Physical: 100

tags: Korean, Netflix, reality show

One hundred contestants in top physical shape compete in a series of grueling challenges to claim the honor - and cash reward - as the last one standing. The reality show has 100 athletes, special forces soldiers, fitness influencers, MMA fighters, firefighters, mountain rescuers, cross fit trainers, models, dancers - all strong men and women compete against each other.

The first elimination of 50 contestants, one on one rugby-like fight for a round ball with mud wrestling and physical agility. I like that some women chose a man to challenge and so far 1 woman has already won against her male opponent. She's a real athlete unlike some sissy male American athletes using the transgender insanity to compete with women because they know they cannot win against a man. 

 

List of participants here.

Seoul Vibe

 

tags: action, comedy, Korean movie, Netflix

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

From Netflix

Worldwide excitement is escalating in Seoul in the days leading up to the opening of the 1988 Summer Olympics. The fashion is old school, the music is sentimental and the racing is the best in the world. The drivers of the Sanggye-dong Supreme Team receive an offer they can’t refuse and become mired in a VIP slush fund investigation.

I love this movie 💗💗💗because I love movies set in the 80s. What's not to love? 1988 Seoul, the clothes, music, the actors.

I remember when I went to Seoul a few months before the 1988 Olympics and everything was Olympics Olympics Olympics. I even bought a hand fan with the swirly logo. I think it's kept somewhere in the basement. LOL 

American brands, culture, clothing, and food were very popular at the time, specially Pizza Hut and McD's. Koreans were obsessed with anything American. In the movie Park Yoon-Hee wore a jacket with Washington Redskins and her brother Park Dong-Wook, played by Yoo Ah-In was wearing a jacket with Oakland Raiders at the end of the movie. The pair of Nike shoes offered to a rival is so spot on. 

Most of my favorite Korean actors are in the movie but I specially love Lee Kyu-Hyung and his 80s clothes. He is one of the more versatile Korean actors in Korean dramas and movies.

Highly recommended for fans of Korean movies and set in the 80s.

 

Broken Summer

tags: drama, Korean, mystery, revenge

⭐⭐

From Goodreads

A death, a lie, a secret. For twenty-six summers he didn’t have the courage to face the past.

Lee Hanjo is an artist at the peak of his fame, envied and celebrated. Then, on his forty-third birthday, he awakens to find that his devoted wife has disappeared, leaving behind a soon-to-be-published novel she’d secretly written about the sordid past and questionable morality of an artist with a trajectory similar to Hanjo’s. It’s clear to him that his life is about to shatter and the demons from his past will come out. But why did his wife do it? Why now?

The book forces Hanjo to reflect on a summer from his youth when a deadly lie irreversibly and tragically determined the fates of two families.

First time I read a book written by a South Korean set in Korea, one of the free books on Amazon First Reads and the only worth reading. I didn't download books last month because they are waste of my time. I thought this will be different but I was wrong. What else is new? 

The premise is interesting but I was put off right away by the short sentences that remind me of David and Ann reading primers in Kindergarten. Like See Ann run. See David run. Something like that. It's boring. Once in a while there are longer sentences that are more descriptive but too flowery for my taste. Then the author goes back to David and Ann mode. Very frustrating. Lost in translation maybe? 

I liked the mystery enough of the wife's disappearing act and the novel she wrote to be published that might ruin her husband. The book then shifts back and forth from the present to the past 20 plus years. A teenage girl neighbor and friend of Hanjo didn't come home one night and was found dead a few days later. Hanjo's father confessed to the killing and was jailed. So I continued to read regardless of David and Ann distractions until I finished and it is underwhelming. 

Stupid drama annoyed me. It read like a typical Korean TV drama, mystery, incompetent police, social disparity, perceived sexism, love pentagon (oh give me a break!), alcoholism (the ever present soju), suicide, and unnecessary revenge because of misunderstandings and presumptions of the characters. Contrivances abound. The 2 stars are for Hanjo's success story as a painter because that's the only interesting part in the whole novel. How he became successful regardless of his mediocre talent is worth reading but his wife's reason for her actions is unbelievably shallow. 

If you can tolerate David and Ann style of writing, go ahead and download from Amazon First Reads.

