Reviews

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim (2018)

Super fun premise although it felt like it dragged on for a bit longer than it needed to. Also, it felt a bit too similar to male lead actor Park Seo Joon's previous show just a few years prior- She Was Pretty (2015).

Contrary to a lot of other reviews, I thought the main couple's chemistry was fine enough. They played off each other well, the romance was convincing enough, and they went through their own trials and tribulations to come out stronger, cuter, and more in love with another. Park Min Young played a playfully serious secretary and Park Seo Joon played, again, a cool perfectionist yet goofy CEO archetype. The boss-employee dynamic was fine for the most part, though it felt a bit too tipped in the boss' scale.

The side characters and subplot were... okay? Without a doubt the clear cut focus of the show was the development of the leads so any side characters didn't have much to work with. The "big bad evil" plot point was oddly dark but I appreciated it. Some parts were played safely and some parts were unnecessarily bloated, but again, fine for the most part.

Even after the show was over and the dust had settled, we never got the true answer to the question: what's wrong with secretary Kim?

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decent time killer but nothing more

This was an alright show, nothing special about it besides the one glaringly obvious rarity (a black guy who speaks good Japanese as a main character lol).
Being 10 episodes at 45min each it was on the more average side of length, though typical with these kind of dream, the perceived length varied between episodes; some felt like 20min while others 70+ though thankfully it wasn't an increasing trend and only happened with like 3 random episodes in the show.
The story itself is obviously episodic and usually easily predictable, just thankfully there isnt any unnecessary drama thrown in. the background blot with that lead's girlfriend doesn't really show itself until the end, it was alright but again nothing to write home about.
From a technical standpoint everything was good, lighting did look washed out at times leading me to think they forgot to actually EDIT the raw footage in post 💀 but it's probably just a (bad) style. Acting is decent, what I'd expect from a drama of this caliber especially from the black guy (the japanese usually suck ass at writing foreigners ive noticed lol) also the dialouge at times was odd sounding, like the japanese was normal (im like around n3 but from what i can tell for sure is that they dont speak casual enough) but holy shit the English, you guys LITERALLY HAD A NATIVE ON SET have him proof the script, that scene in ep9 was WAAYY too hard to watch. Everything else was, you guessed it, average.

Anyways it's an alright timekiller, I watched it with Japanese subs so idk if English ones exist.

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Fight for My Way (2017)

Despite it's oddly prudish nature, the show does an good enough job in showcasing the adult relationships of four best friends. I can't say I'm fully supportive of how the characters were written e.g., weirdly childish but it's sorta acceptable due to the well-rounded chemistry between the cast. Honestly, just slightly toning down the childlike antics and have the characters act like somewhat serious actual working adults in their mid to late 20s would've done wonders for this show.

The story while very endearing, affectionate, and at times emotional, was a bit awkward and overly melodramatic when it came to moving the plot along. Though I will say, the juxtaposition of one pair of friends chasing their dreams versus the other pair facing relationship issues was an enjoyable contrast to prevent the show from being too one-dimensional.

All in all, it's a fine show to watch for the cute, casual, slice of life-y, romance-y bits. It's decent enough on the both the romance and comedy to qualify for a romantic comedy. And it for sure has enough drama to qualify for being a drama of all time.

The lesson learned here: always fight, whether physically or mentally, for your dreams, goals, and aspirations. Don't do it for others, do it for yourself--- your way.

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"When you have it you don't want it, when you don't have it you want it"

Hello Ghost is a remake of the 2010 Korean movie by the same name. It is a comedic movie with the dark thread of gut-wrenching loneliness running through it for one man.

Ah Wei has been alone his whole life. On his 21st attempted suicide he briefly stops breathing. His life is saved by a pretty EMT on the way to the hospital. When he awakens, he can see four ghosts who refuse to leave him alone. A shaman tells him he must grant their wishes before they will leave, not an easy task for these ghosts. There’s the older woman, crying woman, smoking man, and mischievous little boy. The four lead him on a merry chase getting him into all sorts of trouble. He also keeps running into Yu Xiao Yin, the EMT.

