Reviews

"It would be amazing if I lived!"

Hopping vampires! Ghosts! Count Dracula! Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave had it all. Except for decent special effects and a coherent story. It had me at hopping vampires, one of my favorite bonkers things in kung fu movies.

Billy Chong's Chun Sing wasn't always the sharpest knife in the kung fu drawer, but he was diligent in pursuing revenge for his murdered father, once his dead father's ghost appeared to him during the ghost festival a year after his death. Revenge is revenge even when it comes late.

Lo Lieh played the evil Big Bad who had his chief priest Addy Sung, and his henchmen, murder the good citizens of the area and steal their hearts to perform an unholy blood spitting rite to make him immortal and impervious to weapons and kung fu.

Chun Sing had his hands full fighting the priest and his black magic kung fu. In one fight he hired some hopping vampires to aid him and Addy hired Count Dracula in return! Thank goodness for kung fu garlic! The story bounced around, often making little sense. Somehow torch wielding mobs knew just when to appear and prostitutes threw female accessories that could thwart evil.

Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave had rudimentary special effects, a step up from a high school play. Pretty sure they were able to film this for $12.99 (USD). Having said that, the movie was funny---in all the wrong places. I laughed at the absurdity of many scenes. The dialogue was hilarious, probably unintentionally in some places. When Count Dracula pops up-"hahahaha!" I thought I was going to lose it. It was good laugh therapy. The lighting often went from daytime to night to daytime to night again, sometimes in the same scene!

The fight scenes could be uneven. A couple of the beginning fight scenes were quite well done, aided by Chong's quickness, kicks and fluidity. I have enjoyed his fighting in the movies of his I've seen. Later fight scenes were poorly choreographed looking like they were made up as they went along. Lo Lieh, at 50, was starting to lose a step in the fights but still made for a believable villain, a role he seemed to be relegated to.

Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave was campy, comical, cheaply made, and only for hard core fans of old martial arts movies. But honestly, how could you pass up hopping vampires?



8/29/22

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SPECTACULAR, THRILLING, BEST OF THE BEST

First of all , a huge thank you to Dramacool for uploading this movie, you guys never disappoint🥺.

When the trailer for this movie was released, with the top teir casts, I already knew it would be a hit! . The CGI was on another level, nothing short of perfection. 5 minutes into it, I knew it would be worth the two hours and 20 minutes that I'll spend on it.
The fight scenes were so real, a hit to the aliens and it felt like I was being hit 😂

Kim Woo Bin impressed me the most, it was his first movie since his comeback on Our Blues and he is still as gorgeous as always. His acting skills got sharpened the most, that robot or was it Alien suit of his? Damn beautiful 🥰.

The alternating between 2022 and the Joseon period was done so well , zero room for confusion.

Kim Tae Ri was awesome as always, same with So Ji Sub and Ryu JY.

All in all this was fun and nothing sort of being perfect.

Personally I think Korean movies produced entirely by Koreans are a lot better than ones produced by Netflix.

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Cruising Through Nostalgia; The Retro Film That Missed A Few Gears…

There’s something about Moon Hyun Sung’s ( ‘ As One’, ‘ The King’s Case Note’) ‘ Seoul Vibe’ that held a lot of potential on paper; a group of 80’s youths caught in between the past memories of the autocratic government of South Korea, as well as the newly democratic era marked by the Olympic Games and economic growth. However , while ‘ Seoul Vibe’ possessed a certain nostalgia of 80’s fashion brands and VHS camcorders, the general progression of the narrative and car chases played out like a paler imitation of a 'Fast & Furious' franchise movie interpolated with a less gritty Scorsese action film .

‘ Seoul Vibe’ opens up inexplicably in 1988 Saudi Arabia, with ace driver Dong Wook ( Yoo Ah-In-‘ Burning’, ‘ Hellbound’) skirting around a rough desert track in his dilapidated Chevy with his videographer and younger brother Joon-Gi ( Ong Seong Wu-‘ Moment At Eighteen’ and ‘Would You Like a Cup Of Coffee?’). Returning back to Seoul, the duo reunite with their old friend and taxi driver friend Bok-nam (Lee Kyu-Hyung - ‘ Life’, ‘ Dr John’ and ‘ May It Please The Court’) , resident DJ John (Go Kyung-pyo) and Dong and Joon’s sister Yoon-hee (Park Ju-hyun), learning that their part of the city has pretty much been demolished to the ground ahead of hosting the Olympic Games. The only thing left is their father’s old auto body garage, somewhere that the group seeks refuge inside.

Enter the big nuisance of the film: Prosecutor Ahn ( Oh Jung-se). Knowing all about Joon’s illegal involvements overseas, Ahn strikes a deal with the group that he will eradicate the group’s criminal records in exchange for the crew bringing down the money laundering operation of underworld kingpin Kang In-sook (Moon So-ri).

