Reviews

One love story that tell you when you know you know...

One love story that tell you when you know you know... Hyun Woo & Mi Soo from the first time we already know they will gonna end up together, just the matter of how & when, and themselves also know this as fact, of how attract them one and the other.

Very impressive how all the coincidental meeting & how they keep their feeling for each other after that many years... After that the love just that easily blossom just like they wait for so damn long time for this to happen...

But of course, not life if they don't give us surprise & problem.

Here comes the part that I'm not too like about this movie...
What is the hell of Hyun Woo's problem? we never really get the fully answer about his past. What is the reason he go to prison? Is the push is accidental or what the heck happen that day...? I don't know why the cut scene very explisit like that, they don't even show us the blood or the body at the ground.... And more over what about his friend...? Are they really bad or what...?

For me the lack of explanation is very ambiguous & not clear that make this movie ending with unclear tone...

Read More

New fear Unlocked

I enjoyed watching it but there's nothing spectacular about it. Just like a typical psychopath story. There wasn't even twist and turns. It was a straightforward story.

The story of a woman who lost her phone and became a victim of targeted online crime of a serial kiler psychopath. The perspective is unique though because it uses spy-cam like footages and screen recording which made it unique than most common movies/series.

For me, I enjoyed watching it and shouting on my screen to tell the main lead how stupid she was but maybe if I were in her shoe, I might be dumber. It was a fun watch but I might not watch it again. You try it for yourself if you want to be kept on the edge of your seats.

Read More

"You're not known as a hard man for nothing!"

The Murder of Murders aka The Massive is not your typical revenge kung fu flick. It's a murder mystery where nearly everyone in town is hiding a secret and wants to find a fortune in stolen gems with a little kung fu thrown in for good measure.

The Jade Dragonfly, a jewel thief, has been hitting all the major cities. When Lo Lieh comes rolling into town and wanting to buy some jewels at a high end shop it doesn't take a genius to know who the culprit is. He manages to get away with 6 precious stones but not before the town's inspector tells him everyone in the shop is a suspect and he'd better not leave town. If the thief isn't caught in five days, the inspector will resign. It seems like everyone in town is hunting for the stolen gem stones. Lo Lieh seems unbothered and has no problem dealing with the cops and baddies until he's poisoned and dies on the spot.

The Jade Dragonfly's brother, Chi Kuan Chun, shows up looking for his brother's killer and he has a plethora of people to choose from. The local gambling den boss, Yi Yuan, and his gang of thugs, including Phillip Ko Fei, Lei Ming, Lee Chiu, and Shih Ting Ken all have had motive and opportunity. Yueh Hua shows up as an art forger with a bad habit of serving suspicious tea. Miao Tien plays The Light in the Darkness, an assassin who uses a pole with a paper lantern to fight his opponents. Phillip Ko Fei uses a pipe with 490 poisoned tipped darts and Lei Ming has a poison dart fan. Chin Kang is the no nonsense straight arrow hard fisted Inspector. As a fan of Taiwanese kung fu movies, it's a grand slam of actors and stunt men to enjoy fighting as they scramble to be the one to obtain the stones. As one character says, "Never think a man has enough money because that's a lie." There are a couple of twists at the end of the movie that given the casting didn't seem too surprising but gave a little depth to the plot.

Lee Chiu was the martial arts director. Most of the fights were decently fast with a variety of weapons as stated before. The fight between Chi Kuan Chun and Yueh Hua was a stiff as Yueh's acting. The fights featuring Chi and either Phillip Ko Fei or Lee Chiu or Chin Kang were far more entertaining. A couple of fights were shot in the dark and with the aged film's fading were more difficult to see.

The Murder of Murders was a fun "who done it?" with plenty of villains and shady characters to choose from keeping the guessing going until the last minute. The fights were better than average 1970's caliber especially for low budget Taiwanese fare. As always, I grade on a curve for these old kung fu films.

3/6/23

Read More

bittersweet slow burn

This has instantly become one of my favorite jmovies. Once I was able to completely grasp the time traveling concept, it became super bittersweet but it was still beautiful. The concept is so creative and well thought out, I think something about it not being a perfect happy ever after is what makes it so perfect. My heart broke after the midway point when Emi revealed to Takotoshi the truth about the future them and how the times are reversed for eachother. honestly a slow burn. Some tears were shed but I honestly knew what I was signing up for, except I didn't know how well thought out and well-executed the plotline was.

Nothing surprising from Nana's top tier acting :) Fukushi Sota was also super suited for the role so the casting was 10/10 for me. (he kind of resembled Kai from exo in the beginning lol) OST was really good as well. Overall, really recommend this movie if you're down to watch something incredibly cinematic and beautiful but sad at midnight haha.

