Completed
Cat in the Eastern Palace
0 people found this review helpful
Feb 5, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 6.5

Catgirl

I'm currently going through and watching as many baihe or wlw Chinese shorts. This one came up a lot in my research, probably because it stars Wang Laoji - who features in several other shows in this specific variety. She is obviously quite beautiful, but she's also really good at giving a solid performance in not a lot of time.

These shorts seem to be largely heavy on longing glances and gorgeous shots of the location or just hanfu, so there isn't a lot of time for plot to be delivered. There's a great deal of plot here for 7 minutes, but it doesn't really overstay it's welcome or try to cram too much into too short a time.

Videos like this are honestly one of the reasons that I don't love MDL's requirement for 500 words in order to submit a review.
Writing a full review for something that is 7 minutes long is honestly quite funny since the review would be basically as long as the video is.

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Bruce's Deadly Fingers
5 people found this review helpful
Feb 5, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 2.0
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
Brucesploitation, sexploitation, this was an abysmal kung fu movie. I can sit through just about any kung fu movie but nearly dropped this 90-minute movie-twice-while watching it.

What drew me to the movie was the cast---Lo Lieh, Nora Miao, Michael Chan, a host of famous kung fu stuntmen, and Bolo even makes a guest appearance! Bruce Le was not playing Bruce Lee, his character's name was Bruce Wong, but he tried to duplicate some of THE Bruce Lee's mannerisms which came across as laughable.

Bruce Wong was trying to find Bruce Lee's secrety secret Kung Fu Finger Book which had been entrusted to his sifu. Lo Lieh, playing the Big Bad Lee Hung, was after it as well. There you go, that's the plot. Bruce Wong's sister and ex-girlfriend were kidnapped three times. Did they get their frequent kidnapping card punched each time? There was gratuitous nudity, one scene had a naked woman being threatened with a snake. Those scenes pandering to fifteen-year-old boys dropped my rating to a 1. I gave it a 1 point bump for Lo Lieh and Bolo.

The fight scenes were actually pretty good, especially the ones Bruce Le wasn't in. Wong's buddy and an Interpol agent spent a great deal of time fighting each other and the baddies as well. The strong bit part players lent to some good fights. The nunchuck work, however, like Le's Bruce Lee mannerisms should have been omitted.

The problem the director and writer had was they didn't know what to do in between fights or how to develop anything that resembled a coherent story. Let's kidnap and threaten the women again! Show some boobs! Let's have a shot of someone walking down the street or down a hallway! How about watching someone drive a car or play cards? How about two people watching television? Should we have them say anything that would be considered plot or character development? What's that?

This might have been a watchable movie if Bruce Le hadn't tried to look like and act like Bruce Lee. All he managed to do was remind me how charismatic the original was. Michael Chan seemed to be channeling his inner Bruce, too. It might have been a watchable movie if the women hadn't been there to be objectified and tormented. They didn't need the women as bait because the "good" guys were always looking for a fight anyway. This movie had a strong kung fu cast, with good fights, and a magic kung fu book, everything a kung fu movie needs. Too bad the filmmakers took the low road into exploitation.

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Midnight Runners
0 people found this review helpful
Feb 4, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Good but more pls

It contain spoilers

Good from start to finish but something was missing, it needed more scenes, too bad nothing came of it with the girl that Ki Joon carried and posed behind, it could have led to something interesting with more action too...
When the girls are saved, the arrest of the traffickers, the policewoman who helped them... Those part could've been developped, and been really interesting. Maybe it's bc I usually watch drama that I need more idk, it left me hungry. Overall it was really great, the comedy was hilarious too.
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Completed
His
1 people found this review helpful
Feb 4, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 9.0

A story not just about gay romance but about adult life

“Live proudly!”

I made an account only to write a review for this movie. I love it so much.

First, the acting is flawless. I believed every emotion the characters showed. I have watched multiple gay romance series/films; sometimes the main characters may have good chemistry but you still have a sense that they're only acting. But Shun and Nagisa’s characters were very real to me. It felt like they are just two people truly in love. It was very show not tell. And not just the two of them, everyone else in the movie felt like real people.

Second, it tackled real life circumstances delicately. Issues brought up were not just plot devices to have a story, the movie made sure to handle it seriously. And i respect that a lot. Although life is not always fair, the movie reminds us that sometimes it can be. And more importantly, it reminds us that kindness is always the best choice.

Lastly, Sora-chan is the cutest most adorable precious little bean!!!

There are a lot more beautiful elements in the story but I will leave that for you to discover yourself, whoever is reading this. Movie made me cry more than once but it was a good cry. I’m genuinely glad to have watched this movie.

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The Door into Summer
1 people found this review helpful
Feb 4, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 5.0

Quite nice!

Honestly it’s not the best movie that I’ve watched but it was not the worst either. As another review said if you don’t have expectations it won’t disappoint you. I quite liked the ending, it may be predictable but it satisfied me. The movie kept me entertained and i didn’t wander around while watching it so I’m not regretting spending my time on it.
As of the acting for me it was pretty good, can’t say much about it because i enjoyed it. It wasn’t cringey or anything which is a plus.
For the music the ending song was so good that I looked for it and added to my playlist.

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Shades of the Heart
4 people found this review helpful
Feb 4, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

Weird movie

No, i didnt see it for IU but she did enhance me to watch it. Maybe becuz of her, i stopped debating and watched the movie. I am not sure whether it was a good decision or whether it is bad decision but what i can say is that this movie left me confused.

The movie starts all good starting with IU which is a good sign. Her face in the beginning is like warm sun rays on a Monday morning. As they go more into it, it gets confusing and crazier. Just like a bus trip. You start out nice and then it gets busier and crazier and boom, you have to stop since you reached your destination. You catch another bus and the same loop continues. Just when you think it is going peaceful, someone holds your book and throws it out of the window. Every single story is like that and the only thing connecting them is him. The ending was confusing af and i dont think i want to understand it cause i left it there and then.

The acting and cast was top-notch. Never expected anything but i am sure pleased. I liked the character of bartender girl and maybe that story brightened the whole movie for me. Everyone did somehow please me. The music was not something that stood out and small sounds made a nice vibe. Perhaps the no filter silence was what made the movie nicer in a way.

Overall unless i am bored as hell, i will not watch it. Maybe someday i will be and i may watch it but never after that. It was a nice movie but not everyone's cup of tea and definitely not mine since i understood nothing. I am not watching it again to understand it also. Try it out.

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The Affair
5 people found this review helpful
Feb 4, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

It's not really fair to call this an affair.

This film is special, and special in a way not many non-Filipinos will really grasp, and that’s okay. The film brings us along a journey of love, hiding, and communism, if you would believe, that spans decades. Through these decades, we are given an insight on the politics and events that shape the Philippines from the late 60s to the dawn of the new millennia.

Jun (Lucero) is a budding idealist who strives for change in the time the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines was about to really go South. We see him struggle to fight for his political beliefs while going through the struggles of being gay in late 60s Philippines. We see him start an affair, though I’d prefer to call it a relationship, that lasts decades. In a way, Errol (Domingo) is his soulmate, and because of society being the way it was back then, the two go down a spiraling path that is wrought with a lot of pain and hiding; them hiding their love for each other. Errol gets himself married with kids to a girl who actually loves him more than he ever does her. Jun, on the other hand, goes through a plethora of relationships that don’t really ever go well, because deep down he knows that his heart only ever really belonged to Errol.

The main take, for me, is this. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us; those who had to hide or get persecuted for just loving. No words can really describe how lucky we are, the younger generation, that we live in such a different era of acceptance compared to then. Though the fight for our rights is still going on in different levels around the world, we can never deny the difference a few decades has brought; what the hardships of generations past has brought for us.

In the end of everything, through that spiraling path they went through, life found them a way. In the end, love still won. Though time has robbed them of many years together, Jun and Errol are allowed to be together for the rest of their days.

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Brotherhood of Blades
6 people found this review helpful
Feb 4, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers
It's not very often a martial arts movie comes out with strong fight scenes and even stronger acting. Brotherhood of the Blades boasted a quietly competent cast who elevated this movie above standard wuxia fare.

Three Imperial Assassins and sworn brothers, though skilled with their swords had to face down death and deception from various factions. The always troublesome eunuch (this time after he was deposed) who shows up in numerous martial arts movies, once again instigated double-crossing schemes, this time imperiling the three loyal assassins.

Chang Chen led the three sworn brothers. His character, Shen Lian, though loyal to his brothers and emperor, was morally ambiguous. Willing to do whatever the situation called for, he set into motion a sword that would hang over all three of the assassins' heads.

The three hearty friends all harbored a need for money. Shen Lian wished to free a courtesan but lacked the power and money to do so. Wang Qian Yuan, as Lu Jian Xing, longed for promotion, only lacking the amount of money needed for bribing officials. Li Dong Xue as Jin Yi Chuan, the third assassin and the youngest, loved a doctor's daughter and had secrets of his own. The eunuch's waning power and wealth still proved perilous and tempting. The loyal allies had no safe quarter with the emperor and his officials. Blades aimed at them from nearly every quarter, even longtime allies proved treacherous.

The fight choreography was quite good, less reliant on wires and Olympic level gymnastics. The fights were fast, brutal, and bloody. They stretched reality in a few scenes, but so do most action movies. If I have one quibble, it's that the action scenes went on too long and were overused. As the story felt thin, perhaps it distracted from the lack of a more complex plot and character development.

The cinematography though dark and dreary fit the mood of the film. Often monochromatic, the shots worked perfectly for the bloody fight scenes. The costumes and sets were well done, befitting the time period. Brotherhood of Blades was stunning to watch without being overdone.

Chang Chen gave a mesmerizing performance, filling in gaps the script lacked. The supporting actors were all strong even though many of their characters were thinly drawn.

Brotherhood of the Blades battered away at the characters through intrigue and loss. Dark and intense, this film balanced its three main characters on the edge of a knife in the midst of hungry wolves. And set this viewer on the edge of her seat wondering who, if any, of the Brotherhood would survive.


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Red Devil and Heroine Su
2 people found this review helpful
Feb 3, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 6.0
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 4.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 4.5

short and a bit undercooked

This doesn't really feel like a short film at all, more like a well-produced music video. It has a certain quality to it that makes it seem like a film that was shot in a day - probably mostly in terms of little things in production value like the costuming, the sets, and the lack of additional performers.

It is gorgeously shot and the costumes are lovely, but the reliance on the soundtrack to tell the story and the limited dialogue made the entire thing just feel very, very simple.

I was surprised to find out that the two women who star in this were dating (they seem to have had a cycle since where they broke up and then are back together). It was a pleasant surprise.

Honestly even though I cam down kind of cool on this, I would love to see more wlw wuxia. There doesn't seem to be a lot of it out there - I've been compiling a list - and I would love to see more.

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The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn't Kill
3 people found this review helpful
Feb 3, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

Amazing action scenes

I liked it!
It is not a surprising story and there are some movies with similar plot.
Protecting someone, revenge, misleading, etc.
The characters are interesting, the plot ok.
STORY – the story is not unique, but I liked it. I found myself waiting to see what would happen next.
ACTING – I think most of the characters did a very good job and the fighting scenes are amazing.
MUSIC – I do not recall it well, so I think it did the job, but without being amazing.
REWATCH –the action scenes for sure, because I already know the outcome.
OVERALL – very entertaining and I really that if you are looking for an action movie with lots of good scenes without resembling a marvel movie, you should try this!

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New Kung Fu Cult Master
1 people found this review helpful
Feb 3, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

Love It!

Just finished watching both parts of the movie and I quite enjoy this 2 part movies. The movie in my opinions feels more complete and less draggy. I really like how the heaven sword and dragon sabre has more story and action in it compare to the 2019 and 2001 version of it. The fight scenes you may ask? I Love It!. You can actually see them fight it out instead of just playing with ' The Force' ( you know...the star wars thingy). There is a good combination and balance of fast and slow motion fights too.I wont be commenting much on the acting ...they are all very ok.I dont see raymond lam age as a problem to me imo. Music? A cantonese song for the cantonese version would be great. But the mandarin one is still really really good!. Will I rewatch again? Well, yes and i will rewatch when i feel that its time too. Ok, thats all from me. This review may not really be too deep, or too in depth....cause i am a lazy man :P.

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Space Sweepers
1 people found this review helpful
by Kimmi
Feb 3, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 10

A love letter to the scifi genre

Whoever worked on this knew what they loved about the scifi genre and they knew what story they wanted to tell and they did it.
Its a lovely and poignant action filled romp from start to finish.

Acting is great. Characters are touching. Costume and set design is memorable. Action scenes are smooth and stylized. Villian is just the right amount of over the top.

Also, the robot is trans.

And! It felt really international in a way that more media should. I heard at LEAST 6 languages with maim chars and long scenes being in french and english and chinese and korean.

If you like starwars, cowboy bepop, firefly, wall-e, or like any of that kinda of genre of scifi then you will love this.

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Rurouni Kenshin: The Final
0 people found this review helpful
Feb 3, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.5

Great Conclusion to the Series, Awesome Fight scenes

I have loved all the Rurouni Kenshin movies. The scenery locations, sets, clothing, makeup, etc. was all fantastic. The fight scenes were phenomenal as always. Favourite fight sequences were those with Mackenyu Arata's character. Both Takeru Satoh and Mackenyu were awesome in The Final. [I would love a spin off movie with Mackenyu's character.] The other actors/actresses that we saw in the other movies, came back for their rolls and they were all great too. Some new ones, as expected and everyone gave their best performances.

The only reason this movie didn't get a 10/10 from me is because: 1) there were re-caps/memories from one of the previous movies, that seemed too long, 2) Karou and Kenshin's partnership lacked growth and romance and 3) I wanted more screen time for Mackenyu's character.

I have rewatched this so many times, that I have bought the entire series (DVD set)!

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No Touching At All
7 people found this review helpful
by Yuan Flower Award2
Feb 3, 2022
Completed 1
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 10

A mature work about gay relationships

This movie has the big advantage that it's source material is splendid, and while I did read it many years ago and have forgotten most of it, I can say that they not only managed to preserve its quality but surpassed it.

“No Touching At All” is not your typical BL story nor movie, they went for a literary approach that matches the essence and tone of the source, so if you aren't a fan of the quiet, artistic style that doesn't rely on ups and downs but lives between its shallow waves, then you won't be happy with this movie.

The actors are perfect for their roles and shine the brightest during the silent encounters of the two leads, the only erotic scene is so sensual, emotional, that you can feel the heavy burden and hope this special moment represents.

While it is a film many people will surely enjoy, I think it's important to say that it's much more impactful, and meaningful, for those who know how painful it is to fall in love with a straight man; all the fears, the self-hate and guilt, that is clawing at your insides, the blame you put on yourself for stealing his future, and the blame some of them unjustly put on you.

It's one of the very few BL films that realistically show how it is to be a gay man and the many downfalls that come with it, there's no sugar coating, no false positivity or cute moments to appeal to certain watchers, it wants to portray the story of mature men trying to find happiness with, and in, each other.

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Dangerous Drugs of Sex
0 people found this review helpful
by dc3vi1
Feb 2, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

Intense!

This was a seriously intense movie. I happened to find it from a Music Video someone had done with scenes from the movie and translated into English. I read what they said about it and thought ok why not try. Psychological, intense and graphic. It is graphic. Be warned.

The acting was really good especially for the character Makoto. Both were really good but he was amazing. What he was going through you could feel his pain, fear and every other emotion he had.

I am not sure I could re-watch it. But it does have the potential. I thought it was a well done movie that is why I rated it higher.

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