Reviews

Kill Time

What a captivating start!
Jeon Do Yeon surprised me with her fighting skills and her dual identity, a top-notch killer and a single mom. It's quite a contrast from her role in "Crash Course in Romance," where she played a kind aunt. Not that she's unkind here; I found her character to be very human, despite all the victims she's dealt with.

The plot was decent; I wasn't bored, but I didn't feel fully immersed either.
It felt like we were watching two separate stories—the one about the MK organization and Boksoon dealing with her teenage daughter.
However, the ending felt a bit lacking?. There were many loose ends about MK that were left unresolved, and I doubt there will be a season 2, not that it's really necessary.

I enjoyed the fighting scenes, even if I've seen better.??
Overall, I liked the whole cast, and there were many actors that I missed seeing. The production was solid, making it a fine movie to kill time with.

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A truly inspirational story that is light and full of comedy to make you laugh. I had little expectations considering I prefer darker genres but I am glad I put aside my prejudices and dived in.
The story brought everyone together through one 1 action a footballer did, through his leadership individuals dealt with their trauma and expectations throw at them.
The pacing was excellently executed with me never feeling like I got too much information at the time.
So-min was a great producer but needed to fix her personality of forcing interaction and emotion as it made her seem she only did it for the money and not the humanity of the task.

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My face hurts from smiling so much

Another completely biased review from me to you!

What can I say, I absolutely love this series/movie! It's on my permanent playlist. If I'm feeling down I will watch it. If I'm in a good mood and want to stay that way I watch it. It's a sweet easy show to watch with adorable boys, a great soundtrack and background music, and an interesting story. This is another show to please disconnect the logic portion of your brain and just go with it. If you start thinking logically you'll get bogged down into the why's and lose enjoyment. Just go with the flow. Also, I recommend the movie version instead of the series. There is an extra scene there that doesn't change a lot but gives me bigger smiles.

The music is spot on. I know I've read other people complaining about the background music but I beg to differ, it's great. And as soon as I hear the song Star by Runy I start smiling, it's so infectious and fun. I'm listening to it now on repeat. And the title song Florida is sung by the cast members, which makes it extra special. The MLs are incredibly cute together, just watch them smile at each other. Can you say dimples? And also can I say, what a waste of the best abs ever, not seeing more of a shirtless Yoo Hwan! Really, the entire cast are just adorable. Fun fact - zeze and joon together make up seoulitestudio https://www.youtube.com/@SEOULITESTUDIO . I watch all their videos, even though most of them don't have English subs. They are so fun together.

Highlights for me that makes this so special SPOILERS AHEAD:
The opening scene, chasing the suitcase down the hill and into each others arms. Much better than the usual trip into each others arms trope ?
The zoom in with hands to see a close-up. Yes, it's cheesy and it's been done before, but it's executed so well and Hae Won's smile is just so....
Absolutely love the "Place your left foot back...that's your right foot" then the little hop/skip to switch legs. Cute!
How adorable Hae Won looks when putting on his uniform first time!
Sexiest way of putting an apron on someone ever... 'a little harder' and then the tucking the hair behind the ear is a sweet little swoon-worthy scene
The additional scene mentioned above isn't much, just showing the MLs in bed together, 2 pairs of bare feet tangled together, 2 naked (well, shirtless anyhow) bodies cuddled up together sleeping.
The tight, tearful hug at the end ?

I really wish there was an additional episode where we can find what happened with Yoo Hwan's father!
What was up with that throw away line in the beginning "the guest house's owner came". Does that mean Hae Won own's the guest house? Inquiring minds want to know ?

So anyhow, watch it, enjoy, smile more ?

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A complex romance that delves into reality and yet is quite accepted.

I quite liked the story of a more experienced actor supporting a newbie to the industry and yet the rehearsal is full of passion and love it becomes reality.
Their movie they created was the highlight as real issues came to play but no one realised so was an unique confrontation as the wife stated "you ruined your own life."

What I didn't enjoy was when the wife wad emasculated him all because of his actions that she saw, I felt she could've been more open and have an adult conversation about what they wanted.

