Reviews

Great action film: visually breathtaking, brutal, and explosively message-driven

Watch this if you:
• love wartime action
• appreciate great cinematography
• want to check out some underwater wire fu
• are up for epic statements about inhumanity and war
• are willing to go with iconic characters and broad symbolism
• want to see Zhu Yi Long’s amazing acting and 9.5% body fat abs
• want to see Wu Lei's wonderful acting and his ability to embody goodness and justice
• want to watch Ni Ni's awesome acting and her character's role as a force for change
• are curious about why “propaganda” is not an insult in the Chinese filmmaking industry

Don’t watch this if you:
• can't take brutal violence
• prefer realism and naturalistic character development over powerful message delivery
• are never okay with demonizing villains
• are sadly insensitive to the awesomeness of Ni Ni, Zhu Yi Long and Wu Lei.
• always judge a film by the same standards as those of Oscars voters
• think “propaganda” is only and always a bad thing

This is a powerful action movie that made me cry buckets. It's a:

Stunning visual experience

Enraged condemnation of a Japanese war crime

Grueling, devastating ride

Hymn to justice and kindness

After seeing it, I needed a few days to move out of the loss and sadness.

A week or so later, I started getting curious about where Dongji Island's filmmaking style fits in Chinese filmmaking history. Because it's quite strongly message-driven. I mean, I usually notice ideological content in films and tv shows, whether that's a cultural stance in Hollywood products or political messaging in cdramas. And after some preliminary internet searching, I learned that being propaganda is not a movie flaw in China the way it would be in my country. It seems like within Chinese filmmaking, propaganda can be art.

Anyway, in my opinion, Dongji Island has elements of extremely well made propaganda, but overall it's great art.

Because of its propaganda side, though, I don't have much hope for it to become popular in the West. I think Oscars voters go for stories with realism, psychological growth and complexity that privilege the individual. Dongji Island is fueled more by the message than it is by psychological arcs. While its characters have individuality and uniqueness, their symbolic weight is emphasized. And the movie subordinates the individual to the collective.

What’s stayed with me the most are not only the deep emotional impact and the amazing visuals, but also the performances. Besides the leads, Wu Lei, Zhu Yi Long, and Ni Ni, who are all on fire, I keep remembering moments from supporting actors, especially Chen Ming Hao, Ni Da Hong and Yang Hao Yu.

I’m really grateful for the limited American release, because I was able to see this on the wide screen! The lowest score I gave it was for rewatch value, because I would have to take a lot of deep breaths before I walked into a theater to see this a second time. But it will remain with me from just the one experience.

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A historical, emotional journey

This isn't my first time watching this drama and probably won't be my last simply for the acting of Zhou Xun and Wallace Huo. Don't get me wrong, the supporting cast is outstanding but the two main leads embody their characters; it's like watching the real emperor and empress alive in an unfolding story.

The hardest part of this drama is to observe the cruelty of a king and husband in middle age. He goes from youthful hope to bored tolerance and it is Wallace Huo's very nuanced portrayal that leads to a viewer understanding the heart of a king. In mid life, he rebels against the idea of not being allowed a choice of behavior. The empress calls him out on his callous indifference to a privileged life and the ensuing clash of dialogue is one I could watch daily. Masterfully written, directed and acted, it is a true to life scene between an exhausted wife and bored husband with the concluding split resulting in a husband and ruler slowly facing his flaws.

As a female viewer, it's hard for me to watch the history of harems. To love your husband and observe his pleasure with another woman is something I cannot imagine but, the history was real (pretty much in all cultures) and the emotional damage is displayed. This drama takes an unflinching approach in writing to their family dynamic and I would recommend it for anyone wishing to see a palace drama. It truly is a masterpiece.

