City Hunter

Rating: ****.5


Genre: Action, Romance
Episodes: 20
Cast: Chun Ho Jin, Kim Sang Joong, Lee Min Ho, Park Min Young, Lee Joon Hyuk


SYNOPSIS:
"‘City Hunter’ is an original script based on the world-famous novel by Japan’s Tsukasa Hojo. Since it became public that Korea would be the first remake of this story into a drama, ‘City Hunter’ has been receiving worldwide attention. ‘City Hunter’ has switched the setting from Tokyo 1980 to Seoul 2011, and according to the original story structure, the protagonist becomes a city hunter and his character develops while resolving gratifying cases."


REVIEW:
I've been waiting for this series to start & finish since October 2010, and I was extremely excited to see such a drama.  Normally this type of patient waiting can end up leaving the viewer disappointed, but I think it was well worth the wait.  When I watched the first episode, I was completely confused on how this drama even remotely relates to the famous City Hunter manga, but I think I understand how it fits in with the series.  To understand this drama, I think you really have to view this series as "City Hunter: The beginning."  I'll explain in detail later on in this review as I may have to post a bit of a spoiler if I have to explain.

As far as errors go, there were a lot of little ones.

1.  I think that whoever was in charge of the blood affects did a horrid job.  Has this person even seen real blood up close before?  In some of the scenes it looks like someone just poured a glass of food coloring and corn syrup over the person's head and called it a day.  Also, unless I'm mistook this for another drama, they forgot to put blood on the guys' shirt in one of the cuts.  One moment he had an injury, and the next moment you cannot see it.

2. I think another error that is quite obvious, which I've seen in many dramas, is that you can tell when an actor is carrying an empty box around when (in the story) it is supposed to be filled.  If the actor cannot even act like a box is filled with something in it, they should put a few books in the box.  One character goes around whipping a box around that's supposed to be filled with files.

3. Ajusshi was supposed to be driving while the "City Hunter" was talking on the phone, but in the scene, the truck seemed to be moving without the driver XD

4. He was wet, then he was dry, and then he was wet again.

5. The last error that I saw on multiple occasions is the coffee cups.  Normal people don't drink hot coffee like there is only a drop left at the bottom of the cup.  I know I'm being a little strict, but can't they at least pretend that there is something in it?  And, by the way, what kind of store puts an iced coffee in a to go cup for hot coffee?  Most (if not all) coffee shops use clear plastic cups with lids and a straw.

SPOILER ALERT!  The following message may contain spoilers.  Please do not read beyond this point if you wish to watch the drama without them.  If you would like to read the rest of this post, please highlight the following paragraph(s).

As I mentioned earlier, this was supposed to be a "beginning" for the City Hunter.  I know people speculated that he died, but I refuse to believe that.  I believe that this drama is supposed to be what happened in order to make the City Hunter a city hunter (if you know what I mean).  Although I haven't read the whole manga, the original work doesn't really say how he came to be called the City Hunter, or how he even started doing that sort of thing.  However, if you take this drama as a prequel to the original work, it makes a lot more sense.  People tried to say that the character died at the ending because he was wearing black and she was wearing white, but I think that's kind of stupid.  The character is always wearing black, if you haven't noticed.  Also, why would she smile back at him if he was a ghost?  Also, since his dad died, it wouldn't be that unthinkable if he went around wearing all (or mostly) black for a while.

What did you think of this drama? Comment below!


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Can you hear my heart?

Rating: ****


Genre: Drama, Romance
Episodes: 30
Cast: Hwang Jung Eum, Go Joon Hee, Kim Jae Won, Kim Yeo Jin, Nam Goong Min


SYNOPSIS:
"The love story of Cha Dong Joo, man who's been rendered deaf after an accident but pretends he can hear, and Bong Woo Ri, a woman who's intelligent but pretends she's dim-witted to protect the dignity of her mentally handicapped father."




REVIEW:
In retrospect, I don't really have much to say about the drama in itself.  The drama was fun and enjoyable, with few (if any) errors.  The episodes were steady and it never really got boring.  Although this is definitely a drama that is worth watching, I don't really have anything too positive or too negative about this series.  Nothing really stood out to me too much.

