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Two worlds that maybe should not collide.
Opening with rather dark themes got me excited for some teen dark investigation thriller, just to switch to fluffy slice of life in remaining episodes - it did not click well for me.The story of our (technically) main duo barely existed except for the first and last episode. For the four episodes we followed stories of their classmates and I could not stop myself from thinking how insignificant they are compared to what was introduced in episode 1.
Here’s the thing - the stories were nice. Various situations present many issues teens might have to deal with as they mature. These were good takes and I did enjoy watching them, but my mind just kept coming back to Sappukei - her story became a distraction for me.
All that said, the drama has an amazing energy and vibe (don’t ask me to explain what it means, I can’t). Even though some of the presented issues seem like small problems, when you think about them a little bit more, they can be easily applied to a larger scale and become relatable no matter your age, experiences and surroundings.
The acting was good. Yamada Anna did a phenomenal job! She aced the role of someone being strongly emotionally affected, but trying to keep it all together and push forward, hiding how hurt, sad, scared, but also angry they truly are.
Overall, a nice show that does not quite well blend the stories. Different plots and themes did not fit together and created a bit of disconnect.
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Great buildup with a bit too much overexplaining.
How much you will feel the thrills and how much you will enjoy this movie depends on how fast you will guess the plot. The later you figure out the puzzle pieces, the better. For me, it was around an hour into the story, and after I understood what’s going on, it was a bit too predictable.Still, the movie was for sure well crafted. Perfect pacing, with well written characters and outstanding performance from the cast. A bit of red herring and vague storytelling that helped create the suspense. Even after you figure out what’s coming, it’s still enjoyable. You start to pay more attention to details, dialogues and interactions between characters to see if they all support your theory.
It’s a psychological thriller that truly masterfully builds the layers of the plot and characters’ state. It’s a bit heavy on the explanation at the end, going the “tell not show” and not “show don’t tell” way. I believe the audience is smart enough to make sense of the clues and hints they have seen without the director literally showing what happened and why.
The best aspect of Anchor? Performances. I’m a massive fan of Shin Ha Kyun, and he did not disappoint in this project either. He delivers the lines and expressions with such an ease, you truly believe the character is a real person. Chun Woo Hee did most of the heavy lifting, being the central part of the story, and she aced the role. It was not an easy task to complete, and yet she made it in a phenomenal fashion.
Overall, a nice watch that did not feel long even though the run time almost hit the 2 hours mark. While the charm of it fizzles the moment you figure out the plot, it’s still a great movie with a good amount of twists and turns.
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Let’s start with the fact this is not really a “strong female leads being badass” type of a show. All free leads are emotionally broken in one way or another, selfish, egocentric and cunning. None was worth rooting for and that’s exactly what made the drama a fun watch - you could see them messing with each other's lives, laugh about it and not feel many conflicting emotions.
Character wise, both Go Mo Ran and Bae Ok Sun were fascinating. Completely misguided in their actions, created an avalanche of devastating situations that only made them both feel more frustrated, sad, angry. On the other hand, Woo Hyun was simply poorly written, and the performance by Kim Ha Neul did not help either. Lack of development, ambiguous morals, questionable motivation - this character more or less served nothing.
Production and directing wise, it was fine until it was not. Last two episodes are a pacing nightmare sprinkled with confusing editing. Sadly, the director and production team did not know how to deal with the cut of two episodes, making it impossible to deliver a proper closure that did not feel rushed and out of the blue.
Overall, not a bad watch.
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It took me 3 attempts to get into this movie. The exposition and introduction to the characters and plot is just way too long - this ain’t that deep, there ain’t no complex lore to flesh about. It’s as basic and predictable as it gets. Just move on to the wacky supernatural deaths…
I honestly think the movie should lead more towards a B class horror movie and deliver entertainment. Somehow, I felt like they were trying to be a little bit too serious about it all. In the end it was neither entertaining nor interesting.
Nanon’s acting was too good for this production. Cherprang gave me close to nothing - flat from opening till the end.
Production value was fine. Closer to the end we’ve got some nice supernatural moments and the CGI was decent.
Overall, the biggest issue I had was the fact the movie was simply boring.
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Here’s the thing - I truly believe this could be a decent movie about the parallel universes collapsing into each other and male lead trying to figure out how to stop it. Edit out all the alien monster flick scenes and tweak the plot slightly, and you get a good sci-fi mystery with nice aesthetics.
Instead we’ve got cheap halloween costume type of aliens running around, barely developed plot and ridiculous out of the blue romance.
Overall, I kind of got what I expected looking at the poster, and yet cannot stop myself from feeling disappointed, because I saw glimpses of potential as I was watching.
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Lacks proper set-up and introduction.
When is a tomb raiding story good? When it has a solid backstory and mystery set from the start that drives the curiosity of the viewers. When the characters are fun and interesting to watch and the teamwork and dynamics are entertaining. What does The Tomb of Ghost Mojin lack? All the above.It’s another case of a movie that works on paper, but was not translated well on screen. The characters were painfully dry and boring, the story was fun, but only retrospectively when they explained it all by the end. It was nice looking, but also way too dark to truly appreciate it.
Overall, I honestly have little to say. I liked the ending? I guess that’s that.
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Exaggerated scenarios that had strangely wholesome vibes.
I think the best part of the show is the fact it’s not really dumb, even though it might seem like it is at first. The writers had a decent grasp on social media, start up and internet culture and took a proper jabs at the proper topics. At the same time, this is exactly the reason a lot of people would not find the show that interesting. You need to know the basics of the topics to understand the absurdity that is presented.It does not go into great details into the topics, so don’t get too scared. I found a lot of the jokes and plots fun and entertaining even though I don't have a professional background in any related areas. Spending enough time in the right corners of the internet was enough.
The tone of the show slowly shifted from being just a workplace comedy to focusing more on the characters and their personal struggles, while keeping the fun and entertaining tones. It’s not one of the shows that start as a comedy to lean into melo later - it’s a crack of a show from start to finish, the topics just slightly shift.
Another selling point were the eccentric characters that still managed to be relatable. Jay was probably the most down to earth person - using him as a way to introduce the Maccom and its employees was a perfect choice - Jay and viewers were on the same boat, trying to stay afloat with a peculiar crew.
When I talk about the characters, I have to compliment the whole cast for their phenomenal performances. How they were able to make me believe a workplace like this one could actually exist is beyond me. They all had such a consistent performance, no matter how out of the box and ridiculous the characters’ and their actions were, I just accepted them as a norm.
The production value was great. Both intros were as absurd as the whole show and for that I am grateful - they stayed on brand. It is an office show though, so do not expect some beautiful screenshot worthy scenes.
What Unicorn lacked was the substance. As much as I enjoyed the episodes as I was watching them, there was not much inviting me to start the episodes in the first place. It’s a show you love as you watch, but forget it exists in between the episodes.
Overall, great watch if you are interested in the subject. Might be a bit boring and ridiculous if you have a high level of expertise or know nothing about it.
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This would actually be a really good investigative thriller if it was not for the Sea Monster from the title. There was an interesting mystery, crime, murder, kidnapping, corruption and conspiracy… And there was also awful CGI and over the top monster make up.
Still, even with that ridiculous twist and awfully animated monster jumping around, it was truly an enjoyable watch. I am probably biased, because I loved the female lead so much, but the movie does focus on her alone, so it’s fair to add some points thanks to that character.
Both acting and production quality was nice. Even though Du Qing Ling was a calm character, it did not mean she was emotionless (which often is an issue, as some writers associate being calm with having no reaction to anything). Except for the CGI monkey monster, the movie was also aesthetically pleasing. The surrounding of the forest and the village were rather dim, but the film never truly felt dark.
Overall, short and interesting with great female lead.
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The mentor-mentee relationship between the two main characters was natural and fun to watch. While it was never the focus of the movie, it gradually and realistically built the trust and care the two had for each other.
The separate stories were interesting, but the background linking plot sadly was underdeveloped. Sure, by the end you get it all and the motivations of the villain are explained, but for me, not enough detail was put into crafting his backstory and presenting him as an interesting figure.
Production wise, it's honestly hard to describe. It masterfully mixed beautiful shots and sceneries with mediocre CGI - a rollercoaster of aesthetics. Acting was great. Not surprisingly, I liked Shang Tie Long's performance the best. I do have one complaint though, which I usually have with Chinese movies and shows. The generic white actor with awfully done dubbing - why? Why do we always have to have them?
Overall, surprisingly fun. I went into it thinking it would be a C class supernatural horror with all the aspects below average quality at best, but received a rather enjoyable 1 hour and 20+ minutes ride.
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The plot is literally people “swimming” to the island after their boat flipped. Them talking and fearing a shark. That’s it. Sounds boring? It was.
Truly the best parts were the awful CGI and questionable editing and soundtrack. One song got me so confused I was sure my laptop broke, because it sounded as if some nasty ghost just kept stopping and playing the video. And then the english rap OVER dialogue. Who mutes dialogue to play the song and put the subs for said dialogue? And how they just clear cut the song and put on the dialogue sound halfway through the sentence… oof.
That said, putting aside the CGI, it was actually a decent looking movie - that’s it for the good parts. The characters were empty, both personality and brain wise.
Don’t watch it even if you have literally nothing else to watch.
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Karma is a b*tch, but I guess she is just.
Haunted CarIt’s more unnerving and uncomfortable than scary, especially with the close ups of the taxi driver’s face. It kind of tries to deliver a morality lesson and I would not even say they do a bad job, especially for a short story like this. It’s just a really basic one, nothing that will truly inspire you - we all heard it at least a few times in our lives.
Reborn
Really strong mystery/investigation ghost story. I like how the past is presented and the main character does a great job leading the story. It has an actually interesting plot with great performances and spooky atmosphere.
The Book of Truth
Probably the most complex plot wise, dealing with many elements that kind of fit nice together? Not gonna lie, I struggled to focus during the first half of this story, nothing truly grabbed my attention. It got better as they explained everything, but the not engaging beginning was a letdown.
Overall, all 3 stories dealt with topics of karma, afterlife, past life and all that spiritual stuff. All had more or less the same conclusion and message. Out of the 3, 2nd story - Reborn, was for sure the best.
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The movie might be short and does not really present any plot, but it’s a good watch nonetheless. It’s weirdly tense for a short about mosquitoes and for some strange reason, it works.
The main character might take some drastic measures by the end, but honest? Can’t blame him. I was moving away from the laptop and being close to muting the tab because of the sound.
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This is one of the weirdest love stories I have ever seen…
And this is not a compliment. But I also cannot truly say it’s a bad thing. There is so much wrong with this romance, I could not stop laughing when I finished the movie.Alice: Boy From Wonderland is quite an experience. First 50 minutes are a true snoozefest. Everything is confusing, but not in a good and interesting way, but more of a “nothing holds my attention”. I became so indifferent to what was happening on screen it was actually hard to follow the plot, because I could not force myself to pay much attention.
Then around half way through stuff starts to happen, and slowly (AND I MEAN SLOWLY) we start to get some puzzle pieces to get the full picture. And then the whole explanation happened and my brain just gave up. Plow wise, I feel like the answer to the majority of the question, but characters’ motivation wise, I am painfully confused.
I’m honestly not sure how I am supposed to feel about romance. The more explanations I’ve got, the more confused I’ve got. Am I supposed to ship it? Can I do it? I finished the movie and went “What now? You cannot leave me with conflicting emotions like that”...
It also had some weird genre mix ups. Especially with the presentation of the female shaman. I was supposed to both treat her seriously, as she knew the key to fixing the mystery and the nightmares, but also she had quite a few comedic moments that did not fit the mood of the movie at all.
Performance wise - decent. Honestly speaking, probably the weakest performance I have seen from Jung So Min. Hong Jong Hyun is not exactly known to be a good actor so that sums up his performance.
Production wise, at times it felt like it was made out of stock content, edited on a free software. Especially during the opening scene.
Overall… Once you start it, you have to finish it. I don’t know if it’s worth the watch, but that ending and explanation of the plot needs to be seen and experienced in its whole confusing glory.
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Whispering Corridors 5: A Blood Pledge
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A Blood Pledge also has the weakest plot and motivations of the characters. I always felt like some of the Whispering Corridors movies at least try to tackle some more serious issues, but here the focus was on a random girl feeling insecure about the most unimportant issue, while the other characters truly have to deal with serious life problems.
Sure, the plot might have been a way to show how privileged the other girl was, and how blinded by her lack of real life experience she was, but it never felt this way.
The acting was one of the weakest from all Whispering Corridors movies. I guess Oh Yeon Seo did the best job, but even she was barely passable.
Overall, I honestly finished it only so I can move on to the newest installment.
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“People forget kindness easily, but they remember cruelty.”
The movie is basically 1 hour and 20 minutes of exposition that leads to the last 25 minutes of showdown that feel heartbreaking, but somehow cathartic. It’s really slow paced, until it’s not, but the wait is worth it.Would I call it a horror movie? No. Sure, it does have horror elements, but it’s far more psychological thriller, or even dark psychological drama. Most of the movie has this borderline silly vibe, with underlying tension caused by the Head of the village - it’s hard to predict his nature. There are quite a few comedic elements, which for me make the dark ending that much darker.
It’s a story of a normal, rather good man Woo Ryong, and how external circumstances affected him. It’s hard to talk about the plot without giving away any spoilers. Most of the movie is just him and his son slowly integrating into a village, until someone sees it as a threat.
What I really enjoyed was how many small moments, lines and actions in the first half came back closer to the end - tying everything together.
The acting was great. Ryu Seung Ryong aced both the light and darker side of Woo Ryong. I honestly wish we had seen more of the unhinged one.
Production wise, the rats could have been better. There were moments when they looked beyond fake. That said, the rest of the movie was simply beautiful.
Overall, worth pushing through, even if you feel like nothing is really happening. For some, the sudden change of tone can seem abrupt, but for me it was slowly, but meticulously crafted with many details and hints of what’s to come.
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