Dramatards Triathlon: Dramas - 7/10

Country Princess

Score: 7.5/10

       Lee Eun Hee and Lee Keum Hee were born at the same house on the same day. Eun Hee's mother died during childbirth, leaving behind only a bag with watch and some money. Keum Hee's father decides to raise her as their own daughter despite his wife's protests. Eun Hee and Keum Hee are raised as twin sisters, although  Eun Hee is often mistreated by Keum Hee's mother. One day Eun Hee's real grandfather shows up in search of his grandchild, but Keum Hee's mother sends her daughter instead. The girls then lead two very different lives, Eun Hee dealing with poverty and helping take care of her family while Keum Hee attends college and tries to earn her grandfather's respect. The girls run into each other years later and several revelations come to light.  

      Country Princess is an older drama from 2003 so the pacing is a bit slower and the skinship is kept to a minimum. I wanted to watch this drama because  of of a few of the actors, namely Bae Doo Na and Kang Dong Wan. Bae Doo Na's character Lee Eun Hee was interesting but more often than not became a bit grating on my nerves with her accent and slight stupidity. I found the acting to be good all around and the story line was good albeit nothing super original. 

      

Dramatards Triathlon: Dramas - 6/40

  Dok Ruk Rim Tang

Score: 7.5/10

     Jitree, a gold digger, seduces Anusorn's father which caused Anusorn and her mother to leave.  Anusorn  returns home years later after her father dies suddenly to discover that her father's new wife has sold the house and left her with nothing but Hungtu, her father's dog. Anusorn suspects that something isn't right about the situation and discovers that her father left behind another will somewhere in the house. Jitree and her lover hire men to kill Anusorn but she escapes by disguising herself as a man. She returns to her father's house and starts to work for the new owner, Pathavee, as a man named Ood. She and Hangtu try to find the will but Anusorn starts to fall for Pathavee along the way.

      My third Thai drama and a gender bender no less. This was extremely cheesy and the female lead cried way too much but I still liked it. The male lead was great and I liked most of the characters. Jitree and her lover were the worst part for me, their acting was horrid and their characters were way over the top.  My favorite character by far was Hangtu, not because the other roles were bad but because this dog was actually a main character. He had his own internal monologue like the dogs in the Homeward Bound and Look Who's Talking 3. He was incredibly intelligent and helped out Anusorn a lot, even saving her life a few times.

Dramatards Triathlon: Dramas - 5/40

Full House Thai

Score: 9/10

      Aom-am is a writer who lives with her older sister. Her sister panics when her bills start to pile up and she finds out that she is pregnant so she conspires with her boyfriend to sell the house. They send Aom-am to South Korea on vacation and sell the house while she is away. While in South Korea she meets two men, Guy and Mike. Guy is sweet and Mike is a complete jerk.  Upon arriving back in Thailand, she finds out that her house was sold to Mike. Mike has recently had his heart broken and begins a fake relationship with Aom-am to save face. The two agree on terms and enter into a fake marriage. What started out as a business relationship between the two becomes something more  as they actually start to fall for each other.

      I really loved the Korean version of Full House so I decided to give this a try. I had only watched the Thai drama Sawan Biang and I didn't have high hopes for this drama but it exceeded my expectations. While still a bit cheesy for my tastes, Full House Thai managed to be a quite pleasant experience. The leads were great and had amazing chemistry. There was a lot of humor and cute moments. It is different enough from the original version to make it worth watching both.

Dramatards Triathlon: Dramas - 4/40

Sawan Biang 

Score: 6/10

         Leela and Jate, her fiance get into a car accident with a wealthy man and his wife. Jate and the other man's wife die. The wealthy man, Kid, comes to visit Leela everyday as well as takes care of all her medical bills. He eventual falls for her and proposes. Leela accepts and moves with her family (her mother, brother,and sister) into Kid's mansion. Leela discovers that Kid's son is Kawee, a man she fell in love with when she younger but rejected her. Leela's younger sister Narin quckly becomes the target of Kawee's anger since she stands up to him, causing them to have an extremely volatile relationship.

