Reviews

Deserves a FAR Better Rating. Flips the cliches.

This movie is a perfect example why I can't trust the ratings on MDL. I've been extremely disappointed by numerous highly rated shows. But here's a super low rated movie that was better than all of them put together, if you like occasional dark stories. (TW: there is some very dark material, but probably not what you're expecting.)

I can see people getting put off by the awkward gratuitous sex scene at the beginning. But it isn't graphic and doesn't last that long. Honestly, if you took all the sex scenes out I would give this a 9.5. Normally I like a few but these kind of felt out of place and threw off the film's pacing.

This isn't your cliche vampire story. I've never seen a setup and portrayal like this. The aspects of this vampire feel grounded in reality, unfolding how you might without anything outlandishly supernatural. The vampire is very much innocent and almost childlike. He's easily the most moral character. Meanwhile the humans are rife with immorality. I wouldn't call this a Romance, it's way more Psychological. There's definitely some yandere tones in here, and I'm here for it because it's fascinating. (another reminder, it gets dark)

It's rare for me to like media where I can't empathize with the main character. But I understand his motivations, and I just don't see stories like this with a flipped script, especially in the vampire genre, and it's LGBTQ to boot.

The production value is high, the acting is convincing, the story is captivating, the characters are compelling but dark. There's not that many sex scenes and they're less than 30 seconds. The movie is worth it.

you can watch it on myreadingmanga.info. slightly higher quality than youtube.

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A good adaption

Condensing a large body of work into a short runtime is never easy, but Golden Kamuy does a good job adapting the first five episodes of the anime into a cohesive story. This success is largely due to the strength of the original writing. As I mentioned in my review of "Teasing Master Takagi-San," a well-crafted story can work in any medium, and that's evident with Golden Kamuy. The characters and situations are well-written, and even during slower moments, the characters keep you engaged.

While the film presents a cohesive narrative, it sacrifices some emotional depth and character development. There is less time for characters to build rapport through casual interactions, as the story quickly moves from one set piece to the next. As a result, the relationships between characters may not resonate as strongly with first-time viewers compared to those familiar with the anime, which provides more background.

The film flies by even at a runtime of over two hours, and you're engaged the whole time. Overall, while this is a good film and adaptation, I would recommend experiencing the story through the manga or anime for a richer experience.

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I have a recommendation for you

This was a small budget film, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I do think that if you're looking for an adapted manga J Drama you'll be better served by seeing Cherry Magic, which came out the same year:https://mydramalist.com/69463-30sai-made-doteida-to-mahotsukai-ni-narerurashi

It handles the struggle to understand someones feelings and the evolution into closeness with them with a great deal of elegance and humour.

I'm not saying "Don't watch this" because if you like Japanese comedies this fits into that. But it feels dated already in 2024. Cherry Magic doesn't.

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If John Wick start a gory grindhouse (not for Dog but Gold) with Mononoke-hime

So we got a war veteran turned gold prospector with a vengeful tribe-hime partner. This literally calls for violence, gore, and comedy as a side dish - of course I'll dive in.


Story:

First for some important context, the manga this is based off of have some non-fiction aspect to it. Basically, ML is based on 2 real-life figures:
(1) The first is a man also named Saichi Sugimoto, the great-grandfather of the manga creator, Satoru Noda. He was a great soldier and was celebrated as a war hero.
(2)The other was soldier Hiroshi Funasaka, who had also received the title of "Immortal" after having survived many life threathening injuries.

Now Kento literally slays in any kind of suicidal but still dangerous character lol. ML is a one-man death squad who will swim through any kind of danger just to get what he want (while magically not dying in the process. A plot hole or not I honestly don't know).

'Immortal' Sugimoto is made more deadly with the company of no ordinary MC, Asirpa (Ainu). She is similar to Mononoke-Hime(Emishi tribe) in many ways. Both are fiesty girl bosses who can skin their enemies without even blinking, and is protected by an intelligent creature. Also 'cause Emishi is somewhat related to the Ainu population.

