152
358
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hell
Truth to be told, this movie failed from the beginning. They committed the worst sin any con artist movie can do - they barely introduced and established the team before they moved to the main plot. With that, I was questioning why they were working together in the first place, since they just did not fit together at all. I was barely able to grasp who was who from the main cast, and then we got yet another team from China, then the mysterious man, then police involved.... and I did not care about anyone. Con movies are as good as the team... and this team was shit.
I'm still not sure what this movie was in terms of genre. It started as a ridiculous, silly comedy, but then it took a dark turn when half way through we said goodbye to so many characters (may I add, the best ones). They tried to bring the comedy back, but it did not work at all. Why try being silly/funny and dark action serious at the same time?
IT. CANNOT. WORK. IN. THAT. FORMAT.
Can we also talk about the action sequences? Was I watching the circus? I was legit waiting for Pennywise to show up and kill everyone (would make for a better movie than this for sure). Why was everyone flying all the time? Why was there proper equipment just lying around?
And that amazingly anticlimactic ending for the "bad guy" that made me question my existence and my reasoning behind me even bothering to watch the movie.
The acting was for sure the best part. The cast did an amazing job portraying these messed up, ridiculous characters, so I was able to enjoy a few scenes here and there.
Overall, do yourself a favor and don't bother watching.
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What’s the plot? Two teens have to live with their grandparents for a short period of time, but why does the old couple keep acting bizarre? All we need to add is a strange hole in a wall and a few other random plot aspects like: cheerleading, bullying, harassment, ghosts, wormhole theory, revenge of the grandpa. Most of it felt like an unnecessary filler.
Speaking of the hole, every scene that presented what’s inside was just laughably bad. The effects and styling was just ridiculous. Realistically speaking, they should have never shown the viewers what’s in it, and create a spooky atmosphere around the feeling of the unknown.
The dialogues are probably the thing that annoyed me the most. Am I an idiot? Did they truly have to explain every little detail to me through them? It was not hard to figure out, so by the point the characters were discussing it, I as a viewer was already aware of the situation they were talking about…
For the acting, not exactly convincing. For the younger cast it seemed like a lack of skill. Not as easy to judge the older actors. Maybe it was hard to build a solid performance on a script like that?
Overall, way too long for a story like this. Some plotlines were not needed and did not bring much to the story at all. It had its moments, and I cannot say I dislike every minute of it, but these few scenes that were interesting were not worth watching the whole 2 hour movie.
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This review may contain spoilers
Can’t help, but have mixed feelings about it. I feel like some of the meaning behind the movie got lost, or it’s my lack of faith in real life that prevents me from seeing it. I truly loved the dive into human weaknesses and doubts, lack of assuredness, prejudice that comes from fear and to what length one is willing to go to protect what’s dear to him. Then there is the supernatural element that speaks about faith, and I just don’t buy any of it. The movie just reminded me why I don’t believe in the first place - highly doubt this was the goal.
I feel like the movie tries to present that Jong Goo’s closure could have been different if he made a different choice at the end, but would it? And why would he make a different choice, when the whole situation was basically set as a pure luck scenario. I ended the movie with the thought - humans are powerless in the presence of the supernatural, with no evidence of truth, one can only rely on luck, that they trusted the right side.
That said, I still believe the movie was great. As someone who is not the biggest fan of long films, this one was an enjoyable ride from the beginning till the end, and it did not drag at all.
The performance of the whole cast was stellar, especially Kim Hwan Hee, whose acting gave me chills more than once and Kunimura Jun who convinced me to both pity and fear him depending on the scene.
Overall, I would highly recommend it. The story is excellently paced, the hints and explanations of the events keep making you guess about everyone’s motives and the source of the true evil. The cinematography will awe you. It does not rely on cheap jump scares, rather building the atmosphere that allows you to explore human’s nature and the horror that might be hidden.
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The purest form of crime drama.
Burning Ice is not exactly a show that will get you hooked on from episode 1, but by the end, you will be invested and dying to know how it will all conclude.While from the synopsis it might seem like a typical action thriller with an innocent good guy trying to prove he is not the culprit the police are looking for, it could not be further from the truth. Close to none of the characters are just good/moral or bad/evil. Most of them exist somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, and depending on the circumstances and potential consequences of their actions, they might sway further into either of the extremes.
It’s more of a character driven drama, than an action driven crime thriller. The investigation and the crimes are the frame in which the characters operate, but the core of the show are their interactions and desperate attempts to either uncover or hide the truth.
While I enjoyed most of the cast performances, I feel like some were a little bit diluted and not expressive enough. Zhu Hui Ru was a character that seemed the least consistent in writing, which made me care about her the least (that said, Deng Jia Jia’s performance closer to the end of the show was truly stellar and the character was the most enjoyable at the end of the journey).
Yan Liang, Wen Luo, Li Feng Tian - all with personal motivations and grudges that pushed them to take action. It was fascinating to watch how different people might act and how far they are willing to go when faced with tragedy and injustice.
The only thing I have to say about Guo Yu is the fact, he was perfect to hate - great portrayal from Dai Xu.
Visually speaking, the drama has this cold and dim atmosphere that perfectly fitted the grim reality these characters were dealing with. Any other setting and the show would not be as effective in creating the suspense.
Overall, a great story with complex characters and interesting dynamics between them.
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Starting this movie, I did not expect much, but right from the beginning I was in awe at how aesthetically pleasing the movie was. The opening scene was a great introduction to one of the main characters. While I am not the biggest fan of overusing slow motion in fighting scenes, here it fits perfectly, making it even more enjoyable.
Out of all plot lines that were introduced, I do believe the romance was quite underdeveloped, and while I understand it was never the main point of the movie, it should have been explored a bit more. That said, the solo stories for main characters were well written and believable. I could understand the motivation of all the characters, even if I did not agree with them.
Truth to be told, this movie is pure entertainment, without any deeper value. We got to see some nice fighting scenes, situation based comedy and interesting characters. I got excited when I was supposed to, sad when it was appropriate, angry at how evil the bad guys were. It's a perfect movie for an evening break from overwhelming and grim reality, since it's as unrealistic as it can be.
The only true problem I had was quite obvious copies of certain scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean. I usually don't mind taking inspiration and paying homage to well respected and loved titles, but here it felt more like a lack of creativity on the writer's and director's side.
Overall, it was a rather enjoyable adventure movie. We got to see some strong female characters, with Son Ye Jin acing her role as a captain of the pirates. I never thought a CGI whale could make me cry, and yet I did cry watching this movie, laughing at myself at how easily I can shed some tears.
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Better love story than Twilight?
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I started watching, but whatever it was, I ended up with the complete opposite - not complaining though.Honestly speaking, the romance genre needs at least an additional 3 years of a break from vampires. We truly saw it all. That said, I have to appreciate the supernatural/fantasy elements in k-bls, which are usually focused on the more realistic, often high school scenarios. As much as the vampires are cliche in romance, they are something fresh and fun in BLs.
Don’t let the synopsis fool you, it’s more angsty than sweet, and hardly enough blood was spilled to call it “bloody”. Still, the stakes were rather high and they made me curious about the ending of the show.
Not gonna lie, I did not like either of the main characters. Choi Min Hyun was too much of a lost puppy and Kim Jun Ho did not stand out at all. Lucky they both grew on me with each episode I have seen. Min Hyun still had that innocent feel to him, but he grew a backbone, while Jun Ho grew a whole personality sprinkled with angst.
The chemistry between the male leads was decent. I did not really feel many sparks, but the tone down feeling actually fits the story more.
Strangely, acting wise, I was far more convinced during the emotional scenes, compared with the daily, less demanding ones. The whole cast seemed a bit stiff at the beginning, but the acting got better with every episode. I especially liked Moon Ji Hoo. We don’t get villains in k-bls often, and for sure not the ones who deliver good performance.
Can’t talk about the production without talking about the glowing eyes - please stop. Giving him blue lenses and slightly enhancing the color post-production would be enough. His eyes were glowing so bright he could use them as a flashlight.
That said, except for that small detail I did not have any complaints. It wasn't a groundbreaking production, but nothing stood out in a negative way either.
While the songs are nice, they do fit the “generic k-bl” category. I feel like most soundtracks could be easily mixed between them and no one would notice or mind. The best title was for sure Sway’s Dream - amazing vocals, great melody, nice lyrics.
Overall, good for a binge watch. Kept me interested enough to finish, but did not exactly evoke any intense emotions.
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There is close to no plot here. The female lead motivation to do anything revolves around getting the male lead. The male lead is just a confused puppy with a little backbone. This can either bore or frustrate a lot of people. For me, it was a nice, chill and relaxing watch when I could just giggle about how cute, awkward and ridiculously childish some of the characters are. If you are like me, and you enjoy the drama simply because you like the characters a lot, maybe give it a go.
Closer to the end, we start to get more information about the characters as individuals, what their goals and dreams are and how they chase them. Bit too late if you ask me, but it was still fun to watch them deal with whatever came their way.
