Reviews

Hilarious!

That was hilarious! It totally feels like a folk story, a legend of those whispered around the village fire when the children have gone to sleep. It could also be a daydream of a Korean living in a foreign country who has been taunted by locals for his... ehm... size.
The costumes, the behaviour, everything... don't expect historical accuracy. People, it's fantasy, let's not forget that. So don't wonder why skirts are short and why a Joseon-time girl dances classical ballet half-naked near a village pond, or why the village men perform an Esther Williams number in the said pond. Yes, it's over-the-top, but that was its whole point! And yet it still manages to celebrate empathy and solidarity and even romantic love.
Thoroughly recommended if you want to chase away any stress or sadness. But not to people who take satire seriously, who get offended easily and who are champions of political correctness.

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Loyalty or love - a complex love triangle

HUGE SPOILERS!!!!!

I didn’t expect to love this movie so much, but I did. This tells the complicated love triangle between the 3 main leads - Hong Rim (Chief of King’s guard), Gong Min (king) and No Guk (queen). Set during Goryeo dynasty, Hong Rim and Gong Min are lovers, Gong Min trusts Hong Rim the most, and Hong Rim is very loyal towards Gong Min, would do anything for him. But Gong Min, who has no interest in No Guk, is pressured to make her pregnant, so that she will give birth to future heir. But he refuses to sleep with her and orders his lover to sleep with her instead, to make her pregnant. Hong Rim doesn’t want to, but he has no other choice but to obey… neither him or No Guk are happy about it, and it starts out as awkward and confusion when they sleep with each other first time, but eventually comes to enjoy it and their intercouse becomes full of lust and passion. And Hong Rim gets confused by his own growing feelings for the queen while also wanting to stay loyal to the king. It becomes dangerous as Hong Rim and No Guk starts playing with the fire, that could destroy everything…

The acting is amazing by all 3 leads - So In Sung, Jo Jin Mo and Song Ji Hyo! They gave it all and the acting comes off as very natural. The setting, clothes is very beautiful and overall Goryeo is a very interesting dynasty. A high quality movie even tho it’s from 2008…but this movie can be very disturbing , it had Gore and many erotic scenes - so, very sensitive viewers should not watch this. The sex scenes are very intense and realistisic, I started to think that the actors actually Did ’it’ for real. Such a progressive, extremly daring movie as not only violent and erotic - but also because it has homosexuality , in a movie set during Goryeo dynasty!! I don’t want to spoil too much but I have No idea Why so many feels sorry for Gong Min?? Like, seriously!

I was surprisingly moved by the forbidden love story between Hong Rim and No Guk, I truly believe they fell deeply in love with each other, they risked so much just to be together, Chemistry between Jo In Sung and Song Ji Hyo was on fire , it could melt my screen! And I was rooting for the impossible romence. I don’t think Hong Rim was ever in love with Gong Min… he loved him yes, but not romantically.

I love that We have k-dramas that usually are pretty tame/innocent but that k-movies can be anything but tame/innocent lol! If i want to watch something innocent I watch k-dramas , but if i’m in mood for something very spicy, I’ll go for k-movies!

Anyways, this movie is very intense, sometimes I had to hold my breath! It was interesting that when Hong Rim fell for No Guk, his lust/passion/love for her took his mind and thus his huge loyalty for Gong Min started to decline… which of course makes Gong Min in full rage mood!

This movie is almost perfection, nothing really I want to change. I’m proud of the 3 actors who took such daring roles! Kudos to them! I recommend this movie for adults who are not too sensitive, it’s truly a great movie. But don’t watch with your parents!! I truly fell for Hong Rim , who’s Been groomed by Gong Min since childhood , how he Been taught all his life to always obey and be loyal to Gong Min, taught to sacrifice his life for him - taught to always put him first and for Gong Min to be Hong Rim’s whole world. The only one he should ever care about..so when he falls in love with No Guk, it shakens up his life, and him who never before been with a Woman…

Truly a great movie, but no way i feel sorry for the king! It’s all his fault in the first place as he was the one who ordered them to sleep with each other , he should have known that there is possibility for them to develop feelings for each other. This movie … for sure it won’t be the last time I watched it ! :)

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Movie revisiting TXT 2022 US Tour: wish it went deeper but still felt a lot of emotions watching it

This documentary movie follows the summer 2022 US Tour of Tomorrow x Together which culminated with their first participation to the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.

As I enjoy TXT's music and appreciate the 5 members also in their individualities, it is difficult to give an objective opinion on this movie... The angle of approach of the documentary seems to be that after debuting in March 2019 and not being able to do tours/live concerts with real people during the pandemic years, the group can finally meet again its fans in the real world. It is an intelligent starting point but at the same time, I must say that overall the message the director was going for seems kind of vague.

