Reviews

I gave s1 a 10 but this was lacking
ma dongsuk is a gem, his fight scenes are refreshing especially after the brutal villains, he comes on like a soda pop and btch slaps everyone into another dimension?
but that's about it, this only worked for him. the villains were all so skinny and but they don't die. ma dongsuk had 0 character development and very little screen time, he was there to fight. the villain was way too "Idc I'll kill and I won't die"
the events were meh, tho we were invested in the action and we laughed a bit, more at the ridiculousness than comedy
my favorite part was "let's split it 50/50", "who gets the 50", honestly cheese like that only works for ma dongsuk
and as mom said he was her fav part?

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What price revenge?

Chen Kuan Tai directed and starred in The Iron Monkey, a dark and violent old school revenge flick. It's Monkey Fist against Eagle Claw, and the noble Shaolin vs the evil Qing.

Chen's rebel family was dragged away and executed by a notorious Qing general. Chen escaped capture because he was gambling and being threatened by bookie/debt collector Wu Ma. After the devastating loss of his family (good thing he didn't see what happened to his little brother in prison), he lives in the woods and scavenges food from a Shaolin temple. Chi Kuan Chun's Shaolin apprentice catches him and convinces the abbot to let Chen train there. Refusing to give them his real name, he simply goes by Iron Monkey, his nickname for the way he climbs walls and fights. The abbot hopes his training will help him release his need for revenge. Honey, if he did that we wouldn't have a movie.

Chen trains with Bitter Monk (Chen Mu Chuan), learning the most difficult style---The Monkey Fist. After a few years, the Qing come calling needing guards and fighters but are turned down by the monks. Chen goes to the Abbot and asks to be released. In a very un-Buddhist manner he's told to go quench his need for bloody revenge. Chen joins the Qings destroying other villages and rebel forces in order to move up the ranks and get close enough to the general so that he can take him out. When the Shaolin temple is threatened he has to move up his revenge rampage timeline.

The Iron Monkey is ethically challenging to watch. It is an unflinching revenge film where the hero crosses the line in order to avenge his family. It asks the question, "are evil deeds acceptable in order to eradicate a greater evil?" It's a 1970's kung fu film so no answers are given. Even more troubling to me were the real life fights between a monkey and an eagle at the beginning of the film and near the end. Though it might have been acceptable in that time and place, I still deducted points for the disturbing scenes.

Chen Mu Chuan who played the Bitter Monk was the fight choreographer. The fights and training scenes took up most of the film keeping him busy. The fights were well done and complex. The final fight scenes had brutal culminations. A few fights had acrobatics, but the wire-fu was kept to a minimum. There was no romance, no cringey comedy, this was old fashioned smash mouth kung fu fighting from beginning to end.

Good guy or bad guy, I enjoy watching Chen Kuan Tai fight and act. Wilson Tong played a treacherous baddie as well as Bryan Leung (Beardy!). As a director, Chen's pacing kept the story moving forward and flowing smoothly. The sets, costumes, and weapons were varied and their quality added depth to the performances.

Overall, I enjoyed this grim revenge film with the exception of the animal abuse scenes. I found it to be an above average 1977 kung fu film. If you are in the mood for an intense brawler, this is one to try.



7/26/22

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Sometimes it's nice to see bad things happen to bad people... Other times, it's painful.

PROS
+ There is an incredible attention to detail on the strong and purposeful writing
+ Even though it's easy to foresee the conclusion, it is done in a beautiful and emotionally-touching manner
+ The acting is top-notch (even certain characters' body language are meaningful)
+ Those who pay attention to details in cinematography will be treated to an extra helping of emotional devastation

CONS
- This is NOT a happy or even satisfying film; the dense and depressing tone will stay in your mind long after the ending
- The action is great, but quite exaggerated and unrealistic (similar to old cowboy movies)
- While there is some dark comedic relief, it doesn't help ease the heaviness; therefore, this is a hard movie to want to see twice
- There is excessive graphic violence that would upset some people
_________________________________________________________

This is one of the darkest action movies I've seen. It's an upsetting movie, but I'm glad I experienced it.

