274
655
137
12
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12
3
10
32
6
14
1
2
17
25
2
8
5
2
4
2
2
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7
1
2
4
7
20
19
36
The mood of the movie is all over the place. We start with horror and cheap jump scares. Then we move to the introduction of the characters which had a strong slice of life and high school romance feel. With few horror elements, it felt more like a psychological thriller or a story about a girl that cannot deal with a loss and pressure put on her. Then we get back to horror. To put it simply, I have no idea what the production team wanted to make out of it - an entertaining horror movie with jump scares? Psychological horror about losing a friend? Why even add hints of romance? There are also way too many plotlines about ghosts: the friend, owner of the amusement park, a girl from the beginning. At the end, none of them is explained and explored enough for me to care.
Any horror having a group of friends as the cast needs a good chemistry between the characters. This one failed to convince me they even like each other. They did not seem like friends and I could not understand why they would want to hang out together. They needed a group of stereotypical characters, but did not care to explain why and how such different people even connect and befriend each other.
The acting was mediocre and at times over the top. The characters were so poorly written I wanted them to die before they even got to that haunted location. The reason for them to go back to the amusement park was not well explained and built into the story. They showed one scene of Woo Sung doing a live show on the internet and it was supposed to be enough for the setting. It was not.
Overall, boring and messy. Definitely a waste of time.
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The semi-interesting adventures of a lost puppy.
Initially, it was hard for me to care about any of the characters or the plot. Who do you root for: communist or nationalists? There is no good choice here. Luckily, as the drama progressed, I was able to see the characters as the individuals they were, and not necessarily the institutions that were behind them. I get that at that moment in history the communists were the good guys, but knowing where the future led, it’s still weird to root for them in the show.Starting with the characters, I feel like there was a lack of care put into them, their circumstances, goals, motivations. At times we were not able to see a few of them for a number of episodes, and when they showed up on screen, their situation completely changed, but we had no context to understand it. They just skipped through moments that could have been perfect opportunities to explain their motives or give them some development.
I feel like naming Zhu Yi Zhen as one of the main characters is some kind of a joke. For the majority of her screen time, she was just sitting being worried or looking through the window being worried. We could have seen her work hard for the Communist Party, slowly gaining more responsibilities and being one of the front-runners for the cause, but it never happened.
Lan Xin Jie was similarly underdeveloped. The story of her struggle to survive as she was dragged into the war between the different groups would be extremely interesting to watch. To see her change from a well connected person who is a confident social butterfly, to being a desperate mother who just wants to save herself and her child. But everything happened off screen.
Truth to be told, even Lin Nan Sheng was all over the place. Rather than The Rebel, he felt like a lost puppy that follows whatever authoritative figure shows up in front of him at any given moment. Also, for a show titled “The Rebel”, he rebelled a bit late.
I kind of feel like that’s how the drama rolled - a lot of things were happening behind the scenes and off-screen. This type of story telling made me not care that much about… well anything. Who wins, who loses, who dies and who survives. The Rebel feels like a well presented, but only draft of an idea.
The acting was amazing, I have zero complaints. While I still feel like Zhu Yi Long got a bit too skinny for the role (he reminded me of CGI Skinny Steve Rogers in Captain America), his performance was extremely strong. That said, the star of the drama for me was Wang Yang. Not only was his character the most interesting one, I also believe Wang Yang had to do the most job in showcasing the changes happening in his perception of the situation, morality and alliances.
Production value had almost nothing more for me to wish for. Some poorly done dubbing made me giggle here and there, but overall, the quality was truly good.
Overall, I had no idea why I had this strange need to finish this show. I was not really interested in the plot, I liked a few characters, but could deal with saying goodbye to them at any moment. Normally I would drop a drama like that, but I pushed forward and was able to see the end. Which was quite… anticlimactic.
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This movie is an experience… The ending is… a choice.
I struggle with collecting my thoughts after finishing it. It was something else.The funniest thing is - I knew the spoiler. But I did not remember it till I was way past half way through the movie. So when the memory hit me I was just praying the whole time it was my imagination.
