Reviews

☠It's Odd⛩️ °5.5° °mixed bag°

What a mixed bag.

We open to The Monkey King's thrashing. He's in trouble. He doesn't seem like the trustworthy sort. He's stolen Pandora's Box, afterall! Then we jump forward 500 years.

ACOPB is a 1995 97-minute release that is rated 7.4 on MAL. The more I learn about Journey to the West, the novel on which these movies are based, the more monstrous and peyote-induced it seems.

The next thing we see is an encampment of scallywags isolated in the desert. A woman visits them one day. They threaten her, but she ends up intimidating all of them. They failed to timely recognize that she's a demo!. She's beautiful and she has a beautiful cherry blossom tattoo on her shoulder. She won't leave until she meets the person she's looking for. They can't beat her. They don't realize it yet, but this woman can transform into a huge, extremely dangerous spider. They try to go after her when she's in the tub. She knocks one guy in, launches off of his head into an airborne pirouette and kicks them all in the face. She's looking for the guy with 3 birth marks on the soles of his feet. If they help her, maybe she'll leave sooner. (That's all only if they're not able to r@pe and kill her, their Plan-A 😨).

Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle) is Chi Juen Bo, the Monkey King. He does a nice job. Ng Man Tat (Yangtze Town's Springtime, The Coming and Going) portrays "Piggy". Yammie Lam (Battle of the Heart) is Chun Sansiniang, the spider goblin. Karen Mok (The Road Less Traveled) plays Pak “Jing,” a zombie goblin and sister to the spider. The Monkey King broke her heart. She's looking for him. The Monkey King has three birthmarks on the sole of his foot. Chi Juen Bo does not. Yet.

The screenwriter & director is Jeff Lau (Love and the City, Mahjong Dragon), and the original creator is Wu Cheng En (c. 1500–1582). Per Wiki, he “was a Chinese novelist and poet of the Ming Dynasty and is considered by many to be the author of "Journey to the West", one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.” He's movie-credited as the original creator for anything to do with any Journey to the West or Monkey King tales. That includes the strange but wonderful A Korean Odyssey-7.2.

The scallywags and worthless layouts don't know it, but demons are congregating in the area because they all want to get a bite out of the longevity monk, who's supposed to make an appearance soon. Jing suspects Chi is the Monkey King, which means he would know all about the monk's whereabouts, but Chi doesn't have the birthmarks, and he seems to genuinely know nothing about The Monkey King.

Things get more crazy than usuaal… strike that… the whole film is an acid trip… and Chi & Jing end up a pair (🤷 “It would be better if she wasn't a demon,” he muses to himself with a shrug). Tragedy strikes. He uses Pandora's box to go back through time and save her.

It sounds fun, right? Unfortunately, ACOPB is disjointed and sort of a mess. The characters are all like wild animals. There isn't much of a plot. It's just tantrums and fighting and tossing people around, for the most part. The 2nd half does improve and a bit of a plot takes shape.

What concerns me most about a production like this is that it might turn a person off from what's otherwise amazing Chinese fantasy. The first few Chinese fantasy features I saw absolutely blew me away. They are capable of doing the best in the world. I've also seen a few that aren't as good, liken his one, which is about 25% good and 75% nonsense. At least it has some good. Shows such as Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9; Douluo Continent 9.4; Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6; Love and Redemption 10, Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9(Kung-fu!) are exceptional, and historical pieces such as Overlord 8.4, Story of Yanxi Palace-10, Under the Power 8.6, The Rebel Princess 9.1, The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style), and The Rise of Phoenixes 9 are transcendent.

There's a steady stream of humor. It's frequently funny and the timing is snappy. Special effects are dated, but the spider is truly creepy. Sure, there's a romance, but it's more for the guys. Every woman wants the Monkey King, it seems🙄.

All I can say is that I didn't hate it enough to not watch the sequel (A Chinese Odyssey 2: Cinderella-5.5), which is just the conclusion. The two movies together are a 2-part single film with A Chinese Odyssey 2: Cinderella-5.5 picking up where this one stops. It's more of the same. My recommendation, unless one is a film student, is to skip this.


QUOTE🗣

See, this guy keeps talking all the time. We don't know what he's talking about. It's just like a fly hanging around. Sorry, not a fly! A swarm of flies flying near your ears. Flying into your brain!


