Korean Movie Night: The Beauty Inside 뷰티 인사이드 (2015) Korean

Han Hyo Joo, Park Seo Joon, Juri Ueno, Lee Jin Wook, Lee Dong Wook, Go Ah Sung, Yoo Yeon Seok, Lee Dong Hwi 

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

It's hard to know who to put down as "starring" in this, besides Han Hyo Joo and Lee Dong Hwi, because there are tons of people who play Woo Jin, our main character, because this is a movie about a man who changes bodies every time he wakes up.  He doesn't just change his face, but who he is completely.  He can become a woman, a child, a grandmother, anyone, every time he wakes up.  So I've listed some of the people who played him during pivotal moments.  I didn't particularly like the actual love story plot as much as I loved the execution of the premise.  It was a very interesting concept in the fact that we never knew what Woo Jin used to look like, so everyone who played Woo Jin was Woo Jin.  So really there was no starring role beside Han Hyo Joo.  It was really good how each of them played him, because they were all him, but also had their own twist.  You could always tell it was Woo Jin, which was fantastic.  I also really liked how it dealt with the trauma it would have on the people around him.  He felt sorry for himself, but then he was forced to look at the effects it had on his mom, his friend, and his girlfriend.  It was very interesting, and also very awkward at times.  It just has some inherently awkward situations, like when he was a girl or a kid, or a grandma.  But I think even the awkwardness was handled well, so it became an interesting story, full of emotions and perspectives.  On the whole, it was good.

C'est si Bon (2015) Korean

Jung Woo, Kim Yoon Seok, Han Hyo Joo, Kim Hee Ae, Jin Goo, Jang Hyun Sung, Kang Han Neul, Jo Bok Rae

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

I liked this mostly for the music rather than the plot.  The plot was simple and pretty typical.  A young singer falls for the wrong girl and has a hard time.  But boy was the music beautiful!  Those honey voices!  Sigh!  It was just great.  It was also a good snap shot into the past, a little history of music and culture in the 70s.  It is a story about the fictional third member of the duo Twin Folio and how he came to be a member and then not debut with them.  Jung Woo was perfect for that awkward, country boy role.  There were lots of good moments, lots of funny moments, and yes some meh moments too.  Ultimately the music won me over, but the plot was not that compelling to me.  That being said, the music and flavor is enough to have me recommend it, as is the acting and singing.  Just don't expect something deep.  It's more just an enjoyable snap of the past, in the 1970s folk music craze.

216. W 더블유 (2016) Korean

Lee Jong Suk, Han Hyo Joo, Jung Yoo Jin, Kim Tae Hwan, Kim Eui Sung, Lee Si Eon

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

Interesting premise and even more interesting execution.  Every preview made Lizabreff say: "what!?!" and we could never anticipate fully what would happen next.  It was very nice in how unpredictable it was.  I also liked the creation of the other world.  Like the fact that it was a manhwa world governed by the rules of manhwa, such as the cliffhanger ending to episodes and the rules of the character descriptions and roles, etc.  It was pretty clever in that respect.  But that also meant that the plot and worlds were also very complicated, and since it was a fantasy genre, anything could go.  So we never know what craziness would happen next.  This, however was the very nature of the plot.  Even though the world or story was predetermined, the will of the characters made it so that you couldn't just dictate an arbitrary ending.  The characters had to be satisfied.  The laws of the manhwa had to be satisfied.  It was all very complex and wonderful.  There were also so many good characters and actors to pull it off.  Such as Lee Si Eon as Soo Bong.  He was just amazing, poor little assistant artist.  I was impressed, as always, with Kim Eui Sung.  That man is just a good actor.  His characters were probably the most complex, and he handled them so well.  The crowd favorite would have to be the crazy fanboy hospital professor Mad Dog (Heo Jung Do) who represented all of us every episode as we watched.  He was so perfect.  I would have liked to have seen a Puppy/Yoo Jin love story.  I thought they had more chemistry together than she had with Lee Jong Suk.  Like literally Kang Cheol was never going to see her as more than a friend, but she had chemistry with that Puppy Namja everyone kept calling oppa and hyung, even when he was younger than everyone in real life, haha.  I know some people didn't love the ending.  It was about what I expected.  I'm not sure what else was supposed to happen for the ending to make any sense.  So I thought it was great.  I liked all the twists and complex themes, and of course the love story.  I will watch pretty much anything for Lee Jong Suk, but this show was well worth it.  He was great.  The show was great.  Plus, lots of blood AND lots of cute.  Cool!

42. Shining Inheritance 찬란한 유산 (2009) Korean

Lee Seung Gi, Han Hyo Joo, Bae Soo Bin, Moon Chae Won

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: B

Note:  Please watch City Hunter first so you can like his mom.  She is cray cray evil in this one and it will sour you for a while.  Also, this show has crying in it like every episode, as my friend pointed out while I was watching it.  "Is she crying again?"  Well, yeah.  Wouldn't you when your step-mom is like the devil, your autistic little brother is lost and you have to work with a hot butt head?  I guess it's justifiable crying, but it's still a lot of crying.  But boy does Seung Gi manage to steal the show.  He does the butt head to sweetheart character development so good.  I actually thought the nice other dude was annoying and really just liked watching Seung Gi's character develop.  I thought granny was a little weird.  Ok, you can just do weird things with your inheritance to teach your family a lesson... I guess... you should have thought of teaching them better earlier, when they were still being raised and all.  Also, Moon Chae Won is annoying with her "Oppa.... whine whine whine" business all the time.  I love her as an actress, but her character sucked in this one.  She had a cray cray mom though, so I guess her being her own kind of cray cray makes sense.  Watch it for Seung Gi, if you can take a bit of crying and cray cray... and have already seen City Hunter.