Reviews

Had potential

This movie had potential of being what the synopsis told us about and the potential of being quite the good movie that depicts real relationships and tell the inner struggle and changing perspective of a homophobic man. But it sadly didn’t come through. The actors did a pretty good job with the working material but I couldn’t get past that this movie had potential that it didn’t deliver. In a conservative country like Korea that are moving forward with the modern world and it’s growing perspective of the LGBTQ community and its workings to a part of decent human rights all over the world, this movie had the potential of depicting the struggle and also the fear that comes with homophobia, and that with the will of understanding you can come a long way.

Although I understand the ML’s reasons of homophobia, since he had the bad experience after the other with gay men, but it just left a bad taste in a mouth since it really did the oppositive of what it could have done. Would it be too hard to show that gay love is just regular normal love like any other love? At least one positive experience of a gay man would have left the movie in a completely different light, and would have made it hugely more realistic. Two examples of the gay men in this movie depicted having romantic feelings for the ML and although lust can do a lot with your mind, I find it poor in taste that they choose to make both of these men blackmail, sexually harass and at one part of the movie hint towards actual rape of the ML. These two also showed very little understanding or realization of what they had actually done to the ML too, which really irked me.

What gave me little hope that this movie will not be just another in a growing list of movies where gay men (and women sometimes) are used as the villains, or individuals that can’t control their sexual urges and instead rapes or sexually harasses the ones that they are attracted too, no matter the sexual orientation on the man they are attracted to, was the end credits. The ML, although, resentful towards the men that had traumatized him (which is perfectly understandable) still thought that he would still try to understand gay men. I applaud the ML for not getting bitter due to all the bad experiences and actual hints of rape, sexual harassment and usage of seniority that he was victims of, and still trying to understand them. I however, do not applaud this movie. It’s watchable, but not as entertainment, and not as a good representation of a BL movie or LGBTQ, but as an education on the progression of hopefully more movies that actually depicts this concern right.

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This film was short but cute.
You would wonder what happened because as what I have said it was a short film so you cannot imagined how much story it can say with such limited time but anyways I like how the story ends.
It will allow you to let your imagination work and let you think of what will happen next.
The characters were innocent, well that's what I thought of.
The story line was quite simple.
Music? Nothing remarkable.

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Masterpiece, Mind-blowing ,Fantastic

This is most most most and most fantastic, mind-blowing, masterpiece drama. I never liked any drama like untamed. The main lead are like made for each other. Every character was too good in their role. It is funny, emotional, sweet and cute drama.
I cried a lot,I laughed a lot and I enjoyed the most. No matter how many times I watch the emotional scene I cry the same as first time.
There was not any kiss scene not even a single kiss in cheek but also it was too romantic and Wei ying and Lan Zhan never confess the felling they have got for each other but they seem like soul mate ? (even though I hope there was a kiss scene and confession ?)
Some episode were scary too but not too much ?
No one can describe about this drama clearly because no one can find the words to describe about it.
But the saddest part is that the ending was not satisfied ? I think 97% percent of viewers didn't like ending.
It's been three years but I still want season 2 .
Not only me but every viewers are waiting for season 2 till now with same cast .
#stillwaitingforseason2
#season2withsamecast
#hopeyouwillunderstandourfelling
#season2
#season2

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Charmless

This one was disappointing for me. It started off interesting. I like Book and Force. I saw them in Boss and Babe first and I enjoyed their chemistry. It was present here as well. It's not killer chemistry but it's solid and enjoyable to watch. But then they put them in this series and it almost drowned out any chemistry or energy they have.
The plot is lame for the get go. The whole secret admirer named enchante and the four people claiming to be him, was just boring. This despite having a cast of solidly good, and attractive actors including Fluke D. who could have chemistry with a statue. It flows from his pores and his eyes. They had an opportunity to have a second couple who would've been fire and did nothing with that. It was so pathetic.

