9
11
ElBee
Adorkable Heights, State of Oblivion, Kdramaland
This review may contain spoilers
Brilliant cast executing a fun, oftentimes hilarious showing of girl power
Two words: GIRL POWER! Okay, so onto a review of sorts which I think probably seems more like a rabid fan name dropping idols they have crushes on-oh well, so be it!I have been waiting to see this since eons ago when they first cast Ra Mi Ran (a personal superhero to me, brilliant, funny, able to make me cry with joy and anguish and anger and from laughing too hard, great no matter the role, always genuine and with expressions that show how invested she is in every role, a superb mentor to her younger starlets in training, a lovely warm and sweet human who especially brings out the importance of family, biological and more than that the chosen family you make as adults or even in youth, in roles no matter her job, social status, etc in the role... she is such a team player that I seriously haven't seen ANYONE she has poor chemistry with! She's just so beautiful everyone loves her with great reason!). I am so happy I finally got to watch it. She is so badass here whether sporting a leather jacket or Hawaiian shirt or denim. The hacker ace role really was, somewhat surprisingly, well-suited for Sooyoung, much moreso than others I've seen her in. I also liked seeing Lee Sung Kyung in a role that has no reliance, momentary time at a club for folks under 30 aside, on beauty which she has plenty of. I would ADORE having a drama series made from this. 16-24 hours of badass ladies supported by guys? YES PLEASE! ALWAYS YES! It doesn't hurt that one of my favorite ahjussis finally came in albeit for such a brief moment to stand behind his true cop kiddo! <3 Sung Dong Il always rocks, even when he plays characters I momentarily want to castrate! Thankfully, this brief cameo did not kick in that feeling at all!
After him playing the angsty but awkward and tender/sensitive design artist in Romance is a Bonus Book (and his roles in Matrimonial Chaos alongside Bae Doona, Jung Hae In's pal turned bro in law in Pretty Noona etc), Wi Ha Joon kind of startled me-well, REALLY startled me. Oof, those punches and kicks just aren't so like his image elsewhere-movies let them really go to other worlds, and his cursing was so natural!! Yikes! :) O_O After he was the American named Michelin chef with the injured hand in Best Chicken, I came to like the guy who plays chemical wizard for illicit drugs Philip, too (though I didn't realize he was quite this tall or lean-he's 6'2" apparently, same height as Jang Ki Yong). I also spotted a fellow costar from Miracle We Met and more recently the cute Song___ (not sure his full name-the Thai guy) in Fiery Priest! From Class of Lies we have the Lee Tae Seok fellow even looking for fame and status here, tisk tisk, but this one comes around and at least helps do real work if minimally lol! The maknae on that squad was a twin in Sky Castle, is in Arthdal Chronicles, and played the young version of the prosecutor bro in Psychometric and I think the young Jang Hyuk, too, in Money Flower, though I'm not sure and don't know his name off hand-there's no shortage of cuteness here, weird as it is to say about cops and drug dealers! Anyone watching Moment of 18 (M-T adorable first love high school drama w/Hyangi) will recognize the well-humored though somewhat taunting math wizard and track star oughttabe character Sang Hoon, too, as one of the four drug dealers, the one I think coordinating the distribution of illegally acquired sex tapes, and last but not, not ever, least... OUR GRIM REAPER from Hotel Del Luna! I was all kinds of sentimental even though he is quite a louse in this one!
All to say I was totally in love if only because it was like the stars aligned so brilliantly and brought together all sorts of people I have enjoyed recently (even if some like the status seeking cop/Lee Tae Seok one I enjoy disliking!)-to see such a cast is a total feast for my eyes, even if only briefly. Can't forget Yoon Sang Hyun, of course, not after Shopping King Louis, Miss Perfect, OSKA in Secret Garden, I Hear Your Voice, and even Gap Dong and Mrs Temper from a while back-he's a bit typecast for these dopey roles, but he's definitely good at them! Still, his roles in Shopping King Louis and Secret Garden are my faves for him.
Admittedly, this might not have much rewatch value since it's not especially complex or anything-you can watch casually and grasp everything the first time around, so it's not a mental maze to navigate by any shot (nor is it trying to be), but it is super fun. If I feel really stressed and feel like I need to throw or hit something, I can just replay the showcase of girl power in this and let them further damage the already lacking brain function of their brother-husband who gets a bit battered in his efforts to be useful! Prepare to laugh and smile A LOT. It is quite the riot and such a welcome respite for a weary day.
