Tag: Korean Movies

Review: Midnight Runners

Posted September 8, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Midnight Runners

Male Lead: Park Seo Jun, Kang Ha Neul
Also Starring: Sung Dong Il, Park Ha Sun, Go Joon, Lee Ho Jung
Year Released: 2017
Genre: Comedy, Action, Crime, Mystery
Country: Korea
Where I Watched It: Viki

Students at the Korean National Police University, Ki Joon (Park Seo Joon) and Kee Yeol (Kang Ha Neul) have a long way to go before they become official officers of the law but that doesn’t stop them from dreaming. One their way back from a club one night, they happen to witness a kidnapping and immediately jump into action, alerting the local officers of what just happened. However, swamped with other cases, the local police station has no time to take on the case. Knowing the critical hours are quickly dwindling, Ki Joon and Kee Yeol jump into action.

Tracking down the kidnappers, the pair of cadets find that the kidnappers are part of a gang running an egg harvesting ring. With dozens of girls locked up for harvesting, Ki Joon and Kee Yeol break into the gang’s hideout, determined to rescue the girls. However, the thugs prove too much for the amateur cops. Beaten down and locked up themselves, the pair are embarrassed by their own inadequacies.

After finding a way to escape, the two harden their resolve, knowing they may be those girls’ only chance of rescue. Despite being advised to let the professionals handle the case, Ki Joon and Ki Yeol continue with their investigation, determined to find the criminals and bring them to justice. Can a pair of police academy cadets really take down one of the country’s most sinister crime organizations?

An action-packed romp with lots of laughs, “Midnight Runners” is a 2017 action comedy film directed by Jason Kim.

This freaking movie had me laughing so much. It’s part of Park Seo Jun’s movie list so I knew that I was going to watch it and I knew that I was going to like it because hello, I’m biased to anything Park Seo Jun but I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. I laughed so much and so loud throughout this entire movie that I thought I was going to wake up the neighbors. Park Seo Jun and Kang Ha Neul were an absolutely delightful pair. I thought they played really well off of each other and the chemistry between the two of them is unmistakable. They made this movie-watching experience a wild and crazy ride and I enjoyed every single minute.

What made this movie completely watchable is that though this movie is a comedy, there’s a surprisingly darker themed story going on throughout that captivated me from the jump. So this movie follows two young men, Park Ki Joon and Kang Hee Yeol, who joined the Korean National Police University to study to become cops. They meet pretty early on and aren’t real big fans of the other but after Ki Joon helps Hee Yeol to safety after a jogging injury, Hee Yeol promises Ki Joon the best pork belly and perfectly marbleized steak that he’ll ever eat and Ki Joon happily carries Hee Yeol to safety with a smile on his face. And just like that, they’re best friends.

On their first night off, the boys head to the club and while they get ready, they freaking used Febreze for their cologne, hahaha. So they head to the club to pick up some girls and I’m really surprised that they didn’t get any. Both Park Seo Jun and Kang Ha Neul are good looking guys and yet they struck out at every turn in the club. So after the night is done, they’re making their way back to school when they see a girl that is their type and stare at her, hoping she’ll turn around and notice them because then it would be a sign from God but instead of turning around, the boys witness her being abducted and they give chase.

They’re pretty young and still hopeful of their future as cops so when they lose the van that took the girl in pink, they run to the nearest police station for help. Only there’s not much the cops can do because they don’t have a name for the girl and the girl hasn’t been reported as missing. Not wanting to give up, the boys decide that they’re going to find the girl on their own. They can’t wait for the cops because it’s the critical hour and they have to work fast if they have any chance of finding the girl and saving her. Hee Yeol is the brains of this operation and Ki Joon is the brawn. Together they make the funniest and the most endearing crime-fighting duo. Over the course of their investigation, they uncover a human trafficking ring and know that they’re in way over their heads and need help but at every turn, they are rejected but they’re determined to find the girls and help free them so they get to work.

