andjel

Change or not to change

This is a beautiful looking movie. Production, story, acting, music – everything looks nice, especially the photography. But is there any value or substance beneath the appearance? I would say that there is.

The topic of living as a single person is very sensitive today because a lot of people live as single people intentionally or by force, and it is impossible to give a comprehensive answer and a sufficiently objective comment on such a life. My comment is that it is not good for a man to be alone. In any way, we need other people, and we live this reality most deeply in a couple as a man and a woman. This film approaches the subject in a creative, comical and, of course, romantic way. It respects single people, but is aware that they are also people who love, i.e. who are looking for/need love. As a book lover, I really liked that they used reading, writing and publishing a book as a metaphor for the human relationships. I would say that the movie gives better advice on writing books than on living as single.

I can't say that I completely agree with the philosophy of the story, but I really enjoyed watching this entertaining and emotional film.

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When nothing works

If you want to enjoy this drama don't read anything about the story because the excitement comes from the unexpected events and twists. The actors are not bad but, somehow, I didn’t have enough time to care for them and the flow of the movie is static and not that suspenseful as the story suggests. The main interest of the viewer is what happens next and how will the story connect the protagonists.

The atmosphere is melancholic, depressing and heavy so it is not for everybody, but if you want a good mystery give it a try. But maybe it would be better to just read the book.

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were you there?

There are a lot of Korean movies and shows with a theme of Highschool bullying but this one manages to be original by focusing on students who are standing by and don’t do anything about it, or don’t do enough. So this drama is relevant to all of us. It can be depressing to watch this kind of dramas but it is still important to be reminded about our responsibility to stand up for ourselves and for others. It is a virtue to be meek, but as a song goes “Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man”.

There are two versions of English title for this drama: “We Were There” and “Anyone Anywhere”, the first meaning that the witness is also responsible and the second asking if there is anyone anywhere who is willing to help. I can see this drama being a part of educational programs.

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The Time is Now

The first part of the movie was a little better than this sequel, but I'm glad I have now seen the story to the end. The plot combines past and present well and provides a satisfying conclusion to this complicated but entertaining sf adventure. Everything somehow falls into place.

One thing that bothered me while watching was the emphasis on comedy. The film uses every scene and every situation for some stupid jokes. There is one joke on a treadmill that was so stupid that I had to laugh, but otherwise the goofy jokes were just annoying. I also think that the screenwriters were sloppy because the plot flows somewhat forcedly from one event to another without a sufficiently logical sequence.

The special effects are great, the fights are very good, the characters are charismatic. There are a lot of details that make the film attractive, so I spent a fun evening with Alienoid 2 but I still have the impression that the film could have been much better and more dramatic in terms of atmosphere if it had taken itself a little more seriously.

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Attempt at a dark comedy

The plus of the movie is a certain unpredictability of the story and the interesting idea of moral dilemmas concerning what happens to Mickey. So I really liked the final point that the movie makes switching the title of the Movie, but still, the manner in which the movie is made was just so absurd and parodical that it was unpleasant to watch for me most of the time.

It is hard to comment the acting also. Robert Pattinson was certainly very good, Steven Yeun was fine and Anamaria Vartolomei is very beautiful. The rest were comical beyond my understanding. I was put off by the actors trying so hard to represent the presidential candidates of the USA. I have seen many great imitations of Trump, but this one was the worst, just a strait mockery.

Seeing most of Bong Joon-ho directorial works I can see the pattern - a social political satire with highlighted class divide and raising awareness on some important issues. I commend it and I still look forward to more of his movies but this one was a little over the top for me.

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Hunt

A very intriguing and adrenaline-filled movie that differs quite a bit from director Na Hong-jin's previous films, though it feels similar in pacing and tone to The Chaser.

I also think they got the movie title wrong. This film is not Hope, it's Hunt. I honestly don’t know what the “hope” is supposed to be in this movie — maybe something the main characters want but failed to express or communicate. But the title Hunt is extremely fitting because the entire film is one big hunt. Our protagonists are constantly switching roles — sometimes hunters, sometimes prey — and the chase continues from beginning to end, constantly shifting into a higher gear.

In my opinion, this is the film’s greatest strength: the nearly three hours fly by in a fast-paced, ever-intensifying run that builds tension right up to the so-called ending. It’s hard to say much more about the story without spoilers, so I’ll stop here. On the surface it seems simple, yet it’s surprisingly effective.

