In-soon Is Pretty (인순이는 예쁘다 / In Soon I Neun Yeppeuda -2007)

Starring:
Kim Hyun Joo as Park In Soon
Kim Min Joon as Yoo Sang Woo
Seo Hyo Rim as Kim Jung Ah (In Soon's sister)
Lee Wan as Jang Geun Soo
Lee In Hye as Han Jae Eun
Extended Cast
Nah Young Hee as Lee Sun Young (In Soon's mother)
Uhm Hyo Sup as Seo Kyung Joon / Teacher Seo
Lee Hyun Joon as Seo Eun Seok (Teacher Seo's son)
Choi Il Hwa as Yoo Byung Gook (Sang Woo's father)
Kim Mi Kyung as Oh Myung Sook (Sang Woo's mother)
Park Soon Chun as Park Ok Sun (In Soon's aunt)
Cha Young Ok as Nam So Jung (Sun Young's friend)
Lee Mae Ri as Han Mi Jin
Jang Young Ran as Go Mi Hwa
Na Yoon as Song Jin Tae
Jo Duk Hyun as Go Jae Sik
Hong Yeo Jin as Nam So Jung
Kim Ji Young as In Soon's grandmother
Hong Ah Reum

This is the second time I've watched this. I've told y'all that I'm rewatching some shows that I haven't seen in a while. And luckily this is one that I haven't reviewed before. See here I go.......

This is a typical Korean drama. Story is original I will give it that. And I won't lie.......Lee Wan is the finest Korean male EVER. Let's just say that I had a Lee Wan eyecandy fest this past weekend......(Tree of Heaven, Let's Go To The Beach, and Snow White----review on this one is forthcoming).

This started out really well. The plot line, that is. Then as she became a "spokeperson", the story got really stupid and boring. Too the point that I fast forwarded through to the Lee Wan scenes. *giggles* Okay, past the idiot scenes really. There were just tooooo many things that weren't realistic. But the story based on the fact that she murdered someone and how they are treated once released....that I can believe. But they threw that part away near the middle. I couldn't take it anymore.

I didn't like they way they made Kim Min Joon character either. This charismatic actore was made into a pansy whiner. Geez, I wanted him to man-up. The teacher came across more manly. Ugh!

I will give the ending an okay. At least it was happy and smart. I really wanted something a little mushier but it sufficed.

To save this drama......they needed more Lee Wan. But then, I'm biased.

Lee Wan


Kim Min Joon

Never to Lose (Kangryeok 3Ban / 강력 3반 -2006)

Starring:
Jun-ho Heo - Mun Bong-soo
Hang-Seon Jang - Yuk Chul-gu
Min-jun Kim - Kim Hong-joo
Tae-wook Kim - Oh Jae-chul
Sang-mi Nam - Lee Hye-ryung
Sang-Myeon Park
Hae-jin Yu
Ji-hye Yun - Tae-hee Kim
Eung-su Kim
Jeong-tae Kim - Jae-chil Oh
Sung-ha Cho
Tae-yeong Yun - Tae-do Seo
Nae-sang Ahn - Sil-jang Park

“Never to Lose” concerns the men of Homicide Unit 3, who are in dire straits at the moment. While Unit 3’s cops are full of ambition and talent, they never seem to crack a case. The team is comprised of Detective Koh, a 15 year veteran, Detective Kim (Min-jun Kim), a rookie eager to make a name for himself, Detective Koh, a married man who spends more time on the job than with his wife, and Detective Ryung ( Sang-mi Nam ), who can’t get taken seriously by her peers because she’s a woman. While at a party with his girlfriend, Kim happens upon information about a drug deal that could get the team the respect they’ve been looking for. But what the team gets into turns out to be not just a big drug bust, but a case that makes Homicide Unit 3 the target of the largest drug lord in Korea .



This movie was a freakin' riot. I really liked it. It wasn't a blockbuster but it kept me on my toes and it was fun. Okay, I'll admit Kim Min Jun was freakin' hot!

I'll admit there were a few scenes that were funny but I don't think was really supposed to be a comedy. Okay, I cried when one particular cop was killed. I couldn't believe it. I think it was the quote that he said that made my heart hurt.