Halfway through I realized I was bored and didn't particularly like Theo. I really liked Akk but his common sense and easygoing nature began to contrast too much with Theo. He had such potential to have a fun story but it was constantly thwarted by the grumpy as hell Theo! But, outside of skipping a little here and there, I stayed patient believing that Theo, and the show, would get better. How very wrong I was.

I'm not getting into any detail about the ending. I will say though, by the last episode I was wishing the show was more like real life and they Didn't end up together. By the end credits I felt disappointed and anti-climatic. I'm sure I will soon forget this one and I'm thankful for that. I'm also super glad that I watched a boss and a babe before this because I enjoyed them and that show so well. It was a nice introduction.

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grief gets better with time

I didn't read the webtoon so I have no reference but I liked this one. I was a bit hesitant to start it as I mostly avoid high school dramas. The premise however led me to believe that this one might be different. Of course it still had the typical hs stuff but at the core of the story is a woman whose grief has consumed her and put her life on pause because of it.

What I really liked about the show is how it went to the past for flashbacks and back to the future. That way it was easier to see how previous words and actions affected the lives of the characters involved. I knew Hamin was gonna die but I got the cause of his death spoiled for me online. I don't think that impacted the story for me as I still felt strong emotions.

Kim Mingyu and Kang Hyewon were ok. It was clear they were just there for visuals but Hyewon was rather decent and natural for the role she was in. Mingyu widened his eyes too much and often came off stiff. He has room to improve though. I've heard some people criticize the kind of relationship he had with So Mang and how their "closeness" was a little inappropriate. I somewhat agree as there were times when their grief caused that line between teacher and student. The excessive touching and intimate moments between them were understandable but So Mang is still in a position over Jaemin and should act accordingly. I really liked Hamin's character. I think the events leading up to his demise could've been tweaked for more emotional impact, especially the argument scene between him and So Mang. That part kind of made his decision look petty when in reality his situation was much more complex than that conversation. At least from the perspective of the drama, it was unclear as to what exactly pushed Ha Min to that point of no return. Maybe the webtoon is more focused. Ju Yeon brought the emotion and tenderness that was needed for this role and she got me teary-eyed at times because of her performance. My only other complaint with her character is the fact that she didn't read that last letter Ha Min had for her. It would've been painful, but it felt right for her to have unpacked the contents and accepted whatever last words Ha Min left behind. It was interesting for me to see how the characters dealt with loss differently. Ha Min's parents seemed to avoid the topic all together whereas So Mang constantly lived within the days leading up to the tragedy.

I think the ending is relevant to real life when So Mang is forced to really move on and let go of what once was with Ha Min and begin living her life in a way that would make him smile. Even upon going back to her old school she was still living in the past and refused to move forward. Doing right by Jaemin on behalf of Ha Min was a part of the grief process and that in itself was nice to watch.

Overall I liked this one. Def gonna check out the webtoon now :)

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Waste of good actors and story

Read this review before you decide whether you want to watch this title

Pros:
The cast - the actors are amazing and the acting done was quite well. The crown prince , master woo bin , the villain , second leads FL father , first FL father, both body gurads gona and seong un and the second lead did a good job .

The cinematography - the fight scenes well choreographed, the poppy fields or cherry blossom paths, the sunsets shining in the water, was wonderfully done. Its one of the best scenic beauty movie if you are into those things

Cons:
Waste of good actors: There were two good fighters who were under utilized and could have added more reality to the fight scenes. The crown prince is a good actor but mostly he was a cry baby or fake smiling. First FL was one of the weakest character in the history of drama movies (including the playful kiss and heirs .. adding examples to show how serious I am). Although she is a good actress but her potential was never used. The second lead did a great job (at least the script gave her some hope.. may be cause we give dying wishes a chance) .

The script: I could no longer remember the plot (in desperate hopes to keep myself sane) I lost count how many times the story went wayward. Although the story gist was superb but the execution was poor and the actors had no chance to do justice to the story.

