Personally, I can relate to Jung Jae Min's character. He was the kind of person who was passionate yet scared in so many forms. He was the most vulnerable among the characters. He was arrogant and rude but I felt like that's how he dealt with his struggles. He had a hard time admitting to himself that he did fall hard to Lee So Jung. He was a rebel with fears that if he pursue the person that makes him feel better he will lose everything.
I was moved by the scene when he finally admitted to So Jung that he fell for her and that he wanted to be the only guy that she sees and that he wanted to make her feel good and that he's the only to make her laugh, but in reality it was the opposite. He was rude, arrogant and a bastard towards So Jung. Adding insult to the injury was that the people surrounded him always threaten and beat So Jung badly like blaming her for Jae Min's actions.
Towards the end, he's ready to lose everything behind as long as he can pursue So Jung. By that act, it only means that money isn't everything in the world. What's important is the happiness Jae Min feels when So Jung is around.
But with twist of fate, everything went wrong with a shocking ending.
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Hilariously cute with a reasonably sound plot.
Uk those overdone wattpad fictions which have this bad mafia guy who tries to become good for that one girl. Well this was a much subtle and lighter version of that. The focus stays more on the ML's progressive changes in personality. It has a lot of comedic relief. And Kim Rae Won as always delivers whatever be the role. Jin Seon Kyu's character and bits, all witty and funny. And this very special cameo which I personally exclaimed at and enjoyed a lot. I will say that the skinship was a bit lacking but then that was only a subplot, plus the ending leaves you kinda giddy with some feel-good scenes. A very great one -time watch.Was this review helpful to you?
Mature
Good acting, Good story,, Love theme music. Shen Ruo Xin is a professional career woman in her 30s and she has to navigate through many things in her life. From swimming through the cesspool of office politics with its nepotism, sabotage and company problems, to withstanding familial pressure to settle down and marry, to handling suitors interested in her for their own selfish personal motives, to being counsellor and mentor to her best friend and her juniors, she is one busy lady but watch as she handles them all with great aplomb while managing to find romance in an unexpected place.Was this review helpful to you?
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Fun to watch!
This was honestly just a fun show. I've learned that with these short web-dramas, if you don't take them too seriously, you'll end up enjoying them a lot.Lei Tong is a melodrama writer and gets thrust in to one of her novels as Chu Ji, a character unhappy with her ending. Lei Tong gets the mission to fall in love in three months, but she has other ideas. It's a lot of fun to watch her try to thwart the book's cheesy set-ups, and it was actually very refreshing to see her turn the tropes on their head. Instead of the male lead saving her, she actually saves him most of the time. Instead of the "fall and kiss" trope, she pushes him away to avoid it. It felt like the writers truly were poking fun at these tropes in the best way.
While one could argue there are three other male leads she could end up with, there really is only one obvious option. There's really no big second male lead syndrome, though I do feel for the others a bit, especially as we got towards the end.
However, due to the short episodes, there are some slight problems with the show. First, most, if not all, of the characters are pretty two-dimensional. Even when the show tries to expand on a few of the characters' personalities, it's relatively shallow. Second, there are some plot points that don't fully pan out. The biggest one is Zhong Yi. He starts out trying to prove Chu Ji is two-faced, but we don't see any of his efforts to actually do that. He also pretty quickly switches over to liking her, and again we don't see anything really besides that. Same with Jiang Heng - he shows up when it's convenient, but we don't see much else from there. But again - it makes sense for what the story is.
The one character I would have loved to know more about is Zhong Qing. She was such an interesting character that unfortunately didn't get as much fleshing out as I would have wanted. She also gave me strong GL vibes that towards the end I was cheering for a throuple with Gu Ye Chen, Chu Ji, and her. (I obviously knew it was never going to happen, but hey, a girl can dream).
As for the ending, I feel like it fit with the overall plot of the show. I honestly was wondering throughout how they were going to solve the issue, and I think they did well with what they had. I do think the ending was more rushed than it needed to be - the pacing was fine for most of the show, but towards the end it felt like the writers wanted to fit in a lot more than they had time for, and just sprinted to the finish line.
Like I said at the start though, if you don't take this show too seriously, it's just a fun fantasy romance show that likes to poke holes at the classic drama tropes. It's an entertaining way to spend an afternoon, and if you want to watch something that is pure shallow fun, I do recommend it!
(One thing I will mention is that if you watch this on YT, there will be whole chunks where the sound is off, likely due to music copyright.)
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Besides possessing handsome looks and gladiator strength, LBH is an extremely talented and expressive actor with natural portrayals of a character. His romantic portrayals such as in Addicted are over the top also. J
The only reason this did not rate a perfect 10 was the last scene went on a bit excessive and overkill.
