Completed
Along With the Gods 2: The Last 49 Days
0 people found this review helpful
Mar 18, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers

A Good Movie But An Inferior Sequel

We start off with the end of the first movie, This movie heavily relies on the backstories of the three main guardians while Don Lee's character is served to be the movie's emotional narrator of the backstories. The backstories was really well done and the lore was not confusing especially with the big plot twist at the end. I do have to agree to someone that the pacing and sudden jump cuts from serious emotional backstories to CGI dinosaurs was quite jarring and cohesive, even though it was fun to see Ha Jung Woo fighting dinosaurs I wanted the transition between the effusive moments to the more comical moments be more well done. Ha Jung Woo's character's past was the best out of the three, betraying his adopted brother which turned out to be Ju Ji Hoon's character and Ju Ji Hoon's past turning out to be so well thought out and a tear jerker. Ju Ji Hoon and Kim Hyang Gi obviously stole the spotlight with every scene they in, Ju Ji Hoon's comical performance with Kim Hyang Gi's more wholesome yet emotional performance makes the movie more entertaining and heartfelt. Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days succeeds bringing the characters more depth but it suffers from unusual pacing, and transitions.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Forgotten
0 people found this review helpful
Mar 17, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

Amazing Movie

I have watched so many movies and tv shows (I mean American and Korean) and to be honest out of all of the shows I’ve watched I would say Forgotten is the best piece of entertainment I’ve watched. For me it tops all kdramas I’ve watched. So beautiful.
Why I liked it:
It was executed amazingly. It had me questioning myself. I remember at one point I thought I had missed a piece of information because I’d gotten confused but it’s just part of what makes the movie amazing. You really don’t know what will happen. I won’t lie I did predict out some of the things that were gonna happen but that’s doesn’t mean it didn’t have the shock factor. Building up all that confusion and then just revealing everything close to the end was just *chefs kiss*. Acting was amazing, cinematography was great and production was ??

Why I disliked it:
I don’t have much to say on dislike to be honest. It’s just one of those movies for me where there isn’t really anything I can dislike. At first I did question the ending.
SPOILER:
I’m not necessarily one for having main characters die or anything but to be honest in some shows that’s probably the direction that makes the most sense. I mean they basically had no family, had done terrible things and probably really depressed. Just the fact that the guy whose family died had been investigating for all those years only to k*ll himself in the end.

I normally watch Romance and some thriller but Forgotten has just made me want to delve deeper into thriller kmovies like Forgotten.
Overall:
I would definitely recommend. 10/10. Even if you don’t really watch thriller that much I would watch anyways. Because majority of my watch history is romance dramas but a thriller movie is my favourite out of everything I’ve watched including kdramas, so ??‍♀️

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
0 people found this review helpful
Mar 17, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

"All Of Us Have Someone Who Is Hidden In The Bottom Of The Heart...We Will Feel Like 'Umm'""


I glanced at some of the other reviewers and they said that it ended 'badly'...how do they come to this conclusion?

In a coming-of-age movie, Nam (Baifern Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul) has a crush on Shone (Mario Maurer) since around 7th grade; he is a10th grader at the beginning of the movie. handsome, good at sports, and all-around nice guy to the school girls.

However, as many young inexperienced girls having their first crush, Nam doesn't believe that she is 'pretty enough' to be Shone's girlfriend. so she admired him from afar but still tries to arrange to see him and be around him at school as much as possible.

Knowing that she is interested in Shone, her girlfriends, who have hung together since 1st grade, do home 'beauty treatments' on Nam, which adds to the comedy of this movie!

While name is occupied with her crush, Uncle Chang (Jaturong Mokjok) arrives from America, where her father (Off Pongpat Wachirabunjong) is working to feed his family and get ahead. Uncle Change tells Nam and her sister, Paeng (Kajathaneeya Srirotwattana, not listed on MDL: last column on cast at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Love_(2010_Thai_film) that their father will pay for their ticket to America if they score at the top of their class.

Although she is ranked mid-class, Nam starts giving her all to be able to go and see her father!