The film consists in a mix of several elements: some interviews with the members to get their feelings and input on what happened during the tour, some behind-the-scenes moments regarding the organisation, preparation and repetitions for the concerts in addition to some storytelling about the tour focusing on specific situations happening to the members. Therefore, the direction of the movie feels not clear. They try to go into too many things but at the same times it stays in a way too superficial because of the lack of time to deepen the topics.

If you are a casual fan of the group or even consider yourself as a MOA, I'm not sure it will give you really a lot of new insights on TXT. But you will still of course for sure enjoy the movie. If you are a newcomer or know very little about TXT, I'm not sure you will really understand all the ins and outs regarding the group...There are very little contextualization done in the documentary regarding the launch of the group, their music, each of the members and you might not totally get the importance of some of the events.

Despite its shortcomings, I really think it was a quite interesting watch that will bring you for sure some feelings. It is enjoyable but also really painful on some aspects as the boys face many difficulties to go through the tour. It has clearly a physical and emotional impact on them but at the same time, they share also pure moments of joy and are rewarded of their tremendous efforts.

I would recommend this to people that love TXT. It is a nice complementary watch to revisit the 2022 US Tour in another way. Even though I wish it would have been deeper on some aspects, I'm still grateful in a way about the fact that they shared both the joyful times but also the more painful moments. It was done in a controlled way but at least it does not totally brush off the difficulties faced. It is beautiful in a way to know that just one year later, in summer 2023, the group successfully headlined the Lollapalooza festival.

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Solidly good

So, to be 100% honest, my horny behind came for the NC17 rating and the hope for hot NC scenes and stayed for what turned out to be a solidly good film! I love being surprised. The story, to me, isn't that deep. We've seen the dead mother/warped intimacy storyline a thousand times so there was nothing special. What was wonderful was how well the film was directed and how beautiful and purposeful each sex scene was written. I felt Ryo grew a lot with each encounter. As he got to know women's bodies and their minds, he got to know more about himself and how to Feel. That ultimately brings us to the lightly existential pseudo-incestious encounter towards the end which was beautiful, uncomfortable, and powerfully erotic all at once.

To me, however, one of the best and saddest scenes was with the friend from the bar. No spoilers here but their encounter truly broke my heart. I will have to go back and watch their scenes again because I missed some things. I do wish there could have been a little more depth in that relationship which would have made their storyline even more powerful and enriched the film.

Overall, solidly good film. Lots of erotic scenes so if that's not your thing you probably want to skip this one. Very good directing, acting, and overall production.

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Epic Chinese mythology movie not to be missed

[PARDON ME, THIS IS LONG]

I'm giving this 10 stars, not because I'm Chinese (and naturally biased as many would probably think). I have never read the Investiture of the Gods (the novel on which the Trilogy is largely based), nor properly watched any relevant TV/movie production. (To those who are familiar with the original story, the Trilogy focuses on Jifa rather than Jiang Ziya who is traditionally depicted as the protagonist.)

I am giving this 10 stars, because I am truly in awe of the high quality of the movie consistently demonstrated in all aspects, a master-piece conjured with the blood, sweat and tears of a team of 8000+ crew: the mind blowing cinematographic effects, the exceptionally amazing actors (whether it be men or women, new or seasoned), the extremely elaborate costumes, the lavish grand palace and buildings crafted by 2000+ carpenters, the beautiful original scores and songs, the simply superb and talented Director Wuershan who has dedicated whole heartedly more than 9 years to the Trilogy while constantly striking nothing but perfection throughout... The list goes on.

I am very impressed by the new actors and actresses who survived 6-8 months in a very intensive training camp. Their daily routine usually ran from 5am to 9pm, 6 days a week, where they were required to undergo various types of training including riding, archery, combat, music, history, physical training, swimming and performing, all of which helped transform them into what warriors should look like 3000 years ago - not just the muscles, but also the SPIRIT! And yes, their acting skills may be debatable, but they are by no means awkward. They are meant to play roles that are in the teens/early twenties, which are exactly where they were when the movie started shooting more than 5 years ago. Practically all of them were new to equestrian, one of the many subjects they had to master in the training camp. By the time they graduated, they all became excellent riders that were able to perform amazing acts in concert. That's why the horseback riding shots are so breathtaking - no stunts at all. About this, I would in particular raise my glasses to Yu Shi (Yosh), the actor that plays Jifa. He has a reputation for constantly pushing himself to the limit, back then and throughout those years while waiting for the movie to be released (which was overdue for 3 years). There is a jaw-dropping scene where he turned around and shot arrows from the horseback without reins, something apparently so dangerous that no one else (the equestrian director included) in the set was able to complete. He insisted on performing the whole series of actions himself and after endless practice, day and night, he pulled it off with flying colors. I am sure this is only one of the many spectacular moments that he will be remembered for, down the line.

As for the King, I personally adore Kris Phillips' (AKA Fei Xiang) portrayal and I beg to differ from those who took the view that his acting was terrible. Anyone who goes to the movie with a peaceful heart cannot possibly have come up with that blatant conclusion. His dramatic expressions and awesome physique imparted life to the King who is known in history and novels as someone smart, strong, tall but most of the time, brutal... Many Chinese are of the view that no one else in modern days is better fitted to play the King.

Jichang, played by Li Xuejian, is another role that truly touches my heart. He is a veteran Chinese actor who has won probably all the awards in China that can be garnered. Some may laugh at the way he speaks in the movie, but please try to understand that he has been fighting nasopharyngeal cancer for more than 2 decades, which has seriously affected how he articulates and his hearing too. Why did they insist on using his own voice? It is because only that way, an actor could fully unleash to the audience what the role should really be like. Mr. Li's performance is powerful and flawless in every scene.

Surely, there are areas that require improvements. The special effects - yes, they could have been better but considering the lack of funding and the fact that the Director had to pay out of his pocket to keep it going, I am only hoping the first Installment of the Trilogy could score better in worldwide box office so that more funds can be injected to improve that area which is very important to the 2nd and the 3rd installments. The plot - yes, some wonderfully shot scenes did not appear in the movie, which arguably could help audience understand better, but the Director had to make a judgement call in order not to compromise the integrity of the story line, and having a movie longer than 2.5 hours means more difficulty in getting it released in Chinese theatres, apparently...

Truth be told. I've seen the Creation of the Gods 4 times, all in iMax theatres. Each time, I was able to find details that I previously missed. Each time, I was able to feel more. Last time that I did such a thing was for Titanic, and I only watched it 3 times...

So if you have a big heart and are happy to embrace all cultures, may I urge you to give this movie a chance, and please do so in an iMax theatre if you can!

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A good story with realistic depiction of being gay in Japan

My favorite thing about this movie is the fact that it's got barely any censorship. I have seen many works trying to imply different gay relationships in the plot without actually showing it even once, but this one's different. Everything, from illegal physical relationship to stupid homophobic comments, is depicted as it is.
Moreover, the characters' stories (and I want to specifically emphasize the MC's lover) are extremely accurate and sound like something totally happening somewhere in Japan (I live here so I know what I'm talking about). I actually find the movie a good piece of educational material on Japanese society and how LGBTQ+ fit in it.
The story is also very touching, you feel genuine satisfaction and peace after watching. The visuals are also quite above average. Not a masterpiece, but extremely enjoyable.

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The beauty of the male body

I have to say that this short erotic film had only an average effect on me. It's not so much about the erotic scenes (or soft) as it is about the beauty of the male body and its partly artistic rendering of its presentation - in this case in the East Asian type of physique and processing. There isn't much dialogue, which is good for this type of film…
I have to say that this short erotic film had only an average effect on me. It's not so much about the erotic scenes (or soft) as it is about the beauty of the male body and its partly artistic rendering of its presentation - in this case in the East Asian type of physique and processing. There isn't much dialogue, which is good for this type of film…

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Beautiful actor Metha Chularp – KAENG

The story of the movie is strong, it stars the beautiful actor Metha Chularp – Kaeng. But everything else falters behind the story.

The film begins rather superficially, without much depth. I didn't like the division into chapters, because it was more like crushing it into dozens of different pictures and images.

And the music, at the beginning it was so-so, but when the motif was repeated for about the thirtieth time, it started to bother me, especially in the last third of the film, when the carousel carousel did not fit the plot at all (the dying Kaeng), the horror, and after quite a long time I give the music a low rating and it didn't affect me either that I quite like Asian movies...

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BWH&H 1: The Beginning

I can't believe there are no review of this here yet.

I'm a huge Yakuza/Like A Dragon video game fan, and have been for many, many years. That's essentially how I stumbled across this series of movies, as many consider it to be a sort of blueprint for those stories. I wasn't disappointed.

I'm not going to run through all of my loves and gripes from this entry. Instead, I'm going to give tips on how to watch these. The first thing you need to know is that these are best viewed back to back, at least within a short period of time. If you don't, you'll lose track of who is who, who is sworn to who and which gang, what their backstories and relationships are, etc. This is how I watched these five films the first time around, and I did the exact same thing recently for my second viewing of them. If you like this film, the others are pretty similar, and flow really well together.

As for this particular first film, it's an amazing start. It only scratches the surface of the yakuza world the series builds, but it's a serviceable starting point with a lot going on, and possesses a great cast of characters to follow. It moves a t a really fast pace and utilizes shaky cam, complete with all the poor choreographing you'd expect from a Japanese film from this period. If you can get by all that, you'll love it. If you can't, you're gonna hate it. It's broken up with historical narrative bits too, so you have to pay careful attention all throughout. It's a very involving plot, but ultimately it proves very rewarding in the end.

I'm giving it a 9 because it was just as entertaining on my re-watch as it was the first time around. If you like mafia-esque stories then you owe it to yourself to at least give this one a try.

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very disappointing

This movie is the most fucked up movie I have probably ever seen. I'm never gonna recommend this to anyone unless they want to see a shit ton of blood and gross things. It felt like all they wanted to show us is how they kill people without any mercy. This story had quite a bit of potential but they decided to just fuck everything up by introducing a monster with super strength and killing the main characters??? at least they were the main characters for 3/4th of the movie but at the end, it turned out that they weren't actually that important.. definitely not my cup of tea. it also kind of ended with a cliffhanger that made us question what actually happened.

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Feel good, heartwarmingly good

Is this a sports movie? Kind of. But honestly, this is more of a heartwarmingly beautiful story. I would have watched this even if it was a 16 episode show- and it honestly could have been.

Park Seo Joonhas to be my favourite part of this movie. He does amazingly well in such roles, I think this is one of my favourite performances in a kdrama. The vibe reminds me much of fight for my way, which also was amazing.

Indeed IU is wonderfully good in this too, and I loved her banter with Park seo joon.

I honestly was left wanting for more and will probably watch more sports dramas.

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Very nice ...

I'm not surprised that this Hong Kong film has been awarded so many times at many festivals including Sundance and Cannes.
I still think about the story, how it was tastefully set since it was filmed more than a decade back in Beijing, with how sensitive the story was to the development of Chinese society at the time, but at the same time so intimate and without pomp, with very good processing and acting, when the older man from the central pair, the bigger symposus slowly became a phenomenon for me (Chen Handong), as the main character (Lan Yu) ...

I think that the Chinese themselves would not have been able to film such a point of view of their society at that time, but they were lucky in that in the year the film was made, the "returned" capitalist Hong Kong contributed to it with its freer perspective. Very nice.

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Typical movie, but I enjoyed the concept

I was initially drawn to the phones and social media concept. Putting yourself out there too much leaves you prone danger.

But, the plot started as stupid as the main girl giving her PASSWORD for someone to repair her phone screen. That is not something that would be asked, and she never even questioned it. She was your typical dense girl for the sake of creating the plot. She would blame her friend she's known for years than the random stranger she met for a couple days.

I think they spent the most details on the beginning shot sequence, which was really well done.

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A Truly Masterpiece

Okay, here’s my review for MMDB —

1. The Plot :

The movie isn’t without its faults, though. There’s an undeniable excess in its runtime, making it feel a tad bit overstretched. And yeah, some of the CGI action sequences had me wishing they’d spent a little more on the tech. Still, it’s the sheer audacity of the plot and its refreshing take on acceptance that makes it a must-watch.
Let’s not forget the supporting characters that add layers to the story. Gingle Wang as Tzu-ching gives us an insight into the gender disparity in the workplace, making us applaud and also roll our eyes at how criminally underused she is.

2. Why It’s Important :

At a time when movies often play it safe, “Marry My Dead Body” pushes boundaries and embraces storytelling that’s more than just entertainment — it’s a statement. The movie portrays the power of change, the ability to confront one’s own prejudices, and the transformative nature of love, even in its non-traditional forms. As societal views progress, films like this act as markers, reminding us how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go.

3. Why It’s Different:

Most romantic comedies follow a well-trodden path: boy meets girl, they face challenges, they overcome them, end of story. But here, the narrative isn’t just about romance; it’s a dynamic journey that delves deep into acceptance, cultural shifts, and challenging deeply ingrained prejudices.

4. The Humorous Complexities:

Underneath its comedic layer, “Marry My Dead Body” hides a web of intricacies. From navigating the moral maze of acceptance to dealing with a mischievous ghost, the movie beautifully blends humor with complex issues. It tickles the funny bone while making the brain gears turn, a combination that’s as rare as it’s delightful.

5. Lessons Learn:

“Marry My Dead Body” isn’t just a quirky rom-com; it’s an ode to acceptance, understanding, and growth, beautifully disguised in a storyline filled with giggles, gasps, and a few heartfelt tears. It invites viewers to laugh, reflect, and most importantly, to grow. It is a testament to the evolving cultural landscape of Taiwan and a message to the world about the universal language of love and acceptance.

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