meganbmoore: (Default)
So, title aside, this is a pretty clean movie.  It's a romantic comedy about two players, Jin-Mun and Ji-Won, trying to play each other who end up falling for each other(pretty much--the ending is somewhat openended but indicates enough that I'm satisfied), and a reminded me quite a bit of  How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days(even has a scene where he cooks a delicious meal for her then she comes up with an excuse for why she can't eat it).  One thing that stood out that I liked was that they were both almost always aware of what the other was tryinbg to pull, and alternated between outdoing them and calling them on it(less of the second, though she gets him good at one point) Like 100 Days With Mr. Arrogant, it succeeds more as a comedy than as a romance, but I quite liked it.  And, on a purely shallow level, I watched it for Song Il Gook(Yum Moon in Emperor of the Sea) and it has him soaking wet for about twenty minutes and running around in the rain for a few bits of that.  Oh, and shirtless.  Yes, I'm shallow.



Now, oodles of pictures, some with commentary, mostly yoinked from soompi

IPB Image

pics )
meganbmoore: (Default)
I watched 2 Korean movies today, one period fantasy with surprisingly little wirefu, and one a romantic comedy.

The Legend of Evil Lake is set  during the last years of Shilla(ancient Korea) where the empress, Chinsong, is still in love with her former lover, General Biharang, who has since fallen in love with a peasant, Jaunpie.  Jaunpie's father was a rebel, and the queen's enemies take advantage of that and send men to kill her so that Biharang will blame and turn on Chinsong, giving them an opening.  While fleeing her assassins, Jaunpie finds a sword in the forest that has sealed an evil spirit for a thousand years(don't question why no one in a thousand years has pulled the sword out of the ground, logic has no place in magical seals) and becomes possessed by the spirit, Auta, and only maintains a sense of self through her love of Biharang.

The rest of the movie focuses on Biharang trying to save Jaunpie, and Chinsong trying to simultaneously protect Biharang and, you know, stop Auta from killing everyone in Shilla(tribe was wiped out during unification...he's bitter)  It's more like Bichunmoo (which I think I prefer it to)than to The Duelist or Shadowless Sword (which I prefer...I need to get more people to watch SS...) and is very much just right for various people on my flist(lots of angsty romance and love triangle and deep dramatic stares)


The other movie was 100 Days With Mr. Arrogant, a romantic comedy with Ha Jin Won(who has quickly become my favorite asian actress...I guess it's what happens when you star in my greatest dorama obsession)  Actually, this is apparently her first role after Damo(deservedly) made her big, and Ha-Young is about as far from Chae-Ohk as you can get, so I guess she was trying to avoid typecasting(was rather odd to see her in a modern role for the first time)  The best way to describe the movie would only make sense to dorama fans: It Started With A Kiss on crack, if Zhi Shu were narcissistic and machiavellian. For those who don't watch doramas, it's abouy Ha-Young, a rather dim but very energetic high school senior whose boyfriend just dumped her.  In a funk, she kicks a can in the street, accidentally hitting a college guy, Hyung-Joon with it and making him swerve and scrape his bumper.  Unfortunately, instead of hitting a nice, sane person who would tell her to be careful and to pay the $20 bucks to fix it, she hit an arrogant guy with a sadistic streak who's far too aware of his good looks and intelligence for his own good, who tells her it'll cost $300 to fix.  Naturally, she doesn't have that kind of money, and he says she can work it off by being his slave for 100 days, at the rate of $30 a day.  Of course, she eventually learns how much it really costs to get the car fixed, and deals with it appropriately.  Which Hyung-Joon gets back at her for by becoming her tutor, and things progress from there.  It was insanely fun(it should be watched just for "I Will Survive" in Korean) and I had to pause and rewind from laughter more than once.  I fear for their children, though.  And hey, Ha Ji Won actually got to kiss her OTP for once...a first among my viewing of her(and I don't mean just onscreen, either...)  Hmm...looks like the guy in this is also one of the male leads in her Hwang Jin Yi series, which should be interesting, and which I shall be watching soon-ish(gotta finish Emperor of the Sea first.)
meganbmoore: (Default)
I watched 2 Korean movies today, one period fantasy with surprisingly little wirefu, and one a romantic comedy.

