[Movie Review] “Miss Granny” Learns About Love and the Value of Family

February 2, 2014

This movie review was contributed by Aloradanan from the fun K-pop and K-drama blog, F4Plus1. 

As people age, they tend to look back on their younger years with more fondness, thinking about what might have been and showing pride at what they have been able to accomplish. Getting older also brings the fear that as we age, we become a burden to those around us. This is exactly what 74 year old Oh Mal Soon (Na Moon Hee) worries about in the movie “Miss Granny.”

When her daughter-in-law Ae Ja becomes sick, the family decides to send Mal Soon to a nursing home so Ae Ja can recover without the stress she feels from her mother-in-law. Feeling dejected, Mal Soon stumbles upon the Forever Young Portrait Studio. Little does she realize, when she exits the studio she really has become younger, by about 50 years!

After her panic attack has subsided – and really, can anyone blame her? – she does what any self respecting woman would do, go on a shopping spree! With her new young body, she can’t go around with ahjumma hair and ill-fitting clothes; it’s makeover time! She also changes her name to Oh Doo Ri (Shim Eun Kyung), after Audrey Hepburn.

Even though Mal Soon may have the body of a 20 year old, she still acts like a 74 year old, calling grown men “lad”, patting people on the bum, and telling a woman on the subway that her baby has diarrhea because she has watery breast milk. I’m sure you can imagine how well that went over. She also spends time at the café that she used to work at, which causes some confusion as to why there is a young woman in a café for seniors. 

While there, Doo Ri gets onstage and begins to sing. As she is singing, she is noticed by a music station producer named Han Seung Woo (Lee Jin Wook) who falls in love with both her voice and her odd charm. She also manages to catch the attention of her grandson Ji Ha (B1A4‘s Jinyoung). Awkward.  

For all the BANA’s out there, this is Jinyoung’s acting debut and while he didn’t knock my socks off, it was certainly better than his confusing display of emotions in the “Baby I’m Sorry” music video. I was also a little (a lot) put off by the heavy metal hair and makeup he was rocking at the beginning of the movie. He is far too pretty to be pretending he is a member of KISS.

After hearing Doo Ri sing, Ji Ha asks her to be the new vocalist in his band and Seung Woo makes it his mission to find the mysterious girl that sang so well in the café. He finally finds her again on the subway as she speaks very loudly about the different kinds of breast milk and its effects on baby’s poo.

When they get off the train, instead of going up and talking to her like a normal person, he stalks her as she walks home. All is going well until she disappears after turning a corner. He didn’t actually lose her though, she was fully aware that she was being followed.

So, being a strong independent woman, she threatened him with the most dangerous thing that she was carrying: a fish.

As the story progresses Doo Ri’s secret is discovered by her neighbor, and the man who loves her, Mr. Park (Park In Hwan). They also are able to find a way that might reverse what has happened to her, but when Mr. Park asks if she wants to return back, she doesn’t have an answer. She must decide between the new life she is creating and the people that she loves as Doo Ri or her old life and family as Mal Soon.

While I wasn’t terribly surprised with anything that happened in the story and the ending had a few holes, it was really enjoyable. It was fun to watch an old woman get a second chance at youth and learn that family is the most important thing that we have.

“Miss Granny” is playing in select US theaters.

Check out the trailer: 

F4Plus1: about 75% unadulterated love of K-pop and dramas and 25% making fun of it, because what is life without a little judgment? Within reason of course, let’s not lose our heads.

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Watch Bebe Mignon’s Ben’s Emotional Performance on “Perfect Singer VS”

February 2, 2014

Many at home celebrated the Lunar New Year by watching Bebe Mignon’s Ben perform a spectacular rendition of Lee Sun Hee’s “Connection.” On January 31, Ben was featured in the “Hidden Singer VS’” special episode, Silver Friday, and nearly perfected Lee Sun Hee’s song. The Silver Friday episode had former guests who, although had high points, could not compete in the perfect singer round due to their team’s loss. Last December, Ben’s performance of “Connection” had ranked the show’s highest points of 98.548, but the singer could not compete in the final round due to her team’s loss.

Thus, the New Year episode was an opportunity for the singer to try and claim the title of Perfect Singer, as well as the prize money. Although Ben made one minor mistake, the near flawless performance was filled with such raw emotion that all the guests could not help but give the singer a standing ovation. In regards to the prize, Ben earned 1000 don of silver. With don, which is the Korean weighing unit for precious metal, equaling about 3.75 grams, the singer won the prize of about 3750 grams (~8.2 pounds) of silver.

