Korean Movie Night: One Line 원라인 (2017) Korean

Im Siwan, Jin Goo, Park Byung Eun, Lee Dong Hwi, Kim Sun Young

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

We had another Korean Movie Night this last weekend to, it was part of our end of the Olympics party. Since we had some new viewers who maybe had never seen much before, we tried to pick one for a more general audience, so we ended up with One Line, a classic conman heist type movie. It's very Italian Job in spots, but all heist movies are fundamentally the same. This one actually had a lot of differences plot-wise. At least at the start.

We have Jin Goo who is a conman who helps people get loans- loan fraud. However he has principles, and he stays away from "dirty loans." He runs into Siwan, a college student and raw conman talent. He gets scouted and quickly climbs up the ladder. However, there is no trust and loyalty among conmen, and things get a bit crazy in the back stabbing department.

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.

195. Descendants of the Sun 태양의 후예 (2016) Korean

Song Joong Ki, Song Hye Kyo, Kim Ji Won, Jin Goo

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

Was it over-hyped?  Yes.  Was it still worth it?  Yes.  It wasn't brilliantly written by any means, but it did bring out the feels.  It was also probably one of the best romances and definitely the best bromances by this writer.  The Song couple had plenty chemistry.  I liked their feisty bantering and teasing.  I did think that her worries dragged on a little too much, even if they were understandable, but at least the show never did get to the point where I hated it ever.  That one episode was really boring... you know, episode 15, but it still had enough good parts to make it not worthless.  Maybe because all the actors were good enough to make the cheesy lines they pulled less sucky.  I liked all the relationships too.  I think the bromance held it together the most, but then all the other romantic relationships were great too.  The army couple, Seo and Yoon were maybe more compelling for me because they were more angsty while the Song couple was more sexy.  But my personal OTP was the doctor-nurse couple.  I heart them the most.  Now to talk about the ending... o-mo.  It was so cheesy that I thought I was going to die laughing.  It almost ruined it for me, because... yeah.  And it was completely pre-produced and it still had a lame ending?  What the heck!?!  I liked everything else about pre-production, though.  Good times.  But the show was if not well written, completely enjoyable to watch.  It was certainly super over dramatic at times.  I mean, right when something gets fixed then something else dramatic happens.  Natural disasters, secret black ops missions, etc.  It was very dramatic.  But at least it was rarely boring and, while ridiculous, you felt the feels.  So I liked it.  Plenty of beautiful "pigeons" to look at.  Mmmmm.