Reviews

So good and soo bad... but it does start with a Q

This one is so hard to rate as the female lead and her friends were great, amazing, fun to watch, interesting and human... Unfortunately this pretty cool person with the ability to move on married a self righties, chauvinistic, traditional, idiot who to top it off has 0 respect for his wife's boundaries, sorry I meant to top it off he is gullible and believes his even more stupid best friend...

And well the story revolves around the idiot instead of the really cool woman he married... which is why I want to give the parts with her a 9,5 star rating and the parts with him a 5... So I settled with a 7.

The plot is mostly predictable, and honestly slightly dangerous as even if they do seem to raise the issue of his wife's right to privacy they also add some so kalled forgiving parts here and there that are supposed to show us that the guy is ok. People this guy has more red flaggs than may day in China, the beach a windy day and a rich lead who loves reds mansion put together. If you meet a guy like that run for the hills and do not look back.

So what do I say if you have the time , need something from 2013 or that starts with a Q it is actually pretty entertaining at times (whenever the female lead is in the picture), So why not... it is not a bad watch... But even I who love watching flags for entertainment purposes found that this guy was lacking and more annoying than entertaining.

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It had potential but fell through

Ive watched a fair share of tragic romance movies, and i would say this movie falls under 'mediocre'. I think the acting was solid, but the plot was mediocre and had an unexpected twist that will make you question why it happened in the first place.

Firslty, I couldnt seem to bond with the characters. There seemed to be a lack of proper development for most characters, or even if there was it just felt lackluster. I couldnt emphatise with any of the characters in this film, and its not like there wasnt any chance to empathise with them but i just couldn't feel strongly attached to any of them.

The romance between the two leads was also underwhelming. It was sweet and had potential to be developed even further if they had stuck to the whole first love/crush cliche but it had to end in the most tragic way possible which made me feel that the directors didnt give a chance for the romance to develop at all, and just ended it in the most sloppy way.

Tragic romances dont happen like magic. There's a build up to it -if you want the audience to feel sad for the character you need the audience to become emotionally attached to them. For this to happen, we need more development from this character, a bit more perspective into his/her life. When the ML died, it didnt make me feel sad, it made question why did he have to die. It was sudden and it felt forced.

And the ending where the brother invited her to an exhibition - this was so similiar to the japanese movie, Heavenly Forest. Even the artworks of the exhibition had to do with people - the resemblance was uncanny. But overall , the movie was ok. If you want something to kill time then this movie is for you.

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What?

The actors were pretty hot in my opinion, and their acting was good, i.e. the ghost was creepy, and the jealous friend gave me chills. The story was unique and a good plot idea, but it was maybe a bit too short to actually round out the storyline. The music was also fitting, creepy/silly. I normally enjoy a good steamy scene, but it was kind of awkward, maybe because the story was moving so fast so it was like creepy ghost one second and round cheeks the next.

Though I didn't feel like I wasted my time watching it, still I would never rewatch it, because why?

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The cast is excellent but the film isn't.

The cast is excellent but the film isn't. That's why I'm a bit disappointed with this title.

The beginning was pretty good. It showed well-made scenery, which made me excited about this film. However, after an hour it got boring. And it was boring for sixty minutes straight. The ending was better than the scenes before, but that's still not it.

I feel as if the plot of this movie is truncated, and too simple. In the end, you can easily deduce what happened to Gi Hoon, but what about his parents? Why did these people go to them? Considering the whole film and that Han was in pursuit of the main characters because he made it his goal, it was soo out of context. This part really doesn't make sense to me.

Also, the film was very predictable. It was obvious to me what would happen to the main characters.

At least the background music was good.

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20th Century Girl

I do not understand why the show has been getting so many bad comments— if you only have bad things to say, I believe you are overcritical and picky.

Why I like this K-movie:

The end was unexpected. Even if you have watched a kdrama or kmovie with a similar ending it does not make it boring in any shape or form. Personally, I never watched a movie with a sad ending, so this came as a shock to me!

Each and every actor/actress really brought their character to live and made it very unique.

The movie basically illustrates the life of a teenager whose love and youth were at its prime on the 20th Century, and that’s where it remained. After the twentieth century, she had to deal with the memory of her first love which apparently left her behind in the 20th century without any sort of contact.