Xiong Yi Fan is a fun, honest and relatable girl. Yan Ke is so amazingly clueless it’s actually funny. Bai Yu Ze is a painful playboy that you just cannot hate and Ding Ming is a friend most of us would like to have. I even started adoring Tang Tang by the end.
That said, two aspects of the show disappointed me. First, I wished we could see more of Yu Ze and Ming. They had awesome energy together and their bickering was gold. Another thing, I was not a fan of the “trans” rumor sub-plot. I think they handled the topic in a poor manner.
Overall, everyone was beautiful, fun, entertaining and cute. I had a good time watching. Small things like the “interviews” at the end of some episodes were like cherries on top, that made this sweet cake even more delicious.
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[ Cliff - Jeolbyuk ]
The premise of this story is simply unbelievable. It looks more like an ad for Snickers rather than a horror movie. 4 days without water in these conditions would make them so tired I refuse to believe they would have the power or strength to fight for that chocolate bar. Especially since eating it would make them even more thirsty. Since the setting is this unrealistic, the whole mood of the story falls short.
[ Accident - Sago ]
It's fair to say this one was the most boring and predictable of all the stories. The set up was unoriginal, the characters were not captivating and the horror element was almost nonexistent.
[ Escape - Talchool ]
This was the story I was most excited about. Jung Bum Sik also directed the Haewa Dal story in the Horror Movies and it was for sure the best out of the 4 presented. Surprisingly, I also loved Escape, but for a vastly different reason. The comedy was over the top, the scares were ridiculous. Even though it did not fit the overall mood of the other parts of Horror Stories II at all, I still enjoyed it the most. I'm not gonna lie, I did crack a smile and laugh a few times.
Overall, it was worse than the Horror Stories. It had less of the plot, less interesting characters and less scares.
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Childish and empty of content.
Level Up tried to have this quirky family drama vibe to it, with some over the top plot points and comedy taken from sitcoms, sprinkled with office romance, and it all just did not work out at all.The drama is full of childish conflict that would not happen in real life in that compaction. There is a difference between there being one egocentric and emotionally immature person, and the majority of the characters failing to act like grown up adults. This led to ridiculous conflicts that should have never happened, or at worst, been resolved during one scene. There was simply not enough content for 12 episodes, so every plot line seemed stretched, slow and meaningless.
I would be extremely cautious to call it office romance, because there was barely any romance and truly no chemistry between the main leads. We get the usual main couple, and both male and female lead having their own sidekick that is in one sided love with them. How cliché is that?
Do you want a well written and gradual character development? Not here. Level Up gives us the 3x speed last minute growth for the main cast, and we are supposed to just accept that after good 10 episodes of them acting like kids.
The acting ranged from good to mediocre (and I’m being nice here). Han Bo Reum, Kang Byul and Jung Soo Kyo served the best performances for sure. Sadly, with how Han Chul was written, Baro could barely show any skills. And Sung Hoon simply failed in the role. I don’t think his skills are good enough to pull off that awkward acting in his character portrayal. What they tried to achieve was something like Go Tae Rim in Legal High, but it ended up just looking like bad acting.
That said, the drama does look nice. The set designs were truly good. I see no flaws in the production value in terms of filming and the technical aspects. It all came down to poor writing, and no directing could fix that.
Overall, Level Up truly does not deliver in any aspect. It’s a show with a level of complexity and writing that would fit children's taste. Small problems exaggerated to ridiculous levels, while complex problems shown in a too simplistic way with miraculous resolution.
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This review may contain spoilers
It’s not a drama, it’s more of a life lesson.
Honestly speaking, I was not as charmed by it as many people, but I still see the value this show has and its perfect execution. It was not an exciting roller coaster that made you want more. It reminded me more of a cup of hot tea that you crave after an exhausting day.There is no real plot, and the whole show focused on the characters and their daily lives. One could assume it’s boring, but the realistic problems they are facing, the true emotions shown through the acting, and the inspiring dialogues serves all that one could ask for.
Turning on the episodes just felt like hanging out with friends - I laughed with them, cried with them, was frustrated and happy when they were. The show had this magical quality that made you feel part of it, included in whatever was happening on screen.
Realistically speaking, romance was the weakest part of the show. With Hye Ri and Joon Yeol dating in real life, their on screen chemistry has been just too strong. Personally, I was team Taek, with how the characters and the story was written, they just made more sense. That said, I could clearly see why so many people suffered from Second Lead Syndrome.
On the other hand, Reply 1988 gave me one of the realest representations of teenage crushes. The intense emotions, lack of maturity that goes into it. How one day you might like one person, to fall for someone else the next day. It all reminded me of my first crushes and how ridiculously over the top it all was back in the days.