IMHO〰🖍

📣6 📝5 🎭7.5 💓6 🦋3 🎨7 🎵/🔊5.5 🔚? 🤗4 ▪ 🌞2⚡6 😅3.5 😭2 😱4 😯1 🤢3.5 🤔3.5 💤0

Age 14+ - there's PG-13 language


Re-📺? Nope

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Double Patty – A Gentle Slice of Life

Double Patty feels very much like an indie film, with a flow that is calm yet engaging. It tells the story of two people from completely different walks of life, both struggling to make ends meet while balancing the demands of survival with the pursuit of their true passions.

Rather than relying on a sugar-coated, dramatic romance, the film beautifully portrays two individuals meeting at their lowest points and gradually finding comfort in each other’s presence. Their relationship grows slowly and naturally, woven seamlessly into their personal journeys as they navigate their goals and choices in life. The romance is subtle, letting it develop organically rather than forcing it to the forefront.

Sometimes, we need a break from overly dramatic narratives, and Double Patty offers exactly that—something soothing, realistic, and quietly inspiring. Life often moves in a simple rhythm, and this movie captures that truth with warmth and sincerity.

The male lead is absolutely endearing in his role, while the female lead delivers exactly what her character requires with sincerity and grace. Together, they carry the story effortlessly, making it both relatable and heartwarming.

A truly pleasant watch—realistic, comforting, and quietly motivational.

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Deserving premise that is surprisingly touching

Despite getting started with a slapstick comedy treatment that came out of nowhere, eventually it gains enough traction as the story progresses and lands a pretty deserving premise that is surprisingly touching. Seriously this kind of deliberately mixed genre is very risky to handle, it can either fail miserably or work seamlessly, almost like a high risk high return thing, though it's safe to say that this movie had worked really well all thanks to its solid family drama core that somehow overturns a devastating situation into an unbelievably hopeful vision. That said you will need to ignore some of its tenuous logical reasoning throughout the plot and it will be good to go, The acting performance is definitely the strongest suit that gave this movie an incredible amount of support to flourish into a box office success right now.

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Interesting blend of scifi and fantasy

The thing about this movie that really stood out was the genre blending. We have futuristic aliens, the modern day earth, historical earth, AND historical fantasy magic. Most projects would have done one or the other, but this movie fully embraces all of the genres it uses. There is magic. There is scifi tech. The is aliens. And all of them have lots of fun.

The main criticism for me, is that the plot is a bit jumbled. It doesn't seem willing to commit to a main character, and by the end of the first movie the story has suffered for it because the emotional investment in any individual character us a bit thin. There are some good emotional beats, just personally I would have liked more, and with the amount of time we spend chasing side characters or lingering on bits (that were not as funny as they seemed to think), it feels like there was space to make the actual plot more focused than it ended up being.

One last comment is that this movie does not stand on its own -- only watch it if you are planning on watching the sequel afterwards. This should have been titled "Part 1"

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A thrill ride into an overlooked story

I'll be the first to admit I know very little about the Pacific Theatre of WWII. This may seem surprising given australia's geographical proximity and involvement in the fighting, but most of our nationalistic myth-making leans more into the WWI imagery than WWII.

And as much as I would like to say a curiosity in history was the reason I chose to watch Dongji Rescue, I'd be lying. I was 98% there for the cast. And damn, did they deliver.

I didn't even recognise Zhu Yi Long, even though I finished a third re-watch of the Story of Minglan earlier this year. Boy, does he have range! Same goes for Wu Lei, who I've seen in a few things, but I felt like couldn't quite shake the child actor background until now. Yet despite their stellar performances, Ni Ni takes the cake. Her character doesn't feature much until the latter half of the movie, but from therein she steals the show.

The storyline is a classic thriller style, mixed with the usual tropes of Chinese films set in this era. Like every Cdrama, the white characters are super cringe. Thankfully, their parts are kept relatively short, and only one pom sticks around long enough to get a name. There seem to be two thematic strands in the movie: the moral obligation to save lives, and the fraternal bond between the male protagonists. The first is executed well, but the latter suffers with the movie focussing more on plot progression than character development.

With that in mind, I think they could've chopped out Ni Da Hong's character altogether. He was simply one character too many and didn't really do much other than give Ni Ni's character substance. Not that her character needed it. She had depth after just a few seconds on screen. The other drag for me was a couple of scenes that verged a bit too close to melodrama. Combined with the cringe poms, they did take me out of the film quite a lot.

