Reviews

HONORING CHINA AND ITS MARTYRS

The film contextualizes the specific battle and stories of Li family, with strong emotional resonance among the audience. The key is not only a symbol, but also contains family bonds and memories. This key has been cleverly inserted as a detail in the film "Volunteers" and has been extended to "Battle for Survival". It symbolizes not only the warmth and safety of home, but also the deep emotions and concerns between family members. The existence of the key reminds the characters in the film and the outside audience that no matter where they are, there is a home waiting for them to return to.
The film focuses on the Battle of the Iron Triangle, the fifth battle of the War of Resistance to US Aggression and Aid to Korea. Nont nly it clearly explains the details of the battle, but also highlights the glorious image of the heroes and their patriotism. The war scenes are intense and exciting.
The film helps the audience understand the context of the story of the "Battle for Survival". Many battle scenes are detailed and clearly defined in their priority.
A major battle in the fifth campaign of the War of Resistance to U.S. Aggression and Aid to Korea, the Battle of the Iron Triangle thwarted the U.S. Army's attempt to quickly seize the supply base, with this battle documented on the basis of fundamentally respecting historical materials. The plot is complete, and the pace of the battle is intense, full and full of tension, greatly increasing the visual value of the film.
The "Volunteer Army" trilogy develops the Volunteer Army in a way to present the magnificent epic of the three-year war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea in a multidimensional and three-dimensional way. After the stage leading up to the decision to send troops to the first and second battles of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army in North Korea, it focuses on the Battle of the Iron Triangle. Then, the central government's decision to enter the Korean War and ends with the signing of the armistice agreement, presenting a panoramic and multi-layered picture of the great deeds of the heroic People's Volunteer Army.
To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance to U.S. Aggression and in Aid to Korea, the "Volunteer Army" trilogy will present this war that founded New China in a panoramic, multidimensional and three-dimensional way. The third part of the "Volunteer Army" trilogy focuses on the second half of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. The war reached a stalemate and the US military's dream of easily attacking the Volunteer Army was shattered, marking the beginning of simultaneous fighting and negotiations between the two sides, with the Panmunjom negotiations and the Battle of Shangganling.

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Untouchable movie

"Confessions".
The title speaks for itself in this movie. The movie starts with a teacher whose daughter is dead and later found to be killed by her own class kids who shamelessly confess their sins without remorse and grief.
For a movie with such a basic plot line, we already know that this movie centres around revenge but this movie isn't a thriller or even a mindf*ck movie rather, an indepth use of emotional torture to plan out a revenge. As a viewer we are already aware of all of the circumstances of each and every character but what we don't see is how we can potentially use it as a weakness.
This entire movie shows us how a homeroom teacher uses the vulnerability of the students, even the students that stood by the atrocities, that caused her unbearable pain to make sure that they feel what she felt when she lost her child. She uses all of her students and every resource that she can to make sure that they taste the tears that she shed on her daughters funeral.
All of this hate that she carries, she doesn't show but narrates in this monotonous dialogue. This same dialogue is carried to show everyone's circumstances and vulnerability. Their inner monologue that they use to defend themselves and their actions. The complete opposite of "show, don't tell"
This movie, maybe not for everyone, is one of the best movies written about revenge. "Making sure you feel the same way that I felt in that moment". I think the fact that this movie is a great accomplishment is the fact that it talks about juvenile law protection and how the kids acted. With excellent portrayal by the child actors, we can see the innocence and at the same time, cruelty of such age. Talking about juvenile protection, I feel that even the youngest of children can understand what death and killing means. To commit such acts of murder need to be treated just without leniency of age. Because of these two factors, the movie makes sure that the kids understood their mistake in a way it was engraved with pain.
Once again, this movie isn't for everyone but you have to watch it at least.

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Super sweet film

Although I prefer episodic dramas, this movie looked cute so I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did, because it was super sweet; a 'love transcends time and space' type of story. It was almost juvenile in it's pureness, but not in a bad way. Several times throughout the film I was surprised to find silent tears running down my face as I smiled through the sweetness. I didn't find it a syrupy, saccharine type of sweet, but more like innocence embodied in a couple of teenagers. (However, the movie kept reminding me that both characters were in their early 20's.)

This movie does contain a time travel trope. While time travel is my least favorite genre, I did appreciate that the movie included a quick peek at an alternate timeline in a few places. I would absolutely recommend this movie. It was -kind of- everything I don't like all meshed together into a pleasant experience.