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i will try to be objective but i also will admit to getting a fan girl nosebleed (for the very first time)at the end. Runway Cop is similar to the american movie Miss congeniality but in korea and from a male perspective.
i loved the acting. my oppa, kang Ji hwang is an amazing actor and played both the nasty looking and suave looking sides very well. The supporting actors did very well, Yuri was convincing. The story concept was realistic, however the details were not. In most stories Ji Hwangs character would have been fired before the halfway point but as the main character in the story, he could do what he wanted.
It is a comedy and it makes you laugh, but be prepared to watch some slapstick because thats what it comes down to. although there are poor jokes, penis innuendos, and other tom foolery, runway cop is chuck full of man eye candy (with their shirts off!!) so watch just for that.
As a Ji Hwang fan this is a must see! seeing him in a fat suit with great fat makeup made me love him even more. I squealed the whole movie and at the end got a bloody nose. no matter how poor the storyline was it was a worthwhile watch for me and i will probably rewatch the end a few times.

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Dramas featuring non-neurotypical protagonists are comparatively rare, and they are difficult to pull off. There is always a tension between idealizing or glamorizing their different ways of perceiving the world or, on the other end of the spectrum, demonizing, denigrating and othering them for being different which historically has been how most societies treat such differences. Doki no Sakura successfully presents a non-neurotypical protagonist who is fairly understandably and continuously punished for being different, and, yet, the story values her and her way of seeing the world, and, ultimately provides a critique of normative corporate culture by doing so.

The titular Sakura is played by Takahata Mitsuki in a rigorously disciplined and idiosyncratic performance which is similar in some ways to that of her Sachiko in Boukyaku no Sachiko, but here the script takes her character much more seriously, and she is allowed to go much deeper. I am no expert in neurological classifications, but Sakura appears to be autistic, rarely smiling and unrelentingly honest for which the large construction firm which hires her repeatedly punishes with demotions and transfers.

The episodes themselves are highly structured. Each tells a story in Sakura's corporate life from ten successive years told by her co-worker friends to her while she is in a coma in 2019. Through repeated encounters and motifs in each episode we learn about how she became their friends and the positive impact she has had on their lives.

The series is unquestionably good through episode 9 where the episodic structure is intentionally broken, and there is a very interesting tension well into episode 10 of whether the show can actually stick the landing without betraying the spirit of its characters. Surprisingly, it does so. A bit unrealistically and conveniently, perhaps, but the show does remain true to Sakura's character while providing a satisfying, if a bit pat, ending to the series.

In the end, the series makes a fairly clear case that the company would be better were it more open to Sakura's way of seeing the world. The story talks about corporate power and intention, and provides an interesting though probably simplistic view of what the source of that power and intention should be. Sakura comes to her company with a dream of building structures with her friends that will make the world a better place, and ends with her having helped those friends define their own dreams. They become more Sakura-like, and she becomes more empowered by their increased authenticity.

It's worth checking out.

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Be careful what you wish for!

What happens when a lonely nerd uses an ancient spell to summon love? He ends up with My Undead Yokai Girlfriend. A mix of comedy, romance, friendship, the supernatural, and mystery, Boku no Itoshii Youkai Girlfriend had a little bit of everything.

University student Hachi and his friends belong to an E-games team called the Underdogs. After a “romantic” betrayal, desperate Hachi and his friend Tanuki use a forbidden spell book to conjure him a girlfriend. The girlfriend ends up being a nine-tailed fox, Princess Izuna Imiki whom Hachi calls Izzy. Izzy’s first priority is getting laid so that she can stay in the human world. It will also bind her to Hachi and him to her. Izzy’s other goal is separating the heads of her enemies from their bodies so that she can release the other yokais from the place where humans trapped them---The World of Nothing and Timeless Darkness. Along the way evil humans conjure zombies and strive to stop Izzy from completing her goal. Hachi isn’t sure how to handle this new girlfriend who appears to be a serial killer.

