Deserves to be on the big screen!

Was so excited for this due to Kim Tae-Ri's breathtaking performance on the iconic KDrama series, Mr Sunshine and she didn't disappoint. If anything deserved to be on the big screen, it was this - shows what $24million can actually get you in terms of effects. The VFX is stunning! It draws you in during the first five minutes and it's so good to see something of this scale after so long. In Hollywood, $24million would get you the first 15 minutes of an MCU film - not a whole film! There are bits that are a little patchy but it doesn't detract from the story.

The character development can be a bit slow if you're not used to it, but as is the way with a kdrama or korean film, the character development is a bit of a rollercoaster ride - but if drags you and in and you become so invested in their journey.

Kim Tae-Ri is her classic brilliance and while I've not seen Decendants of the Sun yet, but Song Joong Ki is a great lead. The rest of the cast of the main team is great too, each with a story and you see them all band together in classic style - a bit like Guardians of the Galaxy but in Earths orbit haha.

If there is a negative, then it's the Western cast and/or dialogue. It just gets a bit diluted in translation - but then that seems to be the norm in KDrama's so makes sense to see it here too. It's a shame as the villain (Sillivan) was one of the main actors in the Hobbit!

Please give it a watch on the largest screen you can!

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If you love travel and food - you'll love Battle Trip!

This is one of my all time favourite shows. Full episodes are available on the KBS World TV YouTube channels.
The original set up (which was the best) pitted two teams - usually pairs made up of Kpop idols, kdrama actors or comedians who go to two different destinations, sometimes with a budget and the audience then votes for the best trip.
It's truly joyful.
They originally focused on asian countries as well as areas in S.Korea but as the show progressed they ventured out to the UAE, Europe and the USA/Canada.
I love how it was educational for the viewers, showing different cultures in a respectful way. It's my go to show if I want to have a laugh, and to live vicariously through the show during lockdown.
I have two negatives however. For 2019 they changed the format half way through, eliminating the live audience and I feel it lost something as a result. The second was that the show was later cancelled in 2020 :(
I love it though and so happy it's all on YouTube.

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Super satisfying office drama done right!

I hestitated watching this when it came out, but after seeing several TikToks with Naeun, I had to give it a go. Was hooked from the first episode and immediately rooting for the main lead as she goes about putting mysoganists in their place.
I main character Go A-In comes from a very poor background and has made her way up to the top, being the best advertising agency person (I don't know the roles name!). She's well respected in the industry but is royally stitched up by her then boss, who promoted her - for PR purposes.

What follows is her fight against them as well as dealing with her own demons. It's fast paced with a great supporting cast. Spoiler alert, there is no real romance although you're routing for two people in particular.
The main antagonist (Jo Sung Ha from K2) is truly annoying and as much as you want Go A-In to succeed, you equally want his demise.

It's not perfect, some plotlines are not fully explored, but all in all it's a great and very satisfying drama.

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So close to being a great RomCom but then suspense!!

Firstly, if you were like me, you would have been put of by the Kingsman parody Netflix trailer (an actual scene from the first episode) - thankfully I gave it a chance and was able to enjoy a truly lovely romance staring two A-star actors - especially Jeon Do Yeon in the role of Nam Haeng Seon.
The romance that starts to blossom is really lovely between Haeng Seon and the superstar tutor Choi Chi Yeol, all supported by a great supporting cast for the immediate family and friends.
I'll address the elephant in the room about Jeon Do Yeon's casting. A lot of people say she's too old at 50 to play that character. Technically they are correct - her character is supposed to be around 10 years older than Hae-yi as she's her aunt. Firstly she doesn't look 50 and she's Kdrama royalty and plays the roll so well. So, don't listen to all those haters.
The drama showcases the ultra competitive after school tutors/lessons that kid take to get into the best universities. Those students are 'supported' by a group of mothers that I've been calling the 'Housewives of Gangnam' - a group of gossiping busybodies who will throw anyone under the bus to ensure their precious baby will be top of the class. This group is headed up by Cho Soo Hee played by the delightful Kim Sun Young (who most of us met in CLOY). I loved her characters until this one - she is not a good person and doesn't see the stress she's causing her daughter Su-A, not the issues she has of her own. At times this group really annoyed me and their toxicity was tiresome in some episodes, especially as they would look down on our lead and cause troupe without thinking of the consequences they could cause. Sometimes I felt they got too much screen time
However, our love story is quite lovely and healing and so you'd think that would be the end of this review...
Sadly CCIR is not without its issues. As seems to be the norm in a lot of newer dramas in having unnecessary drama and this one is no exception but an underlying murder mystery which it really could do without. I'll leave that for you to judge if you feel the same.
The writers kept throwing new things into the mix right up until the final episode and while this didn't detract from the sweetness of the main romance (as well as some of the others - especially a couple of bromances) I don't think it was needed.
Did that spoil this drama form me? NO! I loved it. I had Hometown Cha Cha Cha vibes minus the seaside location and I;d recommend watching it. Thankfully the romance between the leads is a great constant throughout. Warning - the food will make you hungry.

