

Park Bo Gum, Kim Yoo Jung, Jung Jin Young, Chae Soo Bin, Kwak Dong Yeon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

And yet another tale of Lizabreff and I not finishing a drama right away because of reasons that weren't really reasons.  Once again we were watching too many dramas at once, and we sacrificed this one so we could finish the others.  Of course, like always, we stopped right before it got good again.  It was getting boring and we couldn't handle it.  We weren't ready for all the crap that was inevitably going to happen after episode 12, so we just stopped before 13.  It probably didn't deserve that, since it was by far a better drama than most the other ones we actually finished at the time, which I gave much lower ratings (cough cough Moon Jun Ki ahem Cinderella and the Four Knights cough cough).  I think it was too many sageuks for Lizabreff.  She'll be the first to admit they are not her thing, and as soon as they get slow she struggles.  I think that was partially what happened, plus the other sageuks, and it was just too much.

So, I ended up just finishing it alone, much later.  It took me no time at all too, which makes this whole story pathetic.  In like two or three days I finished the remaining 6 episodes.  Why was that so hard?  I was super into it too.  Nothing was hard to watch, it was all just normal good sageuk.  Not even the bad kind, the normal good kind.  I do have to say that the last episode was not good.  It did not measure up to the quality of the rest of the drama, which is often the case with any given drama.  However, this erred on the side of being too happy and gooey.  No way any of that was possible.  It was like they just threw all reality out the window and made every happy ending fantasy come true.  It was cheesy and bad.  Sorry that I actually wanted Bo Gum to die?  Not because I hate him, I love him. But I thought a tragic ending would have been nice.  It's not like that historical figure didn't die young.  Apparently he did, so what was that ending?  Spoilers, he doesn't die.  Sorry.  I know it was based off of a novel, but not having read it, all I had was the historic context, but I probably should have just left that part alone.  Then the cheesiness could have prevailed.  But I guess it did make an obvious point about what the title was about in the end, tying everything up with a nice big bow, the end, everything is great.

So, it wasn't a bad drama by any means, and I can see why it was so popular, although maybe not agreeing to that whole extent.  It wasn't amazing or anything, just good.  The acting was stellar through out, although I will say that Yoo Jung looks young for her age and Bo Gum looks exactly his age, so no one but Dong Yeon looked 18.  I liked to point out all the age gap romance scenes, which annoyed everyone else, mwahaha.  It does have all those sageuk tropes, with the girl dressed as a guy, but it was fresh in the execution.  At least what she had to go through to be a eunich was interesting.  I loved the bromance the best.  Kim Hyung and the prince were my OTP.  Wah, that scene at the end when Kim Hyung... wah!!!!!!  I liked how the second female lead was nice the whole time and liked Jin Young just all the time, even when he was being annoying.  His ending was super weird and unnecessary, but whatever.  At least he got lots of pretty clothes.  Lots of pretty men in pretty clothes all around!  Yay!

254. Drinking Solo 혼술남녀 (2016) Korean

Ha Seok Jin, Park Ha Sun, Hwang Woo Seul Hye, Min Jin Woong, Kim Won Hae, Gong Myung, Key, Jung Chae Yeon, Kim Dong Young

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I started this for Key, straight up.  I had heard good things.  I don't remember why I didn't watch it when it came out.  I remember Lizabreff was really excited for it, but we just never got around to watching it.  Which is weird.  But then I started watching it without her, which is also weird.  But that's what happened.  I was not disappointed.  Ki Bum was the best part of the whole show.  Di ro ri!  I'm pretty sure he's my spirit animal.  I mean, I guess Ha Seok Jin was a bonus... JK, I loved everyone in this whole show.  There was no one that I didn't like, and that was the beauty of it.  It was about people.  Flawed people who are dealing with a lot of crap.  We have the exam school teachers, who all have their own struggles, and the students, who are living under the cloud of the civil service exams and having to study all day every day.  So everyday someone is going to be drinking solo, for some reason, good or bad.  Or Ha Seok Jin will just drink solo every day because he's high quality trash and it's his time of "healing."  The show is basically advocating alcohol, but trying to also promote healthy drinking habits.  Really, I was all about those "high quality" snacks during all those drinking scenes.  They made me so hungry and jealous.  I loved how the characters all developed well and how I cared about everyone's story.  I was shipping everyone, even if I knew they were bound to be alone, because they were the second male lead.  Everyone had their times of being sad, but it usually wasn't stupid, it was realistic.  Only sometimes it was stupid.  Then everyone ended fairly happy, which is also good.  It was a good ending, although the last episode was so long that I am dead tired now because I stayed up too late to finish it.  It was a little slow paced, but there were a lot of loose ends to tie in the last episode.  I felt like they gave all the other characters besides the main couple more time to resolve, but since I loved them all that only seemed slightly weird.  They were trying to leave it open, I know, but it was a bit too open maybe?  I don't know.  It was still good, just too long for after midnight.  This noona is getting too old for that.

