Muoi: The Legend of A Portrait

((summary taken from AsianMediaWiki))

 Yoon-hee, a novelist, desperately seeks for a new story and that’s when she hears from Seo-yeon, her friend in Vietnam, a very tempting story about a legend of Muoi’s portrait. A long time grudge makes Yoon-hee hesitate to go to Vietnam to meet Seo-yeon. However, fascinated by sources of the portrait Seo-yeon incessantly sends her, Yoon-hee heads for Vietnam to unveil a century-long legend of the portrait. Yoon-hee is stunned by Seo-yeon’s dazzling look never seen before but is readily welcomed by her friend. As Yoon-hee unveils the mystery of Muoi, Vietnam, seemingly an exotic place, turns into a setting of a living nightmare, and the secret of Muoi in buried as if never to be revealed.

Love So Divine

((summary taken from AsianMediaWiki))

A young priest falls in love with a chic young woman! Not the typical plot for a romantic comedy (especially by Western standards), this one finds a young Catholic priest having a difficult time choosing between his religious calling and the charms of a sexy parishioner. Yu (Kwon) is a serious young man who has always worked towards his life ambition... to serve God as a Catholic priest. When he gets assigned to a small church in rural Korea, Kyu meets the Pastor's niece, Bong-Hee who has just come back from the United States... You know what happens next.

Secret

((summary taken from AsianMediaWiki))
Lun (Jay Chou) lives with his father, Chiu (Anthony Wong), the music teacher of Tamkang Secondary School. Both of them are very good at music and piano. This is the first day Lun admitted to Tamkang Secondary School. When he walks through the campus with his classmates, a mysterious piano solo draws his attention. He follows the song and finds that an ethereal girl is playing piano in the old music room.

The piano girl is Yu (Guey Lun-Mei), one of Lun's classmates. She is always late for school and hence sits next to Lun at the back row. The two become intimate friends and spend a lot of time together. "What's the melody you played the first day we met?" asked Lun, "That's my secret." Yu whispered in his ear.

As the graduation day approaches, Yu decides to tell Lun her secret...

Prince Turns to Frog (30 Episodes)

(EPISODE 01-30)

((summary taken from azntv))

  Prince Who Turns To Frog / 王子變青蛙 / Wang Zi Bian Qing Wa

The fairy tale goes... After the princess kissed the frog, it turned into a handsome prince and they lived happily ever after...

Yeah...right.

When you visit a little town called Guan Mei, you may meet Ye Tian-Yu (Chen Qiao En). At first glance, she may seem as a shameless, money-grubbing, deceiving little schemer. And when you meet her family at their little grocery store called "Qian Lai Ye" (Money c'mon in), you will find the shameless, money-grubbing, deceiving little schemer trait runs in the family. But, please don't prejudge them. They are actually very kind-hearted townsfolk, as Shan Jun-Hao (Ming Dao) finds out when he gets involved in a mysterious car accident and loses his memory.

Okay, fine. The accident is not so accidental.

Shan Jun-Hao is a general manger of Senwell Hotel, in which his family owns 60% of the shares. His cold-hearted, cut-throat management style pisses quite a lot of people inside and outside of the hotel. So on the day of his engagement to his childhood friend, Fan Yun-Xi (Zhao Hong Qiao), he gets kidnapped. Not someone who takes it lying down, he fights for the control of the kidnapping car. The car crushes into a side railing and falls down a cliff. Luckily, he survives the crash and manages to climb back up onto the highway. Unfortunely, he is immediately hit by an oncoming car and knocked unconscious.

And, who hit him? A little hint: The guilty party takes him home, finds out his memory is lost (Hence, not remembering who he is, and most importantly, not remembering she hit him), and recruits him to work in her family grocery store.

Whispering Corridors

Ahh, the movie that started it all. Normally, I probably would have been blown away by the unique and awesome-ness of this movie... but seeing as how I watched this entire series backwards, I was less impressed with this one as I was with most of the sequels it spawned.

