8/10
Well, we've seen it all before. But how many versions of Hamlet are there. It's not the fact, there is nothing original here, but how it's done. This is done very well. I found it totally compelling from beginning to end.
Yes, there are things you could baulk, the usual plot contrivances. But there are some nice touches too. I guess what's important, is that you care for the characters, and want to know what what's going to happen to them.
Perhaps the idea of a povotol character seeming to reappear was a bit too covinient, but I'll overlook it.
As for the cast, the acting was average at best. That is except for Choi Jae-Won who was wonderful as the childlike Woo-Hyeon.
At the other end of the scale, the most irrating character was Poong-Ho played
by Lee Doll-Hyung. Well at least I found him ammoying when he was crying.
One thing puzzled me. There is a moment in one of the episodes where leading man what happened to her sister, and who is responsible. But later it's as if that never happened.
7/10
I guess you could call this a sex comedy with heart. Decent performances with the best one (albeit over the top, intentionally I would guess) from Sugimoto Aya as the villainous. The lead actor does make some exagerrated facial expressions. But I wonder if that's to do with the manga.
8/10.
I've seen Cha Seung-Won in this, City Hall, and Athena. City Hall was the best drama, but this is his best performance. Kong Hyo-Jin was a good match. As The second leads Yoon Kye-Sang was fine, but Yoo In-Na didn't really impress me.
10/10
A five episode japanese tv adaption of the Raymond Chandler masterpiece.
Tadanobu Asano plays The Marlowe character , and he's terrific in the part. Although obviously he's not called Philip Marlowe here.
When I saw Altman's movie I was not overly happy with the adaption, But I suppose on subsequent rewatches, I've mellowed in my view.
But I prefer this. It even aknowledges the earlier version.
8/10
Wow, his acting really improved since boys over flowers.
I'm not quite sure why I didn't give it a 9 or a 10.
The cast was fine. But I suppose nobody really stood out.
Although if pressed, i'd go for the girl.
A good storyline, which for me resolved itself satisfactorily
I'm still not sure, if they did or did at the end. Yes, they met, but were they both in the car.
10/10
The Acting
A beautiful performance by Kim You-Jung as the childhood version of the lead character. it took me a while to warm to Han Ji-Hye but I did. The two pretty guys do well. As the chief villain, Lee Deok-Hwa is excellent.But besides Kim You-Jung, the best reason for watching this is the delightful Kim Ji-Young.
The story. Well it in the early stages, it reminded me of giant. But then it goes it's own route. If I remember correctly, Giant was more or less a serious drama, wheras this has more light and shade.
9/10
Attractive leads, (although I thought she was too talkitive. But when the story required her to play more serious scenes, and she became less hyper,you might say, I appreciated her acting more. I think though the best perormance came from Jeon No-Min as the brother.
3 part japanese drama. Basically it's about a homeless guy, who helps solve some murders. But of course there is more to it than that. Excellent acting all round.
8/10
8/10
Taiwanese wuxia series. I thought it was from China or Hong kong. I enjoyed it, I liked Dicky Cheung, and Amy Tan the best. Although their hail fellow well met schtick was maybe a bit forced. I mean i liked the scenes . But i guess it just didn't seem totally natural.
"Ho Mei Tin' has such a sweet face, I couldn't really be convinced by her character turning to the dark side. Although when she turned weird looklng that made it easier to accept. I thought the sequence where the four of them were first held caprtive went on a bit too long too.
But still I was thoroughly entertained.
8/10.
As The title character, Song Il Gook is okay didn't make a great impression. He was adequate, but that's really about it. But Luckily he is surrounded by a great cast.
the best were probably
Hu Joon Ho as Hae Mo Su
Oh Yun Soo as Lady Yoo Hwa
Jun Kwang Ryul as King Geum Wa (although I dn't know what the laughing was about.
and the guy who played the prime mininster
But most of the cast were fine.
I liked Han Hye Jin as So Seo No
and Kim Seung Soo as Prince Dae So too, and others too
At first I liked Bae Soo Bin as Sayong, and even thought he might have better in the title role. But Now I think, it was a rather one note performance. I did like the
gay relationship though.
The costumes were magnificent.
The battle scenes were the best I've seen in a korean costume drama. Although it was only from around ep 50 or so, that I thought that.
I'm not sure about the jumping around. If it's for a purpose fine. but some of the time, it seemed to be just for showing off.
Some great horse riding scenes
7/10
This drama looks absolutely stunning.
Hwang Jung-Eum is wonderful in the lead role. For the rest of the cast, I was
impressed by Jung Soo-Young. I'm not sure why I didn't rate this even higher, because it was a good story. It is a serious drama for the most part, but doesn't skimp on humour entirely. Perhaps it had a lack of really good characters.
Birth of a rich man
8/10
If someone was to ask me for a good introduction to Korean drama, This would be the one I'd recommend. It isn't the best. But for me it has what is tops about them ie great characters, good story, and a nice balance between laughter and tears.
favoutite character Boo Tae Hee who starts off as someone who will despise, until you learn she has a heart as big as the ocean.
6/10
A decent remake of the japanese original. Although it's a while since I've seen the latter, i think this one is more sentimental. The cast are fine.,and it's nice to see a korean actress in a leading role with a bit of weight on her. The performance that impressed me the most though was the actor who played Madam Oh. Was there an equivilant of the principal in the japanese version, and did we have a character displaying the reasoning behind the title character's teaching methods. I think the japanese version was tougher. This one seemed to pander more to the audience. In the original, i believe the audience are allowed to make up their own minds about the teacher. Here, we are told that she is a good teacher. She is a more sympathetic character. The teacher doesn't look as forbidding. She has a nicer haircut, and her features are softer. Although perhaps I shouldn't deduct points because of that. It's a slightly different approach to the same character. But for me the japanese actress was more convincing. Would I have given this drama a higher rating if I hadn't seen the original. Was part of the the reason I gave the original an 8 because of the life lessons the teacher imparted. Now when i hear them again, they don't leave the same impression on me. If I watched the japanese version again, would I still give it the same rating.
Well, we've seen it all before. But how many versions of Hamlet are there. It's not the fact, there is nothing original here, but how it's done. This is done very well. I found it totally compelling from beginning to end.
Yes, there are things you could baulk, the usual plot contrivances. But there are some nice touches too. I guess what's important, is that you care for the characters, and want to know what what's going to happen to them.
Perhaps the idea of a povotol character seeming to reappear was a bit too covinient, but I'll overlook it.
As for the cast, the acting was average at best. That is except for Choi Jae-Won who was wonderful as the childlike Woo-Hyeon.
At the other end of the scale, the most irrating character was Poong-Ho played
by Lee Doll-Hyung. Well at least I found him ammoying when he was crying.
One thing puzzled me. There is a moment in one of the episodes where leading man what happened to her sister, and who is responsible. But later it's as if that never happened.
I guess you could call this a sex comedy with heart. Decent performances with the best one (albeit over the top, intentionally I would guess) from Sugimoto Aya as the villainous. The lead actor does make some exagerrated facial expressions. But I wonder if that's to do with the manga.
I've seen Cha Seung-Won in this, City Hall, and Athena. City Hall was the best drama, but this is his best performance. Kong Hyo-Jin was a good match. As The second leads Yoon Kye-Sang was fine, but Yoo In-Na didn't really impress me.
A five episode japanese tv adaption of the Raymond Chandler masterpiece.
Tadanobu Asano plays The Marlowe character , and he's terrific in the part. Although obviously he's not called Philip Marlowe here.
When I saw Altman's movie I was not overly happy with the adaption, But I suppose on subsequent rewatches, I've mellowed in my view.
But I prefer this. It even aknowledges the earlier version.
very enjoyable, with a fine cast.
Wow, his acting really improved since boys over flowers.
I'm not quite sure why I didn't give it a 9 or a 10.
The cast was fine. But I suppose nobody really stood out.
Although if pressed, i'd go for the girl.
A good storyline, which for me resolved itself satisfactorily
I'm still not sure, if they did or did at the end. Yes, they met, but were they both in the car.
The Acting
A beautiful performance by Kim You-Jung as the childhood version of the lead character. it took me a while to warm to Han Ji-Hye but I did. The two pretty guys do well. As the chief villain, Lee Deok-Hwa is excellent.But besides Kim You-Jung, the best reason for watching this is the delightful Kim Ji-Young.
The story. Well it in the early stages, it reminded me of giant. But then it goes it's own route. If I remember correctly, Giant was more or less a serious drama, wheras this has more light and shade.
Attractive leads, (although I thought she was too talkitive. But when the story required her to play more serious scenes, and she became less hyper,you might say, I appreciated her acting more. I think though the best perormance came from Jeon No-Min as the brother.
my first japanese period drama. A slew of wonderful performances including shun ogori from boys over flowers.
a short, sweet drama
Kyôko Fukada in wonderful in it. luminous
6/10
8/10
Taiwanese wuxia series. I thought it was from China or Hong kong. I enjoyed it, I liked Dicky Cheung, and Amy Tan the best. Although their hail fellow well met schtick was maybe a bit forced. I mean i liked the scenes . But i guess it just didn't seem totally natural.
"Ho Mei Tin' has such a sweet face, I couldn't really be convinced by her character turning to the dark side. Although when she turned weird looklng that made it easier to accept. I thought the sequence where the four of them were first held caprtive went on a bit too long too.
But still I was thoroughly entertained.
8/10
As The title character, Song Il Gook is okay didn't make a great impression. He was adequate, but that's really about it. But Luckily he is surrounded by a great cast.
the best were probably
Hu Joon Ho as Hae Mo Su
Oh Yun Soo as Lady Yoo Hwa
Jun Kwang Ryul as King Geum Wa (although I dn't know what the laughing was about.
and the guy who played the prime mininster
But most of the cast were fine.
I liked Han Hye Jin as So Seo No
and Kim Seung Soo as Prince Dae So too, and others too
At first I liked Bae Soo Bin as Sayong, and even thought he might have better in the title role. But Now I think, it was a rather one note performance. I did like the
gay relationship though.
The costumes were magnificent.
The battle scenes were the best I've seen in a korean costume drama. Although it was only from around ep 50 or so, that I thought that.
I'm not sure about the jumping around. If it's for a purpose fine. but some of the time, it seemed to be just for showing off.
Some great horse riding scenes
10/10
This drama looks absolutely stunning.
Hwang Jung-Eum is wonderful in the lead role. For the rest of the cast, I was
impressed by Jung Soo-Young. I'm not sure why I didn't rate this even higher, because it was a good story. It is a serious drama for the most part, but doesn't skimp on humour entirely. Perhaps it had a lack of really good characters.
8/10
If someone was to ask me for a good introduction to Korean drama, This would be the one I'd recommend. It isn't the best. But for me it has what is tops about them ie great characters, good story, and a nice balance between laughter and tears.
favoutite character Boo Tae Hee who starts off as someone who will despise, until you learn she has a heart as big as the ocean.
A decent remake of the japanese original. Although it's a while since I've seen the latter, i think this one is more sentimental. The cast are fine.,and it's nice to see a korean actress in a leading role with a bit of weight on her. The performance that impressed me the most though was the actor who played Madam Oh. Was there an equivilant of the principal in the japanese version, and did we have a character displaying the reasoning behind the title character's teaching methods. I think the japanese version was tougher. This one seemed to pander more to the audience. In the original, i believe the audience are allowed to make up their own minds about the teacher. Here, we are told that she is a good teacher. She is a more sympathetic character. The teacher doesn't look as forbidding. She has a nicer haircut, and her features are softer. Although perhaps I shouldn't deduct points because of that. It's a slightly different approach to the same character. But for me the japanese actress was more convincing. Would I have given this drama a higher rating if I hadn't seen the original. Was part of the the reason I gave the original an 8 because of the life lessons the teacher imparted. Now when i hear them again, they don't leave the same impression on me. If I watched the japanese version again, would I still give it the same rating.