Fight TVN (맞짱 / Mazzang -2008)

Starring:
Yoo Gun as Kang Gun
Lee Young Jin as So Hee
Lee Jong Soo as Kang Jin
Baek Do Bin as Choi Dae Ri
Kang Sung Jin
Jung Suk Won
Uhm Tae Woong as Kang Gun's father
Kim Soo Ro (cameo)

The drama about men who engage in fights and the deep bond that develops between them.

OMG! Can Yoo Geon look hotter and Baek Do Bin? Aye Carumba!!! The fight scenes were incredible and so believable. Really scripted and so totally well rehearsed. This was a totally awesome drama. I did have only one beef with this though. The very last episode was almost rushed to the extreme. What the.....??? There should have been at least, AT LEAST, 2-3 more episodes. I really wanted to see more of a fight between Choi Dae Ri and Kang Gun. They were leading us up to it......and "poof".....that was it. I really think more could have been done...but the fight scenes throughout the rest of the drama were so amazing that that is what keeps me from giving this drama a failing review. Holy enchilada! The girl, So-hee, well.....she wasn't all that pretty to me. I guess I was expecting someone more "meatier". She was so scrawny and thin. I just don't like those types. Anorexic is soooooo OUT!

I'll admit that I was so enthralled that the thought of searching for fight clubs DID run through my mind. Whew!! Oh, and the opening song is so freakin' awesome that it is now downloaded to my ever loveable iPod.

My Love (Nae Sarang/내사랑-2007)

Starring:
Woo-seong Kam
Kang-hie Choi
Tae-woong Eom
Il-woo Jeong
Yeon-hee Lee
Seung-yong Ryoo
Jeong-eun Lim

This is a film that makes your heart flutter at the merest mention of its cast - Gam Wu-sung, Choi Kang-hee, Uhm Tae-woong, Lee Yeon-hee and Jung Il-woo! We take you to the set of "My Love," an omnibus film comprised of five love stories.

The first actor that caught our attention was Uhm Tae-woong. He was wearing rugged clothes with disheveled hair. What happened to you, Uhm Tae-woong? When was the last time you took a shower? Well, does it have got to do with the signboard you're holding? Uhm Tae-woong appears in the first part of this omnibus film. Uhm Tae-woong plays a pure-hearted man who returns to Korea to keep a promise he made to a girl he fell in love with six years ago. Will he be able to meet her and win her heart again? He also shows a dramatically changed hair-style and unique tattoo.

And here's another couple. Casting off his fun-loving side, Jung Il-woo, star of "High Kick," paints an achingly sweet love story of a 21 year-old man along with Lee Yeon-hee. This is Jung Il-wu's first big screen role. Lee Yeon-hee stars opposite Jung as a college friend pretending to be cheerful in order to hide the wounds of her broken heart.

Ryu Seung-ryong plays a man who raises a son alone after his wife's untimely death. Lim Jung-eun plays a confident career woman who feels for him despite a big age gap of 12 years.

Meanwhile, Gam Wu-sung plays a subway conductor who can not erase the memories of his former girl friend, played by Choi Kang-hee. Plus, a nine-year old couple also unfolds a sweet love story in the film. We asked them what they think love is.



Oooops! I amost published before I added my "two-cents." LOL!

Still trying to wake up and my morning Diet Mountain Dew hasn't kicked in yet. It's tooooo hot for coffee in the state of Texas right now.

My Love. I wasn't too sure about watching this. I've had it in my "saved" file. I figured I could use a little romance this morning, so I loaded it up. And I'm glad I did.................

I knew this would be a tear jerker from other reviews. And I'm telling ya it really wasn't all that bad. I was afraid I would be like I was after Koizora and cry for days............

This was a touching story of 4 different couples. Two sad endings and two happy endings. My favorite couple were that of the college students. It was fun watching "her" try to drink just one bottle of soju. And when "he" realized at the end, that what he had said a year ago to her, dawned on him that she was the one. That was sweet.

I know many will say their favorite pair was with the subway conductor. In all that was sweet, but I truly couldn't get into "her" because she was so mean to him. Even though it was explained at the end, it was already too late for me. But when he found his birthday present that she had hidden on the train.....okay, I truly teared up there. That was really a good moment.

In all, this was a really good watch. It wasn't the greatest but it was worth watching for all those serious romantics out there...............

Spring Bears Love (봄날의 곰을 좋아하세요?/Bomnalui gomeul johahaseyo -2003)

Starring:

Du-na Bae - Jeong Hyun-jae
Nam-jin Kim - Lee Dong-ha
Jong-shin Yun - Ji-seok
Tae-woong Eom - Man who dumps Hyun-jae
Sang-ki Jo - Carrefour supervisor
So-yeon Kim - Hearing-impaired woman
Oh-jung Kwon - Nose-picking man
Eol Lee - Vincent
Hyeon-kyeong Im - So-hee
Kwang-rok Oh - Hyeon-jae's dad
Yi Yong - Chan-ho
Ji-hye Yun - Mi-ran
Hong-pyo Kim

A young woman named Hyun-chae is on train looking through an art book. As she turns the pages, she discovers a written message underneath a picture of bears playing together in the springtime. She reads:

I like you so much.

Like a bear in springtime, I know your secrets

... you're like a lovely bear.

This is just the beginning of my love for you.

Next book is Gustave Caillebette 'Young Man at His Window.

