Reviews

A Fun Action-Noir Film

Watched it in expectations of a really dark and gory film…

While I got a comedy film instead ? not complaining tho bcs I really love it!!

I always prefer a simple and fun action movies rather than the dark and serious ones. The Childre brands the film “action noir”, but in fact it is not really that much “noir” for me, more like “action noir-comedy”. If you love a fun movie without any stressful thoughts this one will be best for you. But if you prefer darker movies and difficult plot, you might be bored with this movie in their first half hours.

Kim Seonho really delivered the character of Childe/Nobleman well! His action scenes are so cool and scary but at the same time her micro expression while saying and doing random funny things also worth to wait. I would love to see more of Nobleman, he is so fun to watch (eventho he’s evil lol)

Really recommended!

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I hadn't watched a Jdrama in a while and I wanted to watch a light fun Jdrama. This drama was the perfect fix.

Story: The story is set in Bakuda/Bakaleya high school. Now I love school dramas because I can relate to them because I'm in high school as well. However I really found it interesting to see how schools in Japan are run. The story is really simple but entertaining to watch. I'll admit the boys do fight a lot, but I actually found the fight scenes really interesting. The fight scenes really bought out the characteristics of each boy. The girls were annoying at first, especially Fumie who showed no expression, but they grew on me. I love how smoothly the boys and girls transition from enemies to friends. Another thing I really liked were that the boys,though rowdy, were really sweet, good boys who just wanted to protect their honor and pride. They had so much spirit that I wanted to join their school. I marathoned this drama over 2 days when I had time and it was really entertaining and fun to watch.

Cast: So its seems that this is a cast of rookie actors. The acting honestly wasn't that bad. Some more expression could have been shown, but it was believable. The cast improved with every episode which I give props for. They are extremely good looking so that's a plus as well. The only downside to having such a big cast, was that in the beginning I really got my names confused. I couldn't figure out who was Tatsuya and who was Tetsuya. I honestly thought they were the same person at first.

Music: I loved loved loved the theme song!! Its so catchy! But it reminded me of another song, and it really bugged me for a day. I figured out what song it reminded me of - F.Cuz's No. 1. The beat is the same in both songs. But the song is good, and honestly I think the theme song was the only song played in this whole drama. At least that was the only song I heard. But I really liked it, and it wasn't like BOF where you got sick of hearing Almost Paradise... every 2 minutes.

Rewatch: I definitely think I would rewatch this again if I'm in the mood for a cute, fun, light-hearted Jdrama.

Overall: Really good, fun Jdrama. I would recommend to anyone who wants something entertaining to watch which won't get them too emotional.

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Destiny brought them together, love made them stay

This series is a visually stunning show with a thought provoking theme.

I liked the way the story was narrated with flashbacks. The slow-burn romance unfolded realistically and beautifully. It made their confession worth waiting for!

The major point here is that Xu Huaisong was playing all along from school times, knowing that she too had a crush on him, to get her attention and he did succeed. On the other hand Ruan Yu was admiring him ( the person he was putting up to be) from a distance totally unaware that he too liked her.
If only it was as easy as 'Hi, I know you from school times and had a crush on you and wrote a book about it. Let's try it out!"
Or "Hi, I came back because I realised you are in trouble because of our story. Nice to meet you. Let's go!"

How one deals with the "re-appearance" of a secret crush is going to be very different with no one size fits all option
One is still lingering on the crush but can't reveal and can't afford to get hurt. The other, hesitates to show himself, being always in the weaker position in the relationship.

This is one of those shows requiring patience and a calm mindset to appreciate its nuances.
It's also quite humorous .
Visually captivating.
All around good acting.
Music is very soothing especially the 'After the rain 'song played by the male protagonist on the piano
Background sound effects were apt!
9/10

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Okay my overall score is a bit high...but let me defend it.

I didn't go into this movie with a lot of expectations because other than Han Hyo Joo, I'm not really interested in much of the cast. (I know I'm wretched). The premise interested me but what kept me watching was the absolutely magnetic performance of Lee Byung Hun.

He is beyond talented and he deserves all the praise he gets for being a great actor and if you don't believe me or really wonder why Korea thinks he's 'all that' watch this movie. It will clear up all the doubts you ever had of him. Just within the premise of the story he plays two physical characters (Ha Su and Gwanghae) but Ha Su himself goes through so much to change that the range that Lee Byung Hun delivers believably is great. The transitions of his character are seamless.

