Reviews

I would recommend it!

This is not a typical romantic comedy movie, but it's something we all have seen again. I would say that it was interesting to watch and I liked it. It is a movie about two people whose exes get married together and they meet at their wedding. They get drunk and sleep together and this way they start a deal. The thing is that they get to know each other before the deal so their sleeping together deal seemed more like starting a relationship. Their chemistry was obvious and they had feelings too. After the end of their deal, they have to face the reality, which is not an easy thing to do when you fight with your self esteem. In the end, I was happy that I gave this movie a chance. So, I totally recommend this movie!

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Just a story of a college girl

Watch this movie because of the news of the remake movie "Similar". I think this movie is not that bad as some said. Yes the ending is not good or not normal like other lovey dovey living in dreamland kind of love story. And the story is a bit flat, no really excitement / mystery / action / love, it just a flat daily life story of a college girl (except of the strange connection to the future time). But don't most of of us also most of the days living this monotonous flat daily life?
This is the time when Kim Ha Neul and Ha Ji Won still very young and quite new in the industry.

Acting
Acting wise both can deliver the emotion and expression well. The male lead in the other hand, the acting is a bit off to me, he looks like an autism or a bit of dumb? The expression is a bit strange too.

Story
The story is quite refreshing to connect with the past and future (but in real life this likely to happen though). The main focus is not the love story, but the daily life of a normal college student who have a crush to her senior. She's shy in nature and not the type will pursue a guy even how she like him. It just it's not so clear how actually the guy feelings toward her, does he like her? If yes he should have pursue her and not go out with the best friend.
Fate bring connect her with the future son, even without any words they recognize each other: people leave their scent and some pass down to other people. So the father pass down his scent to his son and so she can recognize him even she never met him.
But the thing is why must them connect with each other? Usually this kind of genre will have some unresolved things that need to be resolve, but for this story there's no really anything to resolve or change, it just a story telling and nothing more to it.

Overall the story is not the best out there, but also not that bad. Still watchable but don't expect a love story or action or thriller or mystery. It just a normal daily life story with some unrealistic present / past / future connection. Don't expect too much.

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A weird and interesting movie

This is one of those movies, where you go "Huh?" for a number of reasons.
For one, the storytelling structure is unusual, if you go in uninformed it is a bit of a trip, making you wonder where it is going and what it is trying to say.
As a European with no introduction to Chinese legends, it is so whimsical and random. If you Wikipedia it and then watch it again, it makes more sense, but not much? And yet I was fully charmed by the story and the acting. I am sure, if I spend more time doing research, there are many easter eggs for mythology fans.
Maybe it is a bit like watching a theatre show without having read the source material. You get emotional, and you don't know why either.

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Ouch - in the best and worst ways.

After hearing that this film was soon to be taken off of GagaOOlala, I immediately put this at the top of my watchlist. And ultimately, I'm rather disappointed with it.

It definitely spoke to a common asexual experience - with the main character starting to feel trapped in her relationship because of his frequent desire for intimacy. She'd even come up with reasons to get out of it (eating kimchi to get kimchi-breath, saying her sister is in town, etc.) and worried that her denial would upset her boyfriend. Asking her friend if she is supposed to like sex. Trying porn. Wondering if she might be homosexual and that's the reason for her lack of interest. The feeling of being numb and broken because she can't figure it out. These are experiences that many sex-repulsed and sex-indifferent asexuals can identify with. Perhaps even some sex-favorable aces.

And I loved the use of the S.O.S. Morse code whenever she's in a situation where she has to be "normal."

The film also used symbolism with the asexual flag colors (black, grey, white, and purple), but this felt a bit heavy-handed at times (it was everywhere, I'm not even kidding). But it did lead to a scene where someone commented on her always dressing like that and saying "it suits you" - which I found really cute. So I give it a tentative pass on that.

But at the same time, I don't think they used the colors with their meanings in mind - because we have a scene where she identifies everyone as being "black" - but yet black represents asexuality, so they probably should've used white instead.

Furthermore, at the end we get a scene where she seems to finally accept who she is. But then immediately afterwards we see her enter a crowd and cover her asexual-flag-colored dress with the quote saying "Everyone is black. And I am also black." The Morse code even stopped going off. I'm not gonna lie. This hurt. She had never once covered up her colors before, even when questioning. But now that she knows what she is, she's going to hide/ignore it. I've seen it in numerous other asexual short films, and it gets me every time. I hope we get to the point where this is another cliche ending we avoid.

And then there's the fact that asexuality is never once mentioned within the actual film.

I will say though that I appreciated the New York Times quote on asexuality at the end, as well as the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) resource. I think these are important for the topic being discussed.

