Reviews

Felt like a drama recap were if you haven't watched the drama you wouldn't feel the connection

Such a missed opportunity! I was so excited seeing the leads and so disappointed as I finished the movie.
The story is your usual youth stories, the main characters were really interesting, the hopless playboy, the female school leader, and the mysterious new Seoul girl. They had so much potential but got totally sidetracked by the mix of everything in a small pot.
Like so many side stories shouldn't have been there because we got barely any attachment to anyone in the movie. The 2nd female lead had an interesting story that was left vague and never told.. even the fl was kinda never really explored. The story losses the way from the very beginning, you end up not knowing what was all of this about.
Like there are even characters (the beared guy who's always in MLs house) that serve no purpose but to take up screentime as if the movie has alot to spare!
6/10 It's watchable until the end
Rewatch value : never

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Action Scenes strung together....

The only redeeming quality of this movie, are the action sequences and production value.
Watch it once if you can pay attention for that long and move on.

I have no prior knowledge of the novel this is based on, nor watched any of the previous adaptions.

These series of novels are famous and very popular supposedly. Based on this and another adaption of a different novel from same author, they just seem like badly written webtoons. Makes sense if these are what inspired all the badly written webtoons... lol. I am a fan of Wuxia, but so far these adaptions of these popular novels are not it.

The way the story is told, pacing and unlikeable characters presented you left with the feeling of indifference and confusion. The way ML is setup/found multiple times in the same way, was almost comical. The romance seemed forced, and many of the characters introduced are rushed and thrown in from out of nowhere.

The ending is rushed with a few flashbacks causing more confusion rather than completing the plot holes. You don't make a standalone movie expecting your audience to have knowledge to fill in half the story.

It just feels like this movie was just to showcase Donnie Yen directed action sequences. Which was great! Except the final fight, too much telekinesis ki power maybe? Every time ML fired off his ultimate move, i heard the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. lol.

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Disturbing to say the least

This movie has the basest yet most disturbing plotline I've seen in a while and the thought this was made in 2019 almost brought me to the brink of despair. The scriptwriter has to have been a sadist otherwise there was absolutely no reason to tell this half-assed story about a special needs young girl who was raped repeatedly -on screen- in the most harrowing of circumstances. What was the point of this?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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Miss Manners for martial arts

Martial Club followed Wong Fei Hung from goofball show-off to accomplished and more thoughtful fighter. Though the story wasn't too compelling it had some interesting fights in it. Gordon Liu, Robert Mak, and Kara Hui as three young fighters from two different schools had a nice, if not too dynamic camaraderie. If it feels like I'm damning this movie with faint praise, I probably am.

The movie opens with an elaborate Lion Dance that is interrupted by a rival school led by Lu Zheng Fu (Chu Tit Wo). Wong Fei Hung's father (Ku Feng) and Master Zheng Tian Shou (Wilson Tong) attempt to keep the peace with the troublesome school. Meanwhile, Wong Fei Hung and his buddy Wang Jinlin (Mak) have more fun horsing around and picking fights with paid marks than they do actually training at their respective martial arts schools. Wang Juying (Hui) has a crush on WFH and runs interference for her brother Jinlin. Along comes Master Shan Xiong (Johnny Wang), a fellow from the North, and apparently all people from the north are considered rubes and less intelligent, in a classic case of miscommunication, he delivers a punishing blow to Jinlin, stopping short of killing him. The aftermath causes WFH to rethink his devil may care attitude and he decides to commit to his training while Jinlin continues to hang out at the brothels.

Shan joins up with an old acquaintance at the rival school to the other two. Think Slytherin vs Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. The shady Lu's son (King Lee) and his buddies trick Jinlin at the brothel and nearly beat him to death doing nothing to help the tension between the schools. Afterwards, Lu invites the others to a Cantonese opera and then tries to have them arrested for watching the show without a ticket. An extended free for all brawl takes place until Papa Wong shows up and calms everyone down. Master Shan refrains from any of the infighting and often restrains the Lu family when he can. He tests WFH on his martial courtesy and is pleased. The two have a "friendly" duel in the Zig Zag Alley which was the highlight of the film. And then a pointless and abrupt ending.