The power of this particular horror movie, however, is the fact that it eventually ends up making sense. So often, in these type of movies, the ending is ambiguous or confusing, or just plain stupid. Here it is neither. The twist is actually pretty creative, and hard to figure out... especially since the director tries a lot of different things in order to make sure it comes off as a surprise. And there are enough moments (though there could always be more) that had me jumping in my seat. The girls at this school (as opposed to, say, Memento Mori) are actually interesting and broad enough to keep the viewers interest. None of them come off as carbon copies of the others, and seem very... normal. Typical high schoolers you could find in just about any school.

And again, we are shown very evil, almost sadistic teachers, which almost seems to be a theme in this particular series. If this is the way Korean schools were/are run, then something definitely needs to be done... no wonder so many dead-students come back as ghosts... heck, I'd be pissed too!

And yet... I still wasn't overly impressed with it. I had very high expectations going in which may have ruined it for me... and some of the effects were cheesy and overly-common by today's horror-movie standards. But if you normally get scared easily, and go into this one not expecting much, then you may actually end up liking it a lot. It's a decent horror movie (and not just because of the ghost-killings) so I can see why it inspired many others of this genre... but in the end, it's semi-forgettable, and has trouble measuring up to its sequels. At least in my opinion... which, again, doesn't say much.

My Rating:

Whispering Corridors 2: Memento Mori

I have to say… honestly, this was my least favorite out of all the movies in this series. It was a decent watch, but as far as terror/horror/chills went, it was extremely low. For once, it seems they were more interested in developing/explaining the story, than making a movie that’s scary—and frankly, the story wasn’t even that interesting. It was confusing and hard to follow (like all of these usually are, lol) and the motivation for the girl haunting the school was really lame.

I honestly don’t have much to say about this movie: it wasn’t scary, the story was boring, and there were many unlikable characters—(what kind of teachers do they have at this school, anyway?!)—and there’s only one death throughout the whole thing! And despite an interesting premise (I LOVE the idea of the haunted diary) they didn’t use it to its full potential. They focused on the story behind the diary rather than letting the diary unleash horror and mayhem on the students at this school. And one student has it throughout the entire movie, obsessing over it… I wish it would have been passed around, and affected everyone. SOOO disappointing!!!

To give it credit, it does try to tackle an interesting topic that I’m not used to seeing in Korean film—homosexual relationships between female students at an all-girls school. And they portrayed it in an interesting (if not overly disturbing way). But because of this obsessed focus, there was no real, genuine horror… and that’s supposed to be this movie’s staple! This movie would have worked as an independent drama or even a romance... but as a horror movie, I'm sad to say, it just didn't succeed.

I just didn’t find this scary in the least. The third movie in this series was WAY better.

(Though, on another note: it was fun seeing the lead actress from Hello, My Teacher and Let’s Go to School Sang-Doo as a teenager. Plus, I found it funny how her character was known for having a HUGE/unnatural crush on her teacher… which, interestingly enough, is basically how Hello, My Teacher starts, lol. Also, (imo) she looks way better with long hair!)

My Rating:

The Bad Guy

Wow. I’m really not sure what I was expected to take away from this movie. How brutal, twisted, and ugly love can be? Something like that? Whatever the message, I guess I’m an idiot because I had trouble seeing it. And if that was the only message… well, I already knew all that… I certainly didn’t need to watch a girl becoming an unwilling prostitution in order to understand such a thing.

It was hard and disturbing to watch… and I’m afraid I had trouble understanding the motivations for both the main character and the college-girl-turned-hooker… especially towards the end. They were both full of contradictions, so I wasn’t sure which part of their personalities I could believe was ‘real’—if any facets of them were. Perhaps that’s where the two-way mirror comes in—playing with the idea that nobody really knows who they are—that we only see what we want to see. And of course there had to be something about reflections in there—like, when they broke the mirror together, our sense of reality was shifted or reversed, and we were shown an alternate reality where they were happy being ‘bad’—or being bad was ‘good’.

