Reviews

story about acceptance

Overall: this is a short movie (35 minutes plus behind the scenes) about self acceptance. I gave it an indie rating bump as it hovered between 7.5 and 8 for me. Aired on Wayufilm's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO_pyd0B19Q&ab_channel=WayufilmProduction

Content Warnings: one that's a spoiler (see my spoiler comment), homophobia, bullying, non con picture/video taking and sharing

What I Liked
- the theme of where acceptance should come from
- clever names with Mek and Up (sounds like Makeup)
- Mek was supportive

Room For Improvement
- unrealistic with total strangers walking up and taking selfies (let me know if this happens in Thailand in real life and I'll delete this)
- needed a little more relationship development, what made them love each other
- the off screen panting went on too long, perhaps there is a missing NSFW scene for channel members

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Here's one of the cases where I would be overjoyed if I could post a review without having to give star ratings. Because I can see that the story and the characters are well written -- I just couldn't connect with any of them. So, please take the star rating for "story" and "overall" just as a placeholder.

I haven't read the manga, and haven't watched the anime adaptation, so this is solely for the movie.

First, what I liked:
As usual with Japanese productions, the use of light and colours was exceptional. It's especially noticable in Kaizaki's old workplace, where drab greys dominate -- and the light is changed according to the mood of the scene.
I also liked how background music was only used very sparingly.
The ending was also well done -- we really don't need more than the "ano" at the end. We had been told that they will retain their memories. so anything more would be redundant. I also would have liked if the film had ended after Yoake had left his reports on his desk. We don't need to be told everything, we can think for ourselves sometimes.

I don't mind so much that the six characters stay relativly bland. In a film with a runtime of two hous, there will be limitations. I do think that the other subject could have had a deeper backstory -- or the writer could have committed to only focus on the main protagonist Kaizaki and his journey of change.
Even so, none of the characters' stories managed to capture my interest -- except for Yoake, whose story I'd really like to hear. (Really, I think he is the most fascinating one, and *his* story of change, what he feels and thinks when he, the one who is supposed to be the unemotional observer, begins to like his subjects? *That* would have been interesting.) For a story about character development, it is a huge minus that I feel kind of meh about the main characters.
I can imagine that other people can relate more to Kaizaki's struggles and the story of the last year at school and their message of "Treasure the Now" than I do, so this is extremely subjective.

For me, I wouldn't have missed anything if I hadn't watched the film, but it wasn't so bad that I regret it either.

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Que surto foi esse?

Confesso que não esperaria de uma produção coreana como vi nesse filme, kkk me pegou completamente de surpresa.

Não tem nada explícito, até demora pra ter um beijo. Então se quiser ver algo caliente, esqueça, kkk. Confesso que em alguns momentos senti vergonha de assitir algumas cenas, a sorte que estava vendo sozinha.

Não possui um enredo fabuloso, mas tem uma temática diferenciada. Gostei pois abordou o lado desse estilo de vida não chegado apenas numa conotação sexual.

Aplausos para a atuação dos protagonistas! Souberam de fato se jogar.

É um filme leve, com um toque de comédia e drama pra passar numa tarde.

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I dropped it

Absolutely hated it, it was heavily focused on the family which yes I understand they are the main characters of the movie but I was expecting a different sort a film. It focused on the families issues especially between the married couple, straight out the gate you can tell the married couple hate each other and you don't see what happened to them before they reach the husbands family home when they escaped wherever they just escape from when the zombie out break happened. This annoying issue between the married couple continues to play out throughout the film before I dropped it.

I really wanted to like this film due to the fact it's a zombie film from the Philippines and I've never seen a zombie film from that country before. I was excited to to see what filming style they where going use how they would portray zombies in the Philippines, I found it so unique that the zombies could actually talk more like from what I'm guessing was their last words before turning into a zombie, but the film was solely focused on the tension between the married couple and their 2 sons.

The husband is extremely traumatized over whats happening for good reason but he starts to become controlling and doesn't want to leave his childhood home despite the fact his own father physically, mentally, emotionally and probably verbally abused him growing up, which makes him absolutely terrified of the basement which we can assume as the audience his father would lock him up down there as a child, even though he has this server traumatic event that happened to him he refuses to leave and find somewhere else to go just in case they could find a better place to live especially for his two children.

Both adults are extremely unlikeable especially when you find out they have been both cheating on each other and what makes things worse the wife cheated on her husband with her husbands brother and had his child. So it made the man playing the husband constantly treating his nephew who he is raising like his son like crap. I really disliked how he was towards his son/nephew because it wasn't his fault to who his father is but that didn't stop him from treating the child horribly, he was essentially sorta becoming like the man he hated his own father. The poor boy didn't know his uncle was his dad but you could tell he started suspecting when his younger brother mentioned that he looked liked their uncle when he was younger when they both were looking at his dads family album.

I stopped watching when they uncle appeared not because he showed up just because I had already mentally checked out of the film. I was really hoping to see more zombies & action but right before I dropped it there wasn't that much and it probably picked up after the uncle arrived but I just stopped caring when they family went to the bridge to give it a try to leave and find somewhere else to go and the wife almost go everyone killed.

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"It's tough to discipline a grown daughter"

Not one but two magic mirrors were the unholy desire of the Nine Souls Witch in The Devil’s Mirror. Two friendly clans were turned against each other as the Bloody Souls Clan double-crossed and sliced their way through righteous fighters in the hopes of serving the new ruler of the martial world.

Chief Wen and Chief Bai have discovered that the Nine Souls Witch has sent her minions to murder and thieve across the land. Numerous heroes have gone missing in recent weeks. Wen is concerned that she is after the two magic mirrors that would grant her access to Emperor Wu’s tomb where two powerful weapons are ensconced. Bai’s second in command, the Wormtongued Leng Yun assures his chief that there is nothing to worry about. Later that night the magic Wind Mirror is stolen from the Bai fortress. Leng convinces Bai it must have been the Wen clan as their badges were found on two of the dead assassins. Chief Wen’s son happens to arrive at that time to alert them that the witch’s minions are lurking nearby. When Leng tries to capture Wen Jian Feng, Chief Bai’s daughter, Xiaofeng, steps in with her sword to save the man she loves. The two young people will have to convince their clans to work together to retrieve the Wind Mirror and protect the Thunder Mirror for if the witch uses the two at the same time it could be devastating for the world.

I had to double-check to make sure this was not a Chang Cheh film as there were great Buckets O’ Blood spilled and spewing throughout this film. The sword fights were nearly constant and the red #2 finger-paint covered everyone. This was a typical 1972 film before all the special effects for fighting were developed though wire-fu was used as well as reverse filming. The Nine Souls Witch could fly and most of the time she didn’t look too awkward. The numerous stuntmen were what sold the fights as they twisted, flipped, and fell whenever the swords came near. They certainly got a workout in this action film.

Lau Dan and Shu Pei Pei were fine in their roles, but the characters came across as quite bland. Lee Ga Sai as the Jiuxuan Witch reveled in her maniacal laugh. If anything, they should have given her more meaningful actions to take instead of spending most of her time laughing or seducing men. The biggest and most welcome surprise was Wang Hsieh playing a good guy! He nearly always played an over-the-top villain in these kung fu flicks. Coincidentally, there were several fights at the SB 7 story pagoda and bridge where he once fought Cheng Pei Pei in The Lady Hermit (1971). Not only was he a good guy but was also rewarded with a significant fight of his own. Go Wang!

The Devil’s Mirror wasn’t a great name as there were two mirrors and a witch involved. One of the things I like about some of these Shaw Brothers films is that the character names are in the correct order and spelled correctly for the subtitles. I did wonder about the translation for the sword the witch wanted-the Fish Intestines Sword, but discovered that was one of the real names for it. Eww. Not only did the props guy have to buy red paint in bulk but also Buckets O’ Gold as nearly everything in the Emperor’s tomb was coated in gold paint!

The sets and costumes were all first rate for a 1972 wuxia. The Devil’s Mirror also offered magic, secret tunnels, torture, poison corpse pills, double-crosses, numerous group sword fights, and a nice surprise twist. If you enjoy old kung fu films, this is one to try. (Graded on a curve)

24 October 2024
Trigger warnings: Blood, lots of blood. Decapitation. Nudity.

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Battastically ridiculous!

The Golden Bat was a film with aliens, a rogue planet, laser weapons, a spaceship shaped like a shark, and a superhero golden mummy with a serious overbite. The science was laughable. The costumes were dreadful. And this was 70 minutes of silly fun.

A secret U.N. space institute has discovered that the planet Icarus is on a collision course with Earth. The rogue planet is being assisted by Nazo “Master of the Universe” who wants to be rid of Earthlings. At the institute, Dr. Pearl is assisted by the studly Dr. Yamatone and Yamatone’s boy wonder, Akira. Pearl has built a laser cannon capable of destroying Icarus but it lacks a rare mineral. Fortunately for Team Earth, one of their spaceships has crashed on an uncharted island. When the team goes to investigate, they come across a sarcophagus with a mummy inside dressed in gold lame. Holy coincidences Batman, the mummy is holding the mineral they need to save the planet! Turns out this risen island is part of Atlantis. The tomb directions read, “Ten millennia from now mankind will face a crisis. Open this sarcophagus and I, the Golden Bat, will awaken from my long sleep to fight by your side. Pour a drop of water on me.” Pearl’s granddaughter obliges and the Golden Bat comes to life. All Emily has to do is call his name and he will appear. Team Earth will need all the help they can get with a planet barreling down on them and Nazo’s minions attacking them from all sides.

If you have ever watched an old live action Saturday morning show for kids, this would be similar---albeit with more dead bodies. Apparently, the Golden Bat is one of the earliest, if not the earliest superhero dating back to 1930. This GB was invulnerable, carried a laser shooting baton, could fly and had a maniacal laugh. The evil Nazo’s costume looked like a big mouse with four eyes and a mechanical claw for one hand. He had three high level minions-Jackal, Keloid, and Piranha. Nazo’s spaceship was a giant drill shaped monstrosity while his cruising around ship was built like a shark. Sonny Chiba played a bearded scientist who spent most of his time shooting his laser handgun at aliens and wondering if his career was what was being destroyed.

The Golden Bat was not a high-quality production and the science was scarily bad. But it was so ridiculous that it was funny. In order to enjoy this movie, you will need an extremely high cheese threshold. Like Icarus high. Or be high. Graded on a curve.

24 October 2024

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Slow Burn At Its Best

If you're out for a horror movie with plenty of jump scares, look elsewhere.

Unlike your typical horror movie, supernatural beings don't get "accidentally" summoned by a bunch of irresponsible drunken teenagers, there's no cringey "I'll be back" dialogues, no jump scares, no slamming furniture, flying objects and creaky floorboards, no adrenaline inducing score to keep you at the edge of your seat; just a clever blend of cultural folklore, metaphysics, pacing and build up.

Divided into six different acts, "Exhuma" tells the story of a shaman and a geomancer, who are recruited to help a rich family conduct an exhumation of their ancestral grave.

Act 1, introduces the audience to the leads, who they are, what they do, and slowly reel the audience in by placing an unpredictable twist at the end of each act, making the audience wonder and hunger for more. Just when you think that you're right, you couldn't be more wrong.

There are, however, some obvious loopholes in the film, which might have been cut for time ("Exhuma" has a runtime of 134mins) but those loopholes seem like forgettable side quests, that doesn't really affect the main storyline.

Everything is meticulously calculated, everyone knows very well what they are doing, everyone knows what they are getting into.... except the audience.

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Will definitely cure your classic Asian high school romance drought

Love love love! It has the classic Japanese/Asian high school romance vibe without being cliche and overly predictable. For a romance film released in 2023, it is a surprisingly refreshing high school romance. I enjoyed every single moment throughout the film. It is such an adorable film! I can't express enough how much it really exudes the classic Asian high school romance film in the best way possible. In a time where this genre is very hard to nail without being predictable and boring due to the many classic predecessors, this film is fresh and exciting while maintaining the classic Asian high school romance feel. I didn’t think I could feel anymore with high school romance films so thank you ‘Our Secret Diary’ <3

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Amazing production and visuals but lacklustre and somewhat disappointing story

First of all, the production value and visuals of this film are amazing!! It is definitely on par with that of a Hollywood movie of its calibre like ‘Mirror Mirror’. The costumes and props were also equally well done and executed. Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous.

In terms of the story itself, I’m pretty conflicted but I think I have to say it felt meh overall to me. I’m not sure if it’s because it impedes on the typical fairy tale tropes so dear and well-known to my heart or if it’s truly because the execution was poor. The concept in itself is pretty fresh and interesting. I think it just didn’t seem to execute it as well as it could have while keeping the well-known tropes we all know and love. I did find myself getting, not necessarily bored, but disengaged at some parts throughout the film. I did like the whole Sherlock Holmes type of aspect to it and the whole crime solving was definitely very interesting. I think where it lost me was having Cinderella revealed as the murderer. While yes, choosing her did make it to be a big unexpected shock for a plot twist because of what we know of this iconic fairy tale character already, this same reasoning acts to weaken the story’s appeal. When dealing with such iconic and well-known characters, there has to be a level of consideration for the viewer’s preconceived perceptions and opinions for that character. Especially with a character like Cinderella, this is unavoidable. For this reason, having Cinderella be the murderer left a bad taste in my mouth for this movie overall. I, as the viewer, know Cinderella in many forms of media to be a heroine and a likeable character and I know her backstory very well (which this film didn’t delve too much into presumably because they know we know her character). I, as the viewer, know that her character has a history of severe mistreatment from those around her and being wronged, so having her character end up like that seems like a huge injustice to me because of my preconceptions. Further injustice is felt by the own world that they have constructed to place her in, where the kingdom disregards people like her because she is ‘ugly’ and poor. Additionally, the dude she murdered was a literal creep and bad person, so technically she acted in self-defence. This was literally not even acknowledged like free my girl right now purrr ???

Overall, the film's visuals were very high quality and well produced, but it fell short with its story. The story's execution is quite disappointing because the concept in itself is very interesting. In trying to be bold and shocking in its crime mystery, it neglects the viewers’ preconceived opinions of classic fairy tale characters. The film did have its moments where it was fun and campy, so I will give it that.

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Typical Sports Movie but Fun

It's fairly predictable to the end but if you like sports movies and movies about female friendship, you can't go wrong with this one. I liked that there was no love triangle or too much jealousy or backstabbing or any of those things. The issues that arise are fairly mild . And this might be my bias showing but Hyeri once again proves to be utterly charming.
I will say that the period trappings didn't enchant me as much as say Twinkling Watermelon or Reply 1988 but it grew on me as the movie went on. Overall, it's fairly well done with strong acting and a tight script. I would recommend.

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