      That is just the beginning of the extremely complicated and convoluted plot of this drama. Sawan Biang was the first Thailand drama or lakorn that I watched, it is very different from the other Asian dramas I'm used to.  I didn't really like this drama despite it being one of the most popular dramas in Thailand. I liked the female lead decently enough although I didn't always agree with her decisions. I loved the second male lead, Tom, he made the drama bearable for me and I will definitely check out his other work. I hated the male lead and he was the main reason that I didn't enjoy this drama. I have always said that if I was not invested in the main couple then I would be less likely to enjoy the drama and this rings true concerning Sawan Biang. Kawee was mean, insensitive, immature and extremely emotionally and physically abusive. He does try to repent towards the end of the drama and is forgiven but for me, it was a little too late. Considering all Kawee does to her, it would be far more believable that Narin violently murders him rather than ending up living happily ever after with him. 

Dramatards Triathlon: Dramas - 3/40

Bride of the Century

Score: 8/10

          Choi Kang Joo is the sole heir of the highly successful Taeyang Corporation. He is selfish, cold, and rude to everyone including his fiance Jang Ki Kyung. She gets fed up with his behavior and runs away, sending her mother and brother into a panic. They discover a girl who looks identical to Ki Kyung to stand in for her until she returns. Na Doo Rim accepts the job because her grandmother needs an expensive surgery. Although identical, the two girls are as different as night and day. While pretending to be Ki Kyung, Doo Rim and Kang Joo slowly begin to fall for each other. However, Kang Joo's family is cursed and the first bride of the first son is doomed to meet an early demise.

       I was not expecting a lot from this drama, I hadn't heard much about it and only watched it because my cousin likes Lee Hong Ki. I was extremely surprised by how much I enjoyed it despite it's cliched ridden plot. Lee Hong Ki was decent as Kang Joo, I was afraid that he wouldn't perform the role well because I associate him so closely with his character from You're Beautiful. I loved Yang Ji Sung in this, her performance of two completely different characters was great and my personal favorite part of the drama. I liked the humor and Hong Ki had great chemistry with Ji Sung. Sadly, the drama did start to drag around episode 12 and lost a lot of the fun that was present in earlier episodes. The constant noble idiocy became somewhat annoying and unnecessary, further dragging the plot. I also didn't care for the development of the main relationship, Kang Joo and Doo Rim go from having a growing attraction to one another and constantly fighting to undying love.I was also not happy with some character inconsistencies, mainly the antagonist. In one scene the bad guy is screaming and plotting revenge but then wants to stop later in the same episode-it doesn't make sense and was also a problem I had with Secret Love. Overall I still liked the drama and it is worth watching but prepared for cliches and pacing issues.

       

Dramatards Triathlon: Movies-7/10

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

Score: 6/10

      After Jesse's high school graduation, unusual events start occurring and strange things began happening to Jesse which his friend Hector captures with his camera.

     I enjoyed the first Paranormal Activity movie but I've been less than impressed with the rest of the series. The first film was interesting but the overarching story continues to get messier and more confusing with each subsequent film release. The Marked Ones is billed as a spin-off of the series and I surprisingly enjoyed it. I felt that the film was pretty solid and only started to fall apart toward the end. The characters are interesting and the paranormal activity in the movie comes in a different form than what we've seen previously. There's also more of the familiar elements in the series-someone sensing an evil presence and trying to ward it off, common objects revealing the sinister force, pictures/markings being found that lead to an investigation, an appearance by Katie, and so on.). I would much more enjoy the series if it focused on different instances of paranormal activity that didn't all have to relate to a central story line.

Dramatards Triathlon: Dramas-2/40

Long Vacation

Score: 9/10

        Minami rushes to her fiance's apartment when he doesn't show up to their wedding only to find that her groom has skipped town, taking all her money with him. She meets Sena, who also lives in the apartment. Left with no money and no where to go Minami moves in with Sena. Minami is a model who struggles to find jobs at 31 and Sena is a 24 year old pianist who teaches piano but yearns to play professionally. 

     This is an extremely popular Japanese drama from 1996 that garnered some of the highest viewership ratings ever, mostly in part due to the famous idol star Kimura Takuya playing Sena. This is an older drama so the wardrobe is dated and the plot is somewhat slow paced but that doesn't distract from the overall charm of the characters and story. 