Haha, yeah, I know it’s a HUGE stretch. Plus it sounds shallow and stupid… but my mind is like mush right now... but at least trying to find meaning where there is none, is fun, right?! ;)

The play on the photographs, however, was really intriguing and interesting… especially the way he superimposed the main characters face using the mirror. And the woman with the red dress was a strong visual: I have little doubt in my mind they were headed down the same path as her. After all, no story like this could possibly end happily, right?

…Right???

What it comes down to though, is that I’m not really sure what I should be taking away from this movie—what I should feel.

Disgusted? Angry? Annoyed? Disturbed? Pity?

Well, at least it got me thinking and questioning things… that’s a vast improvement over my initial reaction. But I still think it was lacking something: I wasn’t blown away like with Crocodile or 3 Iron. But I guess the film wasn’t too “bad”… (haha, yay for crappy puns). In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think there’s more to the plot than my simple mind is able to comprehend.

At least I hope there is… otherwise, this was nothing but a glorified porno with an abundance of mirror motifs. =P

My Rating:

The Host

I’m not normally a fan of “monster” movies… they usually lack originality, believability, and likable, sympathetic characters. Plus, the monsters almost always look fake and ridiculous.

The Host, however, made me rethink the monster genre completely! The entire film was so well done I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Maybe because the movie revolves around the rescue of a child… so you really want the heroes to succeed. All the characters were interesting and had depth: I loved how they all seemed so distant at the beginning of the movie, only to become unbelievably close in the face of the crisis. It was really inspirational…and sad. One of the most heart-breaking scenes in the whole movie is the beginning, when they all come together to mourn Heon Sae who they think has died. When they lose it and start rolling around on the floor, fighting and throwing blame… it manages to be funny and extremely sad, all at the same time… it’s such a great, powerful scene.

And considering the plot, everything was actually very believable—if a mutant monster was ever created through dangerous toxic waste, I can imagine it behaving/looking a lot like the creature in this movie. I was surprised how realistic it looked, and how creepy it could be—I definitely wouldn’t want to go up against that thing!! The human reaction too, was very strong—the initial curiosity, which quickly turns to disbelief, fear, and panic—it was perfect. I loved how the crowd was originally throwing it food, and treating it like it was harmless… if a situation like this ever happened, I’d bet money people would be acting exactly this way!

It was all very believable… right up to the way everyone who came in contact with it was quarantined and isolated. Even the American government stepped in, and managed to screw things up.

I just loved the main family. Every single one of them was likeable, and the way they banned together in order to save their youngest was inspirational and beautiful. We can only hope our own families would go to such lengths during a tragedy, and do so fearlessly and bravely. I cried so much for them… I almost wanted to dislike them, so that it wouldn’t be so painful to watch. Truthfully, this was like a really well thought-out, acted, and directed revenge-and-rescue drama. The only difference is that the foe they’re facing is a freaky, killer monster… and their own government.

I really can’t stop gushing about this movie. It quickly became a favorite of mine, and is one that I wouldn’t mind watching again and again. Perhaps it’s because my expectations were so low to start with… but whatever the reason, this is a terrific film.

I really think this is a movie that almost anyone would enjoy. So trust me and watch it, okay! I promise that in the end, it’s more than just a “monster” movie. ;)

My Rating:

Spy Girl

Wow. Not even Gong Yoo could save this movie. The story was sooo boring… and there wasn’t even one real conflict throughout the entire movie! Even the way it was narrated was disappointing: it begins from Go Bong's point of view, and not even half-way through the movie, suddenly switches to the spy’s perspective instead. (You’d think it would be more interesting that way… but surprisingly enough, it's not!)

Normally, I'd be okay with this type of shift, but these characters are both so dull that jumping between their narrations is unnecessary, distracting, and pointless.

And, really! How can a spy be so uninteresting? Even her mission lacks everything that makes a spy intriguing... there's no danger, no mystery, no suspense. This is a movie, isn't it? Even if spies aren’t that interesting in real life, writers and directors are allowed to ‘spice it up’ for entertainment’s sake, right? I mean, there’s only so much espionage that can go down at a Burger King...