And by get to work, I mean…

Haha, my guys were fantastic in this movie. Both Park Seo Jun and Kang Ha Neul really shined in this movie. The humor, the action, the heartwarming ending all made for a wonderfully entertaining and charming watch. The eye candy is through the roof as well so ladies and interested gents would definitely be happy with that. 🙂 This was a flat out great movie and I highly recommend it.

Final Rating

5 out of 5

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The Monthly Recap: August 2020

Posted September 2, 2020 by Rowena in Features | 2 Comments

The Monthly Recap posts are a way for me to take a look back and reflect on my previous month in books, movies, and Korean dramas. From what I read, what I watched, what I got, and the books, shows, and movies that I need to get to. I always lose track of what I have, what I need to read, what I want to watch and I need these posts to keep me honest with my damn self because I be forgetting shit.

Something amazing happened at the end of the month. I started reading again and I’m hoping that I keep that same energy going into September. Everyone pray for me, please. 🙂 I finally had a mix of all the things last month so here’s what I’ve been up to in the month that was August 2020.

Monthly Stats

Books

Books Read: 2 | Books DNF’d: 0
Books Purchased: 1 | Books Received for Review: 0 | Reviews Posted: 0
Highest Grade: Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews | Lowest Grade: Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews

Dramas

Dramas Watched: 13 | Dramas DNF’d: 1
Dramas Reviewed: 2 | Boyfriend of the Month: 2
Favorite Drama: Suspicious Partner | Least Favorite Drama: One More Time

Movies

Movies Watched: 6 | Movies DNF’d: 0
Movies Reviewed: 2
Favorite Movie: The Witch: The Subversion | Least Favorite Movie: On Your Wedding Day

What I Read

Magic Binds (Kate Daniels #9) by Ilona Andrews | 4.25 out of 5
Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant #1) by Ilona Andrews | 4 out of 5

What I Watched

Dramas

Suspicious Partner | 4.25 out of 5
My ID is Gangnam Beauty | 3.5 out of 5
Save Me | 3.75 out of 5
Tempted | DNF
One More Time | 2 out of 5
Dr. Romantic | 3.75 out of 5
Dr. Romantic 2 | 4.25 out of 5
While You Were Sleeping | 4 out of 5
Something in the Rain | 2.5 out of 5
Vagabond | 3.25 out of 5
Still Seventeen | 4.25 out of 5
The Hospital Playlist | 4 out of 5
Train | 4.25 out of 5

Movies

The Witch (2018) | 4.25 out of 5
The Great Battle (2018) | 4 out of 5
On Your Wedding (2018) | 2.5 out of 5
Tune In for Love (2018) | 3.5 out of 5
Miss Baek (2018) | 2.5 out of 5
A Company Man (2012) | 3.75 out of 5

Eye Candy Friday

Go Yeon Woo from Suits

Ko Dong Man from Fight for My Way

What I Reviewed

Dramas

My Country: The New Age | 3.5 out of 5
Love Alarm | 3.75 out of 5

Movies

The Beauty Inside | 4.25 out of 5
The Gangster, The Cop, and The Devil | 2 out of 5

What I Posted

The Weekly Recap (149)
The Monthly Recap: June & July 2020
The Weekly Recap (150)
The Monthly Plan: September 2020
The Weekly Recap (151)

And there you have it…the month that was August 2020, in all of the things. How was your month? Did you read or watch anything good? Did you read or watch anything bad? Share in the comments, I’d love to catch up!

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Review: The Suspect

Posted September 1, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

The Suspect

Male Lead: Gong Yoo
Also Starring: Park Hee Soon, Jo Sung Ha, Yoo Da In, Kim Sung Kyun, Jo Jae Yoon, Park Ji Il, Kim Min Jae
Year Released: 2013
Genre: Contemporary, Action, Suspense, Thriller
Country: Korea
Where I Watched It: Viki
Watched It For: Gong Yoo

Once one of the top special forces agents in North Korea, Ji Dong Chul (Gong Yoo) never thought he’d see the day when he was betrayed and hunted by his own country. But when his government abandoned him in the middle of a mission, that’s exactly what happened. Suddenly forced to run for his life, Dong Chul has no choice but to abandon his position but he refuses to flee without his family. Desperate to find his wife and daughter before it’s too late, Dong Chul tracks them down, only to find they’ve been sold as slaves to China.

