Fubanshee666

The wide-shot SOTUS kiss tells me more than I wanted to know about the people involved in the production of this show. I'll feel the same whether or not it's a tease. A tease might make it worse.

Generally, I like and appreciate this show very much. The deliberate pacing is nice, the acting is natural, and cinematography fine.

What I don't like:
Repeatedly rolling out the ancient, cliche SOJU PLOT DEVICE to drive the plot. Lame, lazy, and utterly trope-city. The writers needed to do a lot more brainstorming.

The grotesque, mannequin-men, SOTUS-style, odd-angle camera-jump BS to conceal the fact the actors who we're supposed to believe are kissing are not anywhere near each other's lips. Lame beyond belief. This old trick is so old-school, homophobic, gay-love-is-nasty-and-I'm-an-idol-so-I-don't-do-that-shit insulting to the audience that it may put me off the remaining episodes. Why should I watch a show made, directed, and acted by people cashing in on the BL wave but who are at heart ashamed of what they're doing? Fuck that.

That said, I've been where Han Joon is in relation to a crush and he's right: You can't be just friends with someone you're in love with. It's endlessly painful. Watching Yoo Jae become jealous of others paying attention to HJ is satisfying and funny.

But yea, the SOTUS "kiss" at the end blew these last two eps to shit for me. That, and the shameless Karaoke promotion of a new single from the "idol" in the bar scene. I had no idea you can add auto-tune to live karaoke singing, and rapping. lol Maybe that's a thing now, but first I've heard of it. The squealing fan girls took it over the top. All that gimmick did for me was dispel my suspension of disbelief and remind me I'm watching a K-idol riding the BL wave for cash but not risking anything in return.

I'd like it better if they put out four fifty-minute episodes or dropped the complete series all at once. I know all the arguments about building audience over time and I don't buy it. Blueming dropped all at once, fans binged it and the word spread like wildfire.

Too many 12-16 episode dramas end up full of filler and drawn-out, lame story-telling. There's no reason K-BLs have to go the same route as mainstream K-dramas. Most feature films come in at around two hours, and the good ones tell a tightly written story full of drama, action and feels in that time. This drama is more than three hours long, all together. I'd much rather watch that than seemingly never-ending productions like your average K-BL.

All that said, I'd very much welcome a K-BL with 16 well-written, engaging 50 minute episodes, but that is a tall order. Perhaps Korea will build up to that. But Thailand is the prime example of what happens when length and number of episodes becomes more important than their content.

Odd movie. It's tells us it's a love story but the couple in question never seem to be anything more than friends, or even cousins. No romantic or sexual chemistry. One or two hugs, no kisses or making out, no sex, no nothing intimate at any point in the film. Even when they moved into together and all seemed rosy, they felt like companionable roommates, not lovers. Consequently, the climax, which should be heart-breaking, left me yawning. This is the fault of the script, blocking and direction, not the actors.

The ML is quite good but I'm not a fan of the FL. She plays adult characters who act and sound like 13 year-old girls. A 27 year-old who acts like this would be quite annoying.

The last ten minutes is quite unique and moving in its construction and staging, but I didn't feel much because there was no romance to break up.

Also, the guy is severely depressed with anxiety, and the girl is severely codependent. Neither is good relationship material. Instead of her going home and him writing a play, they need a few years in counseling and some effective meds.

So..fail.

5/10

Loved it.
Not usually into straight, romantic-revenge thrillers but this one worked for me for some reason. I promise that reason is NOT Jung Woo Sung's nakedness. Wow. But that didn't hurt either.
Some implausibles, to say the least (that in the latter part of the film, when JWS's character was living on booze, cigs, not taking his diabetes meds, etc. he would still be built like a ripped stud is a major implausible), but I don't think this film was trying to be high art, just a great, somewhat trashy watch and at that it succeeded.

I have a number of points to make about plot holes but whatever, it's a fun watch for what it is.

9/10

Nothing wrong with you. Recognizing that in reality most people are far more attracted to slender people than fat people is just the way it is. As for comedy, sometimes stereotypes have their place, as in this parody.