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A tender, delicately crafted story of healing through found family
This drama has so few reviews I decided to copy my feed post from a month ago to the page as a review; other reviews give you the story details, so I feel okay just gushing in my stream of consciousness fashion here. :) (It is a given that not many titles are still at the forefront of my brain a month later for being so wonderful-only the wretched titles tend to lurk that long!)The short summary: This is a highly emotional slice of life with performances that are a balance of charming, funny, and naturally sad at times as 9 people who’ve lost the people they love most in the world are faced with a world that doesn’t understand what they are dealing with and makes them want to be further isolated as no amount of “stay strong”isms will do any good… Those people come together and find a place they can breathe, people they don’t have to pretend to be okay around and eventually get okay around. Tearjerker moments paired with gentle humor, character growth and the best example of a true “found family” story I’ve seen… that is what you are signing up for if you watch this drama which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
The lengthy version (my brain splatting out its thoughts without censorship-pardon the mess):
I hovered between 9.5 and 10 for the rating here, but I really can’t find fault in it, especially since I had to naturally watch some pretty compressed video (it was uploaded long before the era of full HD gigabyte plus episode files being common) that lost a lot of the color in it but still found myself crying a bit, smiling, and crying again for all the pain and happiness alike… yeah, this deserves a 10. It is a heavily character-centered slice of life about found family (admittedly a weakness of mine that will warm my heart more than almost every other trope when it is done well, and man, this is your platinum star for that!), so instead of plot twists and turns or intense feuds of family dramas that have scheming at the forefront, this is bringing together people who are as different as you will find but who share one crucial thing: they all just lost the most important people to them because of the same tragic accident.
Granted, you need to WANT something that explores grief, loss, and pain from MANY perspectives and showcases a really complex set of character dynamics as they cope with trauma, loneliness (to extremes), survivor guilt (a couple of them weren’t there at the scene of the accident at all, but their guilt, while a little different, is no less intense, and their isolation and alienation no less saddening).
Stunning performances across the board. This managed, in 9 hours, to let me see deeper into the stories of the characters (despite there being several to peer into, some more deeply than others) than most dramas can in 20 hours, but unlike many (most) quick works that aim for the same “tell a lot with little time” result, it never felt like they were just gluing together tiny skits. It flowed exceptionally well, and I ended up deeply loving the characters thanks to how thoughtful I found both the writing and portrayal of them.
Emotional train wreckage, yep, and it is beautifully handled. I feel both amazing warmth and a tiny bit of exhaustion from so much emotion pulled from me as I couldn’t stop watching after a point. I didn’t want to let go of them, any of them. They really managed to end it pretty perfectly while leaving a big part of me wanting to forget much I’d just seen so I could watch it for the first time again even though it is not throwing a thrilling twist-filled plot that justifies forgetting before rewatching. I want to see their initial encounters and growth from the start with no knowledge of it. I want to watch them grow together and heal together in this gentle haven. The blend of heart, humor, pain, and characters who grow to trust and feel truly comfortable like family, real lasting family, with one another is worth anyone watching who wants to throw their hearts into something. (I am really glad I watched it far in advance of the Korean adaptation coming out-the Kdrama has only cast 3 potential house members, and I am excited for it, but I think it’ll be very different… still, what a fantastic title to remake in HD, hopefully with all the charm of the house this one features which really is just a perfect setting for this story!)
This is certainly not for people primarily looking for pretty faces and sharp cinematography. It is 20 years old this year and what is online, fan subbed, is compressed to under 1/5 the file size it would be if released now. I didn’t actually find it detracted too much after a brief adjustment for my eyes since I was there for the characters’ story, story, and more story and it fully delivered. The OST, while the start and end are consistent, has some fitting songs. In particular, a couple of instrumental numbers threw my brain back to an album I had, might still have, that I think was the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. At least that is the cover that is in my head (it is not at all a weird song of theirs-they have lots that are non-traditional-just one that I remember the flute player’s sound from and think this might be that same player). No huge wow factor anywhere… but that is why it shines. It is delicately handled, full of tiny details (both through setting/cast/prop visuals and in character traits and dynamics), and nuanced, and it feels deeply honest, authentic, in terms of the emotions of every character.