I did think that a romance was supposed to have evolved between two particular cops but I think they didn't want to make this movie into something like that. So the romance was on the downlow. Which was okay. But I was hoping.................

The movie had a great start, good middle, and a rewarding ending. So this movie wasn't half bad.

Kim Min Jun

A Man Who Went to Mars (Hwaseongeuro gan sanai / 화성으로 간 사나이 -2003)

Starring:
Hee-seon Kim - So-hie
Ha-kyun Shin - Seung-jae
So-hyeon Park - Seon-mi
In-kwon Kim - Ho-geol
Jae-yong Lee - Sueng-jae's Father
Geum-ju Lee - Seung-jae's Mother
Deok-hyeon Jo - So-hie's Father
Won-jong Lee
Gyu-su Jeong
Min-jun Kim - Sung-ho

Little Seung-jae stays up all night and writes letters to So-hee, pretending to be her father in Mars. Leaving Seung-jae's innocent heart behind, So-hee leaves for a big city. Both grown up to be adults, Seung-jae is a postman who writes letters to So-hee's grandma - the letters that never came from So-hee. So-hee's heart hardens after hardships in life and she comes back to her hometown and Seung-jae's heart swells up again at seeing her again...

Hmm? The synopsis of the movie drew me in. I thought I hit the jackpot to another good Korean romance. Okay, I prepared myself for the end....because they always go bad.

Well, I didn't disappoint myself. The ending left me dazed and confused. What the hell? Did he kill himself? Did he run away? What the.....??

He had a girl who loved him in his hometown but he didn't love her since his heart is all for So Hee. Okay. I get that. So Hee loves him when they were children but as an adult when crap happens she's by his side for comfort. But is it love? Hell if I know. She hurt him. He still leaves his heart open for her.

I don't know the ending is what really through me off. It was really going good. The story at the beginning was quite unique. It actually started off as a good plot to get the movie spiralling onward. But damn if it didn't piss me off to no end when it finished.

If you watch this, someone tell me your explanation to the end so I don't spend my days trying to beat my head open figuring it out. I don't like loose ends and open endings. The End means...THE END. Not maybe............

No Mercy for the Rude (Yeui-eomneun geotdeul, 예의없는것들-2006)

Starring:
Ha-kyun Shin - Killer
Ji-hye Yun
Han-wi Lee
Su-hee Go
Ye-rin Han
San Kang
Byeong-ok Kim
Eung-su Kim
Ju-ryeong Kim
Kwang-il Kim
Min-jun Kim
Tae-won Kwon
Kil-soo Park

Park Chul-Hee’s debut feature tells the story of a man who thinks he’s on a straight road but finds--too late?--that it’s actually quite bent. This is a Korean movie, so of course he’s working as a hitman, and No Mercy for the Rude seems to shape up as one more determinedly wacky ultra-violent hitman comedy to add to the ever-lengthening list. Our nameless protagonist is mute (actually he has a speech impediment and is saving up for an operation to fix it) and his two obsessions are bullfighting and seafood; his working principle is that he kills only the rude and ugly--those who deserve to die, such as goons who were fascist thugs in the martial-law 1980s.


This movie suprisingly was a very, very, very good movie. I wasn't expecting to be so moved by it. This movie with comedic and romantic undertones is overpowered by the blood from the hired assassin.

This movie was so revealing with Shin Ha Gyun having only maybe 2-3 words out of the whole movie. He is a mute assassin who was born with a small tongue and is embarrassed to talk because he talks with a lisp. So he voluntarily doesn't speak. So the whole movie he is actually "acting" and listening throughout. Oh, we do hear him talk throughout the movie because he narrates the story as we go and we hear his thoughts minus the lisp because you can't talk with a lisp in your mind.

This show isn't for the young. I was shocked to see a lot of sex scenes, revealing sex scenes at the beginning. But now that I look back on it....the story becomes more tender and revealing between the two protagonists. This was a wonderful story and yes, have some tissue at the end because it has a shocking twist at the end but I figured it out halfway through. *snickers*

Yeah, watch it. Total sleeper hit with me.

Shin Ha Gyun

Kim Min Jun