400. Never Twice 두번은 없다 (2019-2020) Korean

Park Se Wan, Kwak Dong Yeon, Youn Yuh Jung, Oh Ji Ho, Ye Ji Won, Park Ah In, Song Won Seok, Joo Hyun, Jung Suk Yong, Ko Su Hee

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

This wasn't my favorite weekend, family, freaking long drama, but I like it okay. I was invested in all the characters enough to get excited each week for it, but it was also just not the best. It was about a bunch of people living at an inn boarding house type deal, and they are all on their last chance at life, grasping for straws. They all also have a common enemy in the family of Guseong Hotel group, who were all conveniently the people who somehow screwed them all over so that they are on their last chance. There was so much fate between this found family that it was ridiculous. But the dynamic of the found family was good, and the chemistry between the main couple was such that I kept coming back for more, even though the plot wasn't always my favorite. Basically it's the rich people kicking the poor people down until they finally unite enough to get some revenge and redemption, etc.

Korean Movie Night: The Grand Heist 바람과 함께 사라지다 (2012) Korean

Cha Tae Hyun, Oh Ji Ho, Min Hyo Rin, Lee Chae Young, Sung dong Il, Ko Chang Seok, Shin Jung Geun, Kim Gil Dong, Song Jong Ho, Chun Bo Geun, Kim Hyang Gi

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

Comedy + Cha Tae Hyun + Heist means it's going to be cheesy, yet great.  It was so campy, but it didn't take itself seriously, and just went with it.  So no, not historically accurate completely, but everything they did was possible with the current technology, such as phosphorous and tunnel digging, etc.  It was like Joseon Ocean's 11, literally.  It was such a formulaic and classic heist movie, from the set up to the introducing of all the specialists, to the drama of them working together and disagreeing, to the gotcha and double gotcha moments.  It was definitely a classic heist movie, which in general I like, even if it is formulaic and predictable.  You all know I would watch anything for Cha Tae Hyun, but him as the brain of the team, the Danny Ocean, while still being comedic was fun.  He was smart and also silly.  Love it.  Oh Ji Ho was naturally the stick-in-the-mud, righteous warrior (named Baek Dong Soo) who is heisting for righteous reasons, but that's fine.  If it means we can see him shirtless and doing martial arts, it's fine.  Very fine.  Then the collection of experts,  who were all very perfect for their roles.  I loved Hyung (Song Jong Ho) as the sneaky master of disguise.  His little smirk was just perfect for it.  The bomb ahjussi was my favorite.  He was practically deaf because, you know, explosions, etc.  They pulled every heisty stereotype with the characters, as the master of disguise was also an expert seducer and the transportation specialist had Mr. T written all over him (so A-Team right there).  They unabashedly whipped out the stereotypes, but it was super fun to watch.  We were just laughing the whole time.  It hit the spot, basically.  We wanted something hilarious, and this one definitely had us laughing like the whole time.  The cast was great, the humor was great, and the kitschy heist tropes were great.  I enjoyed it.  As long as you know what you are getting, it's a good, easy watch.

150. Chuno 추노 (2010) Korean

Jang Hyuk, Oh Ji Ho, Lee Da Hae, Gong Hyung Jin, Lee Jong Hyuk

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

I started out watching this with Curdy and Lizabreff, because Curdy loves Jang Hyuk and Lizabreff and I had been planning on watching it eventually anyway.  Well, that lasted about 8 episodes.  Then, after a long break, I had to continue on alone until the end.  Because the first eight episodes are basically the same thing over and over, with a lot of action and way too many near misses.  There are so many near misses that it is ridiculous.  I wanted to get violent with an ice pick, as tweeted by me: "The sheer # of near misses in #Chuno is making me want to stab things with an ice pick. You know, like ice and stuff."  But we literally stopped right as it got really good, instead of just actiony good.  Even though there were still so many more near misses and people drove me crazy with their stubborn nobility and pride (yeah, I'm talking about you, Arms).  And while they did kill like everyone off, they didn't kill off all my favorites, like I thought they did.  They literally make you think everyone will die, but it's not a completely sad ending... well... it kind of is, but it leaves you with hope and stuff.  It raises a lot of questions about equality and humanity, and also about life and death.  I have to admit that I never really paid attention during the politics talks by all the bad dudes, so I'm not 100% sure of the motivation behind some of the dastardly plots.  I really don't know why they did some of the lousy things they did.  I just know the outcomes and stuff.  I might need to read some recaps of some episodes, haha.  This is a bad habit of mine while watching sageuks.  I don't do those boring court and politics scenes well.  I do have to say that everyone did an amazing job acting and all the characters were good enough to deserve nicknames, so that is a mark of a good drama character-wise.  They made most of the main characters sympathetic at some point.  Even Basket Head (Lee Jong Hyuk), although that wasn't always the case.  I hated him a lot in certain scenes (leave Monkey and Secretary Ko alone!).  It was a good, but long and very involved show.  Very emotional in spots and very, very actiony in others.  Kind of a dude show like 95% of the time.  So... good overall, just a bit draggy about certain plots, and pretty predictable too, even though it is not stereotypical.  It is 24 episodes long.

133. Couple or Trouble 환상의 커플 (2006) Korean

Han Ye Seul, Oh Ji Ho, Kim Sung Min, Park Han Byul

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: B

Not the Hong Sisters' best drama, but a million times better than the movie it was based on (Overboard, 1987, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell).  But can I just say Oh Ji Ho's arms.  Mmmmm!  He spent half the show in sleeveless shirts and it was wonderful.  So it's a jerk rich girl falling overboard and getting amnesia, and this poor handyman dude deciding to get revenge on her by saying they were dating and making her do housework at his place until he gets his money's worth.  The best part about it was all the side characters.  The three nephews were adorable, especially the youngest one.  Kang Ja was amazing, I love love loved her.  The Ahjumma/Ahjussi romance was amazing (Bbangoo!) and I (not so) secretly loved Billy (the second male lead) until he became a butt at the end.  He was just so funny!  His nightmares were seriously the best part of the show.  It was definitely good, but still definitely an early work by the Hong Sisters.  At least it didn't have a year gap like we were so worried about.  I hate them year gaps.