In-Flight Film Time: Default 국가부도의 날 (2018) Korean

Kim Hye Soo, Yoo Ah In, Heo Jun Ho, Jo Woo Jin

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A+

I'll admit that I chose to watch this one because from the tiny poster on the tiny plane screen, Kim Hye Soo looked like Soo Ae (who I love). Also, it had Yoo Ah In, so that was another plus. Basically the cast alone kept me watching. It's about the IMF Crisis in 1997 when Korea almost went bankrupt. We have the four major players: Kim Hye Soo who plays an analyst at the Bank of Korea who has predicted the crisis and been ignored for years and is finally getting heard. Yoo Ah In who is a bank teller for the Bank of Korea who has also predicted the crisis, but quits his job to instead make money off of the situation. Then we have Jo Woo Jin who plays the Vice-Minister of Finance who also wants to take advantage of the situation to reform the economy and take power. Then we have Heo Jun Ho, who is a factory owner who gets screwed over by the crisis and starts losing everything.

253. Chicago Typewriter 시카고 타자기 (2017) Korean

Yoo Ah In, Im Soo Jung, Go Kyung Pyo, Kwak Si Yang

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

Ghost ghostwriters and memories of the past life rolled into a beautiful story about friendship and forgiveness?  Yeah, I liked it.  It was hilarious, sweet, and sad.  Those last two episodes were so cry.  I loved how everyone changed and grew.  It was a rocky start at first because everyone had some much growing to do at first.  But once the ghost came and the bromance began, it was beautiful.  I loved the structure, as we slowly learned what happened in the past as they themselves remembered it.  With puzzle pieces falling into place until we have the full picture, which was also beautiful and tear inducing, and made us all the more in love with Yoo Ah In.  Man, they were all killing it with their acting.  All of them.  Go Kyung Pyo and Im Soo Jung as well.  Flip, they all made me laugh and cry.  I do have to say that it was hard getting used to Yoo Ah In's fade at first.  It wasn't our favorite.  But we sure did like his past hair, even if it was a wig.  It was wonderful and super sexy.

I was actually super impressed with Cordon (Kwak Si Yang) in the end too.  He was just crazy at first, and an annoying interloper in the love line type deal, but then he was really good at being very evil.  He was a good villain, and I was impressed.  The kind of villain you love to hate.

Other people who were amazing includes Turtle Ahjussi, or Jo Woo Jin, who played the publisher.  I loved him, and his clothes, and his little fussing tantrums.  He was awesome.  I also loved the best friend, played by Yang Jin Sang.  Shout out to her too.  Really it was just a great cast, with a great story, and a super great love story.  It was tragic and sweet in the past, and just plain adorable and sweet in the present.  And the bromance was the same.  Sad, sweet, adorable.  Check!  Loved it.  It was an addicting, solid, wonderful drama.

Korean Movie Night: Punch 완득이 (2011) Korean

Yoo Ah In, Kim Yoon Seok

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: A

This was the perfect time to watch this movie, which I had been meaning to watch for a while, because it helped Curdy get passed her Yoo Ah In thing.  She started out watching Six Flying Dragons with me, but it was too much for her, as she was still too new to dramas for a 50 episode sageuk, and she hated Yoo Ah In as Lee Bang Won.  She was starting to like him in Chicago Typewriter, but now fully loves him, because he is adorable in this movie.  She says his hair helped a lot, since it wasn't that CT fade.

Anyway, Punch is a slice of life, coming of age type movie.  It was very understated at times, and just generally as quirky and awkward as a high schooler with a non-traditional family is.  He has a temper, especially when people insult his hunchback father or stuttering uncle, so he punches people.  He has a tsundere teacher who is looking out for him, even though it looks like he is just using him at times.  He has a neighbor who cusses all the time, especially when they're being loud.

It is just a great little film about a boy reaching that turning point of his life and the things that happened to turn his life.  It's pretty funny, but at a pace where if you are not paying attention you might miss something.  Everything just kind of happens, no matter how weird it is if you actually thing about it, so it seems normal, and then it hits you and you laugh hard.  One of my favorite scenes is just solid cussing for like 2-3 minutes over where a car was parked and slashing tires, you know the petty sort of arguments neighbors get into.  It was hilarious.  Awkward high school romance.  The bluntness of teenagers.  Families and their ups and downs.  It was all good.

It also deals with a lot of good topics like the economic state of disabled people, immigration and immigrant workers, multicultural relationships, families, schools and university exams, neighborhoods, lots of things like that.  It did it in a non-preachy way, just a down to earth way that made you actually pay attention.  It really liked it.

Like for Likes (2016) Korean

Lee Mi Yeon, Choi Ji Woo, Kim Joo Hyeok, Yoo Ah In, Kang Ha Neul, Esom

Movie rating: 7/10      Neck score: A

This movie was so cute.  It was full of feels.  I love how interconnected the three love stories were without them actually being that connected.  I loved all three couples, although naturally some more than others.  My favorite couple was actually the Choi Ji Woo/Kim Joo Hyeok couple, because their romance was just the cutest and funniest.  I also just love Choi Ji Woo, she's the cutest and bestest.  I also fell in love with that ahjussi.  I'm kind of love the ahjussis lately.  Mmmm.  Kang Han Neul and Esom were also cute.  Let's me honest, Kang Ha Neul probably gave us the most feels.  He made us almost (or just really, if you're Lizabreff) cry.  He also had the most difficult role as he played a deaf songwriter.  So his story was just a little more heart wrenching from the start.  He rocked it btw.  Yoo Ah In did a great job of being an adorable butt.  Funny and annoying at the same time.  It was a great noona romance between him and Lee Mi Yeon.  She was also great.  So really, this was just a cute show.  Not earth shattering or amazing, just great at what it is, a romantic comedy full of cute and funny characters and the perfect, cheesy resolutions that romcoms crave.  I loved it.