As mentioned previously, ‘ Seoul Vibe’ possessed an edge of nostalgia that was as warm and bubbly as its neon palette schemes and Coca Cola bottle shots. However against its sweet and entertaining edge, ‘ Seoul Vibe’ struggled when it came to its execution. The comedy was variable from scene to scene and while the mindless car chases and lack of physics can be taken with a pinch of salt, the writing of the movie was a mixed bag to say the least.

It’s necessarily bad per say that ‘Seoul Vibe’ was heavily inspired by movies such as from the ‘ Fast & Furious’ franchise. However rather than interspersing the film with lively and fleshed-out characters ( aside from a few backstory mentions that rarely play a bigger role), a plot boasting unique, key and central messages against its backdrop of an ever-changing late 1980s South Korea or helping to explore the relationships and dynamics of the group to their full potential ( especially considering most of them or siblings or old friends), the film often felt somewhat cut and pasted from other works. In particular, this was shown by the formulaic events of the narrative; the setup, the big chase scenes, the final showdown and then the fairytale ending for the main characters.

The acting front of ‘ Seoul Vibe’ was fairly consistent. The chemistry between Dong-wook’s gang of old friends and misfits was decent enough but rarely did it feel awe-inspiring. There wasn’t a lot of opportunities given in the movie to actually explore these bonds or for viewers to fully understand the significance of their achievements together. One of the few spotlight performances of the movie was Park Ju-Hyun ( ‘ Extracurricular’) , who starred as the two brothers’ sweet and lively younger sister.

The OST of ‘ Seoul Vibes’ was certainly one of its few soaring prides with tracks such as “You be Illin’” from Run-DMC and " One for the Treble” by Davy DMX, helping to add to the cartoonish and easygoing vibes of ‘ Seoul Vibe’.

‘ Seoul Vibe’ is a fun and energetic action romp which is filled with a lot of lighthearted fun. However while ‘ Seoul Vibe’ was entertaining and did provide a small lens into a bygone era, the storyline felt as though it could’ve been taken from any car chasing action film. Perhaps with better execution, writing and special effects, ‘ Seoul Vibe’ could’ve been a lot more than the finished product.

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Not A Classic Remake, Just Another Chinese Action Flick

Average movie, almost nothing in common with original novel

First of all, if you have read the original Jin Yong novel and are expecting this movie to follow at least 60% of the plot, then don't, A LOT of things and premise have been modified although they retain the character names.

I came in for the producer Lu Yang, as a standalone movie, I think this can be watched as an average Chinese action flick, almost everything is average and to fill in your wuxia craving, and the only well known actor to me is Ray Lui of HK 80's wuxia camp.

Personally not recommended, the quality is farrr below Brotherhood of Blades by Lu Yang years ago, and it has almost nothing to do with the Jin Yong novel except borrowing the characters and background, but it's up to your own tastes.

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Little Hunger & Great Hunger

Based on the short story, Barn Burning by Haruki Murakami

An intriguing account on searching for meaning in life. The themes of classism, mental health and even women's rights stood out for me. Comparing a Ben to Gatsby, while that he is contemplating his own "simultaneous existence" through the "morals of nature", an interesting habit manifests. The balance of being here and there at the same time. You can feel how psychologically unhinged Lee Jong-su becomes becomes throughout the entire film due to his love. For the first time I heard the saying "there's no country for women" mentioned in cinema. Sad, but there is truth to this too. Seeing the same personality and class type in the beginning as well as the end of the film in two different female characters.

Overall, the world remains a mystery.

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Blows hard!

Another GCI-fest with no real story, drama or characters who aren't cheap cardboard cut-outs!
The CGI is also terribly hit and miss, to the point where I couldn't tell if this was supposed to be 3D and I was missing the "experience" with a 2D version.

The "story" isn't really much: some dude wants to cause a war between humans and gods, while some gods want to keep things chilled. It's such a hot mess that I didn't watch much more than 30 minutes and I'm only really writing this to warn others away.
If this was an action comic before a film, it was probably much better in that medium, but I'll give an extra point for trying to rival Marvel whilst staying true to traditions.

NOTE: I couldn't submit this review unless grading the re-watch value, but trust me: it's zero.

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Great movie for me because I watched it without knowing anything about it

Unlike other reviews, I actually really enjoyed this movie and am very generous when rating it like I am with other films I've watched that I thought were great. I've worked a bit in film production before and it is not easy to come up with a good movie and it takes a ton of work, so I see things from an overall production perpective and maybe a different lens than others but I really enjjoyed the movie. I liked that it was simple to follow and that it wasn't super dramatic. It was straight to the point and covered all the basis before ending it without leaving any holes in the story. Although, I would've loved if they extended the ending to where both the leads meets the lawyer and professor. I would've also loved to see them expand more on the Sci-fi aspect of things but I feel that if it delved too much into it then it would overly complicate it for the layman.

