Ask, and ye shall receive. Actually, movie reviews are a feature girlfriday and I have wanted to contribute to for ages, but haven’t been able to get around to with the craziness of drama-recapping. I’m always excited to write about movies before they release, but strangely, once they do it’s like they drop off my radar. It’s not because I don’t like movies, but because access and exposure to Korean movies is so much more limited than with dramas. You wouldn’t think that would be the case given the proliferation of Hallyu and dramamania throughout the world, but it’s just a different beast.

In any case, I’m happy to be diving into my first outright movie review, which is for Penny-Pinching Romance, a romantic comedy that released last fall. (Called 티끌모아 로맨스 in Korean, I’ve also seen the title Love N Cash.) It’s a movie I was immediately interested in when it was announced, which I finally got around to seeing recently.

SONG OF THE DAY

Penny-Pinching Romance OST – “웃어요” (Laugh) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Movie Review: Penny-Pinching Romance (3,351 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 95 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Han Ye-seul, Song Joong-ki

Here’s a look at some colorful cheeky posters and another trailer for Penny-Pinching Romance, the new romantic comedy film featuring a quirky pairing between a tightwad heroine (Han Ye-seul) and a loser hero (Song Joong-ki) — he can’t afford to date, and she doesn’t think dating’s worth the cost. And me, I’m just happy that one of them isn’t a chaebol – prince – diplomat. Unless he’s undercover. Don’t be undercover!

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Read the rest of Penny-Pinching Romance releases posters (286 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 50 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Han Ye-seul, Song Joong-ki

The romantic comedy film Penny-Pinching Romance about two cheapskates who scheme to get rich and fall in love instead, has finally settled on an October premiere and released a teaser, which looks adorable. The movie stars Song Joong-ki (Sungkyunkwan Scandal) and Han Ye-seul (Myung-wol the Spy) as a bickering noona-dongseng pair who loves money more than each other.

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Read the rest of Penny-Pinching Romance sets premiere, releases teaser (351 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 52 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Han Ye-seul, Song Joong-ki

Oh, Myung-wol. It saddens me to think of the drama you could’ve been, when you were at the height of funny. You were quirky and offbeat and something new, and the possibilities were endless. But you caved to some of the laziest writing and directing known to man, and worst of all, you lost your quirky charm, your sense of fun, what made you… you. Despite it all I held out hope for a good ending… because I’m a glutton for punishment that way. What say you, one good episode, for old times’ sake? Why do I feel like I’m about to regret asking?

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Read the rest of Myung-wol the Spy: Episode 18 (Final) (2,551 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 210 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eric, featured, Han Ye-seul, Jang Hee-jin, Lee Jin-wook, Myung-wol the Spy

Al…most…there… One more episode, and we can bid goodbye to this drama, which has seen its share of ups and downs. Maybe more downs than ups. Okay, lots more downs. It hasn’t been without its bright moments, but even taking into consideration the two-episode extension, boy has Myung-wol the Spy seemed LONG.

SONG OF THE DAY

Every Single Day – “Healing Star” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Myung-wol the Spy: Episode 17 (2,577 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 50 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eric, featured, Han Ye-seul, Jang Hee-jin, Lee Jin-wook, Myung-wol the Spy

Yay for the first episode in weeks that I’ve enjoyed all the way through. This episode has a lot of the cute, light, funny moments that made early Myung-wol the Spy so enjoyable for me, and lightened up on the gloom and angst. The stakes are still high, but we can get that across without all that denial and frustration, and that makes for a much more watchable hour. Phew!

SONG OF THE DAY

Hwayobi – “Bye Bye Bye” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Myung-wol the Spy: Episode 16 (2,961 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 106 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eric, featured, Han Ye-seul, Jang Hee-jin, Lee Jin-wook, Myung-wol the Spy

We FINALLY get to the crux of the spy vs. love dilemma, for all the characters involved. I really wish it didn’t take us fifteen episodes to get to this point, but we finally have them – the guns, the ultimatums, the lives on the line, and the hero actually does something… heroic. I know!

I just wish for the characters’ sakes that they weren’t written as the most ineffectual spies ever. I’d be more fearful for their lives and such if somebody would just shoot someone already. ‘Cause the empty threat of violence is starting to get old. Less talky, more shooty!

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Read the rest of Myung-wol the Spy: Episode 15 (3,277 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 102 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eric, featured, Han Ye-seul, Jang Hee-jin, Lee Jin-wook, Myung-wol the Spy

Yay, better episodes! I’ll admit last week’s kind of sucked the joy out of this drama for me, but today’s episode was surprisingly better. Lots of forward momentum, and revealing of secrets. It couldn’t have come a moment too soon. Well, actually, it could have, and yeah, that’s one of my complaints. But now that truths are exposed and decisions are made, I’m just happy to look forward.

SONG OF THE DAY

The One – “그랬음 좋겠다” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Myung-wol the Spy: Episode 14 (3,197 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 103 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eric, featured, Han Ye-seul, Jang Hee-jin, Lee Jin-wook, Myung-wol the Spy

This show makes my blood boil. It’s not necessarily always a bad thing, since it means I’m that invested in the characters. But when they do stupid, assy things, it makes me tear my hair out. Once in love, Kang-woo is the bleeding heart kind of hero, which means that the brokenhearted version of him is a dark and twisted black hole of pain. It’s bad. Like Spike without a soul kind of bad. There’s gonna be some swearing in this recap… Er, more swearing than usual.

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Read the rest of Myung-wol the Spy: Episode 13 (4,274 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 301 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eric, featured, Han Ye-seul, Jang Hee-jin, Lee Jin-wook, Myung-wol the Spy

After all the angst of the past few episodes, it’s time for the couple to get to enjoy some fun and cuteness, even if those halcyon days are, unfortunately, always short-lived in K-dramas. Well, something’s better than nothing — and this time when the happiness is threatened, we get tons of plot advancement, with some crucial dots finally connected, bringing the pieces of the plot closer together.

SONG OF THE DAY

Shin Hye-sung – “생각해봐요” (Think about it) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Myung-wol the Spy: Episode 12 (3,321 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 86 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eric, featured, Han Ye-seul, Jang Hee-jin, Lee Jin-wook, Myung-wol the Spy