anomoly
usa
The basic story is that Lu Ming is a guy from 1999 and Xiao Jiao is a girl from 2018. They live in the same apt, but in different timelines. Suddenly one day, that same apt from different timelines starts merging together. When XiaoJiao opens their front door, they can enter into 2018, when Lu Ming does, they can both enter into 1999. Then becomes a story of how they navigate having to be together while exploring their different timelines together. There's obviously a little more than that general synopsis, but I feel like I shouldn't spoil the story, it was much more fun and had good serious moments. The trailer does a good job of not spoiling the story, but does set the tone of the comedy of the movie.
The first thing that came to my mind after watching this movie was that it was similar to Your Name, but after sitting down to write this review, they're actually totally different movies. But their use of time travel was similar. As with all time travel movies, there are rules that are set in the movie, and sometimes they don't really make sense if you think about it too deeply. Seeing them try to abuse timetravel was very funny. Yet it doesn't distract from the movie as a whole because the characters and actors were great. They had good chemistry. It was also a lot more hilarious than I thought it would be. It may have helped that I watched it in a theater with other people, since laughter is contagious. All in all, a very solid story that made sense (since time travel movies can be confusing sometimes), and i would recommend it to anyone that likes romantic comedies with a very unique story.
Was this review helpful to you?
The description is a little off, but the trailer shows more of the plot. Li Yu Ran is a cold-hearted attorney that believes she can be happy and take care of herself without anyone's help. But after an accident, she is sent to a station that sends people to the afterlife. But, they made a mistake. Li Yu Ran has a LONG time before she is supposed to die, and the afterlife's Director needs time to correct the mistake and send her back. Apparently, it takes a lot of paperwork xD. But in the meantime, they also made another mistake. A housewife was admitted too early to the afterlife. The Director then asks Li Yu Ran to fill in for this housewife to take care of the family until they can send her back to her own life.
Plot holes, plot holes galore. While I was interested in this story, I'm not sure if some of the mechanics of body switching/ memory retention was explained well. But at the same time, this is a fantasy movie, so I guess I could let those things slide. Besides that, Kwai Lun Mei's acting was great. She was a little slapsticky in the beginning, but it toned way down from then onward. It was great to see how she was able to adapt to her new familiy and yet also keep her attorney badass version of herself. The story deals with how she warms up to each one of the family members.
The only real issues I had was some pacing issues. Sometimes, things would happen all of a sudden (eg. her son.... you'll see), just to bring in some conflict. I didn't understand how her memories worked and also the ending didn't really make sense, based on the rules that the Afterlife's Director had set. That may be another plot hole issue (alternate universes???). There's a chance that my issues could have been caused by translation issues (I watched this movie in an AMC theater with subtitles). Maybe my issues could be cleared up in a second viewing.
But the whole movie was heartwarming and cute. While not laugh out loud funny, it was able to keep a smile on my face. When the pacing was right, you really understood how each of the characters cared for each other. Kwai Lun Mei carried this movie. The parts with her and Chen Kun's character were also good. It is light on the romance, as only the later scenes with Chen Kun and Lun Mei involved any. If you have time for a movie to leave you feeling warm, fuzzy, and slightly confused, you should probably check out this movie.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Saw this in theaters, it was a pretty decent gangster movie. The kind where both sides show a little shades and good and bad. Mainly Ma Dong Seok is a detective and also kind of shady (not a spoiler, shown in the beginning of the movie). He's working in a squad that aims to get rid of the gangs in the city. Gang violence has deescalated, but then this new crew shows up and starts causing all kinds of trouble for the existing gangs in the city and the detectives. The characters were fun, but the outline of the story is pretty typical. The movie just was a ride through a different story with seemingly a familiar background. Was executed pretty well. I enjoy detective/cop stories so my rating may be a little higher than normal. Was this review helpful to you?
It's a lot more of a fun premise, while the decisions of the characters initially are goofy, during the duration of the movie, it unfolds really well with funny and dramatic moments.
What I really liked was the acting for the main characters, the emotion and feelings were expressed so well through their faces. It had a real enjoyable story, I would recommend a watch if you like the genre.
Was this review helpful to you?
I remember one fight scene that was pretty good, but most of them were hard to follow, not because there was shaky cam or anything, but the camera didn't quit follow the action correctly. The whole end scene was such horrible green screen. Maybe watching it in theater made it look worse. At least the whole story made sense. The whole movie was pretty light hearted. Would be a decent movie to watch with friends so that they could laugh at how awful some scenes are.