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"I became a gangster because of a chicken leg"

Director Doze Niu set Monga in the 1980’s replete with terrible hairstyles and requisite Air Supply music. The five boys of the Gang of Princes had enough daddy issues to ask for a group rate at their local therapist’s office. The boys also dealt with the daily violence on the streets, betrayals, death, and unrequited love.

Mosquito’s father died after he was born and he’s been bullied everywhere he and his mother have lived. The bullying begins again at his new school over the chicken leg in his lunch. After school, Dog Boy and his crew jump Mosquito but the new kid acquits himself well and the real power gang led by Dragon Lee and Monk take notice and take Mosquito under their wing. While Dragon Lee is the leader due to his dad’s gang status, Monk, his second in command, provides the muscle and the brains. The boys become sworn brothers and spend more time together hanging out than in school. Life can be precarious on the streets as the brotherhood find out after a deadly mistake has repercussions, a secret touches the wrong ears, and a new player comes to town unafraid to shake up the old way of doing business.

Triads, gangs, and boys’ gangs have all been done. Doze put his own Taiwanese flair on Monga. The crowded, brightly lit streets deserved their own screen credits. The scenes were as loud and chaotic as the story. While there were plenty of fights, they often came across more balletic, especially with the soothing music playing in the background and slow-motion shots. Monk and Mosquito were the focus of the main plot and subplots. Monk’s feelings for Dragon Lee ran far deeper than brotherhood. He protected Dragon Lee from his own worst inclinations and took the punishment for his actions from Dragon’s gang boss dad. Monk also had his own aspirations and deeply held resentments. Mosquito was the innocent one of the crew. He was looking for family, for brothers, for connection---for a father. Much of the narration was told through his naïve eyes. Perhaps to bring a feminine element into the film or to give Mosquito a soft shoulder to lie on, Ning, a prostitute was introduced. Around the same age, the two fell into a tender friendship, limited by her contract at the brothel. Doze played the Mainland triad leader determined to take over Monga and who also had a connection to Mosquito and his mom.

Mark Chao in his film debut provided the character who could show horror and fear when called upon for the audience. At times a little stiff, but overall, a good first film performance. Ethan Juan was both mesmerizing and terrifying as Monk. With good reason he won the Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actor for his primal portrayal of the young gangster. Rhydian Vaughan didn’t have as much to do, although he was saddled with the worst mullet outside of a redneck truck stop in 1980’s Texas. The veteran cast gave the proper gravitas to the criminal adults in the room.

The first half of the frenetic movie was all about bonding and hanging out, and navigating the different groups and their territories. When there was no turning back, the shift in tone was cataclysmic and there was no denying that blood would be shed, and vows would be broken. When war came to Monga, no one was ready for the consequences, not even those who thought they were above it. Blood would flow like cherry blossoms.

10 May 2024

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This movie was so surreal... and wacky lol

Ngl I seriously didn't know what I was expecting lol I thought the plot would be simple but lol there so much twist... also wtf that cliffhanger ending?

To be fair... the initial plot seemed promising but since there's too many wild attempts to capture Hana by every single opposing party that seemed to have gone mad, it felt like the punchline never arrive. Just when you thought there would be a happy outcome once Carter completed his mission, there goes the cliffhanger end that make us question whether or not Jung and Carter's family survived...

But seriously though, the movie did do well in portraying a world where people go mad after having a portion of the population got infected with a crazy virus, with one side fights to find a cure and another plots to take advantage of the virus for their own benefit. It's kinda like Busan but not really because the 'zombies' in Carter wasn't quite like the usual undead zombies once infected and it's possible to get cured if you managed to get the vaccine administered quick enough. But dangit... those 'zombies' can use guns and stuff lol, and instead of eating people they just mindlessly attack people. Still, since those infectees are still quite alive, they're not as scary as the usual undead ones and can be shot down if worse wome to worst and they'll stay dead.

Gotta say that the cinematography and cameraworks in this movie was pretty wild it felt like watching a continuous RE gameplay and can get pretty disorienting at times. The stunt work was crazy too and while there's a lot of CGI action being mixed in as well, at times you really can't tell which was which. Smh I wonder if the initial nude scenes at the opening part was really necessary because as much as I wanted to enjoy the action... the nudity was just...uncomfortable. Kinda like the fanservice fight in K-1. Oh yeah... the gore scenes were crazy too.

