Reviews

What is a lived life?

It is quite apparent the movie was adapted from a novel, and a well-known novel at that, given the simplicity of the plot.

A story about one man’s principles and work ethic, his regrets and how his choices in life impacted on those dearest and nearest to him. A small, quiet, intimate and beautifully made film with subtle layers to its themes. That said, it was also very straightforward, as befitting a story with such subject matters.

The ending, as it was, did not come as a surprise as much as it was expected.

A movie you watch for the questions it brings to the table about what constitutes a life, that ever constant fact of life, change, and the struggles therein. There is no doubt why the novel it was based on was a modern classic. The themes touched on showed that clearly.

The film was not attempting to wow, and did not have any pretensions to such, and in that, I appreciated its honesty, just like the themes it wanted to convey to the audience. Simple yet thought provoking, and crucially, an emotional experience.

I would say this is a good film for its genre, if nothing remarkable. Worth a watch for an understanding of one aspect of the human condition. One with a Japanese flavour, poignant and evocative.

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I'm giving this movie a 7/10 because I really liked the story and the actors in this movie. The reason it's not getting an 8 is because the ending was just crazy or maybe the version I saw cut a scene or something. The way the villian meets his end made no sense.

Both male leads had good chemistry and I enjoyed the main villian. The last fight choreography was good too even if they slowed it down a bit. I didn't mind that though because you get to see the attacks and counter attacks cleanly. Theres another scene I really loved where the villian is practiiong his moves and the black and red contrast were excellent.

I thoroughly enjoyed the middle section of the movie when the hero is being trained in the invincible armour technique by a younger character. The young actor was really good too and I like his facial expressions. You don't really see that in these films and I like how those scenes played out.

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I will give up kindness in order to fight for justice

White Vengeance gives an epic look to the story of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu as they struggle to see who will ultimately wear the crown after rebelling against the Qin Dynasty.

Despite the gorgeous, colorful costumes, grand battle scenes, excellent cinematography and strong cast, White Vengeance could never figure out what the focus of the movie was. Was it the bromance gone wrong between the two men determined to become the next emperor? Was it a love story? Or a love triangle? Was it a bromance between the the two advisors to the opposing sides? The beginning of the film was particularly vexing as the focus jumped back and forth between characters and also time jumping leaving the viewer with no clear ground to stand on and making it hard to find their bearing in the story. If you are completely unfamiliar with this this historical event, it may be even more confusing. If you are familiar with the history, you may be upset with the obvious artistic liberties taken.

The famous banquet contained few of the historic events. If the beginning of the movie was confusing and moved too rapidly, the ending dragged and was quite anticlimactic. The changes to Xiang's and Yu Ji's story didn't move me, in fact, the changes caused me to roll my eyes. Director Lee couldn't seem to decide if Xiang Yu was an evil emperor wanna be or a tragic romantic hero. Liu Bang came across as having almost no agency of his own and being completely dependent on others until he made the quick jump to pathologically paranoid.

Feng Shao Feng played Xiang Yu and did a fine job, but lacked the fiery presence for a renowned warrior. Leon Lai's subdued performance lacked the cunning edge of the future emperor. Zhang Hanyu as Zhang Liang and Anthony Wong as Fan Zeng, the two strategists behind the big men gave the most compelling performances. Their two characters were the most interesting as well. Liu Yi Fei was the woman passed back and forth between the two leaders with little to do.

With the exception of a few wuxia style scenes that did not fit comfortably into a movie based on historical events, the fights and battles scenes were well choreographed. The CGI enhanced armies played well, with only a few glitches.

The look of White Vengeance was exceptional. However, WV's erratic focus and underdeveloped main characters took away from my enjoyment worsened by the creative license taken with the historical events.





8/12/22

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A fairly decent mindless watch

The story focuses on 4 girls (Ching, Phoenix, Candy, and Sugar) who are all working as promotional girls for products for various reasons. Ching is a poor college student saving up for a graduation trip with her boyfriend who just started the gig and is keeping it a secret from her boyfriend. Phoenix is an ex-prisoner who was framed for her ex's financial crimes and is currently struggling with sales on behalf of her increasing age and hot temper. Candy and Sugar are money-hungry best friends on the look out for sugar daddies, happy to be able to pick if they want to sleep with a customer or not. Ultimately, we see their struggles with love, friendship, and pride as they try to make the best of the hands they are dealt. But perhaps because of the multiple main characters and short run time of the film, I wouldn't consider any of these elements to be genre-level elements.

The characters weren't particularly compelling enough to stick with me after I watched. And while I guess the endings fit the characters' goals in life, I can't help but feel like it made the ending feel only mildly different than the beginning. Almost slice-of-life-y in resolution. Plus, only one of the antagonists ever gets what's coming to them - and it mostly happens off-screen. So it doesn't really feel like my investment as a viewer paid off.

But other than that, it wasn't a BAD movie per se. It makes for a decent mindless watch. Generally the acting wasn't bad - especially from the actresses who played Candy and Sugar. The music never stuck out to me, so I can't really speak on that aspect.