That said, the underwater and on-water shooting was the best I've ever seen. I would love to see behind-the-scenes footage of how that was achieved because, in spite of my mild thalassophobia and claustrophobia, my eyes were glued to the screen.

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Fairly passable watch but it has so many faults

For the foremost, the movie itself is shot well. It has great action sequences that are focused and well choreographed. Things are easy to follow and it has great sequences. However that cannot save this movie from it's lack of cohesion. The movie itself could of been much greater with many tweaks. It felt like all the great parts of 80s 90s action movies but without the soul to make it so.

The plot is very rushed. We have a simple motivation set up in terms of revenge for fallen family members. Then we have a hero who rises again to seek revenge. Ok great. However we had little to no build about this family or this guy in general so we have no attachment to him or his family at all. Then we hit the back in action plot point. Ok he's been living 12 years in prison, barely aged and somehow looks younger coming out then in lol. We have him gathering intel in the silliest way possible with a guy just randomly telling him he took this one off video that he kept for whatever reason showing crimes. Ok but why didn't you do anything with this evidence??

Then we have the daughter character who's grown up and secretly survived. Ok great there are now heightened stakes. Ok but we aren't going to do much about her personality at all and show barely anything about her. Now dad and her meet but don't have any sort of dialogue. What is even going on here? We know that he's shocked and exhausted but to say nothing of the sort in this moment? So when we have final confrontation showdown, Ryo goes with them isn't even questioning what's going on and is just quietly freaking out in a waiting room...

This is the main issue with the story, there's no dialogue really except the villain talking about little to what happened this whole time. When there is dialogue it's mostly throw away that doesn't matter. Sure it sets up the fact that they made the city prosper but there's no real stake in this or tension. How are we supposed to fell when nothing feels at stake? There's no family conflict, there's barely any villain motivations next to wanting to grow Ryo up to assault her.

It's frustrating because many elements of this movie are cool but it needed so much more in terms of storytelling.

Mini rant:
Also guy who saved our hero with the gun...why didn't he just help and attempt to shoot the boss?? He clearly had enough bullets. And this isn't hyper anime, no way does he reflect that many bullets at that speed. And what was up with the random close up of the firefighters arriving as if there was something important there?? Was there a significance of the manju?? Did it tie to the family in the manga??

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everything and nothing all at once

like many other horror films, this one starts off light and easy. we are quickly introduced with the group of friends and taken on a roadtrip alongside them. soon enough, the ominous feeling appears and slowly becomes stronger, until what was a mountain bike rider club outing turns into a fight for survival.

now, is this a scary movie? it succeeds in making you feel uncomfortable, and this feeling is strengthened by the fact that some of the scenes are shown as vlogging footage, as well as the natural eeriness of being in a dark, empty forest. the main tactic to leave the viewers frightened by this film is jumpscares, but even though i consider myself jumpy, i didn't get very scared. in fact, even the bloody body horror-intended scenes weren't half as bloody as they could have (logically) been.

for movies like this, i still want a consistent intriguing plotline. however, at the end of it, i felt like it didn't really know which way to go -- sci-fi, crime, supernatural, or something else. like this, various elements are kind of thrown at you but there isn't much of a concise explanation. they attempt to provide some clarification after the first ending credits roll, but it simultaneously made me surprised and even more confused.

if you like horror films, this is not the worst of it, but also don't expect too much from it. if you're like me and want to see yoon gyunsang, it's an easy watch for the most part. if you're even more like me, and would love to see kim yewon, it's an ok watch but i wished she got even more screentime.

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I really disliked it : not because of the relationship nature but how devoid of feelings it was...

This movie, featuring a forbidden romance between a high school student and her English teacher, was really bad. Full disclaimer, I can enjoy (and even love !) in FICTION taboo tropes, "risqué" topics, age gaps, forbidden relationship, toxicity and a lot more of unhealthy stuff...But I really need to feel the passion and angst. And here, with this movie, it felt really lacking.

The story in itself was painful to follow as I was utterly unconvinced by the romantics feelings of both leads for each other...Every romantic gestures felt very bland and at the same time irking with a constant push-pull that felt super manipulative but was not treated as such by the writing. Other than the leads, the remaining characters storylines were inexisting : it is impossible to believe in any of it because it is so bland. Being the friendship or the family affection, it all felt fake.

