Lovers (연인 -2006)

Starring:
Kim Jung Eun as Yoon Mi Joo
Lee Seo Jin as Ha Kang Jae
Kim Kyu Ri as Park Yu Jin
Jung Chan as Kang Sae Yeon
Extended Cast
Lee Han as Tae San (Kang Jae's left-hand man)
Yun Mi Joo as Choi Yoon (Sae Yeon's secretary)
Lee Ki Young as Uhm Sang Taek (Kang Jae's right-hand man)
Park In Hwan as Reverend Yoon Mok Sa (Mi Joo's dad)
Choi Ha Na as Hong Soon Jung (Mi Joo's roommate)
Yoo Jung Hyun as Seol Won Chul (Mi Joo's hospital boss)
Choi Il Hwa as Kang Choong Shik (Mr. Kang)
Yang Geum Suk as Jung Yang Geum (Mr. Kang's wife/Sae Yeon's mom)
Kim Roe Ha (김뢰하) as Nam Chang Bae (gangster)
Jang Hang Sun
Kim Ki Bang

Kang Jae is a wealthy businessman and gangster and Mi Joo is a plastic surgeon. These two meet after Mi Joo mistakens Kang Jae as being her sleazy brother-in-law. Kang Jae just happens to be the boyfriend of Mi Joo's pregnant neighbor, Yoo Jin. Sae-yeon meets Mi-Joo and falls in love with her feisty attitude. Kang-Jae works for the father of Sae-Yeon who is a gangster. Mi-Joo and Kang-Jae fall in love.

I have now officially found another favorite Korean drama. This one didn't disappoint me at all. This was wonderful. This will be placed in my top 5 list, for sure. *How many do I have in my top 5 list?*

I don't even know how to explain how awesome this show is. You just have to see it to believe it. It had just enough comedy to keep you from being bored. Yes. there might have been a few slow parts but the freakin' comedy from Kim Jeong Eun was amazing. She was a hoot and a half. Lee Seo Jin was hotness to the highest power. Geez, the story was just full of martial arts action. So in a nutshell......action, comedy, romance, drama....everything you could ever want. Lee Han was cute as the left-hand man to Kang-jae. His indifference to Mi-joo's friend and roommate was just too good.

This is a definite must see. PLEASE! See it. God, I just want to watch it again. Right now. It was that good!

Marrying the Mafia (가문의 영광,Gamunui yeonggwang-2002)

Starring:
Dong-geun Yoo ... Jang, In-tae (Jin-kyeong's brother)
Jun-ho Jeong ... Park, Dae-seo
Jeong-eun Kim ... Jang, Jin-kyeong
Ji-ru Sung ... Jang, Seok-tae (Jin-kyeong's brother)
Sang-wook Park ... Jang, Kyeong-tae (Jin-kyeong's brother)
Geun-hyeong Park ... Jang, Jeong-jong (Jin-kyeong's father)
Hee-kyung Jin ... Won, Hye-suk
Jun-yong Choi
Su-min Oh
Hye-jeong Yu ... Mi-sun
Gi-yeong Lee
Jeong-su Byeon

"My name is PARK Dae-suh, CEO of a promising tech startup. One morning when I woke, next to me was a naked woman named Jin-kyung. Tough luck on my behalf, she turned out to be the daughter of Triple J, a living crime legend. I don't recall much from that night, but Jin-kyung's brothers came and threatened me to marry her. That's not the end of the story."

"We are the three brothers from the legendary crime family, Triple J. Our family has both money and power, but there's one thing missing. Scholarship. But things ere starting to look bright. We found an eligible bachelor fresh out of Seoul National University's law school who's now a CEO at a respected tech startup. We just need to somehow make him a part of our family. PARK Dae-suh! You are our family's honor!"



I really thought this would be so much better. It was good and all but I guess the hype was set too high.

The premise of the story was cute and unimaginable but very funny. I'm seriously trying to decide if I want to see the other two MttM movies. I'm not sure. Maybe if and when I'm bored. LOL!

I really think my beef with the whole movie has everything to do with the couple. I didn't feel that "romantic" tingle in the movie...ever. Oh this was typical Korean romance, i.e......situation, comedy, mishap, comedy, love, mishap, situation, etc.

Forever the Moment, 우리 생애 최고의 순간(Woo-ri Saeng-ae Choi-go-e Soon-gan-2008)

AKA: Our Finest Hour

Starring:
Mun So-Ri~Han Mi-sook
Kim Jeong-Eun~Song Jeong-ran
Uhm Tae-Woong~Ahn Seung-pil
Jo Eun-Ji~Oh Soo-hee

Han Mi-Sook (Moon So-ri) is a handball veteran and a member of the Korean national team. However, the times when the national team was an opponent to be feared are long over. Mi-Sook decides to retire from handball and work in a supermarket to be able to support herself and her son, while her husband is always on the run from the debt-collectors he borrowed a large amount of money from.

In the meantime the handball team is assigned a new coach, former player Kim Hye-kyeong (Kim Jeong-eun), who just finished coaching a team in Japan. Hye-kyeong, along with loudmouth Song Jeong-ran (Kim Ji-young) and the young goalie Oh Soo-hee (Jo Eun-ji), would love to have Mi-Sook on the team as well. After a lot of to and fro and much persuasion she rejoins the team, only to see Hye-kyeong demoted from coach to fellow player because the training sessions don't seem to bringing about the desired progress.

Handball whiz Ahn Seung-pil (Eom Tae-woong) is appointed as the new coach and promptly begins applying modern European training methods in order to shape up the team. He must soon learn that, in order to have a breath of a chance at the Olympic Games in Athens 2004, team spirit is much more important than any modern training method. Miraculously however, the team manages to fight its way to the final match and plays one of the best games of the entire event...



Where to start? This movie was quite good. The all-American, sport, tear-jerker, overcome-all-odds, come-to-kick-European-ass type movie. LOL! Except these weren't Americans, but South Korean ladies handball nationalists. I had a hard time reminding myself not to yell "U.S.A" throughout the Olympic episodes. LOL! A very moving, emotional experience. Mi-sook overcoming debt, a disappearing husband, taking care of her son alone. Yeah, you'll tear up a bit. Had to love the coach. Hate'm at first then you'll come to love'm later. My only qualm with this movie was that there wasn't more in-depth discussion of the relationship of Ahn Seung-pil and Song Jeung-ran. Ehh, but they weren't really the main focus. The movie does start quite slowly as to establish characters but once the Olympics start, it moves at quite a fast pace. A totally feel good movie and you'll love the real footage at the end of the real South Korean Women's handball team. Quite moving. *prepare tissue for tear onslaught*

Uhm Tae Woong