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Ive never written a review before but the anger that cursed through me while watching this movie has made me decide to. First of all, it was all going well. But, Im sorry if this review is more like a rant, but the main girl was an idiot. Literally all she had to do was pretend to be in love for a few hours, eat some dinner, and then she'd be fine. Slight misfortune of having to do it multiple times after. But oh my god. She decided to make him the most pissed off person ever and kept fucking with him after multiple chances until he finally was like "fuck it I'm killing her." She also caused the death of multiple ppl, which wouldn't have happened if she had just behaved... the whole time I was screaming at her. Also he was honestly pretty chill. Creepy? Yes. Someone u want to be around? No! But if your life and others peoples life depended on it it'd be fine to actually have dinner w him. He was not the worst person you could be stuck with down there. Be his fake girlfriend! Make an escape plan or some shit when ur in a safe environment (aka not the fucking garage ur trapped in) and have his trust. Don't do whatever the hell she just did.

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It's.....ok

Not the world's best movie but it's also not the world's worst movie. Other people out there that will like it but it wasn't for me. personally I've seen better movies. Watch for yourself and be your own critic. Overall I did like the action and acting overall was pretty good. But the movie was a little disorienting with all the different crazy camera angles and stuff. I didn't like how it ended not necessarily a cliffhanger but when you go through all that stuff that these people did just for somebody to blow up the bridge of the train can get derailed and fall into that River kind of a crappy end.

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This was such a warm and uplifting movie. It tells the story of a high school basketball player who's forced to change schools because of bullying. And in his new school, he finds not only a great team that teaches him how to love basketball again, but also life-long friends.

It's so sweet and inspiring. And his new team is absolutely precious. That they stay life-long friends - which is mentioned in the movie - despite every one of them choosing a wildly different career path in the end - the main hero becomes a sports teacher, the ex-captain a world-hopping businessman, another becomes a sushi chef, yet another a cop etc. - is just the cherry on top.

Also, I'm glad that the bullying wasn't simply swept under the rug, that it was shown that it left a mark on Yoichi, that he suffered from PTSD because of what his former team mates had done to him. It was a really great touch - and his new team mates had his back!

Also #2, there was very little to no romance, it was all about friendship and overcoming difficulties and it really didn't matter if their team manager, Hiroko , ended up with Yoichi or with Shunsuke, that really had no impact on their friendship. And that was great!

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It had potential...

Hyped up but I was let down at some points.

The story is overused. I understand that they tried to put a twist in it to make it seem interesting. That's is where it goes wrong, a 'simple' story would have been nice here, because nothing is better than a good written story without too many twists and turns about a guy finding his identity.
I also see that in seeming more Korean movies they used American or white actors speaking mostly English. Stop please, you guys have given us great classic movies without those nonsense.
I must say I do applaud them for taking an insanity amount of one shots. That requires great planning, timing and also needs to be flawless. I loveeeee one shots, but also.. This movie took it too far. Extremely shakey camerawork, too many angles in one shot and at times also budget CGI.

Overall I wanted to love this movie, the effort and work. But it was in all aspects too much.
Too much one shots, too much wanting a complex storyline and too much of wanting American influences.

Watch this if you want gory, action packed movie with loads of one shots.
Skip this if you looking for quality (sorry).

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One of the most awful dystopian movies I have ever watched (and I am a huge fan of dystopian genre)

Do you remember those dumb kids in your school that were outcasts and wanted to fit in so badly that they overtried to do ''cool'' things to impress, but because they had no actual concept of what cool is, they ended up embarrassing themselves and becoming cringe instead?

Well, this is what this fourth rate movie in a nutshell. The concept of death/survival games can easily be impressive and captivating, but because whoever directed this wanted to be cool, it ended up falling flat and insanely over the top. There is an attractive Asian female lead (Irene) who has sex with random people of both genders without being a prostitute, without an agenda and without having feelings for any of them. The whole purpose of those sex scenes is to distract from plot holes so big that would make the movie unwatchable otherwise. The characters are not convincing, their motives make no sense, the ''rich'' that supposedly organize the games are not to be found anywhere.

You would expect since this is a death game for money to have scenes with some kind of ''Elites'' (like in Squid game), but no, we see the same poorly made surroundings and overall ''coolness'' that makes the whole thing unwatchable.

I could write more but I don't want to waste my time or yours, this is a trashy movie and I don't use the word trash easily.

100% WOULD NOT RECOMMEND.

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The focus on the absolutist self-image of the Jaeboel changes towards their very human weaknesses

"The Taste of Money" from 2012 bombards the audience with aestheticized images, a strangely bizarre stirring mixture of cynical decadence, insatiable greed and human weaknesses that even the richest of the rich don't stop at. Let's start with the moral of the story: money doesn't buy happiness. On the contrary. The more there is, the unhappier their owners get. They may be wealthy bank-wise, but humanly they are bankrupt. Maybe they can buy anything, but in fact they are (and remain) alone. Their relationships tend to be abusive, mostly cold, and rather an empty, highly polished shell.

