When you are into some quirky nice asian comedy movie, you've got to give it to these two. The movie is about two women who came from different government agencies to learned to work together to achieve a similar objective.
Movie revolves around a voice phishing syndicate that victimized one of the heads of a national security agency. He was swindled of USD500,000 and he doesn't want his superiors to know about this. Hoping to get it back, Deputy Department Head Park (played by Jo Jae-yoon), enlists Jang Young-shil (played by kang Ye-won), whom he fired earlier to infiltrate the phishing syndicate. He enlists her outside of the agency thus she's not an authorized agent in the case nor the mission was authorized.
Young-shil thought she's undertaking in an sanctioned mission so she did so brilliantly. Not only did she was hired by the phishing company, she excelled in it as well. Making her very close to its Country Manager, Min-Seok (played by Namkoong Min).
During her mission, she encounters Na Jung-an (played by Hand Chae-ah) an undercover police agent who's mission is also to track down and gather evidence against the phishing syndicate headed by Min-Seok.
Young-shil is not a fully trained operative so she bungles all her approaches but when she was collaborating with Jung-an (a fully trained police undercover), they complement each other. Their team gave much to progress of the mission and to the capture of the syndicate in the end.
The movie story is very light and its not that much cerebral. One can sit down and plunk down in the movie straight forward. Comedy is near slapstick and offers a lot of fish out of water scenes with surprise skills along the way.
Although not been shown in most popular streaming sites, its currently being shown in YouTube. When you want to simply sit down and simply have that needed escape, then add this movie to your asian comedy marathon.
During the 90's Meg Ryan is a surefire hit for romantic comedies and here she tries her best alongside another great actor in Tim Robbins.
Tim here is Ed Walters, a small town mechanic who immediately falls in love with Catherine Boyd (played by Meg Ryan), who's an accomplished mathematician. Although she's engaged, this didn't stop Ed from pursuing her.
In his attempt to woo her, Ed manages to make an introduction to her uncle, the great Albert Einstein (played by Walther Matthau). Even at that brief first meeting, Ed impressed on Einstein that the latter believed that he is the better fit for his niece than Catherine's current boyfriend. Albert then helps Ed in his quest for the love of Catherine. At this juncture the comedy moments starts to roll.
Albert concocts a scheme to make Ed a "wunderkind", or a new found genius. Albert and his genius friends tried their best to make his look like them, complete with nerdy attire. This lie rolled bigger with more lies up to the point that Ed would publish his own paper (it was Einstein's old theory) and read it to the whole scientific community.
Catherine eventually falls with Ed but she saw through the lies. She was able to read through Ed's paper (Einstein's actually) and proved it to be false. She broke up reluctantly with Ed, but as fate would have it (actually it was Einstein's doing again), both found each other in a field where one can do stargazing and both fell in love again.
If you ask us, both actors were decent, but somehow both lacked the magic or sparkle that you find in "Sleepless in Seattle". Tim Robbins is great here, but as a comedian, he is not. But he does his best as Tim Robbins would do, do drama. The comedy was neither delivered by Meg Ryan as she should have been serious as a mathematician but somehow there were some scenes that we see her character in "You've got Mail". The only actor who stood out here was Albert Einstein err Walther Matthau. He delivered the kicker here along with his cooky scientist friends who provided the comedy from start to finish.
Although classified as a romantic comedy, we can say it delivered more comedy than romance. We love the story line and the although the plot may a bit used, it provided still a fresh take with some witty lines from Albert Einstein.
If you want to be E=MC2 then head off to Amazon Prime Video and shout Wahoo together with the great scientist.
Mixed couples usually is still a touchy issue so when this movie takes a crack at it, they did take a crack at it via comedy.
When Theresa Jones (played by Zoe Saldana) brings home his man, Simon Green (played by Ashton Kutcher) to meet her parents, all hell breaks loose in the Jones' household. Theresa failed to mention to his father Percy Jones (played by Bernie Mac) that Simon is a white dude. Immediately Percy went into racist mode and tries to alienate Simon, while the latter tries his best to impress the former. Here we have an adventure like no other as two great comedians take a hit from each other in different situations.
Bernie Mac is Bernie Mac and he can really deliver his comedic scenes to the hilt and we were not disappointed with Ashton Kutcher either. The latter being a great comedian himself, so the witty and slapstick back and forth between the two was seamless if we may so. The seriousness of Percy's wife and daughter provided for a contrast making the film an interesting watch.
Although racy jokes are in the mix here, we have no problem with some stereotypes that were given. We felt it was all in jest and the objective here was to make us laugh. In the end the movie is great way to relax and enjoy your friday night marathon.
Lucky for you this one is currently showing on Amazon Prime Video.
Movie is around Kathleen Kelly (played by Meg Ryan) who owns a children's bookstore in New York. That aside from tending her store, she's excited to hear three words from her computer, when AOL rings "You've Got Mail". Whenever she hears this, it means that she's got mail from her online friend named NY152 (her online persona is "Shopgirl"). Both are bonded through emails, even if they don't know each other in person, they feel a connection of their minds.
From emails, they moved on to online chats as Kathleen's bookstore is being threatened by a new bookstore partly owned by Joe. As each do not know each others personal details, they didn't know that they are competitors in real life. Finally they decide to meet but somehow Joe manages to discover who Shopgirl really is and he stood her up at their meeting.
