292
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141
13
17
19
12
3
10
34
6
16
1
2
25
38
2
12
8
2
4
5
2
6
10
1
3
4
8
23
20
37
The CGI, still a bit awkward at some places, was still a huge improvement from the drama. What's more, I actually did like the last fighting scene. I would remove the "transformer spirits" from the equation though. There was not that much acting to be done, even though the movie was over an hour long, it felt more like 30 minutes - with that I don't think any performance had a chance to shine.
The best aspects of the Fatal Journey was the last shot of Nie Huai Sang that could be described as "ah yes, this is his origin story". Knowing what's coming next, that shot was truly impactful.
Overall, it's clearly movie that targets TU fans only. It's rather meaningless for anyone who does not have prior knowledge of the overall story.
Ps. Adding black eyes for 2 scenes is not enough to call movie a horror.
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Trying to balance horror and drama is not always a good choice.
In this case, the drama was far more engaging than the scares. The story about a female lead learning from the beginning how to view the world would probably work better as a slice of life - at least with the scenes presented in this movie. Loved to see how she still needs to assist herself with other senses, because she doesn't know how to fully depend on her eyesight.Even the drama related to the cause of the nightmare reality she needs to face was great. Diving deeper and in more detail in these stories would be amazing.
And the horror? Mediocre at best. They did not deliver the scares, nor the true suspense.
Acting itself was good. My favorite performance must be Yut Lai So as Ying Ying. Adorable actress and heartbreaking tale.
For the production, you can feel it's 2002 movie based on the special effects. What’s more? They thought they were clever with the braille credits, but nope, it was dumb
Overall, neither the story nor the horror was that well written and presented. While I was not bored, I was not that interested either.
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My brain is dead, but at least I had fun?
I get people loving it because it was entertaining, but damn this was extremely poorly written. Too many plot points were simply ridiculous and beyond unrealistic and too many things were just vaguely explained. Some scene progressions were questionable at best, distasteful at worst. One of the best examples - the way they switched from showing physical abuse to a silly rap battle made me so uncomfortable. Or when the witness starts with “she almost made me blind”, but they end the statement on “she asked me to buy her sanitary pads” as if that was the worst thing he had to deal with - is this a joke? Social satire? What is going on?I think the biggest flaw of the drama was Cha Woo In. She was stagnant throughout the whole show, and her character development happens before the story starts. She is presented as a basically flawless person - smart, strong, righteous, caring, determined. Anything she had to learn she already did, anything she had to improve she already did.
On the other hand, we’ve got some great development for the other characters, including many supporting ones. Stories that focused on admitting to your wrong doings, facing the consequences and learning from them. Lessons that show kindness can change a person, even if we think they can never improve. Surprisingly a lot of depth considering the over the top scenario.
The highlight of the drama? Everything Noh Tae Nam related. I would love to see a drama focused on him as the main character. This could be some great character study.
Production value was the standard high quality we get from tvN - nothing stood out either on the positive or negative side. The soundtrack was great, especially the opening song - Ha Hyun Woo has simply magical vocals.
Overall, it was fun, but painful for my brain.
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How can a slice of life feel so empty?
Things happened but everything was meaningless, because nothing was established. There were so many things that did not work out.They tried to tell us the main characters are struggling. With what? What was the focus of the story? Honestly, I don't know. Was it striving to achieve your dream no matter what? Was it changing your dream after finding out who you truly are? Was there something going on between the leads or not? Did any of the characters have any depth, personality, personal story? Everyone was so one dimensional, defined by one personality trait or personal story, it was hard to care for any of them…
It’s hard for me to comment about the acting, since the characters were rather shallow. There were few highlights from Shin Seung Ho and Irene did fine - the character had just nothing to offer, so she had nothing to show.
What’s good? The movie is rather pretty.
Overall, it’s not like there was something wrong with this movie… but there was not anything right about it either.