The story moves quickly and is enjoyable from the start, you get to literally see things that you would never expect in a historical drama but maybe like me have always wondered. There's a human aspect to this story that doesn't come across as well in other historical dramas I find because the king is a man who is from the palace. In Gwanghae, it's the opposite as the position of king is given to someone who is absolutely not from the palace.

I didn't particularly notice the music >< (my bad!) I would definitely rewatch this movie but not right away cause dear god I have way too much to actually watch (and right now I'm going to rewatch Coffee Prince ^.^)

But overall, love Gwanghae...if you're looking for a good historical WITH AMAZING acting, watch Gwanghae. It didn't just win big at award shows for nothing :)

P.S. (the other actors in this film do really well too even though I just mentioned Lee Byung Hun cause he blew me away. In particular I really liked the Eunuch :))

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WITHOUT THE BL, IT IS A LOSER

I really wanted to like this series. I tried it because of the BL element but what we get is only about 25% of BL goodness and 70% of annoying trio of negligible main characters. What about the 5%, you asked? It is for Lee and Sing who are like the not-so-good fairy godmothers.

Lets talk about the LOSER so we can get him out of the way. Yes, I understand that the main character IS a loser but Oh is a whiny and perverted character and even if he is bullied he is just hard to feel sorry for. What's worse is when he goes home his mother bullies him too (telling him he is good for nothing) and everything is setup to be a light comedy scene as if nothing bad is happening at school. No bullying should be comedy. And even fter the makeover transformation he still feels like a Loser.

I wrote about the female lead initially but in this edit can we just pretend she never existed.

The saving grace is the BL element. Yes, plus points for Sun for being definitely gay and eventhough In's character is confused and confusing, Pluem's cuteness kind of overcomes the negative parts. And comeon, his singing voice is just golden. No kissing scenes and the ending for these 2 was not as satisfying as i hoped for but i forgive them for continuing their story in another series. InSun deserves a series of their own.

Rewatchability 6.0 - if you are a BL fan just watch the InSun supercut. Total score 6.5 just because of InSun without them its a 4.5.

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This webdrama was really easy to watch even though this is not the most original plot that I've seen, it's light and funny.
It wasn't extraordinary but the actors/actresses are enjoyable to watch and of course Cha Eun Woo is mesmerizing (he's not the best actor, but he has that charisma that I really like so).
I must say that the first 14 episodes were really good but after the story lacked a little and the end was a little unsatisfying.
There isn't so much songs in it but I like a lot the rap music that is in it.
So it wasn't a memorable webdrama but it was fresh and I liked to watch it, so don't have high hopes about this just take it the way it is!

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*Spoilers MAY BE ahead*

I need to take a break from Korean/Taiwanese drama. So I haven't watched a Thai Lakorn for so long, the last one I watched was Kaew Lorn Phat (Something like that) After watching this, I LOVED IT (Coming from a guy's point of view)

Story:
Pretty unique, I have never watch a drama like this ever? To be honest, I found episode 1-4 kinda boring, but after a while it picked up. There are some misunderstanding and so-so. There's no evil second lead so that's a new thing to me (plus for me). The bad&quot;guy&quot; doesn't come out until the end but as you watch on, they give you hints, so look out for those.
The plot itself is already self-explanatory: Selfish and conceited girl turns good

Acting/Character:
All the cast did EXCELLENT, mostly the two main characters!
+Chemistry between the two leads is cute :)
+No evil second lead girl/boy
+Angels :P
-Kinda annoying second lead (Not Pat) though (Sticks to main actor like glue sometimes)
-Pat's and Beauty's relationship will sometimes be annoying (To me sometimes it was)

Music:
The music wasn't that bad but rather dull, there was like only 3 songs that I could remember
2 instrumenal music?
1 vocal song

REWATCH VALUE: Probably ( If Im bored and need a drama to watch)

Watch this drama if you're a big lakorn fan or asian drama fan. This is one of my favorite thai lakorn :)

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All that glitters is not gold.

"Beautiful and splendid show window... It's open for everyone to see, but once the spotlights go out and the curtains are drawn, no one can ever know what's going on inside." ~ A minor character from the drama said this.

