Reviews

21th Century Girl

I don't know what to say, even though i watched this movie long time ago i decided to rewatch. I like giving myself pain, and i did a challange basically by rewatching this i believe.

At first it seems like a cute, highschool sweethearts rom-com movie but they had to put a damn plot twist, which in my opinion was unnecessary, we already had too much heartbreaks in the movie, all comfort we had was their cute moments.

It wasn't just the cute moments. It was all the second hand embarrasments, falling in love, time spent together, yet they all were rushed. Sometimes you think what would have happened if she never got the names wrong and if Bo-ra told woonho about her feelings.

Ending also leaves us with so many questions like:
"What happened to their friends after his death in the future?"
"Why did he act so cold at the start?" (I know about his POV, i just thought it was weird)
"How did she (Yeong-du) fall for him so easily? She only saw him for a second then fell in love"
"How did he die?"

They really wasted Kim Yoo Jung and Byeon woo seok's chemistry, i am still angry about this

Basically, this movie was "how to ruin a basic, cute and heartwarming romcom into a tradegy just to not have a cliché ending."

Cinematography was amazing, really makes you feel in 1900s, OST was cute too.

The way she never was able to read the letter and she thought he gosted her (well he technically did) were so annoying too. Netflix, when i catch you Netflix.

I loved seeing her in 21th century, but this movie broke me. They need to give me an explanation, just WHY?

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why do people hate this?

i waited so long to watch this movie and when it was finally available for me i saw that people rated it rather poorly...
i personally thought it was a very interesting movie with a really cool concept that explores something serious and interesting. i also think the actors did a great job, all of them, however i must admit that the storyline was a bit questionable at times and there were definitely some plot holes. i don't think like i fully understood some parts like bai li's husband and i can't tell if it is because they didn't explain it or because i just didn't get it. i would rewatch because it was the perfect amount of tragedy in a movie with a happy ending. the most important part for me was that the movie's idea was really beautiful and provoked me to think about what the future holds in terms of AI and the concept of death. it had its flaws but it was by no means a bad movie.

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A Big CONFUSION!!!

What a waste of 106 minutes!!!!


This movie was confusing from start till finish. I have so much I want to pick at…but I’ll keep this short and sweet.

The plot was weak as hell. Nothing made sense and the way it was put together made it even more confusing. Nothing in this movie flowed each scene will have you more confused that the last one.

There were side characters that never added any substance to the film or the main characters. Theyvwere just there to exist and nothing else. No side stories were formed for us to get to know or connect with them. It was already hard enough connecting with the main characters and then we get a shitty side characters too.

AND THE ENDING…..😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 What kind of weird and confusing ending was that?! It gave no conclusion whatsoever and rather left you wonder what the heck did I watch. I’m all for open endings but this one was next level. It’s not clear whether it’s they got together again or if this was memories they both shared during their “relationship”

Overall this movie is a waste of time and will have you confused from start to finish. If you want to go ahead watch it in 2x speed.

Good luck! You’ll need it.

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Masterpiece

For me, this movie is maybe the best romance movie i have ever seen.
I'm someone who is really difficult in term of my taste in movie/game/tv show ect.
This film is a work of art. It's represent The love, the real définition of love
The cast, the story, the ost, everyhting is perfect.
I have never cry so much in my life for a movie.
The ending is just beautiful and tragic at the same time. This movie is sooo sad but it's also wonderful and magnificent.
I will never forget this movie in my life that's for sure.
He enter in my top 3 of all time.
I had to put a comment because when i see a work of art like that i didn't have the choice to right the tought's i have in my head right know.
This movie give me hope in terms of loving someone.
This is the type of movie who remind you that pure love exist and you want to expérience it...
But in the world we live in it's really really difficult to find someone like that.

This film is unforgettable. I loved every second of it.


🌻🌼🌹 :)

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There Is No Greater Purpose Than Service To Others!

As gentle, as simple, and as sweet as the gerbera flowers depicted in this movie, this little romance shares all of the beautiful qualities of those flowers. A vast array of colors and meanings, the gerbera flower, in its short lifespan, is able to convey the full spectrum of unconditional love. After all, it’s not how long you live those matters, but how well you live!

This is a touching story about two people, both of whom are terminally ill. Hayasaka Akito is standing on the roof of the hospital, obviously contemplating suicide after learning that he has a year to live when a tumor is discovered in his heart. However, something catches his attention. A young girl (Sakurai Haruna) sitting alone on a bench on the rooftop, drawing in her sketchbook. It’s enough for him to pause and wander over to meet her. Thus begins an especially keen and poignant story of love, friendship, and above all, service.

