Reviews

The perfect rom-com / please make a template and copy guidelines

Amazon Prime has the worst choices of movies and dramas in the USA.
And Asian choices - forget it.
The collection looks like the Asian film market threw them leftover bones to chew on.

So I clicked on this movie hopelessly, holding the remote with the anticipation of skimming through in 15 minutes.

But - hush my heart be quiet - this movie turned out to be a cult classic!!!
Funny as hell, every situation is classically timed.
The scenes are very detailed, well thought of with an eye on minutiae.

The story - aaaaahhh - please use this as a reference for all future romcoms!
Just perfect!!

And the actors - the SML is so funny, he deserves an award.
The FL - she's just perfect. Nothing more, nothing less.
And the ML - aah - fell in love with him.
He carries the movie nimbly, no over the top emotions,
Romantic, swoon worthy, funny, raucous.........💖💖

I dug up every other drama he was in to watch and wasn't disappointed.

Good work, the full team of this movie!
Classic romcom!

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A pretty good watch, I'll surely recommend it to crime-thrill lovers.

This is an absolute watch for crime-thrill lovers. Yim se wan was exceptional and I really loved how every actor was to the point with their acting, nothing was too much or too less...it is un-doubtly an upgrade of the Japanese version.
The part with everybody being alive might seem a bit unrealistic but factually if you see it takes around 1/2 hour or more to die if someone has drowned in water, the brain stops working in the initial 3-5 minutes, but other organs and metabolic reactions take quite some time to stop...and gun shot in the abdominal area is not something that can instantly kill anyone. So, it's actually totally plausible that they survived.

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A decent alternative to typical western disaster movie.

A nice prequel with a rather slow act on the drama side but it definitely works after the universe build up. Not your typical western disaster movie where the heroes usually focused on a white group with one or two expendable minorities here and there, rather you get a grand set but you are most looking at the iminent disaster from the chinese point of view.
Effects is on marvel's level but i pretty much think marvel already stuck on first avenger movie level for how many years now?
Music (not song) is grand and I don't know chinese movie actually spend that much time on music.

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Cute musical bits and cheesy fun

This was nowhere near as bad as the reviews said this was gonna be. I thought the musical parts were enchanting and super cute. The CGI bits were ehh but nothing too crusty. Mitsuki's voice is quite beautiful and I'm impressed at her contributing so much vocals to the film. Her acting was ok. The critics however were right about Kento Yamazaki. He is just eye candy here and his acting is non-existent but he looks so mf good in a suit and glasses that I'm ok with it. He was the only reason I watched aside from the premise but I may look into the FL's music and other works as her voice impressed me at least. I knew exactly the kind of movie I was signing up for with this one and I wasn't disappointed. It's good for a movie to know what it wants to be and be aware of its purpose at that. The only thing I didn't like was I think Narumi's boss. His voice was really annoying. Def gonna watch the anime soon!

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Beautiful story of group of people that becomes a family

This is my first Kore-eda film and it was beautiful.

I actually did not expect the story to move really well considering this is what most considered an art film but I enjoyed watching it.

The story of giving up your baby or abortion, that's what has been tackled here as well. Controversial as we have all different beliefs. I think the director has managed to execute the story that will make you think of different povs regarding the topic.

The cast have good chemistry and a joy to watch. The way they have eventually become a make-shift family and wanted the best for Woosung. They all have their own agenda but at the end, there's goodness in everyone.

This movie has lots of gray areas and I think that's the intention of the director. People do things and it's easy to judge but a person is not only bad or only good.

Some of the concerns I have are the sub-plots which I think are not really explored properly but these are negligible and did not take away from the story the director wanted to tell.

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"I love a challenge!"

Magnificent Warriors was a fun and fast adventure starring Michelle Yeoh. Set after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Michelle, Richard Ng, and Derek Yee had to come to the aid of a small walled village when the enemy decided to use the area and the people to build a poison gas factory. Little did the Japanese army know what they were up against when Michelle landed her biplane outside the city.

Michelle's Ming was a pilot who traded in all sorts of goods including weapons. The granddaughter of famed fighter Grandfather Fok played by kung fu movie regular, Ku Feng, she enjoyed using her whip, fists, and kicks to clobber men who tried to take advantage of her. Ming was commissioned by rebel forces to find Agent 001, a rather bland Derek Yee, and also to bring the Kaal village leader, Youda played by music director and composer Lowell Lo, to safety and discover the Japanese plans. Ming's mission was diverted when a nameless traveling conman played by Richard Ng was mistaken for 001. The matter was cleared up soon enough and before long they had Youda and his lover, Chin Chin played by Lau Chin Dai, with them. Ming needed gasoline to fuel her plane which took them into the heart of the Japanese camp which led to the fights and battles that would follow.

