Tag: Romance

TV Shows

The King: Eternal Monarch

Not A Walking Tree

If evil men didn’t try to corrupt the world for their own selfish greed, then all the world would turn out to be a beautiful place of love, happiness and joy. Everyone has their own fate, their own destiny, and sometimes you haven’t yet reached the destination. This South Korean melodrama of fantasy, science fiction, romance and thriller is a wonderous tale of the aforementioned above. It starts with a humble beginning that spreads to become so much more, so much weaving of the tapestry of life, of people bound in ways they do not yet know and we, the audience, are along for the discovery and journey.

Mild Spoilers ahead

Lee Gon (Lee Min-ho) is the modern day King of the Kingdom of Corea who in his youth was injured by his half-uncle, Lee Lim (Lee Jung-jin), when the former assassinated his father and attempted to usurp the throne. Lee Lim wanted a magical flute for himself that was said to hold mystical powers that allowed one to travel between worlds. One day the King discovers two obelisks that allow travel to another reality, a parallel world. There he meets the woman he was destined to be with, and what unfolds is an epic romantic story. But, it’s not without its darker undertones, as Lee Lim, who survived the night of the assassination and has been in hiding in the parallel world, strives to take back what he believes should have rightfully been his – the magical flute. It was cut in two that fateful night, and the two halves are what allow both Lee Lim and Lee Gon to travel to a parallel world.

With each episode 70 minutes in length, as viewers, we are treated to a fully expanded world. Completely fleshed out characters that feel alive, and not caricatures of heroes or villains. Lee Lim, the evil half-uncle, is a greedy man who wishes to control time and space and be a ruler of all. While Lee Gon wishes to find his love and be with her forever as time will allow. He is just, fair, and has mercy for those that cross his path but for his enemies, he is ruthless and merciless as a King should be. There is no second chance for traitors, only a swift punishment. Detective Jung Tae-eul (Kim Go-eun) is Lee Gon’s destiny, and she is feisty and fierce, and brave when she has to be. She is kind, and beautiful, and Kim Go-eun’s performance deserves praise. I wept with her, and for her character, and I wished she’d succeed in her destiny; in both hers and Lee Gon’s fate, and I can happily say this story has a happy ending despite being fraught with danger, twists and turns.

The other characters in this story are equally human and flawed, and so full of life. The writer, Kim Eun-sook, did a great job with this series in creating these characters and their life’s events. The direction and editing did have some problems in that some scenes didn’t make sense or purpose despite the explanations towards the latter half of the show. But overall, it worked well. The music was fantastic and I’ve noticed in Korean shows that they often repeat the same songs in each episode during key moments. At first, it was a little odd but then it grew on you and touched your heart when you heard the music swell because then you’d be expecting what’s to come. The actors were all very convincing in each of their characters, some playing two due to doppelgangers with it being two parallel worlds, and nobody felt like a weak link. There was only the characters and not the men or women underneath.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire season of 16 episodes. I wholeheartedly recommend watching it if you’re in the mood for a sweeping tale of romance and fantasy. I hope you too will fall in love with the story of Lee Gon and Jung Tae-eul, and come out on the end feeling satisfied for experiencing this endearing and beautiful journey.

TV Shows

Vagabond (2019 TV Series)

Not A Walking Tree

Vagabond is a South Korean spy, crime, thriller, romance and action tv series starring Lee Seung-gi, Bae Suzy, with Shin Sung-rok and many others. The initial premise is when an airplane bound for Morocco goes down in mysterious circumstances, stuntman Cha Dal-gun (played by Lee Seung-gi) fights to unravel the truth surrounding the plane crash. He is forced to partner with a covert agent from the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Go Hae-ri (played by Bae Suzy), and together they struggle against forces beyond their reckoning – corruption to the highest level.

Mild Spoilers to follow

What I really enjoyed was that the show goes full circle in its execution. It starts off with a scene in the desert, and then jumps to the story at hand. As you watch the entirety of it, you keep wondering the significance of that desert scene. And near the end of the final episode, that scene plays again and you realize the entire story was a showcase as to how the main character ended up there. The other strong points were the twists that occurred, and how it managed to build up its villains. The person who you think is the main bad guy is actually merely a pawn in the grand scheme of things, then when it moves up to the next level at play, even those individuals are merely pawns of something larger.