Akito learns that Haruna has an extremely rare condition, and she has only six months left to live. What baffles Akito is Haruna’s attitude as she tells him that she is not afraid to die. Of course, he begins to visit her often, and he learns that he is her sole visitor. Seeing her bright and cheerful personality, despite her situation, he vows that he can never tell her about his own condition. His action is selfless as Akito realizes that virtually Haruna’s entire life has been mired in pain. He chooses to do all he can to bring some spark of joy to the last months. In this, he more than succeeds.

The true “gem” of the story is that secrets never remain secret for long. It isn’t until after Haruna has passed away and Akito is struggling to fight off the disease that will soon inevitably take his own life. But not before learning that the secret of his own condition was discovered by Haruna early on in their friendship. Determined to maintain Akito’s secret as well as the unconditional love and gratitude for the gift he gave her, she made her own vow to not let him know that she knew. Akito viewed Haruna as an angel, when in truth, both were angels to each other. Akito carried Haruna in Life, and Haruna carried Akito in Death.

It's been stated that there is no greater gift than simply being there for someone. The exchanges between Akito and Haruna are incredibly sweet without being melodramatic. There are no demands for sympathy or sorrow. Each learns to simply be in the moment for each other. Each learns to simply be there for each other. And each learns that there is no love without friendship or unconditionality, and that is the true beauty of this story. The magic of unconditional love. And even though Haruna conveys her love to Akito through the gerbera flowers, we also know that no words are necessary, and she knew that he loved her as well. Actions speak volumes.

Nagase Ren and Deguchi Natsuki have real chemistry on the screen. It’s conveyed in their eyes and smiles, which is a big reason why the story works so well. My other favorite character was the woman in the flower shop.

Love is actually very simple. We’re the ones who make it complex, no thanks to the egoic mind that loves to put conditions on everything. This film makes me appreciate the simplicity of love, much like the simplicity of the gerbera flower. Keep some tissues handy! You might need them!

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Electric Shadows was a love letter to Chinese cinema as the main characters built their lives around movies. The film jumped around in time showing how two people’s lives intertwined and were destined to meet just like in the movies.

Mao Da Bing is a water delivery boy and in a rush on his bike to make a movie’s showing. He accidentally knocks over some bricks and a young woman clocks him upside the head with a brick and then destroys his bike. At the police station she hands him her keys and tells him to feed her fish by writing on a piece of paper. When he enters her apartment, he sees that it is an ode to film and especially Street Angel with actress Xiao Xuan. He finds her diary and begins to read about her life and how she ended up where she is. As he reads her story, Da Bing also discovers they share a childhood connection.

The flashbacks to Ling Ling and Da Bing’s childhood were sweet and an innocent exploration of friendship and films. Before and after this segment was not as entertaining and contained one too many melodramatic and coincidental moments for me. As a cinephile I can understand the children’s love of film and the role it played before television took over. What I didn’t understand were some of the mom’s inconsistent decisions later in the story. Another mystery for me is what kind of job did Ling Ling have to be able to outfit her apartment like a mini-cinema? Da Bing could barely afford to go to the movies as an adult. They suffered similar situations and Ling Ling’s was compounded by hearing loss.

As much as I wanted to love this film about loving films, outside of the children’s story, the film suffered from too many coincidences and underdeveloped character elements. However, if you can overlook some of those flaws there is still much to be enjoyed in this film about childhood friendship, family, and reconciliation aided by the numerous clips of old Chinese films.

19 August 2024

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Bromance Interrupted

I was expecting a typical angsty teen drama with two boys interested in the same girl, and it delivered in a lackluster storyline. This story was that, but on a repeat cycle. It was obvious, to me. from the beginning who Sei would end up with. She meets Taiyo in class and has a bad first encounter with him. Later, she makes friends with Mizuki who notices her love of stars and introduces her to the Astronomy Club that Taiyo also belongs to. I knew that there was another girl lurking in their past who was bound to make an appearance and she did in the character of Saki, a middle school friend i who was a member of the original Astronomy Club trio.

Saki's return pushes Sei to recognize her feelings or at least has her questioning them. The boys also have to face the past and their love triangle. The three were friends in middle school and Saki liked Taiyo, but was jealous that he paid more attention to to Mizuki. She kissed Mizuki because she was jealous and purposefully hurt Taiyo. What plays out when Saki returns is that she expects to pick up where she left off. She was a manipulative bulldozer, playing on Taiyo's guilt for a past incident, none of which was his fault. The decision she made to stand in the rain, knowing she has a heart condition was her own. Had he shown up, they would still have been in the rain and he couldn't have changed anything, especially as a middle school student. She tries to pull him back to her side, playing up her illness in a very selfish way and even admits she refused surgery because of the complications and her remaining ill would keep Taiyo by her side.