There was little to complain about with the fights. Gordon, Robert, Kara, and Johnny were a delight to watch as always. Hsiao Ho also showed up to add some acrobatics. Gordon and Johnny's duel showcased a number of styles well done, especially as the alleyway became narrower and narrower. Kara was an elegant fighter, even if her character was a bit of a hothead. Lau Kar Leung, King Lee, and Hsiao Ho provided the creative martial arts choreography managing to make huge brawls and one-on-one fights interesting.

The problem I had with the film was that there wasn't anything really at stake except for school pride. Though the Lu School played dirty, they never received any punishment for their misdeeds because everyone was too polite and more concerned with keeping the peace. The film was largely about loyalty and martial arts decorum, manners if you will. The implied crush between WFH and Juying had no spark to it, at least on his part. Kara looked like she was trying to make some chemistry happen, but came up against Gordon's stony façade. The friendship between WFH and Jinlin faded as WFH separated himself skill-wise. Other than WFH's seemingly overnight maturity and leap in abilities, nothing actually happened in this movie except for a bunch of fights between the schools.

What I did really like. When I see Johnny Wang's name on a cast list, I immediately know who the Big Bad or the Big Bad's #1 henchman is going to be. Johnny nearly always plays a villain. This is the first film I've ever seen him play a reasonable, fair, moral character and he did a good job at it. It's a shame he didn't have more morally righteous or at least gray characters. Seeing him smile at WFH's courtesy and abilities and not because he'd just murdered a small town was something I didn't know I needed.

Things I learned about the Lion Dance and life:
#1-A lion should never smell another lion's butt. #2-There should be no blinking at another lion. #3-Do not approach another lion with a raised foot.

Martial Club had quality fights and a likeable cast. It just lacked that special spark to make it memorable. Any kung fu movie that could tame Johnny Wang might be too polite for the genre. Who knew making an exciting movie about martial arts manners could be so difficult?

3/15/23

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Monumental work for Korean independent movies!

Where was I in 2006? Dang, doing stupid things and nowhere close to this gem. You have to grow up to this. And grow up in all senses.

This showed South Korea inside out, not just as gay intolerant and hypocritical mainstream community, but corrupt, patriarch, insensitive, dirty on the inside. And Kpop smile on the outside. (no movie has nothing to do with Kpop, but if you know the industry, you know)

I'll start with the ending. Promise no spoilers, but if you watch close the last 10 minutes could stop at any point. We go from tragedy to triumph every minute of the ending. Director could choose to cut at any moment, and we could have been hysterical regardless. He made a right choice though...right?

The whispering scene (you will know if you watch it): the most magical moment between two humans. We all want a moment like that in our life to remember. What a string to pull!

Story is so...whats the right word? because "raw" doesn't do a true justice. You have to reach a certain point in life to realize that everything we do is based on the trauma of some sorts we had as a child or growing up.

Sets are just faultless and it feels like its part of the emotional rollercoaster this project puts you through.

If you are for quality, this is it!

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Not single 1 kiss in this*

In "Missions Of Love", out of all the missions, mission number 3 is kiss already. So, things looked like this movie should be cool and no waiting for number of episodes for nothing like in dramas, but! It doesn't happen. Then, what were missions 4 an on about? Nothing happens with the lead boy or any other boy.. (Like the lead from 'Mischievous Kiss'!)

The ending was probably intended to be moving, but it didn't work on me really, it kind of lost the spark a long while along:) It was just funny there was not much about which she could write "a novel".

*I'm not counting the ending credits kiss & I think they kissed each other right above/below the mouth anyways:)

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So Good

This movie exceeded my expectations. It's just a lighthearted comedy, that's what I first thought. But it continually made me smile when they smile, and my heart hurts when they're sad.

The ML is so respectful to the FL, he is someone who all females should hold candles to. Never settle for anyone who doesn't worship you like he does to her.

Their chemistry is also so sizzling from the get go (when they started talking on the phone). In the other dramas/movie, often the sizzle fizzes out once they're a couple, so when they decided to meet up halfway in the movie, I thought that's it, the chemistry will be gone. But not here.

The first time they met, they looked at each other shyly, and it made my heart smile. They were so sweet together!!!

I watched it again and again over the years. So rewatch value is definitely 10. It's so well acted. Well done!!

