:: Sixtwentyseven ::

Now this is something that is out of the norm. 2 movie reviews in a day! Well, I've seen my movie folder increasing in size and yet I'm not clearing it. Hence, I thought it's time to remove some so that more could be added later. I've decided to Haeundae due to the fact that Ha Ji Won is in it and apparently it's the first disaster movie S.Korea ever produced. Hence, i gave it a try and came out with mixed reviews.

Haeundae is about an impending tsunami that is about to hit the beach town of Haeundae. Kim Hee (Park Joong-Hoon) is a seismologist who is monitoring abnormal earthquake movements occurring off the coast of Haeundae. Due to his passion, he neglected his wife Yu-Jin(Uhm Jung-Hwa) and his daughter Ji Min(Kim You-Jung) does not recognise him. Yeon-Hee (Ha Ji Won) is an orphaned child due to the indian tsunami where she lost her father. Man Sik (Sol Kyung-Gu) was on the same boat as her father and feels responsible for his death due to his on board decision back then. Meanwhile, Man Sik's brother Hyeong-Sik (Lee Min-Ki) got involved with a female tourist Hee Mi (Kang Hye-Won) when she fell overboard a yacht. All the characters intertwined with each other when a mega tsunami hits Haeundae and changed their lives forever.

Now, I believe most of us should have watched at least a disaster film, be it a sinking ship ala Poseidon or an impending world diasater ala 2012. Now, I shouldn't compare these blockbusters to a first time offering like Haeundae but it's a bit hard to ignore when Haeundae puzzles me a bit. Let me describe the pros first.

For a first time offering, I'd say the computer graphics in Haeundae is pretty decent, also taking into consideration that this movie is a 2 year ago production. Acting by all the artists is pretty consistent and for once I was somewhat relieved that Ha Ji Won does not take up that much screen time. After all, the main lead is the tsunami and nothing else.

Which leads me to the puzzling point. Even though Haeundae is a disaster movie, I thought the director took too much time to develop the plot regarding the tsunami. Instead, he spent more time trying to sort out the emotional plots between Yeon Hee and Man Sik. When you spent air time on human developments, especially for a disaster movie, you technically removing time from the main plot. This point in particular leaves me somewhat frustrated as I'd expect more action with regards to the natural disaster. Instead, it really shows what a tsunami is all about: coming in a rush, and pulling everything away with the same speed as well. This itself left me rather disappointed.

Although Haeundae is a good production, future offerings should take focus on what they want, action or human emotions. And even the human emotions left me shortchanged as the ending was pretty rushed again. A good effort, but more could be done.

For a start, my knowledge on Thai movies is still pretty shallow as I don't fancy thai horror. Instead, I prefer their lighthearted comedic offerings. The Bedside Detective was introduced by a friend who happened to catch it during his holidays.

Jock (Sunny Suwanmethanon) is an amateur inventor who loves to dismantle and fix stuff together to create a new invention. However, his inventions are not always practical. After a failed business venture due to one his inventions, he found his calling as an private detective. He specialises in capturing married spouses who swayed in their marriage. On a particular case, he was supposed to catch a husband in action with his mistress. However, it was love at sight when Jock met Nampan (Pattarasaya Kreuasuwansri), the alleged mistress. As his sidekick Jack reminded him about the codes of conduct of a PI, will Jock be able to continue his job and not fall in love with Nampan?

I wouldn't say this movie is the best I've watched, but it isn't the worst that I've watched for thai movies either. At the very least, it has managed to entertain me somewhat with its lightheartedness. However, I do have to say that the plot is as thin as it could be. And you can roughly guess the ending without much thinking. However, this movie is not meant to be dense; it is meant to entertain you with some slapstick humor and somewhat bizarre scenes.

I am not familiar with both the male and female leads. In the movie, Sunny Suwanmethanon gives me the feeling that he's the oktaku (japanese word for geek) that he's supposed to be. Pattarasaya Kreuasuwansri, or Peak for short, due to this movie being her maiden project, does look a bit stiff in her acting, or maybe the lack of it. However, it not that bad a debut that I've seen. Decent, but not impressive. I do give the stylist some credit as she/he has really managed to get some clothes that fit Peak's vixen character though. In this movie, the show stealer is neither of the actors or actresses but it's the dog, James Bond, who stole the show. She is irresistibly cute and is the show stopper every time there's a scene with her it.