The majority of the story centers around friendships, normal school activities, et al (I will let you watch the movie for that part!) and Nam being chosen for the part of Cinderella in a school play, which makes her become more visible to the -pubescent boys.

Of course, a new girl enters the scene, Pin (Wittawat Arisara) who becmoes nam's adversary for Shone's affections, and Top (Not Akkaranat Ariyaritwikul) another friend of Shone, who becomes an adversary for Nam's love during the last year and a half of high school.

The side stories are also interesting; but I will let you watch them yourself as well!

The high school year for Shone ends with Nam confessing her love for him, and being heart-broken when she finds out that he started dating someone else just before she worked up the nerve for her love declaration. She gives him a momento of his (which becomes another misunderstanding) that she had kept since an altercation between Shone and another high school boy a few years earlier.

A unexpected 'twist' happens just as Shone is going away for training as a professional soccer player; it seems that Shone, an amateur photographer has been secretly been photographing Nam throughout the years; I haven't the faintest idea why some high school boy like Shone would be taking copious photos of Nam, especially since Nam doesn't feel "pretty enough' to be his girlfriend, would you?!

Fast forward - 9 years; after Nam has graduated high school in America's I believe and made a name for herself in the fashion industry as well here.

I was so heartbroken when I saw Shone taking a baby to Pin's place of work, but breathed a sigh of relief when Pin said she wished her baby's father loved the baby as much as Shone did! He hadn't married her!

Returning to Thailand, Nam is honored by a television show for her contributions to the fashion industry in the States and promoting Thailand as well; the hostess of the show has a special guest waiting backstage for Nam, someone who waited 9 years for the 'love of his life' to return from the States, where she went to live with her father and study fashion...

He is now a professional photographer after playing professional football for some years in Thailand...
I don't think that your eyes will be dry when the two get back together!

('Soccer' outside of America is called 'football')

I don't understand how some reviewers thought that this ending was so terrible!


I loved the attraction that the two main cast members portrayed for each other; perfect acting from both of them!

Baifern Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul portrayed the young Nam, who considered herself ugly, perfectly...she went into squealing, and congratulating herself every time Shone gave his attention to her, or when Shone smiled or spoke to her...all are well done, making the screenwriter and director portray Nam as a real girl who goes bananas when Shone communicates with her.

Mario Maurer also portrayed the young man very well, showing that he also was interested in her, excellently. However, the director didn't allow him to show his interest in Nam until near the end...this story reminds me of Su-ki-da (2005), and the laborious time it took for the main cast in that movie to proclaim love to each other.

The support cast, as well, were excellent both in the side stories and also supporting the main story that the lead cast were telling.

The music was different, but nice, and the cinematography is excellent, as far as I am concerned. I do like th4e 'twists' that the directors added in places, both for the main and support cast' stories; this movie si romantic, comical, and dramatic, all wrappe d into one movie!

I want to give an extra kudo to Teacher Inn (Sudarat Butrprom), who was a great comic relief in the movie. She has to either be a comedian or have comedy training in her past! Her 'exploits' during this film filled in the segways between the main story and side stories as well.

This movie was slow in the beginning but picked up speed during the 2nd half; probably to fully develop the characters in the first half. This movie is also family-friendly, as Nam's parents are both hard-working and seem to care about their daughters; and Nam mentions her mother as one o f the reasons for coming back from the States.

This movie is geared toward the 12- to 18-year old range, but would make a great after noon or weekend movie for the entire family...

This is a half a box of Kleenex movie, by the way.

I am looking forward to watching more of Puttipong Promsaka Na Sakolnakorn's movies; however, i think I have already seen his "Yes or No (2010)" already!

RE-WATCH VALUE: Yes!

If you like this movie, may I suggest Su-ki-da (2005) or By Stealth Like You (2021, available in one combined film at YouTube movies).

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
REC
1 people found this review helpful
by Raikou
Mar 17, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Cute-Romanticing-Heartbreaking

I like the first person point of view and how it was recorded, first and foremost. I was able to laugh and cry and love with them as the movie went on. I have had this on my list for a while now and never got around to it cause I have always been skeptical of watching older Korean gay films. I skimmed through some spoilers and decided to finally watch it. The explicit scenes are good, but subtle. When they are making love you can feel the passion but its not crazy. The acting was great! I would believe they were actually together for 5 years! I would highly recommend taking an hour out of your life to watch it.