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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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What went well? Most of the characters are likable, even if they lacked depth. Bora was your typical energetic and bubbly girl, Woon Ho was a perfect first love material with his warm demeanor, and Hyun Jin was the most fun and entertaining of the group. Sadly, the writer did Kim Yeon Doo dirty presenting her in rather unflattering light - clueless about the situation she was in, not getting a hint about the relations people around her have, defined by her circumstances and the illness - little to no info about her as a person.
Surprisingly, I adored all the piling misunderstandings. All of them presented in a light and heartwarming way, showing the mistakes most of us made when we were teens facing our first love.
What’s more - 20th Century Girl is simply beautiful. The use of light and shadows gave me goosebumps more than once. I am a sucker for good dim aesthetics.
So what went wrong? For a movie that is 2 hours long, we truly did not know much about the characters. Halfway through the movie I started to question, how there is still an hour to go and why are we not exploring any of the circumstances the characters are in?
The acting was also not mind blowing. Maybe I expected too much from this cast, but with a plot so simple and full of well known cliches, the performances are what carry it. Here, while everyone did a great job, none of the portrayals of the characters was truly unforgettable. My biggest issues were the more emotional scenes - they did not resonate at all. Maybe because Kim Yoo Jung tried to tap deep into the overly emotional teen, but her crying was more annoying and less moving than I would like.
By now, everyone knows the ending is just disappointing. I honestly don’t have an issue with the idea the writer had for it, but the execution was simply bad - no set up, no explanation, no message to tie it all together, no nothing.
Overall, it’s a decent movie, bringing back many memories of my teen romances and for that I am grateful. It’s not exactly memorable, nor innovative, nor a simple feel good watch. Tries to stand out in the sea of teen rom-coms with the ending, but fails to truly deliver a cohesive narrative that leads to this conclusion.
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The story itself was surprisingly solid. Silly, leading more to comedy than horror, but still decent in both writing and presentation. It’s also refreshing to see a morally questionable character in the main role. The acting was also fine, no major complaints.
The concept itself was great and personally, I think it’s worth a full length movie. There is so much that can be done with it with more screen time, good script writer and decent budget.
Overall, for an ad, really good.
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Mindless mediocracy with great friendship.
I'm not gonna lie. There were some scenes so dumb I had to pause the episode in the middle of them and stare at the wall in my room trying to prevent the neurons leaking from my brain. The show is made with the idea of kids as the target audience. Lack of realism was not even the worst part, it’s the complete disregard of logic and continuity.Yes, the writing of the main plot was a pile of trash. It made so little sense and it was presented in such a bad manner, I found it amusing. The villain was a poorly written joke, the twists and the character’s reactions to them were comical and the conclusion to the story was all over the place. Not to mention the last minute redemption arc for one of the bad guys.
That said, the show shined when it focused on more mundane aspects of the police academy and the growing friendship and bond between the main characters. We’ve got a variety of different characters which led to many funny and heartwarming moments when they started to open up to each other more. Learning how to lean on others and ask for help, how to trust your friends, how to communicate with people with different outlooks in life and previous experiences. That was the best part of the show.
The fair share of romance was fine. Personally, I couldn't care less about the main couple and a lot of it had to do with the performance. Thankfully, we’ve got more than enough screen time for the second couple that was far more natural and adorable. I also got a massive second lead syndrome from the female lead’s senior.
As for the performance - I have never seen a more obvious case of someone getting cast for their name and not their skill. I adore Kang Daniel, I do. He is an extremely talented performer and entertainer, but he just cannot act at all. He literally made me cry from laughing from his bad performance. His face was just white wall of emotions and the line delivery was less expressive than Alexa or Siri. He did fine with the scenes showcasing more daily stuff, but any moment that needed to tap into these more raw emotions, he failed miserably.
Others did a lot better. Granted, most characters lacked depth, so these performances were not exactly that demanding, but the cast did their best to deliver a good performance and chemistry. Especially impressed with Park Sung Joon in the last few episodes.
Production value was great, but that’s exactly what one can expect. There were a few editing mistakes and a lack of continuity between shots, but these were small details that are hard to avoid in any drama.
