Sweet fluffy romcom, plagued with inconsistencies...

I could've really loved this drama-- I mean, I was ALL in after I watched the 1st episode. Adorable characters, the biggest cinammon roll ML after a long while and a blooming romance I was totally looking forward to.

But what started as a sweet little romantic-comedy eventually became a pile of cliches I didn't enjoy and the FL's wavering, indecisive and stupidly frustrating character was unfortunately the perpetrator of all that.

I don't like hating on FL characters and calling them the cause of all problems in a drama, but this time? I'm sorry but I can't think of any other reason why my enjoyment for this show plummeted during the 2nd half. Again, I watched the show over 3 months so maybe that could also be a huge influence. But mostly, the FL is a mother teresa/selfless-type character who made me feel like I was watching a romcom from 2010 that didn't age well. That, and all the dumb conflicts they pushed in towards the end that I could care less about.

That being said, I did like the acting from everyone in the cast. Chae Jong Hyeop was absolutely adorable, and I'm still going to wait until he's in something that I will consistently like to the end. I know Nikaido Fumi's a great actress, but the role she plays here doesn't do her acting justice and it's hard to appreciate her in this drama, although she probably gave her best into it. Their chemistry was actually really cute, in spite of the language barrier. The OST's nice, as I usually expect from J-dramas.

In conclusion, a true disappointment. I think the writing's the only thing you can blame for the downfall of this drama. Seriously, they had everything a romcom could ever need to be great-- but oh well.

Read More

The most self-aware and entertaining cliche-fest you'll watch in a long time.

Let me just start off by saying that this drama, by no means, is flawless. Not even close. Nuh-uh. If we're talking logic and realism, you won't find it here for the most part. In regards of the thriller/mystery aspect, it's way too convenient. There's way too many co-incidences and the cops are non-existent. The world in this drama is perfectly curated for the main characters-- a fantasy, if you say so.

Then, what's up with my rating? Oh, yeah. Did I not mention how effing entertaining this drama actually really is?

'Guess Who I Am' is pure mindless entertainment. If you're willing to overlook everything that isn't related to the romcom aspect of this show, this drama is an easy ride. The fun main leads, accompanied by equally spunky supporting characters, ensure that there won't be a single boring moment as long as they're on-screen. Everyone has amazing natural chemistry with each other and the actors seemed like they were genuinely having fun on set, which made things all the more better. Coupled with actually hilarious moments, sweet kisses, warm hugs, loving stares and much-appreciated communication-- as a romcom, this drama is top-notch. This was like one of those mini c-dramas but with longer episodes and honestly? That's literally what I was asking for since those mini ones barely ever hold my attention.

In conclusion, if I had to rate this drama as nothing more than a rom-com, it'd be a 9/10. But admittedly, everything else is nonsensical. However, this is literally the best guilty pleasure I've seen in a long while. For the sake of the romances, laughs and chemistry-- definitely worth the watch.

Read More

The little rom-com that could... but didn't.

Oh, I can't hide my disappointment with this one.

I will say that I don't regret watching this although I may sound like I did. First off, let's talk about the beginning or the first half of the show-- which was amazing. Okay, it wasn't anything brilliant, and it started off with its fair share of 'romcom cliche 101', but it worked perfectly well with the characters they'd introduced to us. The refreshingly imperfect leads were a bickering pair I could watch all day. Their chemistry was cracking, and I had sparkles in my eyes and a big fat ugly grin on my face throughout episode 1 to 7. "Nothing could go wrong with a 12-episode K-drama, amiright?" -- is what I thought to myself.

I was wrong.

A show that could've easily gone out with a bang, instead, fizzled out with a fart and that's literally the best way I can put it. This is what happens when-- as if it's a trend with K-dramas nowadays-- they push in a bunch of dumb conflict just to fill out some screentime and a couple episodes. In this case, it simply felt like the writers didn't know how to handle things anymore. They had a vision, but then after episode 8 or 9, it's like they forgot all about it. Like amnesia. Now, that's the only cliche they missed out on in this show because the writers were suffering from it themselves. The cliches felt like they were in the plot as satire at first, which was fun, until they picked out the 'bad' cliches from their big ol' cliche book. The rest became a sloppy serve of a has-been romcom.

