Reviews

After trailer - WOW! After actual series - WTF?!

There are many independent production teams that don't have many sponsors or rely on YouTube subscribers donations. There are also many BL movies/series/mini-series worth watching despite apparent small budgets or newbies actors. Unfortunately, The Star is not one of them, and here's why.

Good cinematography is largely about money. Production team, actors, equipment, etc. all require some resources - without that, not a move. You just need money to make a series. But if you think the main problem here is a small budget - better think twice.

For me, the failure of this series is the wrong business decisions. When the trailer consisting of super hot 18+ scenes was released, I thought The Star could aspire to be the hottest series of the year (!). But then I noticed that it's not a series just a movie, which means that international viewers will have to wait several months from the day of release. Tough luck, I'll wait. Then it was change - from a movie it became a mini-series: 2x25 min, and I was like: WTF? How can a movie be edited into two short episodes?

The story itself had potential, but the creativity here was lacking. The lousy first 25 minutes do not encourage you to watch the second part, which (note!) is only 17 minutes long. Why? The remaining promised 8 minutes are "exclusive content" available only to subscribers of the company's YouTube channel at certain levels. You need to pay at least 7(?) dollars to see what they have prepared for us. And guess what? I'm all for supporting young creators and actors as much as possible. Their work is sometimes worth more than the "works" released by well-known studios. But this 8 minutes content - it's just not worth it. This is not an uncut episode as one might expect. It's 8 minutes of cut NC scenes that couldn't appear on YouTube. Yes, the notable sexy scene from the trailer is also there.

If you've already seen The Star - I'm sorry you had to watch it. If you haven't yet - let it go. The low budget stings all the way through, But even money won't help if you don't know how to make the narrative interesting. The actors give it their all, but the dull script, weird editing and general lack of sense don't help the reception of this series. There's nothing interesting here, and it's not a matter of difficult subject matter as some claim, it's more of a really bad execution.

Perhaps I had too high expectations, but this is completely not what I expected. The Star turned out to be one of those productions you look forward to, only to rub your eyes in amazement later, wondering: what am I even watching? It seems that all the potential of the series was stolen by the one-and-a-half-minute trailer, the rest is better left out of silence.

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Started with a bang, ended with a fizzle

If there was ever a K-drama that could have used 16 episodes, "No Gain, No Love" might be the one. For all its hilarity and touching moments, there were quite a few plot cracks that a couple of laughs and tears couldn't quite plaster over.

This is a long one, but let me start with the positives:

- Son Hae-yeong is definitely making my list of the most memorable female K-drama leads of all time. I loved it every time she was on screen. She was funny, assertive, good at her job, and true to her character from beginning to end. There was so much depth to her, especially when it came to displaying all the hurt from her childhood. Kudos to SMA for bringing this amazing character to life, this is my first time finishing a project of hers and I was really impressed here.

- The rom rommed, and the com commed. I genuinely laughed out loud at so many moments while watching this show, and I enjoyed the chemistry between Hae-yeong and Ji-uk. The second couple was cute too and had great chemistry, but I couldn't fully get into them.

- My girl Han Ji-hyun was soooo good and adorable in this drama. Loved her in Cheer Up despite the disaster that show became, and she shone even brighter here. Can't wait to see more of her in the spin-off.

- Isn't it amazing when adults behave like adults and communicate? It was nice to see the back of the noble idiocy trope in this show and that unnecessary misunderstandings were kept to a minimum or at least quickly addressed. And a lot of interesting themes were addressed too, although not always in a satisfactory way.

- The foster sister trio. There's nothing like an amazing girl squad in a K-drama that stays amazing and uplifting until the end. It reminded me a lot of the trio from King the Land -- they have their differences and squabbles, but they support each other all through. It was heartwarming to see.

Now, onto the negatives:

- The ending was such a letdown, especially coming off the penultimate episode. I figured that it would be a bit rushed, but I was disappointed in just how much was left unresolved, most especially when it comes to emotional closure for our female lead. It was sad to see how much her feelings about her mother were cast aside when it is at the root for her character and personality, and there's simply no resolution for her. For someone who doesn't like to take a loss, she lost quite a lot in this drama. There's so much else to talk about here but that will be too much of a spoiler.

