Korean Movie Night: Midnight Runners 청년경찰 (2017) Korean

Park Seo Joon, Kang Ha Neul, Park Ha Sun, Sung Dong Il

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: A

So amidst all the stress of moving and changing jobs, we found time to finally watch a movie we had wanted to see since it was first announced. Especially Lizabreff. These two might be some of her top boys. In fact, we were so close to seeing it in the theater when we went out for K-Con last year, but it wasn't out yet. It was the coming soon title. We even have pictures of us wishing it were out as well as the other two we went to see. So we had to have one last (easy) Korean Movie Night and watch this one. It was a good way to relieve my stress.

It was actually a lot different and better than we thought it would be. You know how they always grab all of the clever scenes to be in the trailer. Lizabreff especially was thinking it was going to be goofier and much more crass. I think they literally grabbed every swear and every middle finger for the trailer, because it wasn't nearly as crude or ridiculous as it was made to seem. It was actually more serious and had more heart. But I feel like that is the way most trailers vs movies go.

311. Miss Hammurabi 미스 함무라비 (2018) Korean

Go Ara, L, Sung Dong Il, Ryu Deok Hwan, Lee Elijah

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A-

This was much better than I thought it would be. As much as I love L and Go Ara, they aren't strong actors. However, my love for Sung Dong Il is enough to surpass anything. Plus I had heard good things from people who had started it. So I caught up... super fast. It was one of the better legal dramas I have seen in a while. Those usually tend to be too much for me, too much court room sensation, drama, the works.

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.

Men Who Make Me Watch Dramas Against My Will: Ahjussi Edition

It's been a while and I've realized that I need revisit this topic of actors who I love so much I watch pretty much anything for them.  I realized that I need to pay homage to the Ahjussi in my life, because as I grow older, the oppas I like are pretty much all really ahjussi.  Am I really that close in age to 40?  Eek!

Yeah, that's the definition I'm going to use for Ahjussi- 40 and up.  Omo, do I love the ahjussi these days.  I find myself way more attracted to them, and able to connect to them, then say, those puppies in the high school dramas.  Yeah, when I do watch the high school dramas I am checking out the teacher actors, like in School 2013 or Sassy Go Go, who have some of the oppas (or donggaps) that I love.  So here is a list of "Ahjussi" actors (some of who are just barely 40) who I would watch anything for, or have watched complete nonsense for, or would just love to see in everything.  Can't they just be in everything so the quality of everything goes up?

The Flower Boy Bromance: Nicknames of Hwarang

Hwarang was a beautifully ridiculous show full of beautiful men.  It wasn't the worst fusion sageuk that I've seen, but it definitely wasn't great.  It was enjoyable, but only when it was being what it was, a bunch of flower boys being typical boys.  It was also full of gratuitousness, like the frequent, unnecessary shower scenes.

#Blessings.  But it was good when it was not taking itself serious, because there was no way that I was taking it serious, so when it got serious, it was lame.  Boring really.  But maybe not Nightwatchman bad.  At least it wasn't a supernatural/fantasy sageuk.  But as silly as it was, it spurred us to creating a bunch of nicknames for the collection of cast members.

240. Hwarang 화랑 (2016) Korean

Park Seo Joon, Go Ara, Park Hyung Sik, Sung Dong Il, Choi Min Ho, Do Ji Han, Cho Yoon Woo, Kim Tae Hyung

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A+

If you just appreciate this for what it is, a bunch of flower boys being boys, it was good.  But then they got too draggy and serious, like normal, and it was... less good.  Like, when it was building the bromances and having needless shower scenes it was good, but then there was way too much of the evil queen, her crazy daughter, and evil politicians being evil.  It got in the way of the bromances and the romance.  They seriously didn't give this couple enough cute times.  There was way too much drama interrupting it.  Then they tried to surprise us with the ending, which was impossible, so they had to make us thing everyone was stupid, throwing bromance away, etc. and it was super draggy until the very end.  So that was lame.  But one thing it did do good was the death scenes.  Everyone who died in this (yes people died) made me almost cry.  They were also pretty gross with the blood coming out of the mouth and stuff.  As for acting, I thought everyone was decently good.  I didn't cringe or anything with anyone, and some people were pretty awesome.  We all fell in love with Park Seo Joon all over again.  We just couldn't help it, he's got so much charisma.  So, it was good for the pretty men, funny at the beginning, and then fizzled out like most dramas, so pretty typical.