Unlike so many ghost stories, there was no threatening entity, no mystery to resolve. The ghosts appeared to want to have a good time. The only external threat was to Xiao Yin’s brother who was deeply in debt to loan sharks which also made her life miserable.

The comedic moments often bordered on cringe-worthiness although there were some genuinely funny scenes. The slapstick didn’t feel as over the top with this version. Aside from trying to make you laugh Hello Ghost also tried to touch your heart, deeply enough to hear it beat. This story would have benefited from more backstory for Ah Wei, and why he never created a family or friends for himself. Why would a hospital kick a suicidal patient out without any mental health counseling, especially after he admitted to hearing voices? Why was Xiao Yin so attracted to Ah Wei who had attempted suicide multiple times and talked to people who weren’t there? As with the Korean version, the ending saves this movie and gives it meaning. Even knowing how it ended, I still teared up.

As good as parts of this movie were, like with the original, it left me disappointed that the rest of the film wasn’t as moving as the final ten minutes. Hello Ghost is a movie that with more character development and either less or better slapstick might have been as deep as it wanted to be. Overcoming hopelessness is not an easy fix. Despite its shortcomings, if you’re prepared to be patient, Hello Ghost is a movie worth trying.

2 February 2024

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Beautiful gowns

While maintaining its beauty and poignancy throughout its 150-minute run, I'd be a liar if I said that the lengthiness of this coming-of-age film wasn't felt after the 2nd hour. There's also an issue with the movie biting off more than it can chew. There are a few storylines with no storyline feeling like it takes precedence over the other.

The romance between the two male leads feels like it should be the main focus of the plot but for me, it felt like a subplot to the storyline with Tong's family. And without spoiling much, I'll just say that that entire storyline felt implausible and out of place in this move.

And then there's the ending... and don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining about the ending because it wasn't the ideal happy ending. I'm complaining because it ended on a bittersweet note just for the sake of doing so. It set itself up perfectly for the happy, ideal ending and then, for no reason, it took a left turn. It was a transparent attempt at being "realistic" but failed due to its very own plot and character development.

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I wasn't expecting much, but it was still very interesting. Despite leaving many loose ends, the script itself is fairly competent in developing the new incarnation of Jinga. That ending probably won't ever be followed up, and we won't get many future explanations either... but it was still enjoyable to watch this spin-off. Inoue Masahiro, as always, knows how to deliver solid performances as Jinga (I'm even starting to like/get used to his overacting). The effects are okay, nothing too spectacular in terms of tokusatsu. I would recommend it only to fans of the character Jinga or Garo enthusiasts.

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Good but not great. Would recommend but not a favorite.

The general overall story line was great. The characters and how they develop and grow fond of each other, was depicted well. From the get go, the tone of the series is generally realistic leaning towards the campy side (in a good way). Like I know going in, this was going to be somewhat of a fluffy series. A feel good one. One that makes you smile when one of the ML gets excited or nervous because of the other ML. I say campy because the whole driving force of the plot is structured behind the "video game" theme. Motives and directions were all guided by the constant ping of the game UI window. So imagine playing a dating sim - you get excited because your characters are falling for each other - thus, ultimately, you already kind of know what happens. Most people would play a sim game because they can control the outcome. Thus, similar in concept - the show is enjoyable because of this similar thought frame.