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An interesting modified adaptation of one of SK’s longest-lasting pansori performance folk tales
Crafted much in the same style as Shakespearean tragic comedies, this film (which was adapted from a popular folk story that is performed to this day in pansori, theatre musicals, and more) entertained me for its hundred or so minutes and ultimately made me want to watch Ran (samurai story in the style of King Lear), Throne of Blood (retelling of Macbeth in feudal Japan), or even The Bad Sleep Well (crime noir film built on Hamlet).While the writing was not as dazzling or sharp in wit as I would have liked, it makes up for it in execution by the cast led by Jung Woo (playing the title character), beloved, much-missed Kim Joo Hyuk 😔🪦 whose character Jo Hyuk gives up his comfortable life of wealth to care for orphans whose parents were killed, and classic sageuk veteran Jung Jin Young who plays Jo Hyuk’s greedy brother Jo Hang Ri, the key antagonist. Jung Hae In, while not playing a particularly interesting king, is nice eye candy, and Jung Sang Hoon and Kim Won Hae are a solid backbone for the tonal shifts. Chun Woo Hee is an endearing young assistant who is like a daughter to Heung Bu, and we also get small appearances by Jin Goo playing Nol Bu, the guardian of the people (and long lost brother of Heung Bu), a nearly-unrecognizable Kwak Dong Yeon, and a little epilogue cameo of Kang Ha Neul.
The story itself is small and lacking in some of the rich story depth of others employing theatre troupes like The King and Clown, but not all stories need to be visually stunning to make their point or highlight an important folk story though this veers very far from the original in terms of storyline while keeping important details, adapting them into a story with a bigger scale of impact, a greater gap in wealth and status between brothers.
While this does not (sadly, to me) follow the original story to its end, it does showcase how a good person standing in opposition to a terrible one can, even with odds stacked against them, have their good will rewarded in time, even if not in traditional ways. Apart from this using politics as a component instead of telling the more simple story of drastically different brothers with life lessons, this uses different characters to represent Heung Bu and his brother while having this Heung Bu be a storyteller who uses his own name and his brother’s name to instead tell of Jo Hyuk and Jo Hang Ri.
Jo Hyuk in the film represents the original story’s Heung Bu, Jo Hang Ri representing Nol Bu… it is best to go in ignoring this for the 105 minutes since otherwise the names can seem odd as the story published uses the names of the greedy and selfless brother while the characters with those names are, for the film, loving brothers separated during a time of conflict that left many families dead, Heung Bu publishing racy erotic novels as a means of making his name known so he can locate his brother. This does, though, keep important elements of the original like the poor disowned brother being slapped in the face with a rice spoon at his brother’s luxurious home, commenting that it is delicious, and asking to be struck again. The original tale has Heung Bu go to his brother’s home to ask for rice as the brother-who took the entire inheritance-has a surplus of it; Heung Bu in the original gathers the grains of rice on his face carefully to feed his hungry children whereas this has Jo Hyuk go there about a last bit of property, land he and the ones he saved had successfully farmed to feed themselves and the kids in their care they were also teaching, the rice slap happening on his way out because there was excess rice spoiling and a servant “dared to” prepare the rice and feed her child with it rather than leave it to rot.
What is left out: the original tale (apparently a common bedtime story, known by me because it is one of few classic pansori tales still performed in many forms, no doubt with nearly infinite variations) dives into a story of the poor brother saving a swallow [the sign of spring coming in the film] with a broken leg on his way home with the handful of rice and his hungry children being happy to nurse and feed it until it is well enough to fly back to its home. In the original, the swallow returns to them with a pumpkin seed that produces three enormous pumpkins. The pumpkins, when cut into, are full of treasures. The greedy, already well-off brother learns of this sudden wealth, inquires about how Heung Bu came by it, then tries to replicate it with a key distinction that he breaks the bird’s leg then tends to it… in that story, the bird also returns with a seed, but that seed’s harvest is full of destruction: a dokkaebi (goblin) that beats and chides him for his greed, debt collectors swarming in demanding repayment, and his home being flooded with muddy water. In that version, Nol Bu, who has lost all his property and money, asks for forgiveness from Heung Bu who is more kind… or more of a sucker… than I could ever be. Then again, it does exist to teach lessons, and Korean folklore doesn’t have that biting “you got what you deserved and I’d just as soon use you for stew meat as call you brother again” tone of what I grew up learning (maybe you can partly blame that-or watching Alfred Hitchcock and works similar to Stephen King films growing up-for the deep love of sarcasm and dark, often scathing, humor).
