Reviews

it must be gambling debts, it's gotta be

You don't drop all the way from Audition to this unless you are about to be found dead because you have lost money in a pachinko machine or whatever.

Audition was trippy. Trippy ain't the problem, but this movie is boring and dull and I feel like yeah, because the manga does this and that, but I ain't reading no mangá, I'm watching a movie and it should be able to convince me on its own.

It's not the outlandish premise, it's not the absurdity, it's how boring it is in all its edgelordism. It reads as another boring death game story, with a boring main character who is smart beyond what is believable from him. Every time he has an solution is a Deus ex machina working (expect for the end solution).

Amaya and Ichika's actors were really compelling, each in their respective alignment. Visual effects were real nice too.

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Don't be put off by the first half

Representing the first starring vehicle for Yuen Biao, he had a lot riding on Knockabout, a chance to show that his combination of martial arts prowess, good looks and acting skills could blossom into the charisma of a movie star, someone who could be at the centre of a major picture. Surrounded by a combination of old pros and rising young stars, given a script no worse than most kung fu comedies of the period, he was given every chance to flourish, which thankfully he did. As a comedy, the film doesn't quite work as well as intended, the humour is extremely laboured and chock full of poor jokes that admittedly probably work better with a crowd; once the humour backs off and Sammo Hung's action choreography is allowed to take centre stage, the film massively improves ten fold to the point I'm willing to forgive the majority of bad jokes and Karl Maka mugging the camera. While Sammo's direction is fantastic, unfortunately, the pacing is completely borked. It could have really benefitted from the odd trim here and there to tighten it up, especially during the rather painful first half because once the second half begins, it becomes something truly special. Despite my negativity, Knockabout truly benefits from Yuen Biao's effortless likeability, a strong supporting cast, an extraordinarily evil villain played perfectly by Lau Kar-Wing and some outstanding fight sequences that keep it from becoming an otherwise disposable venture, improving the longer you stick with it. I probably would have liked this a lot more had it not been for the sour first impression.

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A tender film but with not enough meat to chew on

Hommage is the story of a middle-aged film director who's gone from award-winner to box-office disappointment. She is solicited by an indie theatre to restore a film called The Female Judge, a movie made by a Korean female director in the 1960s. However, half the audio is missing. And, as it turns out, are whole scenes. Thus, director Ji Wan embarks on a mission to recover the lost parts of The Female Judge.

Hommage spends little time on The Female Judge itself or its director. Instead, these serve as conduits for Ji Wan's own story as she grapples with everyday sexism that seems to wear her down even more that she's reached middle age. It's clear as she meets with the various people who were connected with The Female Judge that Ji Wan is also drawing parallels with her own life. It would seem that much – but not enough – has changed for South Korean women since the 1960s.

At times, Hommage feels like a film made for filmmakers. A bit like when writers write for other writers. It's not navel gazing at all, but I wonder whether I would have appreciated some elements of the story a bit more if I had a better appreciation for the craft of filmmaking.

It definitely felt like it was lacking something. I didn't really get to know any of the characters properly – even Ji Wan – and so while there were a couple of touching scenes in the film, I think these could've packed more of a punch with better character development.

All in all, Hommage is a gently paced film with moments of tenderness and humour sprinkled throughout.

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Raw Despair in Hell on Earth

I would love to write an essay on this movie, but I’ll try to restrain myself. I don't know much about the severity of the poverty depicted in the film, so it would be hypocritical to overly judge or overly analyze the characters.

This movie touches on all aspects of social issues, and I never thought I would lose my mind over it or share the same rage (among all the other emotions, and I mean all emotions) that is so often felt by the audience. The mixture of primal urges to survive, seek pleasure, and inflict pain and misery just to rise above one’s own struggles made this movie difficult to watch. At the same time, it is a brilliant and over-the-top film. As someone said, "They overdid it" — and they did, but it’s impressive.

Jeff Satur is probably an even better actor than I originally thought. Have in mind that I truly idolize him—putting him on a pedestal, in a way. I could also sense how this role was initially meant for PP Krit. The entire cast did a great job, and I don’t think I’ll soon forget the pain and raw despair portrayed by both the male and female leads.

Please consider watching this movie, but be warned: it is not an easy watch, though it is well worth it.

