Freitag, 28. Oktober 2016

Soul

혼 (Soul, also known as Possessed) is a South Korean drama series that aired on MBC from August 5th to September 3rd 2009. The series consists of 10 episodes with a duration of approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes.

Story: Ha-na and Doo-na are sisters but one day Doo-na dies a terrible death and her sister cannot safe her. Her ghost comes back to take revenge and possesses her sisters body - the main problem is that not only Doo-na can possess her sister but also other ghosts. Ha-na rarely remembers what happens when ghosts, or souls, take over her body. One day criminal psychologist Shin Ryu becomes involved and soon he's one of the few who can actually help Ha-na but a tragedy in his past and a chance to take revenge might make things even worse.

Cast: Lee Seo-jin is really good as Shin Ryu. I liked his acting overall even though I found his character a little difficult to understand I just really thought he was an interesting character. As for Im Ju-eun as Yoon Ha-na I think they just solved the puzzle too fast to keep her character interesting for a long time. The possessed acting was a little weird but good in the end so there's nothing I can really complain about.
T-ARA's Park Ji-yeon as Yoon Doo-na was good but neither the best nor the worst character. Since this was one of her first roles in a series I think she might have improved a lot as an actress but I also think she wasn't one of the main characters regarding her screen time in this drama. Now this could be discussed of course.
And also Supernova's Park Geon-il is in this drama as Jung Shi-woo. He has some characteristics of a typical second male lead but at some point I feel like he's more extreme when it comes to protecting and helping Ha-na no matter what. At some point the innocent high school kid seems to be obsessed with the idea of doing anything for Ha-na. The acting was pretty good but again he seemed a little too insane sometimes.
And of course I need to mention Kim Gab-soo as Baek Do-shik whom I wanted to see punished until the very end. Now I don't know whether that worked or not but I still have hope. Somehow.
Other actors in this series include Yoo Yun-suk as Baek Joong-chan, Lee Jin as Lee Hye-won and Kim Sung-ryung as Ha-na's and Doo-na's mother.

Soundtrack: Personally I enjoyed how the music created the atmosphere at times so I think there's nothing to complain about. The number of songs that were actually sung by some K-music artists is pretty low though, there's only one song Yangpa performed so if you prefer soundtracks with more songs that are actually sung this might not be that much to your liking.


Overall I think this drama is solid for fans of unusual K-dramas that aren't all lovey-dovey. A 7/10 rating from me just because it failed to deliver the "horror" but that might only be me. And that's okay since me reviews are also based on my personal opinion. It's worth watching though and I might consider rewatching it at some point.



Freitag, 21. Oktober 2016

The Target

표적 (The Target) is a South Korean movie that was released in 2014. The movie directed by Director Chang has a runtime of 98 minutes and is a remake of the French movie Point Blank.

Story: Baek Yeo-hoon is followed by men in the beginning and gets into an accident. Ending up in a hospital, Lee Tae-joon becomes his doctor. Soon Lee's wife is kidnapped and he needs to get Baek Yeo-hoon out of the hospital to safe his pregnant wife. Through this crime Yeo-hoon and Tae-joon find themselves in the middle of police officers working for their own benefits.

Cast: Lee Jin-wook is in this movie (again~? I feel like I've been watching a lot of his works lately) as Lee Tae-joon. His performance in this movie was quite good though his character was the type of character I usually like, more like a too unrational person.
Ryu Seung-ryong was a more interesting character to me. While at first his intentions are pretty unclear, this is exactly what makes the character as interesting as it is. A sad family story in the background, he tries to protect his brother Sung-hoon who suffers from the Tourette syndrome played by Jin Goo. Yoo Jun-sang as Chief  Detective Song also did a good job in my opinion though I think it's natural to not really like his character. In general it was believable though.
And there's Jo Yeo-jeong as Tae-joon's wife Hee-joo, a psychiatrist, who really seems to live up to her role. I enjoyed seeing her in this movie a lot.

Soundtrack: Nothing was off, everything was where it had to be - that's literally all I can say about this. It's definitely a nice action soundtrack.


Please note that I did not watch the original movie. Therefore, I cannot compare this movie to the French original.
In general this movie was good, a 7,5/10 rating is still pretty nice regarding the fact that the story wasn't mind-blowing. It's a story that's quite common. The acting and soundtrack were good though and the story wasn't boring either so I will forget about some flaws.

Recommended to fans of action movies!



Freitag, 14. Oktober 2016

Perfect Partner

완벽한 파트너  (Perfect Partner, also known as My Secret Partner) is a South Korean comedy adult movie directed by Park Hyun-soo and released in 2011.

Story: Joon-suk is a screenwriter who needs new inspiration and gets into an affair with a young female writer, Yeon-hee, who lacks some creativity. Yeon-hee's mom Hee-sook is a cook researcher looking for new ides since she is just recycling old recipes. Her student, Min-soo, Joon-suk's son, is full of new ideas and willing to try a lot of those. These two also find a way of helping each other.

