Reviews

I have to confess! This is such an amazing excellent beautiful and lovely drama kyaa~
OMG! I never imagine that I would be like this after watched it!
Before, I thinked that 30 episodes are so long for a drama
But actually at least this drama should be 50 episodes, no no, 70 episodes!
I want more! I want more!
Eventhough it's not possible there will be season 2 but I will always waiting for it!

Recommended Drama! You'll regret if you do not watch it! Trust me

And I regret coz I always doubt this drama at the first time
Hahaa sorry, i can not bear my feeling ^^

Read More

WOW! After watching a number of disappointing movies on my search for thrillers, I was happy to have found The Terror Live. This is what I call a THRILLER.

Let me start by saying, this one wasn't too high up on my to watch list because the description made me go? One room, a guy reporting = thriller?? No thanks. But boy was I wrong.

If you liked the 2002 film Phone Booth, then you will definitely will love this movie. It has everything a thriller needs - the suspense, the twists, the build ups, and a story line that keeps you on the edge the from the very beginning to the end.

The movie also makes you question a lot and there's a really blurred line between good/bad, right/wrong, which will keep you conflicted about "justice" the whole time. The style of the movie is great because I couldn't really predict the sequence of events or what action the main lead and the criminal would take.

I think I need to take a step back and applaud Ha Jeong Woo because I don't think another actor could have pulled it off the same way as him. His acting really added to the intensity of the movie, and I was pretty much pulling my hair out alongside him. (going to be on the lookout for this actor now...)

If I rewatched this after a while, I feel like I would have the same intense feelings, and that's how you know it's a good thriller. Watch if you're looking for an interesting, fast-paced, and non-traditional thriller!

Read More

Our hero Chul Soo isnt your conventional hero. His personality is alittle odd alittle goofball and he's enthusiastic about his calling as a firefighter. He is also in need of fastcash and ended up modelling nude for our heroine, Jin Ah. Except Jin Ah the artist is using it as a means to find the guy in her memory who has a scar at the back who was involved in her parents tragedy.
I wouldnt ask for a longer drama because the major plus of this special drama was its snappy pace and the plot rolling along very well from start to end. The plot itself was very engaging, with mystery and thriller nicely packaged and i read everyone enjoyed guessing who the culprit/killer/arsonist is. Made my day when i found out i guessed correctly.
Lee Joon Hyuk is so fitting for the role. He brought this macho and yet boyish vibe to the role. He made Chul Soo a hero but still a human and average guy. Jung In Sung as Jin Ah was good too. They made a striking duo on screen. I wish i can see both of them in a full length drama and if possible paired up again.
Fantastic supporting roles from veteran Lee Won Jong and also Jo Hee Bong and Park Hoon.
Minor qualms that there was some inserted melo drama bits within an action scene that isnt quite believable ina real life and death situation. But overall thoroughly entertained.
PS: is this the first firefighter korean drama? I didnt watch any feat firefighters (korean ones), none came to mind to be a recommendation. I wish we will have a full length drama of one soon. The action and bromance of firefighters (and their hotness lol) would make an awesome watch

Read More

STORY: I love how Korean dramas have expanded farther than the typical romance and melo-drama. To be honest, I was getting sick and tired of all the stereotypical romance dramas because they are just so damn predictable and don't pull on the heartstrings as much as they used to when those kinds of stories were a trending thing. I'm so happy to see screenwriters submitting in new and FRESH drama ideas such as Oh My Geum Bi, which is a human drama. Yes, it does have a romantic element to it, but it's not the main focus of the drama. The main focus of the drama is the struggle of a little girl's diagnosis of a terrifying and incurable illness. It shows the slow progression of how the illness affects her and those around her. How her illness has affected people's lives and how she continuously struggles to cope with herself as it starts to take over her life. I loved the metaphorical representation they gave this illness as seen through Geum Bi's perspective in her mind. Kind of scary, but not terrifying. Not welcoming, but somehow comforting in it's own way. Although, I kind of wished that they didn't rush into the bad times of the illness. For 14 episodes, Geum Bi was a optimistic, level-headed and understanding child but the last two episodes seemed like they just wanted to skip to the struggling times of the illness to make things more dramatic and show a completely different Geum Bi who was more prickly, acted more her age by rebelling and yelling. It's definitely understandable that her illness would causes such behavior, I just wish it was shown more naturally through the progression of the drama instead of fast-forwarding to those hard times to make things more dramatic. Unfortunately, life doesn't have a fast-forward button and neither should representations of illnesses such as Geum Bi's. I think it would've been better to show a more natural progression of Geum Bi becoming more rebellious and behaviorally more difficult because of her illness.

