Reviews

This movie is all about Ikuta Toma's incredible acting

This movie is all about Ikuta Toma's incredible acting. He even manage to portray such a controversial character and make it somehow worth it!

There are lots of unnecessary scenes with the teens which were somewhat overboard. But the main lead actor, Ikuta toma, nailed it. There were things in between lines. Like Mr. Ito's facial expression. In one time, he was lying but there was deep sadness in his face. Also, he did something which he normally won't do. As for relationship, he maintains a wall where suitors never got a space to enter yet that wall never really existed for Shimada! It was his acting that make it all sense. Even the guy friend of Shimada sensed that the love was mutual in their case. Here, Mr. Ito was workaholic, non-sociable and had some sort of complex in terms of relationship. But his heart melted by Shimada's innocence and he was grateful towards her, also apologetic for not being able to accept her or hurting her. That's why, that controversial relationship never felt wrong! And I'm not exaggerating anything. Mr Ito expressed everything in this tiny movie with his so little screen time and few dialogues! But the rest is pretty much like other teen movies.

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Supernatural teen scream

The movie has good moments and bad moments. Some scenes were well built on atmosphere, making the jump scares more effective. Some jump scares were punching you in the face with over the top effects. And yet, the movie was quite entertaining.

What truly adds to the typical teens at the haunted location flick is the introduction of different timelines. We follow different plot lines that together create a rather cohesive picture. There were a few small twists that I didn't see coming, thanks to which, the ending was truly satisfying.

Hard to comment on the acting, when the acting was 80% just screaming. There was not much depth to the character, and their purpose was to… well, die. About dying, the ghost had a strange interest in toilets. Somehow, quite a lot happened in that area.

First half of the movie had a better atmosphere. The director showed us enough of the supernatural lurking in the dark, that I was interested in what’s to come and what exactly is after the kids. Sadly, the more of the actual footage of the demonic ghost I’ve got, the funnier it became.

Overall, a rather fun ride. I am a bit weak for the teen horrors, and seeing these kids run around trying to survive is always entertaining. So, as long as you don’t expect a groundbreaking cinematic masterpiece, and just want to have a little bit of chill fun, you might like it.

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If you are inspired to watch this movie because you saw Andy Lau's and Ekin Cheng's names and picture on the title---don't bother. Ekin and Andy had very little screen time.
If you are inspired to watch this because you saw a badass swordswoman on a poster like I was---seriously don't bother.
If you thought A Man Called Hero and The Storm Riders were masterpieces---this movie is for you. It comes from much of the same team and might serve your viewing needs.

If you are looking for grand sword fights or kung fu, you won't find it here. The few sword fights were hindered by posing and sped up action and enhanced by terrible CGI. My grandmother would have looked like a martial arts master the way they filmed these blurry fights.

The women were portrayed as vapid, lovesick, airheads. Unless the translation was wrong on the copy I watched, one of them fell in love with her half-brother. Eww.

The star of this comedic marvel was Nick Cheung as an ancient James Bond wanna be, Dragon 009. He knew all the criminals, was a master of deduction and loved hitting on women and making innuendos about his 8 1/2 inch third leg. Charming. He made a mildly amusing lecherous investigator though his actions are quite dated now. For the most part, the movie was a dull murder mystery. I'm sure Wong Jing and Manfred Wong, the writers, thought the big twist at the end was brilliant but I saw it coming from a mile away. The duel in the title came at the end and was quite anti-climatic.

Some of the sets were nice although I've seen more opulent throne rooms in web dramas. Must have been a very poor emperor.

There were a few funny moments and interesting fights. This movie might hit the target with fans of the other two Andrew Lau/Ekin Cheng movies, but it missed the mark with me.

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May contain Spoilers**

Okay, first things first, the possibility of you or any person liking this movie is very subjective. All the reviews that I have read are either full of praises or it's just a no-no for some people.
As a regular BL watcher, I regret that I did not find this movie sooner. I cannot believe that I was missing out on this. Yes! I've liked this movie way too much.

Side note - I seriously do not understand how can Korean actors/actresses portray such an amazing chemistry between their characters. If you are a regular Kdrama watcher, you'll understand what I am trying to say. This movie has such a good chemistry between the 2 leads. I was a little unsure at first because of the age difference between them, but OMG, they surely do not disappoint you. Also, I did not expect the kisses at all! This is a Korean movie, on top of that a BL. I was really not prepared for the kisses and trust me, those were not awkward at all. Once again, hella great chemistry.