The Legend of Evil Lake is set  during the last years of Shilla(ancient Korea) where the empress, Chinsong, is still in love with her former lover, General Biharang, who has since fallen in love with a peasant, Jaunpie.  Jaunpie's father was a rebel, and the queen's enemies take advantage of that and send men to kill her so that Biharang will blame and turn on Chinsong, giving them an opening.  While fleeing her assassins, Jaunpie finds a sword in the forest that has sealed an evil spirit for a thousand years(don't question why no one in a thousand years has pulled the sword out of the ground, logic has no place in magical seals) and becomes possessed by the spirit, Auta, and only maintains a sense of self through her love of Biharang.

The rest of the movie focuses on Biharang trying to save Jaunpie, and Chinsong trying to simultaneously protect Biharang and, you know, stop Auta from killing everyone in Shilla(tribe was wiped out during unification...he's bitter)  It's more like Bichunmoo (which I think I prefer it to)than to The Duelist or Shadowless Sword (which I prefer...I need to get more people to watch SS...) and is very much just right for various people on my flist(lots of angsty romance and love triangle and deep dramatic stares)


The other movie was 100 Days With Mr. Arrogant, a romantic comedy with Ha Jin Won(who has quickly become my favorite asian actress...I guess it's what happens when you star in my greatest dorama obsession)  Actually, this is apparently her first role after Damo(deservedly) made her big, and Ha-Young is about as far from Chae-Ohk as you can get, so I guess she was trying to avoid typecasting(was rather odd to see her in a modern role for the first time)  The best way to describe the movie would only make sense to dorama fans: It Started With A Kiss on crack, if Zhi Shu were narcissistic and machiavellian. For those who don't watch doramas, it's abouy Ha-Young, a rather dim but very energetic high school senior whose boyfriend just dumped her.  In a funk, she kicks a can in the street, accidentally hitting a college guy, Hyung-Joon with it and making him swerve and scrape his bumper.  Unfortunately, instead of hitting a nice, sane person who would tell her to be careful and to pay the $20 bucks to fix it, she hit an arrogant guy with a sadistic streak who's far too aware of his good looks and intelligence for his own good, who tells her it'll cost $300 to fix.  Naturally, she doesn't have that kind of money, and he says she can work it off by being his slave for 100 days, at the rate of $30 a day.  Of course, she eventually learns how much it really costs to get the car fixed, and deals with it appropriately.  Which Hyung-Joon gets back at her for by becoming her tutor, and things progress from there.  It was insanely fun(it should be watched just for "I Will Survive" in Korean) and I had to pause and rewind from laughter more than once.  I fear for their children, though.  And hey, Ha Ji Won actually got to kiss her OTP for once...a first among my viewing of her(and I don't mean just onscreen, either...)  Hmm...looks like the guy in this is also one of the male leads in her Hwang Jin Yi series, which should be interesting, and which I shall be watching soon-ish(gotta finish Emperor of the Sea first.)
meganbmoore: (Default)

I went on a slight movie binge earlier this week, and likely will fairly soon again(that backlog got large-ish recently)

 (6) Blood Rain: this is a Korean movie set in the 1800s, about the investigation into a serial killer who is killing informers who accused a former town official of being a christian(apparently a crime at the time) and is killingt hem in the same methods, in order, that the official's family was killed, to try to force him to confess.  It was good and pretty interesting, and I wish I'd paid more attention while I watched it, because it also had what is likely the most graphic death I've seen in a movie, and had animals dying on scene...by that, I mean that we actually see chickens' heads getting chopped off.  Good as it was, I don't think I could rewatch it.

