Perfect Wedding

Perfect Wedding Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
One night, wedding planner - Yan (Miriam Yeung) meet a young attorney, Fun (Raymond Lam) and had a one-night stand. Later, Fung did accidentally join to Yan's wedding planning company.

In a special wedding, regardless of Yan against Fung, the rigid procedures of the wedding ceremony turned into a warm, touching the carnival. Customers in more than touched, the two are deeply moved a step closer so emotional. However, the emotional harm suffered psychological Yan still cannot break the shackles of courage in the face of her girlfriends (Teresa Mo, Bernice Liu, Kate Tsui and Oceane Zhu) Fung's hand holding a bold recognition of this relationship. At this time, her fiance - Kelvin (Eric Kot) was again disrupted Yan's emotional world. Who is her true Love....?

My comments:
Perfect Wedding was a cute feel-good romantic comedy that was easy to watch. It had a nice looking cast and a trendy setting so everything was rightly calculated. I saw a lot of dramas/movies exploring the older woman/younger man theme lately and while this movie was formulaic and didn’t have many surprises but I liked it overall probably because I liked the chemistry between Miriam Yeung and Raymond Lam here. Man, I still remember them as Candy and Shrimp Head in TVB's A Taste of Love (wow, that was 10 years ago!) as they already acted as an adorable bickering couple. The friendship between Yan and her four ‘Sex in the City’ alike friends was also a hoot to watch.

Mary Stayed Out All Night

Mary Stayed Out All Night (KBS, 16 episodes) is my 100th Korean drama!

Mary Stayed Out All Night Synopsis: (from DramaWiki)
Wi Mae Ri is a stubborn woman and the daughter of a failed businessman without much experience in dating. She starts to date tough rocker Kang Moo Kyul. Problems arise when a perfect guy with a good background and prestigious education, Jung In, gets in the way.

Cast:
Moon Geun Young as Wi Mae Ri
Jang Geun Suk as Kang Moo Kyul
Kim Jae Wook as Jung In
Kim Hyo Jin as Seo Joon
Park Joon Gyu as Jung Suk
Park Sang Myun as Wi Dae Han
Lee Ah Hyun as Kam So Young


My comments:
I have expectations for Mary Stayed Out All Night because of its superb cast. Then I read a lot of negative comments regarding the drama so I lowered my expectations; therefore I didn’t find the drama that unbearable. I liked the first 7 episodes or so although, there wasn’t much going on story wise. But I enjoyed the moments of Moo Kyul and Mae Ri doing domestic chores and learning about each other in the process. It was refreshing to see role reversals between the two males leads since in a standard K-drama, Jung In’s status and personality (cold, distant rich businessman) would be a typical leading hero while Moo Kyul (warm, laid back hippie) would be the second lead. Therefore, it was nice to see the our main couple Moo Kyul and Mae Ri so similar since both grew up with a single parent, have an irresponsible parent and have to clean the parents messes, etc. as Mae Ri didn’t turn to a Cinderella.

The drama started fresh and breezy but then it just turned ridiculous and tiring. If Jang Geun Seok, Moon Geun Young and Kim Jae Wook were not the leads, I can’t imagine how catastrophic it would be because it was the charisma and performance of the leads that saved this mess of drama. Jang Geun Seok and Moon Geun Young have amazing chemistry and they were absolutely adorable and cute as a couple. Their little nickname calling (Mae Ri Christmas…hehe) and their interactions were fun to watch but too bad their cuteness together cannot sustain 16 episodes when the plot was almost nonexistent.

I didn’t care much about Jung In at first because he was a walking robot who obeyed his father despite his father’s menaces/threats. But my heart did go to him when he turned to be a selfless guy at the end who didn’t get the girl while Moo Kyul was getting annoying at the end for being petty and selfish. It’s too bad that a bromance wasn't developed between Moo Kyul and Jung In; now that would be a killer (haha!). Kim Hyo Jin was completely wasted here as an ineffective pissed off ex with the princess syndrome. The OST is quite addictive though.

The very adorable main couple.

My Top 10 of 2010

It's the time of the year and it was hard to choose 10 songs because 2010 was so...bland...Not in particular order.

美 - 王力宏 --- Album: 十八般武藝

完美孤獨 - 莫文蔚 --- Album: 寶貝

雨下一整晚 - 周杰倫 --- Album: 跨時代

Double Trouble - 張學友 --- Album: Private Corner

LOVE! - Hebe --- Album: To Hebe

吹摯友 - C君 featuring 方大同 --- Album: 奇蹟

無人之境 - 陳奕迅 --- Album: Time Flies

Rock It - 大嘴巴 --- Album: 万凸3

愛不愛 - 郭采潔 --- Album: 煙火

Deadline - 張敬軒 --- Album: N/A

* All pics from Yesasia.com

Heartbreak Library

Heartbreak Library Synopsis: (from http://www.koreanfilm.org.kr)
Eun-soo, a librarian watches for book vandalism that currently happens in the library. One day, she catches Jun-oh tearing off certain page of books. Eun-soo accuses him of vandalism but soon discovers the complex story behind his actions. Jun-oh’s girlfriend suddenly leaves him with only a mysterious note. “Look up page 198”. Jun-oh’s girlfriend was a bibliophile and she checked out books regularly at the library. Jun-oh goes to the library and tears out page 198 from every book he comes in touch. As Eun-soo has just broken up, she gives him an advice saying that he has to let her go if she really meant it. However, looking at Jun-oh torn apart by his love, Eun-soo starts to help him decipher the messages on page 198 of all the books.

