#Koo Kyo-hwan

[k-star-holic]

'D.P.2' Kim Sung-kyun, dress code that bounces alone...beside Koo Kyo-hwan and Son Seokgu "I'm the only one who can't always fit"

[adamwatchesmovies]

Peninsula (2020)

Peninsula isn’t as fresh, frightening, or memorable as Train to Busan. It also doesn’t quite follow through with its premise but makes up for it with something I bet you’d never see out of a zombie movie set in Korea: Mad Max-style action!

Four years after a zombie outbreak in South Korea, former Marine Corps Captain Jung-Seok (Gang Dong-won) and his widowed brother-in-law Chul-min (Kim Do-yoon) are offered a life-altering job. Inside the undead-riddled Peninsula is an abandoned truck filled with US$20 million. They've been hired to retrieve it as part of a team of four who will enter South Korea at night - when the darkness will hide them from the innumerable ghouls. Once inside, they're shocked to discover survivors in the ruins.

If you’re looking for a heist movie with zombies in it, you want Army of the Dead. Peninsula starts with the team going in to grab the money but within minutes, half of them are dead. Chul-min is taken captive by crazed militants who’ve established a society in the ruins of the city, while Jung-Seok is rescued by Min-Jung (Lee Jung-hyun), her father Kim (Kwon Hae-hyo), and her two daughters, Joon (Lee Re), and Yu-Jin (Lee Ye-won). Now, the ghouls are the least of everyone’s worries. Unit 631 roams the streets, looking for any strays to put in their arena. There, the people have to run away from hungry flesh-eaters while the soldiers bet on who will die. Chul-min needs a way out ASAP. Unfortunately, the satellite phone he would’ve used to call his Chinese mobster bosses has been confiscated. Now Jung-Seok needs to save his brother, get the phone, get the money and leave with the help of the family who rescued him… but things are on the verge of getting dicey. See, Jung-Seok’s met Min-Jung before. She asked him for help four years ago when the zombie plague began. He refused and left her behind. Oops.

As a zombie movie, Peninsula disappoints. They don’t really play a big part in the film except at the beginning and then at the end. Mostly, this is an apocalyptic film. People scrambling for food, cobbling together equipment, setting up dodgy institutions where might makes right, that kind of thing. And of course, there’s the driving. If you’re going to check out Peninsula, it should be for the movie’s best scene, a spectacular race in the city featuring dozens of vehicles with our heroes in the lead and everyone trying to turn them into roadkill. Whereas the rest of the film barely uses zombies, this part of Peninsula brings the two genres together. The dead are obstacles to be dodged, they’re also weapons to use against those pursuing you. It’s fast-paced, expertly coordinated and loads of fun.

Plenty is going on in the film, which makes the nearly two-hour running time go by plenty fast… except at the end. During the conclusion, Peninsula tries to do too much. It pours on the drama as people have to make heroic sacrifices, there are double-crosses that make escape impossible, hope is renewed, then dashed, then renewed again, and so on. Some of this should’ve been cut, not only so we could end on the high we got from the driving scenes but also so the cheese could be kept at a minimum. Still, it works more than it doesn’t.

Peninsula is not a memorable zombie film and when we examine Seoul Station (the prequel to Train to Busan) we see that the terrific 2016 picture that spawned this franchise was more of an anomaly than a revival of the genre. You can still enjoy this follow-up if you love zombies and you want a bit of something new but anything more than the price of a rental is too much. (Original Korean with English Subtitles, May 21, 2021)

[onenakedfarmer]

Watching PENINSULA [반도] Yeon Sang-ho Korea, 2020

[taekwondolifemagazine]

Escape (2024) is a Gripping, Human Thriller

Escape (2024) is a Gripping, Human Thriller #EscapeMovie @WellGoUSA

December 19, 2024 (NYC, NY)– Escape (2024) is a Gripping, Human Thriller.  Director Lee Jong-Pil’s  has masterfully told the dramatic story of a North Korean soldier looking for a better life, at the risk of death.   This Well Go USA release is fictionally based upon a series of real events, and it is very well crafted.  It balances thrills and poignant moments.  This nominated film is a must-see…

[afabstract]

'Parasyte: The Grey' Review - Gritty Spin-off

Jeong Su-in leads a lonely, mundane life as a convenience store worker until she discovers a parasitic alien living with her. The two must cooperate with each other in order to survive the changing world around them in 'Parasyte: The Grey'.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram) Jeong Su-in is a young, lonely woman who works at a convenience store. One day, a disgruntled customer stalks and attacks her, but Su-in somehow survives multiple stab wounds, only to learn that she was saved by a parasitic alien that fails to take over her brain completely. The two then forge a reluctant bond to survive as the…

[boomgers-blog]

Humana pero también Parasito… “Parasyte: Los Grises”

La serie está basada en el manga original de Hitoshi Iwaaki que vendió un récord acumulado de más de 25 millones de ejemplares en más de 30 regiones y países con su ingenioso e imaginativo argumento de un parásito que permea en el cerebro humano y controla su cuerpo.