Although the characters themselves aren’t at the center of the story (they all serve the larger narrative), the actors are charismatic and have interesting personalities. However, in the midst of all the chaos, there are often awkwardly funny scenes. I’m not sure the humor was really necessary here.

The camerawork is excellent and truly artistic, following the action as if the camera itself is participating in the chase. A lot of effort was clearly put into the scenes; they had to prepare an entire city to look the way it does, and you can see the immense work and dedication from everyone involved in the production. Visually and atmospherically, the film fully meets expectations. The epilogue at the end will certainly spark plenty of discussion, which should help this movie be remembered in both Korean and world cinema.

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Colony VS Colony

Not perfect but very, very good. I can say that the film is very tense and exciting despite the predictable and unoriginal resolution regarding the threat of the zombie colony. We can call them zombies, although they’re based on a slightly different concept. Production-wise, the behaviour of these “zombies” is shown in a very attractive way. Their movements are unnatural, but in a way I haven’t seen in any other movie before — and I really liked that.

Opposite the zombie colony, we have a group of people who could also be called a colony, because they too must work in sync and together to survive. However, with humans that coordination works a bit less smoothly than with zombies. That element of the challenge in human cooperation was my favourite part of the film.

A few scenes weren’t perfectly developed or edited, but I can’t really nitpick because I got exactly the kind of movie I like: a tense story with a serious survival threat and themes of humanity and human nature that leave plenty to think about and discuss.

P.S. I had the luck to watch this in a cinema in Korea and it was funny to see people running in and out of the theatre for toilet breaks because they didn’t want to miss anything from the movie. A satisfactory summer blockbuster from Korea.

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Mother's Duty

The movie has a strange title, and I didn't feel like sugar plays that big a role in the movie, but it makes sense at the end. I am a person who likes sugar maybe a little too much, so that I even avoid all the products that are sugar-free. It was very touching, even stressful, to watch a child diagnosed with type 1 diabetes struggling with the prohibition of sugar and the constant fight with the disease. From the people I met, I know that this illness is very severe, medically and psychologically, on the entire family. In this movie, the central character is the mother who cares for her ill child while also trying her best to balance her personal and professional life.

I would say that this movie is documentary-like, message-heavy, and emotional, but all that in a positive way. The events are shown in a realistic way, and knowing that the movie is based on a true story, at moments it feels like watching the news. There are many important messages in the movie, and I am glad that the supporting roles also had something to say. So the movie is multi-layered. The highlight was a police officer at customs for imported goods with one, if not the only, comedic moment in the movie. And the emotions... The third act of the movie really delivered with emotions. Some of them were exaggerated, but all in all, they completed the story nicely for a movie that I would recommend watching with a family.

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UFO - Underneath Firmaments of Others

After watching this strange movie I was inspired to look for a meaning of UFO's. Yes this movie has an UFO - Unidentified Flying Object but it uses that background to show something about our reality as humans so i would suggest that UFO also reveals what is Underneath Firmaments of Others. We see the emotions, thoughts, statements, experiences of many people but at the end it is impossible to identify what other people hold underneath their appearances.

I can see how some people would dislike this movie if they are not ready to watch something different. This is a dynamic art film. Many people, many scenes, many words, many details, yet the viewer is lost inside trying to connect the elements of the story. But how can someone connect all humans stories?

This movie shows how people would live with the presence of UFO. For me as Christian this presence of the big flying object in the sky is like the presence of God. He is there above, watching everything, yet staying silently and lets us wonder and explore life.

To conclude, this movie was really interesting and made an impact on my philosophy of life. The music and songs added a lot of soul to the story.

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No beginning and no end

Reading Webtoon is one of my favourite hobbies and the "Sweet Home" webtoon is still one of my favourite.
The first season of the series managed to caption the suspension and drama of the webtoon but this second season is just a big complicated mess. So much happens and still nothing happens.
It all felt very disoriented with every character keeping their secrets from others and also from the viewers. With so many characters i couldn't connect with anyone because the story never went anywhere meaningful. Yes there is horror and gore and action and many monsters, but it didn't help much to make the series more watchable and enjoyable. I had to force my self to watch which is a shame. What bothered me the most is slopy dialogue and inconsistent story progression. Looks like the director wants us to stop caring for humans and start rooting for the monsters.