It can be found on GagaOOlala with a subscription.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Marmalade Boy
0 people found this review helpful
by EveLil
Mar 17, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 6.0

Lovely atmosphere

I randomly came across this movie (like most things that I watch) and can say that it wasn’t half bad.

You easily get into the story and you can nicely see how the relationships between the 6 family members slowly warms up. It doesn’t really have any funny moments (definitely not a rom-com). But it has more moments that make you think about relationships with other people and how they form.

I didn’t find the acting to be anything particular (it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t exceptionally good either). Nevertheless I think that Miki and Yuu were great actors when they weren’t saying anything. Silence is a powerful method to focus on the feelings of the two main characters during different moments.
So what I exceptionally liked about this movie is that it felt very natural, in a lot of dramas and movies they put too much music so that you can’t really get into the world the actors are in. But here it felt so raw, you could hear background noises and the scenes were often filmed from afar so that you could see their movements from far away, as if you were really there.
Another thing I really liked was the warm and natural lightning throughout the whole movie, they often tried to have a warm yellow light and sometimes orange colours (maybe all to fit better to marmalade).

The two main leads had their differences but understood each other with their heart. The scenes where they were affectionate to each other were the best and especially the hugs were something so important to show their closeness. I feel like there should be more hugs in dramas…

This is probably not a movie I’m going to rewatch, but it’s a good one time thing worth your time if you like a story between two teens complementing each other and falling in love with each other in a confusing family setting.

Ps: This review might be a mess xD there was too much I wanted to mention but it’s mostly such subtle details that I had a hard time focusing on the most important things. Thanks for reading :)

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Nana
0 people found this review helpful
by Lolita
Mar 17, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

TOUCHING

Nana to me is a touching and sad movie, even though it has a happy ending.
In the first half of the movie, we deal mostly with cute, girly Nana's love life and her relationship with her boyfriend. She seems to be your traditional Japanese female who dreams of being married and handling the household. It is good that her bf doesn't seem to agree with this as he pushes her to find her own place and job. Ultimately, it proves to make her stronger.

Around half way through the movie, we focus more on the tough Nana's story that is only hinted at in flashbacks. This is where the movie really got to me. I'm not sure why, maybe because it speaks to my own/our own experiences with heartaches and pain that can come with love? The love between Ren and Nana seems so pure, so giving. It makes it all the more sad to see them fail at first, due to being proud people. You just feel that theirs is the kind of love that is really one in a million and hard to find.

Tough Nana isn't your typical Japanese girl. She isn't super cute or overly attractive. But her vulnerable side that shines through makes her very attractive, because you can feel that hers is a love that is as pure as the beautiful snow we often see in the flashbacks.

A scene close to the end where she suggests that they one day grow old together, after they have outgrown their pride and vanity made me cry. I guess that's where film has real life beat. In real life, no beautiful or sad music is playing over those special moments you share with others and no beautiful speeches are addressed at us.

The film might have been stronger if Nana and Ren didn't seemingly get back together in the end, but rather kept their melancholic distance. That's closer to real life, I think.

Still, I think Nana is a beautiful movie, not just for women, but for all of us who ever went through a heartbreaking time or felt they once had true love...

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Mar 16, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers
Aaaaaah, I messed up the viewing order and watched this movie before watching the end of the series. I didn't realize that it took place after the drama finale. Oh well. Maybe it's good so because the movie was centered around the Go-Busters for logical reasons since they were the 36th Sentais. Oh well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I loved seeing the pirates "go dark" and fight the Go-Busters and to discover what happened to them, what forced them to switch sides and join the Zangyacks. I think that thanks to that, watching the drama finale won't feel like an ending but just another step on a much, much longer journey.