Overall, I had fun for both good and bad reasons. Enjoyed the friendship and characters a lot, and laughed about the poorly written plot and the whole investigation aspect of it.
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You can still have a fun horror movie even with a basic story, sadly the writing here was just not that strong. They did not really establish anything. One hour into the film I still did not get all the characters' motivations. Why was the female lead even assuming there were any issues with the paintings? Why did she think from the start they were haunted? It’s not like they can give me exciting plot twists with such a basic set up, so why not just explain it from the start?
Thing that frustrated me the most about Cracked was how they played ominous music for random and normal moments. A woman is standing in the background? Cue the scary sounds… She did nothing. There was no real foreshadowing. Nothing.
Also, that ending? I don’t know how I feel about it. Kind of makes me annoyed knowing the full story.
Not all was bad. It had quite a few fun visual moments. They even used the kid to deliver some eerie body horror. Last 30 minutes were just comedy. There was one scene that almost made me cry from laughing. I just did not see that coming at all. Acting was also good. Compliments go to Nina - with kid actors it's either hit or miss, and I think she did quite a good job here.
Overall, decent. It made me question “why” a lot of things were happening a few too many times, but overall, even if I was not that satisfied with the ending, it did give a closure to more or less everything they introduced.
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Back at it again with building the atmosphere…
And not relying solely on jump scares. While it did not have a well structured plot nor interesting characters, it still managed to present an interesting style of filming with ambiguous and distorted visuals.That said, I did enjoy it more for the “vibe” and not the plot itself. I don’t think the story had much to offer. The mystery and the past was presented in an unnecessarily confusing way and some bits of it were added just for the shock value, as they made little sense in the context of the plot itself.
They spent quite some time building up the female lead and her ability to see ghosts, while it had little to no impact on the story itself. And there were quite a few random plot points that were there just to fill the screen time. Since they took their sweet time with that first act and second act, the ending seemed rushed making the pacing of the whole movie seem a bit off.
Acting wise I don’t have any complaints. Big props to Miyano Hina who played Maya - the girl had some moves. Miyoshi Ayaka as the lead felt flat. With that type of story and with how much her character was involved in it, the emotions seemed just too diluted.
The visuals though were truly nice. There were a number of scenes I thought were cleverly shot and presented.
Overall, a nice watch, but there are other movies I would recommend before this one.
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It took me 3 attempts to get into this movie. The exposition and introduction to the characters and plot is just way too long - this ain’t that deep, there ain’t no complex lore to flesh about. It’s as basic and predictable as it gets. Just move on to the wacky supernatural deaths…
I honestly think the movie should lead more towards a B class horror movie and deliver entertainment. Somehow, I felt like they were trying to be a little bit too serious about it all. In the end it was neither entertaining nor interesting.
Nanon’s acting was too good for this production. Cherprang gave me close to nothing - flat from opening till the end.
Production value was fine. Closer to the end we’ve got some nice supernatural moments and the CGI was decent.
Overall, the biggest issue I had was the fact the movie was simply boring.
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This is not tomb raiding, it’s politics.
Sue me, but I skipped 1/5th of the show. I truly could not stand Hendry’s dubbing. I was not interested in the whole political ploy for power. Not gonna lie, I struggled with the rating a lot. It's not like I think the series is bad, I was just painfully uninterested in the plot and came into it with different expectations.Mystic Nine is nothing like your typical The Lost Tomb Series. It focuses far more on the politics and power struggle between the Nine Clans (more like 4 families, the others just being mentioned by name every now and then) with additions to awfully generic white man Hendry and awfully generic power hungry Lu Jian Xun. Also, claiming Yin Xin Yue and Ya Tou are main characters is a fat lie. One shows up every few episodes to look pretty and worried about Zhang Qi Shan and the other mostly exists in the same five flashbacks that are played every time Er Ye needs his emo time.
The best part of the whole show was literally the ending scene. That type of badassery is what I want from the Tomb Series. So why did it feel like Lu Jian Xun was the main character and the center of this boring political story?
Acting was objectively good, but I was not once moved by any performance since I simply did not care about any of the characters. Production value was more or less the same as any of the first Tomb Raiders shows. The few CGI scenes were awful and I loved them.
Overall, if you go into it knowing it will be mostly politics and a lot of talking, and that’s what you want - you will enjoy it a lot. If you want a more typical Tomb Raiding adventure (like I did), I’d recommend picking something else.
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It had quite a strong first and last quarter, but the middle part left much to desire. It mostly felt draggy and confusing and not in the “I’m excited to see what will happen next and what it all means” type of way.
The lore is great, imaginative and presented in an interesting visual way, especially at the end. I just wish the storytelling was a little bit more tight. Suicide Forest Village did not create that tense atmosphere that would make me anticipate what’s to come. I was mostly passively watching, not exactly connecting to anything on screen, but not really being bored.
I think the biggest part in the downfall of the movie for me were the characters. If you have an interesting set of protagonists, even a slow paced film will be interesting. This bunch of young adults had little to offer in any aspect.
Without going into spoilers and being as vague as possible, I did enjoy quite a bit the design for everything that happened in the Suicide Forest Village.
Overall, not a bad movie and if you watched all the better titles, this is a good pick. but it’s not something you will remember after a month.
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Painful lack of direction and vision.
Here’s the thing - I actually enjoyed it quite a bit at the beginning, up till they introduced the last group of characters. And that last group completely ruined the experience for me. I just did not understand what this movie wanted to be.It tried to be a fun action, survival, drama, dumb blockbuster… and it ended up being nothing truly worth watching. The emotional scenes were flat and unearned, the action was decent, but the car chase scenes were laughable with full CGI cars, one whole side plot was useless and brought exactly nothing to the story except getting my brain boil from the stupidity.
I truly wanted to like it. I waited long enough to be able to separate it from Train to Busan, and see it as a stand alone movie. Sadly, it’s an awful sequel, and mediocre at best stand alone.
The movie lacked focus - too many characters, too many groups with their own individual motivations, too many plots to make it a well written and presented story. The more they added, the worse it got.
Some scenery shots were beautiful, some had such a strong game quality because of the editing and CGI, it ruined the scenes. Even the zombies were worse than in the Train to Busan. One would think they would improve over the years… It’s not like the special effects industry got worse in the 4 years gap between the two titles.
The acting was good, but the characters were so boring and had close to zero personality, it was not exactly a hard job to deliver a decent performance. Kids did the best. Loved their scenes the most.
Overall, skippable. All the driving in the dark got me thinking I'm watching the Fast & Furious Zombie edition. The movie ended and I went - that’s it? It lacked the impact - be it action and entertainment or emotional delivery like the first movie had.
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This review may contain spoilers
The complexity and trauma hidden behind that stoic persona.
If only the show was shorter. It was such a good story, with a rather good message, extremely well delivered closure in all areas, so why don't I feel much when I think about it? Maybe, because it was all diluted too much in these 32 episodes.Wen Yi Fan is one of the more refreshing and real female characters I have seen in quite some time. The detailed presentation of all the layers of the complexity and trauma hidden behind that stoic persona that was Yi Fan was truly stunning. The way we slowly learned how much of an impact her past has on her current self. How hard it is to heal. How hard it is to believe in yourself and believe you are worth being loved and cared for. It’s a whole journey filled with reflection and development, building up strength and character. Learning how to protect yourself and people around you, how to set boundaries. How to move on. How to start anew.
What’s more, I loved how the romance was not its own separate thing - it was an integral part connected to other plotlines. It felt like a cohesive picture - a situation happening in one area affected other areas of Yi Fan’s life: be it friendship, work, relationship. If I were to name the love story presented here, rather than slow paced, I’d call it patient. Was it a bit one sided plot wise? Yes. I’m not saying Yi Fan did not love Sang Yan. It was extremely clear she did. Considering the story though - it was all about how Sang Yan can help her, protect her, keep her safe, and support her. Did I mind? Not really. Relationships are almost never 50-50. Sometimes they are 20-80, sometimes 70-30. It changes as the life situation changes. Relationships should not be about keeping a score, but wanting to thrive as a unit.