(7-9) Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina, and Roman Holiday: No sooner did I get the Audrey Hepburn boxed set than I started watching it.  All the movies more than lived up to their classic status, though each had  several moments where I had the remind myself that these movies are the reason that the cliches exist.  I liked Breakfast at Tiffany's quite a lot, but I hope it never gets remade.  Why?  Because it's a movie about a call girl and a kept man growing up and falling in love with each other.  Here it's great, but modern moviemakers would feel compelled to make it wallow in angst and depression and have them go on about how wretched they are and how they should better themselves and there'd be a kidd given up for adoption or a miscarriage or...*shudders and moves on*  As much as I love the Ford/Ormond/Kinnear version of Sabrina, I happily admit that this one is far superior.  While I think Ford and Ormond are the closest among modern actors who could have pulled off the role, there's really no comparing to Audrey or Bogey.  That said, while I liked Holden just fine, I preferred Kinnear's David to his...Kinnear came across more as immature and in fascinated shock at Sabrina's return, whereas Holden feels more like a cad.  I also missed one of my favorite moments from the remake, when Sabrina first comes home and David is still trying to figure out who she is, and Linus, without even actually stopping to look at her, recognizes her at a glance and blithely goes "Hello Sabrina" and ruins her fun.  I think my favorite of the set, though, was Roman Holiday, though I may change my mind if I rewatch it and Sabrina in a month or two.  It was wonderfully straightforward and refreshing, and not only does Gregory peck get to originate the most reused scene and speech of all big secret/revenge fiction, but it has what's probably one of the best straightforward, don't-tack-on-a-happy-ending-just-to-have-one movie endings this side of Casablanca.

(10) Death Note: The Movie I already talked about the other day.

(11) Brother Beat:  This one is a live action japanese drama about three brothers, now in their early twenties, who were raised by their single mother after their father's death 15 years earlier.  Since their mother,despite trying hard, is effectively useless, theoldest brother, Tatsuya, takes on the role of both mother and father.  The series is excellent, but has the misfortune of being almost completely overlooked by the dorama community, as it aired during the asme season of Nobuta wo Produce(excellent) and 1 Litre of Tears(I'm told it's also excellent, but I have no intentions of everwatching it, even if it does have Fujiki Naohito, whose name I can never spell correctly)

12) Prince Valiant: The Complete Collection: Vol 1: Prince Valiant is one of those properties I've wanted to check out in any form for a long time, but never had the chance to, until now.  It held up quite well, though not quite as well as Gargoyles *shakes fist at the sheer criminality of there being no official DVDs for the second half of season 2* and instead of trying to redo Arthurian mythos, it uses it as a backdrop of young people aspiring to be knights of the round table, and only touches on a few pieces of the actual mythology, which is something a lot of Arthurian tales could learn from. *stares at certain movies that, while very good on their own merits, don't hold up as retellings of King Arthur*  Some of the later episodes(which I believe are early season 2 episodes) are a little too heavy handed in their messages, but I liked it quite a bit and will definately be adding the second set to my collection, when I can.

Currently Watching: Cowboy Bebop(anime, fun but a little too much "style over substance" so far) and Magicians of Love(taiwanese live action series, insnely fun and over the top and I should take a break, but can't seem to)  goal for the week is the rest of those 2(including CB movie) and the oter 2 Audrey Hepburn movies in my backlog.



meganbmoore: (Default)

I went on a slight movie binge earlier this week, and likely will fairly soon again(that backlog got large-ish recently)

 (6) Blood Rain: this is a Korean movie set in the 1800s, about the investigation into a serial killer who is killing informers who accused a former town official of being a christian(apparently a crime at the time) and is killingt hem in the same methods, in order, that the official's family was killed, to try to force him to confess.  It was good and pretty interesting, and I wish I'd paid more attention while I watched it, because it also had what is likely the most graphic death I've seen in a movie, and had animals dying on scene...by that, I mean that we actually see chickens' heads getting chopped off.  Good as it was, I don't think I could rewatch it.

