Reviews

A 9.5/10 horror. Loved the ensemble cast in this genre

I love Horror genre.

This is a SERIOUS HORROR.
May not contain Jump Scares but is truly SCARY PSYCHOLOGICALLY.

The Vibe is DARK n gives CHILLS.
Will truly feel "The Ghost in the air, everywhere" sort of scary vibe, haha

It is not the usual easy-going ghost story as in horror comedy or not the usual easy horror trope, in which, a ghost possesses someone related to the protagonist n the protagonist with some help, wards it off easily.

***** CHARACTERS:
Here, though the Protagonists are not the family members of the Possessed, they really struggle hard to save the person, risking their own lives.

The STRUGGLE involved, everyone DESPERATE to SAVE is TIRING.
At some point, the characters may be left with no clue or no way to Save or Survive, all remain Helpless! :(

LOVED the TEAM WORK n Hard Work of all the characters!

Constantly, Keeps one on the Edge of one's Seat while watching them struggling hard n running around desparately to ward off the evil spirits
And creates a NAIL BITING Tension n Suspense, doubting how they will Save n Survive! :o

Haha, that Evil Spirit is a dirty one, not only insults with mind-twisting words to manipulate the minds, also tries to weaken the person whoever interacts with it :/

*****
Well Directed and well Acted by everyone.

CINEMATOGRAPHY is AMAZING.

This reminds me of the famous serious horrors that are psychological scary horrors, where Protagonists Struggle a lot to Save the Possessed, like
"The Exorcist" or few James Wan's horror movies ("Conjuring", "Insidious")
or Korean horrors "The Priests", "The Wailing"
or Thai horror anthology series "Angkhan Khlumpong" (all stories in this are serious n scary) etc.

***** ACTING:
Loved to watch the ENSEMBLE CAST in this genre.
(All my fav actors n actress :) )

Choi Min Shik never disappoints in delivering a good quality acting performance, whether it's a dark role or a psychopathic or a Serious Saviour like here :)

BTW, He in psychopathic roles, Scares Me!! 🤭
But Loved him here :)
U can feel a bit of relief, when U see him around, especially in scary or serious helpless situations here.

Kim Go Eun is as usual pretty n acted her role well.
It is so refreshing to see her in a Shaman role, performing the ritual n reciting all those ritual prose / songs / chants / prayers.

Lee Do Hyun is so handsome with that hair bun n tattoos, giving a Bad Boy Vibe! 😏

Kim Jae Chul is handsome ;)

CHASING AWAY an EVIL SPIRIT is TIRING for the Famous Actors too (Joking!! the Hype) 😂

*****
Rating - 9.5 / 10
(0.5 extra for Cinematography :) )

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Poor baby piggy! CHASING AWAY an EVIL SPIRIT is damn TIRING, haha

I love Horror genre.

This is a SERIOUS HORROR.
May not contain Jump Scares but truly SCARY PSYCHOLOGICALLY.

The Vibe is DARK n gives CHILLS.
Will truly feel "The Ghost in the air, everywhere" sort of scary vibe, haha

It is not some easy-going Ghost story or the usual horror trope, where there's a ghost possessing someone related to the protagonist n the protagonist with some help, wards it off easily.

*****CHARACTERS:
The Protagonists are not the family members of the Possessed.
They are the Priests who are Struggling Hard to save the person, risking their own lives .

The STRUGGLE involved, the priests DESPERATE to SAVE is TIRING.
At some point, the characters may be left with no clue or no way to Save or Survive, all remain helpless.

Constantly, Keeps one on the Edge of one's Seat, watching the MLs struggling hard n running around desparately to ward off the evil spirit
And creates a NAIL BITING Tension n Suspense, doubting how they will Save n Survive!

Haha, that Evil Spirit is a dirty one, not only insults with mind-twisting words to manipulate the minds, also tries to weaken the person whoever interacts with it.

*****
Well Directed and well Acted.

Good Cinematography too.

