michelleoc

Could have used some editing (and some acting classes)

What I liked:
1) ML's smile. Almost worth the watch just for that!
2) Strong females in abundance. Not only the FL, but her friend, the grandma, the ex-GF, and the evil ladies. I don't think I saw any of them trip over their own feet or turn into weaklings in a crisis.
3) Cute kid.
4) Sweet ending.
5) No miscommunication/misunderstandings between the leads.
6) Strangely, my favorite person was the woman that played Nirin. I thought her acting was very good, especially when she was talking to the grandma.

Not so much:
1) Every episode seemed like a rehash of the previous episode, Bad guys continue to cause trouble, cue the fights scenes, the bad guys get away. And BOY, it sure is easy to go into a hospital, put on some scrubs, and get into an operating room while an operation is going on to try to kill the person on the table. The bad guys took turns "working" in the hospital.
2) FL's back was broken, but she had some kind of magic surgery and was completely healed and fight-ready in four days.
3) The acting of some of the people were pretty bad (mostly the bad guys).
4) The romance was pretty boring.
5) The music...oh my gosh, the loud dramatic music and working my last nerve.

I will say that I don't normally watch Thai dramas, so I'm not the best judge, but this is just my opinion for me to remember what I thought.

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A "mature" romance

I don't know why I put off watching this drama. It was really good, and showed a more mature (read non-school-age) couple. There were no misunderstandings, no noble idiocy, no lack of communication, or any of the other tropes that I've come to expect.

Han Ji Min as Ji Yu was excellent. I didn't like her for the first couple of episodes (which was the writer's intent), but she did a wonderful job transitioning from working automaton to a boss that you'd like to work with. There was a lot of comedy with this character. She knew NOTHING aside from work. She called everyone by the wrong name, she didn't know what the company car looked like, but she didn't care.

Until Lee Jun Hyuk came along as Eun Ho, the most efficient man, best secretary ever. He has an intense gaze that you can get lost in. I found their relationship to be very organic and it totally made sense. Most of their conflict was from outside sources, which was a nice change of pace. Once they got together, they were so cute to watch.

I have to mention Gi So Yoo as Byeol, Eun Ho's daughter. You liked her from the get-go. She was smart, but not bratty, and the relationship between her and her dad was so special to watch. I especially loved how she came to like Ji Yu on her own, without any interference from dad.

The second couple was cute, but I think a lot must have been left on the cutting room floor at the beginning, because Jeong Hun kept showing up at the company, but it wasn't made clear what his purpose was until later in the show. By that time, I was frustrated because he seemed so out of place.

All of the office staff was well-cast. They worked seamlessly together with no one for me being a standout.

There was one thing that I couldn't get past, though. The lighting/makeup were not well-done at all. A lot of the scenes in the office, the outside light was really bright on their faces and you could see all the blemishes/whiskers under their makeup. For me, the most egregious was the makeup for Ji Yu. There is glowing, and then there is sweating. There were so many scenes that I felt that someone should give her a tissue to blot her face, especially her nose and cheeks. Maybe it was so hot in the workplace that she actually was sweating, but it wasn't a good look.

Apart from that, I'm so glad I watched it.

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DO NOT watch this if abuse is a trigger for you! I'm serious.

Normally I rate movies based on my enjoyment of them. Not Silenced. I HAD to rate it on the importance of it. This movie will make you mad. You will be appalled at the evil in some people - it's so upsetting to watch because it's a true story. It's dark, nausea-inducing, and graphic. I had to fast forward through many scenes. The fact that this movie brought to light the actual atrocities that had occurred, brought some justice, and most of all, removed the statute of limitations on child abuse cases - I'm so glad it was made.

Negatives:
-many veteran actors that I will never be able to watch in other works without thinking of them in this movie.
-Yu Mi's acting. I just don't find her believable.
-Gong Yoo's icky moustache through the last half of the movie. It made him look sleazy.

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Action packed

Sure, some of the cases/situations were unrealistic, but for me, that didn't in any way take away from the charm of this drama. It sounds strange to call this type of show (blood, guts, action, etc.) charming, but it was for so many reasons:

1) Ju Ji Hoon - He is a wonderful actor, and he was able to straddle the line between brilliance and off-putting arrogance. He wasn't unlikeable in the least, which I really appreciated.
2) Bromance between Dr. Baek and Number 1. At first, all you see is fear of Dr. Baek, then respect grows, and Number 1 grows in the process. There was a lot of understated humor here.
3) Nurse Cheon as the long-time pillar of the department. She was smart and professional and didn't put up with anything from others.
4) No romance! Thank you so much for not trying to divide up the focus of the show.
5) Dr. Han. I hated then loved this character! Lots of comic relief here.

My only pet peeve about this drama was purposely ending with eight episodes, knowing that they have planned for a season 2 and 3. Hopefully it won't take two years for the next season!

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Fun binge watch!

Think parody of The Hunger Games or Squid Games, but with dating. I don't watch too many Thai dramas, because I find the acting either lacking or overboard. This came up while I was scanning Netflix for my next watch and I decided to give it a try, knowing nothing about it. I'm sure glad I did.