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Dont think. Feel!!!!!

A truly wonderful drama. It has the perfect balance of comedy and emotions and further proves my case that pre-2019 KDrama's are the gold standard.
So rare to watch a drama with so many green-flag characters with no toxic traits.
This is only my second Shin Hye Sun drama following Mr Queen, and she is so endearing and brilliantly plays the role of a 17-year-old who wakes up from coma 13 years later.
Yang Se Jong plays his role brilliantly and he deals with a trauma he's been carrying for so long. A very young Ahn Hyo Seop is the glue that holds the group together.
The supporting cast are great too.
There are some very minor plot holes and the OST is good but not amazing - although it fits perfectly to the story.
Thirty But Seventeen (or Still 17 as it's called on Netflix) is one of those gold standard dramas that you don't want to tend! Remember - don't think - feel! Go watch it now!

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Bittersweet Symphony

Started watching in between Extraordinary Attorney Woo episodes and it started really strong for the first third. The pace then really slowed down - so much so that I watched it at 1.5x speed. It's a lovely drama with great acting from the leads, and great music but I think they missed a trick with the slow pace. Park Eun-Bin is delightful!

Our protagonist is not good at playing the violin (sounded amazing to me) but she loves it and perseveres - much to the lack of support from her family (not her dad) and her teachers.
Coupled with her struggles, there is a love triangle that drags out too long which takes away some of the joy - it would have been nicer to have Sun Ah prove people wrong and for the final act to show the storylines resolved nicely to end on a happier tone. There was too much sadness for me but then maybe I'm a romantic!

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Brilliantly satisfying drama

Don't get mad... get even.

Taxi Driver (or Deluxe Taxi to give it it's proper name) is an action-packed drama based around righteous revenge under the cover of an innocent taxi service. When our protagonists are at the end of the road (no pun intended...) due to horrible and painful circumstances, they find solace in the offer of getting revenge. In turn, they help other people who are in despair due to the actions of some very horrible people and act on their behalf to bring these people to justice.

Meanwhile, a tough prosecutor, played by Esom, is suspicious of these activities.

Taxi Driver has an 80's/90's feel to it which I loved - a bit like Knight Rider or The A-Team and so has a little bit of cheesiness to it - but that's needed to balance out the more gruesome aspects of it.

Well worth a watch and while I don't condone violence or revenge it's really satisfying to see it play out. Watch now before the second season comes out.

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Wonderful!!

it's one of those dramas that you just don't want to end. A sweet story about love, uni, friendship, and lots of food.
I couldn't get into this last year when I tried watching Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo right after finishing Start-Up! I really didn't like Nam Joo Hyuk character in that show and so didn't gel with this one.
Thankfully, however, Twenty-Five, Twenty-One changed all that and I'm so glad I revisited this show.

Firstly, our protagonist (Kim Bok Joo) played by the wonderful Lee Sung Kyung is so adorable that you can't not fall in love with her. Her story was lovely - finding out that she's a woman and not just a weightlifter, will resonate with a lot of people.
Joon Hyeong's character works so well with her too and you get why Nam Joo Hyuk is such a good actor.

I don't want to spoil it for you but will say to just go and watch it. Enjoy its purity and have fun!

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Hit and a sort of miss - play the long game and you'll be rewarded.

SPOILER WARNING:
OK - here we go. Having jumped into this having just finished the wondered Welcome to Waikiki, expectations were high,
Maybe too high...
A few things really irritated me.
1. Lee Yi-Kyung's character, Lee Joon-ki had become overly slapstick compared to S1 and dare I say it, quite annoying. Which is a shame as we know him to be a joker with a heart of gold.
2. In fact, there seemed to be too much slapstick comedy/mayhem in the first few episodes - something seemed to go wrong in each scene, let alone each episode.
3. Shin Hyun-soo's character, Gook Ki-bong wast written as a lovable idiot - with too much on the idiot. For example, there is an episode where after a lot of failures for the character, he tries to assemble an Ikea desk for his girlfriend, Yuri. This could have been a great example to show that he's not just a one-trick pony but had this hidden talent. Sadly that was not the case.
4. This was the most important irritation though - the story took five episodes to really get going. Ordinarily not an issue as it;s supposed to be a goofy comedy - however, the second half of the story had so much heart that it needed a couple of extra episodes to do it justice.

OK, that's the negatives out of the way - if you've got this far then thanks.
Waikiki 2 is a hilarious comedy though - not as good as the first one and some of the jokes are rehashed from the first series as well as separate episodes from Friends!! But if you want a good laugh (and I mean belly laughs) then this is an easy watch.
The main love story is nice between Moon Ga-young (Su-yeon) ? and Kim Seon-ho (Woo-sik) is nice but for me it the one with Woo-sik's older sister Yoo-ri (played by Kim Ye-won) - she had a great character arc, starting out as this manipulative annoying person to someone who was really caring and quite lovely and a story arc that I wanted to know more about.
Similarly, we see a side of Joon-ki's character that shows real class in his behaviour that deserved more screen time.

All in all, it's a great watch. Like I said in my review of the first one, it really is K.F.R.I.E.N.D.S. but it didn't bother me at al. Go watch it.

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K.F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Just finished Welcome to Waikiki (Eulachacha Waikiki). What a wonderful show - haven't laughed so much during a Kdrama as I have in this one.
It reminded me a lot of Friends - six friends in their late 20's/early 30's and their adventures - some of the episodes seem to have taken some stories from Friends too. But... they seem to do it better.

It's a little silly in places but in this day and age, a little silly is no bad thing. All the characters are brilliant and the chemistry is brilliant. If I'm nit-picking then the third act should have started earlier as they had a lot of time with it being a 20 episode series. Also - and I haven't started it yet - but it's a shame that only one of the original cast is in the sequet. Hope it lives up to the high standards this one has set.

So give it a go - have fun and I guarantee you'll laugh your socks off!

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WONDERFUL!!!! It's the TV version of a hug!

Just finished the series and I want to watch it all over again! Truly brilliant show. It took me a while to get into HP1 as I'd just finished Vincenzo (which ruined Kdrama's for me due to it's brilliance), however with the second season of Hospital playlist impending, I binged the first season.

WOW! What a show.

Season two doesn't disappoint - in fact, it does that rare thing where it's on par, and sometimes better than the original. We see plot lines continue to develop, as do the wonderful friendships and relationships.

That's even before we talk about the OST - wonderful.

Can you tell I love this show? Haha! It's relatable, brilliantly acted, excellent hospital scenes, and all wrapped in this beautiful friendship that would make anyone long for but also feel like we're part of the pack!.

Give your heart a treat and watch this wonderful drama! It really is TV perfection!

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Ignore the plot holes and enjoy the (AR) ride

verall, this was an enjoyable ride but only after I started questioning what was going on. We'll come to that later...
Let's start with the positives: the cinematography, locations, and CGI are all beautiful. The first half of the drama is shot in Alhambra in Spain which looks stunning. Park Shin-Hye's Spanish is also fluent and really helps the integration of her family into their Spanish home.

The CGI is also really well done and well-integrated into the surroundings and with the characters.
You can check out the synopsis elsewhere but there are issues over how the AR tech works (SPOILER ALERT) - like how do they physically feel the effects of the AR weapons; how do they feel pain, how is powered - you know, the logical things.

But... ignore that and it becomes an enjoyable rollercoaster of a who-done-it adventure, and you end up forgiving it a lot of things. The acting is good - if you've only seen Hyun Bin in CLOY then it's weird seeing him be such a jerk at the start but his character develops due to the wonderful Park Shin-Hye and her family. The supporting cast is good too - with the evil Professor Cha (you'll remember him from Mr Sunshine - has he ever played a nice character?) and Hee Ju's little sister who is a great actress. EXO stans will love seeing ChanYeol as Se-Ju as the mysterious creator of the game.

All in all, I like it in spite of the plot holes. Give it a go.

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Blackpink in your area! ??

With the online YouTube concert only hours away I thought I'd better get round to watching this. If you're a Blink like me or not - this a great documentary. These girls worked so hard and deserve every success.
The documentary follows them from their beginnings from how they were discovered, their trainee years through to their 2019 world tour.
There are individual interviews with each of the girls and their chemistry and love for each other shines through. They complement each other perfectly.
Such an amazing achievement and they are all in their early 20's - the world is their oyster!

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Has the feels in spades but...

I started watching Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol as a stop gap in-between Start-Up episodes. Wanted something light hearted to recover from a particular episode. DDSSLLS looked lighthearted and Go Ara's beaming smile was inviting.

Overall this was a delightful series. The love story is charming and the plot intricate enough to keep the pace entertaining and enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes from time to time.

The OST is lovely too with lots of classical music as well as an song by Minnie and Miyeon from (G)I-DLE (the other reason why I started watching this) and a song by the incredible Sondia which blew me away (and made me cry).

All in all, everything is going well except... I'm going to leave you to experience it for yourself. Maybe I was naive and missed something. It's a easy watch, all the characters are lovely - just don't take it too seriously.

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