239. Legend of the Blue Sea 푸른 바다의 전설 (2016) Korean

Jun Ji Hyun, Lee Min Ho, Sung Dong Il, Lee Hee Joon, Shin Won Ho

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

Why did I start this one?  Not for Lee Min Ho (obviously).  I do like Jun Ji Hyun, but not for her either.  It was because of Jo Jung Suk's cameo.  Also, Sung Dong Il was the bad guy.  Because of those two alone, I endured the rest of this.  Actually, it was much better than I thought it was going to be.  I actually really loved it up until the last half of it.  I liked the premise with fate repeating itself and flashing back and forth from their past lives to their current lives, etc.  So when the show was about the mermaid, I loved it.  When Sung Dong Il was the main bad guy, I loved it.  He is just an amazing actor who could take a psychopath and make him sympathetic.  Then the makjang took over with the evil mom and "hyung" (who totally looked younger than Lee Min Ho) and I actually forgot that she was a mermaid.  Now if the whole thing were about that makjang and not about the mermaid, I would have been fine with it, I like good (haha, I mean bad) makjang.  But when makjang takes over a different genre, then it becomes a problem.  I really forgot she was a mermaid (it wasn't important any more at that part) and I forgot he was a conman.  I always struggle with Lee Min Ho the most when he's being sad and serious (or mopey).  He is fine acting like a conman, and they were an adorable couple, but every time he cried I am not moved.  I just can't believe it.  He's not a good crier I guess.  I would be like "oh no, Lee Min Ho is sad now" and proceed to check the latest Twitter updates.  They wrapped up all the makjang really fast, as they realized that it was out of place, so our villain didn't even get the ending he deserved.  He was too cool to be wrapped up in that sloppy manner.  Sad day.  The last episode was really boring and drawn out.  Whatever.  So by the end of it I wasn't even paying attention that much and was playing Go Stop while watching.  So, while it probably started out a 7 or an 8, by the end it was probably a 5 or a 6.  Jo Jung Suk was a 10.  He outshone everyone in the scenes he was in.  I was like "who is that squid next to him?" when he was interacting with Lee Min Ho.  He was just too charismatic.  Overall everyone was great and the show was good, it just had the sloppy writing in the second half curse, like most dramas do.  I did wish that Tae Ho (aka my Shin Boo) had more screen time.  He makes good faces.

Aladdin and the Three Amigos: Chuno is Full of Nicknames

We are the three aAAAAAAAAmigos!  And amigos forever we'll be.... EEEEEEEEEEE!

That was literally the first thing that popped into all of our heads as we started the first episode of Chuno.  And with these three amigos being shirtless hotties, we were excited to watch... at first.  Oh Chuno, so good, yet so draggy.  Once I hit episode 11, it was awesome, but getting to that point was frustrating.  It was frustrating after that too.  But the thing that was consistently good, despite the near misses and frustrating no talk just fight and die mentality, was how good the characters were.  We had names for all of them, like usual.  And even the ones I hated most of the time made me cry by the end.  Nice development.

It's Okay, It's Just a Bunch of Crazy People Living Together

I don't know if it's because of the popularity of shows like Roommate, but the saving point of this show seems to be the grab bag of random crazies all living together.  Well, the saving point for me is Lee Kwang Soo.  Yep, once again I am watching a show just for Kwang Soo Oppa.  Seriously, he needs bigger roles so that I can appreciate him more... but then I always have Running Man, which was featured in like ep 2, so that is a bonus.  This is an SBS show.

107. It's Okay, That's Love 괜찮아, 사랑이야 (2014) Korean

Jo In Sung, Gong Hyo Jin, Sung Dong Il, Lee Kwang Soo, Do Kyung Soo (D.O)

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

The best part about the drama (besides Lee Kwang Soo) is that it is very different.  It's about a bunch of mature adults who all have issues, like everyone in the world.  Only most of their issues are psychological.  Literally.  Four roommates, half are psychologists, and all have problems, some worse than others.  There is also a healthy amount of mystery.  I did like how that developed slowly, so that we  weren't years ahead of the characters, but just a little bit, because we never knew the whole picture.  Maybe not the why when we knew the what and so on.  The main girl was kind of a selfish bitca, but not in like a hateful way, just sometimes I would get frustrated with her because of her selfishness, and meanness, but I actually liked that she was like that.  Because sometimes I really hate how perfect or annoyingly good the female leads can be sometimes.  They are so annoying.  She was annoying too, but in a different and kind of more relatable way.  Sometimes she did need a slap though... Loved the OST too.  This song, I am obsessed with.  I liked the flow of the narrative.  I was a little worried in the last episode that it was going to be draggy, but it wasn't that bad.  It kept things fun at least.  Also, bromance.  Nuff said.

62. Reply 1994 응답하라 1994 (2013) Korean

Go Ara, Jung Woo, Sung Dong Il, Lee Il Hwa, Yoo Yeon Seok, Kim Sung Kyun, Son Ho Jun, Baro, Min Do Hee

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

OPPA!!!!!!!  I told you I fell in love with Jung Woo Oppa.  Now I am forever in love with him.  He was so perfect as Sseureki Oppa.  Seriously.  This is like not a prequel to Reply 1997, just another story in the same world and same set up.  Actually around the 1997 years in the sequence we have cameos from the 1997 cast and it's wonderful.  This one is about a boarding house in Seoul ran by a family from Masan (with the same exact parents as 1997) and all their lodgers are from different country provinces with a series of different dialects.  The big question is who is the husband.  However, banking on the popularity of 1997, they expanded this one.  Instead of 16 45 min long episodes, there are now 21 hour+ long episodes.  This is probably the shows only downfall.  It gets draggy.  The writing is less tight and they drag it out and try to trick you for so long, even when we already know who we want it to be.  I think some of the episodes are almost 2 hours long and that's just too long, even if you love the show.  I struggled with that part, but still loved the show.  It was still delightful, nostalgic, and had a great soundtrack that included original songs in the 94 style as well as Seo Taiji and the Boys, the ones who made Kpop what it is today and started the Kpop craze.   Oppa!!!!!!!  Ok. That will never get old.  I love Oppa.  Just like 1997 the whole cast is gold and you love everyone.  Go Ara is awesome too.  I was super impressed with her and how into the part she got.  She continues to impress me in You're All Surrounded.  I like her too.