Dramatards Triathlon: Movie 6/100

GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling

Score: 7/10

     I am not a fan of wrestling, never have been and never will be. However, I am a huge fan of the 80's but I have never heard of GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling). This documentary profiles the formation, popularity and eventual cancellation of GLOW. It also features many of the GLOW female wrestlers discussing their career and characters. Many of these women had never wrestled before and used GLOW as a springboard for other careers. The two most interesting women were Matilda the Hun (Dee Booher) and Mountain Fiji (Emily Dole), both large and strong women. Dee was a wrestler but was not allowed to fight men. At one point, she even wrestled a bear in the ring. Emily had tried out for a female football that didn't come to fruition. Glow was a great fit for both women and allowed them to showcase their strength and talents. I really enjoyed hearing the stories of these women and the impact GLOW had on their lives. 

Dramatards Triathlon: Movie 5/100

ATM

Score: 4/10

     There are quite a few movies dealing with people being trapped-trapped on a ski lift, an elevator, a room,a car and so on. ATM deals with 3 co-workers trapped in an enclosed atm booth by a hooded assailant. This movie isn't painful but it's not very good either. The 3 main characters make a lot of stupid mistakes and stupidity in horror always annoys me (The Strangers automatically comes to mind). They spend the majority of the film panicking and talking about what they should do. Also, it never revealed what motivates the killer-why he picks random places, extensively researches them and murders random people. Sometimes I don't mind a bit of mystery but for the most part I like to know why the murderer commits his atrocities.

Dramatards Triathlon: Movie 4/100

House of Fears

Score: 5/10

       House of Fears is about a group of six teens that enter a haunted house after hours while unbeknownst to them an unboxed stone idol will make their fears a reality. The film is somewhat enjoyable while exploring the haunted house and discovering the characters' fears. This movie felt like a 90's film made in the 2000's-the clothes and dialogue seemed really outdated. 

Dramatards Triathlon: Movie 3/100

Grabbers

Score: 5/10

      A small Irish community is attached by monstrous sea creatures, whom the village discovers have an aversion to alcohol. This is a fun monster flick with decent acting. 

Dramatards Triathlon: Movie 2/100

Maniac

Score: 6/10

      Frank is a mannequin restorer and serial killer. He meets a photographer named Lucie that he begins to have feelings for. First of all, I have not seen the original film so I can't compare the remake to it. Elijah Wood was really good in this role, his face is hardly seen because the film is shot from his perspective yet he still is able to express his character quite well through speech. The way the movie is shot also really adds to atmosphere and makes the watcher feel very isolated and withdrawn from the world.

Dramatards Triathlon: Movie 1/100

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

Score: 4/10

        More like all the boys want to sleep with Mandy Lane. This film focusing on a teenager named Mandy Lane who all the boys want and all the girls hate. Mandy gets invited to a weekend excursion by a group of popular students where they begin dying off one by one. The whole film is about how everyone is obsessed Mandy Lane which is a bit confusing. Yes, Mandy is attractive and her body is decent but she has the personality of a piece of cardboard. It didn't quite make sense why the boys were so enthralled except for the fact that she made herself unattainable.  The kills were decent but the ending left much to be desired.

Dramatards Triathlon: Dramas-1/40

Cheongdamdong Alice

Score: 7/10

     Park Shi Hoo is fantastic in this drama and one of the main reasons to watch it. His character Cha Seung Jo was unique and quite fun, far different from the normal cold and arrogant rich male leads in dramaland. I found myself quite disappointed in the female lead character Han Se Kyung played by Moon Geun Young. Moon as an actress is fine but her character was not a good person. Han Se Kyung wants a life of wealth and luxury no matter what it takes. Also, So Yi Hyun is not a good actress and her performance here further proves that point. I also didn't really understand her character-she is supposed to be a cold and conniving gold digger but when a problem arises she completely falls apart. She literally spent the entire drama crying and having hysterical panic attacks. The annoying character and Yi Hyun's bad acting made her scenes almost unbearable. 

2014 Challenge: Dramatards Triathlon

Dramatards Triathlon

     New year, new Asian drama challenge. This challenge was created by The Dramatards blog. Basically you choose how many dramas, movies and anime shows you wish to complete for the year. You can also choose to just focus on one or two areas.

My Goal

Dramas: 40

Anime: 20

Movies: 100

     I decided to do this challenge in stead of the 52 Week Drama Challenge in order to catch up on anime and movies that I neglected last year. I will post for every entry like I do for my other challenges. 

Dramatards Triathlon http://ddramatards.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/its-so-dramatic-the-sequel-dramatards-triathlon/