While many people say the twist, revelation, the ending was THE factor that made the movie huge, personally I would probably rate it higher with something “less”. I found out the truth and thought - that’s it? That’s the motivation? For all the shit that happened, it felt a bit underwhelming. That said, the storytelling was extremely solid and the tension, thrills and piling up frustration was so high I had to take a break halfway through the movie. My brain was just filled with question marks.
For many the motivation and the extent of the imprisonment and why it happened was the reveal, the plot twist. For me? The last scene of the movie That’s when the true traumatic experience starts and ends, leaving the viewer in a state of complete shock.
Many describe Old Boy as a cinematic experience, and with that I have to agree. Putting aside the shocking aspects of it, it’s just an extremely well made, well edited, well acted and directed movie. Masterfully crafted.
Overall, I think I need a few business days to come to terms with what I just watched.
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One big, missed opportunity.
I was quite excited to watch it. Waited till late night to get the right atmosphere and get the best possible experience. 15 minutes in I started to become extremely sleepy, and it was not because I was tired. Kim Kang Woo is stunning, but his beautiful face is not enough to keep me engaged, when all I see on screen is him walking around the building with a flashlight.I am truly impressed how such a short movie that also has so many different tropes, time lines, and plot elements, can be this boring. The plot twists were predictable, the story told in a messy way, the protagonist was a massive idiot that truly did only one thing right.
They tried to be creative, giving a twist to the typical “black haired girl ghost” story, but it was so ridiculous, it did not work out - especially with this execution.
The design for the ghosts and scares was mediocre at best, simple copy paste of what we saw in other movies. Basically a snapchat ghost filter.
They did not use the place for their advantage - could have presented the place as a claustrophobic loop, but I never felt that.
Kim Kang Woo did a good job acting wise, but the rest of the cast was just comical. The screams that are so important in horror movies, mostly sounded like free stock audio.
To sum it up, it felt like they had an interesting idea, but no clue how to present it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Wasted premise and the cast.
Honestly speaking, almost nothing worked out in this drama. The idea behind it was truly good, but it was never explored enough, not to mention contradicting messages. Your female lead cannot at the same time change her mind about the ML based on their past life, but also be firm about the past being just the past, and her not being the past version of herself (wording might be confusing, sorry).While the whole cast did a good job portraying the characters, there was no chemistry between them. I did not care about the main couple, I did not get second lead syndrome - they all just did not work well together to create some sparks on the screen.
One thing I definitely did like about the show though was the female lead. Out of all Hwang Jung Eum’s characters, this one was quite fun. While she made some dumb decisions, all characters in dramas do - It's inevitable.
Another thing that the drama did well was showcasing how marriage is not the only happy ending one can get, and not the only end for a couple that loves each other. Respecting each other’s individuality is an important part of a happy life too.
Sadly, the stakes for the present story were not that high. It’s hard to care about the broken romance between the main characters, when the thing they are trying to prevent is Hyun Joo getting sued. Compare it to death, torture and jail in their past life, it falls short. Not to mention the ridiculousness of Kim Seon Hee’s character. You just don’t try to get your daughter married to the reincarnation of your crush.
So many plot lines, all so boring. The conflicts and problems created for the main couple were truly not that hard to solve, which led me to rolling my eyes, when they made it into a bigger mess than it was.
Was the show beautifully shot? Was it pleasant to the eye? Yes, but at this point, this is a standard in kdramas and not enough to make drama good, interesting, entertaining and worth the watch.
The soundtrack was a rather generic rom-com style. I did enjoy Motte’s So Much Into You, which had a nice sweet sound to it, but that’s the only sound that caught my attention.
Overall, not really worth your time. The only reason I finished it was to find out how ridiculous the plot will be with the mediocre motivation from the villain.
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Ghost Voice is probably my least favorite of the 4 Whispering Corridors movies I have seen so far. The horror element is weak, the plot is both predictable and confusing at the same time. The last minute plot twist came out of nowhere and was not well incorporated into the story.
I also find it a bit of a miss to include “tragic lesbian story” into it, when similar story was part of the 3rd movie. Watching these one after another makes it seem like they ran out of ideas.