Both the Main Leads in Priests roles, performed well.
Dong Won reciting the ritual lines in Spanish, while exorcising, is Good

This reminds me of the famous serious horrors that are psychological scary horrors, where Protagonists Struggle a lot to Save the Possessed, like
"The Exorcist" or few James Wan's horror movies ("Conjuring", "Insidious")
or Korean horrors "Exhuma", "The Wailing"
or Thai horror anthology series "Angkhan Khlumpong" (all stories in this are serious n scary) etc.

****
Finally, U will be relieved in the end, when the priests are finally done with the chase n saved the possessed person.

CHASING AWAY an EVIL SPIRIT is damn TIRING for the Famous Actors too (Joking!! The Hype) 😂

Poor baby piggy! :|

****"
Rating - 9 / 10

(Check out my Review for the spin off movie "DARK NUNS " too:
https://kisskh.at/profile/KeeShaMDL/review/527332
)

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A SCARY PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR!

(Be AWARE of lil EXPLICIT CONTENT!)

I love Horror genre.

This is a SERIOUS HORROR.
May not contain Jump Scares but truly SCARY PSYCHOLOGICALLY.

It is not some easy-going Ghost story or the usual
light horror trope.

The Vibe is DARK n gives CHILLS.
Will truly feel "The Ghost in the air, everywhere" sort of scary vibe, haha 😱

***** CHARACTERS:
Some CHARACTERS are DARK n DISTURBING!

The PROTAGONIST being related to the Possessed, TAKES GREAT PAIN n EFFORT to Save his close ones.

The STRUGGLE involved, ML DESPERATE to SAVE is TIRING :|
At some point, ML may be left with no clue or no way to Survive or Save his little one n remains helpless.
Chasing away an evil spirit is tiring 😂 :(

Constantly, Keeps one on the Edge of one's Seat, watching the ML struggling hard n running around desparately to ward off the evil spirit, to save his baby gal
And creates a NAIL BITING Tension n Suspense, doubting how they will Save n Survive!

Haha, that Evil Spirit is a dirty one, not only insults with mind-twisting words to manipulate the minds, also tries to weaken the person whoever interacts with it.

*****
Well Directed and well Acted.

Good Cinematography too.

This reminds me of the famous serious horrors that are psychological scary horrors, where Protagonists Struggle a lot to Save the Possessed, like
"The Exorcist" or few James Wan's horror movies ("Conjuring", "Insidious")
or Korean horrors "The Priests", "Exhuma"
or Thai horror anthology series "Angkhan Khlumpong" (all stories in this are serious n scary) etc.

Oh My God, That ENDING! :(

*****
Rating - 9 / 10

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WASTE OF TIME!

I understood the message that was being conveyed with the whole story, except for how it ended. Honestly, this movie was just a big waste of time if you ask me. FL was just too submissive and succumbed to everything the MLS were doing. She let herself be taken advantage of multiple times. The MLS were nothing but toxic; neither of the three were good at using personal information against her to manipulate and use her. It was messed up, but for her to end up choosing one out of the three blew me away because neither of the three guys were good in my opinion. They all hurt her.

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Not for everyone, Violence, chasing everywhere

ALERT: Violence depicted might be Disturbing to some, so be aware of it.

The chasing, hunting of a serial killer by an ex police
HUNTING THE PREDATOR!👌🏻

Very interesting n grippng to watch.
Well acted by both the actors.

U will be TIRED n EXHAUSTED MENTALLY, WATCHING them RUNNING n CHASING desparately😂

And the levels of unacceptable gore Violence, OmG, weak hearts or angry hearts, just leave! 😂 :O

****
As per Wikipedia, this is inspired from Real Life Serial Killer, "The Raincoat Killer"

This is also shown in Crime profiler Drama "Through the Darkness" as one of the cases.

