Reviews

A brave citizen saves

Its a good movie, I heard that it comes from a true story that is why I decided to watched it plus Mi Ran iscthe lead star she's one of the good actresses in So. Korea. Deok Hee who has gone through a lot of hardship in life plus sje was victimized from a voice phising scam that took her hard earned savings. Her children werectaken away from her because she has no enough savings to sustain them. That is why she decided to solve this case to take back her money. With the help of the slayed victim of the syndicate Jae Min or what she called Mr. Son, they both worked together to capture the big boss. They managed to solved the case with the help of her friends who were just an ordinary citizen.
Very satisfying ending they managed to solved the case and brings back their normal life.

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The only thing that carried this movie is the FL acting

The 1st third of the movie felt like a fever dream and made me almost quite the whole thing. It has horrible first person camera work that leaves you dizzy, confused and board.
It took me until the last third of the movie to finally understand the plot.
The 2 thirds of the movie where good and kinda interesting but some scenes felt like they are too abstract to the point of seeming out of place.
The acting is good but the only notable performance was from the FL. SungJoon's 1st scene at the apartment was his only shinning moment, while the rest didn't even get the chance to show anything.
I liked the plot but it barely had any details, it felt like a mold written for others to fill in and make it a custom movie with the same general plot line.
A generous 7.5/10 (If it wasn't for the FL's performance, I wouldn't have given the awful camera work anything higher than 6!)

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It is all in the shades...

This is a morally ambiguous story about a naive man who moves to Hong Kong to seek a better life for himself and his girlfriend but finds himself changing as fast as the city and well... ends up taking all kinds of turns that may or may not give him and the girl a better life but also throw him on a journey of change, lust and falling in love with someone else than the girl he was supposed to seek a better life for.

There is a strange realism to this story playing with shades of morality and taking us away from the one true love many seem to adore.

Our female lead is really fun, cool and great at speaking her mind while still showcasing some kind of voulnarabilaty and the ability to keep two ideas in her head at the sam time.

There are some interesting lines and schenes that show about relativity and change.

A pretty decent film

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If not friend, why friend shaped?

This film captures the joys and sorrows of parenting when it comes to raising a special needs child. The "child" in this case is in fact a wolf that was saved as a pup. Realizing the best thing for the wolf is not raising him in the city, Li Weiyi temporarily moves to a prairie/protected sanctuary in order to rehabilitate this wolf back into wildlife, something that had not been done before. There are plenty of proud mama moments, such as teaching the wolf how to hunt and seeing just how smart he is. The biggest proud mama moment is, of course, teaching him to return to the wolves. There are a few minor flaws in the form of chaotic editing (although it was mostly chaotic good). It was filmed by an amateur director. Some scenes were probably reenacted. However, it's still very impressive considering the first few months of the story were all cut from home video footage. Also, there are some gorgeous scenic shots. Occasionally, the dialogue sounded fake or scripted. It doesn't follow the usual documentary format, so I'm hesitant to call it one. Anyway, I don't know about you, but I could watch cat and dog videos all day long. This was time well spent. No one asked, but I absolutely cried.

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Simple, yet surprisingly entertaining.

I went into it expecting a low budget, ridiculous supernatural horror with questionable CGI and awful acting. What I’ve got was a simple yet well presented story with good acting and decent CGI.

I’m gonna say it - this is basically a supernatural horror GL. No one is going to convince me otherwise. The two main ladies were in love with each other and it could not be more apparent. While technically Mei Lin was the main character, I actually liked Yin Xing more - she was smart, loyal and badass. What more can I ask for?

The plot is exactly what the synopsis says and nothing more. They don’t add any true details to make the story more complex - you will get what you expect. That’s not a bad thing. It’s a perfect movie for a late evening when you want to be entertained.

As I said, the acting was surprisingly good. The emotional scene hit well, the actresses were not awkward during the green screen moments, so even if the cgi could (and should) be improved, the end result was still quite passable. Honestly? I saw worse CGI in more mainstream dramas with big budgets.

