Kate

Impressive level of blandness.

There isn’t anything wrong with the drama, but there is nothing truly right? No highs, no lows, nothing to truly grab my attention. Such a smooth flight, one might actually fall asleep.

I loved the idea behind the drama - seeing different professions that are related to airports. Usually we see the “glamorous lives” of flight attendants and pilots, but here we saw a greeted variety of jobs. So how come it did not work out?

I think the biggest issue was how all the issues and conflicts got resolved within five minutes of screen time. There was no suspense, no stakes. What’s more, while I understand they wanted to stay true to reality, sometimes cutting short the realistic depiction of procedures is not a bad thing - at the end of the day I am watching a drama, not a manual.

I did like all the characters, but I also disliked how most of them did not need any character development. They were smart, great, kind, and the “bad traits” were simply miscommunication. Nothing to work on. And because of that Kawahara Kasumi became my favorite character - she was the most dynamic in writing - both in external presentation and internal growth.

The production was fine. As most things in the drama. But fine is such a mid level of entertainment.

One thing to appreciate was for sure the acting. The whole cast did an amazing job.

Overall, I will probably forget this drama exists in a month.

Read More

By the end I was filled with a feeling of emptiness…

And I honestly do not know how to explain what it means. I just wanted to feel a little bit more, understand the characters a little bit better, connect to the story a little bit deeper, but it all stopped right before it hit the spot.

How to put it… every new revelation made me disconnect from the plot more and more. Soramame started as an amazing and relatable character, but then was stripped from that mundane context that made me love her so much. Oto stayed frustratingly consistent throughout the show, but by the end some of his choices just made me roll my eyes - why so dramatic? Why can’t you act like a normal adult?

While I enjoyed the mutual pining and I have no issue with slow pace plots, the fact they were able to build misunderstanding on already existing misunderstanding was one step too far. The story focusing on chasing their dreams also lost its charm the moment we found out both leads some really unique skills that most people do not have. Not exactly motivational storytelling if you ask me.

I liked the show a lot, but I also liked it a little bit less with each episode I watched, and by episode 10 I had too many conflicting feelings about it.

Writing aside, the acting was great. I loved how the whole cast was able to deliver such unique and vibrant characters in such an approachable way. Hirose Suzu did an amazing job especially during the more emotional scenes. With that performance you can truly relate to the saying sometimes some of the happiest people are hurting the most.

Directing and editing was great. Loved all the shots during the sunset/dusk and how warm the tones were during them. The set designs were also to die for, made me want to live in the house with the leads, enjoying each day and anticipating what the next one will bring.

Overall, it was an enjoyable drama, but I cannot stop myself from feeling like something was missing.

Read More

I’m kind of amazed. To make such a fun concept into such a boring movie - that’s a skill. It could easily be an easy to digest mix of different short ghost stories based on the new “stigmatized property” the male lead moves in. Why was it not just that?

It became this weird mix of horror, slice of life about unfulfilled dreams and mellow romance. And nothing matched well together. I understand that they needed to set up a proper motivation for Yamano Yamame to even move into these problematic houses, but so much focus on these failed dreams was not needed - it made the initial exposition too long and too boring.

Then we have the romantic undertones between Yamame and Azusa and honey, no one watches horrors for romance. Not one person. It never happened. It’s unnecessary.

And the worst aspect? No development nor closure for any of the actual ghost cases. The actual screen time they spent in these “hunted” locations is laughably short.

The worst crime though? Nao’s acting. She truly needs to tone it down. I have not seen someone this animated and over the top in a horror movie in a while. Girl was determined to use every muscle on her face in every scary shot, even if barely anything was happening to validate such a strong reaction.

Overall, poorly constructed plot, decent editing, mediocre directing, questionable acting.

Read More

One too many twists.

Honestly speaking, I don’t even think the story was bad. the directing though, missed a lot of basic elements.