My favorite stories did not even include the main teens. I was in love with all the ajummas and their husbands. Even the possibility of any of them getting hurt made me cry.
One complaint I would have - the episodes were too long. I’d rather have 24 episodes and none of them being longer than 1 hour and 30 minutes, than having some of the last episodes almost 2 hours long. Especially since it was a show I enjoyed watching before sleep, and sometimes I truly struggled to finish the episode without falling asleep.
Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. It’s hard for me to describe why. It’s just dear to my heart without me being able to verbalize why.
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Jokes aside, it was not an easy watch. The show is filled with workplace abuse and unfairness, with little happy moments. If you want an underdog winning at the end against all the odds, this ain’t that. Even the positive moments, mostly led to misfortune.
And yet I did not drop it, and it’s all thanks to the characters and their relationships. I guess there is something heartwarming seeing people suffering together and trying to survive the nasty environment. The writer made sure we knew the characters, they seemed real - someone we actually could meet in the office. This helped me relate to them and care for their journeys.
The relationship that interested me the most and slowly I started to pay a lot of attention to was Young Yi and Sung Joon. They had a really interesting dynamic and it was amazing to see the differences between their interactions depending on the situation.
What’s most important - the drama never felt preachy. It shows you various characters with different takes on life, different priorities and ways of dealing with problems and tasks. It highlights how the same trait can be both an asset and a setback, depending on the situation and people you interact with.
The acting left nothing to desire. I felt physically and emotionally exhausted just looking at Lee Sung Min - his performance being one of my favorites. I could just feel the frustration leaking through my screen while I was watching the show. I also enjoyed Kim Dae Myung’s portrayal of a slightly passive, but ready to give a logical and more objective advice Kim Dong Shik.
The whole OST is a masterpiece. While these are not songs I would put on my playlist and listen to, they all matched the tone of the show perfectly.
Overall, I suffered a lot while watching, no idea how I finished the show, and yet I could not rate it lower than 8. That’s the charm - you are grateful for the frustration it caused.
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The Rope Curse 2 for sure had a bigger budget than the first movie, but it also had worse scriptwriting and directing. Nothing felt connected, the big reveal about the evil being at the end was not set up properly through the film either. For me, it was just hard to care about anything happening on the screen, because I was not entertained or engaged.
The acting was passable. I have not seen Lee Kang Sheng in any other movie or show, so his questionable performance and somewhat weak line delivery might have been the result of poorly written script.
It honestly felt more like a US remake and not an Asian horror movie. It was filled with cheap jump scares, shallow characters, loosely connected plot points and lack of overall depth.
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I appreciated how often the trainees shown in Backstage were the ones who might have gotten less screen time during the episodes themselves.
Is it worth buying VIP just to watch it? No. But taking into consideration all the other additional materials linked to YWY Season 3 like Youth Party which are available for VIP users, all in all, it's worth the money - IF you like the program and the trainees themselves.
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Compared to other body swap comedies, The Dude in Me focuses mostly on Pan Soo’s story and his problems after he travels into Dong Hyun’s body. Even the stories that at first concern Dong Hyun, at the end were connected to Pan Soo himself through his relationship with other characters. It’s a one man story, sadly I was hoping for more of a duet, showing more evenly both sides of the swap.
Jung Jin Young did an amazing job portraying the characters, overshadowing even Park Sung Woong (let’s remember though, that he was far less involved in the story). He delivered with both comedy and action scenes, giving a well balanced performance.
One thing that I must complain about is the lack of redemption arc for Pan Soo. Everything just happens, without much of a reflection on his side. The opening scenes depicted him as too much of a villain, and later not enough work has been done to show him in a better light. The negative relationship between him and Dong Hyun’s dad was also brushed over and forgotten.
Overall: It’s, at times, a senseless comedy, but it will make you entertained. It works thanks to the good performance from the cast and reasonable duration - the movie does not drag.
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The plot was not paced well. I didn't care about the background story, since it was not gradually presented in an interesting way. There is nothing fresh nor groundbreaking about this concept, so one could at least expect amazing execution.
Technically speaking, the movie could still be interesting, if it had a well written set of characters. The Chosen: Forbidden Cave, sadly, presents us with empty shells with no interesting traits. A good majority of the cast has a low level of energy, and the only character that presents a semi-personality is Joo Hye In, but even she has been toned down to just a background witness of the plot. While the cast is doing a good job, there is not much to the characters in the first place.
The soundtrack was questionable at least. The final confrontation became comedic with the choice of background music for it. Not to mention the CGI. The design for the demons was just a tragic miss.
Overall... don't watch it. There are better horrors that revolve around shamanism.
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