The Legend of the Blue Sea Review

Title: The Legend of the Blue Sea

AKA: Remember the Blue Sea

Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Comedy

Episodes: 20

Broadcast Period: Nov-2016 to Jan-2017

Cast: Jun Ji Hyun, Lee Min Ho, Lee Hee Joon, Shin Won Ho, Lee Ji Hoon, Hwang Shin Hye, Shin Hye Sun, 

Sometime during August, 1598, newly appointed governor Dam Ryung (Lee Min Ho) stays for a night at an inn run by Mr. Yang (Sung Dong Il). During that evening, Mr. Yang shows Dam Ryung a captured mermaid named Sim Chung (Jun Ji Hyun). Later that night, Dam Ryung releases her into the ocean and, before she swims away, Sim Chung reaches out her hand to Dam Ryung which he briefly holds.

In the present day, Joon Jae (Lee Min Ho) is a smooth talking conman with magician like abilities. He works with Nam Doo (Lee Hee Joon) and Tae Oh (Shin Won Ho). For their next score, Joon Jae impersonates a prosecutor and swindles a large amount of money from a wealthy suspect's mother. Joon Jae then travels abroad and stays at an oceanside resort. Meanwhile, Sim Chung is swept up in a tidal wave and washed ashore near the oceanside resort.

It has been a while ago since I watched this drama, and my review was half finished, so I’m just going to try and sum up what I feel about it with the memory of it. I can already now say that it didn’t have an exceptional impact on me. It had the same feeling over it like  My Love From Another Star, and since it’s the same actress too, Jun Ji Hyun, I kinda expected something different. But I guess these kind of roles are her expertise, so she stays in the same lane. Lee Min Ho, I don’t know what to say, individually he didnt impress me, but as a couple with Jun Ji Hyun I kind of enjoyed their chemistry and humour. So I would say what saved him was his co-actors too, the 2 other conmans. One thing that stood out in this drama, was the beautiful cinematography, that I enjoyed for sure. I know this drama was really popular, but for me it didn’t hit all my expectations.

☆☆☆ ½ / 3½  out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Running Man Movie Review

Title: Running Man
Genre: action, comedy
Origin: South Korea
Release date: April 14, 2013
Cast: Shin Ha Kyun, Lee Min Ho, Kim Sang Ho, Jo Eun Ji, Oh Jung Se, Joo Hyun, Jung Suk Yong, Kim Eui Sung, Park Sang Wook . . .

 Cha Jong Woo (Shin Ha Kyun) is a former criminal, a pretty small criminal, who got a son as an 18 year old. Now his son, Cha Gi Hyuk (Lee Min Ho), is a high schooler and Jong Woo works as both a cab driver and a mechanic at an auto repair garage, to supply for them. One night while driving cab a costumer jumps into his cab and offers him great money. Jong Woo blinded by easy money offers to be the costumer's driver and gives him his number. They make a stop at a place and while the costumer is out to ship something, Jong Woo goes to the bathroom. He returns to the cab and the costumer is in the car waiting. So they head on to the next destination. They arrive at a parking lot and Joong Won notices that the costumer is not awake, so he gets out to help him thinking he is drunk or so. But then he suddenly sees that the costumer is dead. Right at that moment a security guard passes by and sees that something is wrong. This whole thing even got filmed by the CCTV and Jong Woo is now the prime suspect. He starts running away and soon recieves a weird message, from the dead costumer's phone, the picture of the Eiffel Tower. This picture is worth more than he thinks and he is now chased by both the police and a group of men trying to get his phone.

I reeeallly enjoyed this movie. It is so much fun while still having that thrill. It is sad, serious, thrilling and fun all at once. This movie didn't get very good rating (3 out of 10 by Film Business Asia) which I in one hand understand and in other dont. I think maybe the movie is not on the same level as, let's say Thieves, but it is definetely better than many asian action movies Ive seen! It was exciting and funny the whole time. I really do recommend this movie if you like action, thrill and comedy. Its a movie you would enjoy on a weekend evening. It might not be for those that arent too crazy about the genre. But it worked for me. And the action scenes were quite alright. There was quite a lot of falling and you start thinking shouldnt there be some broken arms/legs by now hahah but there isn't and flying (Thank God!).