Korean Movie Night: Run Off (Take Off 2) 국가대표 2 (2016) Korean

Soo Ae, Oh Dal Su, Oh Yeon Seo, Ha Jae Suk, Kim Seul Gi, Kim Ye Won, Jin Ji Hee, Park So Dam, Cho Jin Woong

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

If you know me, you know I don't like sports movies.  Even if my favorite sport (to play on my computer) happens to be hockey.  This was one of my favorite sports movies.  Maybe it was because I loved all these actresses, maybe because it was funny and heart breaking, but it did a good job.  It had all the classic underdog tropes, but it handled them well.  A group of misfits are brought together to make a national women's hockey team.  Of course they are given all the crappiest equipment, hand me downs from the guys teams, and the moldy rink, etc.  We have a North Korean defector, a kicked out speed skater, a figure skater, an 8th grader, a field hockey ahjumma, and an office worker.  Naturally, they don't get along at first.  Then there are training montages, them coming together, sticking it to the man and not giving up.  Then there are intense games that are somewhat predictable, but not so bad.  It's realistic, until we get to the drama parts where everyone is panting and hitting walls and we see less of the game and more of their "pain."  Not surprised that they have the only foul play done by the Japanese... yeah... that....  Anyway, it is about sisterhood, friendship, and representing your country, and not about some of the things that sports movies are about.  I love that the only men in it are the coach and the bureaucrats.  And like family and stuff, but there is no romance in it at all, which is the best, because no one needs romance in a sports movie.  That just ruins things.  So this wasn't ruined by that.  It became about families, whether it be the North Korean and her little sister, the coach and his son, or the fact that the team becomes a family.  It was cute and good.  It was also way more hilarious that I thought it was going to be, but considering the cast we shouldn't be surprised (I'm looking at you, Seul Gi!).  It was also much more tender and moving than I thought it would be, so overall, I was pleasantly surprised.

Korean Movie Night: Train to Busan 부산행 (2016) Korean

Gong Yoo, Ma Dong Seok, Jung Yu Mi, Kim Su An, Kim Eui Sung, Choi Woo Shik, Ahn So Hee

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: A

I watched this one a while ago with my older sister and her husband.  He is a filmmaker and a zombie enthusiast, so I had to.  He actually bought it and watched it before I could even set up the movie night.  He loved it, so some of his opinions will be shared here as well.

This is one of the most heart filled zombie movies I have seen (I haven't seen that many, but my brother-in-law has, and he said the same thing).  While being gross and violent as all zombie movies must be, it isn't gratuitous violence, it is more about the story and the horror.  And it's plenty intense, because we have little kids and pregnant ladies in the mix, and you just can't help but be more worried about them.  Plus we have the claustrophobic terror of being in the confined space of the train.

The zombies themselves were very interesting, a good mix of body acting, gross make up, and probably some CGI.  But they were really good.  The contortion plus the movements was different and great.  It made it super weird, creepy, and just cool.

One thing that my brother-in-law really liked was the depth to all the characters.  While we had the classic horror film collection of characters, they each had their own depth and were humanized so that we felt things for all of them, even that rich selfish jerk.  We got to see their growth, such as Gong Yoo's character going from worst dad to best dad, or Choi Woo Shik who was too cool/awkward to admit he likes the girl, to becoming a hero to protect her.  Or "dad of the year" Teddy Bear Ma Dong Seok.  He was the best.  Just the very, very best.

Naturally the whole theme was about being united and helping each other and sacrifice.  The only people who survived were ones protected by sacrifice and love.  I would say it was intense over scary, and full of love and emotions.  It also touched on responsibility, and the bitterness of selfishness.

The campiest part was the deer at the beginning.

249. Bring It On, Ghost 싸우자 귀신아 (2016) Korean

Ok Taecyeon, Kim So Hyun, Kwon Yul, Kim Sang Ho, Kang Ki Young, David Lee

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

An appropriate blend of creepy and cute.  The acting wasn't the best... ahem ahem Taecyeon ahem ahem... but that didn't hurt the show too much.  The best acting was of course the villains and side peeps.  I loved the GhostNet who became Soondae Soup boys.  Ki Young and David Lee were just the best.  I think every screenshot I got while watching was Ki Young, except for that Shim Hyung Tak cameo.  Anyways.  I did like the build up of figuring out the plot.  At first Creepy Doll Face (Kwan Yul) is just a creepy Cat Killer (his new nickname), but then he starts to become even creepier as we figure out that he doesn't just kill cats, but people too... and more people than we thought.  He's just killing people all over the place, making ghosts everywhere... or killing ghosts everywhere.