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[as always, ratings in these categories make no sense for documentaries, so please ignore them.]

I really liked this documentary. The narrative gently leads the audience from the process they use on the peninsula to the history of why almost every family made salt there to why they stopped doing it -- and how it came to be preserved nevertheless. And then it looks into the present of 2011 and into the future of how this traditional method might be preserved and maybe even help the economic situation of this rural part of Japan.

I admit it, I had an elevated level of interest already because in my home town there also is a history of salt making (from briney springs rather than sea water), and in the very early days, before the invention of Gradierwerke, they also boiled the brine to produce salt crystals.

So, I had a connection already, but the documentary wouldn't have held my interest if not for these points:
* They built the narrative so that someone who has no prior knowledge can follow along. It takes time to explain and show the process, and also gives room for the beauty of salt and the landscape. Its slow pace also underlines how slow and back-breaking the labour was and is.
* They were probably lucky that there are not only photos but also film footage of the family who were the only ones to make salt for dacades. I'm glad we got to see this.
* There's a good balance between the facts of salt making and the people with their emotions and passion. Neither could exist without the other.
* Regarding people, after the revival of salt making (mostly for tourism), there are several endeavors to do so -- and I liked how the documentary doesn't try to push a "We're in this together, ganbarimasu!" type of narrative, because it clearly is not the case. The original family's father is very salty about how things went in recent years, and they don't try to hide that.
* I also liked how they found a random granny on the street, decided to interview her, and kept that footage in the documentary.
* The documentary also doesn't gloss over the fact that industrialization changed Noto, that salt making is not a craft with a bright future -- but that is more tourist-oriented now, trying to bring in money for the people who are left while preserving salt making as a historical artifact, and that this has changed salt making itself.


Was it good? -- Yes. It was informative, and engaging. It was also a bit slow, but I think that's perfect for the subject.

Did I like it? -- Very much so. I do have questions after watching it, but they are follow-up questions that would deepen my understanding, not questions because there was something missing or unclear.

Would I recommend it? -- Absolutely.

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“Throw kindness around like confetti” is the most meaningful point from the movie. That said, I was drawn to the quirky and intriguing story, but with better development, it could’ve had so much more potential. The plot is pretty much non-existent, and the characters are introduced without any real depth or backstory. The romance feels dull and pointless, yet somehow the characters fall in love anyway. That said, surprisingly, the intimate scene is full of passion and sensuality. As for a horror movie, it’s shockingly boring. Using dim lighting to create a creepy atmosphere totally backfired, it just made the movie even more tedious. The performances are hard to judge, since the script was so weak. Honestly, the actors did the best they could with what they had.

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Eh

Disclaimer

What I am writing here are my views and thoughts about this movie. Some of you may not like it. That does not give you the right to try to come at me with your opinions on why this movie should get a better score and why it is better than I think it is. You have your own opinions, and I have mine. Kindly respect that.

From this movie, I kind of get that they were trying to go with aspects that were done in horror comedies in the early 2000s (or just adult comedies like American Pie) – with one of them being boob shots. But it is a different era, and these guys just don't have the finesse that those movies did.

As mentioned by the previous viewer, the one and only good aspect of this series was the relationship between the brothers. It was nice seeing the interaction between them. Another aspect for me (as I did not read the tags) was to find out that the island was forbidden due to the zombies there. However, I just felt that this movie did not develop that aspect well enough.

The end result has left me a bit disappointed, and I guess for that reason, I really do not see myself recommending this movie to anyone. Even if you have time to kill, go and watch another meaningful or funny movie because this is not it. I basically watched this movie to get the letter I in my A to Z Watch Challenge (movie aspect) 2025.

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Families please don't withdraw donations! Know the suffering!

I am med student, constantly knowing about the suffering and sometimes in doubt of my profession, but this gave me hope, this gives the patients a hope, but families of great donors won't allow it, when would they know that their kin has done the best that could ever be done after he is no more!!! Let's all live after we die!!! not as one but as many as possible lives!!!

Peng yucheng has done a great job from accepting the role to making me cry for him and laugh out loud!! he is more courageous than those handsome guys out there who can't even act out a smile properly! yeah, he is not embarrassed about his appearance when the wig fell out during hello saturday variety show that has made me watch this beautiful two hour short movie

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Game turns deadly!

