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.

319. Still 17 서른이지만 열일곱입니다 (2018) Korean

Shin Hye Sun,Yang Se Jong, Ahn Hyo Seop, Ye Ji Won

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

We watched this a little slower pace, but that's just what happens when you are watching with a group and some of them have kids that we have to wait until they are in bed. This my sister and my first virtual KD night, meaning that we watched it together while on a google hangout. We're really good at going "one, two, three, click" and syncing up our videos. It was a worthy endeavor. Now we just need to finish Wok of Love that way.

Anyway, this show was well worth the effort. It was so cute! It left me with all the fluffy happy feelings! It was a very healing drama. It was all about the healing and getting rid of the "what ifs" and self blaming. I loved it. I also loved how everyone was a puppy or muffin. Our nicknames for everyone were puppy related. Happy Puppy/Puppy Chan, Wounded Puppy, Real Puppy, Dr. Muffin... wait that's a muffin not a puppy. But same difference. I love that it was about the healing that comes from being with family, and creating families to heal each other. It was really beautiful.

318. Your Honor 친애하는 판사님께 (2018) Korean

Yoon Si Yoon, Lee Yoo Young, Park Byung Eun, Kwon Nara

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

I'm not usually a huge fan of law dramas, mostly because of sensationalism during court scenes- so over dramatic and so much perjury- but I do like them better than medical dramas. But any drama starring Yoon Si Yoon is going to be on my watch list. He literally makes me watch him in every single thing he's ever been in. I'm still working on his movies, but I think I have most if not all his dramas down (barring a few shorts that aren't subbed or easy to find). I also am really fond of Lee Yoo Young and Park Byung Eun, so I really did have to watch this one. I'm not sorry at all either. It was really good and I got to see my Yoonie be not one but TWO different characters, and he did it well too. It wasn't hard at all to tell with brother he was being. I was impressed (but also not, because of course he's gonna be that good, wink).

321. My ID is Gangnam Beauty 내 아이디는 강남미인 (2018) Korean

Im Soo Hyang, Cha Eun Woo, Jo Woo Ri, Kwak Dong Yeon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

I really had to steel myself up to watch this because you might know how I feel about surgery scenes and how it keeps me from watching medical dramas because boo surgery scenes every single episode. Well plastic surgery is worse I guess because it is on the face and makes me cringe. So I started this one, got to the scene where the scalpel was touching the face and I was like "nope!" and stopped. But I kept seeing cute spoilers and I wanted to watch it, so I tried again, and looked away at the scalpely parts. This show was much more about how beauty standards and bullying affect women than it was about plastic surgery. That was more the byproduct of how Korea views women and beauty. So that scene at the start was actually very well done and poignant. The montage between her childhood trauma from bullying and the surgery scenes was super well done. It hit me in the feels, and really told you what this show was going to be about.

Korean Movie Night: My Sister, the Pig Lady 돼지 같은 여자 (2015) Korean

Hwang Jung Eum, Lee Jong Hyuk, Choi Yeo Jin, Park Jin Ju

Movie rating: 6/10     Neck score: A

Maybe because I loved Go, Pig Lady so much, I was really interested in this one. Also, I love the entire cast, so I had high expectations. It is slated as a romantic comedy, and while it did have some comedic elements, I would not say that it is a comedy. Really most of the comedy was trying too hard, so it fell a bit flat, or it was the painful, black sort of comedy that you laugh, but also want to cry. Like the scene where the two drunk girls crash their scooter into the pig pen. Funny, but not. It's a tragedy, really. What it should be called is how an awesome girl's life was ruined by falling for the wrong man, or how three girls fighting over one douche-bag is always a bad idea. Sisters over misters, girls. Come on!

I guess you could say this show is painfully funny at times, because it really does capture what life in a small town is like. And this town is way too small. It's either on an island or a tiny coastal town (I don't remember), but it is even further shrinking because the main industry, silverfish fishing, is in decline because all the fish have disappeared. Along with them, all the young people. Especially the young men. This leaves the town with only one eligible bachelor and three girls to fight over him. That is just a recipe for disaster. On top of that, Jae Hwa (Hwang Jung Eum) has become the breadwinner of her falling apart family and she is putting her dreams on her pigs to save them.

317. Witch's Love 마녀의 사랑 (2018) Korean

Yoon So Hee, Hyun Woo, Lee Hong Bin, Kim Young Ok, Ko Su Hee

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

Well, this was a short and cute little drama. I actually didn't know it was only going to be 12 episodes, so when it said finale, I was shocked. I thought they had more to wrap up, but I guess not. It might have been a good thing that it was short though, it didn't have any time to get terrible. It stayed short, a bit messy, but overall fun. It was definitely better than I thought, but then I was only watching it because I wanted a bit of fluff, and if Hyun Woo and Hong Bin were in it, that just made it better. I also like So Hee pretty good, so the cast sold me. Although I wonder how awesome veteran actresses like Kim Young Ok feel just being in whatever as the same grandma all the time. Anyway, it had some twists and turns that were interesting, but overall it didn't have time to explore all the things that could have made it more interesting, but then it never flopped either, so good.

309. Queen of Mystery 2 추리의 여왕 2 (2018) Korean

Kwon Sang Woo, Choi Gang Hee, Lee Da Hee, Park Byung Eun

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: B

This "season" left me liking it about as much as the first season did. I liked it while I was watching it, but got annoyed at all the lose ends it left. Because it keeps assuming that it's going to get another season, while I keep assuming that it won't. Also it annoys me how it spends so much time on other things instead of focusing on the main plot like it should. What does it think it is, an American TV show? But other than the ending and the lack of real progression, it was it's good old charming self. I love that we got to delve deeper into relationships and develop new ones. I missed some of the old characters and liked some of the new ones. It was one of the more decent second seasons.