Another Oh Hae Young Review

Title: Another Oh Hae Young

AKA: Oh Hae Young Again / Another Miss Oh / Misunderstood

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Fantasy

Episodes: 18

Broadcast period: 2016-May to 2016-Jul

Cast: Eric, Seo Hyun Jin and Jun Hye Bin.

Park Do Kyung (Eric) is a popular sound director, famous for his skills and temper. One year ago, he was dumped by his fiancé Oh Hae Young (Jun Hye Bin) on his wedding day: he then finds out that it was overheard that she is about to get married to someone else, and in a drunken frenzy decides to ruin her wedding, by ruining her fiancé.  

Sometime late he starts to see weird things: visions of a girl he had never met before. And as fate has it he bumps into her, and her name happens to be Oh Hae Young (Seo Hyun Jin). One day before her wedding, Oh Hae Young was dumped by her fiancé. Embarrassed by it, she lies to her friends and family that she was the one cancelling it. Even though she gets criticized by everyone, she firmly keeps her story like that and pretends she is okay with it.

At first Do Kyung is intrigued, but when he finds out that the fiancé he ruined was the wrong Oh Hae Young, he tries to avoid her. But fate has different plans as she moves in next door…

The more Korean dramas I watch, the more I realize that they are quite the same. So, I kind of get why it is hard to come up with good drama plots. This drama though has something special about it. Not just the cast, but the entire plot is well thought of. It has a surprising element which doesn’t make it a typical love story: which is the vision part. I know I didn’t explain it much in the summary, but it adds nice flair to the fantasy genre.

Eric has never left me with a bad drama, but this one is probably his best yet. The two female leads are regular, though not bad.

So, to sum up: a great drama with a good plot and good acting.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Kamji’s Verdict: 

I gotta say, did NOT expect this kind of drama. Reading the plot in the beginning, made me really hesitant about it, but I really wanted to see Eric’s drama. I started it with a mindset that I would drop it as soon as I lost interest in it. Now, I’m just too sad I won’t be seeing it the next few weeks. Yes, I loved it, it blew me away. The twisted plot, the explosive acting from the whole cast, the beautiful cinematography, yes, everything about it. What makes this stand out a lot, is how unusually the story unfolds compared to other dramas. It’s a rare jewel amongst all the other dramas there is. Yes, I’m looking forward to Eric’s next project!!

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Discovery of Romance Review

Title: Discovery of Romance

AKA: Discovery of Love

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama

Episodes: 16

Broadcast period: 2014-Aug to 2014-Oct

Cast: Eric, Jung Yoo Mi, Sung Joon, Yoon Jin Yi, Yoon Hyun Min and Kim Seul Gi.

After dating five years Kang Tae Ha (Eric) and Han Yeo Reum (Jung Yoo Mi) suddenly break up, leaving Tae Ha wondering why and unable to move on. Yeo Reum on the other hand moved on and started dating Nam Ha Jin (Sung Joon), and has the upper hand in the relationship, not letting Ha Jin get away with anything.  After the messy break-up the two didn’t meet again, but when Yeo Reum finds out that Ha Jin is on a blind date behind her back, she follows him to the hotel, and by chance of fate she happens to sit down opposite of Tae Ha. This leads to a twirl of misunderstandings and fights, and eventually the two go their different ways.

Still unaware why Yeo Reum broke up with him, Tae Ha decides to hire Yeo Rum to do the furniture of his new company, in order to find out why she broke up with him. Yeo Reum on the other hand hates Tae Has guts, and refuses to work with him first, but due to her debt she reluctantly agrees. Not wanting to marry Ha Jin while having a debt, she starts working with Tae Ha, but refuses to tell Ha Jin about Tae Ha, much to Tae Has amusement… What’s going to happen?

Sorry for the kind of dull summary, but it really is better - honestly.

The drama is very good actually. From the actors, to screenplay, and all the way to the dialogues, the entire drama is very well written and portrayed. I like the comedy, the sass and the sarcasm, even the retributions, which by the way are quite reasonable. It is not a drama with shocking twists and family drama, rather a story of lovers, and how life actually is - with of course really good looking and rich male leads. (LOL)

All actors are great, and they really are good at portraying these characters, as if they are them. Also the dialogues are so well written that I was excited while watching, because you really do need a bit of reality as well as sass in order to make it interesting.

But that’s it. There is nothing else; it does not have the extra umph, or the extra fluttering or complications. I don’t know, it is a good drama but kind of ends there, no more.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Strongest Chil Woo Review

Title: Strongest Chil Woo

AKA: Choi Kang Chil Woo / The Mighty Chil Woo

Genre: Period, Historical fiction, Action, Drama

Episodes: 20

Broadcast period: 2008-Jun to 2008-Aug

Cast: Eric Mun, Koo Hye Sun, Yoo Ah In, Lee Un, Juh Noh Min, Im Ha Ryong and Kim Byul.

