Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“Midnight” is a fast-paced thriller that hits all the jump scares: A mother and daughter who cannot hear or speak are stalked by an insatiable serial killer. The film is a testament to the strength of the powerless and their will to survive.
As Hyun-soo, Kim Soo-hyun is superb in a difficult role where he has to be sympathetic, but also could be a cold-blooded and manipulative killer. His role requires him to cry in a manner that allows viewers to feel his panic and fears. And Kim comes through again superbly, proving he is one of the best actors of his generation.
In the span of time it takes for a plane to fly from Seoul to Honolulu — approximately nine hours — a psychopath boards an airplane at Incheon International Airport and releases a deadly biological pathogen onboard, which results in passengers getting sick and/or dying (and turning on each other). And, oh yeah, scientists on the ground develop an antigen to combat the virus.
Yumi is a woman in her early thirties, who had spent most of her twenties with a man who used her financially, cheated on her and then left her after seven years together. She viewed those as wasted years and, in some ways, is correct. Doting on a partner who doesn’t value you is nothing to be proud of. But there’s also something to be said for learning from negative experiences.
There are still 18 days left until the end of the 2021 — and Gong Yoo’s “The Silent Sea” doesn’t even makes its premiere until December 24. But I don’t know that there will be a better K-drama this year than “Happiness.”
“Inspector Koo” starts off strong, with a whip-smart teenage serial killer manipulating her victims, teachers and the police. She is as much a sociopath as a psychopath, which is explained away during a backstory that involves childhood trauma.
Director Yeon Sang-Ha (“Train to Busan”) adapted “Hellbound” from his own webtoon of the same name. He makes it clear that cults are the true sinners, which manipulate people’s lives with fear. And that hell isn’t necessarily a place foreign to us, because it’s where we may already be living.
“Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha” is one of those slow-moving K-dramas that makes viewers wish they had the same kind of relationship as the characters do — not just with love interests, but with their friends.
You know how in most action series, there is that one guy who can fight a team of gangsters, get stabbed and bounce back into action in no time? In “My Name,” that guy is a kickass woman.
The superb “D.P.” is not an easy series to watch. While not as gory as “Squid Game,” it’s more disturbing in many ways, because it deals with South Korea’s real-life mandatory military duty — which requires every able-bodied Korean man to enlist for approximately two years.