What is the GOAT life

There is a saying: Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them. Well here in this short one hour comedy-romance-drama we have a student who wants to trick another student into love only to experience how love works in mysterious ways.

We indeed live in a society that promotes success more than love and it is hard to just take your time with life. Underneath the silly premise of this drama there is an important message about life. Maybe we don’t need to submit ourselves to the system, maybe we should change the system with a better life.

I enjoyed this drama a lot, the actors were cute, the scenes were funny and emotional, the production on a high level and the message is great. Maybe a little cheesy at the moments but still so adorable, even for me as a 40 year old guy.

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Basketball VS Football

I might be biased because basketball is my sport, but this drama was just right on every level. The desire of the main protagonist to play basketball when everyone is interested in football is a good allegory of the unique talents that every child brings and the difficulty to adjust to the group. Young actors were great. The story is simple yet very authentic and therefore emotional. It helps us grownups to understand children and their emotions which can be very complicated.

This drama manages to touch on many themes in only one hour of duration (sport, school, children, friendship, romance, family, …) and that makes it a great choice to watch. I still didn’t watch the entire “KBS Drama Special 2023” but for now this is my favorite of the season.

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Sport for Love

There is love for sport and there is sport for love. While watching this drama I remembered a meme with a picture of boys playing basketball. One boy is looking the girls at the stands and says: As I get older, I am less interested in Sport. At the same time a girl from the stands, while looking attracted to boys, says: As I get older, I am more interested in Sport.

So this drama is presenting itself as a sport romance comedy, about a female football (or soccer) player who can even compete against men, but we don’t get to see to much of football because there is a love story here also. As much as I appreciate the story in both dimensions, the connection between women gets the most screen time so that the drama actually doesn’t have a clear focus. Finally, the best part of this drama is Lee Yeon as Ko Do Hyun. She was very believable as a football player unlike other actresses.

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All Actions have Consequences

This show started perfectly and it managed to stay fresh and interesting until the end. I couldn't stop thinking about it for two days until i finished it. I did took a break after every episode.

The style is a little bit quirky and even though this is an action thriller with a hint of supernatural, it also had some comical moments. I was bothered with some unnecessary scenes like for example two short nude scenes, but the biggest issue is that in the second half of the series the main character, Lee Tang paradoxically only has 5 minutes of screen time per episode since the story expanded to other characters. So the drama loses/changes it's original identity. All in all this was an exciting watch with great characters and actors who gave them life.

A great small detail in the drama is a book "Crime and Punishment" which must have inspired the creators and, after finishing this drama, i feel a desire to read the book also.

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Everyone has a chance

I saw this movie by a chance so I would say that the director succeeded even though the main character in the movie tries to succeed with, what seems like a bad idea. He dreams of a blockbuster but insists of doing an erotic B-movie and is disappointed with constant failures. It is true that no achievement can be accomplished without failures. It is said that Thomas Edison produced 2000 bad lightbulbs before achieving success. So all those failures were necessary to discover a right way to do it. In this movie, a movie-director Seung Hoon fails at many steps but somehow he goes on and that is a good message.

The movie also reminds us of the limitations a problems caused by to Covid. The acting could have been better. I was surprised to see some American people here. The jokes weren't very funny to me but I will remember the movie in positive light because i enjoyed the selection of songs played in the background a couple of times.

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There is a fish

Why does the synopsis reveal the entire plot of the movie? Luckily there is a fish in the movie that can be related to our main character, the mysterious woman Ji-soo who collects and examines garbage from other people, and this comparison is the most interesting thing about the movie.

The idea to be able to know other people through their garbage is not bad but it is highly unrealistic from the perspective of this movie. The main character, Ji soo has only around 10 Folders but she documents every trash piece of every tenant?! If I knew someone with this kind of "hobby" I would surely think that this person is crazy although it could be a product of an introvert person who is interested in other people but is afraid to approach them directly. This is where we as viewers can sympathise with our main character and wish her to open up for the real human contact. The movie is good for what it is and it manages to emotionally connects us with the story and characters.

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Frog-like laugh

Your husband / wife should not only make you happy, but also make you angry. Going together through laughing and yelling, through romance and fighting make for the best partnership and this movie shows it. This romantic comedy is fully with unique characters that provide many unexpected funny moments and it made me laugh a lot. The actors all did a great job, but i especially liked the absurd frog-like laughing from the male actor Kang Ha Neul. As with others movies of the same genre, the comedy serves to highlight the message of love that survives all the challenges. here it is presented through a reset of relationship which was used well for both the comedy and romance.

