Kim Sung Kyun

Review: D.P. [Deserter Pursuit]

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

A gritty, penetrating exploration of the systemic issues plaguing the South Korean military, and a compelling, thought-provoking watch in one, Show boasts tight writing, with a laser-sharp focus on the issues at hand.

It never feels like Show loses its footing or its priorities, even once. The spots of levity are there to provide relief, but they don’t detract from the main narrative. There is hazing, bullying and other violence, and that can be hard to watch, but it never feels gratuitous, in the way it’s showcased.

The performances from our cast are all-around excellent, with our key characters rendering nuanced, raw, dig-deep deliveries that I found pitch perfect and quite haunting even, in some cases.

In particular, I think Jung Hae In is wonderfully, poignantly engaging, as our protagonist, from whose point of view we understand our story.

A small little package that packs a big punch – and you don’t even need a special interest in the military, to be engaged with this one.

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Review: Answer Me, 1988 [Reply 1988]

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

Answer Me 1988 feels like a larger, bigger-hearted story than its predecessors, thanks to expanding its focus to its community of characters, rather than simply fixating on the leading lady’s husband and the lovelines that feed into it.

The adult characters get as much narrative care and attention as their kids, and that helps to make this drama world feel altogether pretty balanced and whole.

The entire cast is endearing and committed, and – despite a touch of green in spots with the delivery – exponentially add to Show’s generous earthy winsomeness.

It’s true that the handling of the ending is flawed, but overall, I still found this show to be charming, slice-of-life retro at its best.

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Review: Answer Me, 1994 [Reply 1994]

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

Despite its flaws and indulgent streaks, Answer Me 1994 is a lovely little show that’s peopled by likable, bubbly characters that not only feel real, but also feel like they’re real friends with one another.

The characters and their relationships are the shining jewels crowning this show, and together, they shine so brightly that it’s not hard to overlook the occasional uneven writing, the consistently bloated episodes and the dreaded Who’s The Hubs game that Show inherited from its predecessor Answer Me 1997.

Far from perfect, but still So Lovable.

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Review: The Suspect [Guest Post]

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Drum roll please, everyone! I’m excited to announce the first guest post on this blog!! Wheee!! 😀

A number of you would already be familiar with Lady G, who’s an unnie on this blog. She is always such a pleasure to chat with, and always has such interesting and insightful thoughts to share that I always look forward to her comments.

When it was announced that The Suspect was premiering in New York, we all squealed out loud in envy over at our GY Running Man Squee Fest Facebook group (yes, the squee-fest is over, but the squeeing has happily continued, heh), coz this meant that Lady G would get to see this movie on the big screen.

We – pretty much in unison, really – commissioned Lady G to tell us alllll about her experience of watching Gong Yoo in his first action role on the big screen.

Being the awesome gal that she is, Lady G didn’t just come back with lots of incoherent spazzes and gushes, though we wouldn’t have blamed her if she did. I mean, it’s Gong Yoo on the big screen after all. Heh.

Nuh-uh. Instead, she wrote a whole review of the movie, and here it is!

Take it away, Lady G!

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