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Hallelujah

the movie is more of the first one, but it hits stronger since the cycle of crime, double crossings and death continues and has a deeper meaning knowing the context. this movie on its own offers a look to the past movie and past events so watching the first movie is not necessary. The characters were very brutal and charismatic, they are both monsters and humans.
but i wonder about the title "Believer". yes we have one gangster who is a believer and knows his bible so that he can quote it in certain situations but that is more of an example what it means to sin against the second commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
ultimately, is there belief and God in this movie? and what is death or justice if there is no God? I would have wanted more hints at that from the movie but i did get a lot to think about. so if you want to look into the soul of some criminals, this movie is for you.

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Dangerous Hobby

This film has a distinctive atmosphere. It moves slowly, but that very pace heightens the tension in seemingly everyday encounters and situations in a village where everyone knows everything about everyone else, yet peace and justice remain hard to achieve. At the center of the story are two women, and both actresses deliver strong performances. Despite having completely different personalities, they form a connection and begin sharing hobbies that will have far-reaching consequences.

I’m not sure if this was the director’s intention or just my personal impression, but from the very beginning of the film I felt a certain aversion toward the new neighbor and her hobbies. She arrives like a foreign body, and it’s up to each viewer to decide whether her presence improved things or made them worse. In my view, while I liked the performance, I cannot morally agree with the film’s message—though I don’t want to go into spoilers here.

The subtlety in the way the story develops is what makes this film special, but also a bit less accessible to a general audience, while genre fans may find it enjoyable. Watching it, I noticed elements reminiscent of Korean classics such as Bedevilled, No Other Choice, Oldboy, and Parasite. Although the film cannot be directly compared to any of those specifically, it still shares certain connections with them, and fans of that kind of thriller will appreciate this one as well.

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AI Action

Hm, a strange film. It lasts only an hour and nothing gets resolved, so this is actually the first episode of a possible series. What works in the film’s favor are the well-known actors, of whom there are many, but they didn’t really put in much effort here. The first half of the film is just dialogue between the characters, while the second half consists of AI-generated action scenes that look interesting in individual frames but don’t work in a cinematic format. It’s clear that AI has become part of the film industry, and if used in individual shots it can replace CGI and similar needs for enhancing a scene, but it still can’t look as good as a real film. Therefore the action and fantasy shown here come across as a bit ridiculous and, above all, unconvincing. I have seen so much better use of AI on twitter. Still, as they say, it’s worth a try.

This is an attempt at implementing AI in a film. It didn’t really impress me, and the story isn’t well explained either. Nevertheless, I’m curious how it continues, so if there’s a sequel I’ll look for it.

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Hail to Life

If life becomes hell, what should one do? This is essentially a minimalist film that portrays two, let’s say, friends who want to give up on life, but before doing so, they still want to accomplish one more thing. The film looks beautiful, yet it carries a depressive tone throughout, and we as viewers keep hoping and praying for some kind of turnaround. At the beginning it may seem as if the film promotes negativity, but in reality it seriously and honestly confronts difficult life themes and trials that affect people already from youth, and even from childhood. It speaks about faith among people, but also about faith in God, then about religion, revenge, forgiveness, punishment, justice, violence, abuse, and many other things, so it seems to me that this film is ideal for a film club that would later have a discussion about what is shown in the film and how it reflects on our own life experience.

The main protagonists did a great job with their roles, that is, they portrayed the psychological wounds they carry in a subtle and effective way. There are also other characters from a kind of church who are likewise quite convincing and authentic. So this is a psychological drama with youthful and religious elements that is very interesting, but also provocative.

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Sharing an Apple

The film opens with a kissing scene between two teenagers. The beginning suggests that the film will deal with youthful romance and the exploration of intimacy, which is indeed one of its themes. However, another much stronger and more serious theme is abuse, particularly of minors, which is why the kissing scenes don’t feel entirely appropriate to me.

The film centers on one girl, but all the other characters around her are also portrayed with care and sensitivity, allowing us to empathize with each of them. What I liked most about the film is how it depicts every character as a real human being, with experiences and feelings hidden beneath the surface. The film shows one thing on the surface, yet you sense something deeper underneath—that everyone carries a hidden pain they refuse to acknowledge. Literally everyone. That pain can destroy a person from the inside, but it can also be eased. That’s why it’s important to have people beside you with whom you can still be honest and share your burdens—and sometimes, simply sharing an apple is enough (in Korean, “apple” also means “apology”). This is a beautiful and moving drama about one girl longing for true love, but also about all of us.

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