ACTING/CAST: Cast was awesome! Especially Heo Jung Eun who portrayed our wonderful Geum Bi!! Her talent to perform a complex character at her age is more than impressive. Her acting was also very smooth and fluid and gave no hints of being out-of-character in her role. I gotta give props to Oh jI Ho too. He has experience with father-heavy roles in such dramas as "Single Dad in Love" and "My Little Baby" and he's always given a warm and fatherly vibe from his performances. That goes the same for "Oh My Geum Bi". I applaud his ability to mold and show different kinds of father auras though. Being a parent is always a simple yet difficult thing to represent in acting roles. Parents all have the same kind of heart, but they don't all express their affection and emotions the same way. Oh Ji Ho shows a multitude of expressions of fatherly love in 'Oh My Geum Bi' and his past dramas as well.

MUSIC: Loved the chorus song. It fit the atmosphere of an angelic yet tragic feeling of what is Geum Bi's illness. Nothing to complain about here.

OVERALL: Great low-key human drama. It had just enough drama but nothing overly-dramatic either. I like dramas like that because it tends to give off a more realistic view of how illnesses and hardships really are like in life. In real life, when you're going through a tough time, it's not really all that dramatic as you would see on TV. It's slow, quiet and unrelenting. I think drama highlighted that well. The only real "dramatic" thing in this drama was the Cha Chi Soo, our former-protagonist who was involved in some bad things and dragged Geum Bi into his world for a little bit. But other than that, really enjoyed it otherwise! I'm seeing a happy trend of these kinds of slice-of-life dramas becoming more popular in the Korean entertainment industry and really look forward to more.

Read More

I ADORE Nagase Tomoya and TRIED so HARD to like this - but.....I just couldn't. I'm so, SO sorry. This was just a hot mess; but it shows he's a fun actor and can handle literally ANY role thrown at him. I think he's BRILLIANT.



Of course Kamiki Ryunosuke is brilliant too - I know him most from Studio Ghibli character's he's voiced and the voice role he played in the brilliant anime movie 'Summer Wars'. Like Nagase, he showed he could act in this movie - the roles they both played were utterly bonkers; but it's just a shame the film was a total mess.



They can't be blamed for the fact this film was complete nonsense and self indulgent trip for the writers and director - Nagase and Kamiki did the BEST work they could in roles that anyone else would've walked away from shaking their heads; the failure of the overall movie is down to the seemingly tiny budget, bad writing and awful directing.



I'm giving this 3.5/10 ONLY because of the sterling work by Nagase Tomoya and Kamiki Ryunosuke.

Read More

Best C-Drama of the 21st century

I watched this drama later than everyone else; 16 months after the original TV broadcast. I watched the entire drama in three weeks, staying up until 3AM, to watch episodes.

Nirvana in Fire is a TV drama masterpiece, that was brilliantly written and produced. All the actors in the primary and supporting roles, gave exceptional acting performances. Hu Ge and Wang Kai were the perfect casting choices for the Mei Chang Su and Prince Jing Yan roles. The costume designs and the set designs were flawless, and the music soundtrack was perfect. The directing and editing were very good.

The intricate plot flowed like an English Literature textbook. Hai Yan's novel, "Lang Ya Bang", deserves recognition in the Asian and Western literary worlds, and the TV drama deserves honors in the Asian and Western entertainment industries. All TV production houses should use the Nirvana in Fire as the benchmark for their dramas.

This is the first TV drama that I awarded 10 points across the board.

Read More

If you are looking for a well written review, I don't think this is it. I suck at writing reviews as I cannot fully put my thoughts correctly into words. ALSO, I MOST LIKELY MIGHT INCLUDE SPOILERS. SORRY


I know that this drama had a lot of potential but it seems like all of that was neglected as the show was approaching its ending.

For me, all the complications that were all piled up instead of getting resolved was kind of disappointing and it made me wonder if I am still watching the drama for its plot or whether my remaining hope for the two main characters is what's making it bearable. (But alas, the ending broke my heart into dust) Maybe because it was pre produced and the editing was not enough to salvage some parts of the plot but towards the ending, a lot of scenes didn't make any sense to me. Maybe I was just being stupid for not understanding and if that's the case, I'm really sorry.