There's a lot of things wrong about this little k-drama-- bad inconsistent writing, awkward directing, a bit of meh acting tossed in here and there etc. I'd say it's not worth the headache. But personally, I'm still glad I watched it to the end. The first half is truly worth it-- it was an 'enemies to lovers' feast, for sure.

Read More

A 'moneyboy' with no love to give, and to give no love to.

This was very artsy. The way it was filmed, shot, directed-- it's like one of those indie films you'll fall alseep to if you aren't paying enough attention.

The story isn't anything extraordinary, but it sheds light on the lives of those who are engaged in sex work in a conservative society such as Asian countries-- precisely the life of the main protagonist of this film, who is a character I never truly understood or found myself rooting for. He's self-centered, pushes away or cuts off people who genuinely cares about him, and doesn't know how to appreciate the small but positive aspects of life. You want to care for him since his family situation is sad and frustrating, but at the same time, you can't find the urge to. You can't tell how he feels, if he cares or if he... well, anything. It's not the acting, because I thought the few actors this film had are great, but rather how the ML is written to be. He was, in conclusion, a snob-- and what's the good thing? This film is aware that the main protagonist is a snob.

One thing that bothered me, since I'm a pretty regular film person, is how this movie was entirely filmed. There are many gorgeous artistic shots (which I couldn't screenshot at all because I had to watch it in 360p lmao), but the single-camera stiff distant shots at a constant began to get on my nerves at one point. Besides that, they only ever play a single The Shining-esque background music every three scenes which suddenly makes you wonder "is there gonna be a jumpscare soon?" just for you to remember that you're not watching a horror film. The only reason I didn't rate this any lower than 7, though I could have based on how much I was entertained by this, is the club dancing scene because it made things feel alive for once.

Do I recommend this? Sure. At least it's not another depressing LGBTQ film where someone dies at the end or the couple can't get together. I appreciate their attempt at a different angle for LGBTQ films.

Read More

Only Sex, No Love...?

I wasn't expecting much and ngl I thought this was just another cringey raunchy netflix flick at first glance, but then I thought "eh, why not?" and... it was a fun watch!

This Taiwanese raunchy comedy centers around a messy but realistic family and their individual lives-- mostly their love and sex lives. A part-time vlogger girl who doesn't believe in love and has a friends-with-benefits with an unemployed guy who was born from an extramarital affair, her gay older brother, secretly a pro-gambler, who winds up signing a contract with a gangster dude, and the oldest sister who struggles with a sexually frustrating marriage.

A lot to unpack, just for 8 episodes. Each of the plots could've been fleshed out a bit better, but I get that the time constraint didn't allow much room for that. However, this was still very entertaining. Great acting, great chemistry between all the cast members and the raunchy comedy was very tastefully done, mixed with an adequate amount of emotional depth and sentiment. This drama might be a bit sexually graphic for some, but it made sense with the subject matter.

I do recommend this if you're willing to spend less than 8 hours on a steamy but heartwarming, hilarious but emotionally moving show! It's not perfect by any means, but it was definitely worth my time.

Read More

So, who is the monster?

I actually watched this about 2 weeks ago, but I guess I just wanted to recollect my thoughts about this film before I could write the review because... woah, this was so interesting. Mesmerising. It made me think a LOT.

How this film unfolded the mystery through each character's perspective was so smart, and so well done. I just couldn't tell what was going on or what the main plot was at all, until it switched to Minato's perspective. At the beginning, we saw a single mother be just as confused as us viewers were-- what was her son doing? Why was he acting like that? What was going on with him? We felt her confusion, pain, struggle and then just as she was convinced that the teacher was the perpetrator, we were fully convinced too. If I were to speak further than her perspective, I'd be spoiling heavily because after that, everything blew my mind away. Nothing she thought were true. Frankly, I've never seen anything else quite like how this film is told.

The acting from all actors alike was brilliant. Passionate. I will never get how child actors can be such good actors at such a young age. They literally did just as well as the adult actors on the film, and to be this much talented already gives me the chills because wth am I doing with my life ?

