Reviews

Horrible adaptation

I'm seeing that this is not a popular movie, and there is a reason for it, but if someone has watched it and left with questions I hope my comment helps.
I've read the original novel which was a masterpiece, and this adaptation is just horrible. Let's do a comparison.
In the original story, Wakatsuki has some mental issues, due to his older brother's suicide committed at a young age. He has been blaming himself since it happened, and he sees the same nightmare about a spider holding his brother hostage and chasing him.
This issue is the reason for telling the lady about considering suicide once more, and this is the reason he couldn't get his thing stand up. None of these things were explained.
He has been with his girlfriend, Megumi since university in the novel, and they just randomly place her in the movie.
The lack of explanation is one of the biggest issues of this adaptation.
Another big issue was the mood-setting, which was terrible. The background music was really bad, destroying the mood. The color choices for Sachiko's clothing were terrible. They did a bad job of portraying Sachiko's personality.
Bowling was never once mentioned in the novel, however, they decided to add it, and it was so meaningless and again, destroying the mood. I'd rather not talk about the random swimming scenes.
And the unreasonable erotic scenes especially in the ending it was ridiculous. (There were none in the novel luckily)
The original story wanted to emphasize the idea of Japanese society sinking so deep that they willingly commit various crimes for money. The novel also questioned the incompetence of the Japanese police (which was not shown here).
The director went to a classic horror movie rather than grabbing the meaning of the book. Kuroi Ie by Kishi Yuusuke was one of my best reads, and my hand was shaking in fear while reading some scenes, but this adaptation is nothing more than a huge disappointment.

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It's not bad!

I had my doubts before watching upon reading some comments saying the acting was cringe..
well, it was cringe in the first 5 or 10 minutes of the movie but it improved a lot so I could overlook that.

I haven't read the manga, so I went in with zero prior information. all I got is what the movie presented.
the story is interesting, there are questions that pop your mind from the beginning but have patience, you'll figure things while watching. (almost!!)
The amount of new characters at the start felt a bit overwhelming for me but it got better as story moved forward.
I liked the pacing of story a lot! It's neither fast-paced nor slow.. it has the right pacing.
the amount of info they fit in a 2 hour movie was ok.

Here comes the spoiler content of this review, so don't read further if you don't want to be spoiled about the ending;
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I was all praise and compliments until I reached the ending... which affected my rating..
It could've been a lot more satisfying to see the last game result between usogui and that guy (royal leader)...
wasn't the whole point of Usogui's comeback to beat him??
watching the movie, it more felt like beating everyone else like that crazy old man and Sadakuni were just steps of a ladder for getting back at that guy.

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Sincere yet underwhelming depict

«Kiss Me Much» shows us the story of a big family that is suddenly on the verge of losing everything due to the father, who got scammed and fired. Not only the movie shows us the transition between their lives before the problems and after the problems, but also makes the audience wonder whether the ways to get the money in less than a month should be valid or not.

The story might seem like a cliché, but, it goes beyond the typical "oh no, we are broke" kind of plot. It transcends that kind of story, I feel like the movie was more to make the watchers ask themselves whether the actions they commit to get the money in order to save themselves are morally correct or not. However, the script was kind of all over the place. At first, it seems like a family movie, but it gets very R-rated very soon. It is not that being R-rated makes it a bad movie, but you will find yourself asking if what you are watching is really what you expected and if it lives up to your expectations.

Besides, barely anything takes place in the movie: at a certain point, the parents got indecent offers in exchange for money, and the movie shows us the protagonists going back and forth many times. I liked the last part of the movie the best when is up to the family to get it together and realize they are a family despite everything that happened. Family, money, affairs, and sacrifice are words that cannot be omitted when describing the movie, but then again, who do you put them together? The script could have been better when focusing on the transcendent part of the movie.

The acting and directing were what made me give this movie a decent score. Despite the fact that every single role was a predictable cliché (the hardworking mother, the absent father, the bullying coming from rich kids, etc.) the acting was great and warm; it was the warmness that made me forget about the old typical roles the actors were playing actually. The directing and photography were nicely done as well, I really liked some of the scenes and I think the director should have invested more time trying to convey emotions through scenes rather than the not so well written script. The music is kind of important in the show too, as it works as a mantra that reminds them all they are a family and the relationships will never be broken no matter what happens to them.

I would not rewatch this, and I think this line sums up everything pretty well. It was a nice, light, movie, but is it really worth your time? Definitely did not meet my expectations, even though I was nicely surprised at some parts. I appreciate the attempt to show how bad capitalism can be to the point of destroying a family physically, mentally, and emotionally in less than a month just because their father was a victim of a scam. As well as the contrast between the parents' honesty and their subsequent situation they must resist. The idea was great, the directing was striking and the acting superb; it was the script that did not work out that well for me, and in this kind of movie the script plays a huge part.

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Light and fluffy classic rom com

This movie is one of those movies you watch just because you can not decide on what to watch next, a classic in between dramas cleanser as it does not have a lot of substance to offer but does offer fluff, at times bad comedy and few decent messages hidden in-between the meeh ones.

Crazy: I do not really get the "crazy" part of the drama, Jackie is not crazy, she is rather hurt, and in need of just about anyone to help her look beyond herself. So self centred yes, crazy nope... Or maybe it is the people around Kyko that are crazy as they seem to take advantage of this overly kind soul without a single thought about how he might feel.

Beautiful - Well there is a lot of beauty here, scenery, looks, gazes, relationships... all very beautiful indeed

You- Well there are both mes, I, is and yous so I guess this part makes sense.


There is one part in this movie that they portray really well, which is how people with privilege take their privilege for granted and act like they are all superior for giving bread crumbs to those in need while attaching a whole bunch of untold strings and well lets face it giving while taking advantage of the less fortunate... It also shows how hard it is for the person in disadvantage to rise up and stand up for them selfs, which could have given this movie a bunch of extra points had it not been for the rest of it which over simplifies things and has some low humour.... etc.

An ok watch, not a movie I recommend to all but not one I discourage others to watch either. as it did indeed keep my interest and though it made me cringe here and there it did keep me entertained.

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Should watch before 2022 ends

This movie was one of the most perfect action movies I've ever seen Firstly it's Netflix series,and it end with cliff. When movie starts, you're like"why I'm seeing naked people's"but later on, everything turn out to adrenaline rush,the actors, actress, characters, happenings are just perfect.You can not like this movie, because everything is perfect, Koreans should do more action movies. That's one thing I like about Korean movie industry. they always do perfect at horror and action movie. if you're interested in South and North Korean ,virus related thing,about how people reacts it,how action thing can be perfect just watch it. you'll never be disappointed I assure this

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Decided to watch it of course because of Jang Hyuk. Despite the slow paced storyline which seemed kinda boring to me, i was able to complete it only because of Jang Hyuk's amazing action scenes. Once again i was enthralled by his charisma. I've always wanted a protagonist like him who will be invincible ; nobody will be able to put a finger on him! The combination of martial arts skill and intelligence was topnotch. Other than that one might find it hard to keep pace with the movie as it has failed to intrigue the viewer from the very start. As a diehard Jang Hyuk fan, I am totally satisfied with his superb acting skills, i think those who are acquainted with his works must know about it. So nothing to say about it.

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Eiji deserved a life with Ankh and Hina. And therapy.

Why make fans wait then years to screw them over like this?
Whilst I agree that Eiji was in character, it is vastly out of character for Ankh, Hina, and Shingo to let Eiji kill himself when they could have prevented it.
Suicide is not the way for someone to find peace at all., it is a symptom, not a solution. And it’s an awful end for Eiji who was traumatised and suffering ptsd when this started, only to finally find someone who understood him and friends who became family.
Then to lose his other half (I don’t ship Ankh and Eiji romantically in the series but their appearances in between and this movie have shifted my opinion) and spend 10 years trying to bring him back… and what? Leave Ankh alive whilst Eiji dies? I hated it. Actually and vehemently hated it. As some Japanese reviewers have said “the lights came up at the end of the film and it was silent. Like there was no hope left.”
Toei, Eiji deserved better. Ankh and Hina deserved better. And your fans did too.

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Did not like the pace and story too shallow

The theme is interesting! I have always liked to learn more about different ways of feeling pleasure. The world is an amazing place with lots of different people! But ..

STORY - too simple for me, did not catch me. It could develop better. Side story was almost inexistent and it might be interesting.

CAST - I don't know any of the actors. ML was good. FL was not as good.

MUSIC - do not recall any. A no for me.

REWATCH - will not rewatch because I did not like it very much. There are better movies with this theme.

