Cute

This very short movie is nothing to write home about but it's really cute and sweet. Both the FL and the ML are very charming and had great chemistry together. Its a simple story of mistaken identity and falling in love and then having it all blow up in your face.

What I really liked though, is that it was a straight forward movie with no pushback. I also loved the scene where the ML was dancing in the mirror at his house. It was a copy of the scene from the movie What a Girl Wants, staring Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth. The scene where Colin Firth's character does the same thing after spending time with his daughter.

It's a cute movie to watch once and it's only 66 minutes long.

12/17/23

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This is such a good movie. Donnie Yen is top notch as usually. I may be biased as he is one of my favorite Hong Kong actions stars of his or any other generation honestly. Just love this man. He's great here as a man who accidently kills a rival who challenged him. He then goes to jail (I assume manslaughter). He's never forgiven himself for the killing and works hard to not engage in fighting. A martial arts fanatic decides he wants to fight all the best martial artist in their given expertise and kill them in a fight to the death and has he eyes set on Wu Xia Hou, Donnie Yen's character.

Excellent fight choreography, great cast and nice throwbacks to some of Hong Kong's greatest martial arts collaborators.

12/9/23

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WHAT WAS THAT ENDING???

The show is not as good as it could have been. However, I will say that each episode at least, builds off the next and it's a coherent story. Episode 6 is by far the best episode in the series and could have ended there IMO. But NO!! we have to deal with these 11th hour shenanigans of who actually did what. PISH TOSH!!

I must be the only one annoyed by the the treacle ending. Eveyone lives happliy ever after; I call BS. I am also pissed that Makiko did not get the comeuppance I wanted or needed. They tried to make Makiko sympathetic too. NO!!! Anyway, not terrble but a total let down.

The pluses of the series are the lead actresses are really good and I loved the young actress playing Anzu. I also, like the Claire character; she was a good friend.

11/25/23

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This was not good! I really wanted to like this. I'm glad I didn't pay to see this at the theater earlier this year. I have not seen the anime or read the manga so I didn't know the story before hand but this plot was a mess and incoherent. It also felt incomplete, which may have been b/c they planned for sequels!

The CGI is terrible too. Lately, I feel like new CGI is worse than old CGI. IMO old CGI was more seamless now it just looks cartoonish. This is very visible in the fight between Saiya and Nero. Mackenyu is really the only reason I watched and he can't save this stupid plot or make it interesting enough to stick around for a sequel!

11/19/23

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Left Wanting More

This was the start of a good movie but it's just not a fully completed story it's a runtime of 77 minutes and there could have been a succint story in that time and maybe they tried but for me it was too many things left unresolved. Makes me wonder if a sequel was thought about or planned but never took off.

The cast is really good though and I really liked Mimoto Masanori as Takashi and of course Nagase Tasuku was good here.

I thought the fight choreo was spectacular though and it was filmed well. You could see all of the movements and counter movements. Loved that. Sonomura Kensuke, the martial arts director did an excellent job.

9/4/23

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Falters in the Last few Episodes

I was super excited about this series. I came for Ma Dong Suk b/c who wouldn't and he was great here, even thogh his character Woong Cheol was annoying. I also loved Jo Dong Hyuk as Tae Soo. He was fantastic and overall, my favorite character.

The Jung Moon character was supposed to be a genius but was constantly being bested by everyone and getting beat up and nearly killed in every epsiode; however, his character is truly sympathetic. Goo Tak, the main character, anti-hero who the audience is supposed to root for was an idiotic mess and so unlikeable. He got on my last nerve.

Unfortunately, this show went from excellent to nonsensical in a matter of the last few episodes; the writing went from pretty entertaining to completely illogical. Starting in epsiode 8, for some inexplicable reason, the characters are, unlike their prior selves, with stupid actions and reactions to information. Made no damn sense.

The last episode was a little better that the last few but I simply stopped caring. Also, wished the fight with Tae Su and Moon Ki had been filmed slower. The choreography was actually pretty good but the action was moving too fast for me to truely enjoy it.

9/1/23

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Overall a sweet movie to watch for a Saturday or Sunday matinee. Nothing special but I did like the cast and characters. PSJ was really good as Hong Dae.

I really liked the relationship between Hyo Bong and his daughter Eun Hye and how they showed that just b/c he was homeless he loved his daughter and wasn't a deadbeat and she loved him too.

I liked how it was about redemption for some of the team members and wanting to belong for some of the other team members. That's what sports do. They bring people together. Especially, big sporting, international team events. It's the collective rooting for the home team or the underdogs that we all really love.

8/26/23

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Romance for Days!

This was mostly enjoyable and this just made me realize how much Park Min Young is stellar. The whole cast was good but she is a star for a reason. She is efforlessly, funny, sweet, and likeable. Kim Jae Wook was pefectly cast as the Korean born American raised Ryan Gold. He and PMY have some of the best chemistry I've seen on screen. Their scenes together were funny and fire! The other standout in the acting category is Kim Sun Young she played director Ohm brillantly. I have never scene her in anything else but this made me a total fan. I also love the wardrobe departments bold choices for her character.

What this drama did right for me is that there was not too much drama or push and pull and it was the better for it. The leads worked thru their issues by talking instead of shutting down. I mean Duk Mi did do something stupid but it was wrapped up quickly so I'm forgiving her stupidy. They also, nail the obnoxious fan behavior to a T.