Okay, on to the movie. As the name suggests - Method, this movie is really how you interpret it. Like, is it really just for the "Method" acting or were they really into each other. Could be both too or not.

The cast played out this movie really well. The palpable tension between the leads, their unspoken emotions. Everything was executed very nicely. The ending might not be the one you expect. It does end sort of realistically. But, the movie handles real issues, real struggles, the consequences of situations like these in real life situations very well.

The story - 100% ; The Cast/Acting - 100% (perfect casting, acc. to me) ; Will definitely re-watch this again and again.

P.S. For some people who will be watching it for the 1st time, it might become overbearing but trust me, you won't regret watching this movie. I think it does deliver the message they were trying to deliver.

One of the best BL Movies I've watched.

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I've finally finished watching this at last. Fair to say, when the live action adaptation was announced, I was worried about how would they approach the show and adapt it into a movie. Since I'm not sure that there would be any plans for any other subsequent continuation and I'm a bit biased as I'm really fond of the live action musical casts.

But the movie turned out to be fine, not really what I'd expected it to be concluded but it was fine enough to be a standalone movie adaptation. Love the CGI effects and the cinematic setting. It would've been nice if there were actually plans to adapt the Soul Society Arc as well, but at least there's the old Rock Musical Bleach to fill that hole.

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Fangorn Forest isn't the only place where you'd better not turn your back on the trees!

Shu Qi plays a detective trying to solve a rape-murder. Ekin Cheng plays a botanist who believes he can communicate with trees and is trying to prove it. His girlfriend, Rain Li, is a reporter using sensationalist stories about the numerous suicides and disappearances taking place in the forest to further her career. Shu Qi enlists Ekin Cheng to see if the trees can provide evidence in the case. Please don't stop reading, it gets better. Throw in that this is supposed to be taking place in Thailand with a Hong Kong cast and this movie is a real head scratcher. I won't even spoil it with the big reveal behind some of the spooky elements going on in the forest, but if you watch this movie, you may be like me and say, "sure, why not?" and just start laughing.

Full disclosure, I am a Shu Qi fan and she's why I started and didn't drop this movie. She gave a good performance, even if we never learned much about her character except that she is a doggedly determined detective. Ekin Cheng didn't have much to do except to occasionally talk to the trees and look at "scientific" equipment. Rain Li's reporter probably had the most development as she had to deal with her demanding boss and inattentive boyfriend.

Forest of Death does have some good moments of suspense and creepiness. The acting is all more than adequate. The story, however, adds in too many unbelievable elements. If they'd stuck to one fantastical element they could have built their mythology around it. Instead, they try to weave in too many supernatural stories into one and it ends up making for a vague and even ludicrous culmination.

Forest of Death could be another name for all the trees who gave their lives for the script pages of this murky, mess of a movie.

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Pour yourself a nice glass of wine and grab some crackers, because you'll need it to go with all of the cheese in this melodramatic movie. It's hard to take any movie seriously when it doubles as an advertisement for Sea World/Shamu or 'Free Willy Goes to Hong Kong'.

Kenny Bee stars as the 13th Prince who is deposed by his evil brother, the 14th Prince played by Kelvin Wong. I was happy to see Maggie Cheung as one of 13th Prince's bodyguards. 13th Prince and his small entourage are saved from a plethora of assassins in a bamboo forest by Andy Lau's fisherman, Ah Fei, who happens to be wandering about. They make friends and Ah Fei takes them to a secret underground royal tomb to hide out in. Ah Fei is tasked with bringing 13th Prince's fiancé to him. A gorgeous Anita Mui plays the willful Princess and on the long dangerous road back to the 13th Prince, feisty banter turns to love. Duty above all, everyone ignores the obvious feelings because 14th Prince is hot on their trail.

Moon Warriors has one of the most preposterous endings I've ever seen which takes away any tragic feelings and replaces them with laughter and WTF? This is not one of Andy's strongest performances, but I can't blame him, he's required to say some pretty cheesy lines. Maggie and Anita both do a good job with what they are given and their fight is the highlight of the movie. Kenny is properly stoic and noble. Kelvin has the evil laugh down which is half of what he needs for his performance as the villain. The actors could only do so much with the script they were given so I tried to cut them some slack.

The pinnacle of ludicrousness is Ah Fei's friendship with a killer whale. I do have to applaud Andy Lau for his commitment to the role and learning to ride and do tricks with Hong Kong's version of Shamu.