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Yet another masterpiece from Hirokazu Koreeda

For those who are already familiar with Hirokazu Koreeda will know what they are getting themselves into before watching this film.

If you go in to the cinemas expecting this to be fast pace action or suspense blockbuster film, than you will be disappointed. This is an art house film that is very much driven by the characters.

Each of the casts deliver outstanding performances. Song Kang-ho rightly deserve winning the Best Actor award for his starring turn in Broker at 75th Cannes Film Festival 2022. Lee Ji-eun (aka IU) is the heart and soul of this film as we watch her character change as she journey with the brokers.

Just go to the cinemas with the right expectation and this film will not disappoint while enjoy the empathetic road trip odyssey reflecting on the family we choose.

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The mystery and action is why the Tomb raider series is so popular

This is an older movie, but it is one that is worth a watch for the day you don't need to think too much. Mystery combined with action and a bit of comedy is always a winning formula in my eyes.
The story follows 2 teams of tomb raiders as they complete to find the tomb and treasure.
The acting in this movie is good, I like it. It is nice to see Jiang Meng Xuan in a non-costume, fantasy show, but I think she is great, to be honest after seeing her in several movies now. Hopefully, she will continue to grow in the future.
There isn't much of an OST to this production but the story is light and quick to catch on.

Definitely a movie for one of those light, relaxing evening and popcorn.

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Blood Brothers went where many Shanghai gangster films have gone before, but they did it with style and a stellar cast.

The three blood brothers started out dirt poor in rural China. Two were actual biological brothers, one the ruthlessly ambitious brawn (Kang) and the other, the follower lacking in confidence (Hu). The third blood brother (Fung) would be considered a more thoughtful character who wanted to earn enough money to take care of his mother and marry the girl he cared about. The three traveled to Shanghai and ended up working at the Paradise Club, a front for gangland activity. Kang took to it like a fish to water. Merciless and determined to rise in the ranks, he enjoyed the killing. Hu and Fung struggled with the violence and death.

Shu Qi played the enchanting singer and dancer, Lulu, caught between the deadly gang boss and the man she loved, Chang Chen's assassin, Mark. She toyed a little with Fung, but he was never in serious contention. Mark wanted to free Lulu from the boss by killing the big man but had been unable to do so. Lulu's desire to become an actress overrode her survival instincts causing her to refuse to leave Paradise.

The story started out slow, building steam until the stories converged, ultimately exploding into death and mayhem. Most of the story was predictable which is not always a drawback with this genre. The biggest problem it had was with pacing and editing. Some of the transitions were not seamless and felt like footage connecting the scenes had ended up on the cutting room floor.

Another drawback was that the audience was supposed to shortcut to understanding the depth of the bond between the brothers because we've seen it in so many movies. This created problems as the movie went along and I was left wondering if I should really care about these men.

What Blood Brothers lacked in story, it made up for in sets and costumes. Gorgeous and lush, lovingly shot, Blood Brothers was a very stylish film. Shu Qi and Chang Chen's performances carried much of this film. The brothers could be vaguely interesting, but again, they never reeled me in.

Five Venoms Phillip Kwok was the action director and kept the movie interesting with the action scenes when the story had trouble moving forward. People were killed in a variety of gruesome manners. Because most of them were bad guys, their deaths carried little weight.

Despite the pacing issues and bland performances by the brothers, I never lost interest in the movie and enjoyed it for the most part. Other than dressing itself in beautiful clothes and sets, Blood Brothers did little to set itself apart, but sometimes a familiar story in a pretty package is enough to spend some time with.

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Director Naruse Mikio's first talkie was a comic take on a "modern" marriage. The financial roles were reversed in this 1935 film.

Chieko was an actress and the breadwinner of the family while her spouse, Geppu, was a househusband who wore an apron and occasionally submitted poetry without much luck financially. The couple went along day in and day out as if all was normal. A nosy neighbor and the women in the neighborhood didn't understand it. While they liked Geppu, they didn't understand exactly what he did for a living. The men didn't understand why he did the laundry and cooking while his wife slept in late after rehearsals.

The nosy neighbor and her husband had a traditional marriage, yet it didn't insure happiness. She brow beat her husband into selling life insurance one night to their new neighbors. An act that would have consequences later on. The new neighbors were dressed in Western clothes and looked fabulously in love wanting only to be alone. Throw in a wannabe writer who owed everyone he could swindle and that was the main cast. Nose, the writer, was both catalyst and annoyance. I never did find his selfish antics amusing.

The turning point came when Chieko asked Geppu to run lines with her. The characters were a husband and wife fighting over the husband allowing a deadbeat friend to stay with him. As in real life the wife was the owner of the home and in charge financially. The two had never fought in real life and Chieko didn't know how to portray this part. Soon enough life imitated art and a real fight took place shaking up the status quo.