Also, I loved that they didn't miss protecting Earth at all. They were like, yeah, yeah, we will fight along with you but this is your piece of rock and not our damn business. It hammered home the point that the crew - except for Gai, that is - were actual aliens! They were used to planet hopping and space battles and grand adventures. When they came to Earth, they were suddenly stuck here, protecting this backwater planet. So leaving it didn't mean the end of an era for them like for many other Sentais, it meant finally being free again, going back to big space adventures and treasure hunting. So... the ending of the drama shouldn't be seen as sad but joyous. For the crew, at least, that is.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
The Scent
1 people found this review helpful
Mar 16, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 8.0

Underrated!! watch it...... : )

CAUTION : You won't enjoy this movie if you have a strong sense of justice and honesty, which is also the reason why this movie has such low ratings despite being such entertaining. So, take it lightly and watch it NOW...
I'm a great fan of Park Hee Soon, but my ratings aren'y solely based on that, this movie is surprisingly good.
The plot isn't exceptional but the actors and their dialouges uplifted the movie to the peak. Funny scenes and humour, here and there, catch you offgaurd. You are going to laugh a lot.
Sometimes you need to watch movies like this, movies that don't make you sad or empty but satisfied with everything.
I'll certainly watch it again sometime later.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Brave: Gunjou Senki
0 people found this review helpful
Mar 16, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.5

I love this movie so much!!

Honestly,I have no idea why would people even dislike this incredible movie! This is one of the best Japanese live action movie I have ever seen! Besides the fact that it is highly unlikely that the high school students is able to defeat those enemies,the warring states period part is quite confusing as the story did not explained anything about it and the fact that one of the scenes there wasn't any blood on the sword after one of the high school student killed one of the enemies.The rest of the scenes was okay.Overall,it is such a great movie with an interesting plot and excellent actors such as Arata mackenyu,Nobuyuki Suzuki and Haruma Miura.I was literally crying whenever there is a scene of Haruma Miura in the movie.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Sunset in My Hometown
0 people found this review helpful
Mar 16, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 5.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 2.0

too long and boring

What does one think while going to a movie, that they might connect to the character for its pain and enjoy its happiest moments. And more of all to watch the favorite actor for 2hour is actually a joy. But this movie had me like when is it going to finish.. It was plainly BORING for me.

Actually, it took the whole hometown and all the characters his father, teacher, friends, enemies, the girl he liked, and the girl that liked him, and hence it got all tangled up.
The movie is too long and the character is just fighting in the present. Half of the character's past is not shown so it's difficult to connect to them. The fights are not comical, but frustrating. It should have rather concentrated on a few characters than mess up with all.
The romance seemed a bit imposed. It was OK when it was one-sided showing the first crush feels but in the latter part it just came out of nowhere without any connection happening. The father-son story was also not developed well.
since I didn't enjoy the story I didn't like the acting as well, nobody moved me.
The only good thing I liked about the movie was the rapping of Hak Su

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
The Fable
2 people found this review helpful
by Eric
Mar 16, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

High Stakes, Personal Action, the Epitome of its Genre

Tough hero in casual setting has always been a favorite premise of mine, and this is a near perfect execution of that concept. A mostly solemn, sometimes goofy, but undeniably awesome protagonists propels this show through past-paced action, charming slice of life scenes, and tense yakuza politics. All of it's wrapped up into a neat and satisfying plot which is simple but never boring. And, while acting occasionally suffers due to classic Japanese exaggeration, it isn't enough to subtract from tight, sometimes even beautiful dialogue. The screenplay manages to deepen the background of the characters without becoming too preachy or exposition heavy. The production, sound design, OST, cinematography, and special effects are at a level where they fade into the background, elevating immersion and suspension of disbelief. The action is honestly quite incredible, and supports the premise of the movie very well. They also managed to strike the perfect balance between characters of varying personalities, and between moods of solemnity and levity. I strongly recommend this movie.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
My Ex and Whys
3 people found this review helpful
Mar 16, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 5.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