With their combined crazy, you know I aint lying when I said our MCs would start a gory grindhouse. Just know there is some xpoop cooking and head cracking on the side. ^•^


Acting:

I agree with Opickles' review about Kento. He indeed bagged a lot of ML roles in a span of 5 yrs. But IMHO, he did well in all of them. Maybe others could have done this role but he was amazing in this one. Playing a young war veteran just wishing for some solice after experiencing hell is no easy feat. That one scene where he was contemplating about leaving for the sake of others made me emotional. Atleast Kento deserve praises for that scene alone. I bet he was shooting AIB 3 while in this. I don't know about Japan but I hope they give him proper recognition for all his roles.

Next, the other actors was not bad in their overall acting, whether during comedic or action scenes. I honestly think the actress for Asiripa was great here. She was so cool with her bow and arrow. I also had a big smile when I saw her hilarious xpoop eating credit scene. Shiraishi was also a very funny character to me, especially when he's with Sugimoto hilarious scenes just comes naturally on screen. Although I cant help but compare some of them all to other actors who could have also slayed the roles, I had fun watching as an action aficionado.

I also agree how the comedic scenes can be off-putting. I do see how the director struggled in them. Still some of them were very fun to me actually. Now the deliriously gory ones like the rampage seen through the point of view of a man in a bear hideout? Definitely not RK-level action but these bloody action scenes still deserves a thumbs up.

P. S. I didn't read the manga to know if this was loyal as an adaptation. I'm also not some action expert so this review are purely out of subjective opinion. Still, I can't wait for the sequel!

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Failed Potential

Let me start by saying that I am sucker for ghost stories, even though I am really scared of the paranormal entity. I went into this movie hoping for a good dose of fear and ghosts, but was left severely disappointed by the storytelling and pacing.

First and foremost, the movie is divided into three parts that take place at one university, but they have nothing in common.
The pacing for all stories was very slow, and overall it didn’t have any horror feels, but instead, for some reason, the movie had melancholic feels. They tried to play the feeling card so many times that I got bored in the middle of it. The ghosts were... well, there, but there was no further information about them.

The acting was very good, and I feel that it wasted potential for the actors, as the script failed them very badly.

Overall, it was pure chaos, and I do not recommend it. The below-average subtitles also didn’t do any good for the quality, so if you can, please avoid this movie, as it doesn’t bring anything new to the table or anything exciting.

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Last of the Original Live Action Movies

Another completely biased review from me to you.

I am still wondering why they made this one and the New Generation one too, 10 years after the originals. And if they were going to make them, damn it make them better than this! This review is all very spoilery, I just did a stream of conscience while watching. Read at your own risk ?

First 10+ minutes or so I thought maybe the streaming platform had screwed up and I was actually watching the Netflix version? I've seen worse beginnings to movies but wow, what was this? This story takes place 10 years after the original live action movies from 2006-2008.

Then nice, a picture of Light, and picture of L. Then a short clip of Light which makes absolutely no sense as far as the previous movies go. Isn't he dead already, pretty definitively? ? Then the Death Note Task Force is out to catch a new holder of the Death Note Book. They are disguising themselves (very badly) by wearing sunglasses and having scarves on so she won't see their names using the reaper's eyes. So lame! Does it get better? Nope.

So, Ryuzaki is a clone of L? He's rather boorish and irritating without any of the charms of L.

Beppo was a disappointing looking reaper. Arma makes up for it.

More 'video' of Light/Kira that disguised a virus to take down all computer systems. Too funny.

Misa! ?

What a twist ending! Ok, made the ride halfway decent. However, sorry, but I was rooting for Shien here as the new Kira. Seriously, Suda Masaki was simply adorable. They did him wrong.

Anyhow, I suppose if you are going to do like I did and decide to watch all the Death Note live actions (except for the Netflix one, gods why did they do that?) they are ok to watch. Sadly the only one I would really recommend is the one that started it all, Death Note from 2006. Also, the series from 2015 is pretty darn good. I'll be watching that one next.