I would have rated this cute drama higher if not for some of the acting. Sano Hayato’s Hachi drove me to distraction with his over-exaggerated acting and Hachi’s childish behavior. It was painful to watch. Some of that is on the writers to be sure. The female cop also behaved childishly and erratically while the other cops played their roles straight. On the other hand, I loved Yoshikawa Ai’s portrayal of Izzy. Izzy was strong and didn’t act like she’d eaten too much sugar. Not everyone can pull off a warrior princess role but she did a good job. The Underdog gang was a mixed bag of characters. I enjoyed Tanuki and Hikari’s budding romance. A word about best friend Tanuki played by Anthony. I’ve seen rather crass comments about his casting. Anthony is Japanese, born to a Japanese mother and American father. His father died when he was two and his mother married a Japanese man when he was five. As he said of growing up, “There were girls and boys and then there was me, this mysterious black being.” He grew up around Tokyo and doesn’t speak much English because he is Japanese and was raised Japanese. So bitch about the Amazon and Coke PPLs all you want but this man does not deserve the ire for not fitting some people’s narrow view for Jdrama casting. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

The production values were uneven but in a story like this it wasn’t terribly important. Some random thoughts…The producers must have spent most of their money on the special effects as the sets weren’t very memorable. A wealthy lawyer’s office looked more like a storage room. I thought it was interesting that several characters had blue streaks in their hair like you might see in comic books. Bonus points to the drama for working one of my favorite songs, Chicago's Hard to Say I'm Sorry, into the story. Demerits for a Coke float that had ice in it! Lastly, anyone who knows me knows I have kinemortophobia. Hate zombies and the zombies in this drama were creepy. But even I have to admit peering through my fingers that trying to figure out how many zombies you can fit in a VW van was funny.

My Undead Yokai Girlfriend was entertaining. The ending left room for a second season though that remains to be seen. Maybe enough time will pass so that Hachi can grow up and control his emotions better as he discovers how deeply entwined he is in the supernatural goings on. I would definitely be open to seeing more of Princess Izuna Imiki’s story.

10 October 2024

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Epic romance designation doesn't do this justice; this was a PHENOMENAL romance and had it not been cut left and right (because of religious protests), it would have been PERFECT!! I'm not a romantic. As a matter of fact, I rarely watch them but this was a FABULOUS romance. I was totally swept into the story and loved every minute. Even though it was cut at various points, it really wasn't bad and I forgave them for it because it was beyond their control. Talk about feels! I had them in spades and that doesn't happen very often! The cast was stunning to watch. Tui Teerapat Satjakul (Sharif) was sensational! His handsome persona, commanding presence on the screen just overwhelmed your eyes! Usamanee Kwan (Michelle) is a stunning looking woman. Her character, at times will drive you nuts with the whining and complaining in the desert but simply watching Sharif will make up for it. Great drama!!

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It's a long time I watched Rom-Com drama and really Enjoy it, WOW I love every character of HPL, especially the lead role, I cannot stop thinking they are real life couple, to be honest, even they just stand beside each other but I feel so much by that simple action, his voice his gaze, KJW plays character Ryan Gold the best, I really love his acting it seems like he was really in love with Deokmi thier chemistry is lit and another level compare to the male lead PMY play with so far, with KJW she act really cute and comfort together like it was so real. OMG. the plot isn't that bad, it really fun watching and I will re-watch it again and again for real. The chemistry between KJW & PMY is amazing that melting my heart to dust, love them so much. Please cast them in another drama again!

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Strong murder plot that is hampered by terrible pacing and lackluster acting.

It's your typical manga turned Jdrama adaptation. Hire actors where specs trump acting capability. What starts off strong as a murder revenge plot quickly turns sour due to terrible pacing. It was actually good in the first half, especially around episode 4 or 5 or so, but then becomes mediocre due to a shoehorned love triangle and a pregnancy. It's supposed to be romance but there was no chemistry at all between the leads. The female lead was marginally better than her male lead who wears a poker face the whole time. I felt nothing when they broke up. On the one hand, it was supposed to be a murder mystery but on the hand, it was a bad soap opera. The ending was at least ok. I ended up caring more for Tsubaki's mom than his whole relationship with Nao.

The gist of drama is Hanaoka Nao goes undercover under a false alias and a fake marriage contract with her childhood crush Takatsuki Tsubaki at the Kogetsuan, the place where her mother last worked. Her mom was wrongly accused of a crime she didn't commit. Nao wants to undercover what really happened to the late heir to Kogetsuan and why and how he was killed and ultimately salvage her mother's name. From there, the pacing just falls apart. On paper, the plot sounds great.

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I laughed like crazy!

I started watching this drama because of the typical story: a secretary, a bastard boss and so on.
I ended up laughing like crazy because of the ML manners, the way he talks, the way he behaves (when he lifts his leg to open the bin, come on!!). And the FL suddenly becomes a new person who is not afraid to tell what she wants because she thinks she's running out of time. That wonderful episode when she goes to his house and hits him with onions? That was pure gold! What I mean is that there were several scenes which I didn't really expect to watch, so they ended up being the best ones.
I also think that there are things which could have been better because, from my point of view, they ended the story too fast or didn't focus in important things. The way they solved everything in the last chapter was a little odd. They decided not to deepen in the character's relationship. Everything was packed with everyone's goodwill. Why didn't they allow us to see what happens with Shin-A's dad and friends, for example?
In any case, I liked the drama and I laughed a lot! The music, especially "I'm crazy", was wonderful. The acting was very good, specially for the ML lead, who I think did an amazing job.
I recommend you watch it, since you will laugh a lot.

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I am aware that this is a remake of a Korean drama and the production team did not have the liberty to change the plot as they please. I usually only watch remakes of Kdramas that I loved but I made an exemption for this one. I don't have a comparison with the original story line in this review.

The storyline is not novel but I am a sucker for older woman-younger man romances (noona romance!). It did not have so much plot to offer compared to other noona romances that dealt with external factors of the relationship. It was more focused on how Najai would accept her feelings for Tofu. A bonus though is that I have unexpectedly liked Rachanu and her baby daddy. They looked so cute together. I wish we got to see more of that relationship too. Kan and Kiss shouldn't be back together. I was so happy she returned that necklace to dump him but I was wrong.

I wished they could've cut the chase about Najai's feelings and gave us more cute scenes with our leads and we see how their relationship progressed. It felt like they pushed everything on the last episode. But I still loved the slow-paced tone of the drama though. No major highs and lows. The opening score in every episode fits the show perfectly. It lowkey feels like a warm cup of coffee on a rainy day.

New always have had great chemistry with his co-stars. He and Pancake are good actors but they kinda lacked that burning chemistry I was expecting. This does not have so much fluff so if you're looking for something like that then this is not the drama for you.

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Let me be honest by saying when I first started watching this drama, I put it on hold during the first episode. I decided to go back to it recently and finished it. I must admit that I regret putting it on hold on. It was a really great drama and with one of my favorite female lead actresses. I loved the male lead as well.

A few thing that I cannot stand in drama
1. long misunderstandings - misunderstandings were resolved fairly
2. fake kisses - the kisses in this drama were steamy! :-)
3. female leads acting all shy and coy - not a problem in this drama

I loved that the male lead was an emotional person. His love language was definitely touch. This drama gave you a glimpse into fan girls, which I found extremely interesting.

If you like steamy kisses; hot male lead that can add; minimal understandings then this drama is for you. If you do not like those things..umm keep it pushing and move on to the next drama.

Happy watching!! :-)

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not as good as its predecessor

I really, really wanted to like this series. I loved the first one and I thought sure, surely, the writing for this one will be just as good.

Sadly, I was wrong.

And it was the writing that let it down. All the acting was on point. The entire cast knocked it out of the park, so to speak, even if the script they had to work with was dodgy. The music was beautiful, the editing good and the story itself, if it had been translated into the script better, would've worked.

The plot involved Shi De and Shu Yi meeting again after five years. After unexpectedly having to stay in the U.S. for two years, rather than two months, Shi De comes back and runs into Yi's father, who has confiscated Yi's phone. He tells De, in less subtle terms, that he's not good enough for Yi, which brings back a whole lot of insecurities that De already had about their relationship and he agrees to stay away from Yi for five years.

Three years after that, De is running the successful Hua Cing Technology company on behalf of this mother, when who should walk in the door to oversee the company's merger with Cheng Yi Group?

What follows is the rekindling of Shu Yi and Shi De's relationship along with some incidental corporate espionage thrown in to make it all more dramatic.

My main problem with this series is the writing. I don't know what Lin Pei Yu was thinking with this. I was confused so many times about when scenes took place in the timeline. Non-linear storytelling is fine, but it needs to be clear and concise and this was neither. Scenes were just thrown in and we were just supposed to, what? Intuit that they were set in the past?

Also, whilst in a visual medium you always want to try and show rather than tell, you have to actually show things so people understand them. I don't want to just make assumptions - I want it to be clear that I'm making the *right* assumptions. And I shouldn't have to go on social media to find out what the writer is trying to show. I shouldn't have to reference other media to understand the one I'm watching.

Why did Shu Yi suddenly forgive Shi De between one episode and the next? Why did Pei Shou Yi go from (apparently??) rejecting to accepting Yu Zhen Xuan in the space of about five minutes? Come to that, why is Pei Shou Yi running a bar instead of being a Doctor? Did I miss the explanation for that?

Was that blonde woman actually Ashley? I assume so. Is Ashley Shi De's stepsister? Is she the nanny? My assumption is stepsister. Why throw in that special episode and answer no questions about it? Because Shu Yi has decided that he trusts Shi De (apparently out of nowhere) that means we, the audience, don't get to know?

Tell me how I did with my assumptions, show. Tell me!

A smaller, yet as important problem, is also the casual ableism that runs through this series. Yu Zhen Yuan has real feelings for Pei Shou Yi, but they are dismissed as him being "crazy" because Shou Yi thinks Zhen Yuan suffers from filial imprinting, paranoia (which we see no signs of) , Aspergers, mild depression and prone to autotomy (which apparently means Zhen Yuan is prone to cutting his own limbs off.)

Pei Shou Yi makes all these diagnoses despite the fact that he wasn't a psychologist and hasn't been an actual medical doctor in years.

It's like the writer just went for an out-of-date DSM and randomly picked things she thought would make the character as woobie as possible.

And, even assuming that all these diagnoses are correct, that still wouldn't mean Zhen Yuan's feelings for Shou Yi aren't real. To claim so is ableist and wrong.

Pei Shou Yi himself says he suffers from an affective disorder (but never specifies which one) but if he suddenly declared he had feelings for Zhen Yuan, nobody would call him crazy.

A third series was teased, and I'd like to see Bing Wei and Zhe Yu's wedding, because that proposal scene was lovely and they're the most sensible couple on this show.

I can't give this as high a rating as 'No. 1 For You', but I still rate this highly and I did enjoy most of it. It is fairly re-watchable and I give this my sincere recommendation.

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This film was very quiet and serene. I think the snowy weather represented this film very well. When snow falls overtime, it piles up and covers everything underneath, just like the feelings of the two separated people. Through the letters, they uncover their feelings that's been piled up with snow. (The title's literal translation is 'To Yoonhee')

Even though Yoonhee was the focus of the movie, her daughter, Saebom, was a scene stealer. I found her interest for film photography is a nice element to this film! I love her attention to detail. Her mom knows everything she doesn't tell, and I think that Saebom is alike. The trip that she prepared for her mom was probably the best gift! It's a heart-warming movie. I personally love the ending, character development and the cinematography.

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So I guess im the first one to write a review about this drama. Lets start with im glad its over. That was long and tedious.the cast was great and the acting was good. In the beginning its too intense and u will find urself hating tae wons family especially the grandma.after a while when the dust has settled around the 15th episode, things start changing direction and peoples characters change.
The grandmas character doesn't change but shes more tolerable and funny how shes so mad and how she makes faces and sounds.
The little girl seul gi is the center of the show coz everything revolves around her. She did an awesome job being in all 40 episodes and maintaining her character.
The mom eun soo is stubborn but her conviction and strong morals are impressive.
The other sister hyeon soo is just complicated and no one can change her.
Ahjumma turned out to be my favorite to watch coz the things she says under her breath are hilarious I dont know how she survived living with grandma and the aunt.
The rest of the cast did good and in the end it doesnt turn out how we first expected but its satisfactory. I couldnt stop watching coz the previews would be juicy.

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