In summary, I do feel this show will suit you if you're pretty bored and needed some entertainment. But even if you missed it, I don't think you've missed much too.

Hmm.

How should I describe this drama? How do I describe a drama that is so addictive for me that I spent 4 days after work just to finish all 16 episodes. How do I describe a drama OST that I love so much that I've practically put it on loop.

Lee Yeon Jae (Kim Sun Ah) is an average salary worker in a tourism agency who is always bullied by her boss even though she has worked there for over a decade. One day, she got into a minor accident and through a hospital checkup, she was given the news that she has only a few months to live. Hence, she decides to forgo her petty job and live life to the fullest, doing things that she has restricted herself before. It was during her vacation that she coincidentally met her department head Kang Ji Wook (Lee Dong Wok).

What really got me hooked on the drama isn't the melodramas that Koreans are famous for: the extreme crying and draggy plot. Instead, Scent of a Woman went the other direction. By informing the viewer in the first episode, you should be expecting the main character to die some point in the drama. Hence, instead on focusing on death, the drama focus on life, and how to live to the fullest and making sure that by the time your time is up, you wouldn't have regretted that you haven't tried to live. Also, the drama remained to be witty, while crying scenes are inevitable due to the fact that the main character is dying. However, it is not doom and gloom throughout; rather, they tried to lighten the mood to great effect.

I also like the drama that the "bad" characters aren't exactly bad, just that they didn't know how to be nice. (Don't they all portray chaebols to be? =/). Kim Sun Ah as Lee Yeon Jae is a natural for the character and based on the crying scenes, where you could really see her tears and sadness, I'd have given her a AAA moody's rating. Lee Dong Wok on the other hand is an unfamiliar face to me and it's no wonder as he has just finish serving national service. Scent of a Woman is his comeback drama and I do think he made a right choice. His acting is decent but one thing that attracted me was his smile. Somehow, when he smiles, he just gives me a warm feeling.

Overall, although I'm no melodrama fan, but I was really love this drama for a few reasons: good storyline, good pace, nice ending, excellent acting and lastly, a great soundtrack. I've introduced JYJ Junsu's You're so Beautiful in my last post. This time round, I wanna introduce JK Kim Dong Wook's Bucket List, another song featured in the drama. It's a slow number, and Kim's voice just takes your feelings to another level.



Really give this drama a go. There's a reason why I would forgo sleep just to finish watching it.

I'm so in love with this song simply because the lyrics is just beautiful... And I love the drama that this song came from. Yups, I assure you that the review of Scent of a Woman is coming up.

In the meantime, take some time to listen to this beautiful track by JYJ Junsu as well as looking at the lyrics.

Lyrics:

지금 난 너의 눈을 보며 운다 네 맘을 보며 운다 애써
jigeum nan neoui nun-eul bomyeo unda ne mam-eul bomyeo unda aesseo

해맑게도 쓴웃음 짓는 그 표정에
haemalg-gedo sseun-us-eum jisneun geu pyojeong-e

너를 담아두고 싶다 바보같이 예쁜 꿈들과 어설픈 모습을
neoleul dam-adugo sipda babogat-i yeppeun kkumdeulgwa eoseolpeun moseub-eul

하루하루 네 모습이 추억을 만들어
haluhalu ne moseub-i chueog-eul mandeul-eo

나 기억해 네 여린 손 흩어진 머리까지도
na gieoghae ne yeolin son heut-eojin meolikkajido

(Forever you) You are so beautiful 내 가슴에 밀려와 스며와 다가와 번진 네 상처도
(Forever you) You are so beautiful nae gaseum-e millyeowa seumyeowa dagawa beonjin ne sangcheodo

(Forever you) You are so wonderful시린 네 사랑도 네 눈물도 내 아픔 상처를 지우죠
(Forever you) You are so wonderful silin ne salangdo ne nunmuldo nae apeum sangcheoleul jiujyo