I have not seen any of the other raider movies, so I'm not sure how they compare.
Was this review helpful to you?
This movie is much more of a thriller than action movie, so don't expect too much even though there's some gunplay in the trailer, because that's pretty much half the action there. I came in to the movie expecting an intense detective cat and mouse story. And in general it is, but the story telling was bad and the tone was off. What's awesome is that there are famous actors cameo's as bosses in this movie ( I won't spoil them). The cinematography was amazing. Everything looked beautiful. The contrast in colors, shadows, and lighting created a really atmospheric stage for the movie. The few action scenes were also filmed well. All the effects looked practical and amazing. The gunfights were done well without too much shakey cam. The first 10-20 minutes of the film were great for setting the story and tone of the film. Unfortunately the rest of the film is pretty slow and boring. There was no sense of urgency.
The acting was good, but not for this type of movie. They felt like metal gear bosses, a little too campy and comicbooky for the tone of how the first 10 minutes of the story was set up as a gritty and realistic. As the story progressed, I didn't feel the sense of urgency that the detective felt in finding Mr. Lee. There were no time frames set, no deadlines that the main characters had to meet to satisfy the gangsters. In that way, there weren't really consequences. What progressed the movie along was the bad guys randomly showing up for no reason, just like how Jason Stathom randomly showed up everywhere in Fast and Furious 7.
There were also so many characters, that they would have little to no character development. The Detective's team had like 5 members, and we have no idea what their personalities, skill sets, or strengths were. They felt like extras inserted into scenes. If anything were to happen to the team members, we would not have any emotional attachment to even care.
By the end of the movie, there is a twist, and now the whole movie doesn't make sense anymore. Why did the whole first hr and a half of the movie even need to take place? ugh, frustrating. There was probably another 15-20 minutes of the movie remaining, and like I said, after that twist, I actually fell asleep in the theater. I woke up when the credits started running. The sad part is that I don't even care about how the story ended.
This move is a remake of a Chinese film named Drug War. I have not actually seen that film, so I didn't include any comparisons in this review. But with the way this movie turned out, I think your time would probably be spent better watching the original than this remake. This movie is visually captivating, but it's story telling is dull.
Was this review helpful to you?
First of all, the trailer shows a little too much. I think you should watch around half of it, and if you are into these types of movies, you should definitely watch it.
This movie was really enjoyable. It tells the story of the two main characters from the start of their relationship to the end. While it does have some cliche's from rom coms, but the dialog really makes it much smarter and a little deeper. The comedy is not goofy, and pretty light, brought tons of smiles, yet did not make me laugh out loud. But I was not looking for that.
The music is great, as one of the main characters is a musician. There was a great scene where music triggers a memory, and it was pretty funny. I also really like the camera shots in this film. You'll notice the lighting is great even in dark scenes. For example, there was a dark scene in the kitchen where a character was in the foreground, but you could also see the 2nd character in the background, out of focus on purpose , but you could see exactly what they were doing because the lighting from the outside would silhouette the character. It was filmed real great.
The acting was great for the two main characters; you could feel the chemistry. There were so many scenes that were adorable, the cuteness overload is real. The supporting cast though, the acting was kinda meh, sometimes a little over the top. But it didn't detract from the movie as a whole. Overall a great movie that I would recommend to people that like romcoms where a couple is already established, but work to get over their problems with each other.
Was this review helpful to you?
Before watching the movie, I wouldn't watch the whole trailer all the way through, it gives a lot of the story way. The trailer also makes it seem like a goofy Nickkun vs Sunny movie, but it really isn't. The movie is more about family and the bond between siblings, even though on the outside they bicker a lot, deep down we always care about our siblings and try to do the best for them. Having a little brother of my own, the feels did get to me near the last quarter of the movie.
Only issue I had with the movie was a female coworker that worked with Sunny's (Chut) character in the movie. I don't know what her character's purpose was to add to the story. Otherwise, acting was great all around. Nickkun was ok, but maybe that's how his character was written. The siblings stole the show.
The comedy is really relatable and great. It isn't as jam packed of constant jokes like how the trailer made it seem, but they are spaced well throughout. The ending is also extremely realistic and I really enjoyed the movie. Whether you have a sibling or not, I recommend you give this movie a watch.
Was this review helpful to you?