Read More

The beauty of existing

That was absolutely moving.
I felt so many emotions, all at the same time.
I'm still quite shocked and trying to process what I just watched and had the chance to do so.
It is a heart-moving film that allows you to be more understanding of human beings and have that “sonder” moment where you are obliged to face the truth and accept that no one is perfect – no matter what they would like you to see.
Everyone is hiding something from the world, something they try so hard to escape from by hiding behind a costume or an image that protects them from letting the truth escape on its own.

[I rated it an 8/10 for the rewatch value because it was so hard for me to watch a few scenes.
They were breathtaking, and I felt weird and uncomfortable with what was at my sight.
I still highly recommend watching it!]

Read More

“ANOTHER SIDE OF HISTORY”

Those rating the movie claiming that this movie was just a trust either hadn’t seen the movie itself or doesn’t know how to see movie unbias…
They write full of hate as if historians are all unbias…

This #MiM or Maid in Malacañang is a story base on Marcos Family during Edsa 1 under the POV of Senator IMEE MARCOS, with some comedic scenes and script added to make the movie interesting…

This is the 1st part on a Trilogy directed by Darryl Yap, and young and brilliant director who is brave enough to make a movie after almost 4 decades of silence on the side of Marcoses…

Among all the casts, Cristine Reyes definitely shine on this movie since she has a lot of scenes here for portraying the main character…

Cesar Montano who is 1 of the veterans among the actors surely did a great job together with his real life son Diego Loizaga… all the casts were superb in terms of acting…

Music used were good also, and matches the ambiance and storyline…

I had watched it here in Riyadh VOX CINEMA, with an English and arabic subtitle, so there were arab national whose watching with us aswell…
This movie made me cry for the first time…
The 2nd time I watched it on bilibili… viva prime isn’t available here abroad to download… sorry viva 😝✌️
Would definitely rewatch it again before watching Martyr or Murderer…

Waiting for the 2nd and 3rd part which is #MOM and #MAM

Read More

So Long! follows Ran Ran's last days in Beijing. What caught my attention was not the story itself, which was too disjointed, but the synopsis.
Ran Ran is transgender and defines himself as pansexual. Yet the English description on Gagaoolala (which I intentionally left as is when I submitted the title to MDL), the female gender "she" is used. I wondered throughout the documentary if this was intentional to show that despite Ran Ran's trans-identity, he remains a woman to the administration, he remains a woman to the outside world, as was the case for some of his former work colleagues and academics.
At the end of the 25-minute documentary, I also wondered what happened to Ran Ran after he returned to his hometown. He had mentioned a rather serene relationship with his relatives during the interviews. Was he able to find a new job, did he meet someone? Is he still involved in advocacy for transgender rights? Many questions that will not be answered unfortunately.

Note: The Mandarin synopsis uses the pinyin tā to mark the gender neutral.

Read More

Good Enough

Korean Movie " Decision to Leave " is a drama about obsession, love and crime.

The movie's charm is its oddness, with wild edits, strange POVs and magnetic scenes; a cinematography that trully steals the scene.

The performances were also great and captivating, especially by the female lead who was excellent. The rest of the cast did a good job as well.

However, dispite being intriguing at first, the movie fails to deliver enough emotion for the romance-obsession part of the film to be believable. And yet, that's where the movie should have exceled. Hence, the story feels flat and abstruct, with shots of the main character's life and a mystery that was partially presented. The finale of the film is probably its most intense part.

So, overall, six out of ten.

Read More

A recipe for pasta is simple at first glance, but it all depends on the seasoning, the addition of sauces, the quality of the ingredients to make the dish delicious. Some recipes bring back fond memories, others are forgotten as quickly as they were consumed.

Through the evocation of their common past or the glimpse of their current life, we feel that they have managed to preserve their good moments. I also felt the unsaid things, the affection that shines through, the care for each other and I think that maybe there is a possibility for them. Maybe the recipe at the time wasn't elaborate enough, or maybe it wasn't just right for the 20-year-olds they were.

Note: there is no predefined recipe for making a relationship work, each person finds the right fit in their own way to make it work.

Read More

Simple, Gorgeous, Real, and Inspiring

Simple and gorgeous, while simultaneously showing several issues facing same-sex couples. In it, we meet a strong-willed bibliophile who just wants to be treated fairly, and her partner who is still struggling with being closeted and internalized homophobia in the face of prejudice and micro-aggressions. My heart hurt for her when she said that she wasn't allowed to be upset because "lesbians shouldn't walk in the sun."

I love how our two female leads balance each other out, providing each other unbridled joy and courage as they move forward in life. To the point where they truly are able to shake things off, not because they're scared to be upset, but because they have each other's backs.

Read More

This is a fairly good movie. I liked the beginning the most. The first 50 minutes of the film really keep you on the edge of your seat and the entiity is really scary. The jump scares were good and we get the traditional contortionist movements from the ghost/killer that Japanese horror movies are known for. I thought the last 30 minutes were not that great but overall the ending madeup for it.

The cast is excellent. I genuinely liked all the actors and the characters they portrayed. I liked the developing friendships of the characters too. The friendship aspect of the movie takes this a notch above the traditional teen horror movie tropes. I also liked loneliness as a theme here. .

All in all I recommend watching at least once. That end credit scene is quite interesting; I may have to rewatch in a few months too see if I notice anything differently.

3/5/23

Read More

strange but calm

The movie didn't leave a huge impact on me nor is it very memorable. I don't recall the small details even right after watching nor do I feel like there was ever a climactic moment of the journey (if there is one). The events that take place within the plot are incredibly subtle, even up till the last few moments. There doesn't seem to be an end resolve either, it just IS. This review probably doesn't make sense however, the film itself has it's own color and it's own vibe that is consistent throughout. I think that's one of it's strengths that kept me watching. Although it's incredibly slow and anticlimactic, there's something about the calmness that draws me in.

Read More

The drunk, the cat, and the hammer

Near the end of Chia Ling's movie career, she starred in No One Can Touch Her. For a 1970's kung fu flick, she gave a nuanced performance as a grieving and vengeful daughter suffering from blindness after a brutal attack. Never giving up, she began practicing drunken kung fu and even kitty kung fu.

Chin Lin's father was murdered in front of her by a curious menagerie of bandits. She was blinded and became known as Brother Blind. Drinking copious amounts of mostly stolen alcohol, she and her only friend, a young boy with a sling shot, roam around as she continues to practice her kung fu. Along the way she is reunited with the man who had wanted to marry her and still does and becomes friends with a woman named Wong Mei Gwan (Sun Chia Lin). Also in town is a buffoon of a police inspector and a large man who does manual labor known as Brother Mallett. The Inspector takes an interest in Brother Mallett and soon the big guy is unknowingly practicing the Hammer Hand. The 14 bandits and 2 giants break up a wedding and the fighting and betrayals go to a new level.

The fights were plentiful in this movie, especially the last third of the film. These were fairly typical 70's strike, block, and lock fights. The final fights were more creative using a variety of weapons, even an opium pipe and a cat. Chia Ling did a good job with the drunken fist style and cat style (house, not tiger), so drunken cat style? She appeared to be the most athletic of the lot with Chin Kang, also one of the choreographers, right along with her. Her fight using two swords against a nameless bandit was the most fluid of all the fights. Chin Kang tended to play a lot of baddies so it was pleasing to see him in a more heroic role. With 13 or 14 bandits and 2 giants, there were a lot of opportunities for fights and not a lot of opportunity for character development. Despite her limited screen time due to the large cast, Chia Ling gave a rather complex performance for a 1970's kung fu movie. Director/Writer Ting Shan Hsi also wrote the script for one of my favorite old female led kung fu movies, Come Drink with Me and you can see his writing style shining through here.


Even with the solemn theme, there was plenty of levity, often focusing on Inspector Buffoon and Brother Mallett. Turns out the goofy inspector wasn't wrong about being smart and a kung fu genius. There's a nice little twist at the end even though most people will see it coming. NOCTH wasn't great cinema but it kept my attention and gave me a few laughs and fun fights to watch, I don't ask for much else from martial arts films from this era. I would only recommend for old kung fu movie buffs and Chia Ling fans. As always, I rate these niche, low budget movies on a curve.

3/5/23

Read More

Short film or Intro looking for a drama?

This really, really short film is just like a really good intro that to any C-drama, the type that spoils the plot so you should probably skip it to watch the 50 episode drama instead... With pretty fluffy cinematography, music and flowers...

But since it is a GL, chances are this is all we get, a teaser of romance between a tea picking girl and a wounded master... longing, and less exchange of words than I can count on my fingers.

What we got was however sweet, decently performed and did incorporate quite a lot for having so little time and words. Above all it will only take 5 minutes of your time to watch it, so if you have read all these words in this review you might as well go watch it... so off with you, go watch and enjoy ;)

Read More

hot gimmick? more like hot mess.

note- contains incest and toxic relationships. It is very choppy when it comes to both storyline and cinematography. Any character development just isn't explored. The soundtrack is laughable and I wonder how anyone can take this film seriously. The ending was dramatic but everything in between was confusing with many plot holes. My only praise goes to the actors (as they were actually quite good and managed to stay in character whilst filming some questionable scenes) and the person in charge of lighting ( the constant dark blue tint did add to the atmosphere of the setting).

Read More