La historia gira en torno a Su-in una joven atrapada entre su humanidad y su influencia parasitaria, pero como mutante mitad parásito y mitad humana, ella no pertenece del todo a ninguno de los dos bandos: ni a los parásitos que pretenden apoderarse de la sociedad humana ni al equipo dedicado a erradicar los organismos parásitos, llamados ‘Los Grises’.

Estreno: 5 de abril de 2024 en Netflix.

Dirigida por Yeon Sang-ho, la serie cuenta con las actuaciones de Jeon So-nee, Koo Kyo-hwan, Lee Jung-hyun, Kwon Hae-hyo y Kim In-kwon.

[cultfaction]

Teaser trailer released for Parasyte: The Grey

Based on Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte manga, this is a brand new story inspired by said series and stars Jeon So-nee (When My Love Blooms), Koo Kyo-hwan (Peninsula), and Lee Jung-hyun (Peninsula) as new characters inspired by the original manga. The series follows these three characters, namely: Jeon Su-in (Jeon), who was attacked by a Parasite, but when it fails to take over her brain, she enters…

[kudowon]

디피 / D.P. Dirty Play, Season 2 Episode 2.

[dramastream]

Koo Kyo Hwan for Marie Claire Korea, July 2024

[yardmargs]

Flawless teamwork. (D.P. S2E3 Curtain Call)

[khaoray]

All I care about is keeping Jun Ho safe from harm.

Jung Hae In as Ahn Jun Ho & Koo Kyo Hwan as Han Ho Yul D.P. Season 2 (2023)

[k-star-holic]

Yi Dong-hwi: Hoyeon Jung ⁇ Seong Hae Eun ⁇ Jung hyun kyu 'Strong' Reality Intimate Relationship

Source: k-star-holic.blogspot.com

[adamwatchesmovies]

Kill Boksoon (2023)

As an action film, Kill Boksoon has the pulse-pounding sequences of hand-to-hand combat you're looking for. When the picture slows down to focus on its family drama and side characters, it can’t help but feel derivative of other works. Whether the stunts and choreography are enough for you, I can't be sure. For me, I found it lacking.

Single mother Gil “Kill” Bok-Soon (Jeo Do-yeon) is a hitwoman working for M.K. Ent, one of several criminal organizations specializing in discreet - or not-so-discreet, if that’s what you want - assassinations. Gil is also a single mother who struggles to connect with her teenage daughter, Jae-yeong (Kim Si-a). As Gil contemplates retirement, the two worlds she’s worked so hard to keep separate start moving too close together for comfort.

I never buy into these “assassins with a code of honour” movies. Bok-Soon’s boss, Cha Min-Kyu (Sol Kyung-gu) goes into great length about this airtight secret society of killers he and his peers assembled, how they won’t slaughter children, will always do the jobs they’re assigned (among other rules) and how this has made the criminal underworld a better place. It just doesn’t hold up. Firstly, any drug addict will accept to do pretty much anything if you give them $100, so how exactly can Min-Kyu and his sister Cha Min-Hee (Esom) guarantee only "sanctioned" killers are "working"? We see them take out targets outside of Korea. Are we supposed to believe there aren't any mercenaries anywhere else? Next, that code of honour. Give me a break. So you’re not killing little kids. What you are willing to do is make them orphans, and the second someone turns 18, they’re fair game so don’t pretend like you have some moral high ground. You didn’t see Mother Teresa handing envelopes of cash to get someone whacked. What I’m getting at is that no matter how much the film tries to get you to sympathize with Bok-Soon, a part of you will always think “she freely admits she’s going to Hell because of all the crimes she’s committed. I’m pretty sure the planet would be better off without her.”

Even if you don’t have issues with the problems above, the premise isn’t original. You figure Bok-Soon will eventually have to turn on her fellow assassins, with her boss - the man who taught her everything - facing off against her at the very end. We’ve seen that a thousand times. There is a bit of intrigue in the family drama stuff. After a violent incident at school, mom wonders if the apple doesn’t fall so far from the tree. Too bad that business makes the film swell up to a needlessly hefty 137 minutes. Way too long.

The action scenes are the reason to see this picture. Director Byun Sung-hyun does this cool thing where he has his protagonist imagine how a scenario might go, and then show Bok-soon snapping out of her fantasy so she can try something different. It’s a clever way to extend the fights and more than once, catches you by surprise. The stunt choreography is great, with an extended brawl in a bar is the film’s highlight.

In North America, Kill Boksoon is being released via Netflix, which means you can see it "for free". This is a film that ultimately, I doubt you'll remember, which means that's the right price for it. From the comfort of your home, you can set aside the blemishes and focus on what works, which are the action scenes and to a certain extent, the family drama. (Original Korean with English Subtitles, May 21, 2023)

[fridayvelvet]

And if you have a minute why don't we go?

Talk about it somewhere only we know?

This could be the end of everything,

So why don’t we go somewhere only we know.

[ahneunjin]

"Think about what you've done. You didn't see this coming?" D.P. 2 (2023) dir. Han Jun Hee

[koitosoup]

Dynamic Duo