Awards, awards, awards! And tons of pretty people.

As with yesterday’s MBC Drama Awards, note that winners are decided in part due to popularity, in part due to ratings and politics. That said, I don’t think anyone will argue with their Daesang winner, Shin Ha-kyun (below), who has been tearing it up on Monday and Tuesday nights with medical drama Brain.

Also no surprise was the awarding of runner-up acting prizes to The Princess’s Man‘s pair, Park Shi-hoo and Moon Chae-won (above), which bagged a number of awards.
As did weekend hit Ojakkyo Brothers.

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Read the rest of 2011 KBS Drama Awards (2,271 words)

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Post tags: awards, Chun Jung-myung, Daniel Choi, Eugene, Han Eun-jung, Han Hye-jin, Hong Soo-hyun, Hwang Woo-seul-hye, Jang Nara, Joo-won, Jung Jin-young, Jung Woong-in, JYP, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, Lee Jang-woo, Lee Jong-hyuk, Lee Shi-young, Lee Yoon-ji, Moon Chae-won, Moon Jung-hee, Park Jung-ah, Park Min-young, Park Shi-hoo, Shin Ha-kyun, Suzy, UEE

Neurosurgery drama Brain began its run today on KBS, and while I haven’t gotten around to checking out the premiere yet, here are some posters and stills to mark the series launch.

The posters do a pretty good job of telling us that this is going to be a Serious Medical Drama — rather than, say, romance central a la Grey’s Anatomy — with a rivalry driving it. Actually, make that multiple rivalries: In the top poster, Shin Ha-kyun (The Front Line) faces off with Jo Dong-hyuk (Yacha), but in the one directly below it’s Jung Jin-young he’s paired against. Add do that Choi Jung-won (Wish Upon a Star), who may have romantic storylines with one or more of the male leads.

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Read the rest of Scenes from newly premiered KBS drama Brain (275 words)

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Post tags: Choi Jung-won, Jo Dong-hyuk, Jung Jin-young, Lee Hyun-woo (2), Shin Ha-kyun

With KBS medical drama Brain about a week from its premiere, here are the drama’s first two teasers, as well as character stills of the main cast of neurosurgeons featuring Shin Ha-kyun, Jung Jin-young, and Choi Jung-won.

The way this drama handled its casting process has been pretty clunky (not to mention controversial), which had turned me off the show from the start. Having seen the teasers, though, you can see that they’re clearly going for suspenseful and dramatic, in which case it makes sense to opt for a serious film actor like Shin Ha-kyun (The Front Line) over the younger Lee Sang-yoon (The Duo). And Choi Jung-won (Wish Upon a Star) has been a leading actress for longer than new face Yoon Seung-ah (Playful Kiss), even if I think she’s much more appealing in lighter comedies than serious dramas.

All that said, it doesn’t excuse the poor way the drama dumped its first cast, and begs the question: If you say these actors were all wrong for the parts, why cast them in the first place?

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Read the rest of Medical drama Brain’s teasers and stills (171 words)

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Post tags: Choi Jung-won, Jung Jin-young, Shin Ha-kyun

KBS medical drama Brain is finally locking in its cast (again), and has finalized the casting of one male lead in Shin Ha-kyun and its female lead in Choi Jung-won. They’ve got no time to spare, with the drama set to premiere in early November, leaving them with just one month to begin filming.

The production’s earlier excuse that its first cast seemed “too young” still rings false to me; I think what they meant was more that they wanted more starpower, more heft. Which, we know, doesn’t always come with age. Because with Shin Ha-kyun onboard (The Front Line, Thirst, Cafe Noir), they’re clearly going for more gravitas, and now the White Tower comparisons are starting to be bandied about. If you want someone on par with Kim Myung-min, you’ve gotta go after the heavy hitters.

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Read the rest of A few more brains for Brain (353 words)

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Post tags: Choi Jung-won, Shin Ha-kyun

Yeah, you can pretty much forget about any article NOT making brain jokes when it comes to this drama. Upcoming medical drama Brain has had more casting drama than its fictional drama could ever live up to, and now that it’s fired one cast and lost the other, it’s got two heavy-hitters — Kim Joo-hyuk (Terroir, Sleeping With the Enemy) and Shin Ha-kyun (The Front Line, Cafe Noir) — reportedly in contention for the lead role.

Okay, now THAT’s a totally different direction. We went from twentysomething relative newbies, to pretty boy Hallyu star, and now to serious actor territory? What the hell IS this drama? Is it even written yet? What kind of character is so ill-defined that it could be played by Lee Sang-yoon, Song Seung-heon, Kim Joo-hyuk OR Shin Ha-kyun?

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Read the rest of Kim Joo-hyuk and Shin Ha-kyun up for Brain transplants? (206 words)

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Post tags: Kim Joo-hyuk, Shin Ha-kyun

After considering a number of buzz projects released in the past year, South Korea has decided on the blockbuster war thriller The Front Line by director Jang Hoon (Secret Reunion, Rough Cut) to be its pick for foreign language film at the 84th Academy Awards.

It beat out other films like Poongsan (aka Phungsan Dog) starring Yoon Kye-sang, the adorable-sounding ’80s girl-power-and-friendship movie Sunny, the Ha Jung-woo crime thriller The Yellow Sea, director Hwang Sang-soo’s The Day He Arrives, and director Im Kwon-taek’s Hanji (Scooping Up the Moonlight).

I haven’t seen The Front Line yet, but I’ve been intrigued ever since hearing about it, with its suspenseful plot about a South Korean unit during the Korean War that may possibly be fraternizing with the enemy, led by an enigmatic Go Soo. He comes into conflict with his old friend Shin Ha-kyun, a soldier sent from the capitol to investigate the suspicious death of an officer. While I’ve read some mixed reviews about the film, it seems to be a taut thriller that is entertaining but not quite as successful as another famous North-vs-South military-investigation film, JSA: Joint Security Area.

According to the Korean Film Council, Poongsan was lauded for its unusual story and intensity, but its storyline was deemed to be enough on the outside of realistic that there was concern not all viewers would appreciate it. The Front Line racked up a high score from its judges with its topic of the Korean War and the high quality of the ending. The Yellow Sea had an overall high score — it was neck in neck with The Front Line till the end — but its level of violence kept it from winning out.

This isn’t perhaps as high-profile a submission as some previous entries like Bong Joon-ho’s Mother or Cannes prize-winner Secret Sunshine or then-biggest-Korean-box-office-hit The King and the Clown, and I’m not sure how much reception it’ll get abroad, but I’m still eager to see the movie when I can get my grubby hands on it. Those brother-against-brother, horrors-of-war movies always get me right *there* in the heart.

Via Mk.co.kr

RELATED POSTS

• Summer blockbuster The Front Line opens to high expectations
• Go Soo and Shin Ha-kyun’s new movie

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Post tags: awards, Go Soo, Shin Ha-kyun

Yesterday’s Go Soo post had me looking closer at his new movie, The Front Line, a high-budget blockbuster war film that’s expected to do big business this summer.

The plot caught my attention with its suspenseful, uneasy premise, and the creds aren’t so bad, either: Director Jang Hoon steered thrillers Rough Cut and Secret Reunion to box-office success. The screenplay is written by Park Sang-yeon, who wrote scripts for Queen Seon-deok and the upcoming Tree With Deep Roots, as well as the original novels for Joint Security Area and May 18, which were turned into films.

The movie is set in the very last months of the Korean War, and depicts the horrors of war as experienced by its young soldiers. Shin Ha-kyun plays an officer in the counterespionage division, Eun-pyo, who is sent to the volatile eastern front to investigate a suspicious series of events, beginning with the death of a soldier, shot by one of his own, as well as the delivery of a letter from the North Korean Army via the South Korean post. Illicit correspondence can only mean fraternizing with the enemy.

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Read the rest of Summer blockbuster The Front Line opens to high expectations (406 words)

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Post tags: Go Chang-seok, Go Soo, Lee Je-hoon, Ryu Seung-soo, Shin Ha-kyun

Principle photography is underway for Go Soo‘s second film this year, upcoming war drama Before the Hills, alongside big-screen veteran Shin Ha-kyun (Festival, Cafe Noir). They’ll be playing soldiers who get taken by the North as prisoners of war, and will form an opposition force against their captors.

Before the Hills is the third feature film by director Jang Hoon, who helmed this year’s Secret Reunion, starring Song Kang-ho and Kang Dong-won. The screenplay was written by Park Sang-yeon, of MBC’s mega-hit, Queen Seon-deok. Well, I definitely see it going for the dramatic highs and lows, then.

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Read the rest of Go Soo and Shin Ha-kyun’s new movie (97 words)

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Post tags: Go Soo, Shin Ha-kyun

This fall, Eom Ji-won (The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry) stars in the lighthearted sex comedy Festival, about four couples and the various issues that sex introduces into their relationships.

Eom stars opposite Shin Ha-kyun as a woman who buys a vibrator one day, sending her uptight police officer boyfriend into a tizzy about whether or not he can satisfy her. That? Is comedy. They should just do the whole movie about that one couple, because the premise sounds hysterical.

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Read the rest of Teaser poster for Eom Ji-won’s new sex comedy (126 words)

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Post tags: Eom Ji-won, Ryu Seung-beom, Shim Hye-jin, Shin Ha-kyun, Sung Dong-il

It’s been a while since we’ve had a sex comedy come out (it seems?): the “bright, sexy romantic comedy” movie Festival has announced its cast, and it’s packed with name actors. Taking the lead are Ryu Seung-beom, Eom Ji-won, and Shin Ha-kyun in the film written and directed by Lee Hae-young of films like No Manners (which he wrote) and Like a Virgin (which he directed).

The movie is set in a “wholesome neighborhood where four suspicious couples live sly lives.” The four groups are arranged as follows:

(1) Thirst‘s husband Shin Ha-kyun pairs with The Woman Who Still Wants To Marry‘s bubbly Eom Ji-won. He’s a frustrated police officer whose confidence in his sexual prowess takes a hit when he discovers his live-in girlfriend’s vibrator. Eom is an English teacher who buys the gadget on a whim and sends her boyfriend into emotional tumult.

(2) Everybody Cha Cha Cha‘s Shim Hye-jin teams with Chuno‘s twisted slave hunter Sung Dong-il. She’s the elegant proprietor of a hanbok shop, but one day finds herself unexpectedly excited at the sight of a whip and handcuffs, and starts to enjoy “a secret private life.” Sung owns a hardware store and is known by neighbors as being a gentle, warm-hearted guy, but that’s because they don’t know what happens after he discovers her interest.

(3) Chungmuro favorite Ryu Seung-beom is back to flexing his comic chops as he couples up with 20-year-old Baek Jin-hee (Bandhobi, Loving You a Thousand Times) as a “mysterious” guy who resists the advances of a high school girl. Despite his non-reaction, she throws herself all over him.

(4) Thirst‘s Oh Dal-soo, who frequently plays comic and/or creepy oddballs, plays a high school teacher with a fetish for the feel of lingerie.

The film will begin filming in March and is aiming for a release later this year.

Via Sports Khan

RELATED POSTS

• Eom Ji-won is the cameo queen
• Hwang Jung-min and Ryu Seung-beom make a deal
• No Mercy for Ryu Seung-beom, Sol Kyung-gu

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Post tags: Baek Sung-hyun, Eom Ji-won, Ryu Seung-beom, Shim Hye-jin, Shin Ha-kyun, Sung Dong-il