And there is a Documentary about this - "The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea"

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Definitely not a Sweet Child of Mine

Cobbled together is the best way to describe Gun n' Rose, for all its star-studded cast brings to the table we end up surrounded by tiresome comedy routines and a script that feels like it was written in a drunken afternoon with the added challenge of fitting in as many gangster flick clichés as possible. There's little to no structure with this Clarence Ford-helmed mess, only existing to serve one purpose; give its stars as many opportunities to look cool as possible, the effortlessly badass Andy Lay in particular, oozing charmisa throughout. The action is completely over-the-top, but effective in that acrobatic guns blazing style, with some brilliantly choreographed and inventive set pieces sprinkled throughout the film's rapid runtime, however, the horrendously disorienting editing is what sadly kills it; all those fancy moves are nothing if you can't follow where everyone is in terms of proximity to one another or even master a basic cut. The cast feels rather wasted or just flat-out misplaced here, Leon Lai is blandly intense while Simon Yam gets almost nothing to do, Lau is admittedly one of the film's saving graces but it's easy to see how his smarmy persona can quickly grate on the viewer. Even more out of place is Alan Tang, who uses an army of stunt doubles to achieve dizzying stunts that he clearly isn't suited for as he can barely jump two feet off the ground. Since he's also the producer of the film, Gun n' Rose ultimately feels like a well-staged vanity project more than coherent entertainment, still some decent music, a killer main theme, choice performances and fun action do make up for the film's shortcomings; there is undoubtedly a fan base for this film, although, sadly, I am not amongst them.

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an odd tourism ad (watch suggestions)

Overall: I would say this was a tourism ad with a paper thin BL plot but I'm not sure 4 people stalking 2 other people is appealing for people thinking of visiting a location...About 40 minutes long, aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/ccbor389y01264p-Bali%20Hai/g4100oasloe-EP01%3A%20Bali%20Hai

Content Warnings: stalking, vomiting

Watch Suggestions (takes out the stalking and focuses on the leads)
- watch 5:40-6:35, 12:05-17:15, 22:10-25:25, 27:30-33:50, 37:50-end

What I Liked
- the ocean/beach vistas
- gave some things to do for visitors to the area
- the imagined scenarios

Room For Improvement
- the caricature characters and their stalking
- normally I would praise representation; however, a character being mute felt like a gimmick, we didn't learn anything about him other than he couldn't speak
- did not feel chemistry with the leads
- open ending (if this turns out to be a series, then I'll update this review/rating)

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"You don't understand how women feel"

Sound of the Mountain was a complex story of a father coming to terms with his adult children’s failing marriages. “Success as a parent depends on the success or failure of your children’s marriages. That has me worried.”

Shingo and his son, Shuichi, work together and live under the same roof. Shuichi has a mistress and a girlfriend, along with his long-suffering wife, Kikuko. Shingo tries to make his daughter-in-law’s life better and gives her positive attention whenever he can. The rest of the family thinks they are hiding the fact that Shuichi has a mistress, but given that he is out late every night, or doesn’t come home, she’d have to be an idiot to not know. Shingo’s daughter, Fusako, comes home with her two small children, having run away from her husband who is also involved with another woman. She doesn’t receive much comfort or help from her family and goes to stay with other family. Kikuko realizes that Fusako is trapped. She has no job, no money, and will eventually have to return to her husband. This observation will play a key role in Kikuko’s upcoming decision about her marriage with Shuichi.

This family drama focused on Shingo as he was nearing the end of his life and realizing how he utterly failed as a parent. His son was selfish, thoughtless, and a womanizer. He realized that Shuichi has murdered Kikuko’s heart and that his son was completely incapable of love. His daughter was miserable and trapped in a loveless marriage with two children. Shingo tried to patch the relationships with tape. Nothing he did made any of the relationships better. He and his wife vaguely discussed older couples who committed double-suicide when their usefulness was done.