What could be better:

1. I do not understand why they had to make an appearance of teenagers stealing and showing interest for shows Rated R. I do not think that this should be normalised. Teenagers are literally losing their innocence and it is sad.

2. Maybe I skipped some parts and missed it but…. How did he die? Car crash? Natural death?! At least let us know. Apparently he died in 2001… but weren’t they meeting in 2000? Maybe I misunderstood or missed it, so if that is the case, apologies.

3. While the tape of the 20th century was rolling and showing the people, it would’ve been nice if it also showed how they were doing. E.g:. How are Hyun Jin and Yeon Doo as a couple?

Conclusion:

I have no further comments other than “well done”. This was a very well produced movie.

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Two words-Hopping Vampires!

From the moment I saw the dark forest shots and familiar waterfall I knew this Hong Kong movie was filmed in Taiwan. I immediately lowered my expectations. Good thing because the story was almost incomprehensible.

My hopes were heightened when the movie began with a line of hopping vampires, hopping through town guided by a Taosist priest. Those hopes came crashing down pretty quickly.

The gist of the plot is Ming rebels trying to survive against their new Ching overlords. Two of the main players David Tang Wei and Carter Wong had studied with the same master and now ten years later were on opposite sides. As he often did in later movies, Carter played the baddie. David’s sister Fan Ling also joined in the fighting. Tung Li was a Ming General working as a rebel, too.

Carter had stolen the masters poisonous needles and the rebels had a secret list. Now that the basics are out of the way, it was time to get down to some fighting. David was poisoned by the secret needles and the rebels sought to send the secret plans via “hopping vampires” as the area was crawling with Chings.

The movie muddled around for a bit with the “hopping vampires” being taken through town and getting into fights. Finally the Ming General and the brother and sister rebels took on Carter and the blood started flowing.

The body count was high, but due to the poor storytelling and often dark scenes I wasn’t emotionally attached to any of the characters.

The initial fights were mostly hack and slack sword fighting. In the grand finale fights we finally got some hand to hand combat. You don’t have Carter Wong in the movie if there wasn’t going to be some kung fu. There was a lot of wire-fu, especially for Fan, but most of it was tolerable.

Joseph Kuo made sure there were some interesting shots but the story was haphazardly put together. The fights weren’t interesting enough either to hold my attention. Only for hard core fans.


10/25/22

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Repetitive storyline but heartwarming results

Everyone needs love, family, and happiness but not everyone is blessed with it. What makes a family? It's the bond, the understanding and the purity of the heart

This was beautiful and exactly my style, It's a simple linear story, but I could easily give up romance dramas just to get stories like this T_T
Beautiful unexpected friendship that lead to famimance is my FAVORITE
I smiled, I teared up and I CRIED at the end TT_TT
The roommate program should be a real thing, ppl that are left behind by their families and ppl that are abandoned by their families untie to find pure love and bonding is the most beautiful form of loveT_T
ML was such a precious pure baby I'd actually love a romance based on his character, I feel like he was the 2nd lead of his own crush xD
Halmae and her ending were so sweet and sad, she put a wall on her heart but she never threw rocks at ppl. I mean like she only put a distance for her own protection but it didn't stop her from being kind ;(

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High quality filmmaking, Solid Acting, Mediocre casting, Storyless Story

Hello,

For us Westerners China has this very frustrating style of romantic story telling. I had to go into spoiler mode to explain myself.

In the West screenwriters are aware that a romance cannot be the only plot of the story. In fact it can't be the main plot. You need something bigger and more compelling than their love. In this case it's boy and girl meet, boy falls for girl, boy invests a lot of time and effort to get girl to like him, she finally does, boy mysteriously disappears, boy and girl reunite.

That's not a lot. Consider CASABLANCA. Man tries to run a business during a war and not take a political side. A fugitive shows up and begs for help. He doesn't want to but with the fugitive is an old flame that broke his heart into a thousand pieces. Man tries desperately not to fall in love with her again and discovers that the right thing to do is to set her and her fugitive free, taking a political position because... he loves her enough to let her go.

See the difference? The love story is buried inside a plot full of risks, twists, and turns. BEST SUMMER almost doesn't have a plot. Yes it's a different style of story but young lovers exist within far more compelling plots than simply eyeing each other.