Since the whole show is pretty over the top, you don't notice if the acting isn't good. There is humor and suspense as we watch a Dystopian version of The Dating Game.

There is a lot of use of bright colors and interesting costuming, unfortunately so many of the suspense scenes are so dark it's hard to see what's going on.

It's a very fun show to watch.

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Suspenseful, but I liked it a little less than Blind

My biggest complaint with this movie was the cinematography. There was a lot of crazy camera work that was apparently supposed to put us in her shoes, but she was blind, so every time that happened, it killed the suspense for me.

There were some periods when the acting was less than stellar, but not throughout the whole thing, thankfully.

SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!
I liked this movie from the standpoint that we got to see what happened in his past that made the perp a bad guy. I also liked that they didn't kill off the detective like they did in Blind. And since it was a newer movie, the social media aspect worked really well.
I also liked the end where her new "brother" was in a band in a tribute to her brother that died.

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Low angst, but...

I had so many problems with this movie. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but it might have been better as a series to allow for some character development. However, I almost turned it off multiple times because the FL was just so lazy, stupid, manipulative and controlling. I think she was supposed to be a happy character, even with hardships, but, for me, she just wasn't likeable.

ML was bland, and toward the end when you see all he did to be with her, he was controlling as well, bordering on creepy. Good looking once you could see his face without the glasses and hair in his face (last half hour, at most).

I don't like triangles. The 2ML served absolutely no purpose, seriously no purpose. He had a couple of scenes like there was going to be a point of him being there, but then he disappeared.

2FL - she didn't like the ML, she just didn't want to lose to anyone else.

Worst of all, the acting was over the top and cartoonish for a lot of it.

I can't recommend it, but it does have the fluffiness factor going for it.

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Suspenseful

I watched this movie today on YouTube. I knew nothing about it going in, and when I was reading the credits and seeing the cast of actors, wow! It was very fast paced and frenetic. Some of the scenes are filmed very dark, you need to be in a dark room to see what's going on.

The cast, as I mentioned, was outstanding.

The only reason I didn't rate it higher, was because it was all action, I didn't really feel an emotional connection with any of the characters. Everything felt somewhat disjointed.

SPOILERS BELOW!
The ending was touching with the survivors coming to the graves of those that didn't. But I felt it would have been more powerful if those that died showed up in their uniforms to salute the ML that was there, because I think he's going to be haunted by the incident for the rest of his life.

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I didn't "enjoy" this movie

You know how there are things in our life that we don't necessarily want to do, but you do because they are important? Watching this movie was like that for me. I didn't enjoy it per se, but I was totally able to see the importance of watching it. It was very difficult to watch, seeing corruption and the toll it took on the students, demonstrators, and the townspeople of Gwangju.

I was especially impressed by the transition of the taxi driver from the beginning to the end of the movie. At the beginning he's just pitiful and can't catch a break. He then goes through a cowardice phase (but I couldn't fault him, with a young daughter at home), then ultimately by seeing this tragedy with his own eyes, decides to do the right things. Song Kang Ho was wonderful.

I was concerned about the part of the German reporter in this movie. Of the K-dramas that I've seen, whenever they have non-Koreans, the acting is really bad. The actor was great.

Was there music? I have no idea. As far as re-watch value, it was hard enough the first time! Would I recommend it? Absolutely, with the caveat that it isn't an easy watch.

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Thank goodness it was short

It was goofy, and not in a good way. While I was watching it, it felt like it was written by two different writers that never talked to one another. One was writing a quirky comedy, the other was writing something serious, hoping we would care about the characters. Any attempts at seriousness were ruined by the over-the-top silly music.

The tarot card reading really didn't make sense to me. It felt like an addition to try to further the storyline. The FL wasn't likeable. The ML - no one looks good in a track suit, and he spent a lot of time in one. He's the CEO of a company yet lives in a small, rundown apartment?

The ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend had entirely too much screen time, and the forgiveness at the end was just irritating.

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Not for me...

Yes, I'm in the minority. I'm not here to change anyone's mind, so take my review with a grain of salt.

Personally, I felt that this drama was overly complicated with an overabundance of names to keep track of. It also felt that some of the issues were never resolved, and we never got the complete back story on some things.

It was good from the standpoint of shifting alliances, and it keeps you guessing as to who the culprit is. It was intricately woven with a lot going on.

Strangely, I was bothered by the many times that Kim Bum smiled at inappropriate times. I don't know what was going on with that. I also felt that the very end was flat, and a bid for a second season, which is not needed.

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Our Beautiful Summer - a beautiful show

I watched this free on HiTV. It's only two episodes, but it made me get all the feels.

It's the story of the intense grief of loss, how everyone copes (or doesn't cope) with it differently. It's about a young lady that has built a protective wall around herself. She's suffered a lot in her 19 years, and you feel that she doesn't open up because she doesn't want to get hurt again. The neighborhood boys, each in their own way, try to scale that wall and get her to open up.

The boys' grief also involves the sense of guilt they each feel. Through the friendship of these four people, healing is able to take place.

It was told in such a way that it kind of felt like I was spying on their lives. I highly, HIGHLY, recommend this show.

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