The story opens with 4 friends who plan to rob a local casino. However, the The robbery goes bad and the guys are forced to deal with the consequences of their actions. One turns traitor, the other becomes a junkie and one a recluse. The main character, who takes the fall for them all, serves a 2 year prison sentence and returns to a world that has changed drastically. What follows is a rollercoaster ride of greed, paranoia, revenge and a grudge match that becomes the highlight of this film.
The action sequences are truly remarkable and so realistic; so much I found myself flinching with each punch and kick delivered. Sadly, the actress roles are reduced to 'doormats' and very little respect is shown them. This film would have rated a 10, in my opinion, if the witer would have delved more into his character heads and shown a bit more of the past of the 4 men.
All in all, it was a great film and I highly recommend it, if you only see it once.
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Nothing happens... I mean it...nothing...
It's raining...the woman is packing her things to leave her too nice husband (she's at least mental, as her husband is Hyun Bin, and you should be at least mental to leave Hyun Bin)...it's raining...the guy us making coffee for his cheater wife...she's suddenly hitting his chest with her hands...a cat appears...then their neighbors come to look for the dat...then again they are alone (though the cat is somewhere in the house)...the guy is again cooking for his cheater wife...then he is washing his face...she's decorating the pasta they're going to eat...the cat appears...it's raining...the end...
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Story: A straight forward and simple story - a nation's in crisis, they need a king, but assasins have been killing off all potential candidates until there was only one possible candidate left: an exiled prince. A fighter was sent to search and protect the exiled prince. Excellent fighting scenes followed. There was a budding romance between the prince and his protector and the unrequitted love between a vassal and her lord/leader. All these come together to form a solid storyline for a movie.
Acting/Cast: Very convincing, excellent fighting scenes and good script. What can I say: I am drawn into the world of war, assassins and martial arts by the cast.
Music: Not much to comment there. The music suited each scene but because most of them are instrumental with either sombre mood or fight mood, the music did not stand out in this movie.
Rewatch value: An excellent and quick 1 hour plus entertainment that you can rewatch whenever you feel bored. I enjoy watching the fighting scenes. They were well choreographed.
Overall: Highly recommended!! It is truly a gem that was not given its due recognition!!
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I'm always a bit weary of movies that play with the whole fat-to-skinny dynamic since they tend to lazily default to tasteless jokes around how disgusting and lazy overweight people are. To this movie's credit, apart from one awkward joke in the beginning, it navigated around that tension well, finding humor in both Hanna's post and pre-surgery appearance and focusing more on the absurd reactions of those around her as opposed to making her the butt of the jokes. Well done, film.
Where this movie lost me was in the writing and the characterization. The plot barely has such a haphazard framework that the scenes seemed to be just random occurrences with barely any connection between them. Worse, the characters were extremely 2-D. The main antagonist barely has any screen time, and her machinations occur off screen so tension never really develops between her and our heroine. In fact, she's not even the catalyst for the movie's climax: why have an antagonist at all? As for the main love interest... Well, don't watch this if you're looking for a love story. His flat performance and inability to garner any sympathy would have ruined it for you anyway.
The exception to the above is main actress Kim Ah Jung, who perfectly captured the artificiality and fragility of "plastic" women that I found myself wincing and worrying that her nose would just pop off mid-line. Her singing voice is also beautiful and saved the terrible Korean covers of various English songs from being too torturous to my ears. I expected better from a movie set in the music world. Unfortunately, Kim Jung Ah could not escape the terrible script, and her character also suffers from 2-dimensionality. I had no idea that she was suffering an identity crisis until the climax, and because of that, the ending seemed forced, insincere, and just plain cheesy. Once again, honest words and tears smooths over all problems, believability be darned.
I do think 200 Pounds Beauty had the potential to be a good film if it had more weight to it. There were laugh out loud moments, but there could have been more, especially given the unexpected dark turn the movie took toward the end. A drama adaptation, in which characters and back stories are explored in more depth, would be more than welcomed on my part in the perhaps misguided hope that this story can be done justice.
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Almost the whole first half is the reporter looking for and discovering clues that lead to her, step by step, person by person that touched her life. Once he gets close enough, you get a glimpse of her life and her love and the story of how her delicious recipe came to be. It's a little slow going at first but don't let that stop you.
This movie has an ethereal, magical quality to it and it made me want to eat Doenjang Stew really bad...even though I've never had it in my life.
The story is beautifully written and very well acted. The Ume tree forests, the soybean fields and the mountains are all shot beautifully. Once again, Lee Yo Won does a great job and Lee Dong Wook is wonderful. Ryu Seong Ryong plays the reporter and I really like him in this. (He played the gay art gallery owner in Personal Taste) This is a very different role. I didn't recognize him at first.
This is a small, quiet movie but it's a lovely story. I wasn't bored at all but I think you have to be in the mood for quiet.
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As typical as this set up may sound, it's so well done and enjoyable to watch it doesn't matter. I've actually never seen a movie premise like this. Well that's not true. A few years back there was an American movie about a ghost writer helping an author to pen a book but it was done poorly and there is no comparison.
Remember that they are writing an adult comic. There are a lot of sexual references but it's done very tongue in cheek as the female writer is faking 99% of her sexual experience. Most of the graphic sexual images are in fact, in graphic (comic book) form.
Watching Jung Bae get wise to her act...I loved it! Dae Rim is such a character and Jung Bae finds her tough to take at first. But when he begins to draw...it's her face that appears on paper. As the two leads gravitate toward each other and their feelings grow...it's so cute!
Lee Sun Gyun and Choi Gang Hee make a great pair. Able to be comedic and have you believe when they are sincere.
I recommend this movie highly.
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The plot is gripping, and it had me sitting on the edge of my seat throughout the movie. The movie raises the important question, is killing justified if the people killed are criminals? The lead character(Light Yagami) is a superb protagonist( I love 'em smart dudes :D ), and "L" is the perfect antagonist to counter Light's intelligence. "Light" who sees himself as a new age God, striving to rid the world of evil, and "L", the sharp detective who sees such killings in the name of righteousness as murder, both provide interesting and contrasting views on "justice". This was one of the few movies that had me rooting for both; the protagonist as well as the antagonist. "L" was a refreshingly new character for me; I fell in love with his eccentric personality and investigative skills and "Light" aka "Kira" gives a whole new definition to the word "genius".
Its glorious to watch these two masterminds battle each other, in a war of wills and belief; in addition to the mysterious and thrilling "death note" and "shinigami" ( Ryuk in this movie, a wonderful CG character whom I love :)).
Acting: I think both the leads did an amazing job and made the story believable.
Rewatch: I don't think watching this movie again will be as much fun as the first time since the most amazing thing about this movie is its unpredictability, and that will be lost while rewatching.
I recommend this movie for anyone who enjoys a brilliantly written plot. Watch to find out who triumphs in this epic battle.
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The leads make a really sweet couple, and "Junk-Man"(lead actor), is super cute ^-^ . The story is simple; Junko(lead girl) comes to korea in search of her crush and ends up getting lessons in Korean from the son of the guest house owner(Jungmon/Junk-man). The lessons were hilarious, and the aftermaths of the teaching even more so :D. I definitely loved "Junk-Man's" style of teaching. The succeeding situations where quite funny, where Junko ends up spouting sentences which are truly comedic :).
But the story is nothing new, we've already seen similar plots in many movies already. The refreshing thing about this movie was one of the supporting cast members, "George". He was a delight to watch in action!
I would have graded the movie higher, but I guess it just didn't live up to its prequel (My tutor Friend, with the amazingly hot Kwon Sang Woo in the lead )
Note:
I didn't really notice the music, which would explain the rating for it.
Rewatch value: I didn't give it much coz the story is simple, watching it again will just be redundant.
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I simply loved this movie. It is funny. it is sad. But most of all its inspiring. (Yes, its not really a "that could happen to anyone"-kinda story, but who cares? ^.^)
ANd I loved the ending.
Its simply perfect and the only one to bring across the message of the movie.
Oh, Its not really a love story about two characters falling in love but that's why this movie is so brilliant. Its more about...
well, you'll have to see for yourself.
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Ok for real! The movie was really good. I liked the story of brotherhood and loyality. Acting was great. I could not get over the mullet hair on Rhydian Vaughan. I will watch this again just for the 80's throw-back. I was born in the 80's so it's funny for me to watch and look at some of the stuff that was around back then. The one thing I think that they got wrong though is the earbuds that were used to listen to the music. I don't think they had those back then, but I could be wrong. I will have to look it up. Anyway watch it is u want. I think it is good enough for a 2nd run.
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This review may contain spoilers
I've never written in my diary for quite some time now but after watching this movie I felt compelled to write in it again. This movie reminds me how beautiful letters are, how feelings and thoughts became tangible once put into paper, never lost. The story tells you of lost love, interweaving fates, and UFO (Yes, you didn't read that wrong ;)). It's a unique, peaceful, well-designed "slice of life" story.
And an amazing storytelling style - an aspect I scrutinize the most when I'm rating a drama. Watching this movie feels like reading a book in the first-persona view. It feels like I'm actually Kae Horii - I see what she sees, hear what she hears, and feel what she feels. And because the story was told in a view solely hers, I'm clueless just as she is about what the other characters actually feel. And for that same reason, I am able to know Mano Ibuki's feeling firsthand through the diary. In a word, I'm seeing Mano through Kae's eyes, if that makes any sense. And both are being played by outstanding actresses - believability, it appears, are both their strong point. Not to forget the quirky but intelligent use of Kae's fave blockbuster actor as... sigh...I have to stop right now or else I'll pay no heed to that bold red no-spoiler warning sign.
Beautifully told, I tell you. However, it's not perfect. The first half is slow-paced (but these I don't mind, it help builds up the character), there are few scenes that I think unnecessary, side characters I kept wondering why they're introduced in the first place, having no chemistry between the protagonists, and moments that should be accompanied by mellow music rather than nothing (though I suspect it's due to the fact that the director wants the movie to be as close to real life as possible which generally is a success).
Nevertheless, amidst its imperfections, it is still a meaningful movie; and that's all it takes for a movie to be worth a watch.
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