Then the last two episodes decided it wanted to try and be some boujee/intellectual show and the whole video game premise completely derailed the story, forcefully inserting itself as a deus ex machina - resetting - and then some random ass time loop by way of "The Lake House" but not really purposeful other than to add some tension and drama .... only to resolve itself literally 3 minutes later (like WHY even have that mess in it at all? Just make them run to each other...). The final two episodes really screamed it was trying too hard to be intellectual... the whole fate/destiny and even playing on portions on what I mentioned in the first paragraph (expectations/outcomes). Down to even the looming but unanswered question about happiness that the UI game prompt at the end sealed the deal on the show's misfired attempt to be this thought provoking show. It's not. Then the whole love theyself theme that popped up in the last three episodes just didn't fit in well with the overall structure because there was no foreshadowing of this theme and plot point. But since the characters are driven by plot, narrative, and emotion from the all knowing video game prompts - I guess these sudden introductions of tension points were acceptable. And the irony is that, that very thing is the show's own undoing. Sure - the overall concept of the show (video game) can be done. But not with how the show was set up and not within the time limitation and format (8 episodes and each episode being 40 minutes).

Overall, I enjoyed the romance. I enjoyed the show up to episode 6 and then later episodes - while not quite a train wreck - did rocked on the tracks wildly, making the show lose its composure. Watch it for the cute moments. However, if you are particular about plot, structure of a story, and a decent foundation in fantasy elements in a story - this show probably will turn you off. But just do what I did - ignore that part of the story and pretend it's just a contemporary show with no fantasy element. I know that defeats majority of the show's premise but that made it enjoyable for me. If I had that take the fantasy aspect into consideration this show would be like a 4/5 out of 10 for me.

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In recent decades, the proliferation of social networks has allowed the emergence of problems such as post-truth or distortion of reality in the creation of content. The lack of legitimacy of traditional media has given way to a collective thought that prefers to believe in content shared on networks by a family member or friend, rather than that which has been verified and contrasted.
This situation gives rise to a public opinion formed based on untrue information, giving rise to hyperreality. This favors fake news, as there is no proper selection, verification and construction of information.
Since becoming a public figure, FueangNakhon (Job Krisz Ahandrik), the protagonist of the Thai BL series 'City of Stars', has mastered the pressure from journalists and the persecution of his fans. Being a well-known face has not been easy for him. If you ever thought that being recognized on the streets would be a dream, reality proved you wrong. The pressure of always having the press watching his every move is exhausting. The emergence of his followers on social networks doesn't help either. After the latest “scandal” in which you have been involved, how to proceed on your social media profiles? Is it appropriate to take a season off to “detox”? Would it be preferable to abandon social networks permanently?
His “mistake” was to register and publish on “Zendaya” a first message that said: "let's transmit positive energy to each other." Due to the condition that each publication contains only positive content, the platform, whose offices are located in Silicon Valley, California, is not popular among Thai users. However, the message from the self-proclaimed “Thailand's most popular villain” will provoke an avalanche of attacks from Internet users in the Asian country. In response, Zendaya's managers intend to "monitor" FueangNakhon.
Who better to fulfill this task than Krommatha (Porsche Sitha Kanchana-alongkorn), Zendaya's only Thai programmer. Shouldn't he take his vacation in Thailand? Wouldn't he then be the right one to keep a close eye on “provocateurs” like FueangNakhon? How to protect the digital application from villains like this, if not by acting energetically so that situations like this are not repeated?
Who would have thought that Krommatha wouldn't have to work hard to track down the cause of the chaos, as he would take a seat at the same table occupied by Zendaya's programmer upon her arrival at the Bangkok airport? Who would think that the villain is called son by Krommatha's mother? Does Krommatha wish to pursue the “infamous” one or rest with his parents? What will happen between the two boys when they start dating?

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A very confusing yet entertaining show

All the cast worked really well on this drama, every actor matches well with their character, what makes it really fun to watch, but, it can be very frustrating to watch this when you think about the storyline. There are events that weren't well developed on the show, like how Seonjae dealed with his previous issues showed in some flashbacks or the reason for Soobin to do what he did in the last episode. Also, the last scene of the show is completely insane if you think about the events in the previous episodes, there surely were many other option they could've chosen.
There are chances of me rewatching the drama, but mostly for the acting, because I didn't like how the story went.

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