Kingdom: Ashin Of The North

tags: fantasy, Kingdom series side story, Korean, Netflix streaming, revenge, sageuk, zombies

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

from AsianWiki

Kingdom: Ashin of the North reveals the origin of the resurrection plant and the mystery behind Ashin’s identity.

South Korea has perfected the zombie genre starting with Train To Busan and the Netflix series Kingdom, seasons 1 and 2, a zombie sageuk (historical drama). Kingdom: Ashin Of The North released today is a side story revealing the origin of the plant and the zombies.

The resurrection plant that brings dead people back to life is used by Ashin, who appeared at the end of season 2, to avenge the death of her family and her tribe. Ashin is played by My Sassy Girl herself Jun Ji-Hyun (Gianna Jun). Best revenge and zombie mash-up movie and that zombie tiger is awesome. I hope there is a season 3 with Ashin and the crown prince.

Recommended for Korean drama and zombie fans.

The Devotion of Suspect X

tags: mystery-crime, psychological thriller, cultural-Japanese
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

from Amazon.com

Yasuko Hanaoka is a divorced, single mother who thought she had finally escaped her abusive ex-husband Togashi. When he shows up one day to extort money from her, threatening both her and her teenaged daughter Misato, the situation quickly escalates into violence and Togashi ends up dead on her apartment floor. Overhearing the commotion, Yasuko’s next door neighbor, middle-aged high school mathematics teacher Ishigami, offers his help, disposing not only of the body but plotting the cover-up step-by-step. 

When the body turns up and is identified, Detective Kusanagi draws the case and Yasuko comes under suspicion. Kusanagi is unable to find any obvious holes in Yasuko’s manufactured alibi and yet is still sure that there’s something wrong. Kusanagi brings in Dr. Manabu Yukawa, a physicist and college friend who frequently consults with the police. Yukawa, known to the police by the nickname Professor Galileo, went to college with Ishigami. After meeting up with him again, Yukawa is convinced that Ishigami had something to do with the murder. What ensues is a high level battle of wits, as Ishigami tries to protect Yasuko by outmaneuvering and outthinking Yukawa, who faces his most clever and determined opponent yet.

I enjoy a mystery thriller whenever the killer/s are known early on. This Japanese novel in particular, pitting 2 geniuses against each other is pure pleasure to read. Who will prevail: the physicist or the mathematician? The novel is full of twists and turns that I never saw coming. Highly recommended.

The novel spawned 2 movies, one from Japan and one from Korea, and a Japanese TV series. I read the book first last year before watching both movie versions. 

The Japanese version: Suspect X

The movie is good but not great. It's not as compelling as the book and looks like a Made-for-TV flick. I took out 1 star out of 4 because of the female rookie cop replacing the original male cop as the physicist's "partner" in solving the puzzle. It makes no sense since she is not the physicist's friend from college who together frequently discuss crimes and possibilities, think Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. She also annoyed me constantly. The film makers had to have a female detective working with the physicist for the TV series. 

The Korean version - Suspect X/Perfect Number

The Koreans just know how to make an edge-of-your-seat thriller. The title, cast, cinematography, dialog, acting, and script are just about perfect. Although they added and changed a few stuff, they didn't distract from the essence of the novel. 

Commitment

Storyline

After a failed mission in South Korea, a North Korean spy's 18 year old son Myung-Hoon (played by T.O.P of the Korean hip-hop group, Big Bang) and daughter Hye-In are sent off to a forced labor camp. A high ranking North Korean military official offers Myung-Hoon a deal to carry out a spy mission in South Korea and if successful, he and his sister will be released from the labor camp. Myung-Hoon accepts the deal and undergoes 2 years of intense training.

Myung-Hoon arrives in South Korea under the guise of a North Korean defector, is adopted by a South Korean couple who are actually North Korean spies, and enrolls at a local high school. 

His mission is to assassinate a North Korean spy from another unit. 
However, a power struggle ensues in North Korea with the failing health of dictator Kim Jung-Il and Myung-Hoon quickly becomes a liability.

Well, as a lover of Korean films and dramas, I'm probably biased but I don't care, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. The fight sequence is T.O.P-notch, sorry I couldn't resist, so is the acting, and script.

Highly recommended. If you are female and a fan of Korean boy bands, try not to get distracted by T.O.P's pretty face. (^_~)

Currently streaming on Netflix and Amazon