Spoilery comments below...



The acting was adequate, nothing very memorable. Overall, the film was well made. The story made nice arcs with the husband and wife. Geppu gently asserted himself and Chieko learned to treat her husband as more than an errand boy. The Nosy neighbors were brought in for contrast and comic relief. Nose was the irritating stone in their and my shoe. The real fight became physical which seemed out of place and unnecessary. The new neighbors' story took a dark turn which stood only to create conflict in the nosy neighbors' marriage.

For much of this film the couple's relationship seemed more modern than many recent marriages I've seen portrayed in Jdramas and movies. The wife was not berated by the husband and told repeatedly that her main job was to serve him and take care of the household. Their unique paradigm came across as fresh and I wonder how this was received early in the 20th century. The moments when he balked against their dynamic seemed natural when he felt underappreciated.

The ending felt like a step backwards in this progressive relationship, for a moment I had a flashback to the Stepford Wives movies, but I choose to believe Chieko stayed an independent woman, only one who paid more affectionate care of her husband instead of being shoved into a household role for which she wasn't made. And Geppu continued to be a loving househusband who learned it was okay to disagree with Chieko. Perhaps the marriage needed a shake-up to let each other know what was missing in their relationship. On a different day I might have rated this a 7, the ending, some dangling plot holes, and Nose's tiresome presence graded it down for me.

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unremarkable

The narrative is unimaginative. That's fine for a rom com. i wouldnt call this as a rom com, though. there are a handful of moments that i think were supposed to be funny, but even they didnt land.

Little effort is made to establish emotional connections between characters, and like with the attempts at comedy, they don't work. The performances also fail to convey any sense of emotional connection between any of the characters, much less the leads. As such, when plot complications arose i don't feel like there are any stakes and i felt no satisfaction at events that were supposed to be emotional pay off moments.

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Calming, uneventful charm.

Nothing really happens in this movie. It’s a bunch of random stories and at times completely out of context conversations between characters you know close to nothing about, and somehow it was truly enticing.

After finishing the movie I truly wished there was a guy like Master with his small diner somewhere in my neighborhood. The small sanctuary after the hard day of work, that sense of a small community the regular clients created.

It would be a crime not to talk about the amazing aesthetics of the show. The camera angles, the lighting, the editing and directing - it all created a beautiful movie that was just pleasant to watch.

The acting left nothing to desire. With characters that are not exactly well defined, it might be tricky to truly present them as unique individuals, but Midnight Diner made it. All performances made me believe these are the people I could potentially meet on the street myself. Normal, relatable people with their normal, mundane lives.

Overall, I have no idea why I liked it so much, but I did and that’s what matters. A movie about technically nothing, yet it never felt boring. I was engaged from first to the last scenes.

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waste of time

They barely filmed anything new for this movie, it's just a bunch of scenes and flashbacks from the series so it got me very disappointed. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Movie vs Series

I always watch the series as they come out then the movie version once it is available. I usually prefer the movie over the series because it just flows better.

However this is the first time I have preferred the series. Mainly because the story line is a bit weak and I think it becomes more evident in the movie version. Everything is just kinda vague. Even the explanations when given are vague. You have just enough information to keep you from scratching your head in confusion.

I still enjoyed this series. It was very sweet and tender. It is quiet and peaceful. You'll understand those two statements if you warch it.

Will I rewartch it again? Probably just because it is a calming show to watch and sometimes I just need that.

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An Upgrade Permit of a Better Scale

The followup of The Outlaws series, this sequel elevates to a (better) level. Although the theme is quite as repetitive as the first one, it gives a new vibe of a different setting: SEA or Southeast Asia (only Vietnam, don't expect other countries tho). Storywise, this gives a good combo of action-comedy essence as usual (I have a good laugh for their roles in-between. Not terrible, yet not that cringey, just a good one)

However, what makes this movie outstanding? Yes, like domestically: Kang Haesang, this brutal villain to the core... you can say that at the scariest level: Kang Haesang > Gu Jakyeong (My Liberation Notes). Although I admit, he's not as iconic as Jang Chen (I frankly understand why the 1st villain stands out the most); but oh my god... his IT factor wowed me all over whenever he shows up. He shooked me to the floor, not gonna lie. And also, Jang Isu... I cracked up whenever his turn comes up. But it's too bad that he doesn't give a backstory on how he came back alive

So, is this worth recommending? Yes. Should you follow up the 1st, then watch the 2nd? Actually, depends; because as I've stated, it's a total repeat (similar storyline from the beginning of the film: police part) [not villain one, mind you], just different villains and fewer settings from the first movie. Have good support for this movie in your local cinemas, or wait for them released on the OTT platform in a later date

I shall volunteer myself deported if I've got myself criticised on this one

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