Joe started to have feelings for Kathleen yet the latter would not have any for Joe. In spite of their being competitors, Joe tried his best to win over Kathleen's favors. With Joe's persistence, both managed to become friends, close friends even. With a heightened friendship between them, Joe then confessed to Kathleen his true feeling for her. She's now confused as he likes Joe now but still pines for her online friend NY152. She left Joe on the streets while she prepares to meet with NY152.
While waiting for online friend in the park, in comes Joe. Kathleen cried upon seeing him, only then she realized that NY152 is Joe. She cried because in her heart, she wanted NY152 to be Joe. She cried because she was happy.
This couple is great together especially in the romance comedy department. We liked them in "Sleepless in Seattle" and now they are back together in this movie. Although if we weigh in these two movies, we favor heavily on Sleepless over this but we don't get enough of them so we recommend this too.
Tom Hanks is in his usual self, a great actor and performer and he is so cool and relaxed when paired with Meg Ryan. Meg is so cute and innocent looking here and our screen lights up when these two are together.
Don't expect here the magic found din Sleepless as this film is a different animal altogether. It feeds on our craving for affection found online, but in the end, what we need is physical love and affection. Nothing compares to reality and this movie showed that Meg Ryan truly hopes Tom Hanks is NY152. So after watching this movie, try to get out more and socialize physically. Meeting people in real life is far more exciting than clicking like buttons on your friend's posts. :)
Movie starts off in 1974 with the death of a young Lar's mother. He was sad but then turned around upon watching the band ABBA singing on the television. He was hooked into music thereafter together with a childhood friend Sigrit.
In the present day, both are still at music and they now have a band called Fire Saga. Lars (played by Will Ferrell) had to endure his father's disdain for his music with Sigrit was the only one who believed in him. Lar's dream was to win the Eurovision Song Contest and this time around, they were able to qualify at the Songvakeppnin, a pre selection show for Eurovision.
As like in all their performances, they are bad luck on stage and failed miserably in their first try at Songvakeppnin. But sometimes good luck comes to those who persevered. In a good tragedy if there was one, in between shows, the whole contestants except Lars and Sigrit, was instantly killed in a boat party. With them surviving, they were now deemed to be the winners of Songvakeppnin and earned the right to represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The event was held in Scotland and Lars was excited with this opportunity that he created many things from their usual routine. He created new costumes which turned out to be failures and arranged their competition song with a new vibe coming off from a Korean musical arranger that Sigrit both didn't like.
Despite all their misadventures and trials in the competition, they were able to overcome them and eventually find out more about themselves and who they are to each other.
Another feel good movie we have here with Will Ferrell. Will has been known for comedies for a long time and its not surprisingly that he does comedy well here. With his other films, he specializes in slapstick comedies and this one movie is no exception. It had the usual slapstick moments but what's surprising was, this one had less of that compared to most of his films.
Jokes were mostly cerebral and he was cracking jokes or sarcasm for that matter that still elicits laughter in us. Very not like the Will Ferrell we all know and we liked it. By far this is the only movie that we thought that he was truly great. We liked his previous films, but after watching this, we now like to bury them all into oblivion and stick this one up on the top shelf.
Rachel McAdams was likewise great here although we think they lacked that chemistry between them, both however delivered their performances well together. Just enough to make us believe that there was love between them since they were kids.
The movie overall was great but somehow we were distracted with their accents. Both had to sound Icelandic in their delivery of their english lines and they were good at first. Midway until the end however, we thought they were using scottish accents and not icelandic anymore. We were always pre occupied with their dialogues trying to hear their accents all throughout the film that sometimes we lose track of the storyline.
That's the only flaw we saw big time that great affected our viewing. But since you just wanted to be entertained, their accents are enough to watch them and be entertained by them.
Oh and don't forget about the Iceland landscapes, they were located in a remote area of it so expect breathtaking views. Currently showing on Netflix as of this writing so better catch this movie there.
What do you get when you have Woody Allen and John Turturro in a film? You get a wonderful film that's what.
Now the movie takes off with Dr. Parker (played by Sharon Stone) telling her patient Murray (played by Woody Allen) that she wants a menage a trois with her friend Selima (played by Sofia Vergara). She asks Murray if he could refer a willing male to join them. Murray then recommends Fioravante (played by John Turturro) to be that man. Murray then acted as a pimp and charges Dr. Parker for Fioravante's services. It turned out that he has a knack for this service and clients are streaming in courtesy of Murray. With a thriving business they take on trade names, Dan Bongo for Murray while Fioravante is Virgil.
As they say love is not good in prostitution but eventually Virgil fell in love with a jewish Widow Avigal (played by Vanessa Paradis). Their love blossomed until such time that Avigal realized that their relationship could never be. Heartbroken, Virgil then wants to retire but during a brief moment in a cafe with Murray, he meets a beautiful french woman in Loan (played by Loan Chabanol).
First off, you got to watch this movie if you can get your hands on this. Written and directed and starred in by John Turturro, a great actor and here, writer and director. A trivia regarding the great Woody Allen, he mostly does movies where he writes and directs and in this one, he is just an actor. We love Woody Allen's movies and we were skeptical if his performance as an actor would diminish if he was being directed by somebody else. Being a great performer that he is, he is great here as Dan Bongo aka Murray and the whole movie, has a Woody Allen feel to it which we love.