There isn't much in the way of original storyline nor character growth other than Sei making peace with her bullies as they encourage her. It ended the way it started - rather underwhelming.

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one of the best thriller!

..... selama ini gw ngerasa ini salah satu thriller terbaik yg korea punya. Emang sih, cuma setelah gw rewatch untuk yg ke-2(?) kalinya malah ngerasa plotnya gampang ketebak(?) Semacam ada hintnya gitu knp si yooseok bisa semarah itu. Tapi balik lg sih, kalo baru pertama nonton pasti ga nyangka jalan ceritanya begitu awokwowko 🤣 sinematografinya ok sih, gelap2 gitu sesuai genre dan pengambilan gambarnya juga keren. Suasana thrilling sama horornya dapet. Terus bgm!!!!! Kacau banget, 11-12 ama parasite. Beneran sebagus & setepat itu momentnya. Untuk acting gausah ditanyain lagi la ya, gw mah percaya aja kalo yg maen kang haneul sm kim muyeol 😃👍🏻

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Finally, someone understands that fancy CGIs are pointless without a good story. This movie not only has a story, it has heart.

The heart, and the moral center, is the Western Duke Ji Chang. His kindness is shown, not told. His love for his sons, both estranged or adopted, will move you to tears. Li Xue Jian’s performance reminds me very much of Ian McKellen’s Gandalf. Although old and frail, he emanates warmth, wisdom, and a kind of quiet strength. The physical and mental abuse he suffers is beyond what most people can imagine, but he does not let it break him or waver his belief. I stay tuned just to watch Ji Chang survive it all and see the sun rise on his legacy.

Ji Chang’s foil is the very virile, very tyrannical King Zhou. This is a man so morally bankrupt that he would eat his own son if it gets him what he wants. Kris Phillips looks the part of a brute, with just enough charisma that you can see why a battalion of young men would admire him, even willing to die for him. His relationship with the fox demon Da Ji lends a whole new meaning to the term “animal magnetism.”

The younger actors are more than just bare-chested eye candy. Yu Shi and Chen Mu Chi are well cast in their roles as the sons of Ji Chang and King Zhou, respectively. You see something of their father in both men, yet each is still his own person. Assuming the movie follows the book, you’ll understand the poignancy of their friendship and how it will be sorely tested in the future. Yang Jian, one of my favorite characters, isn’t given much to do here and rightly so. I just wish they made him more of a badass warrior like he is in book. Ci Sha’s portrayal of Yang Jian, while cool, is a little tame.

Can the writing be improved upon? Absolutely. The book has a lot going on, making it extremely hard to adapt into a movie. The writers are right in trimming it down and focusing on a few plot lines. The end result is still in the spirit of the Fengshen Bang, placing kindness and compassion above blind loyalty to an unjust regime.

I'm looking forward to the next installation.

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Everything the movie did well:
-Pretty good plot and protagonist.
-Really cool action and sets.
-Really good cast of actors.

Everything the movie did bad:
-Lots of pacing issues, it feels like this movie's plot would bave worked far better as a show rather than a movie.
-Not the most unique plot.

Reasons for the movie's strengths:
The cast was selected very carefully. The special effects director Nobuo Yajima had experience in Super Sentai and Ultraman allowing to do the giant scenes in J properly.

Reasons for the movie's problems:
The movie's production was temporally halted because it the staff weren't allowed to release a movie in January like they originally intended and was only allowed to resume production when they secured being able to do released in April of next year. This resulted in the movie being filmed in just 20 days.
Creator Shotaro Ishinomori and director Keita Amemiya didn't want to have a Giant rider, and the idea was implemented alongside the movie's name in the very last draft of the script.

Overall:
Pretty good film overall but not particularly great, the pacing drags it down significantly and feels like the movie isn't able to make the most use of its concepts. It's not a must-see movie by any means but if you're really into Kamen Rider I would recommend it still since it doesn't do anything offensively bad and it's still a good time overall.

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Everything the movie did well:
-Likeable cast overall.
-Really great practical effects thoughout the whole movie.
-Doras feels properly menacing throughout the whole movie.
-Really cool action.
-Some pretty cool stop-motion.
-The villains feel properly creepy.
-Pretty good plot.