My evaluation of martial arts movies always comes down to the fights. Moon Warriors used so much wire-fu it looked like the actors were on the moon bouncing around half the time. I have no problem with light body skills in a wuxia, but this movie overdid the super human leaping never missing the chance to have someone flying through windows or simply defying gravity as they ran. While many of the fights were creative and fast, they often looked incredibly awkward as well. I do have to say I saw the most creative decapitation ever, at least through my fingers.

Moon Warriors has some beautiful cinematography and fight scenes every few minutes to keep things interesting. The actors gave it their best. Ultimately, it ended up being a slightly below average wuxia for me. It was filmed in the 90's so it didn't receive my grading on a curve that I give much older movies. It's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes but if you are lactose intolerant you might want to skip this one.

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your typical coming of age melodrama

I mainly watched this movie because Hsu Kuang-han and he did so wonderfully in "Someday or One Day" which has kind of the same vibes. Both actors did extremely well, there weren't any parts that felt off or cringey at all, and the way they expressed their emotions fit their characters 10/10. However, in terms of this moving being particularly memorable or moving,...it's hard to say that it was. This is certainly worth watching however I've watched way too many coming of age and youth content, and judging from the ones I've watched(ranging from unmemorable to really good), this is definitely mediocre.

This movie leans more towards the realistic side, so it's surprising yet predictable. Surprising that they don't follow the cliche route where the main leads have the easy way out and solve all their relationship issues.

I appreciate the ost and the cinematography during those parts. I'd give it a 10/10. So happy they included 童话and the main ost sung by Eric Chou :) I think my favorite part is when ML sets off fireworks at the campus residential building and then everyone crowds around to see and they're all singing and waving their phone lights (super aesthetic)

Overall, this movie was pretty lighthearted and it was a good watch. Not super emotional or moving (until near the end when both characters, esp the ML, matures), but I'd say give it a shot :)

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I for one, love the Bourne saga because of how much action was in each and every film. Those are my type of action movies!!

I've seen a total of maybe seven Korean movies in my whole entire lifetime and this was one of those. I usually don't watch Korean movies because they lack.....I can't think of the proper word for what I'm trying to say but I'll say depth.

I'm not familiar with the main male character and did a little research on him. I had no idea how infamous he was. That led me to watching Goblin but I ended up dropping that series because of the cliche romance involved. I no longer watch Korean dramas that have romance as the basis of their shows but I did enjoy the bloopers from that series.

Now back to this movie. The main thing that I liked in this movie were the car chase scenes. I was rooting like a kid on those. The fighting scenes were on point for me as well.
Now I will say some things that happened in this movie like the main lead getting dropped through a floor by a rope around his neck and was able to free himself was a little bit far fetched but what length are you willing to go when you need to get to that person who was behind killing your family?
The end had me upset because I wanted to see more revenge being done to the wrongdoers but the movie was already over 2 hours.

This was also a movie that I watched twice and I've never watched a Korean movie twice.

If you like the Bourne saga or the Mission Impossible saga this is highly suggested. For those who gave this a low score obviously don't like action packed movies.

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A Different Twist to a BL Story

I liked this movie. Normally, I detest occult and ghost stories but this one brought me into it. Mainly because of the excellent acting by the main characters. They were not easy roles because they required a lot of internal intensity to portray. It is filled with a lot of quixotic characters in bizarre settings but it worked. The chemistry and connection between the main characters is so evident. They are physical yet no physicality is involved. They are emotional without emotional attachments. They are individuals but function like an entity. Intriguing? Absolutely. But this is not for everyone. If you are looking for a love connection, move on. It's not here. Or is it?
You can read my full review at BLBLISS.com.

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Poorly written story full of work-place harassment

If your idea of a good relationship is one in which there is constant bullying going on, this is the show for you. She works in the kitchen for a prominent family. The young "master" supposedly has feeling for her, but there is no way that you could tell by the way he acts. He was constantly grabbing her, shoving her around and basically his behavior was one long tantrum. In addition, he had no regard for her personal space (which if you felt like he liked her, you might be able to put up with, but since I didn't get that he liked her, I was bothered by this.) In a fit of anger he kicks her out of the house, but then tracks her down to bully her some more. I realize that during the time frame depicted and because of her station in life, she didn't have many options, but the idea of her spending her life with a bully just put me off. I hate the "getting drunk so we don't have to explain our actions" trope and that was used here as well. All of a sudden, in the sober light of day, all is forgiven and she's back in the family manner, Marriage is mentioned but never does he express feelings of love for her.
ACTING/DUBBING: I didn't feel that the actors were very good, but they certainly didn't have much to work with either! They seemed to feel that emotions were supposed to be shown through long stares and big eyes. Add to that the terrible job of dubbing - in addition to the shrill, whiny voices you get treated to the sounds of them eating, chewing and swallowing, like that was an important part of the story.
CHEMISTRY - there were a couple of places where the male lead's eyes warmed up a little, but I was unable to forgive his treatment of her the rest of the time.

