Kim Hyun-joo has lined up her next drama (yay), which will be a weekend series (er, sigh?) titled Dumb Mom, which will be hitting airwaves next month.

Based on a novel of the same name, Kim plays the lead character, Young-joo, in a story following three women of three generations and their relationships with love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The book, which is itself based on a true story, follows a dim-witted woman who is the victim of a rape and her daughter Young-joo, who is born of the attack. The mother smothers the girl with love, and Young-joo finds the attachment so oppressive that she marries to run away from her, leaving Mom in a psychiatric hospital.

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Read the rest of Kim Hyun-joo headlines new SBS weekend drama (273 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 38 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Kim Hyun-joo, Kim Jung-hoon, Kim Tae-woo

Time to check back in with cable rom-com I Need Romance. It’s past halfway, so I thought I’d weigh in on where the show has gone since we met the girls and set the stage for complications, hijinks, and of course, romance. It continues to be breezy but not fluffy, which I like, and I appreciate that while the show doesn’t take itself too seriously, it does portray single life with incisive depth and warmth.

[I Need Romance airs Monday-Tuesday on TvN. You can catch the series at DramaFever]

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Read the rest of I Need Romance: Episodes 3-10 (2,005 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Choi Jin-hyuk, Choi Song-hyun, Choi Yeo-jin, featured, I Need Romance, Jo Yeo-jung, Kim Jung-hoon

New TVN cable drama I Need Romance premiered this Monday and Tuesday, and I checked it out because the premise — thirtysomething single women dealing with life and love – seemed like it had potential for fun. I was actually surprised to like it, and though I don’t have time to recap it (there’s just no way to bend the space-time continuum that way), I think it’s worth sharing my thoughts in an intro/review.

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Read the rest of I Need Romance: Episodes 1-2 (935 words)

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Post tags: cable programs, Choi Jin-hyuk, Choi Song-hyun, Choi Yeo-jin, featured, first episodes, I Need Romance, Jo Yeo-jung, Kim Jung-hoon

A year after starring in the I-fell-in-love-with-twins, melo-mystery movie Secret Love, Yoon Jin-seo is taking a lighter approach with her next film project: She’s starring in Punchline, a human comedy that sounds like it straddles the line between thoughtful and light-hearted.

Yoon Jin-seo plays the aide to an upright, moral politician (I know! That mythical unicorn) who is elected as a new minister, who sets out to wipe out all corruption. Yoon’s character is an energetic and devoted aide, but still on the lookout for the meaning of happiness in her personal life. She’s described as cute and lively, which brings to mind her adorably feisty cop character in last year’s Runaway Plan B.

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Read the rest of Yoon Jin-seo teams with Kim Jung-hoon in Punchline (190 words)

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Post tags: Kim Jung-hoon, Yoon Jin-seo

Kim Jung-hoon, the singer-turned-actor still probably best known as Prince Yul in 2006′s Goong, has been out of the public eye for a while now while completing his military service, and has announced his comeback project: He’ll star in the cable romantic comedy I Need Romance, the Sexy and the City-esque tvN offering that’ll follow Manny.

He’s cast as the film-director love interest to the drama’s heroine, played by Jo Yeo-jung (Bang-ja Chronicle). Her two careerwoman sidekicks will be played by Choi Yeo-jin (Dream) and Choi Song-hyun (Prosecutor Princess).

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Read the rest of Kim Jung-hoon picks his comeback drama (276 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 60 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cable programs, Choi Song-hyun, Choi Yeo-jin, Jo Yeo-jung, Kim Jung-hoon

Once actors go off to fulfill their two years of military service, it’s not often that we get to see them in the public eye until their discharge. So it’s nice to see a few of the currently enlisted entertainers together onstage for the 2009 Army Concert, which took place in Seoul on the evening of October 31.

Some of the celebrities who participated were actors Jae Hee (Three Dads One Mom), Jo In-sung (Frozen Flower), Lee Dong-wook (Partner), Kim Jae-won (Hwang Jini), and Ohn Joo-wan (Chosun Police). On the kpop side, there were singer-actors Yang Dong-geun (I Am Sam), Lee Jung (Hometown of Legends), and Kim Jung-hoon (Goong), as well as singers Sung Shi-kyung, Tony An.

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Read the rest of Enlisted celebrities participate in Army concert (99 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 57 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: army duty, Jae Hee, Jo In-sung, Kim Jung-hoon, Lee Dong-wook, Lee Jung, Ohn Joo-wan, Sung Shi-kyung, Yang Dong-geun

There’s another Korean-Japanese co-production coming out, and this one has rather flown under the radar. News came out about the movie Café Seoul [카페 서울] after it had already wrapped filming. In fact, one of its actors, Goong‘s Kim Jung-hoon, just enlisted for his army duty a few days ago (April 28) and won’t be around to see the film come out this summer.

Along with Kim Jung-hoon, the film also stars Coffee Prince‘s Kim Dong-wook, as well as Choi Sung-min (Big Sister, Saving My Wife); together, the three play brothers.

The movie is filmed by Japanese director Take Masaharu of the 2007 film Boy Meets Pusan and also stars Saito Takumi. It sounds like a simple indie drama, but something about the description strikes me as lovely: the movie tracks “the process of youths coming to realize the warmth and meaning of old things in the midst of the fast-changing streets of Seoul.”

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Read the rest of Cafe Seoul’s three brothers (150 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Choi Sung-min, Kim Dong-wook, Kim Jung-hoon

After it became known that announcer Han Joon Ho is a member of Mensa — the group open only to those with high IQs (specifically, those who score above the 98th percentile on standardized IQ tests) — interest arose in the topic of celebrity IQs.

For reference, the average IQ is 100, although the range can be extended to include 90 through 109. (110-119 is superior intelligence, 120-140 is very superior, and above 140 is generally known as genius level. Conversely, 80-89 is in the “dull” range, 70-79 is borderline deficient, and under 70 is considered “feeble-minded.”) And yes, I know IQ can be considered an outdated standard of measurement.

Now, some of these names are familiar, but some are a bit surprising. Goong‘s Kim Jung Hoon, a smarty? Whoaaa. Not that he seemed, well, un-smart, but I’m a little surprised.

SONG OF THE DAY

Epik High – “Lesson 2 (Sunset)” [ zShare download ]

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Read the rest of The brainiacs among us — stars with high IQs (356 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 42 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: edumacation, Kim Jung-hoon, Kim Tae-hee, Tablo

Ahh, Witch Amusement. How you’ve amused me so. Despite your repeated shenanigans (or maybe because of them), I’ve enjoyed watching you, all 16 episodes. You gave me so much to laugh about (and more to laugh AT, but who’s differentiating? Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.).

And now, we say adieu.

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

K.Will – “You” [ zShare download ]

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Read the rest of Witch Amusement: Episode 16 (Final) (3,094 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2007. | Permalink | 111 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dennis Oh, Han Ga-in, Jae Hee, Kim Jung-hoon, so bad it's good, Witch Amusement

I was mildly concerned that in its last week, Witch Amusement would for no reason regain its sanity and fall into a sudden abyss of logical, comprehensible blandness. Having seen Episode 15, I laugh at my naivete. I worried for nothing. All is well in the land of entertaining crazy. I loved this insane, silly episode because it made me laugh. Who cares if most of it was the inappropriate kind?

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Blue Sorbet – “그남자가 자꾸…” (That man keeps on…) [ zShare download ]

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Read the rest of Witch Amusement: Episode 15 (2,719 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2007. | Permalink | 78 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dennis Oh, Han Ga-in, Jae Hee, Kim Jung-hoon, so bad it's good, Witch Amusement