Rough Play

배우는 배우다 (Rough Play; An Actor is an Actor) is a South Korean movie directed by Shin Youn-shick and released in 2013.

Story: Oh Young is a young actor who suddenly becomes very popular but his character changes due to his fame. He starts to work with a group of gangsters and gets involved in scandals which not only almost destroys his career but also could get him killed at some point.

Cast: Oh Young was played by Lee Joon whom I personally consider a good actor nowadays. In this movie his performance within a performance is good, and that deserves some attention in my opinion.
Seo Bum-suk as Kim Jang-ho was the manager who started the spiral in this movie. While I'm not totally sure about his intentions anymore the acting was totally fine.
Seo Young-hee as Oh Yeon-hee was barely memorable in any way to me. Not because her acting was bad but I'm not lying when I say I really don't quite remember her character in this movie which is.. a little bit weird since she was important.
Ma Dong-seok is in one of the character types he can play well in this movie - a gangster boss just somehow seems to fit him well so I remember him a lot better than some other actors.
Other actors in this movie include Kang Shin-hyo, Yang Dong-geun, Oh Gwang-rok and Kim Hyung-jun.
In total I think the cast delivered a performance I would rate as 'okay' - some did better than others, can't deny that, some were hardly memorable and again others just seemed to be there.


In the end this movie left me a little bit wondering about... everything?
What was the purpose of the sexual scenes? Yeah, it showed that Oh Young lost it a little bit after being successful but it wasn't necessary at all I think. I guess they just added that to make fangirls watch it.
The beginning and the end were a little bit chaotic and confusing. I was guessing it might be some infinite loop of events but I don't quite know what to think about it.
What happened to all the other characters in the end? There were so many characters that just disappeared without any explanation at all.
So the story is okay. So is the movie but I definitely had higher expectations so maybe that's why my rating is only a 6/10 and I probably won't watch it again.

Pained

통증 (Pained, also known as Pain) is a South Korean movie that was released in 2011.

Story: Nam-soon works for a loan shark as a human punching bag to scare people into paying back their debt. He lost the ability to feel pain after a car accident in which his family died. Since he feels responsible for the accident he lost his will to live as well.
Dong-hyun is a young woman who's parents died both because of illnesses. She has high debts left to pay though she only makes money selling handmade items and additionally suffers from hemophilia.
One day Nam-soon and Bum-no visit Dong-hyun to collect a debt. Bum-no has to leave, and Nam-soon quietly waits outside until Dong-hyun comes out of her house. The police soon arrives and finds the two of them fighting which makes Nam-soon leave.
When a few days later a group of homeless approach Dong-hyun because of her father owing them money, Nam-soon helps her out and since she had to left her apartment because of him, he decides to let her live with him..

Cast: Kwon Sang-woo as Nam-soon wasn't too bad of an actor. Same goes for Jung Ryeo-won as Dong-hyun. But their chemistry could have been better and I honestly felt like something just wasn't right. Their acting in itself was pretty much okay anyways, so there's nothing special to really say about them.
However, Bum-no played by Ma Dong-seok was the highlight in this movie. The acting overall was great and I did like his character and how he worked with Nam-soon. I can't really explain the reason but I just liked it.

Soundtrack: While I don't know the title of the song, I did like the song at the end of the movie. The music was one of the things I enjoyed about this movie.


I'm sure a rating of 5/10 is kind of surprising to some of those who read this post thus far. There are a few reasons to it but let's just start with the most obvious one:
This is a melodrama. It's also categorized as "tearjerker" and I was far from crying. There were romance-comedy dramas that brought me closer to tears. Besides I'm not a huge fan of melodrama but still ended up watching this movie (that's my bad but I still have hope I'll find a melodrama that captures my attention).
The whole plot isn't that unique as well. A man who can't feel pain and a woman who thinks stuff over and over again because of her disease. But really, it doesn't feel like there's a unique touch to it. The story itself wasn't really able to keep me interested.
The fighting scenes were nice and also some scenes with the two leads but I still got the feeling they just lacked something.
And what was worse to me was the ending. I don't get why they did that. First, it would've made sense for all those people around to call an ambulance. If you've watched this movie before, you might understand what I mean. Secondly, it would only make sense for Dong-hyun to die. Of course we don't know that (I won't tell you what's exactly happening) but the part including Nam-soon's prayer just seems randomly placed there. It's not like a prayer could heal a genetic disease. Well, yes, of course, a melodrama should be more based on emotions than on logic but still, that's what actually bothers me.