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It's OK if you choose to not watch this lol

I'm kinda new to J-dramas/movies so I know nothing about the late Haruma Miura except for the news of his passing last year. After watching this movie, I felt heartbroken because I love his acting in this movie and the fact that I will never see him anymore in dramas/movies makes my heart wrenched. Rest in peace beautiful soul.

Anyway, the movie was OK. Of course, there were some lacking like :
- The death of Kota and Motoyasu was so... plain? Contrary to their strong character here so I expected an impact left but nah
- The ending left so many questions behind

I kinda agreed with one of the reviewers here saying that there're too many things to put in one movie. Should have done it as drama series instead.

Praised to all actors. Good acting indeed.

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Beautifully delicate movie about a sad, touching historical event

This "Seeing Nara Again" aka "Tracing Her Shadow" is based on a true, sad and very touching historical event: the "war orphans" left behind by the Japanese in formerly occupied parts of China at the end of WWII, raised by Chinese foster parents and then, from 1972 (when China and Japan re-established official relations), in part migrated to Japan in search of their biological families. That's the premise of this movie, where a Chinese granma, Chen nana (masterfully portrayed by Wu Yan Shu aka Estelle Wu, whose performance in the lovely drama "When We Were Young" had also really impressed me, BTW) flies to Japan in search of her Japanese foster daughter, who's moved back to Japan years ago and suddenly stopped writing. In her search, the granma is helped by Hatsumi / Xiao Ze, a young woman, half-Japanese and half Chinese, daughter of another war orphan, and by Yoshizawa-san, a retired Japanese policeman (and kudos to the respective actors, Ying Ze and Kunimura Jun, who were also really good).
What follows is a beautifully delicate movie, filled with many meaningful scenes that illustrate both the differences between China and Japan (to name but one: when the granma sits at the kotatsu the first night, but then in following scenes we see her sitting in a plastic chair - 'cause of course she wouldn't be used to sitting on the floor!) and also the hardships and troubles these war orphans (but also Hatsumi!) had to face - all done in a very delicate way, not force-fed down the viewers' throats as is the case of many Western productions, but rather suggested in an inobtrusive manner that adds greatly to the movie's value (another example of this lovely approach could be in the few funny scenes that lighten up a bit what is of course a pretty sad story - take for example the hilarious scene at the butcher's, or when our trio trick the paramedics into leaving the ambulance unattended so that they could answer the phone).
I really would've given this movie a "perfect 10" grade, weren't it for the next-to-last scene (the one preceding the last one with the beautiful enka song).
WARNING: HUGE SPOILER AHEAD!
I really didn't understand why Hatsumi and Yoshizawa-san would give granma Chen false hope knowing that there was none...it felt cruel and really out of place to me.../.___.\
Apart from that scene, though, this is a real masterpiece and I therefore give it a well-deserved "9"!
Wholeheartedly recommended!

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You should definitely watch it!

This was my first ever asian movie. I watched a video about this movie on Youtube by chance. Since then I have seen many korean and chinese dramas and some movies too.
The acting was incredible, especially if you take into account the male lead's age. Female lead's acting was so convincing and emotional! I liked the story quite a lot. I loved how these two were connected by chance and bonded. They cared for each other and became their own kind of family. Love came quietly, as a result of care. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly suggest that you do. It's not a very happy or romantic one, but I think that you will feel all the emotions coming through!

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Honestly, when will directors figure out showing less means more in horror movies? There is nothing scary about a lady screaming with CGI all over her face. It’s rather comical.

The Rope Curse 2 for sure had a bigger budget than the first movie, but it also had worse scriptwriting and directing. Nothing felt connected, the big reveal about the evil being at the end was not set up properly through the film either. For me, it was just hard to care about anything happening on the screen, because I was not entertained or engaged.

The acting was passable. I have not seen Lee Kang Sheng in any other movie or show, so his questionable performance and somewhat weak line delivery might have been the result of poorly written script.

It honestly felt more like a US remake and not an Asian horror movie. It was filled with cheap jump scares, shallow characters, loosely connected plot points and lack of overall depth.

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