Korean Movie Night: The Bros 부라더 (2017) Korean

Ma Dong Seok, Lee Dong Hwi, Lee Ha Nui

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: B

When this movie was being released, and I saw that some of my favorites were in it, I had to watch it. So I was really excited when I saw it was available on Netflix. What could be better than Ma Dong Seok and Lee Dong Hwi being brothers? Both comedians, but like polar opposite in physical build. But both really good at the physical comedy. I knew it was about them going to their father's funeral, and not getting a long, but in the way that brothers do, but I actually hadn't paid much attention to the plot and watched it solely for the cast. So I guess I was surprised about what it was actually about. But that was a good thing. So should I just not spoil it?

It's definitely about the two brothers not liking each other, or their family. They come back under protest almost, for their father's funeral and then do everything they can to not be the first grandson, because this family and village is very traditional. To the point that we get to see Ma Dong Seok looking like a fluffy teddy bear in the unbleached linen robes, looking like he came out of a sageuk, only he's not, so it's extra fluffy and hilarious. Then you add in Lee Ha Nui as the mysterious manic amnesia Seoul girl they met on the way, and it is just so much going on, but it's also so much fun.

Even the side characters and actors are the best. The cousin who is a cop (and Curdy's favorite Turtle) and his wife who wants nothing more than for him to NOT be the first grandson (and subsequently have to cook food for all those memorials), the old relative who speaks like a Confucian classic, Ma Dong Seok's two teacher friends at the or the monk who shows up and acts suspicious AF. It's all just a lot of fun. Confusing at first, all over the place, but then as the pieces start to slowly fit together, it just keeps getting better. It was a lot of fun, and like all good Korean movies, it also puts you through all the feels. It's good.

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.

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.

248. Radiant Office 자체발광 오피스 (2017) Korean

Go Ah Sung, Ha Seok Jin, Kim Dong Wook, Lee Dong Hwi, Hoya

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

I don't normally love office dramas this much, because they are usually about chaebols and office politics.  This one has more of a Misaeng vibe to it, however, which means its about the peons instead.  The office workers.  The interns.  Only they were contract workers instead.  Three of them.  They met in the emergency room when they had all tried to kill themselves, each for their own version of "life is so hard it sucks."  Then they all ran from the hospital, since none of them could pay their fees, and since that moment, they are buddies for life.  To the point where they laugh and cry for each other.  They are some of the most adorable friends ever.  I loved how raw and messy all of the relationships.  Even the people you hated were relatable at times.  Ha Seok Jin was great.  He was so awkward.  It was great to see her perception of him change, but also him just change as he realizes that he can change.  It was a super cute romance too.  Very organic and slow building.  It was a cute, normal person romance.  All the romances were.  All the relationships were.  All the people were.  Messy, but lovable.  I loved Bender (Oh Dae Hwan).  He was so annoying, and it was hilarious.  We loved to hate him, but couldn't really hate him, because we loved him.  The embodiment of every annoying, brown-nosing, power trippy sunbae office worker.  He was my favorite, as he usually is, but really I just loved everyone.  Except that Dr. Seo.  He was the worst, and I didn't want him to be redeemed or anything at the end.  Nope.  He was annoying.

179. Reply 1988 응답하라 1988 (2015) Korean

Lee Hyeri, Ryu Jun Yeol, Go Kyung Po, Park Bo Gum, Lee Dong Hwi

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

Well that was a perfectly wonderful drama that fell flat on its face in the end.  Everything was wonderful until they finally did a time jump.  Then all the sudden they tried too hard to wraps things up too suddenly.  You know, the things they'd been neglecting while they spent more time on the gloriously awesome other things.  I mean neglecting all the romance in favor of family and community matters.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the family and community matters.  This show was one big neighborhood romance as opposed to a romance or love triangle.  Well that's what I thought it was until they forced it back into a love triangle husband hunt in the last few episodes.  Narratively, the romance didn't make sense.  I have no idea why they wrote it that way.  Why would they make us care about one person so much that they completely neglected building up the person who was actually going to end up married to her?  Mmmm, no.  Not okay with it.  I cared about every single character in this drama.  I was absolutely in love with Jung Bong, and Samcheonpo (Kim Sung Kyun), and Cheetah Ahjumma, and Jin Joo.  All five of the kids.  Literally everyone was compelling.  Their stories together, the little mundane things.  All of it was so good.  The only thing that wasn't good was the way they handled the romance.  It was like the battle of the 2nd male leads.  They made us care about Jung Hwan by showing us his feelings from episode 1, and then they made both him and Taek do nothing... for the rest of the series.  We never knew what Deok Sun was thinking.  She ended up being an impressionable girl who married the only guy who ever actually did something, after 6 years of doing nothing because the writers are lame, and we never knew what she was feeling the whole time.  I might have given this show a 9 or a 10 if the ending hadn't been so lame, but that really leaves the last impression, doesn't it?  I was actually so angry at the way they played so mercilessly with my emotions that I didn't even want to finish episode 19, and if it wasn't for Jung Bong's scenes being next I probably wouldn't have.  They literally spent so much time making me hurt for Jung Hwan that I literally didn't care about anything else.  That's just messed up.  Literally the only good thing that happened after the time jump to 94 was Sseuregi Oppa.  The end.  They needed to balance the romance with the neighborhood love so we actually have time to care about the couple.  We needed to see the couple grow, not have their love force fed to us in the last two episodes.  Like, they literally rammed it down our throats in such a way that even if I was team Taek I wouldn't have been satisfied.  Like seriously no.  Very badly done.  Narratively, it was a huge slap to the face to all characters involved.  I mean, Cheetah Ahjumma going through menopause was more compelling than the love story, and that is a fact.  So the ending gets a 1 or a 2.  The rest of the series gets a 9 or a 10 (because they made me love them) so that evens out to a 7 or 8.  Since I want to be generous and try to not let the bad aftertaste taint how fun the rest of the show was, I will make it an 8, but that is being very generous on my part.  (She's not even sitting next to him in this poster!)