How to make a quick buck off of a super successful TV drama...
I watched this out of mild curiosity when I was in China on business and could only get into iQiyi. It was barely entertaining and nowhere compares to the TV drama Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. The storytelling was chaotic and difficult to follow because they pretty much just cut and pasted together all of the best moments and lines between Bai Qian and Ye Hua from the TV drama and then re-shot it with different actors. Everything else was hurriedly compressed into what time was left so it will be incomprehensible to anyone who doesn't know the story line.The actors who play the two leads, they are both beautiful people and had pretty good chemistry but still fell short of Yang Mi/Mark Chao. Liu Yifei's Bai Qian was way too young and sweet-natured to pull off the role of feisty goddess queen of the fox tribe. And Yang Yang's Ye Hua was very handsome in a very, very pretty way but as an actor he has nowhere near the emotional range and intensity of Mark Chao. They made for an adorable pair of young lovebirds but their relationship didn't build any substance before they were pretty much hooking up. In fairness to the actors, its difficult to impress when the no story-line jumps around and there isn't any real character development. One change to the story I did approve of is that four beasts become one beast and they kill it off together. That was kind of cool.
Alibaba had money to throw at this so the sets were visually stunning as were the costumes (and also more revealing). But the whole thing didn't come together in a good way. Had I watched it first I would have avoided the drama. I wouldn't say the movie is yuck but it is a rather obvious attempt to make a quick buck on the back of the success of a mega hit TV romance.
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The creativity for this movie is so on point! People need to show more appreciation for how thrilling this simple film about exam turn out to be. There's no killing or harming, yet this film succeed to get you on the edge of your seat. (Thanks to the superb acting, cinematography and the intense music.) I think the selling point about Bad Genius is that we all once were in their shoes---or you might once cheated at some points of your life. The movie explain well with the character development to the point where I respect her decision to cheat. You read that right, watch the movie and see for yourself!
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After this brief summary of what happens, here's what i think:
since I've read the true story of Junko Furuta I found the film too "friendly" towards criminals and the whole story itself. Criminals don't seem to be the monsters that they truly are but are portrayed with a certain humanity and even goodness in some scenes. The abuses that Misaki suffers are not remotely comparable to what really happened to Junko Furuta because the girl was actually raped by 100 men, was forced to eat cockroaches, was practically burned alive and fireworks were inserted into her anus. The film is not comparable with reality but nevertheless it manages to convey the idea of ??the torture that Junko Furuta had to endure and how the human mind can be evil.
Acting and other stuff:
-I didn't like the actors so much (they weren't so good at acting), especially the girl whom I found at times expressionless ... in some scenes it seemed like she was think of something else while performing;
-Another thing that I didn't like at all was the makeup, the makeup artist in this film did a really bad job ... the wounds appeared to be made of plastic and what about the bruises? Really bad;
-Are you sure that the cameraman is not drunk? The flickering effect might be good to make a film more realistic but he shouldn't have exceeded , especially in scenes that didn't required it;
-The film is far too soft.
I was sickened by both the movie itself and by men's cruelty. Maybe I will give an opportunity to the other two movies.
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This review may contain spoilers
Gonjiam but with a psychic trapped inside
Unoriginal, almost effortless visuals, just your typical pale gray black-eyed long-haired ghosts giving their victims spine-tingling back and shoulder massages. Plot-wise, the only unique concept was the psychic being able to time travel through the haunting events of the center and being able to exorcise the victims of that time frame. But most of it was much like Gonjiam with a boss ghost and your occasional possessions here and there. It was predictable despite its inception-esque concept and honestly a bit boring for my taste.Was this review helpful to you?
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The fighting scenes were amazing. As well as the filming locations, they were stunning.
The plot´s development is catchy, cause it got like three stories in it, and the most interesting thing is how all of them are connected within Yin Gwak´s story.
The ending song was so touching I love it, it really conveys the feelings from the movie.
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The scenario (of Kim Yoon Seok) is superb. I was surprised how this simple story could show such an important and relevant matter as life, soul, death and love. After watching it we remain convinced that despite betrayals and affairs the world is rational and it’s a good place to live, because human relationships make us vulnerable, but at the same time strong.
It’s a rather simple, touching but a little uncomfortable for you story about women. It has a lot of drama aesthetic: low budget, focus on emotional development of characters, school and home environment, likable protagonists and good pace and ending, and this characteristic of Koreans deeply human understanding of life.
Everyone who love dramas will find something absorbing and satisfying here.
I highly recommend because it’s very comforting and warm to watch the girls' love for their little brother.
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Bdsm!? That killed my curiosity!
When I first saw its trailer ..bdsm? OMG ! I was thinking what kind story they are going to put it in. The poster of the movie also gained my attraction where there were no usual dark colours but more lively colours .,and also the Jun in the posters. Now that I have seen the movie....I would like to say it's awesome.As other bdsm ,here it's not toxic,but it is cute and sexy.
Story : the uniqueness of the movie itself is the bdsm . And I was thinking will the movie will be able to execute well and portray the bdsm as the viewer needs? Well... In my opinion the story is executed well ..and the director and writer has done a good job in it making it no boring. The main leads roles from colleagues to dom and sub was impressive. I really liked how the FL tried understand the ML's interest and also how she try to be the dom that she has never done. Frankly speaking I really don't know much about BDSM ,but from this movie I understood that BDSM movie can also be made in cute and comedic way .