That ending is meaningful and makes it worth seeing.

8/10

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Sad and sordid

Let's start from the fact that this is a very hard film with marginalized characters condemned to a sad and hopeless existence in which there is a past but also tragic love relationship between two men. Condemned to live without hope living poorly exploited labor and one of them sexually in order to protect the new partner from him another desperate man who clings to him eagerly. three men condemned to hell with a hard and realistic scenery of cold tones and scenes of dirty decoration. subtle music just to underline the harshness. It leaves you with enormous sorrow and sadness to see it, no matter how well narrated and acted it is. sad and sordid

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A thought-provoking sci-fi work

Some say that the best science fiction puts a spotlight on some part of the human condition, and this short film does just that.

Main character Tae Eun's girlfriend Joo An no longer has a human body: after carrying out a medical operation which transferred her consciousness to a computer system, she now has a web-camera for her eyes, a speaker for her mouth, and control over their home's devices for her hands. And although the change was by Joo An's choice and Tae Eun was supportive, the two both struggle to adjust to this new reality, and are confronted with the need to communicate and to consider each other's perspectives.

Love Does Human has a bit of a slow start, and there were points where I didn't understand why the characters were reacting in a certain way, but it all comes together beautifully in the end. Through its sci-fi premise, viewers are encouraged to think about real-life problems using a different angle, and the movie never gets too heavy. Also, shoutout to some excellent voice work from the two actors - Joo An is performed nearly entirely through voice but she feels deeply human and present, and Tae Eun's actor also has a standout scene featuring some great voice acting. All in all, it's a short film that's well worth checking out!

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I am grateful that I saw the movie without knowing that Bean had passed away in March of this year. a pity so young! The film shows that it is a kind of cut and paste of chapters and that means that sometimes there are very fast team jumps that do not allow you to fully understand the development of the characters and their behaviors. The male lead couple acts and connects well but more moments of emotional closeness are lacking and the closing is abrupt and poor in that sense, let's not forget that it is a BL genre and it is a shame because the two protagonists get along well. the role of the bride is that of the thoughtful and capricious and false woman to whom these series have accustomed us, wanting to forcefully convince her to be chosen. tired. what is different from others is the role of the father coach and his affective-loving relationship with another boy who is also young and who undisguisedly shows that he is passing through that relationship. This is not a recent relationship with so much difference from those and from a father with children. otherwise few scenarios intense and tiresome group of friends and a pleasant time without the. the penalty again is the loss of Papangkorn Lerkchaleampote RIP

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Okay... A thai youth romance comedy about a body swap. I know well what that means. First, it's thai, so naturally it's not cool enough for a person to have a thai name. So, everyone has a cool english nickname like 'Book', or 'Candle' or 'Table' or 'Stool' to be cooler. It's nothing new it's in every thai series/movie. Then there is the body swap, occuring inbetween a boy and girl. That's also very funny & cute, of course until the sweet innocent girl needs to pee for the first time. Then, she'll have to get acquainted with the boy's "thingy" no matter what. The boy also needs to finally shower and then see the girl's body to the last detail. And then rub it with soap, of course (if nothing else), lol. There you go with your innocent school romance.

Watching this themed movies/series you got to concentrate hard, because every time the boy is speaking it's actually the girl speaking, and every time the girl is speaking, or doing something, it's actually the boy saying and doing this. It's like you should imagine the girl while the boy speaks and vice versa. You need to constantly remind yourself of this which is not something you are naturally used to as audience. Plus these characters are such that the girl's is agressive and the boy's sensitive, lol.

Any romance progress the main girl & boy can make during the body swap also is with each other only, because with any other people it would mean those people are either the wrong sex, or wrong orientation, after the mains swap back, lol. But, having something on with each other would be probably difficult, too. Cannot imagine a romantic kiss where you would have to kiss YOURSELF? Gee, I kinda wished they'd just switch back soon.