We were glad that John Turturro was able to deliver his best here opposite of Woody Allen and he truly is at par with the great comedian. The duo had great chemistry here making the film a marvel to watch.
Story line is simple. Its about a male prostitute and of course the movie shows him reluctant at first to be one then succeeding scenes with him encountering different women. All these were necessary for character development for both characters of Woody and John. Consider the pacing a smoldering ember, it just a flash fire that dies out as soon as it ignites, but this is a slow burn. Although we have the two here as leads, the movie revolves around a few women here, namely Dr. Parker, Selima and Avigal. Other characters lend their talents as supports were lead by Liev Schreiber, another great actor of our times.
Comedy without slapstick, without the cussing and dissing, this is the comedy that Woody Allen dishes out and we love this kind of comedy. We appreciate the dialogues as it was nicely written by John himself. Lines were witty and the story telling was simple yet endearing. Truly this movie is among our top 10 in our list of favorite movies.
When the Russian mafia comes in and wants to get hold of a bio-chemical weapon all hell breaks loose in Korea. Two special agents Ahn Soo-ji (played by Kim Ha-neul) and Lee Jae-joon (played by Kang Ji-hwan) were working for two different organizations and kept their identities secret from each other. While Soo-ji was very well suited to her job, Jae-joon was a rookie in this case.
The two have been dating without knowing that both of them were government agents so it was unavoidable they would be called in their cases. Each one wondering why they had to leave on short notice and much funnier when they do find themselves in the same area where their operations are located.
Their relationship went high and low due to this but their passion to their craft and their love for each other prevails. They were able to work together in the end and solve their case or cases at the same time, saving the whole world in the process.
Overall the movie is a feel good movie with both actors doing their roles nicely. Ha-neul was great as a seasoned veteran agent, meanwhile Ji-hwan's antics were fine at first, but it continued long enough that it became annoying. So near the end we like to see more of her and less of him, but we were lucky enough to be granted this wish as both had to be together fighting the bad guys in the end.
If you want a feel good, romantic and comedy at the same time, watch this without being technical about it. The production pulled off a nice movie in this one, so if you can get hold of a copy of this, we suggest watch it with popcorn and drinks and a few friends over the weekend.
Others wrote that this is a Korean version of that hit Hollywood Movie Mr and Mrs Smith with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. It might have similar overtones, but underneath it's very very far off. Both are cute but this one had more laughs if you ask us.
Does one person really looks on the outside? Our lead here is Kang Hanna (played by Kim Ah-joong). She's a plus sized part time phone sex call center agent and ghost singer for a popular singer Ammy (played by Ji Seo-yun). She's got a huge crush on director Han Sang-jun (played by Joo Jin-mo) and she tries her best to be noticed. But then there was an instance that she overhears a conversation between Ammy and Sang-jun that she was just being used for her voice and this hurt Hanna so much. She decided to end her life that night but was pre-empted by a call from her phone sex regulars who happened to be a famous plastic surgeon. She begged him to transform her from weight loss and plastic surgery operations on her whole body.
She went on a one year hiatus without telling anyone that she would be undergoing such an arduous procedure. Ammy and Sang-jun were trying to find her as The former's career is on the line without her but to no avail.
A year past and when we see Hanna again, she turned into a slender and incredibly beautiful woman. Even her best friend Park Jung-min (played by Kim Hyun-sook), a back up singer, didn't even recognize her. Hanna wants to go back to her previous work as Ammy's ghost singer and with Jung-min's help, she auditions as Jenny in front of Sang-jun and Ammy. Impressed with her singing, instead of being hired as a ghost singer for Ammy, she was awarded a contract.
Jenny's first single "Maria" became a hit and they were having celebrations when Ammy bring's Hanna's (Jenny) father into the party. To keep her new identity as Jenny, she ignores her father much to the disgust of her best friend Jung-min. Even with her secret, Sang-jun was still able to discover that she really is Hanna. He tells her that they will still use her new identity Jenny and will still continue with her planned big concert.
With Ammy's doing, she tries her best to prevent Jenny's concert from happening. Even threatening to divulge her secret to the public and the music company executives were scared with the scandal it would create. Sang-jun would have none of it and still wants to push with the concert.
During her opening act, Jenny's father went in front of the stage and started dancing with her. A few security personnel accosted her father and she stopped singing. What happened thereafter was a big revelation of sorts. She confessed in front of the crowd that she isn't Jenny but is Kang Hanna, a plus sized ghost singer and she revealed that with the new identity, she couldn't remember who Hanna was. With Sang-jun's help, he played Hanna's old singing videos on the big screen. Her fans moved by her confession accepts who she was and began chanting "its okay".
The following day "Jenny" was a has been, with records and posters being pulled out from stores. But Hanna was a big hit, and she became a famous singer. All her Jenny records and posters were replaced by Hanna and her fans loved her.
From the title itself, you will immediately have an idea of how the story will be told. A plus sized girl falling in love with a handsome guy, then thinking that she won't be noticed, tries her best to slim down and undergo the knife to be beautiful. She thinks the guy is superficial and would only go with beautiful women. So expect a lot of situations that will show her oversized figure and what happens after the transformation.
Having said that, we did not anticipate how the story would be told beautifully and cleanly. Character development even with mostly comedic rendition would endear to us and hold us to an emotional state in the end. What we thought was a predictable story line gave us some roller coaster rides midway and a big drop was shown near the end. That drop gave us tears in our eyes as we felt Hanna's pain and vindication.