Wow, I didn’t expect the plot to actually get better, but it did—and I’m loving this movie so much. Huge props to the writer and director. Yumeko is really getting under the student council’s skin, beating them one by one in their own games. So they bring in this next-level psycho, Shikigami Makuro, who's even worse than the student council. He’s not just playing for money—this guy is willing to kill just to win.

For the first time, we see Yumeko kind of lose—not because she was outplayed, but because Makuro threatened to kill Mary if she won. That moment was wild. It wasn’t really a loss, though. She had no choice. Still, it was probably the most intense moment in the whole movie.

And the student council totally had it coming. They really thought Makuro would just ask to come back to school if he beat Yumeko? Nope. He flipped the whole thing on them, made Kirari step down, and even turned her into a housepet. You could kinda see it coming, but they were too focused on Yumeko to realize what was happening.

The final game though—ultimate Russian roulette—was insane. It was Yumeko & Suzui, Kirari & her secretary, and Makuro & Midari. It was less about strategy and more about luck. Like, deciding how many bullets to load, who to aim at, and who pulls the trigger. The tension was real, especially when Suzui had to aim the gun at Yumeko with three bullets in the chamber. Heart. Stopping.

Kirari was so cool as always. Seeing her and Yumeko kinda team up to break Makuro’s mind was awesome. I also love the friendships forming—Yumeko, Suzui, Mary, and even Kirari. It’s so good.

Honestly, I just hope they don’t stop here. I’d love to see more seasons or movies—not just remakes. This series just keeps getting better.

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Creepy exorcisms among South Korean graves.

Exhuma recklessly throws a bunch of disjointed horror genres into one pot and somehow manages to cook up a deliciously creepy thriller with a lot to say.

Choi Min Sik (Oldboy) leads us down a dark and macabre path through South Korea’s complicated history. A team of paranormal experts accidentally unleash terrifying forces after excavating a sinister grave of a wealthy family. Whoops! What follows is a strange and unpredictable journey about all the ghosts left behind by Korea’s traumatic relationship with Japan.

Director Jang Jae Hyun packs Exhuma with every kind of horror imaginable. It shouldn’t hold together as well as it does, but somehow the film is fresher and more powerful than expected. All the worldbuilding, all the rituals, and all the supernatural mysteries are held together by the cultural and historical context. Trauma is certainly nothing new to horror films, but Exhuma cuts deeper than most.

Choi Min Sik as the leader of the group is, of course, gripping and really sells the suspense when it becomes clear that they have taken on darker and more powerful forces than they thought. But it is still Kim Go Eun who steals the film thanks to a startling sequence early on that loudly proclaims the film’s formal intentions. The rest of the film doesn’t quite manage to reach that level, but comes close several times.

The opening is strong and loaded with eerie atmosphere and mystery, all the conventional genre tropes are in top form. But with a running time of 134 minutes, the film is a bit too long and would have benefited from a stronger middle point. A few more scissors in the editing room would have helped, because once the tension escalates we get a sensational finale where Jae Hyun has once again saved a surprise for the audience. Nothing can prepare you for where Exhuma goes, but no spoilers here!

Exhuma is an ambitious and exciting excavation of Korea’s past. The cinematography is as impressive as it is terrifying, the entire ensemble cast gives it their all, and the script never stops expanding the scope. At the same time, there is a fascinating thematic thread that lifts the film a step above its competitors.

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Good entry point movie for cis people

I watched this movie around 2 years ago, but I still think about it from time to time.
There are a few things I think are slightly weird/strange within this movie, but it is just bound to happen as a white westerner watching non-western movies.

The decision to make Rinko, a trans woman, and Tomo, a neglected and hurt girl, meet each other, is what made the story worth watching.
While the story is rather sad on some points, it is also really sweet and depicts Rinko is a very good light, showing some of her struggles as a trans woman in a humane way. Tomo's role in the story allows Rinko to really shine, while also serving as an outlet for the cis viewers.

I think it is a good entry point if you wish to make your close ones watch a queer movie with a transfeminine character in it, without it being transmisogynistic.

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A Smart and Exciting Movie That Keeps You Guessing

All I can say is—what a movie! I love that it picks up right after Season 2, so nothing feels out of place or confusing. The pacing was well-executed, and the flashbacks were just enough to refresh your memory without dragging things out.