Congratulations to Ben, and we hope that this special moment will be the start of more successes in the future. Check out Ben’s near perfect performance below!

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2PM’s Taecyeon and Actor Park Joo Hyung Learning a Dialect for the New Drama, “Great Days”

February 2, 2014

JYP’s Ok Taecyeon (2PM) and actor Park Joo Hyung have been cast in KBS’s new drama “Great Days,” and are focusing on practicing a dialect. Both actors will be in roles different from what they’ve previously done, and among the transformations that they will make, their use of a dialect is by far the most anticipated. “Great Days” takes place in Gyeongju, and the actors will be using the Kyungsang dialect. The two actors have previously used the standard dialect on television for the most part, so it’ll be interesting to see how they do with the Kyungsang dialect.

Ok Taecyeon, who plays Kang Dong Suk’s (Lee Seo Jin) younger brother Kang Dong Hee, has some experience with the dialect, having used it once before in KBS’s “Cinderella’s Sister” (2010). He also had lived in Busan for a bit as a child, which gives him a slight leg up. For “Great Days,” Taecyeon actually went back to Busan for a couple days, to meet with his friends and practice. A JYP Entertainment official said on January 29 to Starnews, “Ok Taecyeon is learning the details of acting from senior actors like Ryu Seung Soo, who play his brothers, and is doing his best.”

On the other hand, Park Joo Hyung is originally from Seoul, and has never done dialects before, so as much as he is inexperienced, he is working equally harder. He, like Taecyeon, also visited Busan. The official at JYP said, “For the character of Oh Seung Hoon, Park Joo Hyung stayed at a guesthouse near Busan National University. Living and talking with people from Busan, he worked on his intonation and pronunciation.” Park Joo Hyung plays the character of Oh Seung Hoon, who has a crush on Cha Hye Won, played by Kim Hee Sun.

“Great Days” is about a once poor boy who makes it as a prosecutor, and returns to his hometown 15 years later, telling a story of the value of family, the greatness of love, and the warmth in people. The first episode will air on February 22.

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Clara Teaches Her Dad How to Use a Smart Phone

February 2, 2014

In the age of technology, it is quite common for the older generation to find that they do not understand how to use the advancing technological gadgets of our time. Thus, KBS2TV aired a pilot show called “Live by Learning” in order to guide elders in the use of certain gadgets. Amongst the three celebrities who taught their elderly family members how to use a specific technological gadget, television personality Clara assisted her father in using his smart phone.

As the show highlights to help people who are 60 years and older, Clara’s father, Lee Seung Kyu, was the perfect candidate for this father-daughter moment, as the celebrity’s father had often forgotten how to properly use his phone. Clara taught her father such things as how to make video calls, edit photos, and search the internet, all without losing her smile. When her father accidentally mistyped certain words while posting on an internet board, Clara joked to her father, “Dad, these days people curse at you if you mistype certain words on online.”

The loving family bond is just one of three celebrity families who showed their caring relationship during the Lunar New Year. As three celebrities help their 60 years-and-older family members learn how to utilize technological gadgets, the variety show aims to strengthen family relationships.

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Rainbow’s Jae Kyung Breaks a Camera Lens with an Arrow

February 2, 2014

Rainbow’s Jae Kyung revealed a photo of herself with a broken camera lens. On January 30, Jae Kyung had uploaded four photographs of herself and a short message, “Ta-dah! For the Idol Star Archery competition for the bronze medal, the poor sacrificial lamb that was on the camera stand. It is a broken camera lens. Can you see the arrow mark on it? It is interesting, right? I think Rainbow will be successful in 2014.”

In the photographs, Jae Kyung held the broken camera lens which was broken by her arrow. Her arrow had exactly hit the camera. She has a big smile in the photos and looked proud of her broken camera lens. Jae Kyung looks very innocent and sweet with her pale skin and sharp facial structure.

On January 30, Jae Kyung participated in the 2014 Lunar New Year special “Idol Star Athletics Championship.” The idol stars that cooperated in this competition had participated in different sports such as track, archery, curling, and futsal. Jae Kyung participated in the archery section for the competition. On this day, Jae Kyung had not performed well by making marks at 7 points and 8 points. However, she beat SISTAR’s Bora and participated in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Jae Kyung’s arrow hit the camera during her competition against After School’s Lizzy.
 
 

Check out the results from Day 1 and Day 2 of the Idol Athletic Championship! 

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