Everything the movie did bad:
-Not really that unique of a story.

Reasons for the movie's strengths:
Despite the movie having ton of production issues, like it originally being made with an adult audience in mind, being a sequel to Shin Kamen Rider Prologue that also crossovered with other seasons. Then became a kid's movie due to Toei having a poor fiscal year, it was still going to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the franchise, even becoming the movie's namesake, but it ended up not releasing on the 20 year anniversary removing its crossover aspects. Then the original draft by producer Shotaro Ishinomori was rejected due to budget since it was too ambitious. Then the movie was triple-billed with both Gosei Sentai Dairanger: The Movie and
Tokusou Robo Janperson: The Movie, reducing the movie's length was originally planned to be 90 minutes.
But in spite the poor odds, the producers managed to amass an amazing staff due to collaborating with other groups from Toei. The directing of Keita Amemiya and the creativity from the staff allowed them to do more with less, resulting in a overall really great movie.

Reasons for the movie's problems:
Them not being able to follow Ishinomori's original draft affected the movie not being that original. But the movie doesn't do anything particularly bad, it just doesn't do anything to be considered a top-tier movie.

Overall:
Really great movie with good pacing, action and characters. This also feels like a perfect entry-point for anyone that wants to get into the franchise since it's not a 40+ episode show and it's a fun time overall. Overall high recommend to anyone who wants to get into the franchise, anyone who's into action movies and to Kamen Rider fans.

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Mild spoilers ahead:

Everything the movie did well:
-Really great practical effects, especially for its transformations.
-Pretty good acting.
-Pretty great soundtrack.
-The action scenes are really cool.
-Some cool concepts here and there.

Everything the movie did bad:
-Took the Prologue in its title too seriously and barely moved the plot forward.
-There's only 2 fights scenes so the movie isn't able to get much use of its cool effects.
-Not a single character is particularly memorable or engaging.

Reasons for the movie's strengths:
It being an adult film allowed them to realize the more monstrous concept Shotaro Ishinomori wanted to do in one of his original drafts for the first season of Kamen Rider.

Reasons for the movie's problems:
The ideas of Jo Onodera, who was part of the main writer duo, didn't mesh well with the ideas creator Shotaro Ishinomori gave in the first draft according to the cowriter Junichi Miyashita which resulted in the whole project being pretty unorganized. Some people speculate that Junichi Miyashita was brought into the project in the first place by main producer Shirakura to give more polish to writing due to their ideas not meshing well but there's no confirmation.
Also the original idea for the protagonist that Shotaro Ishinomori gave for the project was rejected by producer Shirakura (also said idea was a rejected idea for Black's protagonist), so it's possible that beside Shotaro's and Junichi's ideas were clashing, they were also clashing with Shirakura's, making the project more directionless.
The original plan was for this movie to serve as prologue to a mini-series dubbed Kamen Rider Gaia but it wasn't canceled for unspecified reasons, the only thing known is that producer Shirakura comfirmed that the reason wasn't sales as the movie sold well and that at some point the project shifted into being a crossover movie with previous riders and a new protagonist in spite of Shin originally being planned to be a stand-alone blank state, but the latter project ended up becoming Kamen Rider ZO which was a completely standalone movie. The draft of Kamen Rider Gaia ended up being reworked into a novel that had nothing to do with the film in 2004, called "Kamen Rider Eve -Masked Rider Gaia-"

Overall:
I cannot really recommend this movie, there's barely any plot in the movie and it just feels like setup, and said setup went nowhere since its sequels got canceled. None of the characters are particularly likeable which really make the movie feel like a snorefest. The biggest draw to the film are the fight scenes but they're very few and one can probably find them on the internet either way. Overall, there's really no reason to watch the movie unless you're a Kamen Rider completionist.

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"Can I ... Can I carry you on my back?"

"You know ... I'm getting married soon. But it has been so hard for me these days. I should ... I should get married... I have to soon ... but ..."

This is not a story about a middle-aged man lusting after a boy. This is a story about a man, who once was young, who denied himself his chance with his first love, who is feeling the societal pressures to get married -- who mourns his loss and tries to say good-bye to what once could have been.

Even though this film is short, it's slow. What we hear is not what Jin Tae says -- do not listen with your ears, listen with your heart and your mind; what you can feel and know about him.
Everything is subtle and muted; the excellent melancholic acting, the autumn colours, the quiet sounds -- the story's in the details.

This film will not be for everyone; it's been hard for me to "get it" too -- but maybe you'll find yourselft a bit more open the next time a middle-aged queer person tells their story.

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