Both ML and FL never looked as if in love with each other (Second FL looked much more in love than those two). That was the biggest down side of the drama. The romantic scenes look empty and their emotions lacking

OverAll Verdict: If you love the cast (if FL or ML is your bias), you love good fight scenes and have lots of time on your hands . go ahead and watch the title

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Just what the f were the writers smoking?

Like what on earth were the writers on? I ask this because this drama just had me going “wtf?” almost constantly. Most of Bosco Wong’s stuff is not bad, even at it’s worse it’s at least a 5-6 score and average. This somehow managed to be less than average, and as I am currently 14 episodes in I am not holding out any hope of this getting better.

The drama is about Chrissie Chau playing two roles as twin sisters. The younger sister is an insurance broker whereas the elder sister is a Singaporean elite cop. These twins were separated since they were kids and have not seen each other in 20 years. The younger sister was mixed up in some shady stuff and while in Singapore she gets murdered and has her heart removed by organ traffickers. Cop sister discovers this and decides to travel to Hong Kong undercover to find who killed her sister.

Now, this is not a bad premise, except that there were some things I saw that made me go “wtf?” Cop sister takes on the identity of her sister to investigate what led to her sisters death, but while in the role we discover the younger sister was a disgusting harlot of a woman, sleeping around to get promoted, worked as a nightclub girl AKA prostitute to get money, was involved with a terrorist group called Green World, was working with a really shady man played by Derek Kwok, all of this while dating Bosco Wong’s HK police officer. As each revelation was revealed it just made me feel less and less sympathy for the younger sister because she was doing some real shady crap.

Bosco’s character is a real idiot as well because if he really was a good boyfriend he should have been able to immediately tell that the girl was not the same girl as his girlfriend as there were too many contradictions in everything she does. I kept screaming at my TV telling him to just bug her and find out what she was doing because that would have sorted out so many misunderstandings early.

Meanwhile, it seemed every single man was swooning over her, trying to hit on her or show general interest. She is pretty, no doubt, but I feel she was not THAT pretty, I found it all too unbelievable. The drama slowly became this sausagefest with her as the only taco, and I had to keep cringing at this.

What also made me start to hate Chrissie Chau’s character was how she used her Kevin Chu and Alex Fong. Alex Fong plays her boyfriend while she was in Singapore, but we do not know what their actual relationship is until many episodes later. After she goes to Hong Kong undercover she constantly asked him for his hacking services, and he becomes fed up because he was constantly waiting for her to come home, so he started dating somebody else. She finds out in a scene when he was in Hong Kong with his new girlfriend, but I couldn’t find myself blaming him. Suddenly, she shifts her attention to Kevin Chu, who was her sister’s best friend and just so happened to also be a hacker! Kevin actually worked out earlier on that Chrissie was not the younger sister, so she came clean with her cop identity and asked him to help her find the killers. She spent so many scenes just asking him to hack for her and do really dangerous reconnaissance, tasks that had him nearly get his organs harvested twice, and yet he still listens to her commands. I shook my head every time I saw a scene with them both and she asks him to hack this or be bait for that. Just stop it, please!

This drama is not complete yet so we’ll see how it fairs in the later episodes, but for now it is just a crapfest. Maybe we find out the younger sister was also a member of an assassin guild and had a secret child with one of the men? I wouldn’t be surprised.

Update:

I have finished watching this drama and the ending was so abrupt it had me going “what the f…”. So there is a huge plot twist where the younger sister was not dead but was pretending so she could plot her way to taking over her elder sister’s identity. Why? Because she wanted to escape her criminal past, and pinning all her crimes on her elder sister before killing her and taking place was her method of doing it. What this essentially means is that the whole premise of the drama has been a lie to us and a massive waste of time, because the whole reason the elder sister was in Hong Kong was to avenge her sister, and suddenly “Oh actually the sister ain’t dead, lol”.