I gotta admit that at one point by the end of this movie, I seriously expected the boy to swap bodies with the gay boy, desperate to finally somehow be with the girl. (Because she decided to stay in the male body as it suited her for playing soccer and it also happened to be the body her crush was attracted to.) I also debated whether the boy has fallen for Eve. Because during this movie, so much runtime was dedicated to each of them developing something with someone else. I guess it's never easy to write this kind of stories.

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Well, It Was Something

I placed a spoiler alert at the end of this review.

The series/movie: The story idea(s?) seemed cute. However, there really is no clear story concept. The script is greatly under developed and goes in many different directions for no reason. It also had many elements that made no sense. See potential spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more info. There is also very little character development with both leads. The acting from most of the cast was good.

The movie: They did a great job editing the episodes together to make a very cohesive movie version. They also added a nice introduction scene at the beginning of the movie to explain why Han Ba Da is moving to the town. There was one major editing problem towards the beginning of the movie.

Random Notes:
Watch if you have some time to kill and have nothing else on your must watch list.



******Spoiler Alert******
Another Korean BL series that has a 1-year time jump for no reason. There really is no explanation why Tommy left Han Ba Da. Yes, he wanted to continue with his music career but that didn’t mean he had to completely cut ties with Han Ba Da.

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For fans of Parasite and Ha Yoon Kyung

What grabbed me about this short film is, without a doubt, its production. It feels strongly Parasite-inspired in its lush setting, muted palette, and tone which blends thriller and satire, and although it lacks the depth of the movie it's aping, I do think that viewers craving something with a similar vibe will come away reasonably satisfied.

The same goes for fans of lead actor Ha Yoon Kyung, who is now gaining recognition for her role in Extraordinary Attorney Woo. She does well with the material she is given - there's a nice moment in the trailer where you can see her seething as she watches the other maid frolicking in the garden with their (male) employer - and her character is queer, which is always a plus.

That being said, it does feel like due to the focus on emulating Parasite's atmosphere, not enough attention was given to other elements of the movie. The story and characters are not especially fleshed out, and the younger maid Ji Yoon's characterisation as a mix of ingénue and femme fatale may be divisive. On a technical level, the editing is sometimes confusing, making it difficult for viewers to tell where characters are in relation to one another (this is a particular problem in the second half, which takes place in the nearby woods).

Despite the flaws, though, I do think it's worth watching as one of the more ambitious short films I've seen, and it does certainly make me wish that there were more works involving queer female characters in this line.

Pros:
- great atmosphere, high production values
- Ha Yoon Kyung plays the lead character, who is queer

Cons:
- story and characters lack depth
- editing can be confusing

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A hidden gem

Having watched the trailer, I was expecting this short film to just be a fun physical comedy about the main character trying to avoid her ex-girlfriend while still doing her job as second camera assistant. And it is successful in that regard - the comedic scenes really are very funny - but it's also doing a lot more than that.

The main character is someone who has failed in multiple respects: she wants to make movies, but now she can only help other people make theirs; she seems to still like her ex, but now only avoids her. On paper, it sounds depressing, but the main character's situation is treated with delicacy and humour, and the ending is gently uplifting.

What I was most surprised by was how much ground is covered. Despite the the story taking place over a single day and there being no music and only sparse dialogue, there's a great deal of thought and emotion packed into this short film's 11-minute runtime. The director has an excellent sense for how to let the scenes breathe while also keeping them as concise as possible, and the two leads hit it out of the park with some genuinely affecting performances.

I really hope more people will watch this short film, and I myself will definitely be checking out the directors' other work should the opportunity arise.

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Not all progress is forward

Shot in black and white Kontora casts a surreal experience over the viewer as a father and daughter seek to heal in the midst of their grief and mend their broken relationship. They are aided by a mysterious mute wanderer who only walks backwards.

