Reviews

A journey to finding her own worth!

First of all, Hats off to the Female lead, Ling Jia, who's also the director of this movie. She showed her transformation like no one else. Her transformation inspired me so much. She gained weight and then lost it in a year, which shows really well in the movie. This movie isn't a Lalaland or delulu if someone didn't watch it. I like the ending where she wins in the end (ifykyk).

Character analysis: I don't understand the reason for her not finding a job for all those years but that doesn't matter. She didn't get a job and did nothing in her parent's house, she was lazy and she was people's pleasure too. Her younger sister also didn't get along. She lost her confidence, she didn't have the guts to kick her cheated bf and so-called best friend, I lost my mind when she attended their wedding as a bridesmaid🤦‍♀️

Theme: IDK why it is in the comedy category but I didn't find it funny? It should be in the drama category. She also falls for her relative act and makes a fool of herself in front of the whole world. If that wasn't humiliating enough she tried to finish herself and jump, now this was so interesting that the fat that she hated saved her from getting unalive.

Her coach who she thinks is her bf was using her, since she didn't have any confidence in herself she accepted anything the way he treated her, he live off of her, in her house eating at her place, using her to do his work and she did all of the things because she thinks that at least she has him but damn he was the biggest loser.

This was not only her physical journey but also emotional, she finally had a goal in her life at the age of 32, she lost 50 kgs. Here, the pain not only changes her physically but also mentally. During the match, she was dedicated, and the result was quite real. I like that the focus wasn't on winning the match but on winning in life, her sister was speechless, her parents were proud of her, she proved herself, she gained what she wanted, and lost her old personality. Her former coach has the audacity to ask her out, wtf but you can find a man like this irl too. Finally, she was able to stand up for herself and confidently reject that loser.

Conclusion: This hit hard, and she finally started taking a stand for herself, her life didn't change overnight, not after the match, but she was dedicated. When her father came to meet her she said that she would give both apples to her friend was her old self but then she said it depended on her mood now, yk here she had changed, she finally knew her worth.

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2000s core and grandma slay

Ah, where to begin... The beginning of the movie was really captivating. Unfortunately the best scenes are clumped together 20 minutes in, leaving the remaining 95 minutes a boring wait for something as great as the first scenes to develop (hint: it does not).

The stereotypes were stereotyping HARD: the men fight and take whatever they want. The women are passive but pretty standbyers. But it was made in 2004, so I get that it's a product of it's time. Albeit, an excessive one. But I love the nostalgic 2000s vibes the movie spoils us with.

What I felt the movie was lacking was the establishing of the characters and their development. The characters did not get a chance to settle down in their new roles and environments (I'm thinking of Han Kyung's move, becoming the new student etc.) before the drama kicked in. And while captivating, I did not feel for any of the characters during the entire movie simply because I did not know anything about them. There was so much left unsaid that I want answers to: Why do they like each other? Is there a reason why Hae Won specifically likes Han Kyung?

The movie is very fanfic-esque, which I usually enjoy but this one was over the top. When watching this I kept questioning why people still make fun of Twilight when this movie exists. Perhaps this is Korea's counterpart to Twilight?

And it must be said; the grandma from Australia slayed with her outfit. I was gagging the whole time. She was the moment. 10/10 for the furry diva vibes.

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Too many element

Well, this film aired 2 month after viral Exhuma film.
If you like a ritual like Exhuma, watching this one is worth your time. The dance, the momment, the horror, all is a good place until they make who is dead become zombie ?

C'mon. Its feel like not a evil, not a horror and I almost think this is a zombie film but that is not ?
Too much element with unclear ending, even they have a after credit scene, its just a past momment and make us want more for sequel.

Maybe,, just maybe..
If they not put in the part when people wake up from dead and become zombie, this film will be more interested.

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Primo 80s HK Brilliance

One of Tsui Hark's finest productions, A Chinese Ghost Story features many of Hong Kong cinema's most celebrated hallmarks, including over-the-top action, a wild mix of genres, and overwrought emotions that prove surprisingly compelling; nowadays, the film may seem slapdash and overeager to please, but even now it remains a piece of dark, fast-paced, goofy, sultry supernatural wuxia brilliance. While the film clearly owes a great debt to Sam Raimi, it's primo eighties Hong Kong cinema, which means a complete disregard for any attempt at realism. Everything here is so hyper-realistic and over-the-top that it makes Hollywood musicals look like the very model of restraint. There are plenty of spectacular special effects, exceptionally well-choreographed and elegantly staged action, a chilling atmosphere and a classic love story forming the backbone of the film's emotional core; the film is made all the better by Tony Ching Siu-Tung's absolutely gorgeous direction, captivating performances, the wonderful photography and utterly joyous musical score. A Chinese Ghost Story is a beautifully enchanting film and an undisputed classic for a reason, with a sheer cinematic energy that cannot be understated.

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The real seafood wars!

A space probe to Jupiter returned home with glittering aliens who created Seafood Kaiju in order to take over the world in Space Amoeba aka Yog, Monster from Space. An intrepid reporter, a biologist, and a resort developer converge on a pristine island destined to become a luxury resort site. That is, if the native islanders and newly created monsters agree to sign the contracts.

Reporter Kudo Taro sees the lost Jupiter probe, Helios 7, parachuting to Earth while he is on an airplane. No one believes him and he is laughed out of the editor’s office. Hoshino Ayako who works for a resort developer asks him to take pictures of a remote island for their project. At first, he’s not interested but then his friend, Dr. Mida Kyoichi tells him he believes monsters might be inhabiting the island. Kudo can smell a buck to be made and agrees. A shady character named Obata tags along on the ship and joins the group even after the monster has already killed a worker on the island. The islanders believe the newcomers are angering Gezora, a giant octopus like creature, but Gezora seems generally pissed off about any two-legged creatures on the island. It’s not long before everyone understands that they are on their own with no way off the island and no way to contact the outside world, with a giant cephalopod out for blood.

This was Honda Ishiro’s first kaiju movie without special effects master Tsuburaya Eiji who died in 1970. Aside from a few random wires through the years, I noticed more in this film than the others combined. Of course, controlling eight legs on land is tough. There were two giant crabs-Ganimes, and a big turtle not named Gamera as well. The overall looks of the kaiju were good for the time period. If you have a bat phobia there were numerous alive and unalive bats in the last third of the film. This film got something right that many of these creature features did not. The monsters showed up early and often instead of being special guest stars in their own movies.

The actors were better than usual, with the exception of the female lead who was never called by name. I kept thinking Kudo would say, “Ayako, stop falling down!” or “Ayako, stop screaming and alerting the monster to our location!” There was never even a proper introduction. The lone island woman, Saki, had her name called out numerous times. Even characters with bit parts had their names vocalized, all but poor Ayako. At least they gave her a name in the cast list. Have I belabored that point? Probably. Lol

Space Amoeba took a different angle on the kaiju genre by having microscopic glittering space aliens take over sea creatures and even humans in their world domination goal. The humans had to survive long enough to work together to discover the aliens’ weakness. They also had a little assist from Mother Nature and a selfless soul. If you enjoy old kaiju films, this is one to try.

19 October 2024

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WHERE S THE SHOCK EFFECT?

this could v been an amazin film .. idk what the genre is called , but in some movies, plots start similar to this one , then sooo many random events happen and the wildest chaos ensues .. just for the denouement to be something simple and obvious ( like grace eventually givin money , which is something she could v done 10min into the movie lol).....

Now this type of movies is always fun with strong shock value.... but this one failed the expectations in my opinion. They were so reserved .. it wasnt as chaotic and erratic and manic as i hoped . the characters needed more irrationality and just randomness in their actions..

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That's not a sword. Now that's a sword!

Lam Ching Ying wasn’t available for this sequel so Mr. Vampire 4 had to find two priests to take his place! Wu Ma joined the hopping fun alongside Anthony Chan’s Four-eyed Taoist. There were jiangshi and one Big Bad vampire for the boys to deal with.

Buddhist priest Yi Yu returns home with Ching Ching, a female disciple. Chia Le is a disciple of the Four-eyed Taoist but respects Yi Yu. Chia Le and Ching Ching get off on the wrong foot when Chia Le mistakes her for a boy. Their misunderstanding can’t hold a candle to the childish displays by their elders who torment each other and even have a food fight. The two older men have to set aside their petty rivalry and work together when a vampire is being transported to the capital and breaks out of his traveling coffin during a lightning storm.

Lam Ching Ying’s wise unibrowed character would have had no place in this film. It’s a wonder the vampire was ever subdued with these two frenemies on the job. Wu Ma and Anthony Chan made the most of their roles as they fought each other and then the undead. Ching Ching was a more adept female character than in previous sequels making her a welcome addition. Chin Kar Lok took over his older brother’s (Chin Siu Ho) role as the bumbling Taoist disciple. His kung fu and stunt abilities were fun to watch as he was quite acrobatic. Pauline Wong returned in a guest role as a fox demon who tried to seduce the Four-eyed Taoist. Cheung Wing Cheung played a hopping vampire in Mr. Vampire 2 and played the Big Bad vampire here.

Except for a conga line of hopping vampires who also played limbo, the first 47 minutes was devoted to slapstick comedy with the two competing priests. As someone who has a low tolerance for it, those minutes were slower than a jiangshi hopping through knee deep mud. Once the Big Bad took the stage, the action picked up as well as my interest. There was still plenty of comedy, this was not a scary movie. At one point Four Eyes kept coming out with bigger and bigger swords compared to Yi Yu’s. One thing that did not age well was Yuen Wah’s gay eunuch as the role was played strictly for laughs.

Mr. Vampire 4 was comparable in quality to most of the other sequels in this franchise. The fights were well-choreographed and there were plenty of vampires both of the hopping and non-hopping varieties. Most of all, Wu Ma is always welcome on my screen even if I have to watch him in a food fight. (Graded on a ratings curve)

18 October 2024
Trigger warning: Snakes and one decapitation

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This movie was a very heart warming movie which talks about struggles of leaving a bad situation, disability, guilt and romance.

Romance:
The romance was truly rewarding and well paced, I loved how their love grew through time and eventually they dated which was truly warm and made the romance really smooth and got us audience to attach to the main romance very well. I also loved the scene where she gave him a massage and I genially thought it was going to lead to a sex scene but turning into a hug was very satisfying and beautiful to watch. Little moments like these makes the romance feel genuine and gives it a special meaning to the reason they got together which felt natural.

Disability ( WARNING IN THIS PARAGRAPH I TALK ABOUT THE SEXUAL ASSULT SCENE):
It was satisfying to finally see representation of a person who has a disability that is not wealthy and actually has to work and provide for herself, which is more common. One thing I loved about his movie was about how she was represented as and shows the struggle of hardship she faces as a blind person trying to survive in a non adaptable society. This was clearly demonstrated in the scene where she wants to ignore the sexual assault to keep her job, shows the desperation of need this job and also the hardship of even finding on or another one.

Guilt:
I have decided to not write a paragraph on leaving a bad situation, and her rather decided to focus on guilt because it is an interesting topic that was explored in the drama.

The fl felt guilty because she was driving and got distracted leading to her parents dying in a car accident
The ml felt guilty for betting someone up, which led to suicide.

Ignoring the rest of the plot the ml has committed crimes and multiple of them has been assaults. The victims family or the victim never got the justice and instead the ml redemption is him being guilty and praying to god everyday to forgive his sins is crazy. He never even decided to turn him self to the police or even apologies to the victims family which frustrated me because despite him being redeemed since her will likely never perform such actions because of his trauma, the victims never got justice. This movie only focused on the ml and his guilt. I feel like if he actually turned himself in, went to jail and served his time, then he will finally be redeemed but instead we are suppose to feel pity for him because of his trauma but none for the victim and his family?

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"Why am I here?"

Mad Cats was a low budget flick with an interesting concept. Cats had taken human form and were wreaking havoc on bad pet shop owners and breeders. These women had cat-itude and were not kitten around!

Drunken, unemployed Taka receives an audio recording from a woman telling him where he could find his missing brother. There was also a wooden box he had to steal where his brother was being held. Mune was an archaeologist who had discovered an ancient and forbidden catnip. The catnip supercharged cat monsters who looked like women making them more violent. Taka finds his brother and the catnip but is unable to spring Mune from his prison. While on the run, Taka is helped by a homeless man named Takezo. They both end up being the target of fur-midable feline assassins stalking them! Luck favors the totally inept male leads when a furrocious young woman arrives and protects them from the killers. Ayane whiskers them away to an abandoned amusement park and attempts to train the two impawsibly untrainable men.

This film was as crazy as a bag of cats. Strangely enough, everyone ate Yum Yum Catness cat food, even the humans. The production values were as low as the budget although I really enjoyed the mewsic. Most of the comedy was hiss or miss. The film was littered with cat puns (the nerve!). A prime example, the license plate on the car the guys stole was “hissatu” (hiss at you). The acting was actually pretty good from the main characters and I thought Ayane played the cat turned human purrfectly. Ayane kneaded all nine lives to save her new fur-iends. Mineo Sho and Matsuura Yuya as the bumbling heroes and in-fur-ior creatures managed to pull off some of the purr-plexing slapstick as they fought the murderous glamourpusses.

Mad Cats was a cautionary tale for those who mistreat cats. You would not want to face The Executioner. Fur-tunately, the boys had a cat goddess on their side. Both brothers developed felines for Ayane who was completely devoted to her purr-sons. If you are in the mewd for something purrhaps not claw-some but also not a cat-astrophe, Mad Cats might be something to pounce on.

18 October 2024

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Botched story structure damages potential masterpiece

I will warn you when any spoilers are offered, so feel free to read until then.

1. The Western title of this would be, THE LIGHT BULB MAN

2. In general the entire production values are great. The first half of this piece borrows liberally from David Lynch, but in a good way.

3. I knew 3 people in this cast (the Mom, her daughter, and the light bulb man) and they were as good as ever. My only complaint is that the camera wouldn't leave the crying girl. You're not going to force me to cry because a girl is crying forever. That's cheap and it started to become an obvious ploy.

4. A major issue with the film is it changes genres midway -- which is a serious NO NO! You spend the first half of the film selling us on a dreamy Lynchian world only to flip it to a tearjerker melodrama? Nope. Both must be blended from frame one.

5. The major problem with this film was the story. Without spoiling, reveals needed to be re-arranged. And when 'reality' comes into the story, most of that should have been quick flashes, as to suggest we never should have left the dreamy world. And the Light Bulb Man deserved a more central role. And now, as warned, here come the STORY --

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6. In general there should have been a simple and crystal clear quest for our leading lady.

She, like her boyfriend and everyone else, should have 'been' in this weird alter-verse but started to suspect something was off. One by one the others would begin to recall a traffic accident, but never say 'bus'. They would start to recall they were all together, but something is wrong.

Our lead would say, wait, my boyfriend and I weren't in any accident. He'd be like, yes I guess so (for now), and they'd help the others find their bulbs and say their goodbyes. Our lead would help everyone get to that bulb store. She'd often have arguments with the man there, because she knew he was keeping a big picture secret from her.

When the lead and her BF helped the last person, she'd wonder why they were still stuck there. That they had no one to say goodbye too. Only then would the first flashbacks of the accident be seen in her memories, and she'd realized it was BUS ACCIDENT. She'd wonder if her BF was the driver, and he'd say it's time to say goodbye.

Then, and only then, would she wake up at the hospital.

If the above wasn't clear, I've un-divided the film. It's now a dreamy melodramatic tearjerker that still holds a big reveal for the end. This way it's very simple while maintaining a consistent tone.

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good watch

It was quite a good movie. Future possibilities of AI portrayed in a simple story, nothing too much.... The actors are all well known and they did their role justice, music was good specially as it was sung by the cast members, the artificial effects also didn't seem over the top. Overall it was a pleasant, simple but quite emotional film, so I don't see the reason for a low rating. Yes tbh it would've been good if it was made into a series because that would give the story much depth which it needs. As the movie shows the lives of people who were receiving the service but didn't really show the full story of the characters, just fragments which is why we couldn't really perceive their feelings, many things were left unexplained ......

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Monstrous and not in the good way

Monsters was a cheap, confusing film which wouldn’t have been a bad thing if it had been funny or scary. Five people ended up in a monster prison that was sealed in four dimensions but wasn’t impregnable. The ancient creators were super geniuses but forgot about solar eclipses which caused the singularity solar space time quantum magnetic black hole multiverse prison to glitch.

Long before humans crawled down from the trees, giants ruled the Earth. Everything was hunky dory until an underground explosion spewed up lethal monsters that ate everything in their path. The giants decided to leave Earth but eleven warriors stayed behind and caged the monsters. A gazillion years later Gao Fei and her sidekick Su Jun Bao race to the site where her sister, Gao Wei, disappeared a year earlier during a solar eclipse. As luck would have it another eclipse is about to begin. Fei is ready to jump through the newly formed ripples when Zhang Mu Sheng drops in wielding a knife and attacks Fei. Why you ask? Who knows. Jun Bao is accidentally knocked into the portal. When Mu Sheng refuses to relent Fei bounces both of them through the portal before it closes. An observer, Ayo Sayi, finds her way through the portal as well. Hiding in the deep forest is a monster who has a Black Canary cry that disables its prey before it attacks. As the group wanders through the woods, they keep happening upon other people who look just like them, both living and dead. Fei just wants to survive, find her sister, and get everyone safely home.

The creators failed at world building on multiple levels which dragged this movie down. It could have been a translation problem but the characters’ efforts to explain what was going on were just confusing word salads of scientific terms. It seemed liked the creators used the whole black hole singularity multiverse quantum physics explanation so that they could kill off character without having to sacrifice the main characters. How did beings intelligent enough to build a fourth-dimension prison powered by the sun not take into account solar eclipses? Total solar eclipses happen around every 18 months. And how in the heck would a solar eclipse be any more problematic than nighttime? A solar eclipse doesn’t block the sun for the whole planet. The nocturnal beasts didn’t seem to have any problem coming out in the daytime either.

Along with world building, the characters were a mess. Gao Fei knew her sister disappeared through a mysterious portal. She planned to go through it as well when it appeared again. She brought no food, water, weapon, or backpack. To show she was ready for anything she wore a white sports bra instead of a shirt. The Observer in an elaborate costume and wig was not properly attired for traipsing through the forest and fighting off a monster either, although she at least carried a sword. Mu Sheng went from trying to kill Fei to becoming best buddies with her in whiplash fashion. And poor Jun Bao was given a list of scientific terms to rattle off in no particular order. Most of the characters were knocked unconscious at least once. If they survived their ordeal they all needed to schedule CTscans upon return to their world. Quite honestly, my favorite character and the only one I cared about surviving was Master the dog.

Monsters was primarily a singular monster for most of the movie with the kind of CGI you’d expect from this caliber of film. If you enjoy being confused watching confused characters wandering through a singularity solar space time quantum magnetic black hole multiverse monster prison disguised as a wooded forest, this might be something to check out. I told myself if the writers resisted using the most cliched ending for these cheap monster movies I’d give it a .5 bump. It did not receive a .5 ratings bump.

17 October 2024

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