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ONE OF MY FAVORITE BL!

I've watched this movie version because I can't find a good copy of the series version, but I think they're just the same... Well, anyway, I love this so much. I love the storyline, the concept, the development, the conflict, everything... I really love everything in this movie. The actors portrayed their characters well, and they're very handsome. I love every of their interactions, how their relationship blossomed, the different characteristics of the male leads... I mean, it's really cute... how they act towards each other, they're really meant to each other and I love them so much. The effects are also fine... it's great actually, the music, the ending... ahh I love the ending. Just remembering their moments together make me smile. This is definitely added to my favorite list!

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One ninja star out of four

Challenge of the Lady Ninja had the potential to be so bad it's good and a fun girl power movie, but was bogged down in sexploitation. The film couldn't even pretend to be about empowerment when it featured ninja mud wrestling.

Wong Siu Wai, a Chinese woman, had trained for 17 years in Japan as a ninja, becoming the only female ninja in the clan. You could tell she was the only woman because she was the only ninja wearing red. Totally blends and keeps her hidden. Her fellow ninja, Koloder was furious because she beat him and is Chinese. She had to go home to Shanghai when her father was killed by her fiancé who turned out to be a traitor. We all have family problems, but girl had more than her share. Upon returning home and meeting up with the resistance she determines to train some women in the art of being a ninja. Her ninja training included a long session of stretching with gratuitous boob and crotch shots and lots of suggestive moaning. I never knew this was essential to ninja training but discovered ninja mud wrestling was part of the experience. Nothing sexist about this at all. Part of the training included one ex-prostitute who could seduce a man by projecting her body in underwear before him and then transporting out. Wong had the same ability.

Lee Tong had four martial arts bodyguard who dressed like aliens, especially the guy with a scorpion tattooed on his bald head. The women work to kill off the bodyguards one by one which entails a vampire poison bite, dealing with a heat seeking boomerang, and an oil or water fight with two women stripping down to their bathing suits hidden under their clothes. Always be prepared! A dude in a Skeletor mask even appeared out of the blue to help them on occasion. I'm not making this up. The final showdown with Koloder was bizarre and had the abrupt ending so many 1970's kung fu movies employed.

Elsa Yang made a serviceable campy ninja, she just wasn't served well by the script. Chen Kuan Tai as her target and ex-fiancé played the debonair traitor always jauntily dressed in suits. The kung fu movie star had one short fight near the end. Robert Tai played the strange bodyguard with tattoos and blue lipstick, leaning into the oddity of the role.

The movie was set during the Japanese occupation, so 1930's or 40's. You would never know that by looking at it. They did work in a few "ye olden times" costumes, but they were interspersed with modern (70's or 80's) clothes and hairstyles, not to mention the many bikini scenes. Modern cars were shown numerous times as well. I laughed out loud when they played Darth Vader's intro music from Star Wars with the traitor's introduction. The rest of the music was of the bow-chicka-bow-wow generic synthetic variety. There are a couple of versions out there, one where the traitor is the female ninja's fiancé, the other where he is her brother. Does not improve the story either way.

The fights were the swish and fall sword fights, most of the others defied the laws of physics. One underground fight was mind bending. Bad wire-fu was often used and plenty of colorful exploding smoke bombs were thrown. The fights really were quite dreadful. Oh, and lots of jedi, I mean ninja mind tricks.

With so many women in the cast I wish that I could recommend this movie. I found it to be hugely disappointing. Instead of being a movie about women ninjas for women to also enjoy, it was a titillating view of how men want to see women ninjas train and fight. Only for a niche crowd, one of whom I'm not.

3/14/23

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Death can also be elegant and dignified, as this movie truly personified

Right off the bat, "Departures" already knew the story it wanted to tell. The opening scene was intriguing, and there was an essence of mystery that made it more interesting, wanting to be unfolded.

Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) returned to his hometown after his orchestra disbanded in Tokyo, accompanied by his wife, Mika (Ryoko Hirosue). I really liked that despite her husband's failure, she was supportive and wanted to go along with him. Now, coming back to Yamagata, his life was about to change.

Personally, I didn't have any background on the stigma surrounding the job that Daigo chose. It was appalling for me at first when his childhood friend, Yamashita (Tetta Sugimoto), avoided him after he knew what his job was.