Amazing film. It's the kind of movie you can't help but hold your breath in for the entire 2-hour runtime-- even if you feel like your head might explode at some point.

Read More

"You changed my life, Day."

This was a beautiful journey, from beginning to end. Emotionally charged, carefully crafted, and you can tell how everyone gave all their passion into this drama.

Like, can y'all believe these two did 'Vice Versa' just 2 years ago? GROWTH, darling. All they needed was a better script and a director who could truly grasp their full potential as both individual actors and together. Cracking chemistry that can move a viewer to tears easily. I truly believe they carried the show.

That being said, I do have a couple ? reservations when it comes to the writing. Obviously the best written BL drama that came out of Thailand in 2023, but still, I can't pretend like the writing was flawless. Some character decisions fell a bit short of logic for me, and a little more focus on the supporting characters would've been nicer in the 2nd half. HOWEVER, that's just me being nitpicky and annoying lol this was awesome.

*BIG SPOILERS AHEAD*
As in usual style, the last two episodes were definitely a let-down compared to the rest of the drama. A bunch of illogical conflicts were thrown in to use up the time, like a stupid break-up that could've been easily resolved with a bit of communication and even a time skip. Besides that, I hated that sudden eye donation twist in the last 5 minutes. I thougt we would finally have a healing story about a blind character that shows hope in life despite of it all because it would've been so realistic. I really don't get why they had to shove that last part in ?‍♀️

Anyways, overall, it was still such a good watch. I'm pretty sure I won't forget about how it made me feel anytime soon.

I'll be out here... missing them ?

Read More

A show that follows the lives and stories of modern couples, in a unique format.

‘Lovestruck in The City’ is another 2021 drama that realistically portrayed adults in the modern busy world. In a relatively unique format for Korean dramas where the characters are supposedly featured in a documentary, six adults who are connected to each other in various ways share the regular issues and struggles that they face in their relationships and daily lives.

In the first episodes, many viewers will find it hard to adjust themselves with this drama. The transitions from the documentary interview parts and the story parts will get some confused for sure, but viewers wouldn’t find it too hard to get used to it eventually. While the drama wanted to execute the stories of all three couples and their stories, the drama ended up focusing a little too much on a single couple to the point that they seemed to have little to no charm despite of good chemistry, and the lack of focus on the other characters and their stories make it hard for viewers to emotionally connect to them or ‘care’ for their stories. Due to the very reason, I personally couldn’t find myself to be in love with the characters. Many will relate to the struggles of each character like I did at times, but relating to them doesn’t mean you will absolutely love them.

Now, about the acting, it’s the one thing that I really loved. The cast did an amazing job with each of their performances, and for a bit of a special mention, Ji Chang Wook was brilliant when it came to the emotional scenes. While his character personally lacked for me, his acting makes up for it. Kim Ji Won was good as always, but I’ve seen better performances from her.

The cinematography definitely needs to be appreciated. There are many beautiful sunset beach sceneries that I absolutely loved, and am sure others did too. Besides, the music was great too. It suited the mood of each scene perfectly, and I think the production quality of this drama takes the prize at most.

In the end, a 7.5/10. I’m often prickly with my ratings, so I suggest you check at least 3 episodes due to its new format to see if it suits your taste. I hope you found this ‘huge’ review to be useful :)

Read More

Proceed with caution, if that makes sense.

'The Penthouse' is an SBS drama series which has been planned to have a total of 3 seasons. The show focuses on the lives of high society people who live in a luxurious apartment named the 'Hera Palace'. They'd do anything to protect their social status-- even if it means that they have to kill someone.

3 seasons feel like a big stretch while the 1st season itself has 21 episodes. So, should you buckle up and watch 3 whole seasons of this show? Is it all worth it?