This was my second viewing of the movie. Unlike most of these experiences, I actually enjoyed it more the second time I watched it. Mood makes a difference, I guess. While the story was told haphazardly at times, what the film did do well was show off Michelle Yeoh's screen presence and athletic skills. Her fights and enthusiastic attitude lifted the movie when she was onscreen. Some of Richard Ng's early comic scenes dragged on too long, but as the film progressed so did his character's development which made him more appealing and sympathetic. Derek Yee was there, completely overshadowed by almost every other character onscreen. Chin Chin could be annoying, but the character's loyalty kept her from being loathsome. Lowell Lo's Youda, also there for comic relief, was able to have a couple of scenes showing the depth of his love for his people. The pacing could be uneven and answers appeared out of nowhere. All of the characters were archetypes, quite thinly drawn, leaving it up to the viewer to fill in the gaps. The writers tried to remedy this and actually just reinforced their stereotypes when they used a scene where the dynamic group was about to be executed to reveal the three main characters' backstories in an awkward exposition dump right before the miracle that saved them.

The fight scenes were all quite fast and innovative. Michelle was daring in her ability to do her own stunts and as always made the complex moves look effortless. Her early fight with some shady characters over lack of payment was stunning as she used her whip and then quite gleefully a gatling gun. Later, when the Japanese attacked, the Kaal villagers fought with spears and old school ways against the modern weapons of their invaders. The balance of humor and pathos could tip too far with humor when villagers were being killed during the battle. The only scene that didn't work well for me was early in the film when Ming and her biplane were involved in an aerial battle with a Zero. It went on too long and wasn't that interesting. The film utilized several actors and stuntmen I enjoy watching. I was happy to see "Toad Venom" Lo Meng as a silent guard. Fung Hak On, who helped choreograph the fights, showed his fighting skills as a Japanese agent. And Hwang Jang Lee finally had the opportunity near the end of the film to show off his superkick abilities. While the humor could be forced, the final skirmish was a local one that had high stakes for the people involved which weighted the fights with meaning.

Though the villagers and characters suffered consequences for going up against the Imperial army, Magnificent Warriors took a light tone with no spewing blood and severed bodies. The main characters never felt like they were in any real danger as they quipped and smiled through the mayhem. This was Michelle Yeoh's movie and she gave it her all. Magnificent Warriors may not have been magnificent, but it was pretty good.


3/24/23

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it contains trigged incidents so like be careful

I started to watch it out of curiosity like what the end would be like and what's the purpose at that I didn't know what I have signed up for , it's extremely creepy and nerve wracking story of a soul and haunting everyone and a producer who wanna reveal the reality but can he ??
I thought it would be crime thriller but tbh thekorean horror genre gives me chill every time I watch it it's very much likely to watch but please in day time , it's scary !! ,
the characters are well written but it's kinda blurry like what happened after that , what's the purpose where that man vanished, why he did this , this kinda questions are required to know itgeriits a good series

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Amazing fights and visuals, disappointing otherwise

It was a surprise for sure.
1) The movie looks shockingly good. Yes, it was supposedly made for cheap, there are some instances of visibly lacking CG. But the way it's lit, shot, coloured etc. - amazing. Stuff is clear, visible, intentional, pleasant to the eye. Looks a lot like a 90s movie, but with a wider palette.

2) It's, unfortunately, a black tanktop vanity project for Donnie Yen. The guy cannot pass for a man in his 30s, effectively half his real age. Yen also does not have the acting range needed for this kind of character.
The funny/lighthearted parts are not that funny or lighthearted and the serious moments are awkward, feel extremely long and overly pathos-filled. (for an example, time the wine-bowl scene. That could've easily been edited down some, with more of an emotional impact.)

3) The story is whatever. The more wuxia/series movies I watch, the more I realize I don't enjoy Jin Yong/Jin Yong-style stories. It is what it is, I'm sure fans of the book are outraged about stuff.

4) The fights however, are incredibly good. Excellent, thrilling, fucking cool as hell. If you looked at the 90s wuxia and imagined a logical evolution with advances in filmmaking, this is what it would be.
No notes.
(also goes to show what you can do on a budget if you have real martial artists instead of celebrity idols in your cast)
Whatever the fuck the new Kung Fu Cult Master did with the flashy CG bullshit, this is the opposite of that.

5) Minor point, but I really enjoy this "gritty" portrayal of the jianghu people. Everyone's wrinkly, greasy and rugged. The costumes are very different looking and quite lovely.
It's not quite The Blade, but it's miles and miles from the usual "wuxia" you see in cdramas nowadays.

Overall: Meh, but watch it for the fights.

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sweet movie

I had a difficult time not comparing this to Always (the Korean version). The actors/characters in Always are older, so I think I related more to that one because the main characters seemed lonelier, and I appreciated them finding one another more. The thing that really stuck out in this version, when he was trying to convince her to have the surgery, he was talking to her about being able to see her children. When he talked, it was like he was talking about her marrying someone else and having children. In Always, he asked her "what about when WE have babies" - that touched me so much more.

