WOW! The 2017 Championships are amazing, I would have given 10 stars but there is no futsal & the archery didn't seem quite as exciting as usual to me. The rhythmic gymnastics & aerobic dance are fantastic additions and show the idols put a huge amount of effort into this! Love it! Long may it continue!







WOW! The 2017 Championships are amazing, I would have given 10 stars but there is no futsal & the archery didn't seem quite as exciting as usual to me. The rhythmic gymnastics & aerobic dance are fantastic additions and show the idols put a huge amount of effort into this!

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This is a short film (not much longer than an hour) and as you can probably guess from the title, it's about a vampire. A 500-year-old vampire catches the scent of her long-dead female companion but it comes from a very modern, young man. Will she be able to control herself around him? A very cute & quirky short film which I absolutely love. It starts off as a bit of a comedy but turns into a super sweet love story. Song Kang is so adorable as the young man who becomes attracted to a beautiful woman he doesn't realise is a vampire. Okay, it's not without its shortcomings, some strands of the plot are not developed as fully as they might be in a longer film but for a short film (and I don't usually watch short films) it tells a wonderful story & I was left wanting more. This may have been better as a drama to develop the characters & story more but I personally hope there will be a sequel, I loved it that much!

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Special Effect Space Extravaganza!

This was a bit long (it's only just over 2 hours but feels much longer), long-winded & too technical for me in parts (it's the science part of sci-fi I'm not a huge fan of lol). However, I felt there was a lot to like about this film, the story whilst being mildly preposterous was intriguing thanks to the human element. I thought Jin Mai Jaho did an excellent job as Han Duoduo, becoming the emotional heart of this movie. My favourite part was when she delivered a heartbreaking speech to the world & everyone decided there was still hope & they would help to save the world!
I had an unprecedented 45-minute intermission which didn't help with the length issue so a rewatch is in order for me to develop a complete opinion on whether I really liked it or not.

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I quite liked this show, the cast was really good hence the acting is brilliant but I felt the show dragged on for too long unnecessarily; I think the story could have been completed successfully in 12 episodes max. I stuck with it because there was a very interesting backstory which I needed to know all the details of, the backstory was wrapped up but I felt more could have been done with the character of Jason & I also felt that more detail could have been added to Ji Soo Ho's family history to make it more understandable. There was a very small side story about two co-workers in a relationship which I loved, it was very cute & funny! I actually wish there were a few more scenes with them.
I mainly chose to watch this drama because Doo Joon is in it but I was blown away by Kwak Dong Yeon, playing Jason, it was only a supporting role but the character was so intriguing & the way he acted was fabulous so I will definitely be looking at more of his work.
Overall, I liked the show, the plot was decent but became slightly repetitive at times. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be watching this again as it was nothing special despite the brilliant cast.

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Siblings always fight right? Well, one day a sister wishes that her brother would disappear, next thing you know she wakes up & her brother is now her best friend's brother. Through watching the actions her brother takes as a sibling to someone else she comes to understand & respect him more & realise what a good brother he actually is. The only problem is will she be able to get her brother back to actually being her brother?! I just cannot make my mind up on this film, I was going to rate it a 4 then a 7, in the end, I chose a 5 because it is okay but I wouldn't buy it. I may watch it again & change my mind but I doubt it. The timeline was very convoluted, I couldn't work out who he was the brother to half the time and the ending was just confusing for me. The acting is good & it can give you the feels if you're not too confused by it all. It definitely made me wish that I had a brother like that when I was growing up but by the end of the film I was just too worn out from thinking about what was going on to actually enjoy the film which was disappointing.

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Romantic comedy with a serious side

This drama started off brilliantly, it got me hooked straight away. It was really funny & cute but has a serious side with some quite dark moments but the overall feeling it leaves you with is hope & happiness.
I really was going to give this a rating of 9 but just a few things were nagging at me. The main reason for not wanting to give it a 10 originally is that it can drag a bit, not enough so that it's unenjoyable but enough so that it's not perfect. My next reason is to do with the plot, while I loved it in general, specifically there were some plot holes, the main one being that we never find out exactly why Go Chan-ho was "helping" Jung Hyeon-su, I really wanted that to be explained.
Nonetheless this is a super drama with a great cast ?‍?

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Fun, comedy, crime caper

Thanks to The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme & the University of Manchester I got to see this for free in the cinema.

I was not familiar with this series when going to watch it but I really enjoyed it. At first, I was a bit apprehensive knowing that it was based on a TV show, not having seen any of that thinking I may be a bit lost with the plot & character histories but it was easy to follow. Most of the characters are likeable or intriguing & the story was entertaining, funny & kept me interested through the whole runtime. Things started to go a bit wacky near the end but it was all good fun & I'd like to watch the show & the other movies now.

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Jasmine is my hero!

The ending of this film has to make this one of the most realistic war films I've seen. It shows the horror & brutality of war in a 'simple' scene showing civilian casualties. I suppose this film could be seen as propaganda but as China was the underdog in this scenario I think it would have been very moving & filled me with patriotism at the time. The final scene is extremely moving & very interesting historically & technologically.
This is the only feature-length silent film I've seen so far that I would consider watching again - although it isn't completely silent as it was dubbed with a few songs & some sound effects.

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Sweet Musical Tearjerker

First of all, I want to say a huge thank you to The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2021 Online Special without whom I would not have seen this film.

This is a really sweet film, I wasn't sure what to make of it at first but I ended up really enjoying it. There is some beautiful cinematography on show here & the script is simple but effective. The two leads are brilliant & the supporting cast is one of the best I've seen. 
You really get pulled into this world & by the end it really tugs on your heartstrings!

Big Bonus: The music is superb & really fits the story ?

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I had never watched anything like this before! I have seen a few stand-up comedians from Asian countries on Netflix but none were Japanese, so I am very unfamiliar with Japanese comedy... it was not what I was expecting!
So the basic premise is that 10 comedians are locked in a room together for 6 hours and they have to make the others laugh while not laughing themselves. Not being familiar with Japanese comedy, I didn't know any of the comedians, but being comedians most of them were quite likeable and by the end, I did have a couple of favourites (Jimmy and Fujimoto). It wasn't actually as funny as I thought it might be; I think Japanese humour is very different from what I'm used to and most of the comedians knew each other so they knew each others acts so there was kind of a shorthand in communication between them all which made understanding all of the jokes slightly difficult for me. It does get a bit rude, which I really wasn't expecting ("analympics" anyone?). SPOILER: if you don't want to see full-on male nudity (pixelated), don't watch!
While some of the jokes went totally over my head, I did find myself laughing out loud, it's the silly things that are actually the funniest - just seeing the comedians break down/crack up was funny. Overall funny show (although it really pointed out some cultural differences to me) with a good concept, I'm not sure what the second season will be like, it might become very repetitive but I'm willing to give it a go.

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Not a bad film...

It's just not great either. In very basic terms, humanity finds a super amazing energy source but it is slightly unstable. An alien mothership arrives and attacks various places on earth. Shanghai has a huge amount of the energy source underground which gives the city power. The mothership begins attacking Shanghai. A group of 4 friends who were all trained as pilots/soldiers fight for their city. The action and special effects are well done, the acting is really good but there is just something missing for me. Oh and it is super soppy, lots of long glances, pregnant pauses and being upset because someone we cared about died and we didn't get the chance to tell them we cared for them even though we had hundreds of chances! Yeah, that was the most annoying thing about this film, apart from the fact someone who should have been dead at the end wasn't. Not a bad film, I would watch it again but I wouldn't choose to buy it.

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