The pen is mightier than the sword.
This is a very entertaining action fantasy movie with absolutely stunning world building and production design. Unlike this year's more pretentious Dream of Eternity, this is much more than a showy demonstration of cinematic pyrotechnics. This production truly breathes life into the absolutely amazing animations and convincingly fuses them with live actors who are actually in the moment and evoke a sense of imminent peril. This drama spent two years in post production and it is clear that a lot of care went into the visual effects that sweeps one into an addictive, thrilling virtual reality fantasy game world.There are two main plot lines to this action loaded story within a story, the first takes place in the real world and the second in a fantasy world. The spectacular Lei Jiayin plays Guan Ning, a distraught father who is searching desperately for his daughter who went missing six years ago. He is tasked to assassinate an online novelist Kongwen who is writing a fantasy novel about a young warrior's quest to bring down an evil overlord Redmane. At the sweep of a pen that is mightier than the sword, the two plot threads fuse into an epic, action packed showdown. What stands out is the crazy, creative energy in the action sequences and how they snuck in some really wild, ingenious and unconventional moves that wowed me. I absolutely loved Guan Ning's almost superhuman ability to throw rocks, that was incredibly entertaining to watch.
Despite the intense action orientation, the narrative is not secondary to the action and the humanity at its core shines through as a result of superb acting by Lei Jiayin, Dong Zijian (who plays Kongwen) and the very talented Yu Hewei. This is a cast you can't go wrong with... except for the insipid Yang Mi, whose character was not necessary to the plot and her wimpy voice yet again had me wishing they dubbed her. I don't know why Lu Yang always makes such terrible casting choices for his female characters.
While it doesn't dot every i or cross every t; the backstories of some characters could be tighter, there are minor plot holes and logic flaws in the real world antagonists, overall it is a very cool story that broadly hangs together. This movie takes a bold swipe at both China's communist past and capitalist present - it is very obvious the major corporation with the Aladdin's lamp logo in the present plot is Alibaba and Redmane's red army represents the Red Guards in the fantasy plot.
This is a great way to indulge in two hours of pure escapism. I give it 8.5.
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The movie starts with miners being violently killed in a dark, flooded cave. It is creepy and claustrophobic. Up out of the ground come giant killer dragonfly larvae. Much of the first part of the film is people hunting them down and attempting to kill them. Little did they know that what eats the giant insects was going to be more problematic-like letting a tiger in the back door to chase the wolves away at the front door.
Rodan was much more impressive in this movie than subsequent ones. He was huge, mobile, and destructive. Yes, you can see the wires at times if you look closely, but this old movie did quite a bit with the special effects and budget they had available to them. The miniatures were exquisite. Honda Ishiro and Ifukube Akira did a good job of bringing a giant flying dinosaur to life and making us care about him when by all rights we shouldn't.
Many times the human aspect of these movies fails. This time there was a sense of urgency and pathos from the beginning to the end. It also helped that this movie came before subsequent campy monster romps. As with Godzilla, by the end of the movie, even the human characters begin to feel sympathy for the great beasts.
Though around 65 years old I thought Rodan held up pretty well. He's now in my top three early Toho movies.
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break your box
a simple beautiful message done is a pleasingly sweet musical style. everyone has a box, a worry that traps themalso everyone needs atleast 1 person to stay by their side and trust in them and here we got a sweet journey of friendship, food and music
each step was a lesson that ended in the big finally, Min Soo didn't want jihoon to relay on him 100% though ironically I saw the contract termination as a sign of trust and letting him "go" so he can peruse music as a passion not an obligation xD but jihoon could've seen it as abandonment
chanyeol honestly is such an amazing singer, rock, rap, ballad, trot, jazz, he can do it all! the only problem I had was the 1st idol generation hair xD
and maybe the lack of more in depth friendships, and ultimately "love", though I also appreciated how everything wasn't solved just cuz of that, but hints of love would've been cute
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A Story of 'What-ifs'
This is the first Filipino movie I've watched that I really noticed the cinematography, set dressing, and costume design. Honestly, the film was so beautiful in so many subtle ways. The storyline is very slow-paced and relaxed, which I liked. It's also the third film I've seen starring love-team Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil. They were great in 'Just the Way You Are' and 'My Ex and Whys,' but I have more mixed feelings towards the storylines of those movies than 'Alone/Together.'Enrique takes a backseat in 'Alone/Together,' really allowing Liza to shine. She is really great at showing all those subtle emotions. I appreciated how her wardrobe and hair/makeup changed during the three different points of her life. As for the storyline, it was kind-of a retread of films like 'Starting Over Again' and probably a dozen other movies. Liza and Enrique play lovers that meet again some years later and wonder about the "what-if," you know the story. However, unlike a normal rom-com, 'Alone/Together' focuses more on Liza's character development and feeling fulfilled in a career as well as your love life.