Following their trail to its bloody end, Dong Chul soon learns that one of his ex-colleagues is responsible for the death of his wife and daughter. Vowing revenge, Dong Chul defects to South Korea, the pursuit of his family’s killer, his only objective.

Settling into a life of anonymity, Dong Chul spends his days searching for his nemesis while he spends his nights working as the personal chauffeur of a business executive with ties to the North. When the chairman is attacked by an unknown assassin, he passes a pair of particularly special glasses on to Dong Chul, leaving his chauffeur with a mission to recover top-secret materials, with his dying breath. Now framed for murder and hunted once again, Dong Chul must find a way to prove his innocence or die trying.

A non-stop thrill ride, “The Suspect” is a 2013 action thriller film directed by Won Shin Yun.

This was the action thriller that I was hoping The Gangster, The Cop, and The Devil was going to be. I’m not sure if it’s because of my personal bias because the main character in this movie is my #2 boo thang, Gong Yoo, or what but I was heavily invested in this movie from beginning to end.

I won’t get into a rundown of the movie since the summary provided above does the job for me. So Ji Dong Chul is searching for the people that killed his wife and daughter and he’s doing all of that while based in South Korea. He defected from North Korea after he was abandoned by his government while on an active military mission. He lives a solitary life in South Korea, keeping his head down because he’s a wanted man. Not that he cares. All he cares about is avenging his family so when his boss is attacked and he’s given a mission to recover some top secret materials, he’s got no choice but to accept the mission because now he’s running from every damn body and my guy is just trying to stay alive because he’s still got his family to avenge.

This movie was the kind of thriller that had me at the edge of my seat, trying to figure out what Dong Chul was going to do next. The fighting scenes were fantastic and the action was pretty dope too. I really enjoyed the adventure that Gong Yoo took us on during this movie and I’m super glad that I watched it. Gong Yoo is a fantastic actor and he is sooo easy on the eyes that it’s really not hard to watch the stuff that he’s in. Luckily for us, this was a great action story, filled with lots of thrills, some heartwarming moments and a really satisfying ending. So all in all, you can’t go wrong with this movie. The romantic in me wanted Gong Yoo to have a love interest in this movie so while I was watching it, I was trying to pair him up with every damn body but in the end, I was like duh….my guy was hella in love with his wife that he dedicated his life to avenging her…a love interest wouldn’t have made sense for this movie. So yeah, while that was a bummer for my romance-loving heart, I still definitely recommend it.

Final Rating

4.5 out of 5

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Review: The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil

Posted August 25, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil

Starring: Ma Dong Seok, Kim Moo Yeol, Kim Sung Kyu, Yoo Seung Mok
Year Released: 2019
Genre: Contemporary, Action, Crime Drama
Country: Korea
Where I Watched It: Viki
Watched It For: Ma Dong Seok

After barely surviving a violent attack by an elusive serial killer, crime boss Jang Dong-su (Don Lee) finds himself forming an unlikely partnership with local detective Jung Tae-seok (Kim Moo Yul) to catch the sadistic killer simply known as “K”.

I came across this movie on Viki and was curious about it because of one of the main characters in it. Ma Dong Seok was my favorite character in Train to Busan so when I saw that he was in this one, I thought, “Why not?” and I started watching it immediately.

So this movie is about a gangster who almost died at the hands of a serial killer and the cop that join forces to catch the devil serial killer who is running rampant around the city. I thought that I would enjoy this movie a lot more than I did but for a huge portion of the movie, I was bored. I freaking hated the cop and was okay with the gangster (that’s probably cause I’m biased. I loved the gangster’s acting) and didn’t care one way or the other about the devil. There’s a lot of action going on so that was a plus but again, for most of the movie, I was bored and it was easy for me to dose in and out of the movie so when it finally ended, I was glad. I didn’t hate the movie and there were parts of the movie that were good but not enough of the movie was good enough for me to give this movie a higher grade than a 2.

