Reviews

A deep and visceral film with four nominations at the Star Awards for Movies 2008 for those who don't mind the Pinoy style of narration and processing, the film is not a typical Pinoy piece in my opinion. It has a relatively decent plot, there is not so much naivety and Asian theatricality in it, and the music is excellent. It is only where it is needed and underlines the scene perfectly, rightly the music received one of the nominations. It is from a life, a rough life, two childhood friends. Of course, the Filipino view and perception of prostitution and sex cannot be missed, when gay Enzo, after leaving for Manila, starts making a living from hetero porn, while his childhood friend, heterosexual Maynard, makes a living as a gay prostitute and callboy. Both actors Ken Escudero (Enzo or Lorenzo) and Will Sandejas (Maynard or Adong, he appears here on GT and in the movie Santuaryo, and also in the movies Paupahan and Kumpisal, which we don't even have here on GT yet) are very pleasant, characters, which they play, they managed very well and the character Melang (Ashley Silverio) is also important to the plot. Enzo's mother Norma (Sylvia Sanchez) impressed me with her excellent acting. Enjoyable and I recommend it even to those who don't like Pinoy movies. On MDL under the name Unspoken Passion - here the film is not completely completed (cast)
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Immature FL, cunning, manipulative and annoying SML

I’m on episode 32 of find yourself but I just wanna drop it, I don’t think I can watch it any longer. I’m Only watching it for Song Weilong and the 2nd and 3rd couple. I mean I’m so excited for this show because Song Weilong and Miles Wei in one drama what else can you ask for right? Plus I started liking He Canyang. When I started watching it I’m really looking forward for the FL character cause I thought they would give us a strong and mature female lead since this is a noona drama, but no they didn’t. The ML is right FL was a two timer. Even if we didn’t have any relationship experience how can you be that clueless right? She would go to ML in just one phone call, she would go in her house, she even dated the SML before she sees the ML on a Valentine’s Day. And the person I hate the most in this series is the SML, he is very cunning and manipulative. I hate it more when he acts cute cause it’s so cringey. He is just the same age as the FL dad and it clearly shows no matter how many times they tell us he is 37 years old. And for the love of God they gave the SML more screen time than the ML I have to skip all
Of his scenes starting from a few episodes after I saw how manipulative he was.
P.S let’s not also forgets those professional adults friends that advised the FL to go on another relationship right away to cure heartbreaks?

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When I found out that Filipino stars Emilio Garcia, Marco Morales and Paolo Rivero are playing supporting roles, I didn't hesitate for a second. The Philippines is special in itself, surrounded on all sides by other religions, customs, names, and it is also special in filmmaking, indigestible for many Europeans. The understanding of eroticism and sex and the view of it is completely different. The film certainly does not belong to the top of Filipino production, because I am generally very interested in Pinoy films, however, looking at the film through Filipino eyes, it caught my attention, even if some moments seemed rather funny instead of dramatic, and I recommend the film only to a small group of viewers who understand the mentality and creation of this country

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An Almost Perfect Drama That Survives A Nearly Ruinous Misstep

For the first several episodes of Taxi Driver, I was completely hooked. A fun take on the revenge story that was both playfully irreverent and deeply, brutally serious. The theme and tone of the episodes managed to balance this perfectly. Our various characters reveled in their ruthless undertaking with, initially, little thought for the broader moral complexities.

Naturally, as the series progressed, these moral complexities worked their way to the surface. Mature and nuanced debates about justice versus revenge, vigilantism versus an established justice system, etc. etc. became more prevalent without ever damaging the pacing or feel of the story.

Mostly, this is a drama that doesn't really need a review. You get what's on the tin. It's done exceptionally well. Enough is left unresolved to leave room for personal consideration. The action sequences were wonderful. The characters were wonderfully developed and the whole cast had lovely chemistry. I also enjoyed the pronounced lack of romance.

HOWEVER.

About halfway through, a storyline was begun that damn near ruined the whole thing. I'm not one to jump up and down about how women should or should not be portrayed. I'm of the mind that women, like all human beings, exist in limitless variety and so there really is no "wrong" portrayal, strictly speaking. But this went far enough to offend my intelligence. A case was introduced that had a personal connection to the woman on the team. Many cases arose throughout the series that had personal connections to the various main characters. And all of them struggled to deal with their own emotional baggage as they worked on the case. However when hers came about, she didn't struggle. She ran away to her house where she locked herself in her bedroom and hid under her bed (literally) for days. She was an adult whose irrationally and unnaturally childish behavior was being depicted as normal and unsurprising. No one could reach her. They ended up having to cope with her absence as they tried to handle the case without her essential skills. It came across like she, being a woman, was literally incapable of dealing with the emotional weight of it. This particular case, too, dragged on MUCH longer than the previous ones had, which made this situation feel like it would never end. I almost dropped the drama because of it. An absurd decision that someone ought to be punished for.