The KMovie focuses on a Jaebeol clan with a CEO, his wife, daughter and son, as well as the CEO's assistant and a filipino housekeeper.

----------- SIDE NOTE: --- Jaebeol, the secretive modern royalty of South Korea ---
The rich and powerful of South Korea emerged as a distinct variety in the post-war years. As a motor of progress and prosperity, they still influence social life as a matter of course - hidden, unofficially, from the background. In their hands gigantic possessions are concentrated. These are consistently maintained within the founding families. The Jaebeol clans were created as part of the autocratic governance of the early decades of the Republic and were further strengthened during the military dictatorship. The founders set the course for the economic upswing. In the meantime however they behave like the country's new nobility. They shamelessly and ruthlessly buy and bribe people at will. The remaining 99 percent of society are practically 'learned helpless' at their mercy. You have nothing to oppose to this power, which simply interferes with the legislature, judiciary and executive if necessary.
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The protagonist's family is one of the first percent of the social class, which behaves as a matter of course as royal families. Here pomp, decadence, coolness, distance, and even obscenity dominate. The highly polished, stylized aesthetic stands in deliberate contrast to a rather gloomy lighting mood. The opulent wealth almost builds an aesthetic wall that cannot be penetrated. The family members are trapped inside. Nothing can or event likes to really approach that, let alone penetrate it. It is (and remains) a strangely strange world.

The idiosyncratic cinematic narrative style contributes to this. It doesn't even try to collect all the threads at the end and close them neatly. It's as if the camera jumped in on the family story at one random point and got off at another. At the beginning, the focus is on the corrupt machinations and the almost absolutist self-image, but that changes on the track after the very human weaknesses of the individual clan members open up. Although they pretend to be untouchable, they are still vulnerable and actually want to be touched. From there it becomes a more or less satisfactory settlement with their own heart balance. 'Love' is a concept in this world that doesn't really want to fit in.

One of the key scenes: Youn Yuh-jung is shown a 64-year-old woman in an unusual candid sex scene. A disturbing effect is deliberately wanted. In a way, this encounter between young and old, between boss and employee, points out the dilemma of the story, so to speak. In this short, impressive scene, the venal world of dependencies and emotional states is turned upside down. The rich have everything and yet they don't - there is something they don't have: the feeling of being wanted, desired or even loved for their own sake.

"The Taste of Money" is a somber social study about the 1 percent that sits at the top of South Korea's social pyramid. Once again. There is an astonishing number of such startling studies in the world of film and series. But it seems even more astonishing to me that there are obviously still far from enough of them. Because nonetheless, this 1 percent still sits dazzlingly on its throne and it is still considered highly desirable within South Korean society to get as far up the pyramid as possible...

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A drunken sword master stole the real plot

I love martial arts movies! I did not like this one. The story is so stupid, with Seol Rang being a complete nonsense. I even prefer simple revenge, or an assassin that flies into the clouds, or killing sprees of hundreds than this.
Moreover, the reviews! When I read some of the reviews I was amazed how someone with a bad written opinion could rate this with 8 or more!!!!!!
I will not give spoilers, so I stop here.

STORY – completely stupid, 3 friends fighting the injustice: Seol Rang, Deok Ki and Poong Chun. Then, Deok Ki betrayed the other 2 and kills the mother and child of Poong Chun and the betrayed Seol Rang kills Poong Chun! Amazing! Then, after this script arrive to this amazing plot!, the story goes in a way where Seol Rang destroys her daughter life (Sul Hee)! In the process, there is a martial art master, an assassin that likes Sul Hee, etc

ACTING – not bad, but with a plot like this, the characters could not do better. I feel bad because they do not deserve a story like this.

MUSIC – bad

REWATCH – only if Seol Rang or her daughter put a sword in my neck!

OVERALL – I did not like it at all. Yes, some scenes pretend to be beautiful. However, with nonsense like this, even flying through the fields was not pleasant to see.

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To those PEOPLE commenting not to watch this movie

You are making tremendous efforts to conceal the truth. The reality is that this is precisely what those self-serving and incompetent politicians did to the Filipino people in order to further their own interests.
The truth has been seen and heard by us. It may be too late for the late P. Marcos to clear his name, but the history of the Filipino people will do that and more.
The finest thing about them was that they were concerned about the Filipino people and not just their personal interests.

But now that we have learned from history, we are creating a new one. It would be interesting to see how the opposition reacts to this film, and whether they are still living in the past or are actually focused on the present.

what a pity. Stop doing so and let's continue.

You had your opportunity voting for all those yelowtards and puppet presidents; now, however, change has come. No, the Philippines will not be fixed in six years, but we have made progress since PRRD-. God bless the Philippines for that, truly.



Anyway, let's just watch this film and see how hard people fought to conceal the truth, but how time is now revealing everything. :) haha

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