Note that there are post-ending gags, and an credits scene and also a post-credit scene. Everything in the movie is made for the enjoyment and i did have a fun Sunday night with it. Hope you will too!

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What is Korea?

Can I use spoilers for a review of a true story? I will try not to because I saw the movie in complete ignorance and i was 100% engaged in the story thankful that i didn't know what will happen next. That made the viewing of the movie much better. After watching the movie i checked some facts and it turns out that the movie is very faithful to the true events.

This is a sports drama at its best. There are many inspirational stories but this is one of the best I saw. It shows a sporting spirit and also a Korean spirit, so in t he end, this is very patriotic movie. At the time when Korea was not even recognized in the world, a few individuals were fighting for Korean pride with sport. That shows that sport is not only a virtue in itself but it is also a means to connect people and a great ambassador in the world.
PS. I am also from a small country but every time i visited Korea people connected me with the famous athletes from my country. Well i should learn more about Korean athletes also. So thank you movie for teaching me a valuable lesson and showing me once again what is Korea.

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those final punches

If you are on Twitter (X) you can see many instances where students dare to provoke teachers and even fight with them. This movie is, of course, a fictional story about something similar, a teacher who if provoked into fighting with a student. The story is quite simple but unexpected, and the resolution is well prepared and realized. There is action, comedy, drama, all mixed into a cute and yet brutal high school experience. Boy, I am so happy that i am not in high school anymore.

This movie is not a super hero blockbuster, even though at one moment it seemed to be going into superhero direction. I am glad it didn't and that the women strength is depicted as realistically as possibile in the logic of the movie. Also, i just read here on the site that this is based on a webtoon and i must say that the movie gave me that vibe and reminded me on "Lookism" and "Moving". And yes, those final punches were straight from the comics.
.. 요 or should i say Meow!

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Secret Friendship

Excellent diplomatic (historical!) action triller drama, with a touch of comedy - a standard Korean recipe of mixed genres put together to provide a complete experience. In the execution, the movie is both very realistic and surreal with many well thought details that add to the quality of production and to the message. Look for example where they put "Welcome to Mogadishu" sign in the movie about escape from the city. There is only one moment in the movie (where one person tries to raise a white flag) that i found stupid, but i understand how it was needed to add some extra intensity and peril for our main protagonists. The director does a great job never letting the movie to become boring but always adding new elements of suspense.
The title of the movie reveals what the movie is about - an escape from a city/country caught in civil war, but the real drama starts when you have both South and North Korean Diplomats having to work together. This on its own made the movie worth it.
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I just watched this movie for a second time as the opening movie of a Korean Movie Week here in Croatia and i was surprised how i enjoyed the movie now even more then when i saw it for the first time. Seeing it sitting near Korean ambassador in our Country and with a fully packed theatre of audience that laughed and gasped and cheered was an adrenaline rush, and also to me personally i managed to find many new details that i didn't see during my first watch. At this time when we have more conflicts in the world, the message of this movie is even more important.

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meet the members

I am writing this review while watching Tomorrow x Together Live Concert at Lollapalooza 2023, which is very energetic and exciting watch.
as for the documentary, it did make me go and explore more about the band but i would say that it didn't have enough music. the director gave to every member a few minutes to say a few things which was good to meet the members and have a glimpse of what is on their mind. all in all this is a backstage footage of the band preparing for concerts and trying their best to overcome the challenges that can come like sickness, missing the moves, tiredness, pressure, etc... so i would say that this isnt as exciting as watching the concerts, for the real fans (MOAs) this is a great way to see what happens behind the stage and how the members are slowly growing as performers.

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unexpected religious experience

As a Christian i am not very familiar with Buddhism but i admire the life of Buddhist monks and this movie more than anything shows the human and spiritual side of them. also the differences between them. No one is perfect but everyone has his purpose.
it was a very enjoyable production for the reason that the movie offers a 2-hour escape from every day life and makes you think about living in simplicity in the monastery and with the nature.
I was expecting a light comedy drama but this movie made me think about my life vocation and the meaning of life and death.

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great documentary. it has a big artistic and documentary value.
I couldn't understand everything because i saw it in korean but i understood enough to follow the emotional and dramatic narrative of this unique natural territory - the Saemangeum tidal flat that was almost destroyed. The effort put into making this documentary is extraordinary. i enjoyed seeing birds and other small water animals living here and also the humans trying their best to protect the nature and exploring it.
this documentary is a testimony to the beauty of life and truly a love song to the subject it presents.

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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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