FanFare

Second season with the same premise as the season one: 100 competitors, all known for their well-developed physical attributes and physique, go head-to-head in various individual and team challenges, or 'quests' of strength, balance, agility, endurance, willpower and strategy.
posted by autopilot on Oct 22, 2024 - 1 comment

After covering up a hit-and-run, a crooked homicide detective is stalked by a mysterious figure claiming to have witnessed the event. Directed by Kim Seong Hun. [more inside]
posted by fleacircus on Dec 15, 2023 - 1 comment

Assassination is a 2015 South Korean period action spy film co-written and directed by Choi Dong-hoon. The film, mainly set in 1930s Seoul and Shanghai during the Japanese occupation of Korea, depicts a group of Korean resistance fighters' plan to assassinate a highly ranked Japanese officer. (via Wikipedia) [more inside]
posted by mark k on Oct 12, 2023 - 1 comment

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny (IMDB). Written and directed by Celine Song in her feature directorial debut. [more inside]
posted by kbar1 on Jul 2, 2023 - 12 comments

Four Asian-American friends (Stephanie Hsu, Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Sabrina Wu) travel through Asia in search of one of their birth mothers. Along the way, their experience becomes one of bonding, friendship, belonging and no-holds-barred debauchery. [more inside]
posted by praemunire on Jul 1, 2023 - 12 comments

One hundred of the most physically fit Koreans compete against each other in various individual and team elimination "quests" (challenges of strength, agility, endurance and strategy) that are dictated to them by a disembodied voice with a Squid Game aesthetic in order to find out who has the "ideal human physique". All nine episodes are currently streaming on Netflix.
posted by autopilot on Feb 21, 2023 - 8 comments

Re-rewatch! A petroleum-eating monster and an itch-ray inventing kid. Previously and again.
posted by JHarris on Feb 16, 2023 - 1 comment

(TRAILER) On an uninhabitable 22nd-century Earth, the outcome of a civil war hinges on cloning the brain of an elite soldier to create a robot mercenary. Streaming on Netflix [more inside]
posted by jazon on Jan 25, 2023 - 4 comments

A baby is left at a safe haven church for reasons unknown, but finds its way into the hands of low-level "brokers" (Song Kang-Ho and Gang Dong-Won), who offer the ambivalent mother (Ji-eun Lee) a cut of the money to place the child outside of the formal Korean adoption system. The ragtag group is followed on the road by human-trafficking detectives and other pursuers. [more inside]
posted by praemunire on Jan 13, 2023 - 1 comment

Based on the New York Times bestseller, this sweeping saga chronicles the hopes and dreams of a Korean immigrant family across four generations as they leave their homeland in an indomitable quest to survive and thrive. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Apr 15, 2022 - 1 comment

Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits — with deadly high stakes.
posted by Rock Steady on Sep 28, 2021 - 43 comments

Set in the year 2092 and follows the crew of a space junk collector ship called The Victory. When they discover a humanoid robot named Dorothy that's known to be a weapon of mass destruction, they get involved in a risky business deal. Available on Netflix. [more inside]
posted by jazon on Feb 8, 2021 - 19 comments

While strange rumors about their ill king grip a kingdom, the crown prince becomes their only hope against a mysterious plague overtaking the land. A medieval zombie story made as a co-production between Netflix and South Korean television.
posted by DirtyOldTown on Feb 1, 2019 - 14 comments

The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and high jinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on May 29, 2018 - 11 comments

A prosecutor without empathy and a bold female police are taking a murder case involving unrestrained political corruption. [more inside]
posted by KaizenSoze on Nov 10, 2017 - 13 comments

A monster movie from South Korea, in which a petroleum-eating monster awakened from the Middle East attacks Seoul. Whatever geopolitical metaphor is intended by this is obscured by the fact that, oh Gamera, we have another little kid protagonist. Yongary's death scene is rather protracted. Ah, another little kid monster movie! And not a Kenny kid either, this is a full-on obnoxious lil brat along the lines of Time Of The Apes' Johnny, or that kid from Godzilla Vs. Megalon. When we meet this kid, he's aiming his superscience itch ray at relatives driving by in their car! There's a lot of other crazy on display here too. Episode 1109 is on YouTube. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jun 7, 2017 - 14 comments

Steven has a dream about a Gem structure that the Crystal Gems refuse to talk about.
posted by Small Dollar on Jan 30, 2017 - 6 comments

Spoiler-friendly zone for discussing Society Game, a Korean variety show broadly similar to Survivor. [more inside]
posted by Panthalassa on Nov 6, 2016 - 31 comments

While a zombie-virus breaks out in South Korea, a couple of passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.
posted by misfish on Sep 5, 2016 - 19 comments

This week.... Vladimir Putin snubs the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, and Donald Trump demonstrates that nuclear weapons is another thing he doesn't have much knowledge about. Baseball season prepares to begin, and the New York Yankees annoy and frustrate fans by making it difficult to resell premium tickets online, claiming that the tickets may end up in the hands of people who the Yankees owner figures may not know how to treat the privilege of sitting in the first five rows at a Yankees game. LWT is running a short impromptu context: tweet a picture of yourself wearing something that would would look ridiculous sitting in premium seats at a Yankees game with the hashtag #IHAVENEVERSATINAPREMIUMLOCATION, and you can win one of those seats to a game. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Apr 4, 2016 - 11 comments

This week.... Hostilities flare up between North Korea and South Korea. Vladimir Putin bans the import of many types of food from the West. Greece President Alexis Tsipras resigns (but will still run for reelection) after just seven months in office amidst controversy over his bank-mandated austerity measures. And Now: Another Check-In With The Most Patient Man On Television. (That would be Steve Scully of C-Span's Washington Journal.) The main story: discrimination against LGBT couples still legal in surprisingly much of the nation. YouTube (15m) And Now: The Most Patient Man On Television Faces His Greatest Challenge. Finally, a follow-up on the business of John Oliver's church, Our Lady Of Perpetual Exemption. They got rather a lot of mail, including a giant bag of seeds, followed by gianter bag of seeds the next day. They also got beef jerky and a 100-Trillion-dollar bill from Zimbabwe (worth about 40 cents). Last Week Tonight is taking a break for two weeks. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 24, 2015 - 6 comments

In The Host, toxic chemicals create a monster of a problem in Seoul, South Korea. The director is Bong Joon-ho of Snowpiercer fame. It's funny, scary, and good fun. This is the pick for April 10. [more inside]
posted by Ik ben afgesneden on Apr 2, 2015 - 4 comments