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Faith Review

Title: Faith (shinui)

AKA: The Great Doctor

Genre: Historical, romance, time travel, fantasy

Episodes: 24

Broadcast period: 2012-Aug-13 to 2012-Oct-30

Cast: Lee Min Ho, Kim Hee Sun, Yoo Oh Sung, Lee Phillip, Kim Soo Yun, Sung Hoon, Shin Eun Jung, Jo In Pyo, Choi Suk Jin, Hwang Woo Yun, Ryu Duk Hwan, Park Se Young, Lee Byung Joon, Kim Mi Kyung, Kwon Min, Park Yoon Jae aso..

The Queen’s life is in danger, she was hurt while people were after the King. The Woo Dal Chi general Choi Young (Lee Min Ho) has been ordered to go through the Heaven’s Door and get the famous doctor Hwata, who once before came to their world to heal. And so does Choi Young, he goes through the door and arrives, but not to heaven, but rather the future. Here he somehow finds his way around and spots a woman, a doctor. Yoo Eun Soo (Kim Hee Sun) is a doctor, but a doctor who retired from being a general surgeon and instead took on plastic surgery. Eun Soo is literally dragged by Choi Young, back in time, where she has to use her medical skills to save the Queen. But what happens when it is ordered for Eun Soo to stay, and will Choi Young be able to keep his “Woo Dal Chi” promise of returning her?

I am quite unsatisfied by my own review. I often am but this I seriously should do better. I have a really tough time conveying to you the story, the plot, without telling you everything. It’s actually much much better than I thought it would be. I was struggling so much with the two first episodes actually. It just seemed sooo.. ridiculous. I was asking “seriously…?” all the way through. The reason? Well, they have “superpowers” of some sort, and it was already enough with the time travel, I was thinking it should stop there. But I really wanted to give it a chance, since it’s lee min ho, of course. Plus somehow Lee Min Ho’s acting seemed a bit stiff at first, maybe because of the character. So as I was complaining to Bunji how ridiculous it was and I thought it would seriously be good (because of tumblr) she told me these magical words “Ano san, trust Lee Min Ho, he wouldn’t choose a crappy drama right? And think about Secret Garden, did the portion/body switch make it a bad drama?” , or something like that. So I thought “That’s right!” and I’m really glad I gave it a shot because I am actually really satisfied by this drama. It actually worked out really well. And I really liked the romance too. And it also managed to keep me curious and hoping aaaalll the time, till the last scene in the last episode I was hoping so much and right when you think it’s over, what a crappy ending, it gets that last twist and boom. Nice ending. And the nice thing too is that it somehow in my opinion wasn’t even too much. It was “ttak” perfect. Kim Hee Sun was really cute too. Btw, this drama is also about the making of a king, and all the mess in the palace. Which I actually reeeally hate but it’s in most historical dramas, but I liked it here. 

☆☆☆☆ / 4 stars out of 5

♥♥♥♥  / 4 hearts out of 5

Bunji's Verdict

I’ve already wended my frustration of this drama to Jenji, but here we go. This drama is period drama with a capital P. Like I used all my energy to really understand this drama, and you somehow do, but damn it’s so political, and if you are like me, disliking period dramas, this one is going to fry your brain. I like history and I love that this drama is somewhat true to the real historical part, but this is just I don’t know, period to the bone. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but just, well not my cup of tea completely. I have to admit, this is Lee Min Ho’s best acting - very close to Personal Taste - but yet I guess cold attitude and the old formal Korean suits him more. I didn’t like Kim Tae Hee, not because of her character or even because of her being opposite Min Ho, it was more her acting - totally reminds you of the mid 20s kind of drama - not the best kind. The couple didn’t really have any chemistry honestly, I preferred to second couple, the one that didn’t even have a kiss scene, the King and the Queen, looked forward to every minute of their romance. And I loved the King; just the way the character was portrayed was amazing. The drama is interesting and action packed, so it isn’t lacking. All in all, it’s and okay drama, actually recommendable.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Mackerel Run Review

Title: Mackerel Run
AKA: Run! Mackerel / Go Mackerel / Dal Go
Genre: Comedy, Drama, High School
Episodes: 8
Broadcast period: 2007-May to 2007-Jun
Cast: Lee Min Ho, Moon Chae Won, Kwon Se In and Jung Yoon Jo.