I had to do a bit of math in the end because age gaps between female and male leads always makes me feel uncomfortable especially when it's a minor and an adult plus them being step-siblings (although I don't think the dad's friend officially adopted the male lead and just took him in under his wing). But all in all it worked out in the end as both leads went into cold sleep at the same age and therefore, are the same age once they woke up. It's a small detail but I liked how that was cleverly done. But still a questionable decision since they grew up like siblings.

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Well Written Comedy

This movie...is definitely an interesting one. Just like many, it started off pretty confusing but soon gets a bit better as we know why this happened. Since this is a non spoilery sort of review, then I wont go on explaining what the story about but one grand thing I like about this movie is its comedy. Does reminds of Stephen Chow sort of mou lei tow style of comedy. Throughout the whole movie, I can say I had laughed almost 80% of it. Now of course, this movie does still have a story and some serious moments. Well, if you want to know more, feel free to watch it yourself. Like many, it is a fast pace movie, so we will have to try to make sense of out of every move on point to understand the movie, which is ok for me. Oh yes one more thing, the number of special guests in this movie is pretty interesting.

As for acting, ML nails it on POINT. He is able to express each expressions perfectly. As for FL, I am suprised that she can do comedy movies so well, cause usually the shows I watch from her are pretty serious. The chemistry and the sense of connection between ML and FL is also Interesting.

Musicwise, I kinda like the ending song but am a bit confused on the end credits scenario, guess its just to show of some bonus comedy bts and etc...hmm i am not clear too haha

Rewatch Value? well, depends on my mood then, if I feel like watching something crazy, or just for fun but definitely I will rewatch somewhere in the future.

All in all, I enjoy the acting, storyline, and the chemistry between ML and FL. And yea...

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Incredibly directed, acted and written movie

For me, this is one of those perfect late night vibe movies. Incredible cast where everyone has chemistry and they all work so well together. It was shot in a beautiful town which I heard the director did on purpose. It’s a great story and everyone should watch it. I really loved the flow of the movie and the cinematography. Relationships are explored really well in this movie and I enjoyed how there’s an emphasis on how complicated ones feelings can be. Music was good throughout, but not a lot of it. Story is written well and the director is expert at these types of movies

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One of the best korean movies of 2022

This was an amazing movie.
When i read the synopsis of this movie on dr*macool it only said " A story about dementia with father-daughter relationship.", so i thought the person with dementia would be the father, but that plot twist caught me off guard.
This movie tells a story about a working lawyer/ single mother who loves her daughter more than everything, later in the movie she sends her daughter to the US to be with her ex husband and right after that its when she discovers she has Alzheimer.
Its her father who helps her with everything that she needs but unfortunately, he struggles a lot doing so.
The most emotional part for me was when she was with her father in the car and she has a mental breakdown because she doesn't want to forget her daughter.
I also loved the ending scene which made me also cry buckets.


TW :

S*icide A*tempt
S*xual A*sult

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Death will save our humanity.

I don't write reviews for movies in general, but I really wanted to talk about this one.

The subject that it touches is that of our humanity. If humans ever arrive with technologies to prevent the inevitable - death - from happening, what are we left with ? Insatiable desires for more money, power, in short, an endless life to take possessions but give nothing. Humans are already so self-destructive, the only thing that is certain is death, if we take it out of the equation, it's the worst we could do to our specie.
Also, as the subject of the death of humans is approached, so is that of being worthy of being saved. Do we deserve it ?
In the end, all humans die, whether from disease, accidents, or by other humans, that is a certainty. But what makes a person more worthy to be saved, and should we save those who are designated as worthy, because nowadays we treat everyone, but especially those who don't deserve it too.

In the end, there is not necessarily an answer, I know that human beings will one day arrive at a stage where in some way we will become immortal, just as I know that one day we will populate our solar system and even our galaxy, it may not be for now, or in a hundred years, but it will come. Well, if our planet Earth has not left us before because of our relentless destruction of it.
Human beings are going to die out, one way or another, just like our galaxy is going to die. It's written in the universe and life, death is part of it, and even if humans manage not to kill each other and survive the death of planet Earth, our hope will die in this solar system.

Now, it may seem tragic, but I think we've done enough, we'll discover enough, our existence in the history of space is nothing but a drop. And I find it reassuring, it all started in silence, and it will all end in silence, and if other species ever come to live long after humans, let's just hope that their intelligence won't be a path to self-destruction too.

Anyway, this movie is one of many on the subject, and I'm glad it helps get people thinking. Immortality in human hands would mean our end, and that I am sure of it. But I know the human greed, and we'll achieve immortality but not invincibility, we will die among ourselves, if that's not ironic.

Well, good movie, the production is pretty good, the characters too and the story benefits from a good script.

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yoo ahin song mino joint slay

boring but not like boring as haleeeeeeeee it's just oh he's funny OH look it's getting started fucking finally oh oh we're halfway thru it already??? lmao i just fell asleep OHHH they got a new mission???? wait what boring. the dongwook galchi constant rivalry to pure love not being the main story was such a waste i'm furious. i personally think the main reason the star-studded cast chose to do this movie was its 1988 background and how devoted the prod team was to the theme? which, you know, props to them, carried this movie. but still yoo ahin has always been bounded to the banging storyline so idk??
anyway they gave us yoo ahin the finest man song mino thee scene stealer pretty cinematography excellent acting from all the casts enjoyable ost and i found myself laughing several times so 8.0 it is

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Hiding in plain sight.

A group of eight wicked villains converge on a gorgeous, dangerous snow capped mountain in a race to recover a long lost hidden treasure they have schemed and murdered for. The almost mythical hidden fox is said to guard the treasure. Young disciples Gui Yi and Qing Wen find danger and intrigue around every corner. In addition to this shadowy hidden nemesis, they find themselves pitted against their masters and even each other.

I wouldn't call The Hidden Fox an adaptation of Jin Yong's "Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain" (雪山飞狐). It is more like wickedly good fan fiction inspired by the original wuxia masterpiece. This has resulted in very polarising reactions to this movie. Critics lament the loss of the spirit of chivalry and that the complex conflict between the main opponents is dumbed down just another revenge story. I am a huge fan of the original work that is defined by the sheer perfection in the way the story ends at the absolute peak of emotions and suspense. To me, it is Jin Yong's most brilliant and unforgettable ending. At the same time, the after openly invites invites speculation and innovation. That is what the writer intended. This production takes up that challenge and while it falls short of exceeding the original masterpiece, the storytelling is still very, very good. It is very suspenseful, action packed and thrilling with a few dazzling twists that delivers an innovative and cohesive alternate take on original story. Is it ultimately hollow because it comes at the cost of the spirit of the original? Yes, perhaps. But it is still a very entertaining way to pass a few hours.

The other great thing about this is that it is a Lu Yang production. I am a huge fan of his gripping and stylish visual storytelling that is heavily laced with action oriented fight scenes. Naturally as a web movie, it is not at the same level (or budget) of his famed Brotherhood of Blades series. Nonetheless the well choreographed action sequences don't disappoint and are as gripping, brutal and violent as expected of a true blue martial arts movie. Each of the eight villains' hidden secret martial arts technique lends an extra layer of imminent danger and uncertainty in outcome to each deadly encounter. Yes there is some use of slow motion but such well designed and viscerally satisfying fight scenes are an increasingly rare treat these days.

This movie may enjoy a higher rating if they had changed the Chinese title from Jin Yong's original 雪山飞狐 although that may have risked accusations of plagiarism considering how easily recognizable the setting, characters and main plot points are. Even if you love the original, watch it with an open mind and allow yourself to embark on a thrilling hunt for treasure that is hiding in plain sight. 8/10.

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“The film that shook South Korea”

For this review I am not going to say much about the story and what it does ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The movie is based on true events and that in of itself just means is that story respected and executed well. I think this movie is phenomenally well done.

To keep it short the acting is stellar, especially from the children actors. With this type of subject, everyone did a great job in their respective roles.

So for a review I don’t really know what to say other than everything is done so well.
There are a lot of areas that this movie could’ve changed to appeal to people. I was a bit nervous watching the child abuse scenes but am very glad to know that the children and adults were completely separate during those. The outcomes are still very disturbing.

This movie was more of an experience for me. To see these situations and know that these things actually happened to children and that the justice system did fail and it’s not just for that horrible trope of having a sad ending.

This movie is based off of true events, and it’s harrowing to imagine that with that being the case- the truth of the situation was much worse. I truly found it hard to watch a lot of scenes, and the movie as a whole was also hard to watch. But with this case I am applauding the movie here, it executed its message so well. This movie isn’t supposed to be happy or triumphant- it’s challenging any movie goers sense of justice and educating them of the harsh realities. The justice system has failures and like the true story, it failed children and left despicable people by over the victims.

This movie brought to light a case that wasn’t talked about much compared to 2011, where in 2005 it had wrapped up- public outrage occurred and the actual events and cases were reinvestigated because of it. This movie changed peoples thinking, and actually did a lot of remarkable things.

The rewatch is low because I will get it clear that you really can’t eat during this movie. You can’t talk even, you watch and get immersed and ultimately are moved.. and for me you are left completely silent crying nonstop.

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