Saturday, December 30, 2006

OH JI HO - A WINNER

CORRECTION: My apologies to the viewers of this site. Unfortunately, Oh Ji Ho did not receive the
MBC best actor award for 2006.

MBC 2006 Awards for the Drama 'Fantasy Couple':
Excellence Award 2006 - Han Ye Seul
Best Couple Award 2006 - Oh Ji Ho and Han Ye Seul
Most Popular Award 2006 - Oh Ji Ho and Han Ye Seul


Congratulations to both.
I must confess my ignorance regarding exactly what "most popular" actually means. Popular with whom? Seems like a meaningless title all in all.

Oh Ji Ho - A New Year

This,

NOT this.

The sun rises at the Unification Observatory in Goseong, Gangwon Province. The year comes to a close with tension between the two Koreas following the North's missile and nuclear tests, and suspension of inter-Korean dialogue. [Kim Myung-sub/The Korea Herald]
2006.12.29

Peace, Health, and Happiness to all.
Hyacinth

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Oh Ji Ho - ‘My Wife 3’ Spins in Different Orbit


Click image to enlarge.

The new gangster comedy ``My Wife Is a Gangster 3’’ (Chopok Manura 3) is not a successful sequel. It lacks connections to its two predecessors.

But as a totally new story, it spins in a separate orbit and produces a reasonable amount of humor and jokes that are enjoyable throughout the film.

Directed by Cho Jin-kyu, the new movie revolves around Aryong (played by Shu Qi), who flees to Seoul because her father's gang is engaged in a conflict with another gang in Hong Kong.

When she arrives, Ki-chul (Lee Beom-su) and his gang take care of her without knowing her real identity.

As they live in the same house, the gang first tries to show off how manly and brave they are to the elegant Hong Kong woman and teach her a lesson. However, they later find out that she is not just a pretty girl but a martial arts master, who can easily kick the men’s butts.

The story evolves in a predictable direction, but that is not a problem because it is funny.

In terms of jokes, the film is much better and less offensive than the previous works, which were full of disastrous scenes with too many gangster jokes and sexual humor and had flimsy storylines.

But in the new movie, hilarious moments are often produced by Yon-hi (Hyun Young), an ethnic Korean from Yanbian, who is hired as a Korean translator for Aryong.

At first, Yon-hi’s life is threatened while working for the gang. Between Aryong and the gang, she can’t help but lie to the gang members when she has to translate into Korean what Aryong says as Aryong uses overly harsh and strong language.
In the softening, ``I’ll kill you all if you break your promise’’ is translated to ``You’re so handsome’’ or ``Please, help me, sir.’’

But as the gang finds out Aryong’s true identity, Yon-hi’s attitude toward the gang changes drastically. Now ``Thanks’’ is translated into ``Do what I said or I’ll kick your butt.’’

It’s true that the film is not totally free from gangster comedy formulas, a combination of action scenes, childish jokes and swear words.

But, overall, the big changes from the previous installments, are fun. Those changes could be meaningful in another sense, given that the 2003 sequel was a commercial flop because of its cliched storyline and jokes that did not distinguish it much from the successful original. Three stars.

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
12-28-2006
Original The Korea Times link.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

"My Wife is a Gangster 3" to Be Released in Hong Kong in February


The Korean comic action film "My Wife is a Gangster 3" will be shown at theaters in Hong Kong next February.

The film's producer Hyunjin Cinema said Tuesday that it has decided to release the film in Hong Kong right before Chinese New Year in February considering the high expectations for the film there. It had planned to release it as soon as in January, but concerns over illegal copying made it decide on February, it added.

"My Wife is a Gangster", the first in the series released in 2001 in Korea, garnered some 5.3 million viewers locally, and topped the box offices of Asian nations including Hong Kong and Vietnam upon its overseas release in 2002. In Hong Kong particularly, it ranked fourth among all the movies released in 2002.

"Shu Qi and Lung Ti, who starred in the movie, are very curious because they have not seen the completed film yet", Hyunjin Cinema president Lee Sun-yeol said. "They viewed the trailers when they came to Korea to promote the film and expressed satisfaction. They are now looking forward to the film's release in Hong Kong".

The third installment of the series has already attracted much attention from Asian nations such as Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam as well as Germany by being sold for a total of 660,000 US dollars (620 million won) at the American Film Market held in L.A. in early November.

The producer said that because the series has high brand recognition in Asian nations and Shu Qi is popular in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia (her birthplace), it expects that the third installment will also become successful in those countries.

"My Wife is a Gangster 3" deals with events involving Aryeong (Shu Qi), the daughter of the most powerful mafia boss in Hong Kong who escapes to Korea due to a power struggle, and a group from the Korean gangster organization Dongbangpa, who try to protect her.

(2006/12/20)

Link to original KBS Global News article.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Season's Greetings!



Oh Ji Ho is a great Santa! :)

My best wishes to all during this season. Peace and good health to you.
Hyacinth

Monday, December 18, 2006

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Friday, December 08, 2006

My Wife is a Gangster 3 Press Call

Oh Ji Ho and the Gangster gang, looking great!
Click images to enlarge.