Now there are so many plotholes that blew my mind that I had to ask how little the writers were paid. At the beginning of the drama we see the corpse of the younger sister, we see they have the same appearance and everything and even the coroner confirmed the DNA as well. So how did she fake this death? They visit a doctor and he explained how it was possible the younger sister donated bone marrow to someone so when the blood was tested for DNA it would have the sister’s DNA in there. Okay fine, but how did they explain the same appearance of the corpse as it was clearly the twin. They don’t mention this at all, no plastic surgery or anything, they simply brush it off as “oh yeah bone marrow.” They brought up the possibility of the coroner being unreliable, but if so why would they need the bone marrow transplant excuse? The coroner could just make it up, so it made noooo sense.

The drama tried to wrap up too quickly at the end. We spend the first 20 episodes slowly uncovering the nonsense plot the drama introduced, but it spends the last 4 episodes trying to quickly wrap everything up, with the final episode feeling especially rushed as they tried to cram as many resolutions in there as possible. Right at the end the sisters face off in an elevator and the younger sister forces the elder to shoot her to death. We see this reveal later when Bosco runs to the elevator and the doors open to show the younger sister dead, but we see that the elder sister doesn’t even shed a tear for her sibling and just walks out, says a few words while looking back snd then the drama ends. What?

But the biggest sin this drama threw at me was the death of Kevin Chu. I mean his acting was average but I felt bad for the idiot constantly putting his life in danger for the elder sister. He laters gets kidnapped and becomes paralyzed from the neck down, which really had me angry at the elder sister. But the last straw was when the drama has the younger sister appear to him while he was in his wheelchair and just outright murders him because he thought the elder sister was “better”. Come on give that guy a break! For that sin alone, this drama is not worth rewatching even as a joke.

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A Drama with No plot but full of Cheese and Fanservice

Subjective Gut Rating: 7.25

I decided to watch “We Are” because I wanted something simple and light-hearted, a stress reliever. With that in mind, I made the right choice. “We Are” is so easy, and too easy of a watch. It’s a drama full of fluff, cheese and cringe.

Unfortunately, the drama does not hold my attention. “We Are” has no plot whatsoever. The whole drama is about a big group of friends hanging out, pairing up with each romantic partner, professing their love and kissing their loved ones. While I enjoy seeing the tight bond of these friends, especially the 5-some of Peem, Q, Tan, Pun and Chain, I cannot consume 16 hours of just hanging out. The drama is way too long for its lack of content. It ended up not really what I am looking for, but this might just be the right one for you.

The acting of the cast is OK. There really isn’t anyone who stood out as being excellent. The big selling point of this drama is Pond and Phuwin as the two main leads. I enjoy their chemistry and their scenes together. They are obviously comfortable around each other. Pond and his handsome face and loving gazes are what keep me going and not dropping it.

I also feel that the introduction of such a big cast at once causes some confusion. I was trying to figure out the first 5 and then the drama introduced another 6 guys to the mix. Aside from the main romance between Peem and Phum, I really didn’t care for the other pairings. Some characters are more annoying and cringey than others. The drama has many unnaturally long gazes and slow motion shots for every single supposedly romantic gesture or kiss. It’s somewhat trying to manipulate how the audience should feel.

“We Are” is a pure fanservice drama. I don’t think I’ve seen a drama with so many kisses from all romantic pairs, and so many “I love you” spoken. The kisses on the lips are actually not bad, much better than the pecks on the cheeks or forehead (don’t they know you should also extend your lips a little?). I would recommend this drama if you are a fan of the cast.


Completed: 7/29/2024 - Review #468

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12 year old me would've loved this!

This is a family drama mostly catering to children's tastes. I think 10-14 old children would absolutely love this, but for adults it's not that great. Not only does the drama have giant plotholes, but also the story has very little to offer. I mean sure the FL did a phenomenal job portraying a mystical cathuman, but that's not enough to carry the entire show. The leads may have had okay chemistry, but their relationship had very little substance and the whole thing with ML rejecting FL's advances, despite dating and even living together has been quite frustrating.
Also the whole "rollback" thing is a horrible waste of time, they should've just cut the show short, or come up with something else, like filling 3-4 episodes with fluff instead..