The scenes simply do not transition in a smooth way. Everything feels so out of place. Random private naked yoga classes turned into kamasutra scenes, a random detective story, which technically makes sense (people are dying after all), but never matches well with the main story. It honestly felt like they stitched scenes together without actually taking into consideration if they create a cohesive picture and explain the story well.

By the end of the movie they present one too many twists so rather than an interesting (though slightly overused) turn of events, it all becomes confusing.

The acting was bad. Lee Chae Young easily did the best, but all the rest of the cast was questionable at best. Felt like the actresses were cast for their bodies and not their acting skills.

Overall, skip, don’t bother watching.
(more about the directing fail in the comment below)

Read More

I honestly feel bad about rating it so low, since it had quite a few enjoyable elements and the first half was exactly what I always look for in Tomb dramas, but there were a few too many flaws that I just cannot ignore.

Starting from the things I liked.
Iron Triangle as one of the best trios ever created. A typical case of characters representing a heart, body and brain, but it never felt limiting in how they were interacting with each other. All of their scenes together were easily the best in the whole show.

Likable female characters with their own goals and ideas. We all know how limited in that aspect are Tomb dramas. Here we got a variety of women with unique personalities and perspectives.

The acting was great. I think Chen Ming Hao is my favorite Wang Pang Zi at the moment. This character is always hit or miss - I either like them, or hate them. Here, he was probably one of my favorites.

Another positive thing was proper lighting. Big props to the team for making the caves/warehouses/underwater scenes look dim, but not ridiculously dark when the viewers can’t see anything. A few more candles or flashlights as the light source is all it takes for the viewers to not question how bright some places might look. The whole production quality was great - the set designs, costumes (excluding Glasses, I just cannot deal with that outfit), camera angles - all working well to create nice pictures.

To the less enjoyable things.
First and second half of the show felt like completely different dramas. Not only did the plot seem too loosely connected, the main cast completely changed. We literally cut from the show the characters we followed at first.

While I appreciate the female characters, I am also a bit sad how all of them were put in the context of being romantic interests. No one watches the Tomb series for romance, this is really unnecessary.

Second half was painfully repetitive and failed to make me care about the plot progression and even the characters safety. I am sorry, but how many times can I watch Wuxie do exactly the same thing over and over again in more or less the same manner in a boring environment, surrounded by barely established characters?

Wuxie being sick. Oh god, too many times it felt like watching a wuxia with male lead being poisoned and coughing blood - so dramatic for no reason, because we all know he is not going to die. My issue was how they presented it as something dangerous, but it never felt really limiting. All the potential issues always showed up after he was done with whatever task he had to accomplish.

While I do believe everyone in the cast did an amazing job, I am also a bit bored with Zhu Yi Long (don’t kill me). There is not enough variety in the roles he takes and his portrayal of them. Sure, I only saw a few of his dramas, but it always feels like a similar character just put in a different context.

Overall, it was not bad, but felt too “all over the place”.

Read More

Philosophical flick with questionable details.

Jung_E is great as a starter for some interesting conversations, but it does not really dive too deep into the topics itself. What could have been a great movie that ends on a question mark, became a bit too mindless and random closer to the end, trying to give a “reasonable” ending that lacks reason.

What worked? It opened the door for many interesting topics to be explored and reflected on - what is free will, can you put a price on it, what makes us human. What I appreciated the most, even though it was not the focus part of the plot, was the conversation about human rights, and how much does it cost to have them - since, even though on less “dramatic” and smaller scale, it’s a sad reality we live in right now.

The acting - amazing. I wanted to hug Jung Yi, slap Sang Hoon and both hug and slap Seo Hyun. Kang Soo Yeon did an amazing job at showing all the strong, but concealed emotions the character felt. Kim Hyun Joo’s performance was simply raw and I loved every second of it - well, every second the character actually showed emotions.

Jung_E was also a visual feast. I am one to always complain about CGI, but here they truly ace it. The robots looked greeted, the CGI created environments were amazing, the blend of special and practical effects was perfect.

All the scenes that focused on the morality of the whole scenario were wonderful. Every time they focused more on the philosophical and psychological aspect of it - great, and I wish the movie kept that going till the end. But no, we need some brainless fighting scenes at the end, because they had to flex special effects. Last 20 minutes truly made so little sense the movie went from 9 to 7.5.

Then we have Kim Sang Hoon and how painfully underdeveloped and underused he was. This character had such a potential to present so much depth. The set up was perfect, the potential emotional reaction could have been great, the dilemma he could have felt. What did the writer do? Said “screw it and put it in the trash” as they delivered some of the most random development for this character, that they tried to justify with one line of dialogue…

I also wish they explored some of the rules a little bit more. They gave a few lines and hints how the world works, but I wanted more to make it more believable. Some small details just don’t make much sense to me, the longer I think about them.

That said, it was still a truly enjoyable watch. First hour I was just glued to the screen. I am a bit biased, because I love the topics concerning free will, ethics and morality. It was a rather slow paced, character focused story that tackled a few too many issues while also trying to entertain people with the unnecessary action.

Read More

I’m on the ghost side.

This is one of the horror movies where you cannot stop yourself from rooting for the “evil” character. I just sat there and thought: it would be a happy ending if everyone dies.

I think the movie does a rather good job at blending the horror with a bit melo romantic undertones. It’s basically rom-com cliches meet vengeful spirit.

Nothing new, nothing outstanding and nothing groundbreaking, but it is a fun watch. The plot is extremely easy to follow, so it serves as a good evening fun watch. We get a few jump scares, we get the sob story, we get some awful teenagers - everything one needs in a teen horror flick.

The acting was good. Ha Neul obviously delivers - I don’t think he ever failed at any role. Kim So Eun might not be the strongest actress out there, but she does well in this role. I do think the majority of the casting was fail age wise - all of them looked like they were in their 20’. Some looked as mature as the teachers… That’s something we often get with stories set in high school though, so I guess there is no point complaining.

Overall, a fun and simple story.

Read More

Even though there were a lot of elements I did not quite like about this show, overall it was an extremely fun ride with some smart, well placed humor and amazingly written characters.

Truth to be told, Fan Xian ain’t exactly a likeable character. The more I thought about his actions, the more pretentious he seemed - to the point I was actually anticipating someone putting him in place, even if just temporarily. For someone who just wants to live a joyful life, he did not try to avoid the attention. For someone who wanted to fight the corrupt, he was too good at manipulating others and using them to his advantage.

Even though I was not on board with him as a person, I still extremely enjoyed his character. I do believe the simping over him from other characters was a bit too much, but there is no doubt - he was that charming.

By the end of the show I had my favorites: Emperor, Ruo Ruo, Teng Zi Jing and Shen Zhong. Seeing how some of these characters are not even the mains, and add to the story for a limited period of time, it shows how much care was put into making even supporting and side characters 3 dimensional, with their own arcs and depth.

Character wise, I have only one complaint: Wan’er. It’s not that I disliked her, I was just painfully indifferent to what her story is. For the majority of the drama she was passive, playing more or less just the role of Fan Xian “kindergarten” like love interest. That said, her character was the center of one of my favorite scenes from Joy of Life so she gain few pints form me.

I’m sure I am not the only one who thinks the characters were the best part. With how well written they were, how unique and entertaining their interactions were presented, no scene felt redundant.

The story itself was truly well paced. Probably one of the best pacings from any Chinese show I have seen. The comedy bits were funny and well spread throughout the show. Joy of Life provides a few emotional scenes, but they never hit me hard - mostly because they were not set up well. It’s hard to get emotional, when literally seconds ago I was laughing on the floor because of the over the top fighting choreography.

The fighting scenes themselves were another aspect that was either hit or miss. Some were perfect, some far from it. Overall, I liked them all, either because I was impressed or entertained.

The drama is full of plot twists, it’s hard to predict characters’ motivations and future plans. Some twists were brilliantly planned, with clues scattered throughout the plot, some came out of nowhere, being completely impossible to predict, only guess (the type I myself quite dislike).

Sadly, the ending left a lot to desire. It was just anticlimactic and infuriating to me as a viewer. More about it in the comment section under spoiler.

Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable ride that led to nowhere and doesn’t make me want to continue the journey - I am off this train. I feel like season 2 will clown me at the end too, leaving me annoyed and forced to watch last season, and I’m not up for it.

Read More

Sometimes we don’t need answers to all questions - the unknown is what’s scary.

Peaked in episode 2, when it was all about survival. Started to dig a hole to die in in episode 5, crossed the path to the afterlife in episode 8, just to have an unnecessary resurrection comeback with after credits scene. Some things should stay dead, and this drama is one of them.

I'm disappointed that I‘m disappointed. I loved the first four episodes when I knew nothing, the characters knew nothing, people were dying and almost dying and the fear of the unknown and unexplained was the horror of it all. But then they slowly started to explain the lore and the motivation of the ghosts and the supernatural and the origin of the app - it all became boring, leading to many illogical choices done by the characters. Making mistakes and making dumb decisions when you don’t know anything is passable. Making dumb decisions when you have a grasp of what is dumb and what is not is inexcusable.

And I’m not one to get annoyed by dumb characters in horror movies - this is literally the feature of the genre. If they were smart the plot would not happen. But there are limits to how dumb you can make the characters before it turns into comedy.

I found the truth of the app's origin underwhelming and ridiculous and not strong enough to have such a big impact in terms of supernatural consequences. Similarly they failed to give a proper motivation to one of the main antagonists of the drama - why were they doing what they were doing? Why does their reasoning change every few minutes? We all know - the plot needed it, so it happened.

Yoo Se A? One of the most boring characters in any horror. Matched with no personality Kim Geon U. They worked in their rom-com moments, I adored these, but anything outside of that was not quite delivered in terms of writing. I kept wishing they would switch the focus on literally any other character.

Preferably to Kang Ha Jun, Bang Ul and Haetsal - this is the trio I actually enjoyed the most. Do I want a second season? No. Do I want a spinoff of their supernatural investigations? Yes. Any scenes with these three were the best aspect of the whole plot and the show. They literally had the best dynamic and relationships. The skeptic that has a bad relationship with his sister who is a shaman, and her boyfriend that tries to make it all work.

And can we talk about Roh Jae Won as Bang Ul? The whole drama I more or less did not care about anyone’s safety, but his. The way Roh Jae Won was able to deliver solid comedy without breaking the tension of the horror - amazing performance.

What’s good? I guess the production. While the design of the ghosts and supernatural was not innovative at all and had that “catch a ghost” app vibe to it, it was delivered in a decent manner. The gore was good, the blood looked like blood and they did not shy from using a lot of it. What’s more, we did not see unreasonable fountains of blood from any wound that happened - yes, there was a lot, but in the realm of reality and possibility.

Overall, they overexplained it all. The best part of the horror genre is leaving some questions unanswered. With thrillers you want the mystery to be solved, with horrors you want to leave the ambiguity of explanation, because the unknown is what's scary.

Read More

It’s like the most cosy and warm sweater, but with an annoying tag.

What I mean by this is - almost everything was perfect for this sweet and slice of life driven romantic comedy, but for some strange reasons they felt the need to add annoying background setting and unprofessional work related aspects with questionable psychology behind it.

If I look at it as just a rom-com - it’s great. Slow paced romance built on trust and mutual understanding, driven by the shared goal. Both leads had their own individual problems and they found courage in each other to improve and get better. The chemistry was great and I’m amazed how well Han Hyo Joo embraced the acting style fitting Japanese production.

I also adored the little side story of everyone involved with Le Sauveur. With every episode focusing on one of the recipes and at times how to improve them we also witnessed the journeys of people involved in the making process - their passions, hesitations, and at times misunderstandings. But at the end of the day the theme of the show was embracing the change. Be it accepting a new boss, dealing with loss, challenging the future.

What’s more, visually this show was amazing. I don’t even like chocolates that much, but with all the cooking scenes and how beautifully they were presented, I wanted to try each and every one of them.

But then we have the annoying tags. Starting with Irene. I have one honest question - why did they make her therapist/counselor? She was so unprofessional in her working conduct I was getting annoyed just looking at her face. And her lack of professionalism had nothing to do with her personal issues - she just lacked the needed ethics. The story could have progressed the same way if they just made her a friend of male lead. You can still link her to the female lead in different ways without making her mental health professional. Cannot believe I saying that, but I rather there not being any professional, and them just getting healed with the power of love.

And then the whole "business politics shenanigans” - why? They literally hinted at it 2-3 times throughout the show, to make it the center of the plot in the last two episodes. It was so in the background of the plot before you needed loupe to see it. And it was again, just like the therapist, unnecessary.

Then, maybe it’s just me, but I wished the cast was actually younger. Or how they were written to be more mature. On paper I have no issue with immature or childish characters, but when almost everyone does not act their age, then it becomes a problem. It was especially evident with Hana. She was less anxious, shy and overwhelmed, and more acting like a child among the adults. Not all the time, but there were times when I truly got “7 years old child” from her.

Overall though, it was a pleasant watch. Definitely had more highs than lows.

Read More

A bit confusing characterization.

omeone who has not seen the original movie, nor was aware of the full story presented there, while the plot of this short gender swap version was easy to follow, the motivations of the characters were either confusing or shallow in presentation.

Instant love that seemed fabricated from the start, lady general who does not connect the facts and male lead who for some strange reasons trusts a demon? My brain hurts.

That said, for a movie that is basically shot in one location, it was visually quite well made. They truly used the limited space they had, so the plot never felt small nor insignificant.

The performance was good. He Chang Xi delivered the best in terms of conveying emotions, especially in the second half, while Ding Cheng Xin was able to combine the delicacy and destruction in his presentation of Xiao Wei.

If you want to watch it based on your good opinion about Wuliang and the Censored Romance tag, you might want to reconsider your motivation. Production and directing wise it’s not as strong as Wuliang (though still quite a good short movie), and the tag is at best baiting. It serves a vague ending that brings more questions than answers, and for me, who likes to overanalyze scenes and lines, even more confusion.

Read More

Was it entertaining? Yes. Do I feel like I would miss a lot if I have not seen it? No. Do I regret watching it? No.

The biggest positive aspect - it had a great variety of characters. And yet a good majority of them annoyed me more often than not. While I understand Sina being suspicious of everyone, her blindly accusing any person in the household of being the evil mastermind was at some point frustrating. She kept showing all her cards and not getting any closer to the truth. Like girl, use your brain.

There was quite a straightforward plot that had a nice conclusion. BUT It felt like a lot happened in the first 20 episodes, and at the same time... nothing was really happening. And then last 10 was a cluster F of plot lines coming together.

The part that at the beginning I enjoyed the most was the amazing chemistry Sina and Thi had, but even this died down a lot in the middle of the show, just to be brought back in the last few episodes in what seemed like a forced manner.

Conclusion: It was fun, but it was not amazing. I guess me and lakorns need to peacefully go our separate ways from now on.

Read More

Was one boy truly worth it? No girl power in this movie.

The whole plot is teens bullying each other and breaking all the horror rules possible, but somehow too many of them stay alive. I did enjoy how layered the movie was despite the simple plot. Setting on the isolated island for female juvenile offenders (which alone sounds tragic), the supernatural components and well developed lore with interesting visuals, well done kills and even pacing made the movie an enjoyable journey. Yes, there was not one character to truly root for, and more likely than not you will want to see them all dead by the end, but the dynamics, even if annoying, were keeping my attention.

All that said, the movie is too long for such an unsatisfying ending. If I have to sit through over two hours of teens bullying each other, I want some cathartic conclusion, not whatever this was. It was for sure a more interesting ending, but it just left me annoyed. I think they either should have made it more simple, or even more complex with just one more twist as a cherry on top.