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i am traumatized

every actor did a great job. jeff especially. but i am traumatized. i will give this a rewatch, because... what? i love and hate it at the same time. that's why it's good. this movie is supposed to make us feel conflicted and that's exactly what it did. can't wait to rewatch and traumatize the rest of my friends. my roommate was my first victim. it had some silly moments too, i loved that. i have a hard time focusing on movies when i watch them, but I didn't look away from the screen for the entire time through this one. it was so engaging and interesting

good job, really

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Reading between the lines

First off I really enjoyed this movie because it genuinely had some really great fight scenes and honestly always love justice for the underdog/bullied stories.
If it was up to me, I would love for this to become a series.

This is a movie about a teacher standing up for her students and giving them a safe space when NO ONE else would. That is what we should get from the storyline .Yes we may have to allow creative intervention (beating him up) take place first, instead of removing students like him from school and jailing him. Which is what happens at the end, when the everyone finally feels safe enough to band together and report all their evidence to the police.

Now do I believe we need a teacher who should kick the snot out of kids who are bullies, of course not. And I don't believe this movies is even really encouraging that either. If you honestly watch it, you notice she is on a journey of realigning her values in life and making "IF you do nothing, nothing will happen" her new mantra. So she is making the choice to not just getting by or giving in, like when she threw the Olympic qualifying match and makes the choice to not to continue ignoring a student who is on the edge of being killed for a promised promotion.

Now I want to address all the negative posts and low ratings for this because " we shouldn't encourage violence against bullying" or "this movie is bad because how can a teacher beat up a student? we shouldn't encourage that!" or " bullying isn't as bad as this movie makes it seem"

Yes bullying, terrorizing is and has always been as bad as it is shown in this movie. It happens all around the world and society condones it by ignoring it and passing it off to someone else to solve. Children and Teenagers are pushed to the brink every day where they consider leaving this world vs going to school so lies about this extent of bullying being fictional is just sad and honestly makes those who say that just as bad as the one who is hurting others.

Allowing social pressures and money to silence you from stepping in and helping someone is something we should feel shame over instead of justifying it by saying "oh the bullying isn't that bad. This movie wasn't encouraging people to beat up students but to stand up for those who are being bullied.

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"Listening to your story isn't part of my job"

The Assassin aka Night of the Assassin appeared to have a small budget. The story relied heavily on Shin Hyun Joon as the titular character to carry this flick. The production values were low but there was still enjoyment to be had while watching it.

Yi Nan is a fierce and feared assassin who works for the highest bidder during a turbulent and chaotic time. He doesn’t make moral judgements on the targets, he just quickly and effectively takes them out. After visiting a doctor, he discovers he has a serious heart condition. It’s not long before everyone knows and “the weakened tiger is attacked by wolves.” Yi Nan disappears into the mountains to look for a specific herb that can heal his condition. He ends up working at a local tavern for a widow and her young son. In a corrupt world, he is drawn back into dealing out death. His only fear is that Death may finally catch up with him before he can accomplish his last mission.

Shin Hyun Joon made for an imposing assassin. I had trouble buying his overnight transformation but it was still fun to watch him avenge a critical death. Kim Min Kyung gave a nicely rounded performance as the widow who helps a stranger out and falls into danger with her son. The supporting cast gave wildly over-the-top performances. If not for the high body count this film almost amounted to a comedic parody of the genre. The villains, of which there were many, lacked any sense of menace, especially a female assassin and her strange voodoo abilities. The film veered wildly from comedy to deathly serious. The fight choreography ranged from quite good to blurry, shaky, what the heck is happening.

Night of the Assassin’s production values were quite low, most Kdramas have better camera work. There was a moral to the story, assassins were not to be glorified for they killed the innocent and the guilty. Yet Yi Nan’s skill with a sword and cooking knife were indeed glorified. If you don’t mind a low budget film and are in the mood for a strange rampage fueled assassin flick, The Assassin might fill that small niche.

20 January 2025

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✒⌨ 2D Love °5.9° °good° ?%?

Gamers don't need a dating website because they can make good matches while gaming. Our protags are fans of the RPG (role playing game) Chinese Ghost Story/CGS. FL, Wei Wei, even has an in-game spouse - until she gets dumped. She won't be in the dumps for long, though: Her white knight is in the wings.

