Liar Game Season 1 & 2 + movie

Rating: *****


Genre: Psychological, Thriller
Episodes: Season 1 - 11 episodes, Season 2 -9 episodes, 1 movie
Cast:  Iwasa Mayuko, Kitamura Soichiro, Matsuda Shota, Toda Erika, Watanabe Ikkei


SYNOPSIS:
"Based on the manga series of the same name, Toda Erika plays an honest college student, Kanzaki Nao, who receives a hundred million yen one day, along with a card saying she has been chosen to take part in the "Liar Game". The aim of the game is to trick the other players out of their hundred million dollars. At the end, the winner gets the hundred million and the loser is a hundred million yen in debt. The next day, she receives notification that her opponent is her former teacher, Fujisawa Kazuo. She goes to him, seeking help, but ends up getting tricked into handing her money over. Desperate, she approaches the police for help, but they are unable to do anything. However, she is told of a mastermind swindler, Akiyama Shinichi, who is to be released from jail the next day. Desperate, she goes to him for help."


REVIEW:
The Liar Game is one of those dramas which, if you start, you will never be able to stop.  It's an addiction like crack.  The series is composed of two seasons, totaling 20 episodes, and a finale.  The whole synopsis is enough to get just about anyone interested.  Although some of the secondary actors were less than appealing, I have to contend that they were just trying to illustrate the crazy characters that were illustrated in the script.  Overall, this is a drama that will always make you want more.  Even if you don't think that you would like this kind of psychological thriller, I urge you to give it a whirl.  You will be glad that you did.

What did you think of this drama? Comment below!


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IRIS

Rating: Not Rated

Genre: Romance, Mystery, Action, Thriller
Episodes: 20
Cast: Jung Joon Ho, Kim So Yun, Kim Tae Hee, Lee Byun Hun, T.O.P.


"Two elite National Security System (NSS) agents, Hyeong-Jun (Lee Byung-Hun) and Sa-Woo (Jeong Jun-Ho), who were sworn blood brothers, both fall for fellow agent Seung-Hee (Kim Tae-Hee). Sa-Woo attempts to suppress his feelings for Seung-Hee and wishes the couple the best. Hyeon-Jun is then sent off on a solo mission to Hungary. In Hungary, Hyeon-jun accomplishes his mission and while in escape mode becomes wounded. Shortly later, Hyeon-jun finds out that he was betrayed by fellow agent Sa-woo. Seung-Hee attempts to help Hyeon-Jun escape, but a car explosion separates the two and both are misled to believe that the other person are dead. Hyeon-Jun is then saved by an unknown voice and learns of the secret society "IRIS". One year later, Hyeon-Jun returns to Korea to seek revenge. During this time, the two Koreas are set to reunify, while the group "IRIS" are intent on stopping the reunification."

I really wanted to watch this drama, but I just couldn't handle finishing it.  I always hear glowing praises for IRIS, so I really wanted to see what it was about, but this drama just isn't my style.  There's nothing really wrong with the drama, I just have a specific style of drama that I enjoy.  Personally, I cannot stomach an action or romance film without any sort of comedic relief. If there isn't proper comedic relief, the viewer becomes stressed while watching the drama (or, in some case, loose interest).  Although it is not realistic to have comedy in the midst of a shootout, all dramas should have nice little moments in between battles so as to lessen the severity of the action sequences that can cause stress.  After all, real people cannot function well without some time of peace.

Why Gore?

One of my favorite genres of film is gore/horror.  You might be wondering why I would pick such a gruesome genre to enjoy, but I can't get enough of it.  Now, there are many reasons as to why a gore film is one of the most artistic film genres, but I don't have the patience to list them all.  Here are some of my top reasons as to why gore is one of my favorite genres in the film industry.

 1.  Genuine pain, anger, and shock are hard to fake.

            - In gore films, an actor must be able to harness these emotions.  However, pain, anger, and shock are very hard to fake because most people have not witnessed them first hand.  Not many actors have gone through horrific situations in their life, so they have to be very good actors in order to make them seem as if they are genuinely feeling the emotion that the movie or drama requires.  Although I do not enjoy bad acting, I like gore because there is more opportunity for an actor to show his or her ability on film.  Unlike romance or family dramas, which even the worst actors can skim through, gore requires the actors to be good in order to produce a high quality gore film.

2. Movie and drama scripts must be good in order to let the actors shine.

            - Almost any "writer" can write a wishy-washy 3rd rate romantic comedy screen play and get it on screen.  It can be riddled with inconsistencies, clichés, and illogical reasoning, and still be able to make millions in the box office.  Why?  People like comedy.  They don't realize how bad a drama is because they've never seen anything better.  One of the most challenging genres of writing is gore.  Characters have to be rounded and have a full range of emotion.  The storyline must be logical.  In gore, there are so many emotions that the characters go through that most dramas and movies will never even touch.  Fear, lust, love, shock, anger, vengeance, bloodlust, and pain are just a few emotions that the characters can go through in just one film or drama.  In the gore drama, a writer can really show off his or her talent.

3. Graphics

            - Unlike romance, family, or even thriller dramas, gore is one of the few genres in which the graphics are extremely important.  The blood, body parts, and all the other special effects have to look genuine.  There are some aspects which are hard to fake, and (with gore) you can really see the quality of work that has been done in order to heighten the quality of the film.

Whenever my friends suggest that we watch a thriller, I usually say that I don't like horror movies.  However, that is not really true.  Truthfully, I enjoy horror movies the best.  The only reason I do not normally watch them is because I'd rather see the ones that are actually quality work instead of the Hollywood versions that are barely held together with duct tape.  If you ever see a quality gore film, I think you will understand my reasoning.  Even though there are very few wonderful films in this genre, it is worth it once you see the glory that is gore.

Tell me, what do you think about this genre? 

Do you love it?  Do you hate it?

What gore films have you enjoyed?

Bad Guy

Rating: *****

Genre: Melodrama, Thriller, Mystery
Episodes: 17
Cast: Han Ga In, Kim Jae Wook, Kim Nam Gil, Oh Yun soo, Jung So Min

"Gun Wook (Kim Nam Gil) plans a revenge against the Haeshin Group. A company to whom Tae-sung (Kim Jae Wook) is the heir. "

What can I possibly say about this drama? Truthfully, I don't know where to start. I guess I should say this: ASTOUNDING! I am now a big fan of Kim Nam Gil, the man who plays Gun Wook in this drama. His acting was so good. As far as the drama goes, it really was interesting. The characters and plot were well rounded and the dialogue was great as well. I do think that it would have been better if it hadn't been shortened to a 17 episode show. However, I guess you really cant change what happened. It was originally supposed to be a 20 episode drama, but Kim Nam Gil got drafted so they had to cut it off a bit short. Anyway, this was definitely a drama worth watching.