While the film sounded like a melodrama it highlighted women’s plights, how children and lack of money kept them tethered to terrible husbands. The men casually felt it was their right to have sex and relationships outside of marriage. Four women made bold choices that went against social norms. One woman had an abortion to have the option to be free, another decided to have a child out of wedlock, another woman had to leave her son behind when she left her marriage, and another still had to decide what she was going to do. The decisions weren’t easy and had terrible costs, but these women refused to be cowed. Director Naruse Mikio didn’t offer any easy solutions, he simply showed how the patriarchy didn’t benefit these women.

Yamamura So and Hara Setsuko did a splendid job as the conspiratorial in-laws who bolstered each other’s spirits. Quite honestly, the film often made me angry as it unflinchingly showed how the men treated the women in their lives. I would have rated this a 10 if the unfaithful husbands had been hung up like piñatas and beaten for the suffering they caused their wives. Sadly, that wouldn’t have been realistic. I’ll have to take solace in a 1954 film being bold enough to discuss difficult subjects and giving the women the courage to make their lives the best they could under the conditions they lived in. Good job, Naruse.

23 February 2025

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fun and quirky...

City Hunter is based on the Japanese manga of the same name and has been adapted numerous times into various different mediums, this movie being the latest in live-action format as of right now.

I am somewhat familiar with the source material as I once watched an anime movie in the past that was based on this particular manga titled City Hunter Movie: Shinjuku Private Eyes. So, the perviness of the protagonist didn't seem strange to me but rather as an accurate depiction of the character as intended by the original author. The protagonist's duality is what provides a rather comedic relief to the story's somewhat dark and grim nature.

Story:
For me, the plot of the movie was good but not all that great or special. The main thing that I liked was the characters and their wackiness. For most serious stories, you usually see a side character being added along with the protagonist to provide some sort of comedic relief but City Hunter doesn't do that, it makes both the protagonist and the side character a comedic relief. Ryo obviously is the highlight in both being the central figure who is an all-cool and dashing mercenary and also the comedic relief of the movie itself.

Acting:
The main highlight of this movie is the brilliant performance of the actors themselves. Being able to adapt the quirky and wacky nature of the characters as presented in the manga into a film format is something incredible.

Direction:
The manga spans across a total of 35 Japanese tankōbon volumes and being able to adapt the basics of that story into a 1 hour and 42 minutes movie while still being able to keep it to a point where it does not get boring and neither feels as if any crucial information is being left out due to restriction of runtime shows the brilliance of the director. Also, the action sequences in this movie were really smooth and fluid including the hand-to-hand fight sequences and the guns-blazing ones

Music:
Throughout the movie, the soundtrack used is good but it didn't stand out to me in any way whatsoever except for the ending song, which was extremely good. I later found that this was a newly arranged version of the first ending theme for the anime. For those wondering about the title of the ending song, it is "Get Wild Continual" by 'TM NETWORK'.

Enjoyment:
This was a really enjoyable movie for me and I extremely enjoyed my time watching this.

Verdict:
For fans of the original manga, I would definitely recommend it as it is a good adaptation, and for those of you who are unfamiliar with the source material, it is a good watch but nothing way too extraordinary.

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Great movie and definitely worth my times

The story line:
It's a fast pace movie that keeps you interested the whole time. This section of the book is not shown in a lot of the TV series adaptation. The director is smart to choose this part, otherwise, it will feel repetitive as there are many version remake already.

Acting:
All the actresses and actors fulfill their roles completely. I've seen a lots of comments and complaints about actors and actresses but my opinions is different. The princess and Huang Rong were both strong, smart, and beautiful in their own way. The two actresses that play these roles are great and fit their role completely, especially the princess.
Xiao Zhan is great as always, so handsome, acting is on point. All the veterans are excellent well.

Action:
I think it's a good balance of action with little romance. My daughter said she wants more action but what can there be more when it's only 2.5 hrs. There are some computer effects but the fighting scenes are well done with lots of movement. It is not just standing and move their hands for magic power. The horse riding part is well done and all of them actors and actresses seem like they've been riding horses all their lives. Everyone is well trained and prepared for their role completely.

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