Reviews

keeps you on the edge of your seat as if you are waiting for football player score a winning goal!

Overall - 9/10

It was an extremely fun film to watch. It kept me on the edge of my seat praying that Kwon Yu would make it through his next obstacle. The plot has a lot of potential for a sequel, or trilogy, or even better - a drama. I am desperately hoping for a second film!

Cast - 9/10

The cast was the highlight of this film for me. Everyone played their parts very well. Ji Chang-Wook embodied the metamorphosis of his character. I could see Kwon Yu’s journey clearly from a unemployed gaming addict who became a powerless victim to a strategic fighter for revenge and justice. I enjoyed the age and personality diversity within the gamer team! Their team chemistry was great. Most importantly Ji Chang-Wook never disappoints especially in the action genre!

Story - 8.5/10

The story was enjoyable and easy to understand while keeping the tension strong. The gaming world touch to the film made it unique and added to the enjoyment. I would have enjoyed a little bit of context when it came to the criminal organisation and the main antagonist, especially since they played such an important role in the story. I felt that the even though the ending gave closure to story that was built, it also left somewhat of an opening ending with a lot of room for continuation. I’d love to see the sequel to this film soon! They have a lot more to explore and so much room to continue the plot. There were many stones left unturned in the first film which could be revealed in a sequel. In my opinion, the plot is highly suited for a drama. I can see myself getting hooked from start to finish if this film ever gets remade as drama.

Thanks for reading, hehe <3

Read More

Seo Yea Ji and the plots within the plot

I liked two things about this show. The soulful side plots and how brilliant Seo Yea Ji is in it. The whole animated cuteness, innovative camera work, comedy to both heighten and lighten the serious tone and a journey of a few troubled soul to find happiness in a goth fairytale package is mostly fun and moving at its peak. But it's way simpler than I expected, more melodramatic than I prefer and a little short of deserving all the hype imo. The acting was superb. Characters are fun. The tonal transitions from comedy to drama are really smooth. The hospital director, Juri, Mu Young's publisher are such good supporting characters, so good that this drama feels full of good things, but as you can imagine, there's a 'but'. Despite the good parts, the melodrama sometimes cheapens the story. And the one character I was constantly annoyed with is Gang Tae. He is really important to the plot and offers many emotional scenes and it's not that the actor failed to deliver but his self-pity is colossal?. Half the drama he spends feeling sorry for himself, running and pretending. I just couldn't like him. I read that many found Mu Young rude and psychotic in an unlikable way, but she was perfect, she is larger than life by design and contrary to her character detail shows more emotions, maturity (especially when it matters) and longing to connect. Gang Tae keeps rejecting. I'd call her unrestrained interest in Gang Tae unacceptable obsession if he didn't reciprocate her madness in his passive regressive style. The melodrama too ruins the show, Gang Tae is shocked to find out the culprit (even though we viewers are not?), his face is displayed from all directions for 5 minutes?. And in what age are we living to hold children responsible for the crimes of their parents? Their emotional excessiveness was about such a futile point that it lost gravity. This drama could've been 12 episodes imo. But let's applaud Seo Yea Ji again, for bringing an imposing, soul seeing, lonely yet liberatingly free goth figurine together with a childish, thirsty for love, 'easy' to please comedic rendition of someone so abused. Sang Tae too was a very complimentary counterpart to her, and the actor is really enmeshed brilliantly with the character. It's okay, but the ending did not sweep me off my feet or the message; the harmony, the theme, the tune - I really appreciated but the sum of it - not so much. It's still really good for the amazing parts it's made of. A solid 8.

Read More

Neither too bad not too good

It was my a long waited drama . I liked it trailer basically after watching the trailer I liked the concept . Now connectivity of two world through small piece of meteroite neither any novel nor any video game . As well they go through to eachother world may times so drama showed both era .
Starting of two -three episodes were interesting because nobody was understand her ,she tried to explain the situation that she didn't belong this world but the male lead and his bodyguard thought she made stories to save her. The drama went smooth till when he went to her world and again he came to his world and that time her brother also went to his world and then female lead ,her brother , male lead and his body guard altogether again came to the present time . Then except her brother all again went to the past time . So till here story went smooth , afterwards it looked liked the story was stretched unnecessarily and this made the drama bored . Literally afterward I watched some episodes in fast-forward mode and finished it . Ending was good.
My recommendation would be if you don't have anything to watch then go for it.