Final Rating

2 out of 5

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Review: The Beauty Inside

Posted August 18, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

The Beauty Inside

Male Lead: Park Seo Jun
Female Lead: Han Hyo Joo
Also Starring: Do Ji Han, Kim Dae Myung, Bae Sung Woo, Chun Young Woon, Park Shin Hye
Year Released: 2015
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy
Country: Korea
Where I Watched It: Viki
Who I Watched It For: Park Seo Jun

This is a different kind of identity crisis.

Woo Jin is a young man who works as a furniture designer. He has a great life with the woman he loves, Yi Soo (Han Hyo Joo), if it weren’t for one little problem.

Every morning, Woo Jin wakes up to discover that he is inhabiting a different body. It could be the body of a young, good-looking man (Do Ji Han), a portly everyman (Kim Dae Myung), a middle-aged man (Bae Sung Woo), an old man (Chun Young Woon) or even a beautiful young woman (Park Shin Hye)!

Every time Woo Jin wakes up in a new body, he has to figure out where he is and how he can find his way back to Yi Soo, who is always waiting for him. Will there be a day that Woo Jin can’t find his way back?

“The Beauty Inside” is a 2015 South Korean film directed by Baik. It is based on the 2012 American social film by the same title directed by Drake Doremus.

In making my way through Park Seo Jun’s work, I came across this movie. It’s an interesting premise for a story and Park Seo Jun is in it for more than five minutes so that was already a win for me. Ha!

So this movie is about a man named Woo Jin who wakes up every morning in a different body. His emotions and everything inside of him is still Woo Jin but his outside changes every time he wakes up in the morning. Sometimes he’s a handsome young man but sometimes he wakes up as a portly old man or a grandmotherly type old woman. In the beginning, you can tell that he is struggling with waking up as a not so gorgeous person. He’s kind of vain and the disappointment he has every morning when he wakes up in an ugly person’s body had me side eying him. He enjoys the days that he wakes up in a beautiful body and even capitalizes on it by hooking up with girls he meets at the club or the bar. He leads completely different lives every single day with the new faces and bodies but the one thing that stays the same is his crush on the saleswoman at the furniture store that he goes to.

Woo Jin makes furniture for a living and he spends time in a furniture store, in all of the different faces and bodies that he wakes up with. He lives a very complicated life, a life that keeps him away from people and because of that, he’s very lonely. The only people that know about his condition are his best friend and his mother. His best friend comes off as bubbly and low key pervy but as the movie progresses, you see that he’s still all of those things but he does care and support Woo Jin.

The theme of the movie centers around the beauty inside of a person. No matter what body and face Woo Jin woke up with, on the inside, where it counts, he was still just Woo Jin. When we first meet him, he’s struggling because a part of him is vain and pissed off that he’s not normal and that causes him to do something pretty extreme. When he wakes up in Park Seo Jun’s body, he thinks that this is his shot. He’s going to approach the furniture store girl and he’s never going to sleep again…and it works, he pursues the furniture store girl and hooks her with his good looks then wins her over with his personality and all of that goes up in flames when he falls asleep because the minute he wakes up, he’s in a different body and Park Seo Jun is gone so he does what we all expected him to do. He runs.

Han Hyo Joo did a great job in portraying the character Yi Soo in this movie. I was really invested in her journey. From her first meeting Woo Jin with Park Seo Jun’s face and body, to her falling in love with him in a matter of days and then going through being abandoned by him, learning the truth about him and then accepting him and trying to figure out how to be with him. It wasn’t an easy journey but seeing both of them struggle with their different issues was interesting and I really connected with both of their characters, with the whole movie in general. The pacing in the beginning of the movie was a little slow but once things picked up, they really picked up and I ended up really enjoying the movie and the message. I cried a lot but my heart grew and grew with every minute that I watched this so I would definitely recommend this one. It’s good.

Final Rating

4.25 out of 5

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