The acting was quite average but the chemistry was the worst of it. None of their touches made me feel anything other than cringe. There were a couple of "dead fish" kisses that left me stone-cold. It was just frustrating as I really love Yamapi since his early works. In this role, he felt robotic at best (an handsome robot but still that's not enough for the current me in Dramaland...). Komatsu Nana did not do better...As her character is supposed to be stone-faced and showing little feelings, it might be part of the reason why. However, even with that type of role, she totally lacked range in her acting and it felt super repetitive and boring.

Production was quite average, I don't remember finding any scenes outstanding in any way and I found the soundtrack quite bad. Maybe the music (and the sound overall) felt of so poor quality because I was not feeling the romance. Even the ending song left me a bad impression.

I would not recommend this at all to people. Because of how familiar the beginning of the movie felt, I vaguely remembered while watching it reading the manga (or at least part of it) : I either dropped it or have no memories of completing it, which clearly shows how forgettable it was. Am I surprised that the movie did not manage to elevate the source material ? Not really...but well, they could have tried at least...

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Love And Embrace Who You Are!

I’ve been watching K-Dramas for almost eight years now. I’ve watched shows from Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, and Taiwan. For my money, the Koreans are masters of the industry because they almost always incorporate some kind of meaning and wisdom. Not to mention that they are experts at putting different genres together and making them all work.

This collaboration of Korean and American performers is incredible! Frankly, I was hesitant to give this movie a try until a co-worker came in the next morning and told me how much he loved it.

The film takes all of the best elements of K-Dramas and K-pop music to give everyone—no matter what your age—an absolutely magical thrill-ride and puts them front and center! Better yet, this movie presents an important message for both young and old.

A “demon” is nothing more than the culmination of your fears that originates within your mind. Of course, none of the things that your mind tells you about yourself are real. And yet, so many people allow those thoughts to tell you who you are. They can reveal no more about who you are than a freckle can at the end of your nose. Too often, we focus too much on who we are not.

Rumi, Mira, and Zoey are three friends of the hottest K-pop band in Korea. They are also given the ability to fight demons. Thus, they provide entertainment, love, and protection. However, Rumi has a secret. She is also part demon, and she refuses to let anyone know for fear of everyone seeing her differently. Sound familiar? How often do people do all they can to cover up parts and aspects of themselves that they are too afraid to reveal? Guilt and shame are learned behaviors.

Enter the Saja Boys, a new K-pop boy group who secretly work for Gwi-Ma a powerful demon who wants the souls of everyone. Led by Jinu, he and his group are actually Grim Reapers—if you’ve watched enough K-Dramas, they are easily identified by their dark coats and black hats. Grim Reapers in Korean lore have the job of helping souls cross over. Some depictions have them as good beings, while others have them depicted as evil and serving evil.

Jinu uses Rumi—especially after finding out that she’s part demon—to get close to her with the hope of tricking her. It nearly works as Rumi is suddenly forced to face who she is and come to terms that there is nothing wrong with her, nor has there ever been. This is the core lesson that this wonderful movie is attempting to pass on to its viewers, and for my money, it more than succeeds. Children, teens, and everyone should take heed of this message.

The end of the film has one of the most inspirational songs and scenes that I have ever seen. I can only recall a handful of films that touch both the heart and the soul, and frankly, I can’t think of another animated movie that has done this. As the fans begin to snap out of Gwi Ma’s control, they begin to lend their own voices—and power—to Rumi, Mira, and Zoey. There are few things more inspiring than people coming together to fight for a common cause. Many viewers have been surprised to find themselves needing some tissues during this powerful climactic ending! And frankly, I can’t blame them in the least. This is a movie the world desperately needs right now, and it’s no surprise how much it's resonating with people everywhere.

The vivid colors and animation bring an amazing world to life, something that Disney could take some lessons from. Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans deserve so much credit and praise as well as everyone who was a part of this project. I loved seeing Korean performers Ahn Hyo-Seop (Jinu) and one of Korea’s absolute top actors in Lee Byung-Hun (Gwi-Ma) participate.

As I write this review, I found that the soundtrack is ranked #1, and the song “Golden” is the number one song! I’ll wager that kids and adults alike are bopping to these incredible tunes as much as possible! I know I will be! Frankly, I haven’t seen a soundtrack this loaded with great songs since “The Greatest Showman.”

I hope the rest of the world takes a note from Korean culture and entertainment; that it’s not only possible to make entertaining movies and shows with a message, but that the world is desperately eager for them! I already know that I’ll be watching this gem of a movie again and again!

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"It's important to see everything around us well"

I have to say, I have not been a great fan of Lee Chang Dong’s work. That changed with Poetry. Despite the difficult subjects, a shred of humanity and dignity survived.