- The second couple's relationship, while cute to see, not only took too much screen time away from the first couple (especially considering that they have their own spin-off), it also seems quite unbelievable at the heart of it and hard to root for. The second male lead, Bok Gyu-hyun, who also happens to be HY's boss, becomes quite the villain, especially towards HY, but also towards the second female lead, who is HY's younger (foster) sister, Nam Ja-yeon. And so it's hard to understand how quickly NJY forgives BGH and falls in love with him despite the gravity of what he's done (and he only apologizes for what he did to her, but not what he does to HY or Ji-uk), especially with how close she is to HY. Poor writing and characterization, imo.

- Too many extraneous characters and plot points to follow, which further made the lack of resolution in the final episode more glaring. I'm not sure why K-dramas are yet to fully figure out how many episodes they need for the plot points they have. 12 episodes was not enough to fully flesh all of these out and still leave room for character development, and it really showed.

- Young-dae's character Ji-uk was seriously shafted for a main lead role, probably worse than HY. So many parts of his story felt underdeveloped, and the other characters overshadowed him.

All in all, "No Gain, No Love" was a fun time but suffered from a weaker second half. There was a lot of material for it to be truly good and iconic, but sadly a lot of it was wasted. Still, the great parts were great, with a lot of laughs and shed tears and cool performances. It will probably not make it into my list of faves, but it was a good watching experience overall. 7/10.

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PLOT: A spectacular movie worthy of appraisals. Well done! I shamelessly admit that i watch this movie due to Cha Seung Won knowing his excellent acting ability. Now my praise goes to all the actor in this movie. A heart wrenching of 71 students whose inevitably dragged into war. From the very beginning of the movie till the end, the director really did an excellent job. The war scene was adrenaline and the sad part was so convincing.

ACTING/CAST:

Kim Seung Woo was no doubt can carry his part well and charismatic. This is the first time i get to see TOP acting so i dont really know his acting range, but what i can say was, his acting in this movie was tip top!

Kwon Sang Woo was really doing good job as well.

And as per usual, not being biased, but Cha Seung won really can act. From Villain to Comedian... his acting range is really wide. He oozes overflowing charisma.

Strongly recommended movie.

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Not Everyone's Favorite Star (but I loved it, so~)

Story: 8.5/10
This is another "I liked him first, but he fell harder and just happens to be dumber" situation, which can make it seem a bit predictable, but I think it's still cute~ The first few episodes start out SO STRONG. I loved the way Daonuea and his friends interacted, and the way his sibling relationship was shown; it was so heartwarming and wholesome and just overall accurate. The way they support Dao while also knowing he was full of shit when he said he was over his crush was best-friend-level-tier, you know? The conflict was a bit... much. This story, like many of BLs, suffers from a lack of communication. Well, I should say PROPER communication, as Kluen is more of a doer than a sayer, which pretty much sums up all of their problems. His actions speak louder and way better than his words, but that's not always enough, especially when the other party was explicit and you kinda-not-really-but-technically-did turn them down. If that sounded confusing to you, then that's because it really is a bit confusing. One of the side characters says that Kluen is "book smart but a dumbass," and she's right. These characters are a bit too complex to try to fit into 8 episodes, but I think Dunk (Daonuea) and Joong (Kluen) did great with what they had, which is why I, despite hating the miscommunication, still enjoyed the show~

Acting/Casting: 10/10
We got all of my new favorite actors, even the side characters are some of my favs, so I'm a bit biased here, but I think they did great with what they had. Everyone felt so necessary, even Noel, whom I thought was just an extra to show that Kluen had a friend aside from Gia, ended up being an important player in an interesting way~

Music: 9/10
The OST is good, and there's nothing wrong with the background music or anything; I generally just tend to rate music based on how many songs I absolutely NEED to get on my playlist, and, with all of these great shows coming out with their soundtracks being ON-POINT, I'm spoiled. I felt generous since everyone keeps talking shit on this show, though, so I gave it a higher rating than I probably would have.