Hyun-chae is an unlucky girl who has trouble finding love. Born with bad manners, she is unable to keep a guy for very long. Throughout her life, she has been unsuccessful with love, but goes on through life with her bad manners and pure honesty.

Her father, an alcoholic, a heavysmoker, and a writer, often counts on Hyun-chae to bring him art books from the library, saying that they help him think better. Hyun-chae, desperate as she is to fall in love, fails to see that her best friend from childhood, Dong-ha came back from the military to be with her. Instead, Chae-hyun becomes obsessed with the man that has written the love notes inside the art books, believing that they are meant for her. With this thought in mind, she seeks out the writer with a determined state of mind, believing that every man she meets could possibly be this mere stranger. But are those library love notes really meant for her?

OMG! I can't believe I put this movie off. I tried watching it but for some reason I thought it was going to be boring as hell. But I came across it again and the story line still seemed interesting to me. So I chugged through the first part and actually am glad I finished it.

This story is so moving. When love is in your face staring at you, do you ignore it because you think the true love you want can't be that close? Chae-hyun was an idiot because Dong-ha as cute as a button WAS RIGHT THERE. Right freakin' there doing whatever was possible to show her how much he loved her. Come on girls, don't we all want someone to cherish us that much? To only think of how to make us (girls, women) happy? I sure as hell do. This guy went out of his way to make her ramen when she came home and told him that she was craving ramen but it was too late. He didn't care and went out in the middle of the night to do it for her. How many guys do we know who would do that for us?

I really loved this because Dong-ha fought for her. And let her go when she realized she wasn't Vincent (the true love she thought she wanted but wasn't real). *sigh* Love, Sarang, Amor.......

What a strange but yet wonderful thing..............

Kim Nam Jin

Umm? Would you dump this hunk? Hell, freakin' NO! I'm now looking through all his movies to see if there is anything more I like. I love him in this movie!!!

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

Nine Tailed Fox

Okay, I was going to give this high reviews until I got to the last 5 minutes of the last episode and I was not-a-happy-camper. The ending ruined it for me. *spoiler* After watching sixteen, one-hour episodes, I was just sure for a happy ending. Oh, hell no. I had to cry for an hour. Why? Why? Why? Eeerrgh!

The story goes like this. A boy and a girl both born on the same day of the same year under a full-red moon were destined for "greater" things. The girl, Hae-In/Si-Yon, was born to a clan of nine tailed foxes (and NO this story has NOTHING to do with the anime Naruto.) The boy, Min-Woo, is all-human. On their 12th birthday, both of them exchange lockets with pictures of each of them inside them. As the birthday party progresses, a group of specially trained "ninjas" come and kill the families of the boy and girl. The boy believes the girl was killed and the girl thought the boy was killed. Later on is the story, we find out that it was a planned kill to kidnap Hae-In.

Years later, Kang Min-Woo (Jo Hyun Jae) has grown up to become a cop. Yun Hae-In has changed her name to Si-Yon and is a specially trained warrior who helps protect the clan of nine tailed foxes. In this time period, the clan aren't too keen on humans. Only a specially select few humans know of the existence of nine tailed foxes. Nine tailed foxes need human livers once a month to eat, to survive. Well, humans don't want to give those up. Hence the dilemma. As Min-Woo investigates an organ smuggling ring, he comes across "Si-Yon" who was there to stop her clan from buying and selling of fresh, human liver. Which, by the way, was against the rules for they,the nine tailed foxes, are only allowed to eat the livers of human corpses so as to keep their identity secret. Min-Woo, believing Si-Yon (who at the time covers her face with a veil) and her group were apart of the smuggling ring, chases them through a junk-yard and fights Si-Yon. As Si-Yon pulls her arm back with sword in hand, sees the locket that her and Min-Woo exchanged as children and faulters. She then starts to wonder if her first-love was still alive. But then, her partner Moo-Young (Jun Jin), strikes Min-Woo and knocks him out. They are then able to escape.

The drama unfolds as bits and pieces of thier childhood comes back and how it is inter-twined with their adult lives and what part of fate and destiny becomes reality. Lots of action, suspense, drama, and, of course, romance.

Jo Hyun Jae

This is the first drama I've seen with this actor. I was pleasantly impressed and look forward to seeing more from him.

Jun Jin

OMG! I could not find an ugly picture of him. I'm putting him second in line to my Bi (Rain). Gorgeous. Mmm, mmm! Jeon Jin, Jun Jin, or however you want to spell his name is a member of the Korean supergroup Shinhwa. JJ played the part of Moo-young so well that I never would have guessed that he was actually a member of a boy band, let alone the rapper of the group. LOL! Wow! I'm hooked for this guy and I've already started my photo collection. *wink, wink*

Park Joon Seok

He was a little scary lookin' in the drama Nine Tailed Fox but as I viewed many a picture of him online discovered he is quite nice looking...hehe.

Uhm Tae Woong

I just did a search on Tae-woong and found some interesting shows I'd like to see from him. One, My Love, is a movie about 4 couples who fall in love. Anyway, Tae-woong played the role of Sa-joon in Nine Tailed Fox. His role was pretty much guardian/big brother to Si-yon. You couldn't help but feel sorry for him because of the part he was given. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. He had me convinced in his adversity to his duty and his friendship to Moo-young. He did a great job. And, yes, he was cute to look at too.