But despite that, Daigo still chose the job of "assisting departures" under the tutelage of Sasaki (Tsutomo Yamazaki). At first, he was surprised by what the job entailed. But later on, he was able to witness the elegant, almost artistic process of noukan (encoffining). The comfort this process gave to the bereaved families and the appreciation they would give to him after doing it was the catalyst for him to grow on this job and on himself as a person.

What I really admired in this movie is that it tackled the human connection and the well-discussed concept of death. Death is a normal part of the life process; some may be afraid of it, but it makes us appreciate life more. It showed that death is the end of this life but not life itself, since it only serves as a gate for the next. Death isn't something to be afraid of; it is something to be expected. For some, including myself, this might not have hit us at home yet, but this movie opened our eyes to its inevitability and how we can handle and cope with it. 

Also, what I appreciated deeply was how intricate and greatly detailed this movie imparted about the Japanese death rituals. It was shown as if it is very spontaneous yet accurate and professional, and most especially the amount of respect they give to those who have departed and their grieving families as well. This was very true for the family shown in the first part, where it was very emotional and could've easily turned the ritual into a mess, but they respected the views of the dead. 

The second half might be overly emotional, but being overly emotional was its core, and it was conveyed exceptionally well. The several bereaved families that Daigo and Sasaki helped through the nobility of their utterly stigmatized and disgusted profession were such a huge proof of why they do what they do. And this job greatly helped Daigo and, to some extent, Mika grow as a couple and as individuals. Notice that Daigo now plays his cello with more life and expresses his happiness in a jollier way compared to the beginning. He was now happy at this point.

The one thing that I found lacking, and the reason why I won't give a perfect 10 on an otherwise outstanding film, is because of its rushed execution of forgiveness and reconciliation at the end. I was able to get the message the movie conveyed. The whole duration of this film tugged at my heartstrings, but the last few minutes did not do as much as I wanted them to. It felt like it was just something that they had to finally put a closure on, and that went for the movie as well. But then again, it was just adequate. 

Masahiro Motoki was just a delight with how superb his acting was. At times he was just hilarious, but his portrayal of professionalism and seriousness in his job, despite initially feeling icky about it, was just amazing. The scenes where he played the cello were just outstanding, as if he were a professional cellist. And the music itself just gave more power and flow to the movie. This film did not have any magnificent cinematography, but the music really stood out and helped in conveying the emotions and mood properly, if not exceedingly.

"Departures" really told us that there is more to death than just grief. It can also be an avenue for reconciliation and forgiveness, and at the same time, it gives a deeper understanding and appreciation of what life truly is. Death can also be elegant and dignified, as this movie truly personified.

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Bromance times four!

Shaw Brother classic, The Crippled Avengers, may have had an unfortunate dated title, but it was old school kung fu fun. Director Chang Cheh wasn't too interested in realism instead he gave the audience a spectacle which at times more resembled a circus acrobatic act than it did a martial arts throw down. The Five Venoms (the group of actors, not the characters) teamed up once again, this time to take on a butchering bad guy.

Hero Chen Kuan Tai's Black Tiger came home to find his wife dead and his son's arms cut off. He quickly dispatched the hatchet men and made a 180 into villainy. Through the years he provided his son, Lu Feng (Venom Centipede) with new and improved metal arms and hands, training him in the three Tiger Styles. Anyone who crossed them or spoke a word against them incurred their wrath. Johnny Wang acted as his chief enforcer Wan.

Along came the Venoms. Philip Kwok (Venom Lizard) made the mistake of looking at the son's metal hands and was blinded. Lo Meng (Venom Toad) spoke out against The Black Tiger's cruelty and was made mute and deaf. Sun Chien (Venom Scorpion) bumped into the son and lost his feet. Chiang Sheng (Venom apprentice) confronted the Black Tiger over his ruthlessness and had his skull crushed leaving him brain damaged. The four men made their way to each other and took Chiang home to his master. His master vowed to teach them kung fu styles to overcome their disabilities. For three years they trained before returning to confront their nemesis and his gang.