Baipor and Perth delivered great performances. Both Ing and Aim were annoying for different reasons, but they played off of each other's characteristics well. The way Ing was slowly breaking more and more, while Aim started to lose her control and confidence - a game in which there are no winners.

The production value was nice. I wish some scenes were better lit, but it was not bad enough where I could not see anything. The design for the supernatural was decent, but not scary. Some kills were better than others.

Overall, it is too long to be called a simple afternoon quick watch, but it is interesting enough to actually sit down and see. Nothing groundbreaking. Simple, but well executed.

Read More

Turn on the light ⇢ How production can ruin a movie.

It took me a month to finish Nokturno. I watched a few minutes here, a few minutes there, but it never grabbed my attention enough for me to dedicate more than 20 minutes in one sitting. Why?

How was the movie? I don't really know. I was mostly watching my reflection on screen because the film was so freaking dark. How can I feel invested in the story, when I literally do not see what is happening? Scared? Of what, when the scares I hidden in the black hole of the lighting department. It was simply frustrating. I was putting my laptop right in front of my face trying to catch a glimpse of that's going on. I honestly considered getting into the wardrobe with hope a pitch black could help.

I get it, horrors are usually not supposed to be all bright and well lit (though, some of the best titles do use light setting for their advantage), but we still need to see something. Anything.

That said, it's not like the poor lighting was the only issue. The plot itself was just mediocre at best. The idea behind the creatures? Interesting - that's the movie I want to watch. Or at least get a better, more elaborate explanation of the background. The way they did not flesh out the supernatural elements, the human one was underdeveloped too - the relationships between the characters, their motivations, reasoning for their choices. Everything was always summed up in one liner.

Nokturno feels like a cheap version of The Ring with The Nun aesthetics. It just felt extremely sloppy. Decent performances meant truly nothing when everything else was distractivelly bad.

Read More

They were not running in circles, they were running a circus…

And I became the Chief Clown with zero regrets. It’s not that something was not right, everything was wrong, but somehow felt just right.

The whole show was stupid. The premise itself and the conclusion it led to made me laugh more than once. Yes, it might have been a slightly “I’m going crazy with this bullshit” laugh, but nonetheless, I was entertained. And by all means this should not have been this fun to watch.

The whole plot is one and the same thing - one misunderstanding and countless miscommunications and wrong assumptions about it… over and over and over again. Ba U? Extremely determined to self-sabotage any potential hope for happiness. He literally is the type of a person who would say “no you don’t” after someone confesses their feelings to them. He was so confident and assured in his wrong assumptions, facts, logic and evidence could not change his mind. He was delulu.

Then we have Ji Hun, my man was going with the flow with no action so hard he was basically not moving at all, but spinning around getting dizzy, just to be like “I guess I was not clear about it” - you were not unclear - you made no statements, you did nothing. He was also delulu.

And then we had Ha Min, who was the cherry on top of this radioactive cake. Loved him since episode one. He knows no boundaries and is so cheeky about it, it was hard for me not to appreciate his presence. He also worked double shifts to make sense of Ba U and Ji Hoon, and if you ask me, made all the right choices. No matter how unhinged he might seem, he was in fact the only one that was not delulu.

While the repetitiveness of the plot did not bother me at all (I actually found it weirdly entertaining), I cannot say the same about the directing and editing. What’s the point of having longer episodes, when we keep getting flashbacks of things that just happened? Characters making the same mistakes all the time is one thing, but then me having to witness them twice every time is just too much.

Acting wise it was fine. I did like Jung Je Hyeon and Ji Min Seo a lot in their roles, but Choi Min Ho as Do Ba U did not fully convince me in some scenes. Sadly, I think it’s the eyes - surprised look with no real emotions behind them.

Overall, if someone asked me why I liked it, I won’t be able to answer and not look crazy. I liked it for all the wrong reasons. I liked it for the flaws and how ridiculously entertaining they were.

Read More