Thank goodness we have a Chinese actor who stays from the exhausting amount of Martial arts films.

I heard about this from my chinese friend and I remember thinking at the time that would never ever happen in Korea. One wonders why anyone would go into this profession in HK with all the clawing and surviving one has to do. These people are like the gladiators of their time.

Yup, the TVB dramas were really the Shaolin school for acting that propelled many rookies into top stars including Chow Yun Fat, Tony Leung, and Stephen Chow. The only exception was Leslie who came from ATV. I could not stand him as a singer but his acting was amazing with a lot of depth unexpected from a young and inexperienced actor. Those were the days, and I have not watched a single TVB drama for over 20 years. I would have a glimpse of this and that when passing through HK but found they are doing the same thing over and over again. Worse still, they are all done by veteran actors and it is sad that there is no new talent or idol like the hey days. Taiwan is doing a much better job in this regard.

what is special about the HK system was that, TVB monopolized the TV drama playing field for decades and they have 2, 3 hourly dramas broadcasted daily, usu at least 30 eps long, using only their contracted artists. It’s not unlike the studio system, but in a HK tiny scale, so the handful of them stars were literally worked to the bare bone hell drama after drama, even more so if u r hot properties. If u pull a LDH @ EoE, u will be a story sadder than sad, put thro months of employment freeze. They graduated to movies after they have earned enough a name to break fr TVB (and that took guts and real star power)…. then it’s even more grueling. And it’s out in the open it’s a dirty biz, triads are involved, so it’s literally a matter of survival for them to be good and often had to accept every and all scripts thrown at them. Many of them were doing several movies at the same time for years. So it’s true practice make perfect….and also their life experiences as well. They are all survivors. Carina was kidnapped and later found by Tony when she refused to do a movie, naked pics were taken, they were surfaced, if she’s not made of her level of toughness and grace and grit, she wouldn’t be around. So it’s truly a matter of nature and nurture for them to get to their level. And it’s because we’ve witness it all firsthand, they were like open books, we made a visceral connection with them, we respect them as actors, we adore them, but they r regarded more as hardworking, tough as nails humans than some fantasy.

So do I see a KTH or SHK reaching that?! I saw them starting not much deficient talent wise than say a Carina or the Maggie, but then they GOT the top status way to soon, for them to break their molds is hard…they may alienate their fanbase, and for a 20 odd yr old to be already a crowned Hallyu phenom, is there a need to gather life experiences for them to pull fr?! SHK has a disconnection with the camera and her sexuality, in sth like FH, which was all cute and fluffy and cariaturish, it was a physical comedy almost, she can play every superficial and do that job splendidly But when she needs to pull raw emotions fr within, THEN projects it effectively, she hasn’t quite figure that out, it’s as if she is not in tune with her femininity or even abhorred by it ( I’m guessing that’s what Belleza was referring to when she said SHK should be born a man) and she was never required to push her glass ceiling because of her Hallyu status. Same with KTH, her bread and butter is and will always be CFs, I’m not saying she’s not trying hard, but she’s clearly not a born actress, and for them, not unlike the HK stars, they do need to go thro hell and beyond and years of back breaking mental hardwork before they ‘get it’.

“Song Hye Kyo’s frustrating because she really should have been born a man. ”

Dude you lost me here. I’m reading and nodding my head in agreement, reading and nodding my head in agreement until I come across this sentence and I’m like “whoa, what the flagnod?” Explain! pretty please?

I find SHK to be more compelling in comedies like Full House since she can be quite cute even with her (or maybe because of) her ahjumma body. She looked totally cute doing the three bears dance and running with her short little legs. She should do more comedies even just so she won’t bore me to tears in melos since she comes across so flat and lifeless.

In regards to JGS I think he is perfectly aware of his hamminess. He sometimes has this rueful smile like, “I know I totally messed up there and I’m not as great as you all think but your still eating out of the palms of my hand, chumps”. His boyishness and charisma is addicting but for the long term he’ll have to pull some other trick out of the bag. His range for me is serviceable to very good when the part is written to his strengths. The rest is pure charisma but I’m hoping more out of him as he matures.

Kim Tae Hee is like korean version of Kelly Preston. Very pretty but has no screen presence. She just seems so meh and bleh.

Hehe…just recalled some months ago, SHG was nominated as a panda ambassador.

Just wonder she will invite the smelly Kungfu Panda to demonstrate some stance for us? ^___________^

Yeah, I’ve always felt Kim Tae Hee made the jump too quickly. She was pretty busy over 2 years, but it was still just 2 years. Also, because she was always a very popular CM model, she was promoted to support/lead status almost near the beginning of her serious acting career.

I think one of KTH’s issues is also the same thing that makes her such a popular model, her eyes. She’s always beaming. In a 30 second spot or print ad, it sells a consistent image. In a drama, there’s some dissonance between the body language and the emotional state. I don’t think her eyebrows move when she acts.

“Having said all these, Song Hye-gyo has a lot of dramas under her belt but her acting is still so so”

SHK’s career is fascinating from a Hallyu star perspective. By the time she was 22 years old, she did Autumn Tale, Hotelier, All In, and Full House. Sometimes I wonder how SHK might had been if she simply worked through her 20s and maybe pursued more comedy

It works out for others though. Son Yeh Jin, Shin Min Ah, Lee Na Young, etc. They may do dramas occasionally, but they’re primarily film actors.

I have been lurking and LOVING your discussions about WKW, HK cinema, golden HK idols, k-entertainment industry, et. al.

Put lots of stuff I knew into words and concept into the bigger picture. Grew up with Andy, Tony, Leslie, Brigitte, Carina, Maggie, and they are gods and goddesses to me, still.

However, this is a kungfu movie and I’m not sure whether it’ll have as much depth as other genres….but again, who knows. WKW is unpredictable…

Anyway, just wanna know, anyone else hoping for a Chang Chen-SHK pairing? hehehe…hot, steamy hot kisses!! Chang Chen is definitely a HOT kisser…hahahahaha he might be able to teach one or two things bout the art of cinematic kissing to SHK, which she still isn’t able to grasp, or showed a lack of in despite the many kisses in WW….

kisses babeh!! come on WKW! Bring that out in this movie! hahahahhaa.