This movie also contributed how bdsm can be bad too.. but they didn't go more in to that .( That's for the better, other wise the story's genre would have changed to thriller). And also how bdsm can affect realtionships too. I really liked how the main leads realtionship changed from colleagues to awkwardness and to awesome cute sexy bdsm scenes .Any way I liked the story. Even though the story was simple it was executed well.
Acting: both the main leads have done a good job in playing their characters.especailly Jun , he proved that he is a talented actor ,other than as an idol. Acting cute,playing dog and BD scenes showed his other side as an actor.comparing to his other dramas he done good job in this movie. Next ,the FL, seohyun ...,when I first saw her as cast I was thinking will she able to be a fit for this character? But I was wrong! She was the best casting. In the movie her cold eyes and character voiced that ' I m the master'. I could feel it! . The chemistry of the main leads was good. The part where they played the dog was really funny. I liked how they played the dom and sub .they have done good job in portraying their characters and it was suited for story.
Music : music? Honestly, I really didn't hear any music while watching this movie. Is it because I was too immersed in the movie?^_^
Re-watch value: I won't say It has good re-watch value.it is good for a one time entertainment.but for some they may can see it many time as needed.
Overall: overall the movie is good.the plot is interesting, I really liked how they added rom- com to bdsm instead of it becoming toxic. And also Jun playing the sub part ,showed that even though jihoo is perfect as from head to toe ,loved by everyone on outside, but inside he had a secret that was hidden that he likes feel to be crumbled and feel pain . So , this movie also shows that everybody is not perfect concept too ! Any way give it a try.. ..
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my one gripe with it was that it gets very uncomfortable to watch (trigger warnings all over the place) as the movie tends to be extremely graphic when describing and showing the type of abuse suffered by these children.
if you can stomach it, go for it.
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Could've been better.
It's a decent one time watch movie.But, as the headline says it all, this movie could've been better.
I didn't, at all, get the vibes of Korea in 1988. I'm not a Korean and born in the 90s. So, I truly don't know what it would be in Korea in the 1988. But we do have a parameter to compare it with, Reply 1988. And the only thing common in these two were the presence of Go Kyung-po. Nothing else. Nowhere I got the vibe of 1988.
So, ignoring this basic thing, I would now focus on the story.
Honestly, it was quite good. It was funny, thrilling, entertaining and the actions were good. That being said, there were many glaring mistakes too. I felt that come characters were way underutilized like that of Lee Kyu-hyung. Bok Nam will make absolutely no difference in the story if he wasn't in it. So that's a big flaw. All other characters were good and engaging, but not the same with Bok Nam. But I understand this as it's very hard to give importance to all the characters in a movie with an ensemble cast.
So letting this one slide.
Now I will address another problem, the climax. It seems to me that they tried to copy a bit too much of Hollywood movies like Fast and the Furious. I know it's a movie, but still does it make nay sense to see a car parachuting its way down to the car from a fucking cargo plane. I know it is possible, but this scene is frame-to-frame like that of Fast & Furious 7.
Coming to the acting, I think all the actors did a very fine job. I watched this movie because of Oh Jung-se and Moon So-ri, and I wasn't disappointed by it. Yooh Ah-in was exceptional, so were rest of the actors from his gang.
The best thing about this movie has to be the music. The songs of 80s provided that nostaglgic feel which was missing from the production setting. Korean as well as English songs were used quite well in the form of mix-tape.
Overall, this movie is nice and would appeal to fans and those who haven't watched much of Korean cinema.
But as someone, who has watched many Korean movies and dramas, this movie was way below mark.
Still, the acting and the funny sequences will make it a worth watch.
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The storyline was different, but very interesting. It's a comedy, in a way, but it has a serious kind of tone to it, mingled with the humor, which is unique. The entire premise of the story was very interesting, and I liked all of the characters as well.
I had originally thought that with so many characters, I would be lost, but this movie made sure that none of them would get mixed up. The separate backstories were what distinguished the characters from each other the most, and it was very clever. Almost no names were mentioned--at least, that I can remember--yet it was easy to tell them. Of course, their faces are different, but something about it was very odd in the way they distinguished the characters.
I think the actors did a great job as well, and I liked all of the characters they played.
Music was unnoticable, but I think that's good--at least it blended in.
Personally, I would definitely rewatch this. As the very ending was something I didn't understand, yet vaguely understood, I'd like to watch it again after some time passes. The vague ending was still great though.
If you have two hours on your hands, and you don't want the drama of a romance, definitely DEFINITELY check this movie out. It was great.
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Light, Easy watch, Reminisce
I like to watch this type of light Youth romance, brings you back to the days where all you think about are school, grades, extra-curricular activities and young love or crushes. This is a welcome break from heavy dramas out there. It’s a movie that you take at its face value, and not to over-analyze the characters and their psyche. These are high school kids, trying to understand themselves and the world around them. We were once in their shoes and at one point in time, we can identify ourselves to any one of them. Enjoy watching!Was this review helpful to you?