Kim Ah-joong really was the driving force in the movie and thank god she was spectacular here. She gave us a performance that would endear us for a long time. Joo Jin-mo played second fiddle here and he gave a decent acting for us. Wasn't the same level as Ah-joong, but it wasn't bad either. He gave us a smoldering presence that we can feel him from start to finish. A great support to our Ah-joong.
Another thing we liked with the movie was the presence of a lot of celebrities who did cameos along the way. We have Lee Beom-soo as a taxi driver, Kim Yong-gun as the company CEO, Lee Won-jong as a fortune teller, Ryu Seung-soo as a traffic officer.
To add credence to the movie, this one got lots of awards not only for Ah-joong but for the rest of the production. To kick you more in the butt, Ah-joong sang most of the songs here. Really, she sang 5 out of 11 from the movie soundtrack. This girl can sing.
So better watch this movie and add this in your playlist. Currently showing in Youtube, simply click on the thumbnail below.
When a single lady with a long standing relationship decides to marry, she can do so in Ireland during a leap year. It has been a tradition that women can propose on Bachelor's Day and the man proposed to must accept.
So Anna Brady (played by Amy Adams) pushed herself to Ireland to follow her boyfriend Jeremy Sloane (played by Adam Scott) so she can "propose" to him. In her journey there, her flight was diverted due to bad weather. She tried all efforts to reach him in Dublin even hiring a boat amidst the rough seas. She eventually reached a town called Dingle where she asked the local bar owner Declan O'Callaghan (played by Matthew Goode) to take her to Dublin. He agreed to take her for 500 Euros. Then the journey starts.
To make the movie interesting, our duo had to go through an ordeal on their way to Dublin. A lot of things happen along the way, both good and bad. Anna still has the passion to reach Dublin at all cost but waivers already her feelings for Jeremy. In her travel to reach him, she has gotten to know more about Declan and she is slowly falling in love with him. Her situation with Jeremy prevents her from showing off this love and likewise Declan tried to express his feelings but somehow things do not fall in his favor.
In the end, Anna fell out of love with Jeremy and flies back to Dingle to meet with Declan. She proposed to him and he simply left. Feeling turned down, Anna went off to cliff overlooking the waters of Dingle to mope, but then Declan followed her. He asked her why she left the bar and she said he was turned down. Declan mentioned that he didn't say anything but instead he left to get something. And that something was his mother's ring. He knelt on one knee and he proposed to her.
The first time we saw Matthew Goode was his portrayal of a secret service agent in Chasing Liberty with Mandy Moore. He really does great in romantic comedies so this one is no exception. He reall is a cool guy here, stoic and has been hurt already in the past so he had a heart of stone in this one. It took an american lady in Amy Adams to melt his heart slowly and pushes him to love again.
Amy Adams is a talented actress and from what we can deduce from the roles she has taken, she gives each one a separate life. We can see each character come to life and her acting does not mirror or be similar with the others. In her bit roles in "Catch me if you can" her portrayal as nurse, it endeared to us. Then we saw her again in that Disney movie "Enchanted" where she showed us her talent in singing and dancing. That too was memorable to us and until now we keep singing that song in our heads whenever we remember that movie. She wowed us as that spunky Amelia Earheart in "Night at the Museum", the shy and timid girl in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" opposite of Will Ferrell. She showed us she can dish out some comedy as well. In the drama department, she dished it out with the great Client Eastwood in "Trouble with the Curve". If you watched her in all those films, her performances were not the same in our view and we just love her for doing it. She is also the Lois Lane in the recent Superman franchise so just you know.
There were three characters that resonate with us here in the movie and that the two, Amy Adams and Matthew Goode carried the bulk of the movie to greater heights. They had an onscreen chemistry that we liked and the romantic interludes between although they kept it, we can feel the vibe the way they held their feelings in check.
A must watch for romcom addicts out there. Lucky for you its being shown in Amazon Prime Video right now.
We admire Gong Yoo in his portrayals in The Goblin and Coffee Prince in the Korean dramas that we like to see him in a movie setting. Here we find him playing seconds to Kim Sun-a (who plays that police detective Chun Jae-in) who works undercover always as a highschooler.