Computers don't just facilitate hook-ups; they make identity theft pretty easy, too. While Er Xi may not have stolen Wei Wei's ID, she did borrow Wei Wei's CGS game character, which leads /Wei Wei's/ crush to pursue /Er Xi/ in the game, thinking he's hanging out, virtually, with Wei Wei. It also leads men at Er Xi's summer internship to believe that SHE'S the top female CGS player. Er Xi, unawares, is getting all kinds of attention in the name of Bei Wei Wei, and Bei Wei Wei wouldn't have it any other way-way-way.

That's the same paragraph I used for the show review because, in curious fashion, 2016 saw a show and a film released that were based on the same story. I watched the show first and find myself unable to assess this film without comparing. It feels like a completely different story in many ways, thankfully. But the core programming is identical:

Xiao Nai is the school ‘s supreme catch. Not only is he finishing up school, but he's designing a new game with his buddies. They are marketing it to companies and will run into all kinds of sleaze👾 in the business world. He's also a serious gamer and CGS is his 2nd home. He witnesses the top female player being game-divorced and decides it might be nice to pick her up as a game-wife. He's also glimpsed Wei Wei playing CGS at an internet cafe 😍. He's making 2D and 3D moves on her. Wei Wei is “The Belle of the Computer department,“ but her paths haven't crossed much with Xiao Nai ~ she /thinks/. She's been hanging with him on the CGS servers, she just doesn't know who her game spouse is IRL/in-real-life. In the meantime, Er Xi uses Wei Wei's alternate ID to play the game and ends up being mistaken for the top female player in CGS. This brings her into virtual contact with a guy chasing Wei Wei IRL. He thinks he's flirting with his crush and Er Xi believes she's developing a new virtual relationship that could become a real world fling. One of them is more wrong than HE would guess and the other is so wrong, but so right.

That's the setup. They are meeting in the game and building impressions in their imagination. Next, they will face and deal with the IRL implications.

Both the show and movie are watchable and enjoyable for romance fans. I don't think either feature does anything but toss lite snacks to the romance fan base. They aren't going to please any other watching group. So, you romantics out there, this is worth watching for the first kiss; it's swoony. The romance is mutual. Xiao Nai is “The Man”. He only plays for keeps.

I know my rating makes it seem like I didn't like the film. I did - it's definitely over the line of demarcation. It has some great moments along with its corresponding problems. Until recently, China consistently put out (arguably) watchable, relaxation-inducing, but mindless drivel under the guise of modern-day features, while at the same time they cranked out all-world fantasy and historical pieces. I have my theories about this… China's modern day features have been cluttered up with wooden acting, inane dialogue, and lazy plotlines. Things started changing noticeably around 2018. Now, there's many modern-day Chinese features I have been able to watch and not just enjoy, but LOVE - without wincing in pain at all. Coincidentally, many characters in these new-and-improved contemporary Chinese works will mention watching Kdramas. It's like China got a memo. They've responded well.

As for a comparison, the film is 100 minutes and the show is nearly 1400 minutes. The show should be better. The movie has more natural looking people and a more natural feel when it comes to interactions between the characters. It's so loose and free feeling, compared to most Chinese modern-day features (2016 & earlier), that I double checked to make sure it wasn't a Taiwanese film. Because of that, the film feels differently from the show, even with some of the same scenes. From the start, the characters feel real; this movie is part of the positive jump forward. There are minor pacing issues, though, where things almost drag.

The FL isn't awful in the show, but she's just better in the film, being feisty and active in the relationship. She isn't shy. She becomes part of the team, not a piece of fluff on the side. It makes more sense how the film has Wei Wei actively involved with the company and making the game. She is a computer major, afterall. In the show she acts more like a liberal arts major and soon-to-be 50’s housewife. One of the show's deficiencies is how Wei Wei remains too demure. A confident and capable Wei Wei would have been a welcomed sight.

Er Xi in the show is said to be homely, when she's definitely north of an 8. She's one of the show's assets. I rolled my eyes every time they denigrated her character's looks. (The show focuses on looks too much. It gets wearisome). Show Er Xi could play Tinkerbell, she's so cute. Movie Er Xi is perky and would qualify as less than a 7 based on looks alone, though the actress beams an uplifting carefree air. I'm only commenting on looks because it's a theme in the story - perhaps the main theme. The truth is that there are very few ugly people, and confidence is the sexiest thing. The rest of the movie-friends get alot less play due to the 1300 minute differential. They didn't utilize the friends well in the show, either.

As the credits start to roll we hear about one of the guys falling in love with a female game character who turns out to be a man. It's a bit that got alot of screen time in the show and was handled particularly well, except for the wrap-up.