What I did not like was the unnecessary childhood trauma to an already traumatic situation re the leads. It didn't elevate the story at all; it didn't even make effing sense. But overall this series was just what I wanted and needed in the romance department!

8/22/23

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of Enter the Dragon, arguably the most well known of the Bruce Lee movies. Especially, for western audiences. I'll take Big Boss and Fist of Fury over this. I have seen this multiple times. We watched a lot of martial art movies when I was a kid and Bruce Lee was always everyone's favorite.

I just watched tonight on the big screen. It was my first time seeing on the big screen. It's the standard revenge story with a little espionage thrown in for good measure. It was the 70's afterall. It's definitely, a dated movie but It's still was enjoyable. Young me really like the movie. Old me thinks it's just ok; but Bruce Lee is a legend for a reason. His charisma and martial arts are top notch. He was also the fight choreographer on this film. The cast if pretty good and a young Angela Mao has a small role as Bruce Lee's sister.

8/16/23

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Enjoyable

I really enjoyed this series overall and I purposely watched after finishing the anime which I found super sweet. This series was just what I needed after the last disappointing series I watched. I really liked the pace of the series too. I mean, they condensed the material but not to the detriment of the story.

The cast is really good and I think the casting director made some really good matches with casting. I liked the actresses playing Sawako, and Yanochan but I especially loved Nakamura Riho playing Yoshidachan. She really played the role to perfection. It was good seeing Miura playing Pin even though I think the character is actually more closer in age to the characters in the anime.

8/8/23

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A different bully redemption arc

I liked this. It was an average film about bully culture in a high school setting. It's fairly cliche but I liked what was different about this story was the bully redemption arc. It's done well here and not in the typical linear way. People make mistakes. Anyone can fall victim to peer pressure and do things they never thought they would do. I am not justifying any bullying behavior but if you can see the wrong that you have done and apologize than I can accept that. The young cast is really good too. Especially, Wang Yu Ping playing the FL Yun Heng.

I iked that the comeuppance was done the way I had hoped. I mean, I actually, at first was like an eye for an eye. The main bully was terrible and had no remorse for her actions but then they gave her the best comeuppance I have seen in a long while. Not everyone is going to be satisfied with this film, especially regarding the rape situation.

7/16/23

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Did Not Like the Ending

This was a fairly good action/drama film. It was a solid 8 for me until the ending. I just don't like the way the movie ended. Drops this down to a 6 rating. The last fight scene was sub par at best and I do understand why they did that but NOPE! I hated it. I needed a better fight scene between the 2 leads. The movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes and there are things they should have cut and things that could have been added. Specifically what could have been added was a conversation between Bok Soon and the other CEOs in the assassin business. Especially, after they were starting to question the leader of MK.

The highlight of the film is the cast. Pretty stacked too with some of my favorites in small parts. Looking at you Kim Sung Oh. FL Jeon Do Yeon is oustanding. This is the first thing I've seen her it. She was great as Bok Soon. Lee Yeon was really good here too as the new recruit.

Totally worth the watch at least once though.

7/16/23.

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I thought bc the cast was good I was really going to love this but alas, that was not the case.

I'm planning a LDW watch this year and this was the 1st one on my list and I was disappointed. Not b/c he isn't good here but the characters, all of them are super annoying. I did love his chemistry with Jung Ryeo Won though. Her character was quite rude for most of the series and I really didn't like her...The adults in this series all behaved like 12 - 15 year olds. I hate shows like this.

I wish we could get a story where the leads aren't necessarily meant to end up together. They can just be friends and be close to each other. I also did not like the 2nd leads. Tae Hee and Ji Hoon did not belong together in the end. The storyline was just ridiculous. What sense does it make to be miserable for the sake of someone else's so called happiness?

The show did get better in the last few eps but by that point I didn't care.

3/26/23

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Pretty Good Competition Series

The best thing about the show is that the cast is genuinely good and almost eveyone is likable. I don't usually watch reality shows, the competition kind or otherwise but I really was hooked watching week to week. Could the show have been better most definitely but for the entertainment value it gave was excellent.

After the challenges in episode 8, I really did think Jo Jin Hyeong, the bodybuilder would win but it goes to show that stamina becomes more important than brute strength. Most of my favorites were out but the winner really was good throughout the series. Love that the contestants rooted for each other.

I would have liked more individual challenges each round similiar to how they did episode 8. I also think that the picking of the teams should had been random. That would have made for much more interesting and possibly more evenly matched teams.

Dont know if I'd watch another season but this was pretty entertaining.

2/21/23

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Sweet and Comforting

This was a sweet, bittersweet and comforting, slice of life drama. I just really enjoyed it and the cast is wonderful, especially the 2 young female leads, Mori Nana and Deguchi Natsuki.

Kiyo and Sumire leave their hometown to go to Kyoto to become Maiko, while Sumkre shines Kiyo struggles but she is a glass half full person and take things as they come. She ends up becoming the maikani of the house and she cooks for the girls.

I didnt even realize Meiko and Geiko could have boyfriends or that Geikco coud have children. I ended up Googling b/c I was curious and I learned a lot.

I originally didn't like the character of Ryoko but as the episodes went along, I understood her longing and what she was going through. My heart kinda broke for her too!.

Overall a really good series. Just a simple year in the life of these characters and it's quite enjoyable. I really liked how each episode built on the story. Loved the showcasing of food as well. Would love to try some of the dishes presented. Episode 6 was my favorite.

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