As for the characters, 4th Prince Wang So really caught my heart. I like that his character was concrete and was not easily swayed by the palace's and political affairs. He stayed true to what he believes, does a reasonable and responsible decision even though sometimes, it was kind of stupid. But what I really like about his character was that no matter how strong and independent he appears to be, he is just like a child yearning for some love and companion and you'll realize how vulnerable his heart is. I could understand how he always claims Hae Soo as his and always refuses her to leave, (heck he managed to dodge every friendzone remarks Hae Soo made), when he got mad when people were doubting him being the appointed king and when he selfishly stayed by his mother's side alone without letting Jung into the palace. Everytime his mother makes hurtful remarks about Wang So, my heart aches with him. I just wanted to give his character a slow clap for being loveable not only because of his sweetness towards Hae Soo but also because I could fully understand his character. It is rare for me to find a character like this as most of the times, character build up in dramas tend to be confusing with too much back-and-forth with their feelings. I cried hard in the ending scene especially the one where he was standing alone. The realization that his happiness only lasted for a short while and that he was again left with no one on his side, tore my heart into millions of pieces. His character did not deserve that kind of ending. I just wanted him to be happy that in the ending scene, I just wanted to give Wang So a big loving hug. For our heroine, I liked how she was presented as a refreshing character from the start and as she slowly get used to living in Goryeo, I could see that she has learned a lot and has matured. I just found it a bit lacking how she seemed to not worry about the real her, Go Ha Jin, and the only time that we saw her was when she cried with Lady Hae in the praying stones. I was also disappointed about what happened to Hae Soo's character that after all the promises that she made towards Wang So, she ends up doing the exact opposite. And of all the struggles that they have gone through, they couldn't have the happy ending that they deserved. Although I could not really blame the ending on Hae Soo's character, I feel like her sorry in the ending was unfair for us viewers. Finally, the other characters that contributed a lot to this drama. At first, I thought Wang Wook would make a significant role all throughout the drama. I was disappointed that his change of character was just used to make the plot more complicated than it already was and I feel like he was slowly cast aside and appeared only when more complications needed to happen. I applaud Lady Hae and Court Lady Oh for being so selfless. They were the only two characters who were not selfish even though their circumstances are. It was hard not to love these two. To Queen Yoo and Princess Yeonhwa, I don't know why you guys are so greedy. I think that if they have been born as men, they'd kill each other for the throne. I didn't expect that I would pity the 3rd Prince in his last moments. I blame it all on his mother. Lastly, can we just give 14th Prince Jung a big hug? He was really selfless and he kept his promise to Hae Soo even if he received nothing in the end (he wasn't even able to confess. Poor Jung).

To all the actors and actresses that gave life to these characters, Thank you! I believe they all played their part very well. Lee Joon Gi is amazing in playing the part of Wang So. His facial expressions always get me. It is amazing how he is able to express those emotions very clearly. (even though my friend says otherwise). Also, I don't know about you guys but, I really liked IU's acting here and of course, to the other actors and actresses that we have come to hate and love like Kang Ha Neul, Hong Jong Hyun, Nam Joo Hyuk, Ji Soo, Kang Ha Na and many more.

Like I said, the plot had a lot of potential. It was just kind of disappointing how it became confusing towards the ending, like they gave us so much complications and sometimes, it was hard for my mind to digest. Also, I still cannot get over the ending. My heart still aches. I am giving this drama a rating of 8.0/10.0 to give credit to the amazing actors and actresses and also to its production design and editing. I know saeguks really needs a lot of effort to make. This drama has been a rough ride for me, f rom the funny relationship of the princes with Soo, their cute brotherly times, evil eyeliner characters, Wook hate, and finally a heart crashing ending.

I hope my review was not as confusing as I think it is and I hope you get what I'm trying to point out if ever someone is reading this. I might have contradicted myself in writing this, I'm sorry. I do think that there are still some things that I want to include but I've already confused myself in writing this a lot. I'll try to improve in writing reviews in the future.

Read More

My review in a nutshell: Starts out cute and then proceeds to hit every cliche until it hits rock bottom. Then it proceeds to dig.

Seriously, the acting was fine. The characters were fine (although I found the oldest sister beyond annoying.) The main girl is pretty awesome, and the love rival is so much cooler than the main guy. Characters, no problem.

First 8 eps are a little on the silly side but still overall cute and I enjoyed them well enough. And then we got into the meat of the story--or lack of story. It got progressively more over the top, dramatic, and full of stupidity. I blame the script writer for this as it took perfectly good premise and characters and ruined the whole thing.

I'm usually pretty forgiving with Taiwanese dramas, I understand their idea of pacing and humor is different than the other Asian countries, but I really got mad at this show because it seemed to milk all the cliches for all they're worth. I ended up skipping through the last four eps just because I was at my wit's end.

I don't really recommend this. If you're looking for ugly duckling to swan transformation, there's better shows out there. Pinocchio, for instance.

Read More