Cha Dong Chan (Lee Min Ho) loves soccer, except for that and fighting, he is bad at everything else. As he finally gets the chance to play, he ruins it because of his temper, and even though it’s not his fault, he’s blamed for it. The school he is part of is a prestigious school, also a corrupt school that favors rich kids over the poor. Dong Chan happens to be poor, so no matter what happens he’s blamed, well, the fact that he is bad student doesn’t really help him either.
After being kicked out of the soccer team and being mistreated by his homeroom teacher, he is told that its better he writes a resignation letter than being thrown out. As he hands in the letter, a new classmate joins, Min Yoon Seo (Moon Chae Won), the girl he fell in love with after she head butted him like his idol Zidane did in 2006. He decides to stay, but gets warned by the homeroom teacher, if he gets one more absent day, he’s out. By trying his best to not make any fuss, he un-deliberately gets in the middle of it.
When the soccer star Baek Hyun (Kwon Se In), who has a past with Yoon Seo, tries to win her back, Dong Chan is in crisis, also the hot-blooded class president Yoon Sae Mi (Jung Yoon Jo) seems to have found an love interest in Dong Chan, which Dong Chan can’t comprehend..

Aish, really disappointing.. I for the first time rooted for the supporting actress with all my might, and for some weird and silly reason he chooses the lead. Okay, I knew he liked her, but why on earth did the director focus so much time (7 episodes to be exact) showing how good the lead actress and the supporting actor are? What struck me, which I really still can’t find a meaning in, is when the hell did she fall for the lead actor? I really preferred the supporting actress, she had more character, and really liked her with the lead actor, why the director made more screen time for them, if they weren't going to end up together, simply can’t get into my brain.. Seriously..
It was so good, and then this happened.. tsk..

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥½ / 2½ out of 5 hearts

City Hunter Review

Title: City Hunter
Genre: Action, suspense, romance
Episodes: 20
Broadcast period: 2011-May to 2011-Jul
Cast: Lee Min Ho, Park Min Young anad Lee Joon Hyuk.

After the political murder of his fellow comrades, Lee Jin Pyo (Kim Sang Joong) kidnaps the child of the comrade that saved his life, to train him to execute his revenge against the politicians who ordered the murder.
20 year old Poo Chai (Lee Min Ho) finds out about this when he one day almost dies from a mine, but is saved by his foster father, Jin Pyo. He decides to follow his father’s revenge plan, to put down the 5 men responsible for the murder of his biological father.
When he returns as Lee Yoon Sung to Korea, after 7 years in America, he is asked for help by Bae Man Deok (Kim Sang Ho) his friend, who asks him to look after Kim Na Na (Park Min Young), for unknown reasons. Na Na happens to work as a security guard at the Blue House where Poo Chai starts his revenge plan. But it won’t be as easy as that; prosecutor Kim Young Joo (Lee Joon Hyuk), a righteous man is on his trail, using every means to catch him…

Ah, buyaa.. Making such an awesome climax, and end it with the weirdest ending.. At least he could have hugged her or something… tsk, Koreans… Anyhow, the drama is neat, no doubt about that, I think I liked most of it… There were spots where I went like almost pulling my hair out of shock, or biting my nails till blood. But as a whole, the drama just felt a bit empty, hallow to be exact. Lee Min Ho = Daebak, Park Min Young = brilliant, but the screen-couple just didn’t get enough to make them seem in love. Besides the fact that they kept repeating that they love each other, and the fact that the kept going on with the ‘I’m too dangerous for you’, there was not as much chemistry. But daiim, both are damn talented in crying scenes, there are TONS of them..
All in all great action drama, not so great romance drama…

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict
I liked it. I liked it a lot. Yeah i know bad ending (except for the fighting scene O.O) but still i liked it. And yeah Lee Min Ho got something to do with it but still. It was interesting and exciting and awesome fighting scenes and good looking (mildly said) guy. Yes i agree the love story was a bit like "ughh.. come on!" and back and forth but it still wasnt that bad. It was a bit weird in the first few eps because like "why does he keep a picture of a young girl he doesnt know" and stuff like that, and some really surprising things you dont expect but a bit over the top i thought lol. But i definitely recommend this its another one of those great action, love, drama dramas >.< 'wondaafuul'!!