In most parts in the film, Jae-in infiltrates a school to befriend a daughter of a notorious gangster. As the gangster is in hiding from his gangster enemies, Jae-in tries to protect the daughter Cha Seung Hee (played by Nam Sang-mi) and possibly extract more information about the father's activities. This wasn't as simple as she thought it would be as Seung Hee has a reclusive type personality. She knows her father's activities and she disapproves of it. So much so that she is a recluse, never wants to make friends in school, making Jae-in's mission a bit difficult. At the same time with Jae-in's arrival comes Kang No-young (played by Gong Yoo). Nothing much was shown with No-young's intentions in the early parts of the movie except that he also is interested in Seung Hee and both of them live across Seung Hee's residence. Eventually Seung Hee's warms up to Jae-in and they are best of friends. Meanwhile other characters pop in to create a stir in the story. Another agent cop swoops in as a teacher and a motorcycle riding character zips in to protect Seung Hee's father. The latter wears a helmet always so you can't discern who it was. Later on Jae-in suspects No-young is that motorcycling individual. Like in most story plots, all must come in the end. Seung Hee was kidnapped to bring in his father where a duel with the rival boss was inevitable. Also Jae-in teams up with No-young who was revealed as a gang member protecting Seung Hee's father. The team was able to subdue the whole gang and both Seung Hee and her father was rescued. No-young being a gangster, he escaped just in time the police arrived, must to the dismay of Jae-in whom she had started to have feelings for. Although she was wary of that kind of relationship since she is already mature compared to No-young. Several months later in another of Jae-in's assignments, she pretends to be a nun to capture a criminal. In the ensuing chase, No-young shows up and helps her catch the criminal. A kiss was forthcoming but Jae-in had to be sure, that No-young was just a youthful looking man. The whole film is a feel good movie and the storyline is so thin if you ask me. Although not original in concept, it was still refreshing to see this with both Gong Yoo and Kim Sun-a. The latter was a bit over the top during the first few minutes of the film, but somehow she mellowed down and came back to earth and then we loved her. Gong Yoo came much in the middle and his presence is always overshadowed with that of Sun-a. But just a smile from Gong Yoo will bring him back on screen again. Both by the way looked good together but a romantic relationship only started to be felt past midway. Not much situations were given to offer that cute moments between the two as the story line calls for the protection of that gangster's daughter. A lovely film if you ask us, just a little thin but its not bad either. For an asian film made in 2005, this is already watchable. We are wary of early asian films but this one will not disappoint. Currently showing on YouTube, of course not High Definition, but best of all its free.
We love that actor Daniel Henney when we saw him X-Men origins: Wolverine and in that another asian movie Shanghai Calling. Here he plays an expat Robin Heiden assigned to a Korean branch where he meets up with Min-June (played by Uhm Jung-hwa). Their first encounter was coincidental as Min-June was playing hooky when suddenly she figures in a car bumping incident with Robin. The latter speaks in English while the former feigns she doesn't know english, creating confusion between them. Unknown to both, they would again find each other as both were working in the same office. Robin being the new country manager where Min-june works.
A classic tale of awkwardness befalls our two leads as Min-june is always mired with her boyfriends while Robin tries his best to educate her in the game of love. In the process of her education, both finds themselves falling in love with each other.
This is a romantic comedy so surely you will find some cute moments between the two. The clash of two cultures is apparent here as the Americanized Robin mingles with Korean Min-june. The perception of incompatibility is to be expected as this movie gives no surprise there. What endears this movie to us is the comedic and acting prowess of Uhm Jung-hwa as that out of luck in love Min-June. She really brings the character to life and even if some of the scenes might not be realistic as dictated by the script, she pulls us back to be entertained by her performance.
Daniel Henney is great as that corporate stiff boss who tries very much to "help" Min-june. His performance was nice here but if you have watched his other asian flick Shanghai Calling, you will find it equal to that. So equal in fact that you might think the other was a sequel. LOL.
Story pace was done nicely, a nice blend of fast and slow moments, mostly scenes were comedic and cute, but it also offers some drama somewhere in the middle. The story line might offer you no surprises however it does give us that zing in some parts of the film.
We recommend this movie to those who love romantic comedies, best to watch this with popcorn. We don't know if this is shown in streaming services but you can watch a low definition version in YouTube. Simply click on the thumbnail below to watch it for free.
Finally we get to see a film by that lovable star in the tv series "Princess Hours" and "Coffee Prince", Yoon Eun-Hye. She plays Han Min-joo, the class captain who's a boxer and tough mannered lady in school. The story though is not about her, its about the legend, Seven cutter, who's a tough guy known to be unbeaten in fights in different schools. That legend is Jung Han-soo played by Ahn Jae-Mo.
Movie starts out with Han-soo tranferring to the school where Han Min-joo is. The name of Han-soo is quite a legend so when the students learned about his arrival, everybody was scared of him. He was given an icy welcome and the tough guys in that school gave him a hard time at first. It turned out that Han-soo dislikes confrontation and tries his best to be peaceful. However his actions sometimes were misconstrued and the students believes he is that tough guy, Seven Cutter.
Being a teenager in high school, Han-soo gets into a situation with Min-joo and she challenges him to a fight. Being a pacifist of sorts, he escapes the fight by telling Min-joo that he loves her and she believed him. All the while he really likes Lee Yoon-ah (played by Han Da-min) the school crush, with a diva like attitude. They became an item while Han-soo still likes Yoon-ah.
When Min-joo found out that he likes Yoon-ah, she broke up with him. In her disgust, she wandered off and was kidnapped by some thugs whom Han-soo defeated early on, using her as bait. This time also Han-soo realizes he loves Min-joo and went after her. He defeats the bad guys and both are together again.
If you like highschool comedies, that are composed of comedy skits, punchlines and slapstick, then this movie is for you. There are a lot of those here and I wondered how I was to sit down and watch this in its entirety. The plot should have been simple but its not, as it had a lot of twists and turns.
At first we believed that there were two Han-soo's. Because the lead character tells everyone that he was not that legendary "seven cutter". He acts like a coward and abhors fighting, uses his wits and words to get out of confrontation, and even runs away. So we believed it then that he was not that legend to begin with. Then there was a situation wherein he divulges his secret to Min-joo but we don't believe him as we thought we was just making stories to impress her. It turned out that he was great in fighting and that he is the legendary Seven Cutter.