So what makes matters worse for Western eyes is that if you're going to have a movie just be about a couple -- for the love of God -- at least have them kiss at the end. I've since learned that real Chinese people can see 'kissing' as 'sex', which in the West is laughable and ridiculous. Yes, if the two are kissing in a hotel or a lovely bedroom, I get it. But if they're standing in a public park by a tree -- grow up and let them have a kiss.

Regarding kissing, a funny side note here about something that happened in this movie also happened in THE GREAT CRAFTSMAN. In this film there's a kissless love happening and the girl can no longer stand it and LUNGES at her boy and plants one on him anyway. An extremely mild form of assault. CRAFTSMAN did the same thing and had Wallace Huo LUNGE at Yang Mi to offer her an unwanted kiss. Yet that series ends like this film -- without a final kiss.

Sorry but WTF? How does Chinese culture consistently omit a consensual loving kiss but seem A-OK with a kind of rapey kiss? If anything this should be reversed. Am I crazy? Is the rapey kiss allowed because sex won't come of it? Seriously?!?

So, now with all that out of the way, I'd say the actors were pretty good but the production was great. On a limited budget they made this thing look like a major motion picture. The photography was GORGEOUS. And some people don't get photography. They think if they see pretty mountains and sunsets THAT is great photography. It can be, sure, but the real test is filming the mundane in a cinematic way -- which this movie never stops doing.

The score of this film is lovely too. It's just such a shame that all of this skill was wasted on a one ply toilet paper script. The script was so thin you could see through it and watch another film at the same time.

Please don't think I'm mean person. I did love the characters and wanted to see so much more with them. But the idea this story was once much longer as a drama boggles the mind.

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Need to be overrated

I dived into this movie expecting not much but came back with a lot . Truly mesmerised by the quality of acting in this movie even the supporting charachters deserve a praise . Its a rollercoaster of emotions from the start t the end every scene is cinematographically beautiful . Suda as Ren is filled with passion and Nana as Aoi is a strong willed women filled with hope . That hope of finding a home that has not yet found she strifles through life . Storyline is beautiful ,direction is nice . Music plays a key role the lyrics pierce through your heart when Aoi is crying while earing alone , the lyrics just resonate too much with jer situation that you want to yell at her to please cry your heart out . A wonderful story plss watch i firmly belive you will love it .

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While the twists were interesting, the idea behind the movie is not quite clear. Who was the true instigator of all the bad events? How did they even happen? How was the supernatural element present? There were many questions that I feel like got confusing answers.

While the story itself was quite interesting, presenting some twists I did not see coming at all, and making me question which characters are involved and who is the bad guy, I wished they gave us a little bit more detail.

It was a fun and interesting watch, the performances were good, characters; motivation was vague at best, ridiculous at worst. The overall reasoning of the events happening did not have that much reason in it.

Overall, I don’t regret watching, but it’s not exactly something I would go around recommending.

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Must-watched!

"Someday you'll be hearing a lot of nasty and bad things about me. But I hope you'll always remember our happy days"

I never doubted Baron even a bit because I know he could act, he is very good at it actually. This movie is a must-watch for everyone. Cried at the later part, I wish I had this chance with my actual dad whom I didn't see. Yumi is still lucky to be able to spend a little time with his dad. Although lost time can never be compensated with a few memories still it's better than none. The emotions that Baron poured into this movie are so raw and poignant. There is a reason why this movie is on the top list and still trending, watch it now and you will understand.

The takeaway from this movie is that the time for a change is now. Don't wait for tomorrow to amend your failures and mistakes. Family should always come first, don't lose yourself in your dreams. Set limitations. Starting over is easy but staying on the course is hard. The mind forgets but the heart will always remember.

Kudos to the whole team of Doll House

Sobbing ???

#barongaisler #dollhouse

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Watch this of course for my 2022 ALPHABET DRAMA/MOVIE CHALLENGE.

At first this movie kinda dull/bored. But toward the end get more and more fun to watch.

This movie told story about how the world so faked. Like how they manipulated the result of award. That's why when Kiichiro Ota show up with all his genuinity/integrity people got so hooked by him & that's why he can make a different and people still willing to hear him.

Overall this one good movie for you to watch. But yeah it's japan, so a little bit hard to find. Just try all piracy web that you know. Haha...