Read More

Beautiful Love Story

The title "South Wind Knows" gives an indication that there will be twists and turns, ups and downs, happiness and sadness, intrigue and disinterest. The story seems all over the place without connecting the dots to some viewers. In my opinion, each facet of the story stems from the two lead characters. Though they may not be deemed to be as strong as the main storyline, each character in the Fu family has his own drama. There is nothing about SWK that lends to the idea of being boring. The main characters' story is a beautiful depiction of true love, trust, sacrifice, fear, acceptance, rejection, and love again. Even though it can be seen as unreal, viewers must remember that this drama is fiction; therefore, anything can take place. The typical overbearing mother should not be a surprise. The son who wishes to please his controlling parent is not surprising either. I give SWK a solid 10 because I accept it for what it is...a well-acted, complexly presented story of first love and the drama of a typical greedy rich family. The music is lovely and fitting for SWK.

Read More

Heart Warming

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

This was an excellent movie with an outstanding script. What is interesting is that the script had a mixture of many different things that somehow worked. The overall theme is the importance of friendship, but also has some slight romance. It also was a tribute to a famous Thai film actor, Mitr Chaibancha. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. This had an outstanding cast that did a great job with their characters. It also had beautiful cinematography and great music.

Random Notes:
I love watching moves/series that are set in a different generation. Although I don’t know how accurate it was, it was cool to see Thailand in the 1970’s.

I’ve only watched a few Thai movies, but this is the first one that had a solid script and great acting.





******Potential Spoiler Alert******

There was a love triangle that was resolved quickly. It was not overpowering and did not become the main focus of the movie.

Read More

Curse, Kisses and Canine Transformations

Weird yet intriguing concept: Female protagonist transforming into a dog after kissing men and a guy with a fear of dogs. The story kicks off when the female protagonist kisses him, leading to an entertaining, funny and heartwarming journey.

The show is set in a school premise but the lead characters are not students; they are teachers. This is what makes this show very interesting for me. Its very rare to see teachers as lead characters in romance dramas.
The show expertly blends romance, comedy and fantasy, seamlessly transitioning from a lighthearted romantic comedy in the first half to a more serious tone in the second.

The characters were pretty interesting. Han Haena is a bubbly female protagonist whose family carries the curse of becoming dogs after kissing another person. Jin Seowon is an introverted, shy Math teacher who has been secretly in love with Han Haena for a long time but couldnt express it. He also carries some past trauma because of which he has a fear of dogs. Lee Bogyeom is a mysterious history teacher who carries deep resentment toward both leads.
I personally understand his pain and why he carried resentment toward the leads. Many will say he was stupid and whatnot but in my opinion he was not wrong at all when the female lead's past self was responsible for a big tragedy. I sympathize with him and also understand his longing and pain.
The show deviates from the webtoon but honestly, I found a few changes quite logical and a few were unnecessary. Still the drama pretty much does justice to the webtoon.

Acting wise, Park Gyu Young simply nailed the role of Han Haena with her dog like charm. Cha Eun Woo has really improved from his previous school/college dramas; here in sad scenes, he emotes really well. He was doing justice to his role. Lee Hyunwoo was perfect for the role of Lee Bogyeom; he really carried the required mysterious vibes in this drama.

The chemistry between the leads is outstanding, balancing adorability with sensational moments. Kiss scenes stand out as some of the best in kdramas.

One of my favourite character aside from the leads is Yul, cute highschool student who aids Haena in breaking the curse. His crush on Haena is handled with maturity considering the student-teacher dynamic.

The music was pretty okay. Although there were not many memorable OSTs, i loved the intro OST.

In conclusion i will say this was a pretty fun fantasy romcom. I will definitely remember it for a long time as its quite close to my heart.


Note: One thing that ruined the experience of watching the drama for many is the horrible weekly schedule. It definitely worked against the drama; many got bored and dropped it midway.

Read More

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.” ― John Lennon

This story is the perfect example for this because i was having a mini heat attack followed by a short deppression because of how the 40 th ep ended, and i have not been happy like that for years(well the time between untamed and this)to find that there was a special ep. the story is quite messed up unless you are interested in something less romantic and more thrilling if you are a sherlock homes fan i would ask you to have a go with this. it is indeed a mysterious story. the author talent is making things believable was what is to be mainly appreciated.
there aren't may too unusual "coincidences" like other xianxia and wuxia drama i have watched lately.
casting cheng yi as li xiang yi and li lianhua was so stupendous and he did a great job bringing the character to life.
although li xiangyi and li lianjua are the same person there is vast diffrence in their attitudes and the way ot show the transition of the world famous li sect leader of sigu sect, li xianyi to a wandering physician(fake)who doent seem to care about anything but about how to die.
he meets a person fang duobing, who claims to be li xiang yi's one and only disciple and ends up teaming up with li lianhu(who is li xianyi)and solves a bunch of myserious cases togather and finally becomes friends and confidents.
they solve that that are related to a 100 year old conspiracy that is related to li xiang yi himself and about his lineage.

IT IS NOT A ROMANCE DRAMA AND HAS GOT A LOT OF MYSTRIES AND THRILLS AND IT IS NOT FOR SOME ONE WHO WANTS UNBELIVABLE STORY AND TWISTS.
YOU CAN GIVE IT A TRY BUT CANNOT GUARANTY ANYTHING TO EVERY ONE BUT IS THE SECOND MOST FAVORATE DRAMA IN MY LIST.

Read More

Excellent “suspense” series, quite disturbing & a masterful role for Miles Wei

PLOT: Very unusual format and tone since it is essentially a road trip, with a duo : a young editor (ML = Miles Wei), beginner and shy, and a writer (FL), a little temperamental, mysterious, haunted by her problems, including blank page syndrome.
During the trip, she tells ML meaningful stories, to be taken as clues or life lessons.

PROS:
+ Different but masterful role for Miles Wei
+ Fascinating and mysterious FL
+ vivid production, with magnificent cinematography. The images are beautiful, the framing very studied.
+ Fascinating, intriguing storyline. Good balance of suspense, romance and humor scenes.
+ great OST, with lots of classic tracks, amping up the action.

CONS:
- FL escape behavior, understandable when you are under the influence of a psychopath.

=> Excellent “suspense” series, quite disturbing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLOT : Format et ton très inhabituels puisqu'il s'agit essentiellement d'un road trip, avec un duo jeune éditeur (ML = Miles Wei), débutant et timide, et une écrivaine (la FL), un peu caractérielle, mystérieuse, hantée par ses problèmes, dont le syndrome de la page blanche. Au cours du voyage, elle raconte a ML des histoires, significatives, à prendre comme des indices ou des leçons de vie.

PROS:
+ Rôle différent mais magistral pour Miles Wei
+ FL fascinante et mystérieuse
+ réalisation vive, avec une cinématographie magnifique. Les images sont belles, les cadrages très étudiés.
+ Storyline fascinante, intrigante. Bon équilibre des scènes de suspense, de romance et d'humour.
+ super OST, avec beaucoup de morceaux classiques, amplifiant l'action.

CONS:
- Comportement de fuite de la FL, se comprend quand on est sous emprise d'un psychopathe.

=> Excellent série "suspense", assez dérangeante.

Read More

This is a family drama that portrays the life of two families that get entangled through the Haesung Group‘s loss of their granddaughter Choi Eun Seok who ends up been raised by the Seo’s family for 25 years. The cast did a great job bringing their characters to life but there are too many subplots that don’t get enough time to be properly developed. The leading couple has good chemistry when they are together but their story became redundant as Choi Do Kyung (played by Park Shi Hoo) tries to maneuver his mother and grandfather’s antics to control his life as a “chaebol” and future leader of Haesong Group and constantly fails to explain and make sure that Seo Ji Ahn (played by Shin Hye Sun) understands his motives behind his actions; hence, for the majority of the drama, Seo Ji Ahn spends her most of her interactions rejecting his loving and caring proposals. Although the leading couple deeply cares for each other and are constantly lending a helping hand throughout the drama, they don’t get to truly the time together to put a united effort to overcome their vicissitudes and be together truly until the last few minutes of the drama that concludes with the most insipid ending.

Read More

BAD

Where to even begin with this mockery. It's as appalling as it sounds. The journey of a dickless simp following a clown king who can't control his dick. They could have explored the world of eunuchs in many different and interesting ways but they choose to go through the absolute worst possible route and interpretation of eunuchs. I wonder which is easier, finishing this drama or castration? Writing, story, direction, cast performance, sound design, cinematography, production, and characters were all abysmal by any measure. If you were to look through the last few episodes you'll realize even the writer was fed up with the drama and turned it into a hate writing. Even if you were a big fan of one of the cast members, I don't see this being worth it.

Read More

What Africa are they talking about??

To preface this, I am Malawian and have been living here my whole life. Ive also visited and schooled in several different African countries.

When watching this drama, i admittedly laughed a little at the scenes 'in Africa'. But i didnt laugh because it was genuinely comedic, i laughed because they were borderline ignorant and, imo, rude. We have water in Africa. We have beautiful homes. We have CIVILISATION. We also have 54 freaking countries in Africa, it is a continent not a country. Yes there are poor countries here in need of help, but there are poor countries that need help in Asia too. The portrayal of Africa in this show is not only erroneous but uneducated and frankly quite supremist (that is, painting Korea as superior to the continent as a whole).

I loved the drama, but it couldve done without the ridiculous scenes.

Also, what the heck was up with the Lion King theme song? Now i know y'all are NOT fr.

Read More