These stills were released from KBS’s upcoming sageuk-action drama Chuno (Slave Hunters) on the 16th, which feature the drama’s leading lady Lee Da-hae dressed in wedding garb wearing a sad expression on her face.

In the storyline, Lee Da-hae’s character Hye-won is caught in a love triangle between her two male co-stars, Jang Hyuk and Oh Ji-ho. Her love with Jang Hyuk’s character is hindered by the gap in their social standing; while dealing with her disappointment over that love, she meets Oh Ji-ho’s character and the two fall in love. These stills show her sadness at being pressured into an unwanted marriage in order to maintain her yangban (aristocratic) standing.

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Read the rest of Lee Da-hae’s sad wedding scene for Chuno (120 words)

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Post tags: Chuno, Jang Hyuk, Kim Ji-suk, Lee Da-hae, Oh Ji-ho

Joining the club of 2009 blockbusters is the currently screening film Take Off, also called Ski Jump or National Athlete [국가대표]. The sports comedy starring Ha Jung-woo, Sung Dong-il, and Kim Ji-suk has been buoyed by favorable word-of-mouth buzz and has pulled in over 7 million viewers since its July 29 release. It also picked up six awards at Saturday’s Chunsa Film Festival, including Best Picture. This is director Kim Yong-hwa’s follow-up to the romantic comedy 200 Pound Beauty, a sleeper hit that brought in 6.6 million viewers.

Such is its success that it has also announced a re-edited version (akin to a director’s cut), also to be released in theaters, with material that promises additional fun and laughs that been cut out of the original. (That’s not surprising, since the original run clocks in at 137 minutes.) These added parts feature 15 more minutes of Ha Jung-woo’s storyline involving his search for his biological mother and his memorable first encounter with the eccentric Lee Jae-eung, as well as a new-and-improved version of the film’s opening Olympic sequence with enhanced graphics (7 minutes longer than the first version). The new version is called Take Off: The Complete Version and opens on September 10. (This creates the somewhat unusual scenario of an original and its re-edited version screening in theaters concurrently.)

Meanwhile, the Ha Ji-won and Sol Kyung-gu disaster film Haeundae, which opened the week before Take Off, has now brought in more than 11.1 million viewers, beating Silmido (11.08 million) on the list of biggest box-office Korean films of all time. Its performance to date puts it into fourth place behind The Host (13 million), The King and the Clown (12.3 million), and Taegukgi (11.74 million).

Via Star News, Yonhap News

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Post tags: box office, Ha Ji-won, Ha Jung-woo, Kim Dong-wook, Kim Ji-suk, Sol Kyung-gu

Aw, isn’t little Wang Seok-hyun cute?

September 5 saw the end of the 17th Chunsa Film Festival and its closing-night awards ceremony, which was held in Icheon, Kyunggi-do. The winners list was dominated by the popular, recently released sports film Take Off [국가대표, or National Athlete], although vampire film Thirst did well, as did lush period piece Portrait of a Beauty.

Full winners list below:

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Read the rest of 17th Chunsa Film Festival (595 words)

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Post tags: awards, Cha Seung-woo, Choi Jung-won, Choi Jung-yoon, film festivals, Go Eun-ah, Im Joo-eun, Jo Ahn, Jung Jun-ho, Jung Soo-young, Kim Hae-sook, Kim Ji-suk, Lee Mi-yeon, Park Chan-wook, Park Hee-soon, Shin Mina, Song Chang-eui, Song Kang-ho, Wang Seok-hyun

Since horror is supposed to offer a chill in the hot summer months, we can see why there’s such a sudden burst of horror material these days. Two television dramas will soon add to the tally, giving us a Monday-thru-Thursday lineup of horror through August and September.

MBC’s Hon (”Soul”) is first, premiering next Wednesday and starring Lee Seo-jin (Yi San), Lee Jin (King and I), and newcomer Im Joo-eun. The drama recently released its latest teaser posters in anticipation of its August 5 airdate.

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Read the rest of Horror dramas Hon and Hometown of Legends (197 words)

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Post tags: Hometown of Legends, Hon, Jeon Hye-bin, Kim Ji-suk, Lee Jin, Lee Seo-jin

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about SBS’s A Star’s Lover. I approached it hesitantly, because (1) Hype often leads to disappointment, and (2) I know by now that series descriptions don’t really adequately portray the actual product.

So it is with a bit of relief that I say: I liked A Star’s Lover. It has a lot of pluses, such as gorgeous cinematography (particularly in Japan), wonderfully evocative music, and great casting. But what struck me most was its unusual tone — there’s a touch of whimsy to the drama, which is reminiscent of things like Pushing Daisies or Big Fish. The hint of “magical surrealism” is not nearly as overt as in either Daisies or Fish, but it works well to create a feel that’s a bit different. It’s refreshing.

SONG OF THE DAY

Oldfish – “좋은생각이 날것같아” (I think I’m about to have a good idea) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of A Star’s Lover: Episode 1 (3,123 words)

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Post tags: A Star's Lover, Choi Ji-woo, episode recaps, Kim Ji-suk, Park Bo-young, Shin Hyun-joon, Yoo Ji-tae

Although I didn’t watch August 23’s broadcast of Mnet’s 20’s Choice awards (a wannabe VMA’s, really), looking over the full winners list, my first reaction is: “What were they smoking?”

Some choices made sense. I get why Jang Geuk-seok, shakin’ his thang above as the event’s MC, was awarded Hot Movie Star (Male) because he’s had a great year coming off the drama Hong Gil Dong and recent movie Baby and I. And Hot Sports Star is a topical choice, going to the recent gold-medalist female weight lifter Jang Mi-ran, while the annoyingly catchy, ubiquitous earworms “One More Time” and “So Hot” (by Jewelry and Wonder Girls, respectively) are no-brainers.

But even the fact that they’ve got a “Hot Schoolgirl” category (winner So-hee), or “Hot Comment” (I think they meant catchprase) are kind of, pardon my French, retarded. And don’t even ask me what “Hot Sweet Music” means.

Furthermore, I get that “American beef” was a hot topic this year, but to highlight it at an awards show as the “winner” of Hot Issuemaker seems a little crass. Or just stupid.

Check out the full list beyond the jump, along with pics of the show in all its tacky glory.

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Read the rest of Mnet 20’s Choice Awards makes weird choices (203 words)

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Post tags: awards, Baek Sung-hyun, Big Bang, Eom Ki-joon, Girls Generation, Jang Geun-seok, Jun Jin, Kim Ji-suk, Kim Min-hee, kpop, Lee Beom-soo, Lee Hyori, Park Min-young, Park Shi-hoo, Park Yong-ha, Ryu Seung-beom, Seo In-young, singers, Uhm Jung-hwa, Wonder Girls, Yoo Seung-ho

SBS’s new show Interview Game opened up its studio on the 21st for a press conference. The show is hosted by a panel of four actors — Go Jun-hee, Kim Ji-suk, Geum Bo-ra, and Yeom Kyung-hwan — and covers a range of topics in its interviews, often with a serious tone, from family, career plans, love, and others.

A case in point is the show recorded that day (and airing on the 22nd), featuring as its guest the older brother of deceased rapper Turtleman, aka Im Sung-hoon, who passed away in April of a heart attack. The brother, Im Joon-hwan, met with various people who’d known Turtleman through his life, such as a high school classmate who reminisced about how Turtleman had dreamt of pursuing music and wrote songs since high school. He also found out for the first time about a disappointed love his brother had experienced, a woman who’d been identified in one of his songs through her initials “KSK.” His groupmate Ji-yi explained that the woman had died while he was in military service; to escape being assaulted by some men, she’d been running away when she was struck in a traffic accident. Ji-yi recalled, “He cried whenever he talked about it.”

Apparently Turtleman had been going through a rough time, stressed and burdened with business matters. His brother, hearing this for the first time over the course of the show, was struck speechless for a while to hear what a hard time his brother had been facing. (Gah, this show sounds depressing. A review by Yonhap News has described Interview Game as setting off to a quiet start, and decried a lack of rapport between the interviewers and interviewees.)

Meanwhile, host Kim Ji-suk explained his anticipation of the shows to come, explaining that unlike most other reality and variety programming, Interview Game is completely unscripted; all of its laughter and touching moments are “100% real.” Asked who he’d personally like to interview most, he answered, “I’d really like to try interviewing the president of my management company. I’d like to hear what he plans for my future.”

Go Jun-hee told reporters that the show has received lots of interest in people who’d like to participate. Personally, she’d like to interview her parents: “I’d like to ask who my father’s best friends are, the places my mother frequents.” (Because I’m sure these questions are only worth asking on television? You have this great new platform, are asked about hypothetical interviews you’d love to do, and you pick your boss? Or your parents? Come on, I know you guys are actors, but how about some answers that aren’t quite so narcissistic?)

Via Newsen, Yonhap News

SONG OF THE DAY

Howl – “Good-bye Day” [ Download ]

 
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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Go Jun-hee, Kim Ji-suk, variety shows