The training scenes were quite fun to watch as Chiang and Kwok were quick and acrobatic. Any fights with them and/or Lu Feng didn't need wire work because they could jump, flip and tumble with the best of them. Kwok's abilities with the metal pole and rings were fast and amazing to watch. Chiang always looked like gravity didn't apply to him as he tumbled off of and onto furniture. Lo Meng, though trained in martial arts tended to do more kung fu posing. The "Shaolin Hercules" never met a shirt he wanted to wear and liked to show off his muscles. Though one of the main four characters, Sun Chien and his metal legs tended to disappear for long stretches of time showing up just when someone needed a deadly kick. This was not Bruce Lee kung fu, it was kung fun, more theatrical than useful.

Though the main characters were all disabled, there was no humor at their expense. The best part of the whole film was the obvious camaraderie between the men as they relied on each other to survive. It was a buddy movie times four. Lo Meng's Wei and Kwok's Chen, the deaf man and the blind man, were quite heartwarming in their tactile friendship as they protected each other. For a 1970's kung fu movie, it was fairly sensitive, admittedly the bar was set pretty low on that subject, but at least there was some effort in the machismo genre.

I enjoyed this movie more than the Five Venoms and thought the fights were more original and at least some of them were quicker. The story wasn't afraid to embrace the ridiculous with things like a character having bionic arms who could shoot darts out of them. But it was the more human aspects of the movie that made it memorable. The friendships that developed between the main characters and the characters' growth were unusual for this genre where relationships often took a back seat to fighting. I found those aspects of the movie refreshing. For anyone who enjoys old kung fu movies, this is definitely one to give a try, even with the horrible title.

3/14/23

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Romantic Love Story ❤️

Korea is famous for romantic movies so it becomes really hard to geniuenly love a story when there are so many. Felt like I'm watching something which is worth my time. It has a realistic feel to it along with a little bit of magic✨
Kim Go-eun did a really good job, when I watch her movies I just feel connected and obviously handsome Jung Hae-in also did a fabulous job, their chemistry is really something.
Overall, the story is good and the concept of them getting apart again and again and only meeting by coincidence and then finally realizing their feelings works really well in the movie. The music is also really really good, soothing as well as romantic.💕💞💞

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A Beautiful Experience

So I am an interfan from USA with no ability to speak or understand Japanese, so I went for the vibes and merch.

I think it’s great when I can see something on a big screen and I haven’t seen a bl on a movie screen since Gameboys the movie in 2021.

Loved hearing the soundtrack on the big screen. Kiyoi’s theme is absolutely one of my favorite bl tracks and each time I heard it on the surround sound was magic.

The special edit - all 6 episodes of season 1 were put into one going. The intro only played in the episode 1 spot. There was no outros and a lot/most of the intro/outro dialogue was removed.

The “new” scenes were some extended scenes. The two most noticeable ones for me were in episode 3/the contest episode - we see Hira bring Kiyoi ginger ale during the house prep session and we see Kiyoi turn to look back down the hallways after he loses the contest and we see him walk away.

Some of the scenes played a little differently and I think the dialogue was different but I can’t confirm that. There was more water sounds and some of the music was different at time. When Hira and Kiyoi re-meet after the Koyama birthday show, they don’t play the outro music.

A few season 1 scenes were omitted or moved. We don’t see Kiyoi practicing saying “I like you” at the stream bank and we don’t see the flashback of Kiyoi seeing Hira taking the picture of captain duck.

The montage/flashbacks felt different/longer.

There was a send off from Riku and Yusei after the movie and a new scene teaser from Utsukushii Kare Eternal. I begged/bribed a friend to come with me to see the special edit and asked him to translate/give me the gist of the movie trailer and he said - Kiyoi comes home and Hira has cooked a lot of food and Kiyoi asks why Hira made so much and Hira was evasive. They have a playful fight and Kiyoi accuses Hira of cheating on him and pounces on him and pulls back to punch him while Hira continues being cagey.



I have seen the special edit twice, once alone and the second time with my friend for assisting with translating the movie scene. I love seeing projects I like on a big screen with great sound system and seeing Utsukushii Kare was no exception.

I have no idea if MBS will ever make the special edit available commercially or internationally so I might try and see it one more time before the week is over so to melt in the sounds and sights in full movie theater glory.

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