Though barely making ends meet while taking care of her sullen grandson, Yang Mi Ja dresses well and is always composed. She works as a caregiver for an older man who has had a stroke. Passing by a notice she sees there is a poetry class being offered. For over 50 years she has harbored a secret desire to write poetry and begins the class. The students are challenged to really look at the world around them, to dive below the surface and discover the beauty hidden in plain sight. Mija’s world is rocked when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. But worse than that she’s informed her grandson has a connection to a young girl’s suicide.

Yoon Jeong Hee was mesmerizing as Mija. Always polite and soft spoken, hiding her true emotions, until they spill over in the rain. Mija sees and empathizes with a grieving mother and joins her by grieving the loss of an innocent child, brutalized by cruel boys. The other parents and the school heartlessly only care for burying the truth with the body, for boys’ live and futures must be protected no matter how reprehensible and inhumane their actions. Mija faces the painful reality in her family with a higher vision. A more poignant game of badminton you are likely to never see. Knowing her independent time was on a countdown, Mija looked for what was beautiful, what was true and gave witness to it. In doing that she gave Agnes a voice, recognizing her life, her love, and her loss.

14 August 2025

“Agnes’ Song”
How is it over there?
How lonely is it?
Is it still glowing red at sunset?
Are the birds still singing on the way to the forest?
Can you receive the letter I dared not send?
Can I convey the confession I dared not make?
Will time pass and roses fade?
Now it’s time to say goodbye
Like the wind that lingers and then goes, just like the shadows
To promises that never came
To the love sealed till the end
To the grass kissing my weary ankles
and to the tiny footsteps following me
It’s time to say goodbye
Now as darkness falls
Will a candle be lit again?
Here I pray
Nobody shall cry and for you to know
how deeply I loved you
The long wait in the middle of a hot summer day
An old path resembling my father’s face
Even the lonesome wildflower shyly turning away
How deeply I loved
How my heart fluttered at hearing your faint song
I bless you
Before crossing the black river,
with my soul’s last breath
I am beginning to dream
A bright sunny morning
Again I wake, blinded by the light
and meet you standing by me.

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So where is the comedy genre or tag?

What was it? How to even describe this experience? From Joe Biden to the double meaning of the word pussy jokes - it’s filled with ridiculous moments.

Everything, and I mean everything was exaggerated. Not one character acted in a natural manner. Vivian Vera gave me “Brenda”from Scary Movie - her reactions to the crazy shit happening around her were exactly the same.

As for the plot - simple and boring. The issue is the fact that the synopsis spills all the tea. There is nothing more to explore. So you just watch people die in an unimaginative way as Vivian slowly loses her mind overwhelmed by everything that is going on.

I don’t really have that much to say. I was not scared once, but I did laugh quite a few times.

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Became one of my favourite animation film ever ˖ ࣪. ࿐ ♡˚.

I usually don't write reviews but a review for this was totally needed.

My expectations were so low when I first heard the title "Kpop demon hunters" but NAH it proved me all wrong. overall everything was so perfect; the story, the animation🤌🏻, the musics🫡, the characters, everything was legit. I was so DAMN amazed.

Kpop: Main theme being kpop what it made me to watch it. As a hardcore stan, I literally loved how this movie portrayed kpop and it's fans. The songs are sooo refreshing and all of them are such BOPS❗I added all of them to my playlists as soon as I heard them😛 So happy that non kpop fans are also fan watching this and liking it. I will say that this movie was literally made for me. I like the characters too, rumi is my bias in huntr/x (HER VOICE) and abby in saja boys (ABS HEH) LOL. I love saja boys and huntr/x and their concepts?!? Totally my type.

Ending: I loved it when they sang 'take down' and sealed the honmoon but was jinu dying really necessary😭 I CRIED SO MUCH AT THAT PART and I realised I was rigged in the name of love. rujinu could've been the perfect couples ever but no they had to kill the ml, literally all that romantic buildup for nothing but to go in vain.. WE DIDN'T GET TO SEE MYSTERY'S FACE TOO!! + gwima is going to my hear me out list👅

Overall: chat just watch it. don't listen to the people hating kpop. kpop is fun and the songs are good! especially when you just listen to the songs and not listening to a bitch who whispers in your ears saying it's not (my personal experience and opinion) ANYWAYS IT'S A WORTH WATCH ⭐

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