The plot this time around is thick and well-written. We're introduced to The Village, an anti-gambling student organization led by Murasame, who surprisingly has a history with the student council president, Kirari—he even defeated her once, which definitely shocked everyone. Naturally, this piqued Yumeko’s interest, drawing her into the Village and its ideals.

But of course, not everything is what it seems. The student council launches a new election game where every student must participate, or face expulsion. The Village is forced to join, and two representatives—Arukibi and Inuhachi—step up, as Murasame refuses to play.

At first, it looks like the Village reps are doing their best to protect their cause. But then we learn Arukibi has her own agenda: she wants to destroy the Village from the inside by losing, knowing that if they fail, many of the students will fall into debt. She also has a history with Kirari and hopes to join her, but Kirari isn’t interested in her.

Arukibi and Inuhachi win games and reach the semi-finals. But then, Arukibi has Inuhachi kidnapped, forcing Murasame to step in as her new partner. Together, they face Mary and Kiwatari and win 4–0, gaining massive popularity and votes.

Then comes the final match: Yumeko and Suzui versus Arukibi and Murasame. Here’s where things get really interesting. Arukibi plans to throw the match, causing those who voted for her to lose—and fall into debt. Yumeko quickly gains 3 points, but what stood out was how she knew Arukibi’s plan from the start. She went along with it, staying one step ahead.

Even while being paired with Suzui, who genuinely wanted to win to avoid a 200 million yen debt, Yumeko remained in full control. Instead of finishing the match, she intentionally loses to mess with Arukibi’s plan. That reverse strategy was genius.

What I loved most was the unpredictability, the mind games, and Yumeko’s wit. She’s a master of strategy and poker face—like in the rock-paper-scissors game, where she calmly sipped tea the entire time and still pulled off a win with one card in hand.

Even though she “lost” the game, she made sure Suzui didn’t end up in debt by asking Mary to place a 200 million yen vote for Murasame—so when Murasame won, they won the bet.

This movie was exciting from start to finish. No dull moments, smart twists, and Yumeko once again proving she’s not just lucky—she’s brilliant.

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Watching plants

This is an interesting minimalistic indie drama with a lot of space for reflection. The main character is the owner of a Cafe Bar turned into Plant Shop, who works with plants and makes tea at the same time. His character is very distant and he speaks through narration because he is not very good in communication. The narration reveals his life story and how he came to appreciate plants but I had a lot of issues with his interaction with the customers. He serves them well (even though i didn't see him washing hands between working with dirt and making tea) but he keeps them at distance from himself. He doesn't show kindness or hospitality, in fact we don't see a lot of his emotions. I would expect more from a film that has "warmth" in its title. The various plants that we see during the film are more interesting to watch than the main character.

Still, if you like plants this is a nice watch. If you have a plant in your life, you might also reflect on your friendship with it. And if you don't like plants, you should force yourself to watch this film or, even better, go into the nature and hug a tree.

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Don't bother

Ok, this is an easy one. Based on the synopsis, I was reluctant to watch it. And I had the "great" idea to check the reviews.
Well, the movie is meh at best. Lots of plotholes. I can't say much 'cause I don't wanna spoil anything, but when the movie ends you will (or should) start asking questions as to why the events happened that way because, knowing what we know about her, she could've taken more easier and more logical moves.
Besides that, the acting is mostly meh, with some cringe moments when they are trying to portray "madness". Besides the "Bond villain" exposition dump, the script was barely ok (plus those plotholes, so maybe not that ok), and by that I mean not so broken as the usual k-drama. The pacing is ok, the slow pacing is needed to build stuff. Character development, no. You get the characters, they do stuff, thats it. Low/medium production value. Not that great vfx for the impact scenes, but the fighting ones are ok. The soundtrack is ok, I guess. It tries a couple of times to guide you in believing some scenes will happen, but mostly you won't be bothered by it. The cinematography is boring, nothing interesting.
Oh, don't believe the other reviewers. Unless you have a medical problem about seeing blood, its safe to watch. No gore involved, the bloody scenes look cheap. On this movie's page, between the "Cast" and the "Reviews" sections you can see the "Photos" one. The bloody shots appearing there? Thats what you'll get. The usual amount. So if you don't get sick from seeing a paper cut, you'll be fine.
It gets a 6 (barely) from me. Nothing special to hook you in. Definitely, no return value. Have a lovely evening.

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