Reviews

good romance packed in melancholic vibe

Tell Me That You Love Me (2023) - 8,,5/10 -kdrama
nice romance drama with quite melancholic vibe, but story is normal happy-end one.
That melancholic vibe which this drama have is quite alike to :My mister: for example, not sure if its caused by alot :silent passages: where actors used mainly sign language. But still its quite good and I liked it.

main pair is middle aged one and male lead seems to be type which usually doesnt lets hid emotion show on his face + reality of him being deaf which makes problems to express himself by words. All makes it rare and nice scene once he lets emotions flow out of him. At other hand female lead seems to be quite opposite. She is expresing herself quite well just by face mimicry.

plot - romance

Read More

Bit too laboured

Jan 2024

Overall a fairly enjoyable watch, although it took me quite a long time to complete.  I couldn't binge-watch this.

I liked most of the cast and am a fan of Park Hae-jin, although I find he often carries the dramas he appears in. I like his action stuff more and this isn't the best thing he's done.

The pace, or just the writing perhaps, was pretty laboured for me, with certain scenes from the past being replayed too often.

I do really like the idea of this story, I just wish it had been better executed.

Unfortunately, the modern day lead female character, I found really irritating; the way she spoke (often too loudly), too brash at times and overly headstrong; Jin Ki-Joo also seemed to me to be kind of ungainly at times, in her portrayal.  Weirdly, she suited and played the dual role much better, which therefore means it may well be the Director's fault.  Her chemistry with PHJ, however, was just 'off' somehow, to me.

Some overly silly parts to this, but also a few genuinely funny, also gripping and quite sad scenes, too. However, I did find it ridiculous when characters known to their colleagues/friends, started behaving totally out of character and no one seemed to notice enough to do anything about it.

Not one I'd want to watch again, but I don't regret having given it a go; even if only to see PHJ on screen!

Read More

Watch if you're a diehard Luo Zheng fan, because he's good in this

Adorable romp about a mentally, emotionally and physically abusive boyfriend who sluts around with and uses other women, while she seeks to be the perfect office assistant and longsuffering girlfriend. When she finally has enough and breaks up with him, he begins stalking her with a vengeance and ramps up the abuse. After he realizes what he lost, he becomes an adorable little doormat.

But, despite how much I HATED this story, Luo Zheng delivers an amazing performance as a scary psycho narcissist changed into a remorseful man with a conscience. Luo nails the character -- esp the stalking scenes -- waaaay creepy. I've found that people either love him or hate him. In my humble opinion I think it's because he's been typecast as the stiff CEO and has been in a few BAAADDD shows. It's true he wasn't the greatest actor at the start (no formal training) and his scripts don't provide him much opportunity to do anything great. But he has grown tremendously in his acting, and there really are moments of brilliance in this show (his emotional breakdown and crying scenes. Enough about the actor, back to the show.

I was going to tank the FL actress, but then I just remember where I've seen her before: Go Ahead. She emoted beautifully there, so I can only assume the director asked her to look mournful most of the time. For me the character had little depth.

If you are a Luo Zheng fan, watch it. He's a sweet actor who becomes a scary freak. He's really good in this.
If you aren't a fan, maybe give him another chance? If you refuse to do this for me and continue to hate his acting, hate stories about abuse, the skip it.

Read More

a float serve at best

you start this series and think it’s going to go a certain way and try to track it, but it ends up just dropping in front of you without making it to a real significant point.

I am still giving this a high rating because frame and ryan genuinely carried the entire series, both in acting and promotions. more so that frame being able to pull off two roles, and make me feel very different things for each character, deserves to be praised. they both poured so much into this and don’t deserve to be overshadowed by some of the worst writing to exist. it rivals mame in the sense that there is minimal critical thinking from characters, no world building, dialogue is not a thing, and production that just accepts bare minimum in editing, filming, and sound.

which leads into my second point: there’s too many couples. I would let sam and that other guy get a pass if they actually had chemistry, but team always looks so tense it was actually uncomfortable watching him. I had hoped he would loosen up a bit or even give some unscripted type of improv but it didn’t happen. I hope he gets more comfortable if he continues in this industry, but that couple should’ve been written out of the series or changed how their scenes went. generally, I find second lead couples to take my interest, but this one was a hard pass.

overall, it’s fun but suffered a lot from keeping zee as a relevant part of the plot. this needed more thought put into it from an outside party or something. disappointing, but I still think it was a good watch just to see rising actors like frame and ryan.

Read More

The Biggest Scumbag is the Host

Having watched Love Village, which was sweet and interesting, where divorced people lived together looking for new love, it was presented by the hosts (Scumbag and Becky) in a fun way, but was still respectful of the participants. Seeing this show pop up on NF I thought I would give it a try, but I find myself having to constantly readjust what I am prepared to listen to from this man's rude and dismissive mouth.