I rate this an 8. As a one-time watch, a-ok! I could quickly grasp what it was aiming for both in substance and style, and I rarely rewatch titles as it is, but I can see some watching this again if they were fairly casual “just ingest and process minimally” viewers the first time. It did take me half a dozen years to watch it because I needed enough distance from Kim Joo Hyuk knowing how much it hurt to watch Argon not nearly long enough after his passing to not be thinking about it between episodes and sometimes during them (I also kept delaying watching Believer for that reason). This felt way too short, probably because I am so accustomed to dramas and lowkey want an elaborate 20-hour version of this with the energy of Rebel: Thief who Stole the People (which is the more historically “accurate”-ie based on the real Hong Gil Dong, not the pure folklore variant). I want the erotica plot line! ;) I want more of his assistant and beloved Park Sang Hoon searching for his bro! More would benefit this… cause it is a bit surface-level-feeling in storyline. Okay, I’ll just say it: the story is kinda shallow, underdeveloped feeling. I still liked it, but I can’t ignore that fact. Simple can work, but this left me wanting more depth.
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Didn't expect to watch Armageddon's Korean sequel
I feel like I'm on a streak of posting 8-8.5's and this was all set to be another 8* option, but... in the end had too many weak points to give it that (it's still fine for single-viewing mindless entertainment, just not exactly for grading it from a story and casting POV or my own preference since I'm not really a mindless watch stuff get blown up sort of viewer-I do generally prefer my brain to need to at least be alert-here, it's like I could put it in hibernate and recreate the whole thing-it's just a bit too basic, too common and overdone a storyline, and predictable overall).This one is a bit hard to rate because the acting and production are totally A-grade and I appreciate that they don't have the actors in the "control towers" (military commanders, the President and his staff, etc) being over the top-everyone was precise and acted their parts out quite well... but for a script that is totally average. This is a bit like Armageddon, South Korea style, but not so cringe-inducing, not trying to drag tears out of you by punching you repeatedly with saccharin blech (there's a very very short bit of it, though it's forgivable, I guess), this had, for me, what would make a really weird high/low points graph. It starts off kind of mediocre which honestly almost made me click out, but it got much better and better... only to have an ending that felt like dozens of other action movies and brought back to mind Armageddon references when I never in my whole life want to remember that film with... isn't it Steven Tyler singing its anthem? Yeah, pretty sure... that song still feels like a trauma in my life somehow.
At least this lacks an OST to speak of-it's too busy with immense sound effects. THAT is a definite strength, but it's Dexter Studios (Dexter the Eye etc) with CJ Group-of course the visuals and sound engineering will be solid. The ACTING is also solid. This is Lee Byung Hun's perfect sort of role IMO. I don't like him in anything where he's supposed to be "sexy" or in any romances except only-half-romance historical Mr. Sunshine, but this... yes, this is the right role for him... tough, sly, a bit hard to put up with, cocky, all the things his face exudes if I'm honest. Physiognomy isn't my jam, but maybe all those face reading sageuks made me see his face and project... or the Marlboro Man vibe just feels off-putting... okay, and Mr. Sunshine aside, I'll never root for his romance bc he took Ji Sung's woman in 2003. Yup. Bitterness eternal here.
This is, overall, kinda, hmm... entertaining because the acting is slick and some dialogue is, while not too unique, really well-delivered (and thank goodness their American cast members were actually good speakers, whew... SO often their "Americans" end up just absolutely sucking!)... Ma Dong Seok was playing a super smart Princeton professor, a geologist of sorts who had predicted the mountain explosions that are the basis of this and gets involved, and his big ol' teddy bear personality was on screen as authentic as imaginable here. He's so dang endearing.
