Lee Byung Hun is the main attraction here and the reason I watched this. He is wonderful at romance with his little nuances, gestures, and looks. In my opinion he is the best looking Korean actor, so it's hard not to enjoy him in this romance. There are some wonderful, passionate moments, but at other times, the love scenes are laughingly corny.

The story starts with a murder and a dysfunctional family including 2 stepbrothers in love with the same woman. It moves along at an interesting pace until about the last quarter where it turns into a weepy melodrama and screeches to an agonizing halt for about 5 episodes more.

Choi Ji Woo is undoubtedly beautiful, but here she is robotic. A decade ago she was paired with the leading heartthrobs, including Japanese Takenouchi Yataka. She did a decent job acting in Winter Sonata and Stairway to Heaven, my favorite melodramas. But here she was wooden and talked so S-L-O-W-L-Y that you could walk out of the room and come back in and she would still be on the same sentence. She played the kindhearted love interest of the two brothers, so she tried to act soothingly. However, her dialogue sounded monotone, cooing like a mourning dove.

The music was quite good, but the repetitiveness over 24 episodes made it irritating. Also, the drama was a bit long for my taste. You will enjoy it if you want to see Byung in a romance. But to see Mr. Korean James Bond with the full depth of his acting abilities, watch instead Iris, Masquerade, I Saw the Devil. or Iris for action. His best romance is All In (one of my favorites) and the very sexy movie, Addicted.

Read More

This drama is quite different from all other revenge dramas I've seen. It seems to take more the point of view of the initial murderer turned cop. (That's not a spoiler as you quickly learn this in the beginning.) You don't ever get much of a feeling of compassion and sadness for the initial young victim because little time is spent on that storyline. This drama reminds me of a war: there are no winners. Indeed, I never found any of the characters likeable, so I never had strong feelings about the consequences. As in real life, everyone is held accountable for their evil deeds.
The beginning seemed long and tedious. Things were revealed as the plot developed, however, I never felt there were any big surprises. Joo Ji Hoon did a great job as a cold loner, but his character was too zombie-like. It would have been better if he found some more awareness like in the revenge drama Sorry I Love You. The best thing was the acting here. The actress Shin Min Ah was in A Love to Kill a revenge drama I liked better.

Read More

Neither the writer nor the director could decide whether to produce a comedy, serious romance, or melodrama. What they produced, instead, was a total flop.

Part of the failings came from the lead actress Lee Bo Yong. She is an exercise in how not to act. Talented acting should appear natural and genuine. However,she must have practiced facial expressions in the mirror because in the course of a two minute conversation, she could put her face through about a dozen contortions. None of them were attractive or funny.

Perhaps the worst kissing scene is in this drama.. Lee Bo Yong pulls a spider man mask over her face. Ahn Jae Wook lifts it above her mouth to kiss her. All the while, Yong's eye are popping out of the eye holes. Far from romantic, it seemed alien and grotesque.

In the first episode the writer tried to make some comic scenes out of a mixup with gay partners. That fell flat and the couple was quickly written out of the drama. The attempt to draw some interest with hotel takeover intrigue fell flat. And the one father, two family complications were also a bore. Nothing seemed to flow and, inevitably, there was no pathos with the final melodrama. There was simply no connection or feeling for the characters.

I watched this to see Ahn Jae Wook in another role after Star in My Heart. But he wasn't enough to salvage this one.

Read More

This is passionate romance from beginning to end. Add to that exciting action, revenge, heartbreak, tragedy, witty dialogue, and hilarious situations. All the actors and actresses are gorgeous! This drama has it all!

Jimmy Lin is at his best here. In real life he's a professional car racer and international singer. He is the real thing here: sings his own songs and does the car stunts. Can it get any better than this?

The story moves along at a fast pace. I never watched a drama so fast. One thing I hate is watching a long, slow drama just to see the lead couple get together in the last episode for a chicken peck kiss. None of that here. If you are a fan of romance drama, this is up there with Autumn's Concerto and Secret Garden.

Read More

There was nothing unique or original in the storyline except that it featured a basketball star as the main character. I've seen a lot of college basketball, so that did not excite me. Rather, I was hoping for some witty dialogue or something interesting. There were the typical love triangles, but nothing to shed a tear over.

Here's how I felt about the Coach who was vying for Riko's love. Did you ever go out with a good looking guy and he turned out to be disappointing, unimaginative, and boring. That's how I felt about Coach. He just didn't draw out sympathy from the viewer with his plight. And not to be too critical, but I just didn't care for Naoki's wild hair. He looks better with dark, straight hair.

The music was so, so. In summary, it wasn't stirring enough to watch or rewatch.

Read More

Don't rule out watching this drama because it's older. Some of the best romance genre are the oldies. This has the feel of the classic, Winter Sonata, with similar music and tantalizing longings. The cast carries the show with exceptional chemistry between the main leads. Really, it's difficult not to immediately be drawn to Han Ji Hye. She has no guile nor pretentiousness here.
There are the inevitable love triangles. And the story line is not exactly realistic. But the real draw of the show is the continual warm moments between the lead couple, not just an occasional glance or hug, as in so many dramas. You so want them to be together, that you keep watching on into the night. If you enjoy the romance drama, this is a good choice.