In a world where people care about the vaunting virtue more than one's inner beauty, we have developed ways to showcase what we wish to swank about. But what happens behind the walls, is always more than the alluring self, which most of us don't bother to care about. Show window is one of the most effective way in that regards but little do we know about the camouflaged matters that can either ruin us or shape us for good.

As you already know, this is a makjang, undoubtedly with toxic elements and nerve-racking characters in it. The question should be, "is this worth checking out?" . Well, yes, in my opinion, I would send you a positive nod. It's not something sort of a must watch but if you're fond of the genre, it surely is an enjoyable watch.

I will tell you a simple plotline, differently from the synopsis given everywhere. There is a happy family of four people and one day the husband is caught cheating on the wife. The wife scared of hurting her children by separating from her husband, pushes herself to save the family and simultaneously tries to get rid of the third person. The husband with high ambitions to own his mother-in-law's company doesn't wanna leave his family, nor does he want to abandon his extramarital lover. The story leads towards the unveiling the husband's true self and establish harmony.

This sounds very simple and typical, right? Well because, it is an usual Kdrama makjang storyline with cliché elements but not to spoil the actual plot, the way of occurrence, screenplay and execution are different from what you'll be able to perceive from the above paragraph. And that's why it's a good watch and to mention, it's for those who are into mild makjang stories accompanied by corporate thrillers, i. e. fight for power and hierarchy.

Song Yoon Ah as Han Sun Joo is considered the Queen who has achieved perfection from every aspect and is ideal to many women; born into a wealthy family, she can pull on anything and marries to a capable & devoted man, now having a loving family. Lee Sung Jae as Shin Myung Seop is a highly ambitious man who with his dedication plus wife's support has been able to climb the hierarchial ladder in Lahen group that belongs to his mother in law. Jeon So Min as Yoon Mi Ra is a lady deprived of love and seeks constant attention from the one she loves. She falls for Myung Sup and they immediately get into a mutually reciprocating relationship. Hwang Chan Sung as Han Jung Won is a warm-hearted guy who loves his sister Sun Joo and despite being slow-witted, knows how to deal with situations.

Some other good actors in major roles are: Moon Hee Kyung (Kim Kang Im) as Sun Joo's mother & Lahen's chairperson, Kim Sung Soo (Cha Young Hoon) as Sun Joo's close friend, Kim Byung Ok (Kim Dae Wook) as the Chief Detective. Shin Yi Joon (Shin Tae Hee) and Park Sang Hoon (Shin Tae Yong) play the children of Sun Joo and Myung Sup.

Only the above mentioned 9 characters are of essence while some others in major characters didn't show any sort of notable acting, in fact, many of the characters, to me, felt very unnecessary fillers. They weren't required for the story; especially all of the residents of the town residency complex who were there to just gossip and even so, the amount of gossiping was absolutely useless for a drama.

I have mixed opinions about the plot development of this drama; it is both good and bad, not both at the same, obviously. The first episode, as an introductory wasn't that impressive but as usual, I decided not to judge it that soon. But what I was already loving was the way initial base of the story was being established as the episodes furthered. The screenplay is gripping, intensively appealing and definitely something catchy. But then there's a leap which is not distinctly shown but yeah, things somehow change and there starts another mood of the drama. It becomes even more interesting and makes you expect, which lasts for about next 2 episodes. And that's when the show starts going downhill.

Well, it doesn't really turn bad or suddenly becomes uninteresting but they start attempting to exaggerate the plot to an extent and while doing that, they include some awfully unnecessary elements and morever, they repeat some of them which was clearly visible. What saved it from a probable backlash was the fact that tbe quality starts degrading much later the interval, which in my opinion is a key time period to evaluate a show, hence, I've tried to reflect it through my ratings.

I am very surprised to have come to know that the makers of the drama are both rookies. Not sure if they've worked as assistants before but this definitely seems to be their creation as frontline director and writer and they've undoubtedly done a very commendable job given their experiences. The drama isn't something very wowish but it was surely a decent watch even when you're not into makjangs. The direction was up to par, starting from screenplay management, synchronising various time scales, screen-editing were taken care of very well. The pacing wasn't consistent after 10th episode, still manageable. The cinematography was surely good; the dark yet flashy pallettes with momentary yellow as well as natural delineations were persuading. The writing was lacking, it was a good plot but progression was not well executed. But given that both the director and writer have debuted through this, this is quite well-delivered, no?

OSTs are composed by Kim Jong Chun and I must say all of them are catchy and captivating at the same time. There are total 7 tracks. My most favourite is "Hello' by Hickee which is the main theme song and is very intriguing. It followed by "Heaven Made" by Elsie Bay which was soothing and tragic at the same time, demanding escape towards happiness. The vocals of Ha Domg Qn in "Cry me a river" gave me goosebumps. "Fallin' by HARU, "just myself" by Kim Dong Hee, "Why i cry" Sin Ye Young and "Tears" by Onestar are the other ones which are quite likable and beautifully written as well as composed.

What I liked...

# Despite having a typical story, the screenplay was engaging and entertaining.

# The performance from the main cast was stupendous as they're old and immensely experienced, except Chan Sung and So Min. Well, they weren't that good but did a decent delivery.

# The drama not being a complete makjang. The simultaneous power fight was intriguing tho that plot went downhill and became repetitive in the 2nd half

# The kids not being typical makjang stupidass spoiled brats.

# The portrayal of present scenario in the beginning and ending of each episode and using it to unfold the past through detailed storytelling.

What I didn't like...

# So many unnecessary supporting characters as fillers and their extended scenes just to fill the 16 eps quota.

# The decent plot development that goes downhill starting from 10th episode. The pacing was still okay yet repetitive. They had many instances to finish the drama with a clear-cut ending, but duh!

# Underutilization of Chan Sung and Seung Soo. Their characters didn't have the impressive dynamics that I was expecting. Chang Sung is improving with dramas but Seung Soo is more than just skilled.

# Not to spoil, the thing involving both Jungwon and Mira could have lasted longer with some stirring outcomes but it felt like there was no need if it were gonna be that simple.

# So many kisses, haha. I'm not genophobic or against inclusion of explicit contents but the first half of the show has so many unnecessary making out scenes.

Final remarks.... Show Window 2021-22 isn't really a good show with intriguing plot, star-studded cast and amazing execution but given it's genre, for me, it was an enjoyable and entertaining watch with fabulous performance though the final delivery was average and wasn't pleasing. A fair one time watch.

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Beautiful Visuals, Empty Story: A Drama That Falls Flat

When I saw the poster and everything, I had pretty high expectations. The visuals were great, but the acting, on the other hand, was a mess.

The female lead was just an empty character. She barely did anything throughout the show and mostly just stared at everyone with teary eyes.

The male lead’s acting was over the top, almost as if he was trying to make up for the female lead’s lack of personality, but it didn’t work well at all.

The show seemed like it would be about music and artistic themes, but it ended up being focused almost entirely on solving the murder case of Bom’s mother. The main “villains” were supposedly trying to keep the leads apart to stop the truth from coming out, but it was so poorly executed and felt completely unnecessary.

The romance was practically nonexistent, maybe a little in episode 4, but later on they just forgot about it. Also, they had no chemistry. Like, none at all.

And the ending? A total mess. What do you mean you see someone after two years, kiss them, and that’s it, happy ending, yay 😀? It was beyond unrealistic.

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I wish I could complain about this movie. Ok wait, i don't. This movie was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!



Story: 10/10 The story is one that will motivate you while tears stream down your eyes. It has themes of "High School" romance mixed in with following your dreams to the very end.



Cast/Acting 10/10 I couldn't ask for a better cast. They truly did a flawless job.



Music: 10/10 I still listen to the theme song by Yui (who also acted in this movie) two weeks after I watched the movie. The only "downside" about this movie is that you get addicted to the wonderful music by Yui.



Rewatch Value: 9/10 This is such a beautiful movie that I would definitely rewatch.



Overall 10/10 (i'd give it a 15/10 if I could!). Definitely watch this movie. You won't regret it.

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Must Watch!

This Kdrama is by far the best one to come out this month. The plot is amazing and the whole cast is even better, you can instantly tell that they have so much chemistry together. It’s only a few episodes in, but it’s already so intense, filled with many emotions that makes you intrigued wanting to watch the next episode. The drama is all about an underprivileged high school student who was given a chance to exchange life with his chaebol classmate through a golden spoon.

I highly recommend this drama, and it’s definitely a MUST WATCH! You won’t be disappointed.

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sweet fun romance

I initially started this one on a whim since I was looking for fluffy romance dramas to indulge in and decided to give this one a try, and thank goodness I did. Dear Herbal Lord is a fun little drama (24 half hour episodes split into 2 seasons, 12 eps per season) following herb fairy Song Lan as she tries to woo the king of medicine Chu Zhimo into marrying her, fulfilling the wish of Jiang Qingyun, the host of the body that she now resides in.

Like I said before, this drama is fairly short compared to other normal dramas (25+ eps with each episode averaging an hour) so the story is very fast paced, which is a good thing since there's no room for filler and unnecessary drama. There will be scenes that are a little confusing at first but they're quickly explained afterwards. Again, it's a short drama focused on romance so I'm not too critical of the story's logic.

The crux of the drama, the romance, is tooth rottingly sweet. Song Lan has an innocent air to her (mostly because as an herb fairy, she's never interacted with humans before inhabiting Jiang Qingyun's body), so she is very blunt and bold about showing Chu Zhimo her affections. Pair the unintentionally flirty Song Lan with cold-faced Chu Zhimo who is terrible with women, this is a hilarious pair and I have squealed at (and replayed) their scenes too many times to count. Special mention to Yan Xi for showing us that a cold and standoffish male lead doesn't mean being expressionless and being angry all the time!

To move the story forward, there will be angst, just to warn anybody who only wanted the fluff. To be precise, it's more of a dash of angst, a splash of noble stupidity but a truckload of dramatic irony (the audience knows everything but the characters do not). You will want to grab your screen and scream at characters that they're making a mistake, but you can't even hate them because from their perspective... they actually have a point. It does end happily, I can guarantee you that, so just trust the process ;)

Leaving a small blurb about my favourite character, Xiao Ziming. Add him to the ever-growing list of Second Leads That Deserve Better because he is so sweet and devoted to our female lead. Even though Song Lan/Jiang Qingyun is infatuated with Chu Zhimo, he still stays by her side and cheers her up when she's sad. Where can I find my Xiao Ziming in real life??

To end this off, I definitely recommend Dear Herbal Lord if you're looking for a light and sweet romance drama. Nothing convoluted, just Fluff (also the kiss scenes called me single in 520 different languages ;_; ).

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Great show with great casts from great director but I feel like something's lacking

I was having high hopes for this show because the casts are my favorites and the director is famous for his gory and violent scenes. I enjoyed watching the show because of excellent acting from my favorite actors and great cinematography.

Jung Hae In proves he is acting genius and master of genre, expressing various levels of pain realistically and perfectly acting with only one eye. Go Kyung Pyo’s acting as serial killer is refreshing and Kim Hye Jun facial acting is great but her action scenes are kinda lagging in some scenes.

But what I feel most lacking is maybe suspense/ tension/ story development? I didn't feel so much excited to know what would happen next (maybe because I got spoilers from behind the scenes videos that Disney+ released in advance before the drama's premier).
OST is nice with Haein’s sweet voice but using the same song repeatedly for many times (although it's necessary for the plot) made me bored.
CGI and VFX are great especially the tentacles used for regeneration.
The gory and bloody scenes are not that disturbing to me.
The chemistry between the casts is great but felt the kissing scene between DongSoo and Yirang is too early Lol.

At the moment of writing this review, people are making noise about the rear nudity of the actors which is nothing strange in acting field but it feels like they used stunt doubles for those scenes.
[Edited - Jung Hae In confirms that he used stand-in (body double) for nudity scene in an interview.
https://youtu.be/nAEMUGOsz4o]

The sex scene was unexpected haha but didn't expose too much.

The last fighting scene between DongSoo and JinSeop didn't help me to maintain suspense and the ending scene hinting for another season is unexpected.

Overall I enjoyed watching the great performance from my favorite actors but sense of satisfaction was not that much and probably I won't rewatch this show within a short period of time. However if there'll be season 2, I'll definitely tune in to explore their so-called new Connect World.

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BEST THAI BL 2023

Did GMMTV save the best series for the last months this year cos Last Twilight is realllyy giiivvviiinnggg.

If Last Twilight can be this good, then I have no doubt Cherry Magic Th and Cooking Crush will also be good.

This drama has restored all hope that I had already lost from GMMTV this year.

A soft drama with no complex plot and story. Every emotion is being felt down to the soul. The story, the acting, the ost, everything is just so on point. The chemistry between Mhok and Day is just too real to be ignored.

I am so glad I get to watch this and if you’re thinking about watching it, think no further, just start. It’s sooo good

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