Now for a gripe, though: Suzy's role was small and honestly forgettable and seemed pretty out of place (she looks 20 years younger than her "husband" Ha Jung Woo plays here, like 40 vs 20 even if they're supposed to be 30... mismatched for me and they ARE 17 yeara apart). While she's great in her role, Jeon Hye Jin, actually a couple years older than him, easily passes for child-bearing age in this movie, so she would've paired better, as would have Ok Ja Yeon who's 10 years younger. Either of those would've made Ha Jung Woo seem younger than his 44 years, but Suzy's SO far off age and appearance-wise it makes him look like his character would have friends whose children were in her class. Oh well... not that important, just not loved by me and a bit annoying in the very few moments they were in the same scene... it's super weird to see Ma Dong Seok look like a better spouse for Suzy than the one assigned! He cleans up nicely here, though. :P
Anyway, it's not amazing stuff, no, but for a couple of hours of explosions and action and me wishing more about the science would've been explored and worked through on-screen (and even the political end since it was just thrown on screen in an "everyone knows this bit" way that made it lack longevity for sure), it was entertaining. Not a screenwriter I'll be desperate to seek everything out from, though. To go to Armageddon's awful theme song to close this out, I WON'T miss a thing... about this movie, Ma Dong Seok the expert Princeton scientist with his ever-golden care bear heart aside.
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If Mr. Bean and a horribly corrupt idealist got into a fight... in a bank?
Is my headline confusing? So is this show. I don't feel like I can devote a ton of energy to making this organized if I'm honest; I just noticed this weird show somehow has a totally respectable rating thus far but no one is bothering to say what they like about it or dislike, so I'm going to basically rant a little til I feel better.It starts off seeming okay. You have a bank merger with one of the two having far more political pull/influence and this weirdly corrupt idealist (see, told ya it's confusing) pushing the board of directors who are all in for profit at the cost of the bank itself, even. Corrupt idealist exec is going through this shutdown of all the less powerful bank's branches and transferring their accounts to the others, fine okay, but he's bribing people left and right, talking about giving control to overseas companies, even, to "save the bank?" There's his idealism in a big vision: banks ruled by AI, minimal human knowledge or involvement, computers the superior means for all things monetary in his mind.
I struggled to give this a rating at all because it COULD be genuinely good, really, except good freaking lord, what was this writer thinking when deciding to basically make the lead character a sort of comical Mr. Bean figure always bowing, smiling, everyone robotically following militant sorts of motions that don't EVEN seem like human bodies are moving half the time. Some solid sentimental connection is formed, and I really do like a couple of the actors in this, the ones more subtle in behavior, more... banker-like? Kagawa Teruyuki is by far the best of them in this respect. Some of those banker behaviors are instilled, the whole morning hazaa sorts of let's get em tiger fight the good fight work hard comrades teamwork chants, but he looks human and real. Ah, so does Takahashi Kazuya (who has some of the Mr. Bean but without being so annoyingly non-humanlike). With that said, because there ARE some really sweet behaviors, some sentimental attachments, and while of course a bit on the forced side there are some stories of customers that are delivered in touching and normal ways, I kept watching. Would I watch a second season? My rating speaks for itself. I'd certainly watch the aforementioned actors (along with the youngster Kamiki Ryunosuke) again, but assuming this is not the normal sort of behavior/acting job for the lead, for Kote Shinya who is basically a mobster in a bank office, and for bully with the approval stamp Sakou Yoshi, assuming more aptly they don't make these grotesque over the top facial expressions that sometimes look like someone having a seizure in 'anger' or 'defiance' and other times just look RIDICULOUS... The lead Fukuyama Masaharu seemed to think he was in a comedy. Maybe it is? When he would become 'sentimental' it was a bit like a tiny child cuddling a doll; when Mikami Hiroshi, our corrupt bribery using idealist trying to save the bank through machines, to fire everyone then say it was for their institution that now the experienced bankers will make a valiant sacrifice and bag groceries for the rest of their work years, when he got pissy, it was so much like a spoiled little kid not getting his robot the day it was released it really WAS comical. The problem with that? The content was serious.
That's not to say you can't take serious content and deliver it with a lot of comedy. I finished Special Labor Inspector (Kdrama) not long ago and it was funny, sharp, and also managing serious stuff. Heck, even Doctor Detective has funny moments. This seemed more up the Radiation House alley-something to take very seriously as if the lives of all you serve depend on it. In both a hospital and bank that is entirely true. If your money OR your health disappear, the other is soon to follow, so it's not like we can survive without both being managed well and safeguarded. Had it been approached LIKE Radiation House-some sweetness, sentiment, some brilliance, some dumb moments of despair/shame, and a sharp contrast between the 'do it quick and make money' folks and the 'do it right the first time and follow through thoroughly' ones, it could honestly have been great.