The basic root of the plot, that tied everyone together was a little weak in my opinion, but not enough to ruin everything.  It explained things... okay, but whatever.  I wanted the ghost girl to stay bad-a the whole time, but sadly she had to have her time as a damsel in distress.  But that's the good part about the horror/action romantic comedies.  Instead of getting mopey, we have life and death situations to add the drama, so it thankfully never got lame.  Even the amnesia episodes weren't too bad.  They made more sense than most amnesia episodes.  It wasn't unwarranted amnesia, it was somewhat justifiable amnesia, if that is a thing.

Last thing, there is no way we would believe that Kim So Hyun was a year older than Taecyeon.  I understand the part about her becoming a ghost in high school, so they need a young looking person, but there is no way we'd believe she was any older than high school.  The age gap wasn't great.  Not as bad as some, since he could look college aged, but still.  Eek!  As much as I hate to admit to praising Creepy Doll Face Cat Killer, he did a good job being creepy as foretold.  Obviously Kim Sang Ho was the best actor in this, but he also did a good job.  Reluctant claps.  The last episode was super drawn out.  They solved the ghost crime part too soon, so all that was left was bringing everything back to where it started, with Soondae Soup, and as much as I love those boys (literally my favorite part of the show) it made for a really boring last episode.  That's ok, overall this show was cute and creepy, so what more do you want?

Like for Likes (2016) Korean

Lee Mi Yeon, Choi Ji Woo, Kim Joo Hyeok, Yoo Ah In, Kang Ha Neul, Esom

Movie rating: 7/10      Neck score: A

This movie was so cute.  It was full of feels.  I love how interconnected the three love stories were without them actually being that connected.  I loved all three couples, although naturally some more than others.  My favorite couple was actually the Choi Ji Woo/Kim Joo Hyeok couple, because their romance was just the cutest and funniest.  I also just love Choi Ji Woo, she's the cutest and bestest.  I also fell in love with that ahjussi.  I'm kind of love the ahjussis lately.  Mmmm.  Kang Han Neul and Esom were also cute.  Let's me honest, Kang Ha Neul probably gave us the most feels.  He made us almost (or just really, if you're Lizabreff) cry.  He also had the most difficult role as he played a deaf songwriter.  So his story was just a little more heart wrenching from the start.  He rocked it btw.  Yoo Ah In did a great job of being an adorable butt.  Funny and annoying at the same time.  It was a great noona romance between him and Lee Mi Yeon.  She was also great.  So really, this was just a cute show.  Not earth shattering or amazing, just great at what it is, a romantic comedy full of cute and funny characters and the perfect, cheesy resolutions that romcoms crave.  I loved it.

232. Laurel Tree Tailors 월계수 양복점 신사들 (2016) Korean

Lee Dong Gun, Jo Yoon Hee, Cha In Pyo, Oh Hyun Kyung, Ra Mi Ran, Choi Won Young, Shin Goo, Kim Young Ae, Hyun Woo

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

50 episode family dramas are not everyone's cup of tea, but they are starting to be mine.  You have to pick a good one of course.  One that has something that grips you enough to make you want to stick around for 50 episodes.  This one might just have been 4 hot men in suits.  No, it wasn't just because all of these 4 male leads in this were super attractive and people I love, it was for the characters themselves.  Every single couple was cute for the most part, which meant that I was shipping everyone.  Even the villains were not that villainous.  Yes, that means the show was cheesy and moralistic and everyone got redeemed to a point at the end, but it also means that this is a show where people learn and grow, and I loved the journey.  It was downright weird to see flashbacks to the start when everyone was a young idiot or disliked each other, or had misunderstandings, etc., because by the end they had all matured and it was wonderful.  Now I had to talk myself into watching this, because it was 50 episodes.  I love Lee Dong Gun and I love Ra Mi Ran.  Then Choi Won Young tipped the scales for me.  He is my ahjussi actor, one of the ones that I love the most, so I just had too.  Then I was not disappointed.  He was a rock star (literally) who then became a trot star so his honey voice was responsible for most of the OST, which I cannot complain about.  We also saw him start off as a selfish has been full of pride to becoming the most humble family man.  We saw push overs becoming pillars of strength, and we saw people becoming family and having a family.  It was basically adorable.  I think I cried during every wedding scene (literally did during my ahjussi's wedding.  The sunshine couple- so cute!  The cheesy couple (the OTP, Dong Jin and Yeon Sil)- too adorable!  I loved how all the families felt real.  My favorite family might have been the antagonist's family, Dong Jin's ex-wife and her step family.  I know that mom was my favorite.  I loved Hyo Won and Hyo Sang's brother/sister teasing.  I loved Hyo Sang even though he was a little poo butt with an inferiority complex.  I did tend to hate the ex-wife and ex-girls friends who were the bitcas of the show, as well as the fake husband, who was a crazy liar gangster, but even they had their redeeming qualities.  Yes, the show was long.  Yes, it had it's fair share of makjang (you guys know that I actually like that stuff), but it was cute, and it game me the feels.  Now, I'm going to go listen to Susanna's Handkerchief for the umpteenth time.