What to improve? The ending. Last scene rolled and my reaction was - wait… that’s it? I did get a conclusion, just not the one I wanted.

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No, not that one

77 minutes of wildly outrageous spaghetti western excellence, The Fugitive mixes fantastic gun-fu style action with the standardised Shaw Brothers martial arts formula, all scored by some of Ennio Morricone's finest music, it's almost as if someone was peaking at my Christmas list. Featuring a plethora of badass moments, the majority coming from leading man Lo Lieh, amidst the flurry of wonderfully gratuitous blood sprays, there's no denying the unique approach to this hybridisation of crowd-pleasing genres, often so over-the-top that you could never take it seriously. But that's where its charm lies and I couldn't ask it to do more. The threadbare story is perhaps its weakest element, but anyone who loves a good revenge tale can easily overlook this, besides, who needs a great story when you score your revenge with Morricone?

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The other Hammer / Shaw Bros Collab

The other Hammer / Shaw Brothers collaboration, Shatter’s conception predates The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, as it was originally pitched as a Canadian co-production before being confined to a shelf for a few years and then resurrected as part of the collaboration deal. Rather than a period drama as both companies were used to producing, Shatter sees the action transported to contemporary Hong Kong and it's used to great effect, even if it amounts to nothing more than a lot of glorious eye candy. The film ran into many problems during production and this is evident in the finished product, the editing is off by a beat, it doesn't go anywhere very fast and isn't helped by a mediocre script. Stuart Whitman doesn't care about his role, an entirely one-note performance, but he's carried by the indomitable Peter Cushing who always gives 100%, remaining a joyous presence in this otherwise substandard kung fu exploitation. Ti Lung is the actual star here even if he struggles with his English dialogue, the same problem befalls Lily Li. In the end, the novelty value of Shatter probably makes this more of interest to Shaw fans than Hammer fans; although I enjoyed the film, like Golden Vampires, it just left me wanting more from its initial promise, ultimately coming across as incredibly sloppy and rather underwhelming.

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Completely confused

I decided to watch the movie instead of the series because for once I just wanted to watch a story in under 2 hours. And even though the actors are great and I loved the love between the two leading actors I was left totally confused. Past, present, past, present again and then the doubles of the main characters. Then they throw in the man she married . Too many twists and turns for my liking. The best part is the end where the leads are still alive and become engaged. I do not think I have the patience to rewatch this dram a couple of more times to try and comprehend what is happening.

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Could have been be great

Concept is good until story got twisted starting at 9:30 teenager Alice story got introduced.
FL Saya is an interesting character but ruined by poor dubbing. I think the artist they chose for the role did the character well. The rest mostly exaggerated their acting that can be irritating sometimes
Love the inclusion of WAR music and other 70's sounds.
It started gory and has some gory scenes. Overall, it can be good enough to watch when needing something to kill time. ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♥︎♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♥︎♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

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I liked the short precisely because it was informative, believable, true, it didn't play on anything, and because the creators filmed it just like that and not otherwise. That's the Korean characteristic - to be yourself. Many viewers will not like this short film and will look for any flaw to justify their rating or even disappointment. It's a forgotten work of cinema over ten years old and underrated, and it gave me exactly what I expected.


Mě se kraťas líbil právě proto, že byl vypovídací, uvěřitelný, pravdivý, na nic si nehrál a že jej tvůrci natočili právě tak a ne jinak. To je právě ta korejská vlastnost - být sami sebou. Řadě diváků tento krátký film nesedne a budou hledat kdejakou chybku, aby ospravedlnili své hodnocení či dokonce zklamání. Je to zapomenuté filmové dílo přes deset let staré a málo hodnocené a mě přesně dalo to, co jsem čekal.

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Uninspired and average

With such a crazy praise I definitely expected so much more. Of course, it's a good movie, but 1h 40m of two people meeting and parting wasn't a life-changing experience for me. The story tries to break away from romcom, but ends up just being "rom" without "com".

Although I found it quite fun how it doesn't take me any effort anymore to switch between English and Korean. I swore at Arthur "If you want to understand her dreams so much just learn damn the language" and "배고파'밖에 몰라?" I also swore at Nora for disregarding her husband so badly and at Hae Seong for being so indecisive and passive. He doesn't deserve Nora, he didn't bother to lift his butt up 12 years ago, so why now?

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Pure Inspiration

I was so immersed and invested in that chaotic disorganized shooting, whoah, this is such a tribute to all filmmakers! This is why I don't ever watch behind the scenes of my favorite shows and films, because I love watching the crew doing their job professionally and I get obsessed with it.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE how it starts with a shitty low-budget zombie short generously irrigated with orange blood and you think "wtf is this junk", but by the end you see how much effort and human resources actually went into making that junk and how much fun the crew had, and you realize that having good time is the true value of filmmaking no matter how messy the result is. Anyone who participated in any kind of production will relate to this. I feel so inspired!

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"I did not lie to you. English lie is hard"

The best way to wrap up this film would be to interweave the two stories about the unsuccessful Japanese writer and the unfortunate Korean actress so that the woman all this time has been the character in the writer's novel, to end with the interview with the journalist scene. It would make a great complete story. Right now you're going for it, but it just doesn't feel eloquent.

🔸I'm very offended that they repeat several times that writing and acting is lying, and then don't explore that claim.

Let's break it down. What is the purpose of lying? To conceal some unpleasant information, to manipulate somebody. What is the purpose of acting/writing? To open up your feelings, to be honest, to conduct them to the audience - which some may argue is also a sort of manipulation. Both acting/writing and lying require special skills to make people believe. If you believe in things that don't exist and you're telling about them, then it's not really lying, it's your own truth. So let's examine this similarity! Let's go from here. Seriously, guys, what you're so busy with slacking off on this gold mine of a story?!?

And why is the title translated as "Worst Woman" if it is actually "Worst Day"? The perspective changes from the perspective of Eun Hee to some misogynistic one, as Eun Hee is such a "bad" partner for both of her toxic exes.

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Beautiful story with amazing performance of the child actress

"You're So Precious To Me", also known as "My Lovely Angel", is a movie that tells a beautiful story of a relationship between a failed business owner and a blind and deaf 7-year-old girl. The girl is the daughter of one of his female staff who had died in an accident (most of his staff are mainly female anyway, I guess it's due to the nature of the business, which was not explored in depth). When he came to the staff's apartment to try to recover the deceased staff's debt, he encountered the girl.

To the apartment's landlord, he pretended to be the girl's dad so he could act as her guardian and recover the deposit for the apartment. He moved in and while initially he was indifferent towards the girl, eventually he had to take care of her and that's where the bonding started. When he found out that the bank would confiscate the apartment (including the deposit), he took the girl to a countryside town to find an aunt who was in debt with the girl's deceased mom to see if he could recover the money.

They met a nice family of watermelon farmers (despite having to steal one of their watermelons at first and getting caught by the CCTV, lol). He couldn't find the "aunt" since she might be just a scammer. His creditor managed to find him and demand him to pay off all the debts. He tried to return the girl to her biological father but the father didn't want to take her. Deciding that it would be better for the girl to live under the social services' care instead of staying with her, he brought the girl to an orphanage, although in the end, he changed his mind.

The acting performance of the actor Jin Goo and especially the child actress Jung Seo Yeon is amazing. Without even talking, the child actress can portray a blind and deaf girl perfectly using her body gestures and especially her facial expressions. It's amazing considering that the child actress was only 6-7 years old during filming. With such a brilliant acting performance and her cute and adorable face, we can't help but cry when she cries, and smile when she smiles or laughs.

There are some minor plot holes in the story, but they are not too significant and are paid off by the stellar performance of the actor and the child actress. The build-up of their chemistry and bonding from just an indifferent guy who wants to recover money to a paternal father-daughter affection is heartwarming. The ending scene where the girl cried when he was gone (albeit for just a while) and when he came back to comfort her, and eventually told her (using the finger gestures language on her palm) that she's her dad now, made me cry.

I agree that the ending is indeed a bit too open, while it seems that he changed his mind and decided to take her, we do not know how he would be able to raise the girl eventually, considering that he doesn't have any money and has a lot of debts. Not too sure if it's being done to pave the way for a sequel.

Overall, a very touching and heartwarming movie. Highly recommended!

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"My king, don't overdo!"

The Greatest Plot was a surprisingly well made 1977 Taiwanese kung fu film. So many of the films made in Taiwan were filmed outside and/or in the dark as if they didn’t have a permit for filming. The stories could also be notoriously threadbare. Though it boasted to have the greatest plot, it might have been exaggerating. This film did however attempt to take a deeper dive into the story rather than leaning on the tried and true secret list or book themes.

When the Emperor dies Prince Yung Zhen is named the new leader much to the surprise and chagrin of all. He promises his buddies, The Eight Knights, that being Emperor won’t go to his head, he will still be their friend. Oh, by the way, could they please protect him when he took power? After being crowned, the eight are treated to a feast which includes poison and flaming arrows. The few who survive regroup with their sifu and plan to take the duplicitous tyrant down. Marshal Nien who had dutifully served the Emperor also discovered how much his loyalty was worth. Other than the typical guards which would be problematic to overcome, the heroes would have to survive the deadly traps and weapons hidden in the Emperor’s palace.

Aside from the story of good vs evil, characters went mad, and vengeful “ghosts” returned for retribution. The randy Emperor was often implored by his aids, “My king, don’t overdo!” Which came across pretty funny. The major drawback to the writing was that The Eight Knights were not fleshed or well differentiated. Hsu Feng was the only one who had any lines for the most part. Not the movie makers fault, but also causing me confusion was that the only copy I could find available had atrocious dubbing and subs. On a positive note, I was pleased that in 1977 Hsu Feng was allowed to be the primary hero of the film, many of the martial arts films during this time had fewer and fewer capable women in them.

Of the Taiwanese martial arts films I’ve watched, The Greatest Plot had some of the most luxurious costumes. There were also the requisite cheesy outfits. One of the “Dalai Lama’s” men wore a one shouldered leopard wrestling singlet. Though there weren’t many indoor sets those used were of a higher class than usual. Hsu Feng had the ability to be a beautiful warrior who could throw fear into the eyes of her enemy. Lo Lieh as the Martial gave a nicely nuanced performance of a man who could not believe his friend was not who he thought he was. For me, Yueh Hua always made a better villain than hero and he had no problem playing the treacherous and horny emperor.

The fights were well choreographed, though some were shot in the dark and almost impossible to make out. While the main three of the cast were more actors than martial artists, they all moved gracefully and believably. There was a wide assortment of kooky kung fu weapons. The razor bladed shield made an appearance with the ability to turn into a guillotine as well. The world’s largest possessed Roomba took out several characters with its protruding spears and ability to fire spears. Maybe ancient China had AI to guide the projectiles or maybe it really was possessed. Pretty sure it ate one guy, too. The mop up attachment would be needed after the mess it made. Swinging poles imbedded with blades made it hard for the heroes who weren’t cleaned up by the swirling spears of death to not end up Shish Kebabed.

The Greatest Plot was far from it, but for a martial arts movie, it did try to go a more Shakespearean route instead of the lowest common denominator one. A strong cast helped to cover over the lack of character development and plot holes. Definitely only for fans of old martial arts movies and who can tolerate a film in need of restoration. Rated on a curve.

21 March 2024

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