I understand this series is aimed at a younger generation but I'm sure most of them have better manners and judgement than this pig. Let me say right away that I am a westerner, and dating and reality shows here have been drama and sex-obsessed for a long time now, which is why I just don't watch them. They are crude, crass and objectionable, so I felt it was a real shame that this crude, crass and objectionable host took every opportunity to lower the tone of this show, which seems to just be an exercise in rudely insulting and embarrassing the participants. Did I say I detested this man who apparently loves himself so much hw thinks he is beyond reproach? I don't remember.

Interesting that checking the ratings of his other reality shows, this one is the worst. Not surprised.

Read More

Like or dislike? That is the question...

Ok, so... I really don't know what to think of this series. On one hand, I really liked it and binge watched it without pausing (what I do when I don't really like a show). But on the other hand, I disliked a lot of things that I got very frustrated at times.

I mostly agree with a lot of comments and reviews on this page so I'm probably going to just write those points again but here I go.

First, the editing was horrendous - especially at the end of the series. There is one scene in which First told Sprite (whom he still thinks he's Zee) why he was mad (Zee said that he was dating Salmon and that he never liked him) and the next scene with them, Sprite goes to First all smiles and he's surprised that First is mad and asked him why... If First didn't say back to him it was because of what he said earlier, I would've thought the scriptwriters forgot about the mall scene just before... The same happened after Sprite told First the truth. First is mad at him and asks him to leave him alone and the next scene, First goes see him, Sprite hugs him and First is okay with that?! Those are the scenes that shocked me the most but there are more nonsense like that throughout the series... It's so confusing...

Second, they dragged the plot sooo much that they could've made 8 or 10 episodes maximum, it would've been way better. After Zee recovers from his injuries, they invented a false excuse for him to live the life of Sprite that it got ridiculous. Why would Zee want to live Sprite's life when he wanted to get his life back as soon as possible. Also, they brushed it off so fast, they didn't even show much of his life as Sprite that this plot was totally unnecessary. And the whole lie thing... Oh, my word!!! I even got spoilt before watching the series so I knew the lie was not going to be revealed until the very last episode and still! I got so frustrated because of it... I knew they wanted to make some drama but it was so ridiculous that it would've been better for Sprite to tell First the truth sooner and then they could've take the time to reconcile in a propre way (because it was way too fast in my opinion). I really pitied First when one day Zee (who was actually Sprite) was all lovey dovey and then the next day, he was cold as ice. And the worst thing is that we had scenes with Sprite after that, complaining to his friend that he didn't know why First was mad at him... This guy is so dumb...

Third, there are so many plot holes... They start something but they don't show much of how it is resolved. For example, Zee got drugged and couldn't play his match so Sprite came to the rescue. But we don't know how he knew Zee needed help (I suppose Zee called him but it's just a supposition as no scenes showed him make the call) and we don't know if he managed to do his own match (because of course, the jiu jitsu and the volleyball matches were always on the same day...). Also, Koh was never punished for drugging Zee's water (nobody actually talked about this drugged moment after that, it was never mentioned, it's as if it never existed...). The same goes for the ones responsible for Zee's assault. No punishments whatsoever. And the conflict between them and Sprite was a bit shown at the beginning, Sprite knew who were his brother's assaulters, but he does nothing until his brother miraculously finds a CCTV camera (which is illogical because the assaulters said at the beginning that there were no cameras so...).

Fourth, I think this is a shame that we don't see Sprite doing jiu jitsu as much. I know he's busy with covering up for his brother doing volleyball but it's as if he totally gives up on jiu jitsu and then, when there's a match, he's ready for his match (but how could he be ready without practice?...). Also, I think we all agree on the fact that Zee is a jerk. We have no explanation whatsoever as to why he's acting like that with his teammates. I first thought he didn't really like volleyball and that it was his mother who was forcing him continue, but he proved me wrong at the end so it is just the proof that he's simply a jerk. Also, being mad at his brother just because of a puzzle is, once again, ridiculous. But it was not the first time that the show made some dumb decisions...

As a whole, although the series got me frustrated so many times, I still enjoyed it. I really liked the two main actors. I also like the supporting cast, even though I wasn't really interested in their stories (and thank God for that because I felt for the fans of Jack and Mike's ship when they summed up their story by "I can't see you as more than a friend" - it was hilarious to be honest). The plot could've been much better if it was better edited, directed and, sometimes, acted. My main problem with this series will always be the editing choice and the script that sometimes made no sense at all.

Would I recommend this series? Definitely! It's a good watch. But I would totally understand if you don't like it.