The acting was good, definitely more modern than in the previous movies. Seo Ji Hye, Cha Ye Ryun and Kim Seo Hyung did the best. Some of the line delivery from Kim Ok Bin seemed off, the overused pauses between words gave a robotic vibe.
Overall, I’d rather recommend Whispering Corridors 1-3 over this one. It brought nothing more to the table and does not even serve as an easy entertainment.
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If you look for realism, you won’t find it here. The plot is pushed to extremes at times, but it does fit the overall mood and story progression - I never felt like they were going so far just to shock the viewers, all the scenes seemed to match well together.
Surprisingly, with how grim the movie was at times, it left me quite happy and hopeful - we truly dealt with the pandemic way better in real life, compared to authorities in The Flu.
The whole cast did an amazing job portraying the characters - each representing a different reaction to an unexpected and dangerous event occurring. Different motivations led to different actions taken by them. The characters were smart and dumb in a realistic way, so even when they made mistakes, it was understandable.
If I had to complain about anything, I would say Kang Ji Goo was unreasonably heroic and the ending was not satisfying in one specific aspect.
Overall, it got my blood boiling. I was annoyed, but in a good way - I was supposed to be annoyed. Even though I wanted to throw my laptop out of the window, I still kept watching - it truly got me engaged. Would definitely recommend it, just remember: it’s not a realistic story.
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For someone who does not know anything about scientific methods, this would be a really good horror thriller focused on the dark side of humans and their desires, fears and obsessions, with the use of supernatural elements. It was well produced, the set design, costumes and the design for the ghost were truly nice and well prepared.
For anyone who knows a bit about scientific methods... it would be frustratingly dumb and unrealistic, and not because of the ghost and supernatural elements. Here's the thing: you cannot make the main characters people of science (I would call a person who finished medical school one) while making them conduct research as well planned and executed as flat earthers do. Writers should have either made the research more realistic (especially at the beginning, were Wee was not that obsessed and emotionally attached to it - hence he should have been more objective) or made main characters normal people who did not have much to do with science in the first place - then the poorly conducted experiments would make sense.
It was like watching people fight for who is going to get Darwin Award first - both deserve it equally. Since I was frustrated with the set up and the massively flawed and senseless research at the beginning, it was hard for me to connect to the characters and actually care about what will happen to them and how the movie would end.
Overall, if you either: don't know much about scientific method of research or are able to ignore that part of the plot and not put much value to it, you will most likely like it or even love it. Sadly for me, poorly done science done by people, who should know better, frustrates me to the core.
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Self-fulfilling prophecy
Whenever the producers and director of the show like it or not, they influence the end result a lot, and it makes the shows less entertaining to watch. With limited screen time, they have to decide who to show and for how long. Trainees who get more screen time at first get more popular. Because they are popular, the director and editing team adds even more scenes with them, which makes them even more popular - at the end of the day, they are the ones who will debut.⇢ Cast aka the contestants and mentors
I started the show for Lian Huaiwei. He was my favorite in season 3, so I wanted to check his “humble beginnings”. Surprisingly, the one that was the most entertaining was Lay. He was so unintentionally hilarious, it was hard not to like him. All the mentors did well. I could see they truly tried to help the trainees as much as it was possible.
For the contestants themselves… Only a few caught my attention, and it’s mostly because only a few got a fair amount of screen time. Watching the finale, I still did not remember the names of over a half of the trainees… I guess it says a lot.
⇢ Music aka the the performances
There were few performances I liked quite a lot, but for me, the buildup is quite important. I want to see them practicing the songs more, see the progress from the day one of forming a group, to the day they actually perform. Sadly, I did not get much of it.
⇢ Story aka the production
Let’s get real… they did not care that much about the international audience. They did not bother to translate into English the result boards, hence the only way I could find out who won in specific groups was based on the reactions of the trainees. Which is sad, because the competition is the core of the show… but I could not even follow the competition to the fullest because of the lack of translations.