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So how on Earth did this movie win an Oscar?

So I finally got the opportunity to watch this movie. And what a big waste of 2 hours of my life. This was the most boring movie I've ever watched. How the fuck did this movie get an Oscar? Like I get the point that this family conned their way into another family's home to make money and then some rando is living in their basement and they don't even know that? Then he starts going on a k*lling spree? Makes no fucking sense. And then the dad of the poor family k*lls the father of the rich family and then locks himself in the bunker so he won't face any criminal charges. To the very very last seconds of the movie where the son buys the house. Where he, his mom and his dad reunite. I think it sucks the one girl dies in the movie because she was cute.

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Fun, but also silly and cheesy

Penny pincher Jia You Wei had been skimping and saving his whole life when he learns his days are numbered. What's he to do with all that money he'd saved? Blow it all of course. Remembering a vow he made with his friends in his youth, he sets out to find them and fulfill his promise. His plan is to spend his few last days having fun. If the plot sounds a bit familiar, it's because it probably is. This movie is like the Chinese version of Last Holiday, but with a strong theme of brotherhood, friendship, and reconciliation. Despite the seriousness of the main character's situation, the movie manages to be silly, goofy, and light. It's a bit slapstick and cheesy too. There are plenty of heartfelt moments as the main character sets out to fulfill his friends' wishes before his time is up. The movie had its fun moments, but was ultimately a little too silly and cheesy for me. Also, I wasn't really invested in his friends' dreams because the movie rushed through their backstories.

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That happened.

This film is a rather twisted tail, and in short I will say that if the trailer catches your eye, it is probably right for you.

If you’re looking for something dark with lots of tense - at times unbearably so - moments, dive right on in. I’d joke about there being something for every kind of thriller/mystery enjoyer - a tense criminal investigation, the darker side of humanity, forbidden connections being made, untellable desperation.

I have mixed feelings about some aspects upon reflection, however these are possibly gripes to do with target audience not including me. I’d put this down as noir and it was certainly reflected by the cinema audience; that being a handful of senior citizens (predominantly men), a young couple that left halfway through, and myself.

What is done well? Acting, casting, cinematography, visual and sound design. The acting in particular was immaculate, regardless of taste in what was being acted out.

What didn’t sit so well with me? Mainly the meekness of the female lead, which, it later became clear to me was the draw for the target audience. There was indulgence of the male fantasy that may alienate some, as it somewhat did me.

The nitty-gritty with me and the female lead was the obvious choices made about how she used her voice. The deliberately high pitch, soft breathy tone, combined with a stature I might describe as frail in my own bias, did not sit well with me. Most women are not like this, in Japan or otherwise, and it in some ways drew a line that separated the film from plausible reality. I’m not demanding all female characters be strong in stature or have deep voices, I’d just say such an intense portrayal of these typically “appealing” to some, delicate feminine traits, is not really for me. [Again, quite possibly a target audience issue.] Although I will also at this point take time to mention that the other female characters do not embody these same characteristics, which helps. I very much liked the journalist character and all of her onscreen moments.

Nonetheless, I did very much enjoy the film and the setting (in rural Japan, using dialect) gave it a more distinct flavour that allows it to stand out positively within the thriller/noir genre. It also made aspects of the story more plausible because of being removed from the interconnected network of the city.

[Watched at opening weekend.]

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Excellent show to watch when you need something short and sweet !

A couple going through divorce proceedings, loses their memory in a car accident. The families revive them together to help them regain their memories, with a view to finalizing the divorce.

+++ Great actors, CL is so cute.
+++ Rhythm, humor, unusual tone
+++ A coherent storyline

=> Excellent show to watch when you need something short and sweet !
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couple en procédure de divorce, mais perd la mémoire dans 1 accident de voiture. Les familles les font revivre ensemble pour les aider à retrouver la mémoire, en vue de finaliser le divorce.

+++ Super acteurs, le CL est trop cute.
+++ Rythme, humour, ton inhabituel

=> Excellent moment !

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