Firstly, let's talk about the plot. The first season of The Penthouse focuses on a murder mystery, a revenge plot and introduces its variety of characters to the viewers. A good revenge plot and a murder mystery is fun to watch, but does this show fall into the 'well-done' category? If you think logic and basic sense of knowledge, this show's plot lacks at that. Many conflicts made in the show would be quickly solved only if the writer had applied more common sense and logic to the story. However, the frequent plot twists and unpredictable situations definitely makes up for it. On the other hand, let's talk about the characters. Where do I even get started? The Penthouse sounds similar to the hit 2018 drama Sky Castle in many aspects. However, the characters of The Penthouse draw a big line. One moment you'd think one character in The Penthouse couldn't get worse, and then BOOM, the character turns out to be a whole lot more worse and just insane at one point. Most of The Penthouse characters don't have much sense of morality and they have very little humanity in them. One thing you need to acknowledge, is that no character in this show truly have a development or redemption. Is that a bad thing, you may think? Well, it depends on what kind of a viewer you are. Now you might also be thinking that how will you be able to watch something with 21 episodes where 9 out of 10 characters on an average are despicable? The evil characters and their insane actions make this show unpredictable, crazy and extremely addicting. You'll undoubtedly be hooked to it despite of the hatred it'll make you feel. This drama, in short, is an intense and over-exaggerated 'makjang' (soap opera), that is one of the most dramatic shows you'll get to watch. I believe anyone will finds themselves totally engrossed into the show-- as long as you don't take it too seriously.

Finally, about the acting. Many people will have issues with the acting and I have to admit, it is quite over-the-top at times. There's a whole lot of screaming, crying, throwing tantrums (or basically breaking stuff), shooting lazers from the eyes and a lot of... opera? I personally believe the acting style was pretty good and suited the plot well, and if I had to do a special mention, it'd be Kim So Yeon, who plays the role of Cheon Seo Jin. Her character is crazy, ruthless and one of the worst. And while Kim So Yeon's acting is also over-exaggerated, her overall performance was brilliant. The rest of the cast was great too, indeed.

For the music, I'd say it wasn't anything outstanding but it did the work pretty well. The scores they had suited the scenes perfectly and helped to set the dramatic mood much further. It would've done better for the show commercially if they had a memorable OST like the ones in 'Sky Castle' and 'The World of The Married'.

Overall, my rating for the first season of 'The Penthouse' is a good ol' 8 out of 10. 8 is a quite high score for me, so do I recommend this show? I do recommend. But, I personally believe it depends on what sort of viewer you are, as I mentioned earlier. You will either love and embrace the insanity of this show or you will not be able to tolerate it more than the first 3 episodes. But in the end, the question remains, is it worth for 3 seasons? That also depends on you but I personally doubt I'll be continuing. But then again, I might change my mind in the future when I'm in need of 100x stress and high blood pressure for no reason because I like pain :'). Thanks a lot for reading this excessively large and spoiler-free review, if anyone did read it and find it helpful!

Read More

Definitely not what I expected

When I first found out about ‘He Won’t Kill, She Won’t Die’, the summary made me think ‘oh, just another edgy teenage romance huh’. But I loved what a delightful surprise this was.

The plot of this movie isn’t anything extraordinary. The film followed three stories— an unfriendly guy who always tells others to die and a suicidal girl, a girl struggling with boyfriends who never actually seem to like her for who she really is and her friendship with a studious girl, and a determined girl who never gets tired of confessing to her crush despite the fact that she always gets rejected by him. Sounds uninteresting? Well, sometimes a film doesn’t need to have an outstanding story in order for it to be good, and this one is an example.

With a mesmerising cinematography, what this film does capture most correctly is the emotions and the feels of each scene. What makes this film so special is how it managed to execute this simple plot with in-depth characters and a great storytelling. The acting is really good too. This film surely reminded me of why I actually loved watching Japanese films the most.

Overall, a solid 9.0/10 for me. The rewatch value is low because it’s not really the kind of film that’s rewatchable, but not all good movies are worth a rewatch as the first times tend to give you feels that you might not feel the time you re-watch it. Thus, I highly recommend this film to everyone :)

Read More

I really love the combination of zombies and comedy, but zombie movies alone are one of my most favorite things to watch! They're always so entertaining!

Firstly, I was very much skeptical to watch this movie since it kind of felt like it would be a real let-down, but because I adore a good zombie film and the trailer seemed a bit promising, I gave it a try. Honestly, the beginning of the movie is pretty weird and gotta say, quite awkward. It could be just me, but it was pretty awkward at first. But later on, things started to become better and I was able to enjoy it more than I imagined! I had 0 expectations for this movie, but it turnt out to be pretty good and quite a refreshing film with the comedy and it's been pretty long since I've watched a zombie film.