Read More

My wonderful experience watching "The Centimeter of Love " of 2020

This drama is a true work of art. It was so realistic it made me cry sometimes. The story is really something. It is full of emotion and feels like you're watching a live family show not a drama. One thing I appreciated was the ML(cardio surgeon) and FL(pilot) were mature people and their love wasn't the youngsters type of sweet love. ML and FL constantly faced pressure from their families. ML's mom was the person who pressurized the ML to have a gf and get married, she was overprotective (a true tiger mom), while FL's father was always forcing her to give her younger brother anything he asked for (even though they knew he'll just waste it). The unrealistic pressure was what brought them together. They relied on each other for emotional support even though their parents were against their relationship at first.
At times I felt angry,sad,happy,frustrated throughout the drama. It was full of behavior change, separations,reunions, etc. It is a mix of everything! I must say, no drama has ever made me feel this way, that people's everyday life could be brought to the film version. If someone tells me it was based on a true life story, I would believe it ?. Just glad I was able to watch and testify. My rating for the story and acting is full 10.0. Some people might suggest you take it slow when watching but I watched as many as I could a day and it felt like being on a pleasant roller coaster ride. I'll be willing to rewatch this . I highly recommend!

Read More

A journey of fantasy, friendship and love.

This fantasy story, magical powers, immortals, friendship, journey of self-knowledge and love, definitely won me over. It's a beautiful story in which each character has their own facets and development. And the mysteries and discoveries continue with each episode of this magical journey. The main couple has their charms, but there is an ambiguity in their feelings. There are two more male characters full of charm and mystery: Murong Zhing Ying (the young man in blue who fights demons) and Xuan Xuan (the young man in the silver mask). Both have a journey ahead and we discover the mysteries wrapped up in their past and present. Ling Sha, the female main character, is full of nuances and many facets and personalities, but carries her innocence and naivety. The main male character is very innocent, he seems like a small child discovering a completely unknown world. He is the owner of the sword, the rightful one, he is discovering his love for Ling Sha.

Read More

Good idea, bad execution

I'm going to preface this by clarifying that I'm not a fan of Mame's shows, but I liked loving the air and I knew both shows were in the same universe, so I wanted to give this show a try. I would say that the first two episodes are very well done, they look very promising and I enjoyed them a lot. Now, after this, the development of the story becomes a little bit messy for my liking, especially because the way that the issue of the fake marriage gets "resolved " could've been done way better (and way sooner). In repeated occasions I found myself wondering why Lom wasn't being honest with Nuea; that would've saved them way more time, and would've given more space to show how their relasionship developed. Maybe this is a personal interpretation of the show, but by the end of it I still didn't know how the couple got together without knowing practically anything about each other...
Lastly, the actors are playing the main couple have good chemistry and look good together, but at the same time I feel like there's something off. I still can't pinpoint What it was, but there was a spark missing when they were being lovey-dovey on screen. To me, a good acting is when the actors make me believe 100% the characters love each other to the moon and back, and here I could see that they were trying very hard to do so, but there was something missing.

About the good parts, the side couple was really lovely and I enjoyed everytime they appeared on screen. The wedding planners were a family, and I loved how one of them was fiercely protecting Nuea. Although Lom's family wasn't the best, Nuea's was supporting enough for both of them.
Oh and my favorite part, the LITA cameos were amazing and had me giggling and kicking my feet throughout those 5 minutes of screentime they had.

Overall, it was an entertaining show and something nice to watch if you have free time to spare, but it's not one of my go-to recommendations.

Read More

What can I say? After watching all 40 episodes, this show does a good job of not letting the heroes always win. The story moves pretty fast, and if you're someone who loves mysteries and being a detective, this show is for you. The plot is something that caught me so off guard and you can never really guess what the real truth to any of these case is.

Something I really apprentice in this show is its ability to portray what actually happens during the cases that they solve. Every case they solve, it shows us an actual play of the scene. However, one issue that comes with this show, is Li Lianhua is a bit too smart to the point where you don't even get a chance to guess what happens. Because everything that happens in the show is almost unpredictable, and Li Liana can guess what happens every single time.

Li Lianhua's character is very interesting. He is very observant and conniving. He is very slick and knows how to calculate, which is very impressive. It was such a pity to not see much of his fighting scenes, but there was other fighting scenes which caught my attention especially with Fang Duobing and Di Feisheng. Those 2 characters make the show give a bit more comedy.


Now the ending, not exactly a cliff hanger. He could have saved himself, but he didn't. I want to believe that he isn't dead but considering the fact that he was poisoned and he gave away the only thing that could save him, it was such a pity.

Read More

Good different.

I have to say this oddly turned out to be one of favorite Japanese dramas.
Japanese dramas tend to start off nice and normal then they veer off into some highfalutin pretentious concepts, in my opinion going for “trying to be different” pathway, that inevitably turns into jumbled up mess (I’ve dropped more JDramas than I have watched)

This show on the other hand takes that inevitable turn that most JDramas do and some how manages to pull it off.

It’s simple and old fashioned, but modern and edgy at the same time. It’s not something I’ve quite seen before.

In summary I recommend this because it actually manages to do different well.

Menu= Synopsis/Concept ~(10)
Ingredients/Recipes= Script Writer ~(7)
Chef= Director ~(9)
Flavors/Taste= Actors/Performances ~(9)
Restaurant/Decor= Wardrobe/Costume-Design/ Production-Value ~(7)
Waiter/Service= Editing/Pacing/Cinematography ~(7)

Read More