Let us be clear that the reason we wanted to watch this was because of Yoon Eun-Hye. We love her in Princess Hours and Coffee Prince thus the fascination for The Legend of the Seven Cutter'. Her cuteness with the TV series however runs thin when it came with this movie. What you see in her on TV is what you can see here. So her acting will not be surprisingly new. I can't blame her as all the titles mentioned here were done in 2006 and 2007. We will surely find a movie around the 2011 onwards era to find out if she developed more in the acting department.
The movie is not about her however, its about Jung Han-soo played by Ahn Jae-Mo. Judging from his filmography, this movie is second to his last done. His last movie made was in 2006 as per wikipedia. All performances after 2006 were all on TV. His acting here was a bit quirky but effective. He was the reason why we thought there were two characters in the movie. It may or may not be intentional on his part but his portrayal of his character led us to believe of two different Han-Soos. Or maybe it was the script?
The script is not original for us, the idea of one student who escapes his past, starts anew in another school, is not new to us. In as much as he tries to be a new person, eventually his past catches up on him as his adversary was able to track him and forces him for a rematch and possibly get revenge. The script offers less on this story line but offers more of comedy situations. There were a lot of skits that prey on youth shenanigans that we find amusing for most parts. This situations are distractions that momentarily we are thrown off from the story.
This is movie is a feel good movie, and with a bowl of popcorn will offer momentary entertainment. It won't offer you fine dining but will do offer fast food instead. Good to watch if you don't have anything else on your movie night, or if you haven't paid yet your Netflix or Amazon Prime account. Click on the thumbnail below and watch it on YouTube.
Our heroine or bad ass is Eun-Jin (played by Eun-Kyung Shin) grew up in the Korean Mafia and is a top tier person in the organization so to speak. She's an untouchable and hard core gangster yet she has a weakness up her sleeve. She had a sick sister whom she found recently after being separated during their days in the orphanage.
Her dying wish is to see Eun-Jin get married. A tough act since Eun-Jin grew up emotionless and a gangster. She tried dating but nothing fruitful came out of it until she meets a guy who protected her, his name was Kang Soo-Il.
An average joe who also had no luck with marriage. Being an honest and decent man, Eun-Jin dated him and eventually got married to him in the shortest amount of time so that her sister can bear witness. Her sister's next wish? That she got pregnant and be a mom. Another tall order but she loved her sister so she went on and made a baby. She got pregnant and told her sister just before she died.
Before she could tell Soo-il that she's pregnant, she had a miscarriage during a fight with a rival gang and was carried to the hospital. There Soo-Il was informed by the hospital staff that she had a miscarriage and in a fit of rage, he stormed up to the gang's place and doused the gang with gasoline. He was about to set fire to the place when he was restrained. It was dumb luck that a gang member accidentally sets fire the gasoline.
The place burned down, taking with it some of the gang members. Soo-Il then became a legend as well in the Korean Mafia and now he fights along with his wife Eun-Jin.
The movie started off with both feet running. We saw how awesome our female lead as she defeats an army of bad guys. All's well in the action department when suddenly it shifted to a little bit of drama and into comedy. A fish out water scenario here as we see a mafia hardliner, who acts like a tomboy, then suddenly finds herself needing a husband. This stretched far longer as she was thrown into marriage as well.
She was still bossy even in marriage much to the confusion of her husband, who wasn't aware that she married a gangster. We are taken in a roller coaster ride in emotions midway as we were stuck in the dilemma, would we like more action? more drama with her dying sister? more comedy scenes with her and her husband?
This ride was a bit jumpy and although the actors were great, for a very confusing story telling style. Eun-Kyung Shin was believable as that gangster Cha Eun-Jin and we felt her love for sister which we liked. She delivered the right performance during her action and drama scenes, but somehow we wanted more in the comedy parts. We think that the comedy part was taken by one of her gangster minions but almost, almost they were funny but not quite. The comedy big hitter should have been carried by his husband, Park Sang-Myun however we think his lines were weak so as to create that desired effect. His performance, body language and face were already there, but the lines were not that strong enough to elicit that needed comedy feel, if they really wanted to.
For an asian action film, this can hold up on its own, and a little bit of drama helps. Actors did their best and they really pushed the movie a bit higher even if the script was decently written.
Currently being shown (standard definition) on YouTube. Simply click on the thumbnail below.
Ain't it obvious already that we love Audrey Hepburn. This is one of her great movies as she won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Princess Ann.
Movie starts off with the royal Princess Ann being on an official goodwill tour of Europe, where she attended various ceremonies in behalf of her country. Rome was her last stop, she was already tired of the tour. She saw some people dancing below her window and she wished she could join them. Being a princess she was stuck with her bedroom. Her aide then proceeded to remind her of their next day's schedule when she snapped. She had a small nervous breakdown and her doctor gave her some sedatives. Thinking that she was asleep, they left her alone. She then escaped from her room and wanders around Rome.
The story then progresses when she was met by Joe Bradley (played by Gregory Peck), who is a reporter for the American News Service. Bradley did not disclose his work to the princess so that he can gather information for a story that will give him a big payday. All she was was a story in the beginning until he fell in love with Princess Ann. In the end, he ditches the article and informs his editor he doesn't have it.
In the end Princess Ann returns to her duties and when she met with the Press, Joe Bradley was there and she was shocked. Joe then put her fears to rest when he had a chance to talk to her amidst all the other press people. Joe's photographer, Irving (played by Eddie Albert) was also at the press conference and gave her the pictures of her "tour" of Rome.