Not really fond of some of the choices of background tracks esp the ones that had lots of cymbals and brass instruments that always made me think of scenes involving shamans and stuff like why?

Not really sure what to think of this movie. Like on one end whoa... Joo Won doing more action unlike what he's done before! Yet the plot din seem to have a proper conclusion and poor Hana to kept being tossed around just because she was the human cure for the virus and ppl are losing their minds to 'own' her.

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boring.

I ditched the drama two episodes from the very end. I know it is a very short drama but it was sooooo fricking boring. nothing new on the horizon.

the story ( if we can call it that way) is about a shy guy who was excluded from his peers opening up after meeting the "nice" girl from his class.
her "trouble" is that due to her parents jobs (I guess, it's not that clear) she has no free time to spend as a normal teenager and stays home all the time .
they start meeting at her house and spending all evenings together. they obviously fall in love and .. that's basically it.
the side characters are really irrelevant. there is not much happening.
it is cheesy in a very boring way.
I saw better high school dramas and this really add nothing up.

skip it, you wont miss anything.
the only cute thing is the main character that looks like a lost puppy.

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Confusing mess

Great production values but.....

Spoiled by characters doing stupid things, getting scared of nothing, not communicating properly and running in circles for most of the movie. This applies not only to "good guys" but also to "bad guys", the entire plot makes little sense when considered from bad guys perspective as well. Clearly the focus here was to throw plot twists at the audience without much logic binding them together.

The movie is also sacrilegious. It felt like the author tried to mindlessly throw random references to buddhism, christianity and other religions without much knowledge or depth in them. Example: in the final scene where the antagonist revealed himself looking like oni from japanese mythology, with stigmata on his hands (suggesting he's a christian saint) and calling himself a devil while making photos with old style camera I couldn't help but laugh.

There were many other moments in the series that were supposed to be scary but ended up laughable (like the "zombie" fight scene, seriously, wtf was that? Bunch of armed guys can't deal with a limping dude trying to bite them?).

Ultimately this title is more confusing then scary. What made me keep watching is desire to solve the underlying mystery behind it all, only to have a messed up ending that provided more questions then answers. I've read some theories online and all of them feel stretched and not at all convincing, also the director apparently admitted in some interview he made the movie confusing on purpose.

"The Wailing" fails as both horror and mystery, but thanks to good cinematography and direction it succeeds at giving some one time thrills.

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I came for a toxic relationship, a relationship you should run from if you can, yet I was disappointed. The overall movie was pretty average with parts most bls have.
The characters I liked how they did both children then reunited them and their lobe as adults.

Lu Feng was my favourite but his way of navigating his finance was disrespectful to her as technically he did cheat on her. I wish we met her to get her view on the situation.
Xi Chen was the one I was rooting for as people misunderstood so wasn't as heard as the others. I loved the relationship with his brother as they were particularly close with each other so had support and love

Looking forward to part 2

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Explaination for the movie and review

To those who doesnt understand the movie.I will explain it here.

Spoilers ahead!!!!

Lin Bei Xing in this movie is another version of Lin Bei Xing. So we have Movie version Lin Beixing and Drama version Lin Bei Xing. Both of them are living in different universes. So the drama version of Lin Beixing was not here. We only have Zhang Wan Sen and Lin Bei Xing movie versions. No drama versions of themselves are not in this movie.

First, lets start with the fire incident.

In the original universe of Zhang Wan Sen movie version, Lin Bei Xing died in the fire incident. Then he cross parallel universes to save Lin Bei Xing. (This is the only ZWS that can travel in parallel universes)

While in the original universe of Lin Bei Xing Movie Version. Zhang Wan Sen is the one who died in the fire incident.

So both movie versions are not in their own universe. ZWS and LBX movie versions are both travellers and not in their original universe.

Lets name the movie univese as "Universe M"

So in the story, both travellers have cross paths in the same universe which is Universe M. They have both have the same plan, to save the other in this universe.

Only LBX have a restriction in her travelling rule which is "Dont let him says his name to you or says his name".

While the restriction of the drama version of LBX "Dont say I like you to one another"

While ZWS movie version have one restriction that he doesnt know because its the first time he travelled in another universe. His restriction was "Dont introduce yourself or say your name to LBX".