However, it's not a waste of time if you're bored and have nothing else to watch. Though you might need to like melodramatic love stories. I probably won't watch it again or maybe when I'm in a bad mood because of being love sick.

Bad Guys

나쁜 녀석들 (Bad Guys) is a Korean drama series that aired from October 4th to December 13th 2014 on OCN.

Story: The title 'Bad Guys' basically describes the team perfectly. Commissioner Nam Goo-hyun asks former detective Oh Gu-tak to help solving a serial murder case. Oh Gu-tak chooses gangster Park Woong-cheol, professional killer Jeong Tae-su and psychopath and serial killer Lee Jeong-mun as the 'bad guys' who are the best for this job.

With Park Woong-cheol's strength , Jeong Tae-su's skill and Lee Jeong-mun's intellect. Mix those together right and there won't be a criminal under the sun they can't catch.

Getting out of prison whenever they have a case, the team members decide to do something useful with their abilities - and figure out the truth behind a serial murder case.
Detective Yoo Mi-yeong is there connection to the police and helps to solve the cases though she's an ambitious person willing to do a lot to get promoted.

Cast: At first we have Kim Sang-joong as Oh Gu-tak, the 'Mad Dog'. Just the way he was planning everything through the first two episodes made me feel uneasy about the character, I could never guess what he was up to. But then again, as an actor, Kim Sang-joong deserves all my respect for playing this role that well.
As Park Woong-cheol we see Ma Dong-seok. Yes, the character isn't the smartest person on earth.. definitely not, but strong and therefore a good addition to the team. About Ma Dong-seok - I don't remember him playing any other main roles before and this one was really good as well. It somehow suits him, and I can't really explain why.
Jo Dong-hyuk accepted the role of Jeong Tae-su. Except for him being hot and classy as a contract killer (I can't help it, I just loved the serious businessman-look he was wearing all the time.. and I'm still a young woman after all), I think his characters' history was one of the most interesting I've ever seen. And there was one scene (I seriously cannot spoiler too much about this) when I was really crying because of his loss.
As genius psychopath Lee Jeong-mun we see someone who might be the reason for many girls to watch this: Park Hae-jin. Now, after watching this, I'm definitely impressed with his skills. From a second male lead desperately in love in You Who Came From The Stars his character in this drama is a psychopath who was one of the youngest serial killers ever. There's a huge difference and I love the fact he's not sticking to one of the character types but actually tries something new - and definitely succeeds.
Others in the cast include Kang Ye-won as Yoo Mi-yeong (I came to dislike her character from time to time..), Kang Shin-il as Nam Goo-hyun and Kim Tae-hoon as Oh Jae-won (and I hate making good guesses about something fishy sometimes).

Soundtrack: One thing OCN is incredibly good at are sound effects. Sometimes the music and the sounds they used were just creeping me out. God, I hate you for doing that, OCN, I hate you all so much. But then again, when it comes to a series like this, it's necessary. Cute or cheerful songs or heartwrenching ballads wouldn't support the rather dark atmosphere.

As an overall rating? Ha ha, funny, you can make a guess. It's OCN Original and I have nothing really negative to say about this series.
10/10.
The only thing I wasn't happy about were the melodramatic happenings during the last episodes. But then again, this is also a charming point of this series - the way the characters change.

I'm still laughing about the person who had the idea to censor knifes, but not guns, in a drama that's rated 19+. Like, come on.. we all know there's a knife and we all know someone gets stabbed. So why do you have to censor the knife when this is a series for adults..? Tsk. I don't get it. It's somewhat cute.

Did I miss out on anything? Well, this series deals with the dark sides of human souls in the end. If you have a weak heart, this series probably wouldn't be a good recommendation. Otherwise, go ahead and give it a shot because it has a different charm with being impressive especially when it comes to plot and character development.

And did someone mention a possible Season 2?! Yes, please! Just.. OCN, please don't make me wait four years or something..