An apologetic for cheaters

To me, this film spent too much time justifying the cheater (Gio) and making Cali (FL) out to be the bad guy (girl) because she didn't want to trust him again and take him back. Sure, go ahead and forgive him but don't give him a second chance to hurt you all over again, girl. Just say, 'I forgive you, but I don't want to see your face again.' No, not all men are cheaters, but this guy really did cheat, and I don't care if he was drunk or not. He was just downright stupid to begin with because 1) he hired this shank of a manager and 2) he got so drunk he slept with her. He KNEW Cali had a cheating dad yet he was stupid enough to place himself in a situation that's ripe for betrayal. What a dumbass. Yeah, when they meet again, he appears to have cleaned up his act (although he still has the bad influence of his cheating father and brothers, and uh, does he have a job?), but trust has already taken an fatal blow, in my opinion. Then early on, she's being pressured by all these fans of her blog to forgive him and take him back like she's the bad guy. I just don't like the message given out by this film or the way that FL's made out to be the villain. Why does this film remind me of that song by Gareth Gates 'Anyone One of Us', which is basically an apologetic for cheating? It's a great song in terms of sound, but it gives out a terrible message just like this film. And to make things worse, she's running after him at the end of the film as though, once again, he's the victim and she's the perpetrator. Don't waste your time on this one, especially if you're a person who, like me, draws the line at cheating. Yeah, people can change (which seems to be the theme of this drama), but why waste your time with a guy who has cheated when there's other men out there who won't?

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
4 people found this review helpful
Mar 16, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

An exceptional example of found footage horror done right!

An interesting found footage horror that was peppered with scares. The story behind the asylum was intriguing but took a while to pick up. Great acting by Ji-Hun and Charlotte, who were two of my favourite characters in this movie. So let me share with you why you may or may not wish to watch this film.

Why you should watch Gonjiam?
1. Great set design
2. Creepy effects and audio to support the thrills
3. Wonderful acting of some of the cast
4. Background story of characters with the scripted scares and later the real scares were innovative
5. Fitting ending that leaves us with more questions than answers

Why you shouldn't watch Gojiam?
1. Difficult to comprehend if you cannot understand Korean as I couldn’t figure out where to focus between audio, subtitles, cast & surroundings.
2. Slow first half
3. Mediocre subtitles
4. Not much differentiation between the scripted scares and real scares

Overall:
I found it hard to understand what was happening because there was too much diverting my attention between the subtitles, the cast reactions/gestures and looking for ghosts/background curiosities, and the constant camera switches didn’t help. Not being a fan of found footage I might be overly critical of the movie though as parts of it; mainly second half where the story picks up, were interesting.

So would I recommend this movie for anyone to watch? Only if you understand Korean or are a fan of found footage horror.
A 7.5/10 for me.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Hot Gimmick
0 people found this review helpful
Mar 16, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 4.0
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

What is this?

I read the manga when I was in high school and looking back, there were many problematic elements with everyone's relationship with Hatsumi. ** Spoilers Ahead **

Watching the live action I am baffled --
It's beautiful, artistic and several elements of filming created/heightened the mood.

That said, the storyline felt forced and the characters weren't developed enough for me to believe them. It is a movie so of course they had to condense the storyline and edit out a lot of scenes from the manga, but I was sad to see so much left out.

Ryoki's portrayal/complete 180° character change also threw me. Like who is this person?!?! We didn't meet any of his family or get a sense of who he was/the pressure that shaped him into a warped teen at all.

The major elements of the manga - the betrayal by Azuza, the brother who is not blood-related, Ryoki's father's fuckery didn't really land anywhere. It felt shallow and it was hard to feel any emotion for the situations or characters in the situation.

Outside of the above, the grandstanding big picture monologues about childhood and sexuality by Hatsumi and Ryoki were just...so forced and weird. It just felt like at a certain point they rewrote the entire story or tried to wrap it up in some way and to me it fell flat.

Overall I'm glad this was made, but I am left feeling disappointed.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Secret
0 people found this review helpful
Mar 16, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0
This movie was created by a famous Taiwanese pianist (who also stars as the main lead), and it quickly became one of my favorite films. It features a clever use of time-travel (of a type I hadn't seen before-- and that's really saying something, because I've seen/read a lot of time- travel stories), excellent music (as you'd expect from the aforementioned pianist), romance, subtle danger, and a final sequence that legitimately gave me goosebumps... how could I not fall in love with this? <3 Definitely recommended!
Was this review helpful to you?