Read More

Friendship, rather than romance, would best describe the main theme. The drama centers around 3 friends who live together and share their lives, loves, and misfortunes. Enter the handsome brother who adds to the close camaraderie.
While this scenario is a perfect set up for romance, the writer makes too many blunders. For one, the writer never develops the characters outside the 4 roommates, so the audience feels emotionless towards them. Several romantic relationships take place, but their termination often has unsatisfactory reasons. The climax, the two you are waiting forever to get together, may or may not happen, and ultimately the audience is let down with quite unnatural results. Why couples stay together or fail makes no logical sense. You will be held in suspense until the end as to who ends up with whom.
The main reason to watch this is the beautiful Esumi and Japan's hot GTO star, Sorimachi. Even with the poor writing, they sizzle on screen.

Read More

Perhaps this may be one of the most realistic movies about a young person in the prime of life facing a catastrophic illness. The acting is off the chart! It begins with a self centered, beautiful teenager who puts down everyone, guys, friends, parents. It's easy to dislike her, only there is someone that does not. There are a few scenes that hit it on the head of the nail. One of the most intense scenes I ever seen is the encounter with the boyfriend in the bedroom. This is a very realistic look at how illness changes a person and makes them fully human. Watch this when you want to watch something more profound than a light romance.

Read More

Romance spoof is the best description. Every cliche possible is crowded into this drama: memory loss, orphaned children, revenge, love triangles, suicide, family mystery. Then there are the constant rescue scenes, faintings and emotional breakdowns with Xia Mo. Nearly every main character ends up comatose in the hospital but recovers miraculously. I wish modern medicine were this good.

However, it's the sound track that turns this drama into a comedy. Half the scenes are accompanied by a mournful violin. Others are accentuated by loud symphonic music or fast beating drums as though it were a daring car race or exciting fight scene. It's hard to believe this was produced in 2012. It seems more like a home video. At times you can even hear dogs barking in the background.

What kept me watching was the gorgeous cast. It's true that Barbie Xsu is so beautiful that she could mezzmorize two handsome studs. But that's where any credibility ends. I love melodramas, but the sound track killed this one.

Read More

This is a movie about China in the 1980's, thus the mood is dark and gloomy. Although the father dreams of going to Shanghai for a "better life for his family", he, himself is an authoritarian father and husband. All of the characters, including the father, are victims of a repressive society. The story deals with young people longing for relationships, unrequited love, forced marriage, rape, and abuse, all of which are heavy themes. It is realistically portrayed and really gives you a heavy feeling. It is more a statement of how the people reflect the restrictive culture of their time. It made me thankful I did not live there then. Although I enjoy movies about Chinese culture, I could not rewatch this. It was just too real and scary.

Read More

This drama came highly recommended but it is quite dated. The production quality is poor, the scenes don't fade into the next, and the music is sometimes loud and other times low. ISometimes the sound disappears and in one scene you can hear a dog barking in the next room! The story is predictable and revolves around a fairy tale about a dolphin. Even though Angela Chang sings her own music, here she clearly mouths it with a full orchestra, which is so hilarious to hear accompaniment when she is solo singing on the beach. During the concert, the singers were badly off pitch.

However, the biggest hurdle to watching this drama is the messed up subtitles. There are no complete sentences and the words are all mixed up.

Despite all these criticisms, the drama is cute with an incredibly good looking cast. I mean, who would not want to watch Wallace Huo and Abrose Hsu in a drama with 3 beautiful women! The romance is sweet, albeit corny at times. It's not often that you get to see a grown man cuddle a stuffed dolphin! This was not supposed to be a rom com but at times seems so. And the music is quite good and varied, however, some of the music is played too often and others, not enough.

If you like t drama romance as I do, try to find the drama with better subtitles than on Good Drama and you may enjoy At Dolphin Bay.

Read More

This theme of love, loyalty, and forgiveness despite the horrors of war is depicted in a very moving way. The relationship between Tatsuo and Jun-shik evolves from an early age through WWII as they go from rivals to comrades. There was a lot of action and the scenes were constantly changing, so your attention is riveted throughout. My favorite part was the frighteningly realistic section when they were interred in the Siberian labor camp. So scary! The acting was fabulous as well.
My only complaint which kept this from being a perfect 10 was the writing of the last 20 minutes or so. The story diverted from reality into a silly, ridiculous impossible storyline.
I do think the ending was good and fit the theme and storyline.

Read More

Being a fan of melodrama, I thought I could take the pain. It's not spoiling things here to say that it is sad. The whole mood, music, looks, passion, longing demonstrate this from beginning to end. So there are no surprises here.
The intensity of the love, however, is what makes the drama so worth watching. The tree and cross symbols of steadfast love are really beautiful. The snow scenery is reminiscent of scenes in Winter Sonata. (The WS sites became so famous that they erected statues for tourists to visit!)
The acting by the main characters is over the top! You really get drawn into the story and their love for each other. The music is haunting, as well.
My only criticism is with the writing of the ending. I can handle sad, but no stupid. I hate medical impossibilities. There were so many other possible ways to write this. But I'm glad there was a clear ending because in some dramas they keep you hanging with an uncertain ending. Everyone hates those endings.
It's odd how much of ones opinion can be dependent on the ending. I often rewatch a drama that I enjoy before I ever see the ending for that reason. So, this would be a perfect 10 if that medical improbability was not there. I was emotionally drained, but I prefer that over not being attached to the characters and feeling bored nothingness.

Read More