Rewatch Value: 10/10
Despite it's flaws and the annoying miscommunication, I still really enjoyed this show. Like I said, the first few episodes were so good and sweet that I had to go to the dentist and get some teeth pulled from the cavities lmao KluenNuea's moments were fluffy and hit just the right spot that I just.. Ugh. So good. I'm actually writing this review after watching 5 times to help boost the rating since DramaList tends to be super harsh on shows for some reason~ (Everyone wishes they were a Critic Writer, I suppose 🤷‍♀️)

Overall: 9.5/10
People on DramaList really do think they're connoisseurs with shows sometimes, especially when others really like specific actors. I'm not entirely sure why, but if the rating of the show is the only thing making you hesitate to watch this, then I recommend going for it anyway. It's not everyone's cup of tea, of course, but it's also only 8 episodes, so it's a short, cute watch when you need some BL or JoongDunk in your life -- it doesn't have to be serious or something you binge, though I absolutely did binge it several times with no shame~ The production was great, the OST was good, the acting was on-point, and I just love how everyone interacts with each other in this drama, from the romance to the friendships; it's all so fluffy and sweet~

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A show that quietly sneaks up on you then catches you in its grasp

Hot Spot has a charm all of its own. This is a show that quietly sneaks up on you and then catches you in its grasp. From the opening moments of working in the hotel, the rescue of the Ki by the resident alien, through to saving the hotel, this story explores the true meaning of friendship.

There is a lot of talking in this show. Some would say it’s nonsensical chat. However, it has a charm all of its own and is the glue that holds Hot Spot together. This includes amongst the hotel staff at the Lake Hotel, the group of growing friends as they eat out on a regular basis to enjoying drinks at a friends bar.

Takahashi as the half alien is the show’s focus and the FL is the narrator and number one friend. The running gag is him bending a ten yen coin and everyone finding out he is an alien along the way. There is a cost to him using his powers that always results in him recuperating in the hot springs at the hotel. Each time the friends need his help, he starts out unwilling to help but in the end he always does.

A key production feature of this show is that there is no glitz or glamour. It’s like being in a town as you would expect to find that is almost like a sleepy hollow. Underlying it all are themes regarding friendship, acceptance, the challenges of tourism, environmentalism with a tiny touch of corruption thrown in.

I enjoyed the window into this part of Japan with a slice of pared back goofiness along with some very good acting with perfect timing.

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Short show with mind-reading twist that will make you laugh

This is not the usual low-budget short show. The storyline about a writer who gets sucked into her own novel/book is not exactly new but the twist of her husband in the book - whom she is supposed to act against in all her missions - is able to hear her thoughts, is quite unique - and very funny and interesting to watch. I think it’s probably one of the 3 best shows (of this kind) I’ve seen so far. 10 minutes is actually perfect. Not too fast and not too slow.
Character wise: FLs father (in the book) is so cute and sweet. Her parents were a pleasant surprise. Other than that we have this clever and cunning FL who is matched perfectly with a ML that’s equally clever. However he would have been in so much trouble if he didn’t get the ability to hear FLs thoughts - how lucky, LOL.
Acting wise this is top notch. I saw ML in “The Killer is also Romantic” and he is brilliant in this kind of role. He gives me a Cheng Yi vibe, in a funny version that is (lets face it, Cheng Yi’s roles are often very serious).
Since it ends on a cliffhanger I’m definitely going to keep my eye out for season 2.
If you love a funny and interesting short show - with lots of twists and turns - this is a “Must Watch”

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First of all, why did they choose to call the drama "Apple in Your Eye"? I find that ridiculous because the Chinese title translated to English is "Little Sister". I don't understand why they made the change, since the themes of the drama would still work well with "Little Sister".

I actually liked the plot. I haven't watch too much Taiwanese dramas because most of the plots have become too similar. They seem to enjoy the corny plots the most, as I keep seeing them. The main girl was kinda whiny throughout the whole drama, but I did enjoy it, despite its many corny moments.

I disliked the ending due to some spoilery plot reasons I cannot mention in this review. It affected my feelings toward the drama as a whole, but overall, this drama was one of the better Taiwanese ones.

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Dark, fluffy, funny...