And it wasn't like the men were depicted as having an easy time with their personal issues. One had a panic disorder that actually landed him in the hospital. They all struggled, but the men were, apparently, able to at least maintain lucidity and uprightness (and adulthood?). Whereas the woman, being female, actually fully shut down under the pressure of ~~trauma~~ and reverted back to a seven-year-old child. It was like this was the only way the writers could think to portray a woman having a hard time with something. Like they thought it was somehow unrealistic for her to at least be able to attempt to struggle through it. And that it was far more realistic for the woman to respond to difficulty exactly the same way a child would. Because a woman and child are more or less the same thing, right?

If you fast forward through all that garbage, this series is really wonderful. Though I'm hesitant to watch Season 2 on the chance there might be more of that.

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Too much drama for a simple solution

Ok, so I after finished S1 I came here and the ratings and reviews scared me lool
How it was possible? S1 has 9.1 and this season review where so negative I was confused but now after finishing the all thing I see where people are coming from.

The biggest problem here was the lost memories plot. It took 8 episodes out of 10 and the revelation was dry asf. UK didn't seemed the surprise or happy at all. They dragged the drama so much. 5 episodes would be enough.

The filler with So-I was unnecessary, Yul almost dying because he was too guilty to ask for help didn't maked sense, plus he was planning to kill Naksu, the same friend he was guilty of leaving behind, I just can't understand really.

Every episode a new theory would pop up about Bu Yeon's soul, one episode it was gone and nnext episode it was still alive it was annoying and confusing.
The comic aspect was also gone ?1 or 2 jokes sometimes, but It was forced sometimes.
Bu Yeon's mom was a B, but they made her somehow a better person at the end LOOL

I really think they should wasted more time in showing Naksu's new personality to the public, she kinda lost her badass and rude attitude that we loved, the mannerism was there but still...

I'm not even mad at the change of personality I'm mad that they wasted her character, in my opinion she is living as BY and not as Cho yeong. It would be nice seeing her still as a skilled warrior with BY's supernatural powers, a mix of both. It would be better in my opinion. Her character in this season was just a love interesting of Uk, that was sad for me.

At the end she didn't fight along side with UK and that was disappointing to watch. Just another weak female lead at the end.

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Great Family Dynamic

It’s Beautiful Now was so refreshing that I was sorry to see it come to an end. I have to admit that it took me awhile to get into it because once I figured who was going to paired with whom, I kind of lost interest. Also, I have to admit that after I watched Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life with Oh Min Suk I decided to take a second look at It’s Beautiful Now. I’m glad I did.

This drama was so refreshing because there were no real battles for inheritances or revenge schemes. The father son grandsons loving relationships was heartwarming. The brothers interaction was hilariously funny yet comforting.

Yoon shi Yoon’s and Seo Bum Jun’s performances broke my heart when their characters had broken up with their girlfriends. I found myself happy that I did not have to wait until the 50th episode to see them get back together.. Although I was kind of disappointed that Soo Ja and Yu Na were kept apart for so long. I thought they were the cutest couple of all three relationships.

Like I said, I’m sorry it’s over. However, I will watch again because it was such a feel good drama.

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A very good Xianxia, ​​but with some lengths.

An excellent Xianxia with Cheng Yi (ML) and Crystal Yuan (FL)

PLOT: 9th life (tribulation) of 2 immortals (FL = Heavenly General and ML = Golden-winged Phoenix), who love each other in each mortal life, but are always separated, notably due to the stubbornness of Lord Bailin (Heavenly Lord ).
In this 9th life, everyone is part of a sect. Sifeng (the ML), from the Palais de Lize, wears a mask and is not allowed to be in love. The FL, heiress to the Shao Yang clan, is "deprived" of her senses. The FL will make the mask fall and trigger the lovers’ curse for the ML. Little by little, they discover their common past, and try to thwart the tragic plans of destiny that the heavens have traced for them.