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I don't know how to write a good review but this is a greatgreat movie with a goodgood actors!!
I think the storyline is good enough and close to the reality, for example that one day something may happen to us without warning, and it can really change our normal life.

I'm glad that i watched this when i wanted to cry, it makes me forget my pain for a while and realize that everyone has their problem. All the scenes wrapped so well that i can even feel the pain, the anger, and some part of peace.

Y'all have to watch this, but don't watch this while you eat (coz you'll lose your appetite for crying)

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I thought it was a light-hearted movie yet it ended up tragically

Queen YooJung made it again. I actually miss watching YooJung and I haven't seen her on both movies and dramas for a while so I really got excited about this new movie. And as usual she delivers. I missed her youthful appearance in a show. I still can't see her doing mature roles. She's still teen and a high school fairy for me.

Enough of YooJung though, let's get int the plot. I was actually ecstatic watching the first hour. I saw myself giggling, laughing and relating to the characters. It took me back to those high school crushes days that everyone might have experienced. Then I get that along the way, conflict must arise and I kind of predicted it from the beginning. Everything is all good until after WoonHo left. I felt like they should've ended it there but they just thought it would be nice to have a twist. I didn't feel heartbroken that he died. I feel mad that I was hoping a happy ending yet they gave me a tragedy, It's my personal agony though.

If you've been reading through this, I hoped you've watched the movie already because I basically spilled everything here. I warned though that spoilers are here. I still loved the movie though and myghad, there's a lot of oppa's here. I never thought of Byeon Woo Seok until this movie. I just discovered a new oppa to add on my list. Anyway, overall. This is still a fairly good movie to watch so I still highly recommend it specially for fans of YooJung.

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This film was a breed of mysticism and magical realism that you so rarely see anymore. One that demands the viewer to take time and weigh the details in their mind (so much so, that i had to draft this review in a word document, rather than straight into the MDL textbox). One that provides ample fruit for analysis upon reconsumption. One that requires absolute mastery of cinematography and characters.

“Are we really in the present? I don’t know. We are losing the certainty of being in the present. It could be the past. It could be the future.”

Put in the most simplest of terms, this was a story of reincarnation and rebirth. In it, we see two converging timelines of parallel souls anchored to the forest in which the story takes place. At first, it’s subtle. Mere flickers of visions across Joan’s consciousness. But towards the end, we see it leak into her reality more and more, until she comes to a revelation. The “vision” herb/fungus for which she felt a desperate and indescribable need to find (“I don’t know. I don’t know. I need it.”) wasn’t for her happiness. Nor even mankind’s.

But rather to heal and cleanse the forest of the tragedy that simultaneously happened long in the past and in the present (“I’m looking at two suns existing simultaneously. One in the water, the other on top of the hill.”). The tragedy that created unrest in the forest. The tragedy that seeped agony and pain even into the next iteration of their souls. Afterall, “love never stops.” Even when it looks still. It’s also the tragedy that the old man in the forest comments about it being a sad thought that when he passed, no one would be left to remember those graves on top of the hill. The tragedy of the young father-to-be killed in a hunting accident. And that of the young mother who (presumably) died shortly after giving birth to their son.

The son that the old crone, an old entity who sees not through her eyes but through her mystical connection to the forest that her life is so intrinsically tied to (honestly, she reminds of Mother Willow from the Pocahontas cartoon), carried through the tunnel into the near past. The son who is adopted by the old man telling the story in the forest, and who is given the name Rin. The son who found his way into a familial dynamic with the reincarnated souls of his parents.

And when the 3 should-have-been family members finally reunited and found themselves under the old and cleansing Juniper tree that they have all been drawn to throughout the story, that’s when “vision” is born. Or, the final merging of these 2 parallel timelines. And we see the spirit of the young father-to-be, smiling at what is finally possible, and walking off into the woods – his soul finally able to move on.

And what better method of rebirth, than that of fire – which has been intrinsically related to rebirth in both worldwide mythologies and in nature. And fueled by the wind that is Aki, who guided all the key players into making it possible.

And I think what's great about this film, is that this is all just one interpretation. But they all have the potential to deeply move a viewer. For instance, a fellow reviewer who analyzes the story through a lens that does not include reincarnation.

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