Ultimately, I feel 'Alone/Together' is a very good movie and shows further promise for Liza and Enrique in the future. Next, I guess I'll have to watch 'Everyday I Love You' since that's the only film of theirs I haven't seen and maybe 'She's the One.'
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Premise is interesting but fails to deliver, mediocre acting.
I have to say that I've not read the manga, so I had no idea what to expect before watching.Though apparently some of those who read the manga would beg to differ, I actually don't think the story is the main issue. True, the way the movie depicts the struggle of a famous actor to accept his sexuality is simplistic at best, and for western audiences that might seem like a non-issue nowadays, but as Japan is a little more conservative when it comes to positive portrayals of LGBT, that wasn't much of a problem in my opinion.
What the movie actually lacks is good acting. I don't know whose fault is this - whether it's the director's or the actors' - but some scenes were so exaggerated and amateurishly acted that it made me physically cringe. Sometimes otherwise OK scenes (story-wise that is) were completely ruined by inappropriate facial expressions, vocal tones or gestures - For example, in one scene one of the actors, who was supposed to be terrified, visibly couldn't hold his laugh back.
The music also didn't help. Inconsistent and inappropriate at times.
Wouldn't watch again.
6/10, and I'm being generous.
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The movie told me "not everything is supposed to be fine, it's okay" after a very cold day.
First and foremost, the plot was nothing out of the ordinary. I mean, there are several films that have the message "a couple's fate keeps pulling them apart." And I'd give it a six for that alone, but why did I give it an eight-star rating overall? The cast and their performances are flawless and incredible. I'm speechless! I don't think I've ever met another couple who could pull off what they just did! I'm not going to lie, I had to skip every ten seconds because I was getting bored watching the same damn thing over and over again in the movie. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the plot, it didn't stop me from crying. When Misu ran at the end and Coldplay's "Fix You" started playing, I didn't notice my eyes getting wet until tears began to fall. I'm not sure how to put it, but that scene felt like "It's okay, everything may not appear to be fine, but at least you got me." Props to Hae-in and Go-eun for doing the film justice!It's not something I'd watch again, but if everything seems a little too cold and lonely, then maybe again.
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This review may contain spoilers
My Unexpected Reaction
This sequel film gives us the ending we had hoped for in the first film, but I was left unsatisfied. While I enjoyed the first film, it did occur to me that Oat (Kritsana Maroukasonti) essentially raped Toey (Tonawanik Addison). He also told him several lies for his own selfish ends. Now Oat is back to fulfill his selfish needs at the expense of his wife and child. This makes him a pretty unlikable character. After four short years Oat's boyish looks have also faded. He's disfigured his body with excessive tatoos to the point that it's an unpleasant distraction. They should have reworked all the shirtless scenes to cover up his torso. A new character, Kenta (Ohmi Ryota), creates most of the interest in this long winded, padded epic. I began rooting for Toey to forget about unlovable Oat and get together with this new kid. Oat had made his life choices so he needed to take responsibility for them. Toey should have realized Oat was no good and when Kenta came along, he was the one to fill that void for a soulmate. Well, a work of fiction is whatever the audience wants to take away from it so that's the rewrite I've made in my own head. I am going to look for other films with Ohmi Ryota in them, but I'm done with Toey and Oat.Was this review helpful to you?
This movie warms my heart! Love it!!!
Not only a musical but also an inspirational movie.The main learning is that don't be afraid of leaving your comfort zone. Every individual have their own struggles and all we need is someone who will believe in us for us to be able to 'BREAK ''THE BOX'''.
Just by watching the trailer I know I will love it.
I honestly watch it because of Chanyeol. But this movie is really worth it. I hope fans and non-fans appreciates this movie the same way I did.
Chanyeol's acting has improved a lot. He doesn't have a lot of acting roles so I didn't expect that much. But he really did very well. This movie really showcased Chanyeol's talents. He showed how he can sing, can play a guitar, piano and drums. Fans know how talented he is but this movie can show non-fans how multitalented Chanyeol is.
Chemistry between Cho dolwan and Chanyeol is also there. Jihoon and Minsu found each other just the right time. They both needed each other to BREAK THEIR BOXES. I also love Nana (blind singer), she tried helping Jihoon but I guess that time Jihoon wasn't ready yet. But that was the start. Jihoon was inspired but still needs a little more push.
I really love this movie. The only thing I hated is that it ended. And it is so short. The Box team did an amazing job.
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This review may contain spoilers
The acting made up for plot flaws
I got to know of the actor Fluke Natouch from Until We Meet Again, where his acting captured my attention, so when I found myself lacking something to watch, I searched his past works and chanced upon this. Boy, his acting even back then was good.The plot started strong and interesting, mostly because of the characterisations. The plot premise isn't anything fresh, but it is driven by interesting characters and the interactions between them.
[SPOILER BELOW]
One of my favourite scenes involved Bank asking Golf, "Am I like a girl? Why did Teacher choose me to perform something that is usually performed by girls?" and Golf replying, "Maybe it's because the Teacher felt that you're better than girls." "In what way am I better?" "Like how you were good to/fotr me."
[END SPOILER]
But after the part where they got found out by their family, it kind of faltered. The scenes that followed lacked a sense of congruity and logic got thrown out of the door. It was as if they didn't have enough screentime left to develop the story properly.
[SPOILERS BELOW]
For example:
1) Why did Golf suddenly got sent to America? He was still putting a fight against his father the previous scene, and the next scene we see is him saying goodbye to his class, obeying his father's decision to send him to America.
2) Why did Golf decide to out himself AND his brother in front of the class? He may be gone but he has to stay behind and live with being outed to his classmates. I guess this can be explained as teenage rashness, but this took the 'bittersweet' aspect out of the scene.
3) If the family's intention to send Golf overseas is to break the brothers up, why did they allow Golf to return to Thailand so soon? Why did Bank's mother comment about Bank not being as close to Golf anymore after Golf returned?
4) What's with the girlfriend? What's with the engagement ceremony? Golf seems to still harbour feelings for Bank, but then why didn't he explain the girlfriend situation? Why did he agree to stay at the hotel with her?
5) Why did Bank run off to find Taa (instead of the girlfriends he was closer to) when the above happened? Since when did they grow so close? We've never seen much interactions between the two previously, but we were shown many scenes of the girls showing support to Bank.
6) The coincidence that Golf's kidney is a match for Bank.
7) Lazy writing - accident, final stage cancer without previous syndromes
8) What's with the insertion of the scene after the accident, with Bank returning the ring to Golf, saying that he wants to go back to being just brothers? Where in the timeline was that supposed to fit in?
9) The time lapse between the surgery and the birthday party took away all the sentiments that could have been developed.
[END SPOILERS]
And I guess this is why I didn't feel much for the ending. But this film was still worth my time watching, if only for the acting by the main cast. It felt very natural, reflective of how someone of the characters' age would behave and act. Their acting made up for the gaps in the plot and kept me watching. It's a joy to watch this 6 years on and find that the actors I like right now had a good level of acting even back then. It's even more delightful to know that I can now turn to a part 2 to the story, and hopefully that will make up for the disappointments in part 1.
Part 2, here I come!
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Lolico get a lot of fans and job offer, then from what I see in the film, she seems to be working non-stop, there is even a scene where she says "I'm tired" that makes me touched. Eventually she's just a human, plus the wheel rotates when someone takes the spotlight from her, consequently her mind is also became disturbed, she's so messed up. But kinda heartwarming when Lolico's sister visit her in shooting set, suddenly changes the depressing vibe into calm.
I've come across to think that those idols who are required to appear perfect and good, experiencing the same depression as Lolicon. Aftet all that's life, it's not easy.
I want to give thumbs up for the really good production designs, the settings, the lighting, the colors, etc. looks magnificent.
The best Japanese film visually imo, and it looks like it's all from the taste of its director, Mika Ninagawa. I've look up her filmography, it seems they all have the same vibe as this film, depressing but the visuals are pleasing to the eye.
That's all I can type, it's always a little long and disordered when I do this right after finish the film, I just put out what I think without being compiled.
Thank you.
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Not Bad But Not Good Either
i just finished this movie and it's is a little confusing with all that time skip you kinda had to manually fit the past n the present stories together, to understand the movie n the different faces from their younger selves made it a a little challenging to tell who's who,(and i say manually cuz it felt as if the timeskips were forced into the scenes and it didn't come naturally) unlike most of the comments here on mdl i didn't really find it enjoyable but it was okay~ but nothing more that just an okay movie, i had to watch this on 2xspeeed cuz i it didn't intrigue me enough, the plot was meh and not well executed. I feel like all of the problems could have just been resolved if they sat down and had a proper talk (this is mainly why i gave it a low rating cuz it dint really make much sense here), also lots of people mentioned about the plot twist at the end and i really had high expectations for the end but after watching it i don't think you can call that a plot twist it was super weak and kinda predictableoverall its an okay movie but i don't rec watching it unless ure just bored and seen about every other movie out there
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5 stars for getting butterflies flying in my stomach, also with its great production value.
The story was kinda weird, I could say that the relationship between Erika (Fumi Nikaido) and Kyouya (Kento Yamazaki) was toxic but delivered lightly, typical shoujo genre. What makes me bond with Erika and Kyouya is because they are often together even though it is quite annoying because Kyouya thinks Erika is just his dog. Meanwhile, Erika hopes for more, this is shown by her very sweet attention and treatment to Kyouya and makes me fall in love with Fumi Nikkaido myself. Fumi-san was just so kawaiii and make my heart doki-doki.What makes me thinking to give this film 5-star is what I've type above "the production value", usually when I watch japanese manga live action high school romance it's either gonna be bland and flat or exaggerating everything, but this Okami Shojo is right in the middle, balanced.
I love all the settings: the school, Ayumi's house, Kyouya's apartment, Kobe, even just the street. The environment doesn't feel dull, has a great scenery, life inside it was not quiet or weird, just like what it is should be in real life.
The cinematography was top notch, they make useful of all the settings, take a lot of great shot from it, like my favorite one when Erika talk to Kyouya about dating in free time later after school trip, while they're sitting between the pillars in front of the door of a building and DOP taking shot of Erika and Kyouya from inside the building when the door opened and at that moment I realized that this film production team is no joke, it's simple but picturesque.
After that I remember the one take shot at beginning when Erika with her friend, Ayumi, tailing Kyouya to get the pictures of him and then the girls's runaway, I watch it again and it feels so satisfying. Also I realize how great the camera movement throughout the film, truly looks like a real pro. I take a note of the cinematographer name, his name is Yasushi Hanamura, well done.
Next is the sound, they put a perfect song or music for every scene, not just using orchestral sound but a lot of english fun song that I find it rare in japanese film. All the emotion of the characters, whether it's sad or happy it can radiate more with the help of music.
Then the actors, they played all the characters very well, especially Fumi Nakaido and Kento Yamazaki, as one of the thing that makes this film works.
Overall, a very good film imo. I have a lot to say in my mind but hard to put it in to words, so that's it. Thank you.
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Broadly, this film tells the story of Momo Adachi's love story which is full of conflict, pain and betrayal. That's what I want it to focus in, I don't know if this film is a manga adaptation or not, if so, it is too much, because it seems that there are actually a lot of conflicts but trying to be included in a film whose duration is not much. Sacrificing the development of the story & character here that looks not optimal, tends to be superficial, so it can't produce any attachment and emotion to me.
It should be make into series with improvements in some parts of the story.
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Do you want to see what death is like? - Ai Enma
It reminds me a little of Hellraiser, if the Cenobites are summoned if someone manages to solve the puzzle, then the Cenobites will appear, granting sadomasochistic pleasures, shows a great practical effect and take the ones who summoned them to hell.In this film, there's Ai Enma, the Hell Girl, a mysterious woman who can send someone who you have a grudge against to Hell in exchange for forfeiting your own soul to Hell once you die. But unfortunately the way she taking people to hell is not very satisfying, makes me say "Just like that?".
The other things in this film not making me interested, it's just a procession bringing people to hell that I can say just "okay".
I love you Koji Shiraishi-san, but I'm really not satisfied with your work on this one.
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This film actually pretty good from the technicality for sure, how it's uses Teke-Teke POV when it chasing someone was pretty good, but it design not creepy as I expected, kinda disappointed.
Glad that they're not forcing to get a longer duration, 70 minutes in more than enough.
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