i ordered this movie from yesasia.com a little while ago. it’s called Beast and the Beauty, or 야수와 미녀 in Korean. it’s a cute, funny romantic comedy about a blind girl and her boyfriend (played by the guy in Arahan). the guy has low self esteem about his looks and lied to his girlfriend that he is really a handsome guy. but when the girl gets eye surgery and is able to see again, her boyfriend freaks out about revealing how he really looks to her and instead goes into hiding and pretends he left on business in hawaii. there’s lots of comedy that got me laughing a lot the final outcome is predictable, but the pathway there isn’t (at least to me it wasn’t). anyway, i really enjoyed it!

Volcano High, or 화산고, was the first Korean movie i’ve seen (and bought). and wow, what a fun ride this one is. this action comedy movie takes place almost totally within a school called Volcano High. the students have all joined various school clubs, like weightlifting and kendo, and all seem to be competing to be the best and most powerful of the school. to become the most powerful, however, they need to find the legendary manuscript that the principle has hidden. the evil vice principle also has his eyes on this manuscript and hire’s 5 substitute teachers to help search for it and keep all the students in their place by whatever force is neccessary.

this movie feels like a comic book come to life and is much different than any other movie i’ve seen. it’s kind of hard to describe.. there are lots of computerized special affects riddled thorughout, and many scenes are filmed with high contrast and low saturation giving an almost black and white look to everything.

i really enjoyed this movie when i saw the international version, which is 100 minutes long. i was able to find the 121 minute Korean version which i feel is much better with the extra footage left in. it doesn’t have a very deep plot at all, but i found i really liked the style this movie had, as well as the various characters. especially the hero (on the cover) who comes across as a dopey kid who doesn’t want to fight at all. check it out if you enjoy action comedies

some pics:
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i enjoyed this movie a lot. Arahan, or 아라한, is a martial arts comedy about a boy who doesn’t realize he has a strong chi power meets up with some old masters who help to teach him about his hidden power. meanwhile one of the masters who was banished and imprisoned escaped and decides he wants the special key that will give him complete power to rule the world. the movie takes place in modern day and has lots of comedy and action with some special affects thrown in for more fun

Thief Maker, or 도둑맞곤 못살아, was an interesting funny movie about a father of a small family trying to gain confidence and prove to his family that he’s strong and can protect them from a thief who continually breaks into their home and steals the tv remote, three 10,000 won bills (i think $30 or so?), and eats some of the food that the mother, who has no taste buds and makes horribly tasting food, makes. The movie seems to mainly focus on character development and not too much on the plot. It’s still very interesting in how different of a movie idea this is compared to hollywood style.

i watched this movie the other night and really enjoyed it. it’s called Saving My Hubby or 굳세어라 금순아. for almost the whole movie we get to follow this mom and her baby daughter through the middle of the night in the big city where she is trying to locate a restaurant where some thieves have drugged her husband and are holding him until she can pay a very high ransom of his drinking bill. the thieves are trying to scam the husband and wife since he was already very drunk after going out with his new boss and co-workers that night. the wife meets up with various people and is constantly being chased by some gang members who she ran into by accident. the plot is very simple, but it kept me glued to the screen while watching to see what happens next. plenty of comedy, some drama and some lighthearted suspense put this movie into my list of favorites.

felt like reviewing another movie i like–actually this is my favorite Korean movie currently. it’s called Don’t Believe in Her or 그녀를 믿지 마세요 which translates to uhm… not really sure, hehe. it’s also known as Too Beautiful to Lie. it’s another romantic comedy about a small town boy heading to the big city where he goes to school to propose to his girlfriend. but he runs into this con girl on the train who’s on parole. with some mix ups, the con girl ends up off the train, with the boy’s ring he was going to use to propose with, and not sure how to get it back to him (she doesn’t want to get tossed back in jail while being on parole). and the boy doesn’t even know the ring is gone. lots of comedy watching what happens with the two and is pretty light hearted and nice. i really enjoyed it. unfortunately it’s a region 3 dvd (like all Korean dvd’s), so you’ll need a dvd player that can play it..

Watched this Korean movie a little while ago called Lovely Rivals or 여선생 vs 여제자. I don’t know a word (or symbol) of Korean, but read a review of this movie and it sounded funny. And it is very funny–i laughed a bunch watching this. About a mean teacher lady and a new 5th grade student who both fall for the new art teacher guy–the two have a rivalry with lots of funny parts. the movie has some drama and serious moments too, but it’s very light-hearted and a fun movie i thought it’s region 3 encoded unfortunately so you need a dvd player that can play region 3 (or any region).