For the conclusions - huge props for the story for not trying to fix the family relationships. Not even give a vague “maybe in the future”. The ties were cut as they should. There was no redemption arc for anyone. The aunt was awful till the end, the uncle was just a criminal who deserved the punishment he got, and the mother was selfish till the last moment they showed her up on screen. Finally we are not fed the bullshit idea that no matter how abused and neglected you are, you need to forgive and forget because “it’s family”.
I loved the last conversation Yi Fan had with her mother. I loved how she was not fooled by the tears. I loved how she understood she is worth the love. The mother was selfish, always prioritizing herself. Yi Fan did nothing wrong and that message was loud and clear.
Random thing I truly loved is the number of hugs we’ve got. Hugs are honestly so underrated in dramas. While kissing scenes might be the highlight of the romance, hugs are for me the highlight of the love - the way Yi Fan literally melted in Sang Yan’s arm, the way it showed how safe she felt being with him.
What’s more to appreciate? The acting. Zhang Ruo Nan aced the role. She embodied Wen Yi Fan. It’s so hard to play a character that feels a lot of strong feelings, but also hides them from others. The emotions have to be obvious to the audience, but also subtle enough that we as viewers understand she does not want to show them, and other characters might miss them. The balance of how much to show is a skill not that many actors and actresses possess.
Big props to all the villains too - strong performances that made me hate them with passion.
All that said, I had mixed feelings about the “trauma” aspect. On one hand they did a perfect job at showing how trauma can and usually does impact every part of someone’s life, because it can literally change one’s personality, sense of self-worth. It’s not just about “reacting to triggering events” - it literally influences any and all decision making. On the other hand, why exactly did they add all the sexual assaults and harassment to the show? From what I heard from people who read the novel, some assault/harassment scenes did not even take place in the source material… and I fail to see why they were added. Was her being harassed and assaulted twice not enough?
To the things I disliked - the show should have been shorter. I’d cut around 8 episodes if I had any say. There was quite a lot of repetition. Some plotlines were not only too long, but quite honestly completely not needed (grandpa's story was cute, until it was just boring and ill fitting - why so much focus on it?) Stalker actor? Why was he there? Just to annoy the audience, since his presence brought close to nothing in terms of progression of the plot.
And now I will say something truly controversial - I think there was too much Sang Yan. Wild take, I know, but hear me out. This is by all means one woman story - Wen Yi Fan. She is the only one with real depth and development. The one who faces both external and internal struggles. The heart of the whole drama. Sang Yan was there, stagnant. He did not need development, because his existence centers around Yi Fan. Where he lives, what he does, where he works, how he behaves - all dictated by Yi Fan’s existence. I had no issue with that. I don’t think in every romance drama both main characters need to be equally developed. I just think their screen time should then be adequate of how much they bring to the drama. Sang Yan was not an interesting character and I never truly cared that much for him because of that. He is hot and a perfect boyfriend, and then what?
The production and editing was hit and miss for me at the same time. You know how at the end of the episodes of dramas they always add highly edited screenshots from the episode with 87545865406 filters on them? This is kind of how the whole drama felt. The screenshots came out amazing, but some scenes just felt exhausting for me to watch. There were moments when the distorted reflections and lens flares literally blurred the faces so much, I could not see them. I wish they were more selective when they want to turn up the aesthetic shots.
The soundtrack was perfect for the drama, but music wise not my style. Still, the songs are supposed to fit the show, not my own personal preferences, hence high score from me.
Overall, maybe I just expected more. Something about this drama just did not click well with me, even though I should love it. I still enjoyed it, but there were times when I played the episode out of obligation of wanting to finish the drama, rather than excitement or seeing what will happen next.
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