☆☆☆☆½ / 4.5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½/ 4.5 out of 5 hearts

Personal Taste Review

Title: Personal Taste
AKA: Personal Preference, Kae In's Taste
Episodes: 16
Genre: Romance, comedy
Broadcast period: 2010-Mar-31 to 2010-May-20
Cast: Son Ye Jin, Lee Min Ho, Kim Ji Suk, Wang Ji Hye, Choi Eun Seo, Im Seul Ong, Jo Eun Ji, Jung Sung Hwa, and MANY more.

Park Kae In is trying to work through her life selling her own designed and made furnitures. She lives in her father's house with her friend Kim In Hee, while her father is in England for some business (he's an architect). Park Kae In has now for a while dated Han Chang Ryul but one day as she attends her friend(Kim In Hee)'s wedding she sees that the groom is her boyfriend Chang Ryul. Later on her other friend finds her a renter as she needs money, but at first she resists but then her friend tells her that he is gay so there wont be any problem. So she agrees and she ends up living with him (Jeon Jin Ho), and he totally turns her life upside down. At first he only wants to move in because of the house her father built, cause he's an architect too.. But later on of course they start liking each other but she still thinks he is gay and he cant blow his cover cause then he'll have to move. But then when he cant take it anymore he tells he aint gay so they can be together but yeah people try to split them up (by people i mean her ex-boyfriend and ex-bestfriend) and then later when everything settles down her father comes back home and then he finds out that Jin Ho stole some blueprints and then says that he only wanted to take advantage of his daughter and then Kae In finds out but she still wants to believe Jin Ho but he cant deny it cause it was his intention at first but then he fell in love with her and so lots of things happen but of course it all ends great. :P

Well i actually liked this drama, it was reeeally funny and had really cute moments and it is 2 people loving each other and fighting for their love, and not like in many other dramas where they dont even know whether they are in love. The only bad thing about it might be that there are soooooo many people involved. I'll try to explain.. u see.. Park Kae In likED Chang Ryul and is having a bit hard time letting go. But he likED her EXbest friend Kim In Hee and now he is back to liking her. But her Exbestfriend Kim In Hee is trying to steal her new "boyfriend" Jin Ho. But Jin Ho is cool and always turns her down cuz he only likes Park Kae In. Now, there is this director at the company where Park Kae In has just been hired, he is gay and likes Jin Ho, and when he found out he was "gay" too he tried to like.. get in a relationship with him, but then Jin Ho can takes it anymore cause he's kinda old and creepy so he tells everyone he isnt gay anyway. But the director is okay cuz he supports him and Park Kae In and tries to help them. Then there is also this girl who has been liking Jin Ho since she was 7. And she even sleeps at his place. Annnd. There is this guy at Jin Ho's company who like her. And Jin Ho's mother doesnt approve of their (Jin Ho and Kae In) relationship.. so im just telling,, its really complicated but worth to watch,, lots of fun..

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Bunji's Verdict:
This is by far one of the best ideas for a drama that I’ve seen in a long time, and it turns out great. Even though I felt this drama was lacking, and I can’t put my finger on what it is, but when I think back on several occasions in the drama, I can’t help myself loving it.
I expected Lee Min Ho to be “Gyu Jin Pyo-like” or me not to be able to differentiate him from that role, but to be honest, he was far more believable as Jin Ho. Okay, yeah I don’t like Boys Before Flowers and I to be honest am an anti-BBF, but Lee Min Ho was pretty amazing as “the Korean Domiyoji”, so I didn’t mind him in BBF. Him acting in such a different character and portraying Jin Ho made me fall for him, like at episode 2.. That has never happened, except for once (hint: Akanishi Jin – though with Akanishi it was crush at first sight).
The female lead, Gae In, was okay. Loved her character, pretty unusual Korean lead, but as she started to “become a woman instead of a girl”, I became a little annoyed.
And I agree with lumpy up there, there are WAAAAAAAY to many involved, and the feelings are swaying WAAAAAY to many times, but heck, the typical Korean story lines are: dislike -> friendship -> interests -> love -> betrayal -> misunderstanding -> explanation -> avoidance -> clearing all the mess. So going all the way, there HAD to be some reasons for the betrayal and explanations, right? What better is there than guy nr 1 loving the male lead, woman nr 1 hating the female lead, guy nr 2 loving the female lead, woman nr 2 loving the male lead, guy nr 3 loving woman nr 2, guy nr 2 hating the male lead and woman nr 1 wanting the male lead. Confused? Hey, I had to read this 6 times...

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts