Reviews

Sinkhole Disaster

The movie is about a building going down a 500m sinkhole and the attempts to rescue the tenants.

I was mostly disappointed because the effects looked so fake and the story was very unrealistic. The first half focused on the main characters yet I didn't feel connected with any of them. The father-son relationship was strained but i didn't know why, except for the son disapproving the dad. I did like Kwangsoo's character and his potential romance with his colleague when they get out of the sinkhold. Still I finished because I wanted to know how they will be rescued and it was nothing spectacular, just a group of tenants who were unlucky and at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Rating: 7.5/10

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Great movie, would watch it again. (SPOILERS SPOILERS)

This movie was sure fun and exciting to watch.

DISCLAIMER: I won't spoil every single detail and sorry if I use the actors' names, the characters didn't have much name-calling in the movie lol.


- The story overall is pretty simple. But I think that's a good thing for a franchise that is so dark and will get a continuation since it made it easier for me to understand. Also, the intro and the ending of the movie I think is the only "important" part of the movie while everything else is filler/backstory. The pacing in this movie is also pretty fast during the 1st half, I wasn't able to catch on to some details.

- The casting for this movie is pretty great. I love that they cast Shin Si-Ah as The Girl, she played her part VERY well for someone new to the industry. I also love the foreigner guy (who is in the same agency as Si-ah) his character was a comic relief, which made the film fun to watch for such a dark-toned movie.

- For the characters, I loved each one of them, there were definitely more characters here that had their fair share of "moments" compared to the 1st movie. In this movie, there were multiple groups of characters like the Chinese To-Woo, The Union Soldiers (Seo Eun-Soo's character team), and the thugs. It was definitely a unique dynamic in my opinion and it was really thrilling to watch when they all ended up interacting and fighting with each other. The characters in this movie were divided into: Group vs Group vs Group vs Shin Si-Ah's character.

- Now the action scenes... WOW. The action scenes were top-notch, like they were visually satisfying and choreographically beautiful. In my personal opinion, these fight scenes easily beat marvel's fight scenes; when I was watching the fights in this movie, it felts so surreal just like you're witnessing a fight between Gods. Whereas in Marvel it's more.. simple? I legit thought I was watching an anime fight (not exaggerated, it was a literal anime fight style.)

- In terms of Kim Dami and Lee Jong Suk, they were definitely there for some parts of the movie. Lee Jong Suk's scenes showed his extreme charisma and it was nice to see him on the big screen again, but his character doesn't contribute much to the story.
For Kim Dami... she's definitely being in the 3rd movie if there is one. Her character has a MAJOR connection to Shin Si-Ah's character and the scene she was in was pretty badass too, although it was short.

- I think there will be a 3rd installation after seeing that ending with Shin Si-Ah and Kim Dami's Mother.

- Overall, I really love this movie and it was super fun to watch and gave me a refresher on the superhero/powers genre.
The powers in this movie were shown very extreme but I love it lol. Plus I really really really liked Eun Soo and the foreigner's dynamic haha. 10/10 will rewatch it for the excitement I felt watching this movie and for the fight scenes since they were moving at literal light speeds ;-;

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Romance in the aftermath of a Korean "Dont Say Gay" education

This short film told its story perfectly in the time frame it had. You can easily understand all the dilemmas going through the main character's head about being closeted and the insecurities that her school had instilled in her for being a lesbian (not cool school, not cool - but also incredibly relevant given the Don't Say Gay bill getting traction in the United States). But it still gave us a cute, happy, and compelling romance to root for and smile at.

However, I do still wish some things were more directly said between the characters to really feel as if everything is resolved. And there is definitely room story-wise to make a longer production.

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No establishment of plot, characters, or even tone.

Usually I rate something this low because of something that was done within the story. But this is an exception. There simply wasn't anything compelling about the film. There wasn't any real plot or characters. As a result, there was no sense of payoff at the end for viewers who watched. You can't even really pinpoint the tone of the work. It was just reserved. There was a brief moment of anger, but that was it - and it didn't really do anything. Perhaps there was supposed to be a tone, but it got lost in the acting (which was consistently stiff and muddled)?

The reason why I rated the plot as high as I did is because it didn't fall on the usual GL cliches. And I could see where there was potential for a plot. But the execution, whether that be the actors, script, or production, just simply wasn't there. I know it has received alot of love on it's youtube upload for being a simple lesbian romance, but personally I think there are other films and productions out there that are simple but also much more compelling.

The ending kiss was really adorable though. Cheesy, but in the best way.

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Saying "I like it" wasn't enough.

This movie is really great, I mean everything about it. I really enjoy it though I'm not a big fan of them but it was really nice watching it over and over again. They really made me cry the whole time, I really can't say anything but this is a great movie. While watching it, I realized that it was some kind a bit similar to "Hi, bye mama" that really made me cry every episode and it was also a worth of watching for. This may not be a helpful review but trust me it won't fail you to cry and laugh at the same time. I watched it in the middle of the night, so I was silently crying the whole time while watching it. It was really fun and great that I accidentally saw this while scrolling for some movie recommendations and it's worth of watching for.

P.S. You might actually know what would probably going to happen next while watching this but trust me you should really finish it till the end.
Also, it was really fun seeing the cameos of some of the actors that they already worked with. I actually love this one.

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I'm left with Questions...

First of all I don't normally wrote reviews.. But this one was so messed up I have to. Okay so.. for me to begin I debated on watching this movie after reading the mixed reviews.. But I am typically one that ends up deciding that I will watch it and for my own opinion.. Which I ultimately did. Now here are my thoughts..

I feel the story could have been an interesting one.. I as I was watching I was left with more WTH is going on then with understanding.. I feel that there is so much missing from this it's not even funny.. I would have loved to see more interactions between the ML and FL.. what we get here leaves me empty. I was not even sad when they broke up. It's like they almost never had good dialogue between them. I was able to understand the relationship with the FL and the 2ML a lot better... There are quite a few repetitive scenes (flashback) that seem to be out of context. You are left guessing what just happened. Is the relationship between the ML and FL Toxic I can't truly determine that within the few scenes. There are issues for sure.. she is in love with him he likes her but after she is almost rapped his whole demeanor changes my guess is it's because he is angry he wasn't able to protect her.. but who knows. he becomes a bit colder towards her after that. She wants answers from him and At some point she must have been blind because she asked why he didn't fight him off of her hello... He got beat up... Now the ending What the heck was that?? She was attacked a 2nd time a I am just trying to figure out is this in her head or did it happen.. she's yelling at him to kill the guy.. okay I get it but at the same time what....??? Then final scene It's a scene from a movie the FL is in with another character on a bike and then the ML is there with her I am so freaking lost ...

The acting was decent.. I could tell their emotions.. But I wants drawn into feeling them almost side the actors. Now the camera angels have got me not wanting to watch this again. It reminded.me of something someone shot on their phone.. so many scenes shot at a distance then multiple scenes gave me a head ache with the camera shaking so much.. Not to mention so many scenes just linger ..

All in all this Movie has potential to be so much more and where it is it has fallen flat.. Definitely has amateur vibes. I will Not watch it again. But if you are looking for something.on the wired o meter that makes you want to puzzle everything together I would attempt to watch this one.. if you are looking for a solid story like that is understandable you are at the wrong place.

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Predictable yet fun~

Story: A revenge heist that is quite predictable with sprinkles of humor.

Acting: Convincing acting with some of the familiar faces. Not sure if it's a star-studded movie but I know most of them or watched them from popular dramas. I, however, think that Dr. Jones made this movie more fun. Jo woo jin is a versatile actor and has been my favorite lately.

Music: Hollywood-like sound effects and music.

Re-watch Value: Rewatchable to those who's looking for a quick funny movie.

Overall: 6-7 stars. It's not exactly recommendable because some might find this boring because of the predictable plot but it's not a bad watch when you are bored or in need of something to pass the time. Nothing much substance story-wise but I would be interested to watch the part 2, hoping for a better plot, action scenes and villain. The CEO wasn't really scary for me and felt like the purpose of the 'snakes' was kind of a waste. Could have been better but not the worse.

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Pure Entertainment

To sum it up, this movie is pure entertainment. There are moments of comedy, there are tender moments, action, thriller, tense. This movie really does have it all. For a movie viewing I’d almost say it’s close to perfect to sit down and watch but the catch is you can’t be someone with a feint heart.

Hwayi has a pretty easy to follow synopsis as well as simple on the outside character motivations that have much more depth and layers to pick apart if you want. As someone who likes a lot of depth I found this really nice, and considering it’s a movie I liked how it was easy to follow and you don’t have to really pick apart the characters as you’re only with them for a few hours.

There’s a lot of important themes the movie has, the main takeaway I found was the importance of family structure. It’s fine that they are all fathers, what isn’t fine is what they teach their ‘son’.

Kidnapping a boy and nurturing him under their gang activities and eventually encouraging him to kill others for their benefit isn’t a plus. But their are a few moments of payoff, where you can tell that they really care for him despite. They don’t want Hwayi dead and it’s interesting to see their dynamic as this family play out. I really like how coming into the movie after the time skip you believe they’ve all lived together for the years and it’s natural but definitely not typical or healthy either.

Now I’m not going to go into depth for this movie because I don’t find the need to. It’s entertaining. It’s really entertaining. The acting is beyond impressive considering Yeo Jin-Goo was 16 years old when filming. He’s the best of the best and I don’t doubt this movie when I watch. There are never moments where I sit and think “oh these people are just acting”. It’s a fully immersive experience. The amount of gore is a lot more than expected, the kill count is also more than expected. It could be arguable that some of the kills and gore are just for fluff, but I see this as a movie and movies I watch to entertain myself so I don’t see that as a bad thing.

This movie really made my night and I recommend it. It’s really good and I wish I could say more, but all I can do is emphasize it’s strength. The acting is superior, the action is very impressive, the story is easy to follow. This movie is very very good.

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A nice little film and diversion

Many of these lower budget films start okay but get kinda lost. This one hangs together well.

The tale debates how communities should work together when possible riches await. You'll enjoy this film for that, the lush soundtrack, lovely visuals, and most of the verite acting of the kids and villagers.

The lead girl was kinda a two trick pony: big sweet smile OR tears down her face. But that's okay because the rest of the cast had lots of wonderful moments. Don't miss the Mouse Guy or the Leek Man. Or the two tiny boys who didn't seem to be aware that they were in this charming little movie.

I'm not sure I'd recommended a paid rental for this, unless inexpensive. I found it on America's YouTube for free and in 1080p.

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Voyeuristic lens into the enduring machinations of a male escort

*Beautiful wide-lens cinematography that captures the room and the emotions of each character while retaining a sense of obscurity and a voyeuristic quality as we're never allowed to see too closely.

*The explicit scenes are not gratuitous and help drive the narrative

*The acting from everyone, especially Kai Ko, was deeply effective.

*Cons: Although I'm sure they served an artistic purpose, I thought the karaoke scene at the beginning and the dance scene at the end was uncomfortably long. It adds to the voyeuristic quality of the film, for sure, but I kept hoping it would end because I felt like it took away from being able to add more to other scenes. I also wish we were given just a little more insight into our main character. I wanted to know more about him, what he was feeling, and what ultimately happens to him. Some things are better left unsaid and to our imagination, so I'll have to give the writers extra credit for making me sad I couldn't get just a little more.

Definitely worth a higher rating on MDL. It was an artsy piece that I enjoyed watching.

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life is hard!!

A slow paced movie filled with so much character. The protagonist was a no nonsense strong girl. I was actually kinda inspired by her lol..

The story follows a young girl who grew up in an orphanage and now has stepped into adulthood. She is studying something related to child care at college. She needs some extra money so she takes up a job as a babysitter for a single mother who is in dire straits herself.

I think the movie perfectly shows how life can be so hard for mothers, especially single moms who are struggling financially. The movie also highlights people who grow up in orphanages and the bond those who grew up together can form. There is a scene that was absolutely heartbreaking to me where one of the guys from the orphanage passes away and everyone in the friend group runs after the van carrying his body and breaks down on the road as the body is taken somewhere else to be taken care off coldly without a proper goodbye - just because he had no family of his own. The others cry and beg to be allowed to give him a burial and scream how they are his family but the law is the law and there is nothing to be done.

It is a movie worth watching. I had issues with the subtitles pacing which took away some parts of my enjoyment otherwise would have enjoyed it more.

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I haven't read the book so I went into it completely blank. And yet, within a rather short time I got what was going to happen. So, if you go into it for suspense or drama, you will be disappointed. But I still liked it well enough. Why?

Because my obsessive, symmetry loving self loved how neatly it all fell into place, all the puzzle pieces. I mean I do wish it went deeper when it comes to the characters and the story - it felt like it barely scratched the surface - but it was, well, neat. I loved that the story was wrapped in a sweet happy ending bow.

Though in this case, I wouldn't have minded a little less happy ending - if Rika had waited and greeted Soichiro as a middle-aged woman, if they had gone down the step-siblings instead of lovers route... That would've been less romantic but more real, at least to me. Oh well.

Overall, a sweet little sci-fi story. I really need to read the book!

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Sinister but confusing.

The good:
Holds nothing back
Conclusion is satisfying
Relatable characters

The bad:
Dialogue is a little contrived in some scenes
Pacing
Shallow

Guilty of Romance is very full frontal throughout the entire movie. Nothing seems to be off limits for the director in all of his films but Guilty of Romance seems to be the pinnacle of this trait. Unfortunately I started to lose my way a little bit in the story just after the one hour mark, the pacing of the film changed and the order of events got very jumbled up. The dialogue of the characters and the abstract nature of what they were discussing didn't seem to fit within the narrative. However, the ending of the film saved this for the most part because things were wrapped up and explained quite clearly in the end. No major loose ends.

Kagurazaka Megumi does a fantastic job as usual. This actress really sells her characters in all her movies very well, and seems to be able to tap into motivations to make them real and believable very easily. Supporting cast is good, but no stand out performances.

The biggest issue I had with this movie is how seemingly shallow it is. There isn't much to take away from all of this, which is fine, but I felt like the intention was to say more than it actually said. Because of this the rewatch value is low, and the pacing makes it difficult to invest into the characters beyond a superficial level. I understand their motivations but it all seems a little TOO chaotic for me to really connect with any of them.

Worth a watch simply for the extreme nature of the film, I can see this film connecting a lot more with others than it did with me.

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Painting A Painful yet Beautiful Gestures and Emotions into One Huge Canvas.

Visually this movie is really artistic, aside from the aesthetics and beautiful cinematography, the performances of the actors come out like a combined art in the movie, it's like they're painting a painful yet beautiful gestures and emotions into one huge canvas.

Performance wise, the actors successfully conveying the messages of the story with their whole body, eyes, slight hands or shoulders movements, even the way they breathe can tell us the solid messages and emotions. Salute to all actors, no exceptions, even the child actors and the cameos, they show great acting quality, especially Song Kang Ho, Lee Ji Eun aka IU and Bae Doona.

We don't need to question any more about the acting quality Song Kang Ho has, there were one scene he walked while holding a doll after seeing his daughter, and he made me want to cry just by looking at his back. He is great and his all performances as Sanghyun, lead this movie so well.

I'm still shocked with IU, I actually didn't expect her to be this excellent for her movie debut. Her quality is multiple times better than her previous project, from facial expression, tones, gestures are all leveled up. Here she knows how to brings out enough portion of the emotions she has to show in every scene, and that looks visually poetic. There were not many scene where we can see Soyoung having a long physical contact with her own baby, Woosung, but once it happen -although it might look awkward, which is realistic, since Soyoung herself is an unprepared young mother- you can feel the hidden affections and the maternal instinct she has toward her baby, as a mother myself, i can clearly see it, maybe the other moms who watch this movie will feel the way i do.

The chemistry she has with Dong Soo is like a sweet bonus we get from the movie, proving that even without a physical contact you can still feel the butterflies by only seeing the image of Soyoung and Dongsoo in one frame. People keep mentioning the Ferris Wheel scene, yes it's so touching and heart breaking and i cried, but you'll actually see more of it throughout the movie.

Bae Doona as Soojin is not shown really often in the movie, but there were one scene where she has a conversation on the phone with someone, we don't really know who or what that other person says to her but her whole expression and tone in that scene is like telling a huge pain she has been dealing, whatever it is.

Story wise, it is kinda slowburn, up until half of the story. Surely it's not the type of movie that would make you cry a river, leave us in lots of angst nor laugh the hell out. It stays in the middle but if we see it in a positive way, actually with that we can slowly understand their wound and clearly see the emotion transitions in each character, also how they develop, personally it helps me to catch the feeling throughout the movie.

There were no long or difficult to understand narrations and dialogues, but almost every dialogues come with huge impact and weight.

Like everyone else's favorite, the "Thank you for being born" that said with IU's voice it's so precious, and i cried when the kiddo Hyejin say it to her in return.

In the end of the story, all of the characters here trying to find the best way to protect baby Woosung, it's heartbreaking and beautiful in the same time.

With this movie, Koreeda is trying to tell us not every woman who gave birth to a baby has an ability to be a mother, but every children that born deserves to receive protection and love from the adults around them. And that an action most people consider as irresponsible might be the best way to protect someone.

I watched this with my husband and our baby boy, my hubby cried a little at Soyoung and Soojin conversation inside the car. And on the way home he thanked me for giving birth and spending most of my time taking care of our son.

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