널 사랑한다 널 사랑한다
neol salanghanda neol salanghanda

이제는 너를 안아주고 싶다 그 차가운 세상 끝에 홀로 서성이던 널
ijeneun neoleul an-ajugo sipda geu chagaun sesang kkeut-e hollo seoseong-ideon neol

하루하루 내 사랑이 네 맘을 위로해 상처난 네 가슴에 내 기억들을 담는다
haluhalu nae salang-i ne mam-eul wilohae sangcheonan ne gaseum-e nae gieogdeul-eul damneunda

(Forever you) You are so beautiful 내 가슴에 밀려와 스며와 다가와 번진 네 상처도
(Forever you) You are so beautiful nae gaseum-e millyeowa seumyeowa dagawa beonjin ne sangcheodo

(Forever you) You are so wonderful시린 네 사랑도 네 눈물도 내 아픔 상처를 지우죠
(Forever you) You are so wonderful silin ne salangdo ne nunmuldo nae apeum sangcheoleul jiujyo

널 사랑한다 널 사랑한다
neol salanghanda neol salanghanda

한 순간조차 잊지 말아요 얼마나 얼마나 사랑했는지 기억해요 for you
han sunganjocha ij-ji mal-ayo eolmana eolmana salanghaessneunji gieoghaeyo for you

(Forever you) You are so beautiful 내 가슴에 밀려와 스며와 다가와 번진 네 상처도
(Forever you) You are so beautiful nae gaseum-e millyeowa seumyeowa dagawa beonjin ne sangcheodo

(Forever you) You are so wonderful시린 네 사랑도 네 눈물도 내 아픔 상처를 지우죠
(Forever you) You are so wonderful silin ne salangdo ne nunmuldo nae apeum sangcheoleul jiujyo

널 사랑한다 널 사랑한다
neol salanghanda neol salanghanda

네 기억으로 살고 싶다
ne gieog-eulo salgo sipda

credits: pinkrazy@wordpress

After 3 consecutive weekends of watching, I've at last finished watching City Hunter! Yeah, I got to agree I'm a bit slow on my updates on ANYTHING, but after some time, I've come to realise that even watching dramas/movies/etc require a certain set of mood and hence the slow reviews that are produced. Nonetheless, I've finished the drama and hence my take on the drama.

"City Hunter" takes place in modern Seoul 2011 where Lee Yoon Sung (Lee Min Ho) is an MIT-educated graduate who is being recruited into the Blue House. Lee Yoon Sung however, is City Hunter, who is raised by Lee Jin Pyo (Kim Sang Joong), an ex-military intelligence agent who was betrayed by his country and plot to seek revenge. Hence, Yoon Sung sought to seek revenge for his father and put those involved and bring them to justice.

Hmm where do I start? I do think the production is one of the best so far for this year. Lee Min Ho is at his best for City Hunter, and his role is not the easiest for sure with all the action moves. Park Min Young is irresistibly cute as Kim Na Na, a special agent in the Blue House in charge of the protecting the president and his family. I got to specially mention Lee Gwang Go in the drama as he's the one who always provided me with laughter in Running Man.

Overall, City Hunter has one of the best usage of its supporting cast due to the fact that they must focus the story on the 5 different characters where City Hunter is planning to take revenge on. This gives all the supporting cast ample screen time as well as helping to develop each character as the drama goes on. For this I must laud the scriptwriters for ensuring that each character is well thought of as well as closing potential loopholes in the drama.

Comparing to the action dramas I've watched so far, in terms of preference I'll rate City Hunter to be above Athena: Goddess of War, but for it to beat Iris, it'll be a tall order.

Of course, the drama OST will play a part in carrying the emotions of the drama. Although Jonghyun's "So Goodbye" and Kim Bo Kyung's "Suddenly" are good tracks, the one that really caught my eye is Yim Jae Beum's "Sarang". Just listening to his voice, you'll be able to hear the emotions he's trying to portray.



Do give City Hunter a watch. I would recommend it!