In the case of movie version of LBX. She already travelled several times, thats why we have different versions of ZWS in her POV. She will come back to her own universe if she says his name. (Reminder: The ZWS in her original universe is confirmed dead)

She only have one chance left, and that was universe M. Where ZWS in this universe was really similar to ZWS of her original universe.

The ZWS in Universe M is also a traveller like her. So both doesnt own this universe.

In the end, both have tried to save each other. In universe m, both have reported the concert so it will be cancelled.

So how did both of them know that both of them are travellers.

ZWS learn it when he was listening in the car after hearing LBX story on the radio.

While LBX knew it from Maizi. ZWS told Maizi about what happened and told him that he isnt the real ZWS in universe M and LBX dies in his original universe.

Then both of them met knowing that they arent the real ZWS and LBX in universe M.

Since they dont own this universe, they have to go back to their original universe. They feel guilty for owning a universe that doesnt belong to them. So when they return to their original universe. The real ZWS and LBX will be together.

So happy ending? Yes, for the real ZWS and LBX in universe M are both alive and are together.

But the ZWS traveller and LBX traveller didnt have a happy ending. Because in their original univese, one have died already. And both came back from their original universe.

In the end credits we see the drama version of LBX. She is in her original universe and we can finally see that ZWS in her original universe didnt die. So we got a happy ending for the drama version of LBX and ZWS.

Thats it, the whole universe was against this two. Most versions of themselves in every universe had sad endings but there is some universes where other versions of themselves had happy endings such as the original universe of LBX drama version.

This is literally, I love you in every universe.

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Main characters who loves ROCK BAND!

This is my first time I'm giving a review in a Japanese movie. Because most of the time, I really like watching Japanese drama so why don't I give it a try to watch japanese movie. And I can say that i really love it! In this movie, it's not all about love but they also show the love between friends and family.

First, I'm so touch when the time that female lead have a misunderstanding between her friends but in the end they try to resolve it for making saying sorry to each other and it show that they value their friendship. Second, the male lead have a struggle between choosing his passion on his sports or caring his grandmother and younger sister. He is willing to give up soccer just to take care his grandma. And it shows that the male lead really love and care to his family. And last, the love between the female lead and male lead was so cute. Because of their love, they really can't stop theirselves and keep writing on the notebook so even they know that it seems not right. You should find it why it's not. ? I also love the songs they play and I like the rock band also! ?

Their chemistry is so fantastic. I really love it. The female lead is so cute and pretty and the male lead is so handsome especially when he smile. In comes to their plot, i didn't expect that you can like someone you don't know just because they give you a motivation and write it on your desk. But at the end of the story, I understand why the male lead loves her is because she gives him a motivation to follow what he wants to do. That's it. 9.5/10!❤️

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Holy $HIT SHOW!

How do you take 2 great books a handful of beloved characters and complete ruin them? You make a movie that's an hour and a half long. I wasn't expecting much from this and I was still Disappointed. It's just all over the place and pulling bits and pieces of the books and not even the good bits. Very little Day and Itt and let's face it Love Syndrome is Day and Itt. It's disappointing since this had a lot of potential to be an amazing series that could have been multiple season focusing on different couples because I'm guessing we all want to see Neil and Nick's story as well as Nan and Mac. I love these books and Love Syndrome III wasn't the greatest but it freaking amazing compared to this streaming pile of crap. So disappointed I was really looking forward to watching Day and Itt's relationship progress as well as seeing Nick and Neil.

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A movie to watch

Monster is a movie which is written by celebrated Japanese writer Yuji Sakamoto. However, Monster is a little more gritty. This film won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screen Play in 2023. Also, it’s star and female lead Sakura Ando won The Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actress for Monster. In addition, youth actor Soya Kurokawa from Teasing Master Takagi-san gives another great performance. He was nominated for Best New Comer from the Award of Japan Academy. This kid is going places.

While I think that Monster was well written, I have a huge issue with using (supposed) ten year olds with some of the subject material for this movie. It would have set better for me if 16-18 year olds were used. Could 10 year olds make these kind of choices?

Monster was nominated in 11 categories for the Japan Academy Awards.

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