(7-9) Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina, and Roman Holiday: No sooner did I get the Audrey Hepburn boxed set than I started watching it.  All the movies more than lived up to their classic status, though each had  several moments where I had the remind myself that these movies are the reason that the cliches exist.  I liked Breakfast at Tiffany's quite a lot, but I hope it never gets remade.  Why?  Because it's a movie about a call girl and a kept man growing up and falling in love with each other.  Here it's great, but modern moviemakers would feel compelled to make it wallow in angst and depression and have them go on about how wretched they are and how they should better themselves and there'd be a kidd given up for adoption or a miscarriage or...*shudders and moves on*  As much as I love the Ford/Ormond/Kinnear version of Sabrina, I happily admit that this one is far superior.  While I think Ford and Ormond are the closest among modern actors who could have pulled off the role, there's really no comparing to Audrey or Bogey.  That said, while I liked Holden just fine, I preferred Kinnear's David to his...Kinnear came across more as immature and in fascinated shock at Sabrina's return, whereas Holden feels more like a cad.  I also missed one of my favorite moments from the remake, when Sabrina first comes home and David is still trying to figure out who she is, and Linus, without even actually stopping to look at her, recognizes her at a glance and blithely goes "Hello Sabrina" and ruins her fun.  I think my favorite of the set, though, was Roman Holiday, though I may change my mind if I rewatch it and Sabrina in a month or two.  It was wonderfully straightforward and refreshing, and not only does Gregory peck get to originate the most reused scene and speech of all big secret/revenge fiction, but it has what's probably one of the best straightforward, don't-tack-on-a-happy-ending-just-to-have-one movie endings this side of Casablanca.

(10) Death Note: The Movie I already talked about the other day.

(11) Brother Beat:  This one is a live action japanese drama about three brothers, now in their early twenties, who were raised by their single mother after their father's death 15 years earlier.  Since their mother,despite trying hard, is effectively useless, theoldest brother, Tatsuya, takes on the role of both mother and father.  The series is excellent, but has the misfortune of being almost completely overlooked by the dorama community, as it aired during the asme season of Nobuta wo Produce(excellent) and 1 Litre of Tears(I'm told it's also excellent, but I have no intentions of everwatching it, even if it does have Fujiki Naohito, whose name I can never spell correctly)

12) Prince Valiant: The Complete Collection: Vol 1: Prince Valiant is one of those properties I've wanted to check out in any form for a long time, but never had the chance to, until now.  It held up quite well, though not quite as well as Gargoyles *shakes fist at the sheer criminality of there being no official DVDs for the second half of season 2* and instead of trying to redo Arthurian mythos, it uses it as a backdrop of young people aspiring to be knights of the round table, and only touches on a few pieces of the actual mythology, which is something a lot of Arthurian tales could learn from. *stares at certain movies that, while very good on their own merits, don't hold up as retellings of King Arthur*  Some of the later episodes(which I believe are early season 2 episodes) are a little too heavy handed in their messages, but I liked it quite a bit and will definately be adding the second set to my collection, when I can.

Currently Watching: Cowboy Bebop(anime, fun but a little too much "style over substance" so far) and Magicians of Love(taiwanese live action series, insnely fun and over the top and I should take a break, but can't seem to)  goal for the week is the rest of those 2(including CB movie) and the oter 2 Audrey Hepburn movies in my backlog.



meganbmoore: (Default)
I feel like posting pretty pictures to my lj, so am picspamming "The Shadowless Sword" a rather good Korean wuxia movie I watched a while back.  It's by the same person of "Bichunmoo," but is worlds better.  It also stars Lee Seo Jin, who played Hwangbo Yoon in Damo(though I didn't realize it was him until I went to see who he reminded me of because he looks a lot different without the beard and police uniform, and the characters are so very different)

Anyway...



note: click reply instead of cut so it won't cut off the pics.

pretties )

meganbmoore: (Default)
I feel like posting pretty pictures to my lj, so am picspamming "The Shadowless Sword" a rather good Korean wuxia movie I watched a while back.  It's by the same person of "Bichunmoo," but is worlds better.  It also stars Lee Seo Jin, who played Hwangbo Yoon in Damo(though I didn't realize it was him until I went to see who he reminded me of because he looks a lot different without the beard and police uniform, and the characters are so very different)

Anyway...



note: click reply instead of cut so it won't cut off the pics.

pretties )

Profile

meganbmoore: (Default)
meganbmoore

July 2020

S M T W T F S
   1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
26 2728293031 

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 1st, 2025 07:12 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios