Rather than a recap, this is more of a first impressions/summary of the first two episodes. In fact, the first two episodes were short enough that I don’t think it merits a full recap. If you’re a fan of IRIS and ATHENA, you might enjoy this one. If you love Hwang Jung Min, you’re probably bound to watch this no matter what. I’m none of the above, but I sure am an action/political thriller junkie!!

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Read the rest of Hanbando / Korean Peninsula: Episodes 1-2 (3,022 words)

© kaedejun for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cable programs, featured, first episodes, Hwang Jung-min, Kim Jung-eun

Here’s a look at the first big movie hit of the new year, the feel-good comedy Dancing Queen, starring Hwang Jung-min as a Seoul mayoral candidate and Uhm Jung-hwa as his wife who still hasn’t given up her dream to become a singer, well into her ajumma years. How cute. I love that they turned pop diva Uhm Jung-hwa into a homely-looking ajumma who dreams of being… well, Uhm Jung-hwa, the real-life version.

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Read the rest of Uhm Jung-hwa hits it big with Dancing Queen (285 words)

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Post tags: Hwang Jung-min, Uhm Jung-hwa

Choi Min-shik (Oldboy) Hwang Jung-min (The Unjust) AND Lee Jung-jae (The Housemaid) in one movie? I always thought that if you put that many stars together, a movie would spontaneously combust. But apparently, this is the reigning trend in Chungmuro — put ‘em all together, whether lawyers, thieves, or spies. The trio of A-listers are currently being courted to star in a noir thriller called A New World, about cops who go undercover in the world of gangsters.

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Read the rest of Noir thriller A New World courts megastar trio (329 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Choi Min-shik, Hwang Jung-min, Lee Jung-jae

Well it looks like this project is finally getting off the ground, after more than a year of stalled casting rumors. With everyone from Jang Dong-gun and Ha Ji-won to Park Shin-yang and Han Ga-in attached to the project at one time or another, upcoming cable blockbuster drama Korean Peninsula is back on, with leads Hwang Jung-min (Accidental Couple / That Fool) and Kim Jung-eun (I Am Legend) set to star.

And while I love both actors, it’s the story that really excites me — it’s a re-imagining of contemporary Korean history, where North and South are reunited in the present day. A massive struggle for limited natural resources turns the country upside-down, and in the midst of that, two people fall in love.

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Read the rest of Hwang Jung-min and Kim Jung-eun to star in Peninsula (348 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hwang Jung-min, Kim Jung-eun

Rumor has it that Han Ga-in (Bad Guy) and Hwang Jung-min (Accidental Couple / That Fool) might be returning to dramaland together, in the mega-million blockbuster cable drama Korean Peninsula, a cable drama from CSTV (owned by Joseon Ilbo, a news network). Nothing’s been confirmed on either side, but it’s a good sign that the production is finally back in the casting game.

It’s a drama that’s been in the works for a long time, rumored to once be the drama comeback vehicle for Jang Dong-gun, while other A-list names like Ha Ji-won and Park Shin-yang have been bandied about as well. But after those casting rumors died, the project seemed to be on the backburner for a while. Can’t imagine that Jang Dong-gun NOT doing your drama is anything other than a setback, but if Hwang Jung-min is set to headline, it’ll officially be back to being A-list.

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Read the rest of Han Ga-in and Hwang Jung-min to return to dramaland? (403 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 38 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cable programs, Han Ga-in, Hwang Jung-min

It’s a movie I had been waiting for… for almost a full year. I’ll probably have to wait that long till it hits us stateside, but conspiracy thriller Moby Dick has been out in theaters in Korea, and I sort of let it slip by me, with so many summer dramas on my plate. But the trailer and stills look great, and I’m officially back to being excited.

The film stars two top-notch actors, Hwang Jung-min (Accidental Couple) and Kim Min-hee (Love and Marriage) as a pair of journalists who investigate a strange explosion in 1994, that leads them to uncovering a massive conspiracy. They assemble a team along with Jin Gu (Athena) and Kim Sang-ho (Ajusshi! in City Hunter) to take on what quickly becomes a life-threatening mission to unmask the truth.

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Read the rest of Trailer and stills for conspiracy thriller Moby Dick (156 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 35 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hwang Jung-min, Kim Min-hee

Sometimes movie descriptions are woefully bland and don’t do the project justice, and sometimes they’re delightfully vivid from the first sentence. It’s the latter case for Dancing Queen, the new movie starring pop queen Uhm Jung-hwa and Hwang Jung-min: The wife of a candidate for Seoul mayor becomes a dance singer without her husband’s knowledge, leading to hijinks.

I can see it already, particularly with this spot-on casting. Hwang (Accidental Couple) is so good at playing honest, lovable types that it’ll be a hoot to see him dealing with an errant wife once he finds out what she’s been up to. His character is a poor lawyer who becomes candidate for mayor of Seoul and starts to develop into a serious politician.

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Read the rest of Uhm Jung-hwa turns Dancing Queen for the big screen (178 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 23 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hwang Jung-min, Uhm Jung-hwa

Korea’s making a big showing at the Berlin Film Festival, with nine films headed abroad, in competition for jury prizes. A few are films we’ve talked about for a while, like Late Autumn, while a good number of them are experimental films or shorts that are more artistically adventurous. Can’t wait to get my hands on some of these. Also, Binnie’s having some year, isn’t he?

Here’s a list of the films in competition at Berlinale:

Love Me, Love Me Not, by director Lee Yoon-ki, starring Hyun Bin and Im Soo-jung in a melodrama about a married couple on the brink of divorce. (Poster above.) This is THE HAIR that made me go crazy. Is it wrong to watch a movie for a hairdo? Well I don’t care ’cause I’m gonna do it anyway.

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Read the rest of Nine Korean films at Berlin film festival (436 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 64 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: film festivals, Hwang Jung-min, Hyun Bin, Im Soo-jung, Kim Hyo-jin, Park Chan-wook, Ryu Seung-beom

Kim Min-hee (Love and Marriage, Goodbye Solo, Actresses) is slated to return to film in a production of…Moby Dick? What the…? Are people just running out of ideas?

It turns out that Moby Dick is just a figurative title for an action-thriller involving an explosion, and the journalists who try to uncover the truth, going head-to-head with the people trying to cover it up. Ah, I see. Couldn’t you go with a figurative title that wasn’t…you know, a major literary work?

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Read the rest of Kim Min-hee in Moby Dick (87 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hwang Jung-min, Kim Min-hee

I know I just posted about this movie, but I dig stuff like this. With the buzz growing for the film Like the Moon Escaping From Clouds, now attention is turning toward the original manhwa upon which the movie is based, which was written and illustrated by Park Hong-yong. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the four main characters in the manhwa and film, played by Hwang Jung-min, Cha Seung-won, Han Ji-hye, and Baek Sung-hyun.

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Read the rest of From the manhwa page to the big screen (147 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Baek Sung-hyun, Cha Seung-won, Han Ji-hye, Hwang Jung-min, manhwa adaptations