It's not "fat-shaming," as trendy as that BS has now become, it is A FACT OF LIFE. Most men, gay or straight or in-between, are far more attracted to slender, fit girls than to fat ones. I'm sorry that you and many others are unable to accept reality, but it's been the case for hundreds of years and will be for hundreds more. Now, before I'm attacked, I am NOT talking about "skinny" girls necessarily, but fit/healthy/non-pudgy girls. It's the same for men, by the way. Most women will check out the fit dude before the fat one.

Yes, some fat people find a fit or fat person to love them as they are and that is great, but it's not anywhere near the norm.

WTH isn't this rated 9.4 instead of 8.4? Christ, mdl is a ratings mess.

Epic. Nearly flawless.
Just finished so too much emotion and adrenaline flowing to give proper words to my feels, but for now suffice it to say this is perhaps the best WW2 movie from any country that I have ever seen. I'm American so that includes anything out of Hollywood and I've seen them all. Korean film-makers seem to excel at showing us the humanity inside even the most loathsome of characters.

Two favorite things: 1. Sparing the viewer nothing in showing us the nauseating brutality of war. I felt empathy for every soldier I saw fall, no matter the uniform. 2. Underlining the fact that all soldiers, from all sides, are almost always very young men, barely even adult yet, who have been thrust into the most horrifying circumstances possible.

The scope of this film is astonishing.

9.5/10

First Thai BL since Moonlight Chicken I'm not dropping during or after the first episode. It's fun watching Krist cut loose and have fun. Maybe he needed to get away from Singto. The premise is silly so why not cut loose and be silly with it? He also made me cry when he hugged his dad. Fluke is rocking it as the manly man. Looking forward to more coming out of the shower scenes.

This could actually work.

Very bleak and very good.

8.5/10

Meh. Would have been better without the interpretive dance breaks. lol
Production quality, especially staging, sucks.

2/10

Yoo Ah In was born to play sneering rich boys, lol. He's such an excellent actor, and along with all the other excellent actors, a great plot and outstanding fight scenes, this movie rocks.

8.5/10

Waste of time. Makes no sense at all.

Yup. Fish kisses are the worst. When I was new to BL, maybe my second watch was SOTUS. and when the kiss finally came near the end, and it was a mannequin kiss, the cameras were swirling around from all directions, and even with all that I could tell their faces were oddly aligned and they were actually touching the side of each other's face or something. ugh lol I don't like SOTUS at all (at the time I was brand-new to BL and just enthralled that I was seeing gay love stories at all); my tastes have changed a lot since then.

As for Winter Begonia, first of all it is 49 episodes, 54 minutes each and there is no way in hell I commit to series that are that long. Secondly, I do my own little boycott of Chinese movies and series anyway. Their ban on production of gay content pisses me off and therefore I watch nothing from China.

I will put Winter Begonia on my watchlist. Thanks. :)

My eyes ache from crying but in that good movie way. Just a great, tender, funny, and heartbreaking rendition of...life. Little Park Ji Bin, who's not so little anymore, is one of those one in a million, natural child actors who magically bring a character like his to life. There is nothing cloying or fake about his performance. All players are excellent. If you don't mind shedding some tears to be reminded of the precious and transitory nature of life, this is the movie for you.

Highly recommended.
9/10

First experiment in watching a film raw. Can't say I'm eager to do it again. Too many important details it's not possible to suss out with visuals and vocal tones/inflections alone. I think if I ever get to see this with subs I will give it a very high rating.

Dear god, did I ever want to see that b****h get hers. in the most hideous way possible. The way things ended was too good for her.

To me, a true BL has the gay love story at the core of the story, and it's not disguised as an intense friendship with guys exchanging lots of longing and meaningful glances but never touching each other, let alone, gasp!, KISSING each other. A BL is clear about the fact we're seeing a love story between two men and there's no doubt about it. Shows like The Untamed are endless teases, too timid to be upfront about gay love/sex. And no, a true BL does not have to include full-out sex, but I sure don't mind when they do.

What is "in-d?"

lol I'll have to go read the ND review. It's gotten to be a regular form of entertainment for me. One of my fave content warnings in our reviewer's work is something "punch, partial kick, hit" hahaha but I think my fave is "non-con picture taking." :)