I do think the biggest problem, though, was Kim Jae Won.  Jae Won is a decent actor, but he kept forgetting that he was playing a deaf character when he was acting. T.T  Did the director not notice that he wasn't even facing the female lead when she said some lines that the character was supposed to understand?  Although it wasn't very often, sometimes the storyline would obviously suggest that the character had seen the other character say something, yet in the actual film the character wasn't looking at the secondary character's lips or face.

One I found really scary was when the character Cha Dong Joo was driving while holding a conversation.  I seriously have to wonder how he didn't get into a car accident.  It's one thing to glance in the rear view mirror once in a while, but there was way too much time spent reading the passengers lips.


What did you think of this drama? Comment below!
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Happy Birthday To... Me?

Hello, dear readers,

It's that time again.  That time that I go off ranting about things you don't care about.

Nah, I jest.  Truthfully, I just wanted to let you guys know that I will be gone from August 24 through Sept. 11th.  My blog posts will be automatically updated, but I won't be around to answer any emails at that time.  I'm going on vacation to Conneticut to see my sisters for my birthday present this year.  Thus, I will not be able to reply during that time if anyone needs me.  If you still need to contact me about something, feel free to do so and I will get back to you on Sept. 12th when I have finished unpacking.

By the way, it's my birthday.  (Wink wink nudge nudge.)
Hey, don't look at me like that.  You know you do it too lol.

xoxo
TubeObsessed

People who try to judge foreign acting....

People who try to judge foreign acting (or writing) are one of my biggest pet peeve.

I know that, as a reviewer, I shouldn't be talking badly about my fellow "colleagues," but I really cannot stand it.  When you are watching a show from a foreign country, there are many things that you will not be able to understand.  There are many parts of acting that you have to be a native, or have a lot of experience living in that area, to really understand.  One of these things is the tone of voice.  All languages have their own common speech.  How you say a phrase can create multiple meanings depending on what words the actor chooses to emphasize.  I guess you could call it a "dialect."  A common language pattern can predict what phrase a person might say to express their feelings, as well as what words are emphasized.

As far as writing goes, you cannot fully review one's writing ability without complete knowledge of the language and culture.  In a Korean drama, a person put a flower in a woman's hair.  To an American, that might be romantic.  However, in Korea it is a common reference to crazy people.  Also, you cannot take translations at their word.  Translations are only as good as the subber.  Most of the time translations are not literal.  Most subtitlers try to convey the basic idea as a lot of phrases make no sense if spoken literally.  The words on the screen may not fully impact the same way as in the original translation.  (This has to do with religion as well.  You cannot treat a translated religious script as you would an original script that has not been translated from a foreign text.)

That being said, you really cannot completely judge a person's ability if you are a foreigner unless you are fluent in the language and culture.  People whose native tongue is different from the film they are reviewing will have a hard time noticing things.

Please, dear bloggers, do me a favor.  Please don't say that an actor is good if you do not have the experience.  You can judge if a person is a bad actor if their facial expressions are bad, but you cannot necessarily say that they are wonderful.

Painter of the Wind

Rating:****


Genre: Period Drama
Episodes: 20
Cast: Im Ji Eun, Moon Geun Young, Park Geun Young, Park Shin Yang, Bae Soo Bin, Moon Chae Won


SYNOPSIS:
"Shin Yoon Bok is a talented painter who disguises herself as a boy to search for her father’s murderer and meets a master painter who guides her into being a great painter. Kim Hong Do is the man who teaches Yoon Bok how to paint, and they develop a strong friendship of mentor and disciple."


REVIEW:
In all honesty, this drama just wasn't my style.  Although I enjoyed it because I enjoy painting, I didn't really like it as much as I could have if it had a bit of comedy in it.  The romance in it was...  Well...  The romance was a little uncomfortable to watch, to say the least.  The way she spoke and looked at women when she was dressed as a man was creepy.  I mean, I really didn't know how to react about that.  She really looked like a pretty boy that was in love with a woman.  What's just as uncomfortable is the romantic like relationship between the two main characters.  The characters are supposed to be like 13 years apart, but it looks more like 20.  It seems like they could be in another drama together as a father and daughter and no one would bat an eye.