OVERALL - I was not disappointed to watch this, but just to pass time.

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Must pay attention!

I must admit that I struggled with this movie, if only for the fact that I usually do other things while watching movies. You CANNOT do that with this movie. The storyline changes on a dime! This movie is like the best sleight of hand - you are looking at one thing, and while you are, they do a bait and switch on you. I never knew what was going to happen from one moment to the next.

Excellent cast. I've seen everyone in other works, and enjoyed them each time, but You Ji Tae as Park Hee Soo, was outstanding, playing a different character than I've come to expect from him. Charismatic and yet cold, I never knew what his character was up to. The entire cast had good chemistry with one another, different Swindlers forced to work together. Hyun Bin, I'll be honest, he could probably stand in an empty room and read the phone book out loud, and I'd be in. He was good in this, I kept going back and forth as to whether I liked his character or not.

Low on the re-watch value for me, only because once you know what's going on, you wouldn't be surprised by anything. My only complaint was, and this is just my prude-like personal opinion, but I wish they wouldn't translate the curse words. I don't like to hear them, but if they are in another language, I can pretend they aren't cursing. Seeing them in writing was very jarring. Again, just my personal opinion.

If you've got the time to pay attention, give this movie a watch. You won't be sorry you did.

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THE NON STOP ACTION SCENES

okay this is my first time giving review here. if you want to watch for an action movie that doesn't focus on the story, watch it. it's worth your time. but if you focus more for the story just leave. 2 hours full of action, but dayum, those are sooooo good. im not fans of action genre, but this movie kept me to watch it till the end.
the camera works is helllaaaa gooood, like SOOO GOOD SO CRAZY WOW, and joowon acting 👨‍🍳💋 (+ he's so tallll and handsome as heeeellll)

the minus from this movie is the cgi in some scene is so bad, it looks like carter was fighting in a game lmao

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avoid eating while watching this

I gonna make it short.
in some words-
no one have same taste. it's completely laughter box. don't eat or else you will choke..
as for me I watch this movie for sehun N this wasn't disappointing.. sehun clearly have a best role there, "phew"

FOR ACTING
as mentioned this is a comedy movies, and their acting were truly natural.. not like others
Kang hae neul is such a good actor..
for actress she proved that captain position is just for her.. such a bravo~

and don't have any expection that this movie gonna be like pirates of the carribbean. so drop it now
it's totally different.

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i enjoyed it. ?

i went to this movie without watching any trailer reading any plot summary absolutely blind. after finishing watching the untamed 2 months ago I've been hunting xiao zhan's past work and watching them one by one. but this movie wasn't on my plan to watch list at all. then one day i was reading an article about xiao zhan where this movie was highly criticized by critics. xiao zhan even got the "most disappointing actor" award because of this movie, while meng mei qi got the "most disappointing actress" along side with jade dynasty awarded the "most disappointing film" .. and I'm like how bad this can be so i downloaded the show and watched it in my free time and..


it's not bad but it's not good either 🙂 i am a viewer who cares more about characters of a show then the story. but that doesn't mean i don't care about the story. i hate it when the story is fast paced which is exactly this movie was. nothing from the first part or the second part stood out to me except the time when xiaofan realizes that it was the sect members that killed his village that part felt the most impactful to me and the most memorable one too. the whole movie is just visually appealing but also quite forgettable. the leading ladies were great. some of the scenes between ML and the ladies were enjoyable. i watched the wolf series before and seeing Li qin in action scenes was such eye candy. overall i loved it because of the actors & visuals (especially the dragon 🐉 scene. the detailing was really well done, i was surprised. but what was the purpose of showing that dragon? guess we'll never know...)

now coming back to xz performance. his performance wasn't bad the way critics make it out to be. he managed to sell out xiaofan's character well. but I still don't feel the "connection" between him and the other characters (my google search right now: "why xiaofan saved bi yao in the end of jade dynasty?" no but seriously when did they become close? didn't he liked ling-er?? if someone know the answer let me know please. maybe it's because of the fact that the plot didn't have the time to create the lines between him or any other characters. it should have been a series. the first few minutes i felt cringe because of some actors but hey they were just doing their part i guess.


in conclusion, i felt like it's the type of movie kids would sure love to watch. i can see xiao fan is a character who can easily be a kid's favorite. so if you have a kid you can watch it with your family in your family time. it's surely enjoyable or watch it if you are a xiao zhan fan. but if you are someone who wants engaging plot, with less clique characters, with lord of the rings level visuals, with marvel-type action scenes, this movie is not for you. :)

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Action over logic?

I will start by saying action thrillers are among my favourite genres, and The Villainess is one of my favourite movies.

However, Carter was a swing and a miss for director Jung Byung Gil.

The trailer immediately caught my attention initially, and the plot, while a familiar trope, held some excitement as I was eager to see that Korean twist I have come to love. Regrettably, the execution of Carter left me sorely disappointed. Nothing about it made sense or made an effort to. At some points, I found myself laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the fighting scenes. I don't usually watch movies for their realism; that's just not what movie magic is. But the disconnected plot and overdone fight scenes were just too hard to accept. I tried to follow the storyline to no avail, and the end left me annoyed rather than curious as I assume was its intended purpose. The foreign actors playing the CIA were frustrating as it seemed they were acting bad on purpose. Their lines felt forced and their movements robotic, like some weird caricature.

I had hoped for the best with Carter. I went in with average expectations but left feeling disappointed. Had I watched it solely for the action and had no expectations for the storyline or plot, this movie would have easily been an 8 or 9. But, I have seen far better movies and dramas with a similar premise that have both action and story to satisfy the senses. But, for lack of a better phrase, this movie was not it.

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This movie contains scenes of historical distortions in the Philippines.

I don't recommend this movie to anyone. The author of this movie did not based on what is written in history. This is a play to change the view of everyone about the plunderers of this country. Their goal is to make it look like they were the victims in the past. In Philippine history, there are evidences of photos in which the author did not based on. An example of it is the scene at Malacanang where people rushed into tha palace. There are old pictures of the real scene where you can see everyone enjoying victory because the dictatorship was ended but in those photographs, you'll never see anyone who brought flames or torches. But in this movie on that particular scene, you can see everybody holding their own torch which brings a bad publicity to those people who fought for freedom.

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All my effort is rewarded with a slap!

Director Ozu tread over common 1930's cinema ground in this film. Once again, a strong woman who sacrifices all for her family and the fear of unemployment loom during a time of economic crisis and cultural upheaval.

Woman of Tokyo managed to pack a fair amount of tragedy into its scant 47 minutes length. Chikako worked an office job during the day and told her brother, Ryoichi, she helped with translations for a professor at night. She paid all of the bills and her brother's tuition as well as giving him spending money. Ryoichi's world turned upside down when he found out that his sister was actually working as a prostitute at night leading to tragic consequences. Chikako only desired for her brother to graduate so that he would have a stronger chance of landing a job, something he was unable to appreciate.

My reaction to this film might have been better if so many of these early films didn't focus on women becoming prostitutes to provide for their men, whether husbands, children or brothers and then bearing the brunt of abuse from those men and society. In a world where male unemployment was high and job opportunities were scarce for women, the women still did what was necessary to feed and shelter their families sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not. And in the case of Woman of Tokyo, like many other cinema sisters, put their brothers through school. This film would have fared better with me if Chikako had ever set her brother down and explained the facts of life to him and the reality of their situation. He lived a carefree life going to school, hanging out with his friends and with his girlfriend while his sister worked day and night to provide for him. His pocket money for entertainment came at the sacrifice of her body and shame. The police were also investigating her as a "dangerous person". To bear his reproach and scorn and society's as well seemed absurd. Women's pride always seemed to take a backseat to providing for their fragile men. I know it was a different day and time, different culture and a time of transition but this film hit my feminist's rant button as I watched it.

As always, Ozu put together an aesthetically pleasing film. A teapot as it boiled and steamed and then calmed followed much of the mood of the film. The version I watched had no sound. Tanaka Kinuyo, as the girlfriend who spills the gossip and Egawa Ureo as the thoughtless brother have shown up in other Ozu films and always do a good job even in this film where they are given little time to develop their characters. Okada Yoshiko's performance varied as she played the sweet dutiful sister sending her brother off to school in the morning and warmly welcoming a customer in the evening. I wish Ozu would have let us see into her feelings and motivations more instead of leaving her largely silent and stalwart.

If you are a fan of Ozu's films or silent films, Woman of Tokyo is worth seeing, even if it feels the theme may be redundant to some of his and other directors' works from this time.




8/6/22

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