Summary: I don't honestly know if the actors were TOLD to be so unnatural (ie if it's a failed comedy) or if the writer's directions were not clear/precise or if they gave leeway for the actors to interpret it, but the director at the very least BOMBED this because it was like I was watching six different shows, actors who had read six separate scripts thrown together. That'd be fine were they tourists in a hostel all acting wildly different, but not in a bank, especially not in a single branch of a bank. It was just too peculiar to enjoy and I ended up frequently speeding up the ABUNDANCE of dead time, time when a scene could have been done in 2 minutes but took 10. It was just poorly made. I feel sad for the ones who DID work hard because it's clear they didn't gel in the end. Failed comedy, failed business centered semi-serious drama about economic issues of the day, failed study of what ACTUALLY makes a person heroic? Who knows. They clearly wrote for the lead to be persevering the whole way through. The problem is the lack of evolution of that character and-even if it was the intention-how unbelievable it was for someone completely underqualified and not especially skilled, your base level clerk, to suddenly jump up several tiers in order to fail then behave like a basic clerk but everything turn out alright? Eh, perseverance isn't enough and the message gets lost with a guy who can always be outwitted and who ultimately would realistically have been attacked and hospitalized in almost any other drama; they fired and bullied and hurt others, threats left and right, but a guy with a wife and child at home is going to just take the threats and go? Unbelievable is definitely a good word.
Like I said, I like the idea of this grunt worker just running his way around (no transit bankers have enough $ there I suppose?), though he is running apparently 15km a day from how they make it seem, all in dress shoes and a suit, no changing outfits for the sake of not being sweaty for clients (but I guess women don't fart and bankers don't sweat if they're honorable?). I like a lot of its ideas. The problem is I cringed so so much I am angry for how much more my wrinkles set in with a mere 540 minutes. I feel jaded that it took 450 minutes of lousy acting by the ones that were in that comical Bean universe that sometimes felt like I was watching a fight between (The Simpsons) Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders, the lead the obvious Flanders and the paper stamper/approval process slower downer and stopper the Mr. Burns. That leaves Takahashi Kazuya to be Mr. Bean since he has the best resemblance!
Ah, and it's normal, I know, but when a show already makes you grit your teeth, those ads thrown a few places in them really make your fist feel like punching something sometimes. They do serve as times to unclench a jaw that is really sad to see something promising go from drain to sewer to waste treatment plant in 10 hours then just end with a stench you never can quite stop smelling even after it's theoretically 15km away, running alongside our protagonist who somehow turns from a cog they'll use and dispose of to a master who beats them despite knowing almost nothing about what's happening in his own institution. Should've maybe let someone else be the voice of inspiration. This guy just made me want to slap him too often with his fast furious bows and running and loud shouting and other comedy troupe suited behaviors that don't translate well on TV.
Sorry I ranted. I got mad all over again at myself for watching it through, but with 10 episodes, it feels like an insult to not see something through (oh heck, for me there can be 25 hours left and I'll still not be able to stop watching most that I start if I've gotten even 5-6 hours into it). This has been a confession for your holiness to forgive my impudence and all that. I at least can go watch them be cute, handsome, sweet, tender, or villanous elsewhere, hopefully in sync with their fellow cast members next time.
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My overall thought? Over the top in both the intended ways (big CGI effects etc) and also unintended ones (music that was loud and annoying, dorky as I'll explain, acting with facial expressions that made me double check if it was really from Japan-I cringed quite a few times; the voices were also really unnatural sounding, especially the lead who seemed really out of place here) and kind of sloppy in terms of how it started. It was just thrown at us without any real connection between scenes. Too many times it jumped to places that were given no explanation. They were whining at each other or silent when information needed to be delivered one way or another, a way besides 'let em figure it out in a few minutes' ideally.
The visual effects were pretty good. The OST was a bit obnoxious in that it was ripping off John Williams. After such obvious knockoffs of Star Wars' saga's more trumpet-heavy songs with some Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Ark and even some swooning bits like Jurassic Park's most iconic number tossed in a couple of times, etc, I was expecting the signature 5 notes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to be the final finish. It made watching it distinctly less fun because over the top music paired with some over the top acting and I couldn't bring it higher than the 5 I gave it-and I did that a bit mercifully because this is my first time watching this genre. For anything that isn't a straight up sequel, I firmly believe a work should stand on its own no matter the audience as long as it isn't something too complex for said audience-it shouldn't require me to be entrenched with the kind of show it is in any way. On that, the story does an alright job as basic as it is, the characters only good in the sense that it's 'to be continued' since the things that ARE cool=not explored enough (namely the girl I think was called Haruka-only girl that is there more than a few mins)... The acting went from flat to exaggerated, like zero expression to twitchy, overdone motions face-wise-the girl in it was better but she was supposed to focus and gaze intently, so yeah, not so hard to do. The action was alright, nothing amazing but I do like the girl's psychic power and sword deal. It would be better, I think, as a drama. As a standalone, it's definitely more fluffy than I tend to like (and I like sci-fi and fantasy and futuristic stuff, just not Power Rangers on whatever rare metal is the bot equivalent of steroids which it felt like).