Princess Ann then thanked everyone of the press who were there and turned around and walked away. Likewise Joe walked alone from the press conference.
Although this one did not have happy ending, it was a delightful movie to watch. We can understand why Hepburn won an Academy Award here as she was great at being an innocent princess who sneaked out of her royal duties to be a commoner for a change.
We had a young Hepburn here, looking sweet and delightful to watch. She simply lights up the movie with her screentime. The movie is about her so expect much of her in the entire film. Can't complain here.
The production was also decent enough to feature much of Rome's features and although they may have "cheated" with the brief tour of the other European nations, we couldn't care less as we expected much of Rome anyway. The market scene, the crowd, the carabinieri or italian police made up for a truly wonderful roman experience. We love rome and its nice to see it in black and white and with less people that is.
Gregory Peck was in his usual handsome form and was great in pretending he is not a reporter to Hepburn. His actions were appropriate to the scenes but we can't say that he excelled herein. It was Hepburn who shined and thanks to his performance, he added that needed boost to bolster Hepburn's character to the hilt. So we applaud also his performance here. We also can't discount Eddie Albert's acting here. He was great as that hired photographer and he had lots of screen time here as well.
As we have started to review movies of this era, we noticed that story telling during this time was very much in the early stages if we compared it to modern times. This was mostly done by dialogues and not much of visual renderings, except for the location scene. Unlike the movie Charade, this was less of the dialogues and we appreciate the different style used in this one. We loved this movie more than Charade although we can't endear to the love angle between Peck and Hepburn. We simply can't relate to the fact they can be indeed lovers here in the story. She may have been young compared to Peck (15 year age gap) and Cary Grant (25 year age difference in Charade), but she had more chemistry with Cary Grant on screen as per our opinion.
In summary, we have read many great things about Roman Holiday and how glad we watched other classics prior to this movie. Story telling was very much different and when we compare Roman Holiday with the films in the 1950s and 60s, we can say that this was unique for this era. A lovely film to begin with, a simple story with simple twists, story telling kept on a steady pace, although with an ending we didn't like, other than the last one, we liked it.
Sadly its not being shown anymore in Netflix but with little research on our part, you watch this streaming on Amazon Prime. You may also watch a cut of version (split into 13 parts) on YouTube. Simply click on the thumbnail below.
As we featured a prince who turned into a beast then turns back into a prince, here we will feature a different kind of a prince. The kind of prince from Denmark that falls in love with a commoner. Sounds familiar? Then read on.
This movie shows Prince Edvard (played by Luke Mably) who lives like a playboy and plays with big toys. He has been a constant pain in the royal ass of his parents and he decides to escape temporarily the hang ups of being a prince and likewise give a welcome respite to his parents from his constant front page news.
Of all places he likes to escape, he decides on Wisconsin in the United States. Where in a television show he watched portrayed some wild co-eds flashing their breasts on screen. Thinking that this is the case in Wisconsin, he decided to attend college there as a normal flemish rich kid, not as prince Edvard.
In college he meets with Paige Morgan (played by Julia Stiles), a typical american farm girl with high hopes and dreams. Who works part time so that she can attend university with an attitude that's totally reverse of Prince Edvard. This difference between them later on turned to finding similarities ultimately leading to love.
No secrets remain secret for too long and eventually Edvard's real identity was revealed to Paige and she felt lied to. She break off with Edvard and they tried to move on after. While during Paige's dissertation in front of her professors, she learns that she's in love with Edvard so she tried to pursue him. Only to find that Edvard has been recalled to Denmark to look after his ailing father the king.
Paige then decides to follow Edvard in Denmark and when she arrives, she saw him in a parade. Edvard went past her as she could not be easily seen in a crowd but the Paige was famous now in Denmark. People began calling her name and Edvard finally took notice. He brought her to the palace and Edvard had a talk with his parents about Morgan.
Paige then was accompanying Edvard and his mother the Queen in almost all Royal functions and events. It was all rosy for the two until Paige realized, although she was happy to be with Edvard, she hasn't forgotten his own dreams of being a doctor. Being tied up the Queen of Denmark would mean some of her dreams would not come true. Eventually Edvard had to let Paige go and to let her follow her dreams. Edvard subsequently became the King of Denmark (without a queen) and Paige continued on and graduated at the university.
A few years had gone by and Paige eventually graduates and Edvard was there to witness it. He wants her back in his life and Paige is wary if Denmark was ready for her to be their queen. To this he replied, they have to be since he was ready.
The movie is a straight romantic comedy with a fairy tale plot with a modern woman empowerment thing. It's a fish out water thing as well, as we find a playboy prince, who can get everything she wants, never been declined by the ladies, then experiences working and denied by a girl he wants in Paige. It's a typical rich kid meeting the girl from the other side of the tracks. Similar to a lot of teen movies that uses romance as a focus and this one levelled it up by introducing a real prince into the story.
Usually the unveiling part of the prince usually happens in the end but here it happened midway. You may wonder why too early? It was done with intent as we have seen the prince doing menial jobs, then we get to see a commoner, farm girl at that doing the work of a royalty. Another fish out of water similar to that of the Princess Diaries by Anne Hathaway.
So we see both sides of the coin here for both Edvard the prince and the commoner Paige.
Production and scriptwise it was decent in delivery. Lines were short and sweet, the exchanges between our leads was evenly paced, turning hate into love wasn't a surprise but sweet none the less. And we get to see a castle and servants and a safe full of expensive royal jewelry, along with a meat slicer as well. Story telling was a mix of being slow but not dragging, then a quick turnaround in pace midway made us jump again in our seats. This was especially so just before the paparazzi caught up with Edvard and Paige in the library. Everything before it were a bit slow but it was necessary to drum up the love angle between the two, then all because fast paced when they were discovered in the library.
Performance wise, it was Julia Stiles who holds more beef in the film and we love her farm girl character. Her idea of empowerment was a welcome treat in 2004 and she fits the role very well. For Luke Mably however we liked his accent. Acting wise it was pretty adequate being a prince, but we still expected more from him. We believe he can pass off as a modern prince but we wish he could have spin it a bit more. We don't know how, but we just felt he can do a little bit more.
The movie is a feel good movie and you can enjoy this for sure. Just don't expect much more. We just know that it will tickle your fancy romance side so simply look at the chemistry between the two.
As of this writing, this movie is not on Netflix, but is available on YouTube. Just click on the thumbnail next to this.
Even before the advent of reality TV, we have Truman Burbank who started it all, almost. Jim Carrey stars as Truman and is the star of that hit TV reality show, the Truman Show. The only thing is, he doesn't know about it. Ever since birth he was adopted by a company. He was the winner among other babies who were considered for the honor. It was him who arrived on cue. Ever since he was born, his life was already under the scrutiny of 5,000 cameras 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He grew up in a place they called Seahaven and all residents except him, are actors. Everyday is almost the same except that some plots or events happen under the guidance of the show's director Christof (played by Ed Harris). The director manipulates story lines everyday to make Truman's day exciting. Controlling as it may seem, Christof couldn't expect Truman's reactions to the flow of the story. When they tried to pair Truman with Meryl (played by Laura Linney), he fell for another co-student Sylvia (played by Natascha McElhone) whom Christof removed from the set afterwards. Sylvia then advocated for "Free Truman" and admonishes Christof in a TV show for holding Truman prisoner for which he denies. Truman can leave any time he says, but he believes the world he gives to Truman is a safe haven for him. The true world is harsh and he merely protects Truman in Seahaven. There are no perfect things nor a perfect world so, things go wrong in Seahaven and Truman notices it more. Like a spotlight falls from the sky, his car radio accidentally getting the radio instructions among the actors, and people doing the same routine as much as circling his block many times over everyday. When he does notices such things, the show then tries to explain to him (not directly of course) why they happen. In one of those weird moments, he found a homeless man who resembled his dad, whom he lost at sea when he was still a boy. It was later known that the actor who played his dad, snuck back in the set but before Truman could talk to him, he was taken away by the other actors. Truman at this point was aware of suspicious things around him and he tries to be spontaneous. This time he wanted to get out of Seahaven but all his efforts are being thwarted. He wanted to take a bus, only to have the driver destroying the engine. He wanted to take a plane but all flights are booked and the earliest flight out is at least a month. He tried driving out of Seahaven he almost succeeded however a Nuclear plant had an acccident they had to close the road. All these frustrated Truman. When the show's production crew noticed that Truman went back to his regular routine, it was then that Truman pulled off the unexpected and he tried to run away again. They looked for Truman but the they couldn't find him, until Christof thought of him running away via a sailboat. They never thought of him sailing over water knowing the Truman had fear of the water. To persuade him to sail back, they introduced a storm with high waves. Hoping to instill fear in Truman, enough to make him turn around and "be safe". However Truman decided to sail on amidst the strong winds and the high waves. He almost died in that storm and Christof, upon seeing his persistence, stopped the storm. Truman then continued on his journey until his boat reached the edge of the stage. He found a walkway along the edge and went up to a stage door. He found an exit and before he tried opening it, Christof talked to him over a PA system. He tried reasoning to him, trying to convince him to stay. Truman listened to him but still he eventually opened the door and exited Seahaven. One of Jim Carrey's acting greats without him trying to be funny. He really pulled a good one playing the character of Truman and we liked him here. The whole movie was about him so we don't get to see much of the other actors shine. They have to make do with the short time they have on film but some do stand out. We find two actors who really shined were that of Nastascha McElhone playing Sylvia and Noah Emmerich who plays his best buddy Marlon. McElhone had a short and few moments on screen but it was enough as she established already her concern for Truman. Emmerich meanwhile is the production staff's lackey, the go to guy when they want to check on Truman and have him toe the line in some scenes. Other characters who had bit roles and are great is Truman's mom, Holland Taylor and Paul Giamatti as the show's control room director. Laura Linney had a huge screentime here however we only liked her in one scene. We can't blame her though as we felt that the script was to blame for her portrayal as the wife of Truman. We liked the way she advertises a product placement. The rest of the time, the script just made her an eye candy. She really is pretty. Ed Harris was emotionless here, maybe as characterized by the script. His best moment here was near the end when he tried to convince Truman not to leave Seahaven. The rest of the time he was onscreen, he was just cruising along. A great actor doing some easy dialogues, they should really have given something heavy for him to swing at. Currently showing on Netflix so watch Jim Carrey in one of his best acting so far next to that sleeper Yes Man.