The story was very unique for a zombie movie, in fact. Most zombie movies would revolve around a certain group of people amidst an apocalypse and how they survive it, but the story of this movie is different and special. I guess the story makes this movie most charming.

The actors were great and they all played their characters reallly well. I knew they were good actors, so I wasn't expecting bad acting whatsoever.

There's not much of a music in it, but there is a song which suited the movie a lot.

I don't rewatch movies unless I really LOVED it. I enjoyed this one a lot, but I definitely didn't love it to the point that I would rewatch it. But probably, I would rewatch some years later or so when I completely forget what happened in it XD

In conclusion of this long and boring review, I recommend you to watch it! It's refreshing, unique, funny and would be great if you're bored and you're looking for something to spend your time! :)

Read More

This short web film was much better than what I was expecting! There is also a very interesting plot twist, which leaves you to wanting more of the story. Besides, the story was much different and unique than what Playlist Global comes up with. It has youthful theme with fantasy and romance.
At the beginning, you will find yourself getting confused but it all starts to make perfect sense and the story comes all together in the mid-way.

In terms of acting, the acting was done nicely by the actors. There's not much characters in the short film but the actors did really great with their given roles!

For music, it was pretty mellow and it complimented the scenes really well.

Therefore, this web film is pretty worth watching! I recommend it if you're looking for something short and heart-warming!

Read More

It's been a long time ever since I wrote a review for a drama and here it comes!

At first, this drama was my everything. I watched the first two episodes in a single whim and it pulled me right into it. The story felt fresh, sweet and heart-warming. In fact, the chemistry between the leads was already amazing. The other two second leads in the reverse harem, were also great! The female lead was a somewhat realistic 32-year-old and I found her quite strong at times and sweet.

Now, the real thing is how this drama depends on a person's taste or choices. This drama definitely does not suit everybody's taste, and I noticed that as I continued to the drama. In the middle, the plot from my view became a tad-bit boring and kind of predictable. Not that I dislike predictable plots, something important felt missing in this drama. It was sweet and really cute in the beginning but things start to change in the middle. Maybe because the amount of waiting that had to be done for each episode to come out may have decreased my excitement for it and thus I wasn't looking forward to it anymore? That's possible.
Overall, this drama was pretty good in my opinion and the objective of the story was touching and nice. It reminded me of the Japanese movie 'Flying Colors' in many ways and I personally loved that movie. About the cast, the actors was amazing at portraying their characters. My most favorite thing about this drama is the music. The OST 'Happy Birthday' was such a good song!

This drama actually depends on your preferences and taste so I suggest you give it a try to see if it suits you :)

Read More

I had read the manga just a few months ago and I overall disliked the manga for its plain stupidity and cliche. It wasn't even any cute cliche which you would normally go along with- it was disturbingly cliche.

So, when I discovered that the manga was having a live adaptation, I had a slight expectation that the movie would hopefully come out better, since there are times an adaptation comes out better than what it originally is adapted from. However, the movie let me down too. Worse than the Manga.

First of all, the story pace felt rushed right at the beginning of the movie. The female main character was somewhat annoying and puzzled (The actress wasn't bad) and the male lead was just another typical cliche character. There were many unnecessary parts in the movie and some small things they added in the movie which were absent in the Manga felt useless too.

I know that comparing an adaptation with the original work isn't a cool thing to do since it's just an adaptation. But seeing how I disliked the Manga, it was somewhat obvious that I would dislike the movie adaptation too. And believe me, even if you watch it without reading the manga, you still won't like it.
The only tad-bit positive part I found in the movie was the Opening theme song, I guess. That wasn't bad.

All I have left to say is that- I don't recommend this movie to anyone. However, it is totally up to whether you should watch it or not since people have different tastes and rejecting to watch something just by a review is kinda wrong. You should check it out yourself to see whether it matches your taste or not. But to my assumption, it probably won't.

I hope this review was helpful to you :)

Read More