Overall, the flick has higher highs and lower lows than the show. The characters are solid and there's great moments. It is quick & abbreviated, with light drama that is resolved too easily. Just keep that in mind.


QUOTE📢

If you go outside the wall an inch, I'll move the wall an inch. If you go outside a foot I'll move it ten feet.

〰🖍 IMHO

📣5.5 📝4 🎭7 💓6 🦋7.6 🌞5 🎨7⚡5 🎵/🔊6.5 😅2 😭2 😱0 😯2 😖0 🤔1 💤2.5 🔚6

Age - there's nothing objectionable and nothing about which to make an age caution. As soon as kids can keep up with the subtitles they are good-to-go with 0-2-0.

Re-📺? Doubtful

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So Much Potential Wasted

Hear Me: Our Summer is a fairly wholesome movie that portrays sign language beautifully. The actors did an excellent job expressing their emotions. However, the plot was rather basic and lacked that certain something that could have elevated the entire experience.

The romance, in particular, was poorly executed and, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons I didn’t enjoy the film. The male lead not only made me uncomfortable but also ruined the romantic aspect with his behaviour in the context of love. I don’t mind that he fell in love at first sight—that wasn’t the issue. The real problem lies in how he went about getting to know the female lead. Completely infatuated, he came across as almost a stalker, a simp, and it was unbearable to watch. His behaviour didn’t reflect that of a 26-year-old man but rather an inexperienced teenager who had just discovered love and had no idea how to approach women—and definitely not in a way that could be considered charming. It was very difficult to connect with the male lead, to the point where I started skipping his scenes and only focused on the parts involving the female lead and her sister.

The scenes with the female lead and her sister, on the other hand, were very well done. Of course, there’s always room for improvement, but their interactions were what kept me motivated to continue watching the movie.

That said, the acting overall was good, and the emotions conveyed through sign language were well executed. However, for a film that’s 1h49 long, I ended up skipping over an hour of it due to the lack of depth in the script. This was a movie I had been looking forward to for a long time and was very excited about, but it ultimately left me disappointed. There was so much potential, but it feels like it wasn’t properly realized, which is quite unfortunate.

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Suspenseful, but I liked it a little less than Blind

My biggest complaint with this movie was the cinematography. There was a lot of crazy camera work that was apparently supposed to put us in her shoes, but she was blind, so every time that happened, it killed the suspense for me.

There were some periods when the acting was less than stellar, but not throughout the whole thing, thankfully.

SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!
I liked this movie from the standpoint that we got to see what happened in his past that made the perp a bad guy. I also liked that they didn't kill off the detective like they did in Blind. And since it was a newer movie, the social media aspect worked really well.
I also liked the end where her new "brother" was in a band in a tribute to her brother that died.

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Main story that feels like a side-plot.

I’m sad to say, but there was something strangely satisfying about this movie. It did not feel like the main story. It felt like one of the side plots in a drama. A bit wishy-washy.

Yes, the story was technically moving. Love how it showcases disability focused on the children and how it affects them and their guardians. I also truly appreciated the focus on communication and the patience needed to create a bond with a child who does not use the usual channels of communication we know.

The acting was amazing, especially from Jung Seo Yeon who was only 7 when she portrayed Eun Hye. And yet, while the movie made me smile from time to time and the interactions between Eun Hye and Jae Shik were adorable, I was never truly moved.

Maybe because there was just too much going on plot wise? MLs failed career, gangsters on his ass, hunting for the “aunt”, then side plots with the watermelons and that small family, his bond with Eun Hye. At the end everything felt underwhelming.

Overall, I liked it, but did not love it. Maybe it would work better in a longer format, or with some plots trimmed.

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A sensitive and wonderful film

The film is a decade old, but at the same time, in terms of the plot, it is timeless, and it is true that it is supernatural, but at the same time the most sensitive and human, there is unconditional love in it. The casting is perfect, as is the soundtrack, and the film rightly received so many awards and praise. The actress Han Hyo Joo is wonderful and plays the role perfectly with a quiet and penetrating voice. I highly recommend it 10/10. I also recommend watching the drama of the same name, The Beauty Inside, which has the same great plot (instead of a man who changes characters every day, in the drama it is a woman who changes once a month, and falls in love with a man who has a disease that he does not recognize, (a disease that exists in real life) and how both of them do not give up on love and bridge the gaps.

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