My comments:
The reason I chose to watch this movie: Lee Dong Wook! Heartbreak Library is a very simple love story in which each lead learns how to let go. Viewers get hints that imply very early that the girlfriend is dead so the mystery message of this ‘page 198' and the background story of Jun Oh is what makes me keep going. My friend who saw it said it was a snoozer but although I found it slow moving at times, I liked it overall because I work in a similar environment as Eun Soo so there is a sense of familiarity. The library scenes so remind me of my work. Ha!

Watching...

Well, tried watching Fugitive: Plan B but couldn't get further than 2 episodes despite liking (even loving) the three male leads and lead actress Lee Na Young is someone I usually enjoy watching in movies. Problem with this one drama? I dunno, it's a bit too pretentious and it's really hard to follow when everyone interacts in multiple languages. I even see Josie Ho and Ti Lung appearing in this drama...


Therefore, I'm currently watching How I Met Your Mother Season 5 instead...

The Jade and the Pearl

The Jade and the Pearl Synopsis (from AsianMediaWiki)
Princess Yan becomes engaged to a King from the faraway state of Fan. Princess Yan & her entourage are then escorted to the Fan State by General Ching Hin (Raymond Lam). During the long journey, Princess Yan & General Ching Hin often bicker with each other, but soon falls in love. The couple even exchanges loves tokens - a pearl from Yan's dowry and a family treasure jade from General Ching Hin.

Suddenly, the convey is attacked and Princess falls off a cliff and loses her memory. General Cheng is taken by a group of bandits led by Chuk Sam Leung (Joey Yung).

The princess is saved by a storyteller named Ling Kam Hoi (Cho-lam Wong) and starts a new life with him, not rembering she is royalty. When Princess Yan and General Cheng finally reunite, Princess Yan has fallen in love with Ling Kam Hoi.

My comments:

If you have free time and really have nothing to do, then watch The Jade and the Pearl. If not, then don’t bother. I shouldn’t take this movie seriously but I felt like I wrongly invested my time in this one even though the last twenty minutes before the ending was not as bad. Sorry Raymond, I’m your fan but even you couldn’t save the movie. I can accept that the setting was a fusion of ancient and modern but the movie suffered bad story, bad acting, bad costumes, bad everything! The first half was lame and childish and the ending was so cheesy that made me want to gag.

Is it me; I didn’t feel the supposing love chemistry between Raymond Lam and Charlene Choi while I thought Charlene and Wong Cho Lam made a more believable pair. Is Joey Yung self mocking her bad acting or what? She was absolutely cringe-worthy. Cameos were fun to watch but that was it.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal

Haha…I can’t believe that I caught the Sungkyunkwan Scandal (KBS, 20 episodes) fever too…

Sungkyunkwan Scandal Synopsis: (from DramaWiki)
Sungkyunkwan Scandal is set in Sungkyunkwan University in the late Joseon era during the reign of King Jeongjo, revolving around the exploits and love stories of four youths. When her younger brother's illness worsens and their family is in danger of being evicted from their house for lack of money, Kim Yoon Hee enters the school under his name, disguised as a boy in her desperation to support him. There, she becomes friends with the intelligent and upright Lee Sun Joon, the playboy Goo Yong Ha and rebellious Moon Jae Shin.

Cast:
Micky Yoochun as Lee Sun Joon
Park Min Young as Kim Yoon Hee
Song Joong Ki as Goo Yong Ha
Yoo Ah In as Moon Jae Shin
Seo Hyo Rim as Ha Hyo Eun
Kim Min Seo as Cho Sun
Jun Tae Soo as Ha In Soo

My comments:
I usually would not pick a Korean ancient drama but I heard a lot of good things about Sungkyunkwan Scandal so I decided to give it a shot. I’m pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. I view it as an ancient version of Hana Kimi and the quartet as the scholar version of A.N.Jell (in You’re Beautiful).

I always like stories with the girl cross-dressing as a guy and it’s usually hilarious when the guys start to fall for her and then question their orientation. In this drama, it took long enough (15 episodes) for our dummy hero Sun Joon to know Yoon Hee’s gender and when he knew the truth, surprisingly he wasn’t as angry as I expected him to be. I totally expected one or two episodes where he would be all pissed off and mad; well not that I'm complaning...It’s so funny that Yong Ha knew from the very first glance that Yoon Hee is a girl and wanted to prove it to the other oblivious two but failed at every attempt. Aw…and Jae Shin, the poor guy hiccups whenever he is near a girl so imagine at first when he knew…hehe…I still LOL at the sleeping arrangements scenes (1, 2).

Too bad that the ending is too rushed. There were so many questions that left unanswered. We have a closure ending for our quartet but what about the others? I would like to know what happened to Ha In Soo and his sister. I kinda liked Ha In Soo despite what he did in the drama was glaring at everyone but I thought he had potential to be Sun Joon’s love rival. Why was Cho Sun in her situation in the first place? What really happened during the night Jae Shin’s brother and Yoon Hee’s dad’s murder? There’s this big talk about a better future for Korea but was it realized? It would be nice if there was ONE scene in which Yong Ha and Jae Shin telling Yoon Hee that they knew she was a girl. If I remember correctly, Jae Shin did not confess (at least verbally) once to Yoon Hee and now that’s a first in the little K-drama history that I know...

I thought the overall acting was great considering that they were mostly newbies. Park Min Young looks too girlish (she has manga-like round sparkling eyes) to pass as guy but I guess in an ancient setting it’s passable. Song Joong Ki and Yoo Ah In shone in their roles and I absolutely found their bromance endearing. Micky Yoo Chun was a bit wooden at the beginning but I guess that was part of the character and he just got progressively better. Ah…I’ll surely remember you guys, Jalgeum Quartet.

That is too cute to not post it (from kbs.com.kr)

* Opening credit of the drama