Sora discovers her recently deceased grandfather's war diary, a journal that details the vicious treatment of student scholars turned soldiers near the end of WWII. He had hidden his "metal arm" deep in the forest and Sora becomes obsessed with finding her grandfather's treasure. Ultimately, she is helped by the mute homeless man and her father.

All three main characters are lonely and lost. Sora seemingly has no friends and only had her grandfather to confide in. Her father has been adrift and bereft since the death of her mother. The vagabond meanders through town in threadbare clothes walking backwards with people staying out of his way. When her father accidentally hits him coming home from a party one night, Sora determines to care for him against her father's wishes.

Sora's cousin, who had failed to become a dancer and returned to town attempted to befriend Sora. Her father, the rich uncle, greedy for more, at first only wanted Sora's house to add to his collection, but after hearing about the "treasure" set his sights on it, further driving a wedge between family members. When the treasure was found the meaning behind Grandpa's words were obvious.

The mute man whether quiet sage or spirit in need of healing, in his own peculiar way helped pull daughter and father together on the quest for the missing treasure. A movie with a smooth glass surface became murkier and more turbulent as the characters dove deeper into their relationships and what they needed. It would take the miracle of working together to fight back to a bright surface.

An odd slice of life movie on coming of age, the power of family and desire for healing, Kontora perhaps ran too long. It could ramble slowly over the roads again and again of the small town and the hills and valleys surrounding Sora's home.

The performances were heartfelt and natural. Newcomer Mase Hidemasa gave an emotional performance as the mute without uttering a word. Marui Wan managed to convey the conflicting emotions of the insolent, independent teenager in search of meaning, relationship, and something beyond the borders of the nearly empty town. The performances were backed up by a forlorn musical score.

Despite a small budget and reportedly being filmed in 10 days, Kontora looked polished and felt meaningful even when it tried a little too hard to be mysterious.





7/25/22

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This is a good movie for those that have not seen the58 episodes drama Eternal Love (Chinese adaptation from the novel "Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" by Tang Qi Gong Zi). The movie is fast paced and there’s not enough time to give the story prior to the movie’s plot about the last part of the love story between Bai Qian, the youngest daughter of the Fox King, a nine-tailed fox, and Mo Yuan, the God of War. The actors did a good job delivering their characters but, given the fact that since it is a movie and their past interactions were not presented in full, everything was hurriedly compressed and the essence of their love and tribulations to finally be together was a loss for the movie and the actors. Still, great CGI’s and costumes! As mentioned before, this movie will be more enjoyable to those that have not seen the drama. Enjoy it!

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Only A Psychopath Would Watch This Movie!

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND DEPICTIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION! ^B


I had to force myself to finish this movie; I do not understand why 'anyone' would even want to watch this crap!

Movies like this do nothing but keep teh hate that has smoldered ince WW II going.

If you really know me, I just love an 'oddball' movie once in a while...or more often...

This does not count as an oddball movie; the only person who should watch this movie is a person who denies the atrocities of WW II!

I wouldn't even consider it an "exploiation" movie since the leadership not only kills those who were prisoners, but also their own (Japanese) men!

I remember seeubg the original film under a different name, and it actually, in my opinion, somewhat worse than this one.

I like macabre and psychedelic movies, but frankly I wou;d not include this film in either category.

The only good genre listing is "HORROR": that it is, from start to finish!

MORE LATER!

As he is forced to kill the Chinese, his mental state begins to deteriorate.

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Love and hope

the story is well constructed and well narrated through a magnificent performance by the two protagonists who with their day to day are introducing us to their love story and in detail they are exposing their life story, which explains the difficulty of fitting in a society so conservative that it rejects homosexuality and much more lesbian women.
wanting to fit into those standards generates pain in the characters who do not stop loving each other. It is not the typical drama of lesbians doomed to fail because the story is built on the basis of wanting to bet on their real love story. and with it there is hope

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