Nothing much to spoil with the plot-can't expect an enormous amount of plot in this quick little installment, but it was an interesting thing that I honestly wouldn't have watched if it hadn't 1) popped up on Kissasian yesterday and 2) been in a category I definitely hadn't marked any 'plan to watch' pages for the 2019 Watch Challenge (https://mydramalist.com/discussions/forum-games/37178-2019-watch-challenge )! The challenge served a unique purpose, though, cause wow, yep, I knew this stuff existed (but honestly thought it was more the modern equivalent of Saturday morning cartoons made live action) and saw it on Kissasian often enough, but all the Kamen Rider sorts of shows, probably because anything with a dozen parts is intimidating, couldn't have gotten a total newcomer like me to jump down the rabbit hole. I don't regret it at all. It was an interesting enough watch. Some special effects were over the top (like the whole thing), and I can't figure out for the life of me why it's rated all ages ie a 5 year old doesn't need mom/dad to be there in case the initial scenes of violence are, yknow, upsetting (generally that rating is reserved for Disney Channel and Nickelodeon kid-aimed programs) or the slimier/less human creatures perhaps not what all little kids will be okay watching alone). Mind you, I watched worse in my youth, but it doesn't mean it got rated the same as Ozzie and Harriet/Andy Griffith sorts of family programs or Sesame Street.
I'm sure there are better examples of this category (I've seen some from other countries that are basically higher budget or more classic versions of the basic premise here-heck, some of what Williams composed the scores for was right in line with it), and I think people who already like this kind of storyl will find it a fast-paced light easy watch (kind of welcome after watching stuff that makes ya cry a storm). That said, it wasn't anything new or terribly original. It's a bit like Harlequin romance novels-they take the same general set up options and shuffle details so with 100 different details to pick 20 from, you get a whole lot of "unique" combinations that in cinema need a bit more than some musical chairs and translating other works into every language everywhere. It felt like a grab bag-a handful of show 1, a sprinkle of 2, a big chunk plagiarized from 3 then visually altered a touch, etc. Still, It wasn't terrible, just not anything I'd recommend or watch further installments of. The pilot should be strong, super strong at that, even if it's 90% grabbed from other works, kind of!
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Explore all sorts of music deeply w/a genuine, affable host harmonious w/new&veteran artists alike
Are there no comments and reviews because it's so well-known or the opposite, I wonder?In case someone comes around here and the latter is the case (they don't know anything about this program), well, I'm truly underqualified to review it as I have NOT been watching this decade long piece of music history unfold and have perhaps seen far fewer episodes than others who have thrown their rating up their, even! I can't honestly even SAY how many I've seen because as a show that isn't linear and doesn't require starting at any given point, I arrived the same way as the majority of non-Koreans and maybe younger Koreans alike: I liked a musician/song, looked it up on YT where this show has a prominent presence (yay! I like supporting the shows the legal way so I heart networks when they DO put shows up there!), and a clip from this show happened to be the absolute best OF that song online by a WIDE margin. I loved the interview style, so I then went to the full episode, loved it (the subtitles have been excellent for episodes in the last 5 years or so, at least what I've caught), and periodically go back and watch more. Once in a while when something pops up in my feed the times I AM over on that part of the web, if I have some extra time or am doing light work and want something that doesn't require CONSTANT focus like most dramas I enjoy, well, what better than some music I can watch or just as easily skip past without anyone's feelings being hurt if I'm not feeling like hearing whatever is on (ie if I want to ease my stress, high energy stuff might not be it)?
Since music transcends language yet incorporates it very often, it's wonderful that I can tune in or out exactly as much as I wish-I can just hear the voice like a bird or I can listen to the words for their poetry and the story within them. While my Korean vocab is pretty good apart from some dialects tripping me up, lyrics are a WHOLE other ball game since the structure that took me so long to wrap my brain around gets reshuffled so my subjects and objects are all mysterious in songs and poetry because they are fitting things into rhymes and rhythms. Anyway, you don't need to know the language to enjoy the songs, BUT boy it's nice to have the translations for when something gets into your head/heart!