PROS:
+ great casting.
+ High quality special effects and action scenes
+ well-developed and endearing 2ndary characters (some bring a touch of humor, wich is welcome to balance out the drama).
+ cute side romances
+ Very good OST

CONS:
- The narration is a little slow at times and the story is complex, with multiple narrative arcs (some of which are a little too long) => Impossible to binge watch all 59 episodes!!
- I find unbearable the final repentance of super stubborn villains, who plot dirty tricks for thousands of years, but suddenly realize their mistakes (it doesn't work like that in real life :) :)

=> It was a pleasure to watch, but I don't think that I will rewatch it (bcz 59 episodes !!)
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Excellent Xianxia avec Cheng Yi (ML) et Crystal Yuan (FL)

PLOT : 9e vie de 2 immortels (FL = Général céleste et ML= Phoenix aux ailes dorées), qui s'aiment dans chaque vie chez les mortels, mais sont toujours séparés, notamment en raison de l'entêtement du Seigneur Baihou (Seigneur céleste).
Dans cette 9e vie, chacun fait partie d'une secte. Sifeng (le ML), du Palais de Lize, porte un masque et n'a pas le droit d'être amoureux. La FL, héritière du clan Shao Yang, est privée de ses sens. La FL va faire tomber le masque et déclencher la malédiction des amoureux. Peu à peu, ils découvrent leur passé commun, et tentent de déjouer les twists du destin que les cieux leur ont tracé.

PROS:
+ super casting.
+ effets spéciaux et scènes d'action de qualité
+ personnages 2aires bien développés et attachants (certains apportent une touche d'humour, bienvenue pour équilibrer tout le drame).
+ romances secondaires mignonnes
+ Très bonnes OST

CONS:
- narration un peu lente par moments et story complexe avec multiples arcs narratifs (dont certains sont un peu trop longs) => Impossible de binge watcher les 59 épisodes !!
- je suis agacée par la repentance finale des villains super entêtés, qui mijotent de sales coups pendant des milliers d'années, mais prennent conscience subitement de leurs erreurs (ça ne fonctionne pas comme ça dans la vraie vie :) :)

=> Un très bon Xianxia, mais avec quelques longueurs.

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Talk about bad plots, another unbearable firefighter drama this year from CDrama land.

Bright Eyes in the Dark - is yet another drama this year about firefighters. I am getting picky, and this one is a bomb, just like Fireworks of My Heart. The only firefighter drama I could complete was "A Date with the Future" for this year with William Chan and Zhang Ruo Nan.

This one is so bad on many levels, even though it has a well-known supporting cast like Tang Xiao Tian, Wang Zi Qi, Zhang Ling He, and Wu Gang.
- In real life, having a reality show with ordinary people to go put out fires with firefighters is not realistic. Talk about liability issues.
- Wang Zi Qi played a bad character in this drama and the worst acting I have seen of him. Maybe he is better in a RomCom type of role.
- Johnny Huang is better at playing cop/detective. His character is weak in this drama despite being the fire department director.
- His on-screen chemistry with the FL (Zhang Jing Yi) is non-existent on many levels. They both appeared awkward, and no spark between them.
- It is not realistic for firemen not to have time to see family. The scriptwriter and director wanted to create tension and drama for this series but failed to deliver it.
- I have watched 24 episodes as background noise to kill time since nothing is good airing for CDrama after Hidden Love.

I invested enough time in this drama and am dropping it. I give it a 4.5 rating for bad plots and acting.

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Too Boring, and Janice Wu is better in modern drama than historical one.

Faithful is a historical Cdrama about revenge starting Janice Wu. I like Janice Wu, but lately, her projects were not been interesting. This is the first historical drama that I watched from her. I think she acts better in modern drama than in historical costume.

The Synopsis: A young woman named Ru Lan, who put her reputation on the line to air her grievances, dies in vain. Seven years later, nine people inextricably linked to the Ru Lan case get together for different reasons, thus beginning a story of revenge. Disregarding her good friend Meng Wan's objections, the young Lin Ru Lan risked her reputation to sue Wu Lian, the master of Xiu Liu. After many unsuccessful attempts, Ru Lan, who finds no place to hear her grievances, finally commits suicide to prove her innocence. Meng Wan bides her time for seven years and assembles nine people to seek justice for her friend. In the process, the struggles of a young girl buried in time gradually emerge.

This drama is so slow and boring that I barely passed 5 episodes. I am dropping it because it didn't intrigue me. I give it a 5.0 rating.

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When your co-workers and the police are scarier than a psychopathic killer ...

This was very good. For the first 5 episodes. Nice pace, creative story, binge-worthy. And then it suffered from the all too common everyone-except-the-bad-guy-behaves-extremely-stupid-all-the-time syndrome and was stretched out into way too many episodes. 10 or maybe 12 episodes could have saved this. Or more creative writing. If they wouldn't have created such a power-imbalance between the male leads so early on, they could have had a few funny/thrilling episodes where they were rival killers or friends or scared of the other or whatever ... But what they chose instead was to let all the stupid people make all the stupid mistakes time and time again, ignoring all the read flags and alarm bells all around ... makes for a very frustrating watch for episodes 6 to 14 or so.

Minor observations:
- The hair gel gangster was such a funny character.
- The pushover's family was very nice. Would have loved to see them more.
- What's the deal with the internal revision lady? Her motivations stayed unclear till the end.
- How many times has this police officer NOT used her gun? Would have served her right to be killed ... *arghh*
- The co-workers would have deserved some more revenge. The toilet scene with the immediate superior was a good start, but not enough.
- The finale with the escape room must have been a joke, right? Could have been so much better with a better (longer) use of the escape room to tease the bad guy a bit longer. And what happened after the escape room was ridiculous.
- At one point, MDL hat the bromance tag on this. It was removed. Rightfully so, as there is no bromance.

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I did not like the plot because it kind of depressing, but the acting was exceptional.

A Time Called You - a Kdrama recommended by a friend, and I fell asleep watching it. So far, I have not enjoyed this drama. It is too slow, and the flow of the story is not engaging me.

The Synopsis: Han Jun Hee's boyfriend, Koo Yeon Jun, died one year ago. She still hasn't gotten over his death and misses him a lot. One day, she time-travels back to 1998 and finds herself as a high school student, Kwon Min Joo. There, she meets high school student Nam Si Heon. She is surprised to see how much Nam Si Heon resembles her late boyfriend, Koo Yeon Jun. Nam Si Heon is outgoing and attractive; girls adore him. His best friend, Jung In Kyu, develops a crush on Kwon Min Joo.

I went back and watched it again, and I didn't like the story that much because it dealt with dark issues with mental health and suicide. The acting was exceptional, especially the actress Jeon Yeo Been, who played both Han Jun Hee & Kwon Min Ju characters.

Overall, I enjoyed the acting of this drama, but not particularly the plot. I give it an 8.0 anyway because the acting was so good.

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Moving was......MOVING!!!

DISCLAIMER!!!
I may have some serious biases lol because, in my opinion, this is the BEST kdrama this year. Fight me on this!

The whole premise of MOVING revolves around the children of 3 former ANSP agents and 1 father who is madly protective of his son. It basically dives into their backstory and what their life was like prior to becoming parents. How they were taken advantage of and have gone into hiding in order to prevent their children from not being used for selfish gains like they were.

Shows that tend to focus on the children of people with superhuman abilities most often tend to graze over the parent's backstories and just hyper-focus on the kids which isn't necessarily a bad thing. With MOVING, I love the special attention to not only the parents, the children, or the agency but also the enemies as well. We got backstories and explanations for every angle of this story. I commend the writers and directors on this cause this is something that's hard to execute without losing the main plot and straying far ultimately losing the attention of viewers and confusing everyone in the process. The shifting/time jumps in each episode felt natural and didn't feel rushed or cause confusion. And even when a plot line/time jump wasn't explained in the following episode it didn't cause any confusion and was picked up in another episode and tied in perfectly with the situation happening at that time.

I'm patiently awaiting season 2 because the writers have a lot of explaining to do.

1) YoungTak and his time-stopping power. Who is he? Why did he transfer in his senior year? Did they know about his power? Who are his parents and did they work with the ANSP? so many questions to answer.
2) Who tf is that girl that walked into YoungJoon's office? Is she the true brains behind that operation?
3) Naju's daughter. Her death had to be faked. Where is she? What happened to her truly and did the ANSP track her down?
4) Frank. Is he actually dead?
5) KiSoo. who is he really? How did his injury happen and why does he know about those with abilities?
6) That new guy in the last scene. What slimy shady selfish reasons in the name of 'protect and serve our country' is he gonna do now?
7) Are there more people with abilities?
So many questions that season 2 needs to answer and I can't wait.

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A very aesthetic fairy tale that also has some depth

At first, the story is so stereotypical that you would expect to read it in an encyclopedia entry on BL as an example story: sweet little weakling is heavily bullied in school until the savior comes along. And of course, they are stepbrothers. All the good stuff :)

But upon closer inspection, some things aren't as stereotypical as you would think - or judging from quite a few very bad reviews here - not as stereotypical as some would want it to be. This is not for you if ...
... you like a simple story stretched out over 12 episodes of 45 minutes each, spelling everything out for you
... you need a clear seme/uke relationship with no deviations
... you are looking for somewhat realistic cinematography or a very realistic story (but please, which BL ever has that?)

To elaborate on the above statements:
- The episodes are 25 minutes each and every episode is a new chapter in their life. So it is somewhat fast-moving and spans over a year or maybe even more. But to me, it was very nicely paced and it is easy to fill in the gaps that you didn't see.
- In the beginning, the smaller boy is indeed the weakling and the tall guy is the strong protector but over time it becomes apparent that the smaller guy is actually the stronger and more confident one. This culminates in the nice twist in the finale. I don't want to spoil, so let me just say: as this is Korean, it is especially nice how being gay is such a non-issue.
- The cinematography and set design and makeup and styling and everything visual in this is just from another world. Everything is in soft pastels, with extremely nice sun-lit views, sun flares and lovely interior design and architecture. And of course he has a part-time job in a flower shop that's straight out of an AI's mind with the perfection level and the pink level set to maximum. So in that regard, it is all very fake. At one point there is an outside scene on the street in an actual neighborhood and it felt a bit out of place to me, as it was - surprise - realistic looking. Some might hate this style, I love it. It is a fluffy fairy tale - enjoy it! The story and how the step-brothers act towards each other and with their mother is also a bit unrealistic at times, but even that for me adds to the positive fairy-tale experience.

Smaller details:
- The two friends are such nice characters, as I said before, especially as this is Korean.
- The smaller actor is so unbelievably good at conveying emotion with his eyes and face: the looks of fear and love and happiness from the tiniest of facial changes are so convincing - at least for me (I have read contrary views on here).

What a blossoming cherry tree is to nature, this piece of art is to BL.

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Lazy Writing and Even Lazier Character Arcs

This is going to be a very short and very harsh review. Especially towards Song Joong Gi.

This, in essence, is extremely lazy overall. Everything except the production quality and most of the actors. The screenwriter basically just wrote a drama to give an excuse for the main character to be "cool, clever and smart" when in reality, he's not really none of the above.

Main male character wakes up in the body of the rich son of the rich family he used to work for before his "untimely death", with all the knowledge of what's to come in the future. It's not really difficult to "manipulate" events he already knows how it will play out. He knows the answers to the test. All the while, he's showing off this knowledge as if he's being wildly clever about it all. Boring. Lacks depth. And his only motivation throughout the entire drama is revenge for his own death for the choices he made himself that got him there in the first place. I mean, he worked for this God awful rich family for years and witnessed how ruthless and cold-hearted they can be. Did he really not see the backstabbing coming and thought that his dedicated and loyal years of service would make him any more special than any other "dedicated and loyal employee"? What made him think he was any more important than a disposable paper cup? And then when he dies, he wants revenge despite knowing they were double-crossing, greedy and lying people to begin with. Stupid. Dumb. Shaking my head while contemplating why I wasted hours watching this crap drama.

Sorry but I'm not impressed by Song Joong Gi's picks in dramas or his acting chops. His choices in acting roles are extremely boring and bland. He keeps going for the same "cool and collected" characters that are mega-macho-masculine with no real depth to their personality except to look cool while doing it all. Maybe he actually has some acting talent but he keeps picking the same roles over and over again so I can't tell until he picks more interesting roles. Now, whenever I see a drama with Song Joong Gi as the main, I immediately pass.

The only saving grace is Lee Sung Min who is a fantastic actor with versatile talent and picks interesting roles, unlike Song Joong Gi. Lee Sung Min was half the reason why I watched this drama. The other half was me naively thinking there would be some big cool mysterious twist but it played out exactly how I thought it would, except the ending. The way they tried to make sense of a doppelganger paradox does not make sense. Writer basically was hoping that the audience were all unintelligent dumbasses and accept their lazy-ass writing.

I will not apologize and am not sorry for this review. This drama was awful. Writing sucked balls. Song Joong Gi was extremely tedious to watch. And ending was.......well, just no words.

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