Ah, I just remembered, the 2017 series ‘Strong Woman Do Bong Soon’ started with a bus crash magically averted by a petite superhero schoolgirl in a pink hoodie.

There’s a common plot device that’s been termed ‘the bus of death’. Just last month on two separate series a pretty young woman was done in by a spectacular overturned bus crash on a rainy evening, The most popular Korean series last year (short name ‘Goblin’) included a gratuitous overturned bus crash. The ‘car of…

The restaurant reviewer who ordered the rare steak gave the meal a bad review for spite. The chef then drilled the kitchen staff in arcane rules of beef preparation, then the staff went on to win the top cooking competition.

I’d hesitate to put ‘The Apartment’ under the heading of ‘romantic comedy’. The film is unrelentingly depressing, ends in the attempted suicide of a girl who has spent all of the film being used as a sex toy by horrible horrible men. The cast is misleading, you think ‘Jack Lemmon, Fred MacMurray and Shirley McClain…

I’ve lost count of the number of Korean series I’ve watched that were set in upscale shopping malls. Even the overtly communist characters are capitalist... Or perhaps a more apt word would be ‘mercantile’.

Rom-coms are indeed alive and thriving in Asia.
Korean series especially seem to have perfected the formula. They tend to avoid the jaded cynicism of American romantic comedies. And yes, there are often overt references to Cinderella and Little Mermaid, heavy emphasis on bad boy rich guys who are redeemed by love. And…

I was watching a Korean restaurant workplace rom-com named ‘Pasta’, there was a scene where a waiter rushed into the kitchen to excitedly tell the chef that someone had ordered their steak ‘rare’. All work stopped in the kitchen as heads turned in disbelief. One of the staff asks incredulously “Are they foreigners?”

Happy Anniversary Jason! It appears super-macho Statham started his career 25 years ago as a backup dancer in a Scottish music video.

Ack! The full series is free for streaming on Drama Fever! Its now on my ‘to watch’ list. I’m almost finished binge watching ‘Chicago Typewriter’ on the VIKI site.

It wasn’t that long ago that post-modern feminist theory was all about women owning their sexuality, about not needing patriarchal permission to do whomever they want, and sexual adventurism in high school was considered ‘bad-ass liberation’. Except, apparently, the pretty men that these young adventuresses are…

There is one excellent ‘fat suit’ series that redeemed the premise. The charming ‘Oh My Venus’ out of KBS in Korea from late 2015.

I watched as much of the series as I could stand but it was all so bleak, grim and humorless. The concept seemed to be tailor made for adventure, hijinks, a little sexiness and a large does of self-mocking humor. Instead it was just morose. Maybe the series changed since I stopped watching but I see no indication of…

From a mere aesthetics standpoint, DC comics movies are mostly *unpleasant to look at*. More than anything else, that could be the reason for the general lack of enthusiasm for the product. The costumes all look as though they had been purposefully made to look like ugly CGI because its easier to match live-action…

No Latinios, they offend the Trumpturds. The brown skinned ethnic group of choice on TV these days is Indian, usually with fake Indian/British accents. Because everyone know (1) there are no Hispanic actors in Hollywood, and (2) no West Asian heritage Americans speak with an American accent.

Patrick Stewart, treasure that he is, is still 78 years old. Signing on to a multiyear series run is a big deal. I’m reminded of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ where America got to see Peter Boyle grow old and feeble and approach death before our eyes. The Good Fight’s Christine Baranski is a good dozen years younger than…

I just Googled the actress Kim Hee-ae. Though her acting credits are long I’ve somehow managed to miss all of her TV and film work. That’s embarrassing. She’s a multiple award winning actress with awards going all the way back to 1986.

Another article discusses how Disney remakes of classics tend to include meta comments on ‘problematic’ aspects of the originals. I’d expect a 2018/19 ‘Shogun’ to address the original’s “white savior” cultural insensitivity issue. Shogun is a bit different, though. Its the story of a white guy discovering that he is…

Another former Trump aide is out with a new tell-all, significantly called ‘Unhinged’. Omarosa Manigault got to watch Trump’s mental downward spiral from his reality TV days to this year. She says he’s now taken to jabbering incoherently.

People tend to forget many of the nostalgic ‘classics’ of our youth were panned, were often seen as garbage films, actually. “Hook” can be classed among what I call ‘coked-up studio head’ films of the 80s and early 90s.

Asian TV these days is outstanding, with a deep pool of talent. Korean tvN network is currently running the series ‘Mr. Sunshine’, a sprawling historical epic with the backdrop of the Joseon empire in 1871 coming in contact western imperialist expansion for the first time. I understand Netflix just picked up the…