This is the story of what happens when a lot of broken people come together and the craziness that heals them... As this story is packed with dark and mean humour, some intrigues and about 99 levels of revenge... Teaching us that we are basically all broken people trying to find someone to direct our anger att... And h*** sometimes that anger just might lead to love... Crazy, fun, painful, love...

While the female lead does give Stockholm syndrome a face, she is also fun, cool, crawl, independent and not as pathetic as one may think even at her lowest. She is true to herself throat the story making her lovable at alll times.

The male lead is everything from cool, cold, crewl,,, to a soft teddy bear in need of some love...

Combining the two may bring about 989899 cliches but they are highly entertaining,

The side characters do their jobs well, some are fun and lovable, others slightly annoying but not over the top annoying.
there are some side plots that feel unnecessary and are there to try to divert our attention in the mystery plot but they ar kind of meeh... so is the main mystery in this... very meeh and only there probably to show the why the male lead is the way he is and make us forgive all his wrongdoings, but chances are it will not keep you on your toes,

The dad in this drama is such a sweetheart, one of the sweetest dads in all of dramaland....

The acting is good, bingabilaty high, the visuals are lovely... so overall a pretty decent rom com that had me laughing a lot (the first 5 episodes). It also catered to my fluff needs and did not aggravate me too much. this drama may not be a masterpiece and does not bring much new but it is definitely my type of rom-com.

Oh and the amount of screenshot and gif opportunities in this are endless...

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High Society gave me such whiplash while watching--had me bouncing between genuine interest to confusion to disgust, ultimately ending at disappointment and confusion. The way the movie approaches greed and lust almost reminds me of The Treacherous, which is another explicit Korean movie that I actually like, but not only the direction but also the script and storyline where all over the place. It was like as if it was a group project completed by 3 different people who never really came to a consensus about what the story was going to be about and what the artistic direction of the film was going to be. The last line of the movie is "Art is shit," and I wonder if they were talking about the artistic value of the movie but that's exactly what I ended up thinking...this movie is kind of shit and I almost feel like I wasted my time watching it.

There are so many good elements to the movie which is why I'm confused how it all came together so...poorly ?? It tackles, gentrification, corruption, money laundering, greed, ambition, and lust which generally are all themes and plot points that I enjoy but every time I felt the story was actually going somewhere or making some sort of point, it never pulled through and just flopped. However, there were some dialogues that were....really good? But always felt out of place honestly. Like the film was making points but when those important commentaries on society were being made, it always felt random and like those scenes never really flowed into the story progression naturally.

As for the explicit scenes, I admittedly love the way Korean actors deliver sex scenes because they are always so raw and sensual and I think the first one definitely was, but the second sex scene left me feeling skeezy after watching it, something that rarely happens. I get that was probably the point of it, but I think it was really the camerawork of that scene that really took it over the top. After that, the third sex scene, especially the context of it, felt really cheap once again and honestly made me uncomfortable which is disappointing because I love a good sex scene.

Speaking of the camerawork, I feel like there was no set style to the movie? There were attempts to be artsy but they were mostly randomly placed and just....not well done. Kind of cheap feeling.

Overall, I would not recommend this movie, wouldn't say there's much to get from it. Only reason I give it a 5 and not a 3 or 4 is because the social commentaries were good and are important, especially in today's world, but I wish the overall story and direction was better.

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Short dramas are the best. No filler, no tangents, just a good story delivered straight into your lap.

The plot itself isn't groundbreaking but the execution sealed the deal for me. It's more about the journey of a girl going all in after she's given a second chance in life rather than a romance, something I really came to appreciate by the end of the show.

On the music side, one pet peeve I have is that Chinese dramas tend to have cringy and exaggerated music for sad scenes which is extremely off-putting, so I'm glad to see this drama forego that for some amazing OST that actually made me tear up. But I cry a lot during dramas so maybe it's not that amazing lol

Most of the actors were rookies when they made this show and they were pretty solid. I have no complaints because I was immersed the whole time. Well, maybe one complaint — the show wasn't long enough for them to really show off their skills. Season 2, please!