Yokohama Ryusei and Yoshitaka Yuriko both did a good job and were cute together. The actor that played his coach overacted quite a bit and that was bothersome for me.

The bonus for me was the BTS song Your Eyes Tell.

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What's love got to do with it?

Pearl Chang Ling starred as the Invincible Swordswoman, or in this movie's case, The Heavenly Swordswoman Pai Yu Sung. This wuxia had it all-death, revenge, multiple betrayals, disguises, and unrequited love. Death and maiming occurred via swords, bamboo spikes, poison darts, and iron hands. And what would a Ming Dynasty martial arts movie be without a duplicitous and deadly eunuch guiding the evil events?

Pai Yu Sung had disappeared after the death of her father by the Eunuch Ma Tang. She returned as the man Pai Tong about the time the bad guys were searching for her to kill her and the good guys were searching for her to help them. Tu Yueh Pian hated and loved her. When they were young he'd been obsessively in love with her and wanted to be close to her, resulting in their master blinding his one eye when he tried to take advantage of her. Yung Tsin Tsin, Tu's old classmate wanted Pai dead because she was in love with Tu and was obsessively jealous of the great swordswoman. The Eunuch Ma Tung who had Pai's father killed wanted her dead as well because he thought she was a threat to him. The woman had more enemies than she knew what to do with. A strange beggar named Lee Chiu ended up taking her side and watching her back.

A kung fu tournament was held to try and draw Pai out. It would be a chance for the bad guys to kill her and the good guys to use her to take a secret box with evidence against Ma Tang to the proper authorities. The tournament was held on a spectacular set built of bamboo spears. The combatants had to fight using the weapon of their choice on the top of the spears. Lo Lieh showed up with a metal hand that had an endless supply of poison darts. After winning her fights, Pai met with the young master Wang to take possession of the secret box and the betrayals, impersonations, poisonings, and killings began in earnest and did not end until the final credits.

Pearl made for a confident swordswoman who was seeking justice for her father. Cliff Lok as Lee/Ni Chiu, at first seemed to be the comic relief but evolved into one of the most important and sympathetic characters. Tsung Hua's Tu Yueh Pian, was far from sympathetic and I'm still not sure what the writer wanted us to feel about him. His angry obsessive "love" seemed to only make Pearl and me feel repulsion. Chiang Ming's Ma Tang came across as almost super human with a magical throne. Yueh Hua had brief appearances at the beginning and the end of the film. Fan Ling as the jealous Tsin Tsin swung her sword with authority as she grudgingly gained respect for Pai and sided with her in the battle against Ma.

Most of the sword-fights were quite good for this era, a little above swing and fall. There was quite a bit of wuxia light body work, aka wire-fu, for those who are averse to it. The tournament on bamboo spears occupied much of the middle of the film and used diverse enough skills to keep it interesting along with several subsequent impalements. And then as now, when a cross-dressing character's hair was let down, everyone knew Pai Tong was a woman. Men had long hair as well, so I've never figured that one out, but those are the genre's rules. The final battle was one of skill and heart as the good guys fell at an alarming rate against the invincible Ma's three sword attack. Almost no one walked away into the sunset after this movie's blood baths.

I quite enjoyed Pearl's performance and surprisingly for me Cliff Lok's. The fights were fast and entertaining with enough carnage to make them credible even with the moments of flight. If you enjoy old martial arts films, this is one to try. As always, I grade these low budget niche films on a curve.

3/22/23

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Would not have watched if I'd known the ending

Great visuals
Great cinematography
Wonderful revision of the musical - Sound of Music. Very creative and artistically done.
The practice scene with ML playing the maid was darn cute and hilarious.

The villagers were all true to nature and underplayed.
The high schoolers could have gone overboard but they were very well contained.
The Seoul high schoolers were clichéd but you have to forgive them for their short appearance.

The FL was sweet, and did a nice job.
But obviously, Hyun Bin walks away with your heart.

I found this movie on some list which claimed to be Top 100 korean movies of all time.
Didn't want to watch a 17 year old movie, but whatever, I said I would turn it off in 10 mins.
That must have been the era when it was trendy to have these heart wrenching, sad romances.
It's too clichéd now - maybe they could remake it with a happier ending.
So thats why I rated it low.

However - I can't stop thinking of Hyun Bin.
My first drama with him was in his forties, and found him not -bad.
Then I watched Secret Garden and adored him for his c omic timing.
Now this - in his early twenties- I've fallen in love with this actor!!

Wow.........what acting chops, what talent. His eyes do all the speaking - and the dimples don't hurt@

Congratulations Sir for excelling in your art!

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