But this is an excellent short version of a Korean Godfather.
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beautiful and imaginative storytelling, augmented by the performances, et al
this is an imaginative and beautiful drama with comedy that is sentimentally warm and touching. the story is based on the director's relationship with her mother, and is about a personal reconciliation with regret/grief, love, redemption, and filial piety. the director also plays the role of the daughter in this film. the humor tends to be light, silly humor through the play of words, and sometimes infused with exaggerated/corny dialogues and nonverbals.the mother and daughter share a very close relationship. as the daughter grows up to young adult, the mother has certain expectation for her daughter as she does not want her daughter to be looked down by their relatives.. however, before the daughter could realize the expectation, an accident occurs that somehow transports the daughter back in time. in this new reality, the daughter gets to acquaint herself with the younger version of her mother. the daughter decides to reconciles with her regret/grief, and to redeem herself by trying to make her mother's more pleasant. but, the whole experience has a surprising twist.
overall, i feel that there are several aspects about this film that feel mature/ripe, well planned, controlled and executed. it's a 2-hour long show, and some audience might find a few segments that feel a bit draggy in this film, other than that i find the overall experience watching this film to be enjoyable. it's by far one the better film i've watched since the start of 2021.
//spoilers//
for me, there are several highlights to the film,
i) the actors are mostly unknown outside of China, yet their performances are enjoyable. i recognize only the actor who plays "Guangyin". there are the obvious observable exaggerations in certain performances. what is noteworthy is that this exemplifies that decent actors and decent performances have no direct correlation with popularity, having beautiful/handsome faces, and sexy/muscular bodies.
ii) the efforts and details to replicate early 80s China, even down to the hairstyles and army-like caps. also, if you missed it, right at the beginning, there is actually a green army cap present worn by a kid, and then later in the show there is another version of an army-like cap that common folks wear which is popular during that period.
iii) if there is dubbing (voice over), it's synchronized very well and feel natural. and, if you are familiar with the regional accents, the beginning part of the film is automatically obvious.
iv) i can actually sense/feel an undercurrent of emotion stirring under the surface, as i watch from beginning to end.
v) there are moments in the film that i am actually reminded of my Mom when i was younger. for example a) picking up different skills; b) often come to my elementary school to deal with the teachers and/or principal; c) my Mother used to play volleyball on a regular basis between late 70s and early 80s.
vi) it starts to get more humorous right from the 'failed movie dating' scene
vii) the entire final quarter is the climax
viii) the film is released in 2021. the setting of the 'present' in the film is 2001, which is observable from the report card early in the film. the majority of film takes place in 1981, just a few years after Deng Xiaoping announced China's open door policy.
ix) mid way through the film, there is an self-introspective moment. there is that moment of realization, if you change the past, the present will be affected. this is more of a modern concept. and if you consider the traditional Chinese belief that if something is fated/destined (aka meant to be), no matter what you do, the outcome will still be the same. compare and contrast that with Marvel film's concept, whereby changing your past doesn't actually change your present, it merely creates a new future based on that changed past. your present thus becomes your past, and there might be no you or a different you in the new future. however that self-introspection segment midway through the film has a continuity twist at the final quarter of the film.
ps. not related with this film, i just found out there is another older film with the same title, "Hi, Mom," a 1970 film starring Robert de Niro.
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Beautiful and contemplative
The plot summary makes this show sound like a travelogue but it’s a lot more than that. It’s more of a meditation on human connection.The main character deals with how she feels about her life but it’s not a straightforward narrative about that. It’s more contemplative. The acting, from the main character and the supporting characters is subtle and moving.
The cinematography is beautiful. The mood is sometimes melancholy but I didn’t find it depressing.
It’s very different from other dramas I have seen but in such a good way. I highly recommend it.
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My only dislike is not seeing more of the main characters as grown ups. Also would have been nice to see what happened to the other main classmates. Wanted to see more of them as far as what their experiences were and if any of them still remained friends. I really wanted to see more about the main guy; what were his experiences and even a sneak peak of the after, was it happily ever after like in my mind? lol
In all, still fun to watch and it happy I watched it. Two thumbs up. Good job.
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KBL Ruined by Lazy Writing
Oh! My Assistant has one of the strongest starts to a K-BL that I've ever seen. Budget-wise, story-wise, production-wise. Everything was great. Finally, a K-BL that's labeled rom-com and I'm actually laughing. The first two episodes had me on my ass laughing, having to pause and replay just so I could laugh again. And I wasn't laughing because it's cringey, I mean I was genuinely laughing because the scenes were set up so perfectly for a comedic moment. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, a buzzkill tsunami hits, and everything is flooding in forced lack of communication and pitiful conflict.Let's Dive In.
Like usual, I judged a book by its cover, its terribly edited, cheap-looking cover. If someone gave me 30 minutes and two shots of tequila, I could've come up with something 10 times better, I'm sure. So I went in thinking the budget was going to be lower than I'm used to, but to my surprise, and in less than 10 seconds into the series, the settings and the shots we're seeing are gorgeous. And I understand where they were trying to get at, with the series mimicking the setup of a manwha, but it just doesn't work for me. Anyways, I went in thinking this wasn't going to be very good, but then I turned out to be pleasantly surprised and fell in love with the first two episodes. The perfect balance of plot setup and comedy, the sorting of feelings and character structure on point. And then it's completely ruined when the writers run out of creativity and decide they will do the laziest writing ever and just have Muyeong and Seonho have terrible communication skills and numerous misunderstandings.
Tell me Muyeong, why would Seonho confess to liking you if he were in a relationship with Minyeong? And if that was your consensus, why not -- I don't know -- ask? It was incredibly infuriating, along with the pretend boyfriend, and the half confessions before the actual confession -- urgh.
I believed Muyeong and Seonho's chemistry in the beginning, but like most K-BL, they show a teensy amount of physicalness, and it's ruined. Their kissing, their hugs, all of it, negative ten out of ten. Then after that, it's just completely unbelievable that these two humans like each other. But also, Chanbin's (Muyeong) acting seems to get worse episode by episode. He's a beautiful human, amazing lips, gorgeous eyes, his height's everything -- but that's about all he has.
But besides the bad, like I said the comedy in this is handled perfectly. the settings are gorgeous, and so is the color palette they use and even the music, which I rarely pay attention to, but was pleasantly surprised by it.
Ratings:
Story: 6/10 - It's so good at the beginning, but it collapses into itself and the lazy writing ruins the series. I sped through the last three episodes full of incredibly agonizing conflict that isn't real, genuine conflict. But besides that, and the comedy, I actually liked the side story that was going on with Muyeong's friend. Part of me wanted them to get together, just because they've been through so much life together, and I'm a sucker for friends to lovers.
Acting - 8/10: I think everybody's acting was great, the only person's acting that struggled was Chanbin's. It might've been the writing, but he had one emotion and an impeccable smile every now and then and that's it.
Music - 8/10: I liked it! for once I made sure to pay attention not it.
Recommendation value: 5.5/10 - I'm sad I'm giving this such a low score, cause I really did like this in the beginning, and the rest of the series wasn't so bad to the point that I didn't at least enjoy it a little bit, but if you're asking for my recommendation, there are just so many other K-BLs out there that do it better. But if you want something short, cute, and funny, I might recommend this one.
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WHAT ELSE TO SAY?
This show is just PERFECT and FUNNY. Girls' Generation is clearly THE QUEEN OF VARIETY SHOW. Even if you're not a fan of SNSD, I guarantee that this show will make your jaw hurt from laughing so much!I enjoy watching SOSHI TAMTAM and all of its members. It's my weekly dose of laughter. I also admire and respect the members as much as I love them. This variety show is also devoid of clichés.
Despite their busy schedules and no longer being in SM together, I'm extremely happy to see them return after 5 years. Soshi tamtam is undoubtedly the best variety show for their comeback, probably because soshi tamtam is their own variety show so they have more freedom to do whatever they want! ♡
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Plus Kisses Minus A lot
This drama has a lot of potential as it has pretty ok actors, nice cameo, sweet second couple a decent story to tell and not an overly annoying character in sight...However instead of communicating with each other most characters seem to choose kissing. As in some dramas you find yourself thinking now kiss... this is a drama where you find yourself thinking now talk... And please say something else then " We Will Always Be Together" as I kept wondering when - We'll Always Be Together from Grease would start playing. FYI - It didn't.
The story development is more or less non existent... Kiss I like you( for some after 20 years) Poof that person is dining - kiss, , poof that person died- kiss, poof we are camping-kiss, kiss- lets break up,I hate you-kiss, I love you- kiss, the world is ending-kiss, you do not respect me- kiss, lets get married-kiss, lets get a divorce- kiss, and so on and so on.. First or second couple other couples doesn't really matter everything seems to come out of nowhere and you are never more than a scene away from a kiss or make out session. The kisses where the type where they look like they are trying to eat the other persons face better than dead fish but not really as fluffy as other kisses can be.
Still it was an ok watch, nothing I recommend but nothing I regret spending time on either.
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Love is... Cringe... Cowerdley... .
This is a movie you watch in-between stuff to completely shut off your brain and just watch the joys and hardships of friends to lovers while being surrounded by dead people, mental illness, co dependence and living with a mentally ill parent. Some parts portrayed better than others but mostly cringe and with horrible acting from most of the side characters... 80% of this movie makes NO sense at all, dude can't to anything because he is color blind... and keeps losing his jobs... + is taught "to feel color with emotions" as if he was a 2 year old. Just got on my nerves. There is just so much cringy dialog that I almost had to throw up. While some parts were actually pretty good, reminded my of past (painful) experience that are rarely shown on film that way... Yet ruined by the poor acting, odd choices and the oh so bad acting by the side characters.That said I love watching Belle Mariano and Donny Pangilinan (the leads) on screen together I just do! They are fun, their acting varies in quality but Belle has this thing where she can convey frustration, stubbornness, and sweetness really well. She is probably one of few people who can portray a girl throwing herself at a guy without seeming the least bit bathetic. So kudos!
So if you can shut off your brain, ignore all these annoying elements and love these leads I say go for it, have fun! If you have never seen these leads before, and want to watch something good, go watch something else.
P.S. may be a slight spoiler: I am also critical towards the messages this movie tries to convey... it over simplifies things and seems to try to tell people that they must get their s*** together on their own before they deserve to be loved. I am in no way advocating for co dependency, but there should be some thing in between, giving up on oneself just to support a person or leaving the person when they hit rock bottom so they can get their S''' together.
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Not bad
Before proceeding i'll let you know that i watch yanxi palace after ruyi's royal love (different drama with similar focus-the same emperor and era), so i'll admit that i might be biased. That being said, let's start!Yanxi palace tell the story of a palace maid wei ying luo, and her life in the qing imperial palace. It's a palace drama, so you can expect a lot of intrigue and scheming, fortunately for our heroine, she is smart, ambitious, and really got some backbone to survive. For you who are tired with damsel distress then this is the drama for you, the pace is also pretty fast unlike a lot of other costume drama that tend to drag things around, it's good drama for people who aren't used to this genre. All in all i think yanxi palace is quite an entertaining watch. The set and costume (the jewelries!!) are exquisite too, however, i feel like the cinematography is flat and boring, especially compared to ruyi and other drama like winter begonia (same maker). Yanxi palace just like many chinese cotume drama was shot in hengdian studio and the costume design was amazing as well, so i don't think the problem is caused by lack of effort or lack of money. I won't lie and say that i'm an expert, but i guess the lighting and the way they shot yanxi palace is not as dramatic and tasteful as the other two, therefore it doesn't really have the same nuance and grandeur the others successfully created.
The other problem that i have with yanxi palace is the simple writing for the character, wei ying luo is not a typical chinese drama heroine, and yet she's still a mary sue. Every step she makes is perfect and deliberate. I get it that she is the main protagonist, but i feel like in every situation that arise, the external factors really support her. For example, in the earlier episode wei ying luo is discovered by the emperor while punching the so called "spiritual tree", the emperor initially want to punish her, but she weasel her way out by speaking up the reason why she was punching the tree. It's a very simple scene, but if the action wasn't done by her and instead a side character, the emperor probably would't give her a chance to explain it in the first place. Another example would be when wei ying luo tricked one of the noble ladies in the first episode, i think it's a bit unrealistic because it was her first day in the palace, therefore she obviously doesn't know the emperor's character, then how does she know that her trick will works ? What if the emperor turns out to be a frivolous man that care about nothing but beauties, and decided to overlook the tricked noble lady's mistake. The protagonist halo is too strong.
The side characters are also a bit too simplified. i'm not sure whether if they do it accidentally or purposefully to make the main protagonist look even smarter, but everytime the empress have some troubles, there's wei ying luo to smooth the wrinkle. Either way i'm a bit disappointed with the writing, especially because court drama is always a good place to showcase abundant cast and their skill, as well as nice friendship/ally between the court ladies to overcome the antagonist, and they didn't maximize it.
That being said, yanxi palace is still a good drama to watch if you have a lot of time, there are even some impressive lines that i really like. Please don't let my complains immediately damper your will to watch it, as many of the problems that i faced while watching it were caused by my personal preference (and i'm a very nitpicky person).
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Tough love
I like the way the actor portrayed the character. Eventhough I think the plot was typical to another korean drama, like wedding dress. But still it gets me. It has a good story. But I was imagining there would be another point of view, like from the other supporting characters. Yet 2018 watching it, it is worthy. The tough love between brothers are a good story and even I gave it 9.5 re-watch value I do not thinking about rewatch it for anytime soon because... man!!! I couldn’t handle the near-ending scenes.Was this review helpful to you?
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