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I really loved most of the performances that came out of KINGDOM LEGENDARY WAR and the little interaction between groups that we did get was golden. Before watching this I never really understood or looked into the MNET hate-train but now I fully understand. The way they did this show was terrible and had I not liked the groups on the show I wouldn't have continued to watch. They truly could have made ROAD TO KINGDOM the official "Kingdom". (Here's my final thoughts on the groups in random order):

BTOB: I've always liked BTOB since I became a Kpop fan, just never really paid much attention to them like some of the other groups in the show. But BTOB has to have some of the best if not the best vocals in Kpop and Kingdom really showed their vocals in the best way
SF9: Before KINGDOM I never really knew anything about sf9 and the probably only knew 3 members but now I know all the members and want to watch sf9 content and get into the group more. Performance wise I didn't really what they were capable of but they are really great performers and not just idol-actors, they really excel in rap, vocals and dance
IKON: I hate to say it because I love Ikon, they were one of the groups I got into when I first got into Kpop but their performances didn't really do anything for me except the last performances was great
STRAY KIDS: I had high expectations from them just from seeing past performances and for the most part they exceeded those expectations, were all their performances my favorite not at all but as a whole they were great (REALLY WISH THEY WOULD'VE HAD HYUNJIN THE WHOLE TIME)
THE BOYZ: I first got introduced to THE BOYZ on Road to Kingdom and have liked them ever since. I know they got a lot mixed results from their performances but I really enjoyed all their performances
ATEEZ: I hate to be that fan but I think I was rather bias towards ATEEZ because I've been a fan of theirs since debut. I really love what they brought to kingdom and they gave it their 100% even when they may not have got all the results they wanted. For me personally and if it was decision ATEEZ would have won (MISS YOU MINGI!!!)

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i finished this months ago but i have to say this

after seeing this series be hyped up like crazy on my tiktok fyp, i finally decided to watch it, and now i wish i didnt. i keep rewatching it like crazy. i have formed some sort of attachment to the characters idk how to deal with. i Never rewatch anything after in done with it bc i just dont have the patience for it. however i could watch this series 5 times back to back and i would still enjoy it like its my first time.
theres nothing showstopping about the plot, its a pretty common thai bl plot, idk what sets it apart from other bls but its just. Different.
i just had to write this review and get these words off of my chest because ive been thinking of writing this review since the morning, where i decided to rewatch it for the 6th time.

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Could have been better if fleshed out

The editor literally put evythg at 1.5x speed

There are a lot of dramas with thin plots that are 25 to 40mins long, and 24episodes or more. Then heres one with a plot and two leads with gd visuals but on a 2-3min length for 34episodes. Do the math.

You hav a FL with a mom who has been duped and a horrible stepfather. But she doesnt cowers. Intelligent and courageous. Plus shes really pretty and cute and suited her role vy much. The ML lost quite a bit of weight aft recently watchin him in another drama. He has the chiseled good looks and suited the role with the cold aura. But surprise he can charm your socks off and becomes a natural flirt where the FL is concern. I thk you can count him on those that really put aside face to pursue what he wants.

Like i said someone came down with the decision for the length of this drama and hence some scenes are very choppy and skipped ahead a lil too much. It affected the continuity of it.

For what is worth it was enjoyable for a really quick watch.

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I guess the title "Adults who cant express themselves well" was already taken. Lol.

Slow dance is really about a group of adults who are trying to find what they want in their love lives and in life in general. While they can't figure it out for themselves they ask their even more clueless friends, thus creating misunderstandings. I liked the acting all the lead characters were good; however some incidental characters weren't the best actors. I liked how the actors portrayed the confusion and pain of their characters in subtle ways. The script writer was clever and showed the character development/ character realizations clearly. The story was well planned and uncommon; however if you like "love shuffle" you would like this one. Although the progression seems to be slow there aren't many dull moments, I never fast forwarded out of boredom, only because I felt embarrassed for them.

The drama doesn't suck you in and make you want more, but you are totally interested and invested through each episode. Even though Isaki, the female lead can get annoying, I really enjoyed watching this drama .Of course the people I put together initially didn't get together but I still felt the ending was a happy and perfect one.

P.s. there are some really squeal-worthy confessions and proposals

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