K-Drama Cameos FTW!

I recently started watching Squad 38, and to my delight, Kim Sung Oh made a cameo appearance in episode 2.  This got me thinking of how much I love cameos.  This stems all the way back to when I was a kid and watching the Muppet Movie and the Great Muppet Caper, etc, which are full of wonderful cameos.  This probably makes me appreciate all the lovely cameos in K-dramas as well.

So I made a list of all the cameos that I especially loved, and some that even made me watch the drama just so I could see the cameo, which is pretty much the most ridiculous thing ever.

178. Six Flying Dragons 육룡이 나르샤 (2015) Korean

Yoo Ah In, Kim Myung Min, Shin Se Kyung, Byun Yo Han, Yoo Kyun Sang, Chun Ho Jin

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

Slow clap.  I loved it.  Seriously long, but never boring.  I actually had some trepidation about starting it because it was so long.  I saw who was in it and what it was about, and I got super excited.  Then I saw how long it was and I was like... ew.  Then I kept hearing such good things about it, that I decided to just watch it anyway.  It was amazing.  I started it with Curdy at first, which slowed me down considerably.  We were already way behind, but we ended up not being able to watch more than one episode at a time because it was too heavy for her.  Soon it was harder and harder to get her to make time for it.  When I saw how into Madame Antoine she was (much more of her type of show), and how she'd drop everything for that one, I knew I needed to press on alone.  Honestly there were times when I could only watch one episode as well, because it is pretty heavy, but it's totally worth it.  I was super sad when Gil Tae Mi (Park Hyuk Kwon) died.  He was my favorite, Gil Seon Mi (also Park Hyuk Kwon) just wasn't as cool.  But at least Gil Tae Mil had one heck of a death scene.  Another sign that this was amazing was that it made me do more research about this period than other sageuks have.  I had to look up everything that happened to see what was the fake and what was the real.  Everyone did amazingly.  Seriously.  I've seen most of these actors before, and have been impressed with them generally, but never so impressed with them as I have been in this one.  Round of applause for every one of these cast members.  I was especially proud of Shin Se Kyung because she was probably the one that's been hit or miss the most for me, but she did awesome.  I love her strong character.  Booyah.  Another thing I love about this is all the character developments.  No one was the same person at the end as they were at the beginning.  Some people changed more than others, but there was absolutely no stagnant characters.  Moo Hyeol (Yoo Kyun Sang) was one of the most startling of the changes, since it was so abrupt, but obviously Bang Won (Yoo Ah In) was the biggest.  But because everyone was constantly changing, I never could love or hate any person 100%.  They were all super dynamic, well-rounded characters.  I couldn't be on any side completely.  That went for the villains too.  I couldn't decide who was worse, because they all took turns being the worst and sympathetic.  Our heroes all took turns doing dumb things and being less sympathetic too.  When it came down to it, only the completely fiction people had less bad decisions, but that makes sense too.  They let everyone be real and conflicted, and messed up, and it was marvelous.  So worth the 50 episodes.  I couldn't give it any less, even if the very last episode was a bit draggy.  I mean, they had to resolve what they could so we didn't think too ill of anyone... only they could have, but it was still ok.  They tried to end on a hopeful note, I guess.  But still, slow clap for awesome.

38. Sungkyunkwan Scandal 성균관 스캔들 (2010) Korean

Park Yoochun, Park Min Young, Yoo Ah In, Song Joong Ki

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

It's the classic girl dresses as a dude, only it's also a sageuk (historical).  Only the themes of the show are so not traditional that it would have to be called more of a fusion sageuk.  Still it's fun, and it has three really handsome mens in it.  Personally, I fell in love with Song Joong Ki the most (which is totally understandable because he is awesome) but you really just have to love them all.  This was Yoochun's first real acting role (because those DBSK drama specials def totes don't count) and he does a really, really good job.  Also, JYJ all chipped in and did some OST for it, so we get to see Yoochun's face and hear Jaejoong and Junsu's beautiful voices.  Win and WIN!  We've got the main plot of her being a girl dressed as a boy and then forced into taking the entrance exams for Sungkyunkwan, which is basically the royal scholar academy (totally getting in obviously) and having to deal with the peeps who don't like her and are trying to kick her out, and then we have this other mystery plot involving the king and politics (because every sageuk needs that requirement), and then we have the love story that is entangled with everything else. Cheesy, but fun.  Easy on the eyes and as typical sageuks go, very undramatic, which is good.  Also we have a sort of cameo appearance of little Lee Min Ho (not the BOF star) who you might recognize as one of the ducklings in Rooftop Prince, one of Yoochun's later dramas.  Sweet deal.  Lots of moralizing too.  Honestly, the very ending is the worst part in terms of cheese, but in general it's an enjoyable show.