Another thing that bothered me a lot were the volunteering and charity work bits. Don’t get me wrong, the idea was amazing, but it was wasted by adding it to the episodes themselves. It would be far better to make it a separate series like “Charity with Youth” or something like that, with full length episodes just showing the trainees work. By adding the bits to the episodes, the precious time that should be used on showing the teens working to achieve their dreams was wasted. With that, during the elimination, we weren’t even able to hear the thoughts of all the trainees that got to the next round.
What I liked though, was the addition of the Special mentors, who were able to promote the trainees to the next round, even if they did not get enough screen time. It’s fair to leave some space for the professional to “interfere”, since the production is not completely fair to all the trainees to gather the votes from the public.
Overall, I kind of had fun? I laughed quite a few times, even managed to cry here and there. I feel like I was just spoiled by season 3. Not only were there twice as many episodes, but also all the episodes were longer than the ones in season 1 - with that, I was able to get to know and get invested in the trainees and their journey far more.
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Entertaining controlled chaos.
The show was a really good way to get more accustomed to the trainees and get to know them better. Most episodes had a rather simple to follow 3 part structure: pre-game that allowed the trainees to gather clues about werewolves, werewolf game (which is basically mafia), and then the final game with two winners - everything portrayed in a specific setting (hence the costumes the guys were wearing).Not gonna lie, the werewolf/mafia game was my favorite part. I could easily just watch them play the game for one and half hours and it would be entertaining. Sometimes I was amazed how smart, intuitive or observant some of the trainees were, at times I was laughing on the floor because of their dumb mistakes.
The enjoyment of the show and the specific episodes might depend on how much you care and like specific trainees. I would be lying if I said I was equally entertained watching them all - sometimes I felt bored watching some scenes, in other episodes I was crying from laughing so hard and rewatching moments that made me almost die.
Overall, it was for sure fun. You can watch all the episodes, but if you are not that interested, just check the episodes with the trainees you like. Each episode has its own unique plot, so you don’t have to worry about not understanding anything if you skip one or two.
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On one hand, we are presented with a family drama that focuses on rescuing Hyun Seo, daughter of the protagonist. On the other hand, we are witnessing the inept behavior and planning from the government, which is too heavily influenced by the American presence. The at times ridiculous and uncaring attitude of certain groups of people did frustrate me to the core, but it was an important part of the storytelling that made the movie more impactful.
The performance was stellar. Song Kang Ho and Byun Hee Bong left such a strong impression on me. Not one performance felt off or below the standard set by the main cast.
I also appreciated the still camera shots that allowed me to truly grasp the situation and focus on the actors' performance and delivery. The directing wasn't distracting. It was a great balance of impressive and aesthetically pleasing shots (the visual aspect) and great storytelling.
Overall, even though the movie was made almost 15 years ago, it aged really well. It did not feel dated, the effects and CGI were good. To some extent, it is a statement piece, so reading about the inspiration and political background of it, makes it a better watch.
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Urban legends - crime edition...
...but there were not enough crimes nor urban legends. 2 out of 3 stories were technically driven by crime that is linked to the Futmalls.com website, yet I felt like there was barely any investigation going on. It wouldn't bother me much if we got to see more of the background story of said website and its products - did not happen. The mysterious products linked all the plot lines, but at the same time, the whole story led to nowhere.That said, I still quite enjoyed the drama. "Best-selling author" was a perfect opening for a short show like that, "No chance to grow" hit harder on the emotional side and "Air doll & Internet celebrity kidnapping" made a quite weird, but interesting ending. If we can even call it an ending.
The show does not have the greatest cast of the characters. Bai Yong Xin was the most fun and interesting one to watch. On the other hand, Zhao Xu Zhen, Yang Nian Jun and Li Zhong Wei were painfully stereotypical. I guess, these types of characters actually work well for the "urban legends" kind of deal. That said, Nian Jun was presenting some next level of poor and dumb decision making skills closer to the end of the show.
The quality of the production was quite high. I liked some transitions between frames, especially during the questioning of the witnesses/family members scene in the first episode. The special effects were nicely done too. I have to appreciate the makeup artists that worked for them, for the well done bruises that looked truly realistic.
The acting was good. The roles were not exactly that demanding nor required amazing acting skills. I was most impressed by Phoebe Huang during the "No chance to grow" story - her emotional delivery was quite nice.
If the news about season 2 comes out, I might add 0.5 to my story and the overall rating, since it seems like a nice introduction to a larger plot, but is questionable as a solo project.
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On one hand it's a story about the sacrifices people can make for the ones they love, on the other, how you cannot escape the destiny and story written for you. It had heart, tension and some good scares. One of the scenes, that I would probably pick as one of my favorites from any movie I watched this year relied only on the sound and was such a refreshing way of creating suspense.
The acting was quite nice. I was hesitant to start the movie because of Ok Taec Yeon, but since his character was not that complex, and served a purpose of guiding the viewers, I was fine with what he presented. He was more or less the exposition.
The movie is also shot in a beautiful way. Many scenes were presented from unusual angles and I could clearly see how much attention was put in the lighting.
There was one aspect of the plot I wasn't too happy about, but since it's a major spoiler I will write about it in comment section under spoiler. But even with that, I could appreciate the story for what it was. Another thing that was slightly off was the makeup done on Kim Yoon Jin to make her look older. Even though better than in many other productions, it was still not fully believable.
Still, would definitely recommend. Best to watch with lights off and headphones on.
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First, I don’t quite get the mother’s character. She switched from crazy to normal to crazy far too quickly without truly good reasoning. Matsuda Yusuke's massive love was at least weird. They tried to somehow explain it with the origin story, but even that brought more questions and annoyance.
So why do I have a problem with the origin of the newspaper? It had no place in such a short drama. With the past story, the whole new world of possibilities has been opened, but close to nothing was explored. The dynamics between characters have changed, but it was not organic enough for me to accept, it was a normal progression in the story. Sometimes not explaining every detail and keeping viewers in the dark till the end is a better choice. Nothing's more scary than the unknown.
The mechanics of the Terror Bulletin were also questionable: Can the same bulletin be delivered more than once? Why would past bulletins work? And wouldn't the last episode "cheat way out" not only not save her receiver but also create more victims?
I have to say though, I enjoyed Shiraishi Sei’s performance a lot. The character was well written and realistic. It showed some flaws and the bad/questioning choices were almost made. The will to survive and the empathy in her were a nice internal conflict that had me shocked a few times.
That said, the ending disappointed me greatly. It should have ended around 31 minutes in the last episode. That would be a nice commentary on how selfish people are, and the fact one good person cannot fight it on her own.
Do I think it’s scary? No. Not only that, but I believe some of the deaths could be seen as funny for few viewers. I found them disturbing and weird, but they never frightened me. The plot got a bit messy closer to the ending, but it was an enjoyable watch with a few good pictures created.
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I loved how over the top and slapstick the comedy was at the beginning, but as more episodes came out, they were less grounded in the situation and plot, and more of mini comedy skits. That's not exactly my type of a show progression, but I still enjoyed it.
I really liked the dynamics between Nott, Pun and Arm. This type of love line was overdone so many times, but here, a simple take on the story was perfect, since the surroundings were so crazy. Not only that, Nott’s character was quite well written. His “what is love” scenes were surprisingly heartwarming and deep. For a sitcom like this they, quite straightforwardly, talked about consent when someone is intoxicated. Big plus. Overall, lots of depth under all that silly comedy.
I must say, I was quite impressed with Yoon’s acting too. All the supporting roles were overacted (that was a stylistic choice for the comedy bits) so the tone down and more natural acting delivered by the main cast balanced it well. I actually wanted to rewatch some scenes simply because I liked what Yoon did with Nott’s character.
WARNING FOR VIEWERS! The whole show is quite an “acid trip” in terms of editing. There are many weird sequences with flashing lights and loud sounds. If you are sensitive in terms of visual stimuli, I would suggest skipping this show completely.
Overall, it’s a light (borderline dumb with some bits) show that should never be taken seriously. If you don’t like sitcoms, you most likely won’t like this too. It’s extremely unrealistic and silly, but that's the charm and the point of it. Even with some over the top elements, it has quite a few nice messages hidden between the comedy skits.
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