I hope I'm not scaring you away from this drama, though.  Even though there were things I didn't enjoy, I think this is (overall) a good drama.  If you like painting or period dramas, you'll most likely enjoy this.

What did you think of this drama?  Comment below!
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Back to Business

Have you noticed that the last few months I haven't updated my pages?  You may have been wondering why all the upcoming and now airing dramas that I listed were not upcoming or airing.

Well, I've finally updated my blog after a long break.

I've recently been keeping up with too many dramas, so I wasn't able to work on this blog properly.  However, things have been updated once again and I will be updating my pages monthly or bi-monthly (depending on my schedule).

How have you all been lately?  Have you watched anything interesting as of late?

Let me know by commenting below.

xoxo
Tube Obsessed

Lie To Me

Rating:****


Genre: Romance, Comedy
Episodes: 16
Cast: Hong Soo Hyun, Jo Yoon Hee, Kang Ji Hwan, Yoon Eun Hye, Sung Joon


SYNOPSIS:
"Gong Ah Jung, a level 5 Ministry of Culture official, gets entangled in a web of lies when she mistakenly lies that she's married to Hyun Ki Joon, a hotel manager from an affluent family. Their relationship is further complicated when Ki Joon's ex-fiancée and a close friend of his brother's, Oh Yoon Joo, reappears in his life."


REVIEW:
I really liked this drama.  I really do not know what more to say about it, though.  There's nothing overly unique about the storyline, but there's also no real errors in it's production.  The first ten episodes were addicting.  During that time, I was completely addicted to this show.  It's one of those shows that gets you hooked real quickly.  After the first ten episodes, though, there were a few episodes I contemplated just skipping altogether.  Truthfully, one episode was barely worth watching because I could tell exactly what was going to happen.  However, I did end up watching all the episodes, and I am glad to say that it was worth the time I spent to watch it.

What did you think of this drama?  Comment below!

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Queen Seon Deok

Rating: *****


Genre: Historical, Period Drama
Episodes: 62
Cast: Ho Hyun Jung, Kim Nam Gil, Lee Yo Won, Park Ye Jin, Uhm Tae Woong


SYNOPSIS:
"Dukman (lee yo won) was born a twin but was abandoned as a baby and sent to a place far away by her father, King Jinpyeong (park ye jin) in order to protect her from being killed by an influenced royal court lady, Mishil (ko hyeong jeong) who tries to snatch away the throne from the royal successor. Dukman was later brought back to the Silla palace, where she joined forces with her twin sister Princess Cheonmyong to oppose Mishil. However, Mishil devised sinister plans to have the two Silla princesses exiled from the kingdom, and in a secretive battle, Princess Cheonmyong was accidentally killed. But Princess Dukman shrewdly enlisted the help of General Kim Yusin (uhm tae woong) and eliminated her archenemy Mishil. She then became Queen Seon Duk, the first female ruler of the Silla kingdom. This drama is about a story of a beautiful queen, who has to give up her love to save the people and thus, leaving behind many brilliant achievements..."


REVIEW:
As you may already know, I've never been quite interested in long non-fiction based dramas.  Usually dramas that are based on actual history tend to be boring, but I found Queen Seon Deok very addicting.  Despite it being sixty two episodes, I was never bored throughout the sixty-two hours that I spent watching it.  It's quite surprising that I was able to sit through such a long drama without getting bored.  As far as the actual film goes, there were a few inconsistencies and errors.  However, considering how long this drama is, it would be a miracle if it didn't have errors.  After all, a long drama is a marathon and it takes a lot of time to make it to the finish line.  I think my favorite character in the whole drama was Bidam.  Kim Nam Gil never disappoints, and the character is not only funny, but grows into a character that the viewer loves even though he isn't a great person.  I also loved Ho Hyun Jung in her role as Mi Shil.  She has that aura that really takes over the screen.

P.S. Did anyone notice that straw hat that looked like it was taped over with duct tape?  Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think they invented duct tape before that time period.

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