porkman

Will be watching simply because of Shin Hyesun

I'm guessing they are North Korean spies hence the title. I also heard this will have 8 episodes. Hoping for this to be picked up by Netflix.

This was a pretty dull watch, but more than anything I am just baffled by the logic behind the basis of this movie. Surely a fake human brain in a robot body can't be the same entity as the human, even if it has emotions? But the film thinks otherwise. Sorry, but a daughter risking her life to save a robot clone of her mom just doesn't add up to me. That's just delusion. There is zero emotional impact there (other than annoyance).
To make things worse, the plot is predictable very early on, and any interesting ideas are just glossed over. So much screentime for an annoying villain and so little for the mom who's supposed to be the main character. Not to mention the ending is complete nonsense. How does a generic robot easily defeat the robot researchers had been perfecting for 40 years? Where did the forests and mountains come from?
Nice looking VFX, but there were almost no other redeeming factors. Not worth watching.

I didn't have much expectations in the first place but the editing in the fight scenes is just horrendous. I don't see the plot going anywhere either, so it's a big no for me.

This is the first drama of SHK that I've enjoyed in a long time. I think this genre really suits her current aura and acting style.

You put into words what I thought of this show. There are two sides of a coin, you will appreciate something if you can get past its weaker aspects. The show seems to be popular on my country's Netflix now, so I'm assuming more people are coming to appreciate it.

This movie seems too ambitious for its own good. Too many elements and characters, and while the plot is decent and the cast is solid, it's just too chaotic for me to immerse myself in its world. Still, I liked its whimsical-ness and it's a decent movie for entertainment. Just perhaps a tad underwhelming compared to its hype/budget.

Hwayoung re-appearing has to be one of the most anti-climatic things I've watched. If that was meant to be a jaw dropping moment, it completely failed. While I enjoy plot twists, the drama went off the rails and the plot had more holes than swiss cheese in the last few episodes. It ends rather flat compared to what it was building up for. Oh well, I guess my expectations were too high.

Still, I enjoyed the watch and there were some genuinely clever moments throughout, though I think the writer ended up overestimating him/herself and creating a forced ending. Characterization was rather weak as well, though I think the sisters were refreshingly flawed and the acting elevated the characters. I think this deserves a 7.5-8/10.

Ah, that's a good point. Though frankly I don't remember the plot of the book at all lol.

This is a great show so far. Unrealistic as it is, I genuinely like the unpredictability and the thoughtfully written lines. It's very refreshing to watch flawed, imperfect characters be the main characters of a mystery drama. It gets repetitive to keep watching genius detectives in this genre. In fact the male lead is too perfect and less interesting as a character, he seems more like a plot device. Now if they wrap things up while keeping this standard, it's easily a 9/10. I feel like the sisters will end up with nothing at the end, similar to the state they were when the show started.

Maybe the FL had always sought death, there were several hints of this (her password being her mother’s death date, carrying fentanyl etc). Still, she was someone who could overcome her fear of heights to kill her abusive husband. Her life was bleak since the start, but she finally had a chance to be loved deeply. Enjoying a short period where life was no longer empty made it even more agonising when she repeated her recording of his voice to herself, that she had no chance of living that life in the future. This subtly tied in with the criminal who took his own life on the roof, hinting that this too would be her ending.

Also, a far-fetched thought is about her method of suicide, why a self bury when she always said she loved the sea? Maybe she didn't want to be found, to remain an "unsolved case", so that her photos will always be plastered on the ML’s wall, and she would forever exist in his mind. Perhaps at that point, that meant more to her than life itself.

While this film is more subtle and perhaps the plot is less impactful compared to some of Park's past films, I found this quite thought provoking and appreciated the extra touches of elegance. Both leads are very convincing, with Tang showcasing many of her strengths. The shortcoming was that the second half felt slightly scattered, and (for me) required a bit of rewatching to fully understand. There are a lot of points for discussion, mainly regarding the title..

I think it depends, there's no guarantee that anything sci-fi will appeal to the international audience. Apparently the humour and personality in Choi Dong Hoon's films are very "Korean" and hard to translate.
I know the main cast are already established and well-known in their generation, but they're not veteran household names like Lee Jungjae and Kim Hyesoo. While JJH headlined assassination, she was the youngest in the main cast iirc. To some extent, CDH has relied on star casting to guarantee box office success in the past. For instance, the biggest draw for The Thieves was its lineup.
To give part 2 the push it needs, they have to establish an audience for part 1 first perhaps by releasing it on OTT. Or part 2 might be straight to netflix.

I love this webtoon! I'm curious to see how they will recreate the "horror" in the webtoon that comes mostly from imagery of the main character's paranoia and hallucinations. Hope this comes to Netflix.

This is definitely the biggest risk Choi has taken on yet, sci-fi has never been well received in SK and the main cast are relatively younger and less influential compared to his previous films.
I read that the production cost for both parts are astronomical, so I really hope the situation improves. If this incurs a huge loss, who knows if the second part can get a theatre release. It might also have a severe impact on future investments for projects from Choi or blockbusters in the same genre.

I heard this film is underperforming and getting mixed reviews. It's a shame but not really surprising considering SK is still new and inexperienced in sci-fi. From the trailer, it seems quite extravagant and childish, but it looks entertaining. Will probably still see it for myself since I'm a fan of some of the director's previous works.

Binged this within 2 days, I will say it's solid. Even though they left several things unexplained, it kept my attention quite early on and the 2 leads were smart enough to keep things fast paced. I think the transition phase where they started becoming emotionally drained was well done and they became more intuitive partners over time, which I liked.

My biggest complaint is the usual, completely unnecessary romance which halted the flow of the story. I did not sign up for that. Oh well, still giving this a solid 8/10. I think younger audiences will like this more.

This kind of show isn't my thing but checked out part of the first episode for Kim Taeri, she has that sort of old-school Hong Kong actress vibe but with a baby face. She is childish and adorable but yeah, still isn't really my thing lol. I can't help but feel the color scheme is too 'modern' for that era. Might come back after more episodes air.

Finally watched this after seeing all the mixed reviews and yeah, they're understandable lol.
Based on my understanding, it's basically a social commentary on religion and power structures in society, and the teddy bears are an allegory that signifies death. The first 3 episodes were great and kept me hooked, but the show went downhill in the middle. The lack of government response and just unrealistic events in general made me suspend my belief too many times. I get that it's on the "abstract" side but I still expected a certain level of realism here. Even looking past those, it failed to keep my attention after the revelations were over and the most charismatic character (Yoo Ah In) died. Not to mention, the series is incomplete. I really liked the whole concept but because of these flaws I felt that the whole social message failed to be delivered effectively.

The show just turned into straight up fantasy at some point. For a moment during the ending, it looked like a live-action The Little Prince, except it's a princess lol.