Still at least the show is not trying to be anything more than silly & juvenile. I had some good laughs here and there. Compared with Meow the Secret Boy this one is HUGELY better.

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Could have been better!

I don’t know what happened with this drama? Why are there more scenes with the SKJ (2nd male lead) as compared with PHJ (male lead)? The first few episodes were intriguing that’s why I got hooked on it. However as the drama progresses, I’ve noticed that the story focuses more on Seo Kang-joon (Baek In-ho) rather than on Park Hae-jin (Yoo Jung). With the male lead’s fewer scenes, it was no surprise that audience had difficulty recognizing his character and its development. It would have been better if more scenes were given to the leads. The few romantic scenes between them were not enough to build a solid chemistry. I’ve read some BTS drama regarding CITT. I think this behind-the-scenes drama affected the quality of the show.

This would have been a good drama if the characters were established properly. There should’ve been more scenes that showed the development of male lead character as well as the romantic scenes between the leads. Good ending for the support cast but not for the leads. I was disappointed with the ending. It’s ambiguous and it felt rushed. It just showed the past romantic scenes of the leads as fillers. A simple interaction between them will suffice to give audience a decent ending.

Acting was good. I find Jang Bo-ra and Kwon Eun-taek’s romance cute as well as their friendship with Hong Seol. Character devt for male lead is poor. Too much focus on the 2nd male lead. Few romantic scenes between the leads. Music is alright. Will not rewatch this.

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Time Wasted

I have little to say about this drama other than I came in with low expectations because there can only be so many firefighter dramas in one year that all revolve around the same thing. I was not dissapointed, this drama was as boring and draggy as I expected it to be. It has truly been a struggle to watch and I only continued because I love Zhang Linghe and even though his scenes are few and far in between I still wanted to have a little bit of him. As a cellists, Zhang Linghe’s character was a bit of a let down and honestly I think it’s not his fault just that of the production. Also too cliche, I am twenty two years old, I work at an office, and have lived in a busy city my entire life never have I been in a fire: Yet somehow our female lead, Nan Chu is coincidentally in a fire that she needs rescuing from every other episode. And coincidentally so every time our dearest male lead is there to rescue her. That sort of stuff doesn’t happen in real life, unless there is an abnormal amount of fires in China that we just don’t know about and all I just said is nonsense. Needless to say if you’re giving this a try for Zhang Linghe don’t. He has very little onscreen time. It’s not worth it!

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"If you search, fate grows. If you give up, fate dies"

In 2015 it was estimated 20,000 children in China had been stolen and trafficked just for that year. Some were sold for adoption, others for forced labor or prostitution. Lost and Love told the story based on a real-life father who had spent 15 years chasing down leads and searching for his child all over China. Andy Lau gave one of his best performances as the determined father who would never stop in his quest to be reunited with his son.

Lei Ze Kuan rides his motorcycle with flags displaying missing children’s faces as he chases down leads on his missing son. After a road accident he meets Zeng Shuai when the young man fixes his bike. It turns out that Shuai was a kidnapped child and “adopted” by the family he lives with. The family has been good to him, but because of his unknown status he cannot go to university, marry, ride the train, or any other thing which requires an id card. He asks Lei to take a side trip and go with him to check on clues as to where his family might be. The two men bond during their road trip seeking the truth they both desperately want.

I’ve watched many films with Andy Lau, but Lost and Love is the first one where I wasn’t constantly reminded by his acting that he was “Andy Lau.” He gave a vulnerable performance as a father who was ridden with guilt and anguished over his loss. This understated interpretation was quite moving. Jing Bo Ran also gave a realistic performance as a lost son torn between wanting to find his biological parents and not wanting to betray his adoptive parents. The chemistry between the two quickly evolved into a surrogate family as they traversed the country. As they grew closer there were several tender and playful moments between them.

Peng San Yuan based the story on real life father, Guo Gang Tang. She added another missing child whose story with Sandra Ng as a trafficker was woven throughout the film, though it did turn melodramatic. Peng illustrated the complicated feelings and responses parents had who lived through the nightmare of having a child stolen from them. Aside from the guilt and fear, the trauma caused marriages to dissolve, mental health to collapse, and for some parents, the despair drove them to suicide. Peng not only wrote the screenplay but also directed the film. The pacing and transitions kept the film flowing even with three stories being told. The film was visually appealing as Peng highlighted the stunning verdant scenery of the countryside and architectural beauty of old chain bridges.

Lost and Love was heartwarming and heartbreaking and did so without falling into the trap of sentimentality. There were a couple of coincidences that were a bit too on the nose, but I’m a sucker for these stories based on real life events and was able to overlook them. I cannot imagine the terror of not knowing if your child was safe and whether you’d ever see them again. I also cannot imagine having the strength to spend every day for nearly two decades following any hint that might bring me closer to that child and dealing with the soul crushing despair every time a lead did not pan out. Lost and Love brought a horrifically painful subject to light while also showing the supportive networks and people trying to reunite families.

If you’d like to see how the real-life father’s story was resolved, see below.

28 August 2024










*****************************************************************
After TWENTY-FOUR years, Guo was reunited with his son!!!
This link still works as of this writing:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57815491

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Convoluted and unconventional definitely gruesome and doesn't pull any punches. It's kind of stylistically gives a post-apocalyptic feel like 1984 and Battle Royale, it's going to depress you. I loved the usual eccentricity of Japanese fiction and there's a touch of dark humor as well. Basically, Zera wants to create a society where there are no adults and he has help from a demonic entity who warns him against an uprising and certain death from 'adults' and 'traitors.' And this fear drives him to be ruthless toward everyone and creating a society aka Lychee Light Club to control other young boys. These boys are not allowed to fornicate, or do anything that goes against Zera's orders. All so they are forced to become Zera's minions, including a gigantic machine named Lychee that is programmed to be human and find girls and be Zera's killing machine. But when one of the boys starts raising his voice against Zera's insane level of cruelty, he starts finding other boys who share his distaste of Zera and his rules. At the heart this film shows how evil people try to control others by instilling fears and taking away their basic human rights like being able to find pleasure, in sex and otherwise. How they're propelled by their own fears and end up becoming heartless. And the other recurring motif is of beauty and ugliness, and how no matter how beautiful someone might be, they will eventually get tarnished if nothing the people who were so taken by their beauty alone will see them as ugly when they find something better. That's the superficial nature of beauty worship.

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A mature work about gay relationships

This movie has the big advantage that it's source material is splendid, and while I did read it many years ago and have forgotten most of it, I can say that they not only managed to preserve its quality but surpassed it.

“No Touching At All” is not your typical BL story nor movie, they went for a literary approach that matches the essence and tone of the source, so if you aren't a fan of the quiet, artistic style that doesn't rely on ups and downs but lives between its shallow waves, then you won't be happy with this movie.

The actors are perfect for their roles and shine the brightest during the silent encounters of the two leads, the only erotic scene is so sensual, emotional, that you can feel the heavy burden and hope this special moment represents.

While it is a film many people will surely enjoy, I think it's important to say that it's much more impactful, and meaningful, for those who know how painful it is to fall in love with a straight man; all the fears, the self-hate and guilt, that is clawing at your insides, the blame you put on yourself for stealing his future, and the blame some of them unjustly put on you.

It's one of the very few BL films that realistically show how it is to be a gay man and the many downfalls that come with it, there's no sugar coating, no false positivity or cute moments to appeal to certain watchers, it wants to portray the story of mature men trying to find happiness with, and in, each other.

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