Cast: Kim Young-ho as Joon-suk was a little bit.. ridiculous in my opinion. He is not the type of adult or teacher you meet or see often so it makes him funny but at the same time a little bit annoying in my honest opinion. The acting is nothing especially outstanding but also not really bad, honestly just something you expect from an actor.
Kim Hye-sun as Hee-sook on the other hand seems to be a somehow strict adult who also knows exactly what she wants. She is a strong woman and that is portrayed well in this movie. In the beginning she might seem a little too cold to be taking serious but personally I consider her character to be one of the most realistic in some aspect
Kim San-ho was doing a good job as Min-soo. He seems a little bit naive in this movie but actually that as well as some interesting situations he got himself into and the fight with Hee-sook's actual assistant makes him even more funny. Personally I would say that his performance was the best in this movie.
Yoon Chae-yi as Yeon-hee showed a solid performance as well but sometimes there was something I felt she lacked. I cannot really explain what it is so I just hope others who watched the movie understand what I mean.. in the end it wasn't that bad though.

Soundtrack: I can't say much about the soundtrack but it did what it should've done for me - it supported the humorous aspects well but not so much the serious parts so it is neither bad nor incredibly good.


After all my rating for this movie is a 8.5/10 even though I can criticize many parts of it. The story is actually basic in many aspects, and the cross relationships between parent/teacher and the other persons child was a bit confusing at first and honestly didn't do much for the story - except for the last scene, which is still very much in my memory but didn't explain anything clearly and didn't last for too long either.
The comedy part of this movie was great! As for the adult part (yes, I'm talking about sex scenes) I wonder if it was necessary. It wasn't too much but the story would've worked without it most of the time, too.
And sometimes, just sometimes, I wanted to punch the characters for being stupid and not thinking stuff through carefully but I guess this is a problem within the comedy genre anyways.
I recommend this movie to.. comedy fans who are clearly 18+/19+, it's not really a movie to watch with your family or your child so don't think I didn't warn you.



Freitag, 7. Oktober 2016

The Three Musketeers

삼총사 (The Three Musketeers) is a South Korean drama series that aired from August 17th to November 2nd 2014 every Sunday on tvN. The drama consists of 12 episodes with a duration ~65 minutes.

Story: The story is set in 17th Century Joseon and evolves around Crown Prince Sohyun and his guards Heo Seung-po and Ahn Min-seo as well as Park Dal-hyang, a young man who came from Gangwondo to take the military examination and find his first love. Even on his first day Park Dal-hyang meets the three men who introduce themselves as the "Three Musketeers" and soon he finds himself within a political conflict.

Cast: In the very first place we have Lee Jin-wook as Crown Prince Sohyun. While I don't really understand why his character is the way he just... is I kinda like this rebellious royal thing. It makes his character somehow special since he's not what one would expect. However, in some moments I couldn't really feel the acting, I just noticed that it wasn't real from time to time and I don't know if that's because of the actor or because of the writing. Yang Dong-geun as Heo Seung-po is the son of General Heo and one of the men the prince grew up with. He loves gambling and alcohol and usually is pretty calm about being sent to prison for some time. The acting in general worked with the character and the background. He shows a great loyalty towards the crown prince. The same works for Ahn Min-seo played by Jung Hae-in. Definitely an actor I will look out for in the future! Ahn Min-seo is a rather loyal and smart character and seems to be more pure since he comes from a religious background. The acting connected with the character himself made this character one of my favorites.
Jung Yong-hwa took over Park Dal-hyang's part. Solid acting? Well, his character was a little stubborn and sometimes childish, led by emotions but that's Park Dal-hyang's innocent, childish charm. So for a main character he was actually quite nice to watch and did cause some trouble from time to time. Seo Hyun-jin as the Crown Princess Kang Yoon-seo/ Kang Bin was one of the characters I somehow liked - and at the same time didn't. She's loyal and a horrible liar - and exactly these traits get her into huge trouble while the King tries to find out what's going on. Her acting was nice though her character was really stupid from time to time.
Of course there does have to be a bad witch in a series like this (though she's not exactly a witch but you get where I'm coming from). At some point I was literally waiting for her to just die. Though Mi-ryung/Hyang-sun played by Yoo In-young was beautiful and the obsessed acting was pretty much what I expected. A character you start to hate but one also likes to find out more about why she behaves the way she does.
Other actors in this drama include Kim Myung-soo as King Injo, Jeon Noh-min as Choi Myung-gil, Park Young-kyu as Kim Ja-jum and Kim Sung-min as Yong Gol-dae.

Soundtrack: I personally found the soundtrack to be pretty good. I LOVED the song "All For One" by NOXX and DinDin a lot though I thought they played the song too loud in the drama - it wasn't in the background anymore. The other songs seemed more subtle in a way but then again nothing can compare to a rock song as music played while fighting (at least that's where I saw it in my imagination when I first listened to it).


SO how am I going to rate this drama? 8.5/10 for a solid drama that's somewhat based on Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers but in a Korean background.
I liked it. It's sometimes too funny for a serious historical drama but I think that's what they intended to do and it was nice the way it was. They ended it with an open ending though because there were supposed to be three seasons - tvN cancelled the other two.
A beautifully filmed drama and good acting in general with an interesting story but the last parts were rushed while other things were dragged a little.

I'd consider this drama as highly recommendable though! So give it a try.