Every episode was nail-bitingly good, and kept you at the edge of your seat because you so strongly root for Cha Dal-gun and you want him to succeed. So each time he gets set back, you feel a little bit of angst because there’s a very real possibility he might not get what he desires. The bad guys are very good at what they do, at corrupting people or setting them up to be used as unwitting or witting pawns. It was like watching a game of chess with an amateur against a grandmaster but the grandmaster loses because the amateur acts in way you don’t expect him to because it’s dumb. And it’s that dumb move which gets him the victory yet the grandmaster knew it and saw it coming, but didn’t react because they didn’t expect their opponent to have the gall to do it. The grandmaster is not without fault either, they made a small and but critical error that allowed their opponent to seize victory – they underestimated them.

The chemistry between the leads is entertaining and you root for them to have a future together. You smile at their antics and your heart grows fondly at them getting closer. Everyone did a great job, and I didn’t feel that any actor or actress was a weak link. They were all believable and at times ruthless in their character’s manners or appearance. You truly disliked the villains and that is the best kind of acting. You don’t see the person underneath, only the character they are portraying.

The faults I had with it were that the gun fights were underwhelming and lacking. Often times, they were quite unbelievable because with the sheer amount of firepower offered, the good guys should all be dead. Too much missing a shot, or cars that can withstand hundreds of bullets and still be fully drivable without any problems. A lot of scenes of guns fired indoors and nobody batting an eye at the sound. What was good to see was a proper sniper sequence with them sighting the shot/adjusting it before firing and actually not aiming directly at the target but slightly off to the side. The hand to hand combat was excellent and never did I feel that the characters were superhuman when they fought. They took appropriate damage and acted as one should following an injury. The driving was very well done and never had a case of “how did that lower powered car somehow catch up?”

Overall, I thoroughly loved the show. I enjoyed the story and its depiction of real events regarding corruption and power, on how the world operates. I loved the chemistry between the leads and I’d recommend watching the show even despite the open ending. Perhaps Netflix will be kind enough to allow a second season despite it not yet being confirmed as renewed.

Movies

The Lost Husband

Not A Walking Tree

I don’t know what to really make of this movie. I know I didn’t enjoy the main character, Libby Moran, at all, she’s annoyingly irritating as some “terrible people” say about her later on in the film. And that’s not her fault, it’s just the way she goes about things. Could be the fact her mom is a real piece of work, but props go to Leslie Bibb for acting that way. I felt like her character was real, and despite my irritation towards her, it was an interesting view at a widow starting her life anew. I wouldn’t call this movie a romance, though there certainly is. It felt more like a drama than anything because the love interest aspect disappeared towards the end, and we had to deal with our main character’s trauma as a child regarding her mother and aunt.

The scenery is lovely, the farm provides great views and helps culture that homely feel. It was refreshing to watch a movie with essentially no antagonist, with the only struggle being Libby herself overcoming obstacles. Josh Duhamel as her love interest was the best part of the movie for me, his character was much more interesting and unfortunately they didn’t really spend a whole lot of time on him. Mostly glanced over the basics with him, and had his character do a lot of telling and not so much showing. The aunt, played by Nora Dunn, was kind and empathetic and reminded me of my own grandma and her farm.

The supporting cast did well enough, Libby’s two kids, Abby and Tank were acted well enough. Not much to work with really, just being kids. Abby had some nice personal growth regarding a bully. Again, I don’t really know how I feel about this movie. It just was.

For once, I’m stumped. I wouldn’t recommend it but I wouldn’t not recommend it. Basically give it a go if you enjoy farm movies with a splash of romance. Otherwise, there’s better ways to spend your time.

Movies

The Knight Before Christmas

Not A Walking Tree

This movie put a smile on my face. The story has been done before: a knight from the past is brought to the future to fulfil his quest, but it manages to capture the spirit of Christmas and about true love. It’s a story about being kind to others, being charitable, and caring. About putting others before yourself. Helping those in need and just being an exemplary human being.

Vanessa Hudgens plays the lead love interest opposite Josh Whitehouse who plays the titular knight. Vanessa did a really good job here with the material and came across as very likeable, and her character felt very real. I connected with her easily and established an emotional response in regards to her character’s journey. Josh did a fine job as well portraying a man lost in time, a man trying to acquaint himself in the time period he now finds himself in. They had very enjoyable chemistry together. I was very happy when they finally kissed. That was another thing I liked: their relationship didn’t feel forced. It felt organic. It blossomed naturally and didn’t feel forced by bad writing.

The side characters were also well done and although they lacked characterization, they did serve to further the character growth of the leads while still feeling like they were their own people. They felt real and not caricatures.

So if you’re looking for a feel-good movie with your significant other, or even by yourself, I’d definitely recommend watching this movie. It was really refreshing to see a movie portray a small town where people care for each other and there was nothing seriously bad or horrible or profanity/violence. I loved it.