So why THIS music program over all the rest? Hmm, well, the host and the VARIETY are my reasons-I'm not young, so I don't know anything about bands, biases, fandom names, etc beyond Bigbang and two or three others quite vaguely. I do like, for the reason millions (hundreds of millions) do, an inexplicable reason, like Bigbang a lot-G Dragon looks like the friend-family "we're godparents of each other's youngsters" 'soul twin,' so seeing him on screen makes me sentimental for reasons unrelated to him entirely, but it turns out I dig his lyrical style, rapping (and to a lesser extent singing-he's better at the former), and of course catchy endearing dancing... but all the new ones? Lord, if they aren't in a Kdrama, I don't know them AT ALL. If they ARE in a Kdrama, I still don't know them AS a band member unless an aficionado informs me or they just can't act especially well yet despite the adoration in comments! The only exception might be Kang Daniel because he was memorable as a "Dangerous Beyond the Blankets" member, one of maybe 3 Korean 'reality?' shows I have watched start to finish. All to say... this isn't going to be Kpop boy and girl groups unlimited. They only have a few artists on each time and they give them ample time to shine and interact. THAT is its real difference. It's a bit more intimate, deeper, has a less crazy-loud audience (fans are there, for sure, but they aren't wailing and ruining the music too often though occasionally a young lady does, inevitably, melt down, lol!), and just feels WARM. Other shows to me feel like another exhausting performance they are anxious to get through and go home from. They seem to genuinely be really happy on this show, all of them, even the ones who seem prickly and frustrated on other shows from what I've seen here and there.
If you are at all interested in exploring Korean music, this is a brilliant show. If you don't know a thing about any of them, PERFECT. The mega idols and the small new indy duets with only 3 songs are truly treated as equals and you wouldn't know the veterans from the newcomers on here. THAT takes brilliance. The host is ideal for the role-he's sensitive to both music and the creators of it and has a finely tuned ear, so to speak, so as he listens he catches bits of improvisation to songs in the show, he and his team research to know an ample amount about the songs and performers, and of course he knows the instruments and music structure themselves so he starts off at an advantage. Still, somehow, he is not arrogant (in any eps I've watched), is incredibly approachable and affectionate towards his guests in how he speaks, and you can tell he genuinely admires their work, craft, etc. "It takes one to know one." I have heard mentions of the host's PAST experience but have no knowledge of him as a musician beyond his occasional impromptu seeming times playing along WITH guests (possibly very well-rehearsed though they've perfected making it look natural if so!). He's quite a sensitive player with a lot of style and ability to mesh with all sorts, it turns out, and match THEM not the other way around.
Simply put, this host is CREATING HARMONY in every sense-note to note, instrument to instrument, human to human. He's just in tune with the world's more sensitive beings and can create an atmosphere that makes guests WANT to harmonize with him, open up and just have a friendly talk like they've been friends since childhood and are now watching their kids grow up together. Whether the guest is a spritely giggly youngster who gets shy easily or a laid back easygoing middle aged peer, all of them quickly have this "we get you and you get us" sort of instant connection that kind of makes me miss when I was a musician. It was heaven and hell all in one. My hands and head (instrumentalist) said hell sometimes, but hitting the sweet perfect notes that fluttered like a bird sometimes, sounded an alert, or sounded haunting and haunted alike... when the mood and the tone and the general feel of the musician are all aligned, it's brilliant. It seems like his stage has some sort of magical effect that makes people much more able to do it than other places. Maybe it's all because of him or maybe there's someone backstage who is the real maestro, but it's freaking beautiful to see.
If I wasn't so dang addicted to kdramas or could follow the lyrics in their unusual patterns ie if my fluency could go beyond understanding NORMAL conversation and could venture into the land of unique to me symbolic word combinations and Kerouac-like rambling styles, I'd probably watch all 500+ episodes, but alas, when I have to say no to some 24 hours a week of Kdramas I'd love to be watching (and I only do primetime so that's 12 shows I can't see that I'd like to give a try!)... music from a faraway land takes the back burner because I DO know my actors and actresses and I DO have mild addictions to THEIR craft which just happens to be theatrical, not musical (though for some it is both, of course).
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