Choi Chil Woo (Eric Mun) is the son of a revolutionist who dedicated his life to change the views on children form concubines, and the general view of slaves and noblemen. After hitting on the “Shinmoon drum” - the appeal hearing drum - which any civilian who wants to appeal any wrong in Joseon Palace, he is, with his followers, tortured and thrown out of the city. Together with his followers Chil Woos father, makes a new town, where status isn’t the core of rule. Shortly after, the town is raided and everyone is killed, except Chil Woo, his friend and Chil Woos his younger sister, Woo Young.

Years pass and Chil Woo is now the son of a Najang (like a police officer of a sort) and has become one too. He lives life by just living, meaning he tries not to get involved with anyone or anything - basically living under the radar. When Woo Young’s foster father is killed, and Woo Young tries to figure out the cause, she is killed in the process, due to a piece of paper everyone wants to have.

The death of sister changes Chil Woos views on the world, and decides to become an ‘avenger’ - an assassin - starting with his sister’s killer. Soon he meets other people thinking like him, and they start to fight the unfairness to the Joseon time, which law can’t fix.

Dear lord, are they serious?! I mean the beginning was great, heck even made me teary, but what happened omg… The storyline is good, the acting is decent, but what’s with the tacky costumes and lousy fighting sequences? Lol, like really. This could have been a really good drama if just they had stayed in the realistic genre. Though, I have to say that of the fair share of Korean historical/period drama this is most genuine towards the situation in the Joseon time. It doesn’t show the romantic view of Joseon, which in reality is much tougher and unfair. This drama shows the difference between noble and non-noble folks, the view of human value, the roles of women, and the true face of kings or just people with the power. That is the reason I’m giving it some stars, also because of the storyline, which I liked and it did entertain me for 20 episodes.

If you are considering it, I’ll just let you know that the beginning is the long tacky part, later on it becomes hardcore, with the entire heist gone haywire, and the assassination of the Crown Prince and all…

☆☆½ / 2½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Bystanders Movie Review

Title: Bystanders
AKA: Diary of June
Genre: Detective
Origin: Korean
Release date: 01 December 2005
Cast: Shin Eun Kyung, Eric Moon, Yoo Joon Sang and Yunjin Kim

Cho Ja Young (Shin Eun Kyung) a loud and proud police woman is senior in the second crime division. She has a younger rookie partner Kim Dong Wook (Eric Moon) who seems a bit lazy but in fact is good at what he does. When they one day get called on their day off, to apparent suicide by a high school student. But when a mystical capsule is discovered in an autopsy, in the belly of the student, stating that he had killed someone. This someone is a student at the same school who was murdered on a bridge sometime prior the suicide. Ja Young and Dong Wook link them together, but something doesn’t seem to add up, and when another capsule is found in the murdered victim stating that the student who killed himself didn’t actually do so, but was made to look like that, it becomes a case of a serial killer…

This movie revolves around one of the few subjects I don’t like: Bullying. And this movie has some severe bullying to do with. For a movie that is 7 years old, I feel that it is really interesting, and has some pretty reasonable sides to it - like the dilemmas in the movie are still present today, which makes it a classic (though not completely). I love Eric Moon and I was afraid that I might have been biased while watching it, but I really didn’t see any flaw in his acting, though the lead actress sometimes seemed to either overact or just wasn’t in the ‘right mood’. But the two, the duo, they are genius. Like these to personalities and their teamwork is brilliant! Wish there was more :)
It’s not one of those “omg” movies, but it has a lot of either creepy or sad moments, ocassionally freaky.. I recommend honestly!

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Que Sera, Sera Review

Title: Que Sera, Sera

Episodes: 17

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama

Broadcast period: 2007-Mar to 2007-May

Cast: Eric, Jung Yoo Mi, Yoon Ji Hye and Lee Kyu Han

Kang Tae Joo (Eric) is a playboy, who targets rich woman that are soon to get married. That way he’s sure not to get too involved with the girl, and he’ll get something out of it as well. One day he returns from a date, and is met by Han Eun Soo (Jung Yoo Mi), sleeping in front of his door. He wakes her up, only to be attacked by her, accusing him of being a human trafficker. After a lot of misunderstandings and finally clearing them, it is found out that they live next door to one another. The two start to get an understanding for each other, and even end up dating, due to Eun Soo’s persistentness and one-sided love, but Tae Joo’s personality cant change that fast, and breaks up with her, to be Cha Hye Lin’s (Yoo Ji Hye) a chaebols daughter, prentend-boyfriend. Things get out of hand when Eun Soo starts dating Shin Joon Hyuk (Lee Kyu Han), her boss, also Hye Lin’s ex, and Tae Joo starts to get jealous…

I can’t really explain this drama, it one heavy crazy ass drama, but somehow very likable. I think it’s because it's continued, and really goes all out. Like the moments you think it’s finished, it continues, and the moment you think that they are going to be together, it never seems to happen. The drama is very adult, very Korean classic, and very very realistic, though you might disagree with me, I firmly believe that no one would cancel a wedding to be with someone who hurt you several times. I love Eric Moon, there I said it! And I really hope he’ll do more dramas…

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts