Category: Korea

Starship of Fools | Mickey 17 (2025) Review

March 8, 2025

It’s been a long winter. If I’m getting into my car these days, it’s to go to the grocery store to continue stocking up on canned goods for the coming economic recession or government collapse or whatever it’s gonna be. Tonight, as I waited for the engine to warm, I asked myself: “Do I really want to see this movie?” It was kind of an obligation, for two reasons. One, I’ve been writing a sci-fi story about clones and needed to know if I should stop, and two, Parasite was so good that I owe Director Bong. I’d also managed to avoid all trailers and plot details – even the cast list, beyond Pattinson – so why spoil that now, though it’s probably why I was feeling so neutral. What was there to excite me but the promise of another Bong Joon-ho movie? He’s been a little hit-or-miss, though I’m not sure if it’s just because I vibe so much with his friend and colleague Park Chan-wook. That man can ruin my night any day of the week, and by comparison, Bong’s sillier, more welcoming sensibilities are less appealing. As a sci-fi movie with a funny premise, Mickey 17 seemed to promise the same thrills of The Host or Okja – undoubtedly with that satirical bite. … More Starship of Fools | Mickey 17 (2025) Review

Not Another ‘Baby Assassins’ Review

January 26, 2025

No, really, though. Recently, I re-subscribed to Hi-Yah! on Amazon to watch Corey Yuen’s She Shoots Straight, off Donovan’s sterling recommendation. Great movie. Classic girl-forward Yuen but before his CGI fixation with So Close and DOA. I was browsing around at what else I could watch to justify the subscription for the month and noticed not only Baby Assassins but Baby Assassins 2. Oh, right! Yes, I’ve been meaning to get into those movies ever since it was only “that movie.” And now, as I discover, there are three? And a TV series? Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the third film, Baby Assassins: Nice Days, is not yet streaming on Hi-Yah!, nor is the series Baby Assassins: Everyday. They only premiered last year. Had I been in on the ground floor, I would’ve at least been able to watch Everyday on Dailymotion, but now I can’t find anything – and am devastated. … More Not Another ‘Baby Assassins’ Review

K-Drama Report: The Judge from Hell, Part III – God Mode

January 19, 2025

In the first Report, I said – and I quote – “Shin-hye should be god mode in Grand Theft Auto,” in expressing frustration over her character’s limitations. In the second Report, my wish came true, and I was excited and terrified. Now, in our final Report on The Judge from Hell, I think it’s time to deconstruct this term, “god mode.” While I watched the first five episodes in a matter of days, the next nine took me practically the rest of the month. The first lull came with episode six, right before Kang Bit-na was about to lay her righteous beating on a condemned soul. This actually turned out to be “the elevator scene” I was crowing about. Of course I wanted to see more of Park Shin-hye beating people up; that’s the most amazing thing I can think of. So why couldn’t I hit play (or rather, open Disney+ and hope it didn’t crash or ask me to sign in)? It broke my heart to realize, but I had to admit: I was bored. … More K-Drama Report: The Judge from Hell, Part III – God Mode

K-Drama Report: The Judge from Hell, Part II – Park Shin-hye Beats the Stuffing Out of Everyone

January 3, 2025

Okay, maybe not everyone, but I’m still satisfied. Previously on the K-Drama Report, I complained that for a show featuring Park Shin-hye as we’ve never seen her, empowered with the infinite power of hell, her character was woefully underwhelming. Add in unpleasant scenes of domestic violence, and I was ready to call it quits. I’ve been had before, and maybe in my old age, I’m too frustrated by failure. Well, it turns out, there’s a reason why the first episode doesn’t end with the cathartic release of Shin-hye’s character Kang Bit-na (or Justitia the demon) beating up the abuser guy for a couple of minutes. No, no, The Judge from Hell had something much greater in mind: twenty minutes. Yes, friend, you read that right. A sustained sequence where she’s just blowing this guy up. … More K-Drama Report: The Judge from Hell, Part II – Park Shin-hye Beats the Stuffing Out of Everyone

K-Drama Report: The Judge from Hell (2024)

January 2, 2025

The IMDb logline for The Judge from Hell reads as follows: “Kang Bit Na, an elite judge with a beautiful appearance, is a demon whose mission is to punish those who have wronged others and send them to Hell. However, the righteous Detective Han Da On is determined to change her ways.” You know what? That sounds really good. I’ve been dying for a show where Park Shin-hye plays against type and, ironically, into her public persona as a bigger-than-life celebrity who everyone loves. At the very least, her biggest roles have been characters easily described as “nice” or “shy” or even “do-gooder”? I feel like she’s been slapped in the face so many times, though she did give it to Kim Ji-won – the Queen of Tears herself – in The Heirs. But no more. Now she’s playing a demon! … More K-Drama Report: The Judge from Hell (2024)

K-Drama Report: Love Next Door, Part III

October 19, 2024

Here at the end of Love Next Door, I’m revisiting a question from early on. These Reports frequently reference back to the small clutch of K-dramas I’ve seen, and a few get more attention than others: Twenty-Five Twenty-One, of course, while I almost never mention Madam Antoine, despite really liking it. Both Doona! and Love is for Suckers come up because they had obvious or interesting flaws to measure against. Now I’m wondering how often I’ll cite Love Next Door in the future, because it bears almost no distinguishing hallmarks. I think it’s a great show, ultimately, but it’s the K-drama you’d get from the K-drama wishing well. Appealing leads? Check. Beautiful setting? Check. Cozy atmosphere? Romance? Happy ending? Check, check, check. Then you’re standing there, looking at your cup of vanilla ice cream, full of grave self-doubt. … More K-Drama Report: Love Next Door, Part III

K-Drama Report: Love Next Door, Part II

October 10, 2024

Love Next Door kicks off its second half by hitting the Big Red Button. In my experience, a good K-drama will take its time to develop the characters and their conflicts, nurturing these story fundamentals like a gentle gardener, while other K-dramas will decide at some point to lob a grenade in there and blow up all the flowers. Someone will die, or end up in the hospital, or get hit by a fucking car, or a bus. Love is for Suckers kept introducing extreme situations for the characters to suddenly deal with as the climax to existing, unrelated issues. In retrospect, was this a commentary on the sensationalism of reality TV? In Love Next Door, we know that something happened in Seok-ryu’s past; she took a year off from work and broke things off with her fiancé, and perhaps these two things are related. During a taste test of her cooking attended by both Seung-hyo and ex-fiancé Song Hyeon-jun, she collapses, clutching her stomach, and elects for Hyeon-jun to take her to the hospital. … More K-Drama Report: Love Next Door, Part II

K-Drama Report: Love Next Door (2024)

October 6, 2024

“You can never go home again,” according to so many movies and TV shows. Within its first half at least, the K-drama Love Next Door asks the other, rarer question: “But what if you could?” Our heroine is Bae Seok-ryu, a Korean who’s been living and working in the U.S. for the last ten years, homebound after leaving her big tech job and even a fiancé. Her mother Na Mi-sook has a habit of bragging to her friends about Seok-ryu’s grand successes overseas, if only to match her frenemy Seo Hye-sook’s equally aggressive bragging about her son Choi Seung-hyo, an award-winning architect and co-CEO of a new firm. This is the world waiting for our heroine when she lands in Korea, and it’s a world of hurt – literally. Finally breaking the news to her mother, Seok-ryu is beaten, though she expected nothing less. … More K-Drama Report: Love Next Door (2024)

The ’94 Line

September 28, 2024

Something’s happening in the K-pop world. Something big. Or at least, in a tiny pocket of the K-pop world. As I’ve spoken about before, one of my favorite aspects of idoldom is the relationships between idols, both inside and outside their respective groups. … More The ’94 Line