For a majority of the movie, she’s so wrapped up in her boring undercover-role that we rarely get to see her being kick-ass and cool (something She's On Duty accomplishes continuously and without effort). I think she goes into spy-mode perhaps once or twice throughout the entire film… and even then, its not impressive. She’s a good actress (I’ve seen her in several other things—including the drama, Taste Sweet Love/ Snow White) but in this movie, she really doesn’t have much to work with.

(If spy movies were always depicted this way, I think the espionage profession would dry out.)

As for the romance… I’m truthfully at a loss… there was no chemistry whatsoever. This alone is very rare, since Gong Yoo is known for making his co-stars shine when it comes to romantic scenes (of course, this film didn’t really have any, so it’s not really his fault). We’re talking about a character whose entire idea of romance involves buying his girlfriend a tube of lipstick… and then telling her shyly that he wants her to put it on and then kiss him. I just found that weird and almost fetish-like: next thing you know, he’ll tell her he just wants to smell her feet…

Gong Yoo is SOOO much better when he’s playing a cool character, like in She’s on Duty. Here, Go Bong (his name being one of the only funny jokes in this movie) is so average and uninteresting that anyone could have played him. Don’t get me wrong, the acting here was still great… but the characters, the script, the directing… everything was so bland, it didn’t matter. Nothing could have saved it!

It’s a great concept… just horrible execution.

So in conclusion, don’t waste your time with this movie.

There are many more just like it that are better written, have interesting characters, and involve an actual plot. If you’re a fan of Gong Yoo and just want to watch this for him… go ahead, but don’t expect to be constantly swooning. The opening scene alone shows him on a toilet, taking a dump—and not many of his other scenes will make your heart race, if you know what I mean. Though he does look cute when he's dressed like a spy. ^_^

My Rating:

Crocodile (Ag-o)

((summary taken from IMDB))

Violent thug Crocodile lives under a bridge by the Han River in Seoul together with a peddling boy and a homeless old man. Crocodile saves a beautiful young woman Hyun-Jung from suicide by drowning, but only to use her for sex. Yet, for some reason the woman, betrayed by her lover, stays with Crocodile, and a peculiar family-like friendship forms between the four homeless people. Crocodile gets in ever deeper trouble because of his mindlessly violent temper, and eventually Hyun-Jung decides to attempt suicide again.

Bloody Beach

haha. Wow. hehe, I loved this.

Truthfully, there is absolutely nothing new in this movie: it's extremely typical as far as teen-slasher films go. So don't expect to watch a life-altering Korean version that sets out to revolutionize the psycho-killer movie franchise.

Like all films of its kind, it has all the necessary ingredients--sex, violent deaths, an isolated setting, and the ever popular "oh, no! The killer's among us!"--just think I Know What You Did Last Summer or the Scream movies, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

So, no. Bloody Beach is not anything new, or dare I say, creative.

Again, the only reason I loved it as much as I did was because of the Jae Hee fan in me. If you're not a huge, obsessed fan-girl, then you're better off skipping this movie altogether--unless you happen to be a horror-movie junkie--in which case, knock yourself out! Just be aware: this entire movie screams American influence, so you really won't see anything new.

Everyone else, don't bother. ;)

This is actually the first Korean teen-slasher film I've ever seen... and I doubt I'll go out of my way to watch more (unless they're starring Jae Hee). Of course, going into this, I had absolutely no expectations-- I thought Jae Hee would be killed within the first 15 minutes! The fact that he wasn't is what kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time--just waiting to see how he'd die. And even though I guessed the ending half-way thru (I was so satisfied with the end, lol) it didn't bother me at all!

Overall: sure, there's nothing new here... but it still manages to be pretty entertaining. And any Jae Hee fan out there will be more than satisfied. ^_^

And I know I've said it once, but I feel the need to say it again: Holy crap, he's hot.

(Unfortunately, this really will be the final Jae Hee entry for awhile... the only other movie he's made that I haven't seen yet still hasn't been released in Korea. But the minute it is, and the subtitles are up, you can rest assured, I'll be there!)

My Rating: