A must watch
I usually hate watching anything action related but this movie completely changed my opinion, if you're debating on wether you should watch this or not I would recommend finding where this movie can be accessed and watching it, there wasn't even a minute where I found that it was boring or tiring to get through, every second was full with suspense. although if you don't like deaths or anything gore I suggest staying away from this movie, but otherwise this is a must watch and I would recommend to everyoneWas this review helpful to you?
Like a fix-it fanfic
If you watched Present Perfect (go watch it if you haven't yet), you'll know that it didn't have a very happy ending. I don't blame the fans of the first movie for wishing for Toey and Oat to have a chance to be happy together, or even just to be together again one more time, but I don't believe this sequel was necessary at all.After watching for a few minutes, I immediately felt like I was watching the cinematic equivalent of a fix-it fanfiction. The director/screenwriter is the same as Present Perfect, but here in PSP it seems like a big fan of the series wrotetheir own fanfiction of the story, then somehow was able to gather back all the original actors of the first movie and turn it into a sequel.
I can't say it worked too well. The quiet and dream-like atmosphere of the first movie is completely lost here, and the pacing overall is a lot more lively. The writing also got a LOT more cheesy, with dialogues where the main characters put into words their feelings way more often - and this for some reason made the whole story feel less sincere and the characters' feelings less believable.
Present Still Perfect also tries to tie itself to its prequel with elements that have no reason to exist in its plot - Kenta himself being one of them. They also tried to explain multiple untold things to make the reunion of Toey and Oat "acceptable" or at least "understandable", but overall it felt more like the plot was doing somersaults in the attempt to let the two of them be together.
I gave this movie a 6 because despite everything I was able to finish it, but I was truly unsatisfied with all of it, and now I kinda wish I didn't watch it. I only recommend watching it in case you want to see Toey and Oat together again at all costs, and I really mean AT ALL COSTS, including plot and common sense.
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A sad but fluffy reality
I can say that I enjoyed this film enough. The pacing and the acting all remind me very closely of Japanese movies and dramas I've watched in the past, so don't expect the liveliness that you might find in Thai series - there's none of that here other than the two main characters speaking the language. It's also VERY quiet - I'm pretty sure there's just a few moments where some OST can be heard, while everything else just has ambient sounds or is completely silent. The pacing is also pretty slow and meant for the viewer to take in all the details and the acting without rushing in. I can't recommend this if you're one who gets impatient or distracted easily!The story itself is actually touching, although in its own sad way. Toey and Oat meet in Japan in a small town, both far away from their personal problems (Toey just broke up with his girlfriend after years of being together, Oat is on his last solo vacation before getting married). Since they're both so far away from their life in Thailand, the entire film feels almost dream-like, as if it was a fantasy rather than made of actual events, which is something that I liked a lot. This dreamy atmosphere is broken from time to time by real-life events and discoveries, which made me want Toey and Oat to keep being happy in a bubble of their own even more.
I don't want to say more than it's necessary as I believe that it's better to watch the film than have a review tell everything. All I want to add is that there are some themes and events that might not be everyone's cup of tea, so I can't recommend watching before bracing yourself in case you don't digest sensitive contents well. Overall it was pretty good, so I'd say you should give it a go!
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Loving someone is hard!
So when I started watching the movie, I didn't know anything about the plot. I just decided to watch it because of the hype it got at that time. And to be honest, I thought it would be some mediocre film which only did well because the main leads are pretty (lol).But, it proved me wrong. The story is so beautiful. As the story progresses, you could feel the the growing love of Woon-ho for Bo-ra. The actor who played Woonho did an amazing job in showcasing the emotions.
Of course it was not easy for the main leads to be together, but even their shortest scenes together were mesmerizing to watch. The actors had great chemistry and the love between them sparked in every freakin scene.
Poong Woon-ho is the sweetest bub you can ever see in a korean movie. He is so lovable. Also, Bora did an amazing job as well. She really potrayed the emotions with her eyes.
The ending scene is where you need tissues. Many people said that they were dissatisfied with it but c'mon, not every story is meant to be completed. Some stories remain beautiful despite of being incomplete. Bora and Woon-ho story is just like that.
I really liked that they used different actors to potray the diffetent stages of life instead of puting tons of makeup on the same actor. All the actors did an amazing job!
One thing that makes the film more beautiful is the cinematography. The scenes are a bit blurry type which will make you feel nostalgic and you could really feel that the story is set in 1999. The background music is soothing as well and sometimes gives you chill.
So, overall, if you want to see what true love is, this movie is definitely for you. Re-watching it will also make you happy because thats how good the story is!
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Annoying at some point!
I decided to watch the movie after seeing so much positive reviews. I had so much expectations and also sat with a box of tissues because I thought I would need it. But heck, it was nowhere to my expectations.First things first, the storyline is amazing and something new, but the execution is not well done. It could have been way better if there were'nt unnecessary scenes. The FL's character is so annoying. Throughout the whole movie all they do is to breakup and then hookup.
So the thing is, I could never feel that the FL had same feelings as the ML. Even at some point, I thought she used him because she felt lonely. Once when she had a boyfriend, she didnt give a f about him. But when she realised that the boyfriend is evil, she got back to him. This was PBY's worst acting in my opinion. Her dialogues felt forced and failed to impress me.
The ML did a good job and his character was consistent througout the movie. From the very beginning, he was sure that he loved only and only one girl. No one could change his mind, not even the circumstances. The actor also did a good job in potraying the character.
The breakup was so unnecessary. It was just a matter of stressed talking and misunderstandings, which could be SORTED OUT easily. The FL was too quick to judge, especially when the ML had went through so much just to be with her.
Overall, the plot they chose was really good, but the direction was too bad. Scenes were too fast paced and there were unnecessary forced humor scenes. It could have been a great movie if they path they were going was okay.
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This review may contain spoilers
Sweet and already seen
Location is a 1h movie, atypical trope filled story about two neighbour high school kids falling for each other. Sun, with an eternally sunny (get it?) disposition moves next door to moody and taciturn Earth (subtle, right?) under a lot of pressure from his parents to study when all he wants to do is write music. Sun manages to find cracks in Earth's armour and they become friends and then more. And of course, just in that moment a third boy appears and has a crush on Sun, who being kind does nothing to reject Mog's slight advances but Earth gets very jealous and ends all contact.This is a cute little movie, practically a single location: in and around the outside of the house telling a story seen already a million times. Sun's sunny disposition, always sporting a huge smile even when Earth is rude, can be rather annoying. I was there practically shouting at him, show that you are human! Well he did, but it took almost the whole of the movie.
Earth's overbearing parents, who really have no idea who he really is, make him rebel at the end and it takes a day for them to completely change their attitude towards their son. Well I wish that parents were so manageable in real life! On the other hand, Sun's mother is the model of understanding, knows really well her son without him needing to shout out!
The film was made three years ago and the actors have remained unknown (according to the MDL database): they look teenagers, and their performance is lackluster at most, nothing different from majority of Thai bls at that time. What is impressive, though, is the ease with which they kiss: they are obviously very comfortable with each other. I'd love to see them in another movie or series.
Surprisingly, for me at least, was a total absence of second hand embarrassment which was rife in thai bls at the time!
All in all, a good fluffy unoriginal short watch...filler kind of a film, when you need a change of pace between other stuff .
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A Worthy sequel but didn't top the first movie for me
When I finished watching the prequel about 6 months ago, I was immediately jumping up and down in excitement. I rated the first movie a 9.0 (which is high for me). Coming into "Brotherhood of Blades 2", I had high expectations but I didn't end up jumping up and down in excitement.Acting continues to be stella and its strength. The cast is full of veterans. I was mesmerized with Chang Chen in the prequel, and he continues to deliver in the sequel. He took center stage in this movie, surrounded by an outstanding supporting cast. I enjoy the introduction of the character Pei Lun, played by the excellent Lei Jia Yin. His frenemies relationship with Chang Chen's character is a joy to watch. I would have loved to see more scenes between Shen Lian (ML) and Lu Wen Zhao. The introduction of two female characters, Yang Mi's painter Bei Zhai and Xin Zhi Lei's assassin Ding Bai Yi, makes sense to the plot and they are not there just because we need a female presence.
Although there's a tiny romance element to the movie, it's very subtle and lovely. It adds another side to Shen Lian's character without making him go all lovey-dovey and becomes a different person.
I love the hard-hitting, gritty fight scenes. You can see the dedication all the actors put in. There's no flailing, twirling, flying here and there or just standing there to wait for someone to attack you. Each fight scene is choreographed well and each hit is impactful.
However, compared to the first movie, I find the story a little more confusing. There isn't enough time to explain more about the political maneuver behind the scenes, when the majority of the time is spent on Shen Lian trying to run away. Viewers have to really pay attention as a sentence spoken could be the answer to your confusion. I want to know more about Bei Zhai's drawings and their role in the rebellion. What's the backstory between Bei Zhai and the main person behind-the-scene? A 2-hour movie is not enough to answer all my questions. Maybe a drama would do! Oh wait.. there's a drama version now in "Pledge of Allegiance".
Completed: 4/30/2023 - Review #303
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아름다운 청년 전태일 편히 쉬세요.
🔸️Can you imagine what level of despair one has to reach to set themselves alight and die the most horrible death publicly? Will their sacrifice change anything at all? In 5 years? And in 50 years?🔸️Jeon Tae Il used his last resort by the end of the Third Republic of Korea. Two more Republics would change before the democracy is established, and many more bloody years were ahead. Self-immolation is not an effective form of protest but the most shocking one. It does leave an indelible impression on witnesses, making them question their situation. It is only up to the living if the horrible act of sacrifice has a real impact later. In case of Jeon Tae Il, it wasn't forgotten.
The camerawork in the movie is absolutely fantastic. The depth of shadows and light gives sometimes dramatic feel or sometimes the feeling of being trapped. The leading actor Hong Gyeong-In is perfect. It would easily go to my favorites if not for the slightly undercooked screenplay that made me stray in between the two story lines with the newest one less clear.
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Love does not conquer all
We have always heard the famous saying " Love conquers all" but does it really?This movie is the exact answer to that question. It shows first love and childhood romance. Fresh, full of life, and beautiful, but there is a lesson here; Timing matters. No matter how you try to keep it alive, life happens. People change. Hearts change and so does surviving in this world.
The leads depict a beautiful chemistry. Their love is real, and so are their struggles. The story does not drag at all. I can say it's flawless in some way.
Maybe it didn't fit in a movie to show more details, but that was missing a bit. They could've given each other second and third chances, but they didn't. We could've gotten to know their feelings a bit more, but that was missing too.
Overall, a beautiful movie. Not your typical love wins and all movie, but rather a very realistic and in some way heart-wrenching one.
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what the ....
Start it off like the horror supposed to be. The intensity, the gore, the suspense,the madness all was great in the show. Then somewhere down the way. It gave you romantic comedy, it gave you drama and romance. the graphic for some parts was well put together and while other parts I question everything. then everything in between was just too much fillers. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be what it was, especially for what it is supposed to be.if the ending is an indication of something don't.
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This review may contain spoilers
Once More, With Feeling
When I read the title in english, it made me immediately think of the famous musical episode of Buffy though this movie has nothing in common with it except for the title. And dancing!Mara is a trainee architect successful in everything she does. All of a sudden she fails an important exam everyone though she was going to ace. Ashamed, embarrassed and depressed she meets her neighbour Gali who happens to be deaf and whose attentive behaviour helps her out of her misery. Even though they fall in love can their two worlds meet?
This is one of the rare movies/dramas dealing with handicap and how the society perceives it.
Gali is at ease with his deafness, he's got dreams and works towards achieving them. But unfortunately most of the people do not know how to deal with sensitive situations like this and are either aggressive (car driver) or dismissive (delivery guy) and sometimes even Mara, when surrounded with her friends, forgets about him.
Mara is someone who does not know the meaning of failure and when it hits her, she latches on a first person showing her kindness, understanding and asking nothing in return. That is Gali.
The romance was nice but I was not convinced of Mara's sincerity. She seems to love him but only when they are just the two of them in their bubble. That's where the movie is lacking as well: apart from one scene at a party at her work, Mara does not introduce Gali to her family. This is actually good material for a drama in which we could see the development of their relationship and the impact it has on their respective surroundings. Because, while Gali's deaf friends accept he and include her, her friends do not know how to address him so they pretend they do not see him. That party scene at Mara's work was painful when she abandoned him.
Carlo Aquino who plays Gali was outstanding showing kindness, sweetness, understanding and optimism of that character. Maine Mendoza was just the right amount of smugness and the incredulity when she was cut to size by destiny. Or more likely, by her own shortcomings.
The cinematography of this movie is rather good: playing a lot with lights and shadows and soft lighting and water. The effects are calming, fluffy, feeling good. The sound editing was extraordinary too often showing us the silence Gali lives in and how uncomfortable it makes everyone feel when they do not understand what is going on around them. Mara had the same experience when she went to the silent birthday party barely knowing sign language. But she felt welcome. Not Gali, rejected because of the silence.
Kudos for giving us a movie with an amazing character such as Gali showing us the daily struggles of non hearing individuals fighting for acceptance.
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Together is better
Break from my drama, decided to just looked randomly at YouTube. Find this movie, since fit with the Alphabet Drama / Movie Challenge so I just jump watch this. Haha...So basically the story its about Sakamichi Onoda (SO) who is an otaku, loves animation and a loner. One day Imaizumi Shunsuke (IS) saw SO riding his 'mom' bike (bike with little basket at the front) in the steep incline, that most people kinda afraid to ride the bike there, but SO can easily ride his bike there. IS became curious with SO & asked him to compete with him in that steep incline with the bet to join each other intended club (SO with his anime club & IS with bicycle racing club). Short story of course SO is losing. For obvious reason, SO with his 'mom' bike and IS with ricing bike & more over all the training IS had before.
But that competition make SO blood 'boiled' with excitement & he decided to join bicycle racing club too. What excitement do you ask? For someone who is lonely and have no friend like SO, the excitement is about someone to compete / join activity together, the excitement of finding friend & opponent in the same field together.
In the club, they do the test to join the club & find out that turn out SO has talent for bicycle racing. They begin training for the competition & SO enjoy every moment of it. While in the same time we also found out that IS has fear & trauma that he has to overcome.
I really like how they show us that in the end bicycle racing sport turn out not single person racing or problem. But turn out this about group & how to support each other in the group. How we need to just be patient to wait for our turn to shine and not selfish.
Overall this really good movie to teach us about team & support each other. But as Mluth wrote: "if you were looking for some romance this movie might not be for you."
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Had a lot of potential IF...
I recently watched a movie that had a promising start and really piqued my curiosity. The first third of the movie was incredibly fun and engaging, but unfortunately, I started to lose interest in the middle. I knew I shouldn't read any reviews or spoilers before finishing the movie, but I couldn't help myself and ended up learning the ending, which made it difficult for me to continue with the story.Despite feeling discouraged, I still managed to finish the movie and found myself agreeing with most of the comments I read about it. While I don't think I would want to rewatch the movie, I do appreciate the effort that went into creating it.
Overall, I think that the movie had a lot of potential and could have been even better with a few adjustments to keep the momentum going throughout the entire film. While it's not my favorite movie, I still think it's worth checking out for yourself and making your own opinion on it.
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Wholesome and Healing
Who doesn't love a hard worker? "Nice View" not only tells the story of the hard working genius Jing Hao, but it also shows the rewards of such work. I feel as though movies such as these end up with a protagonist who gets beaten to the ground (though there is plenty of that) with no hope left until the plot demands it, but this story constantly blossoms with love and hope. Some of my favorite moments in this story are Tong's tears for Jing Hao every time he isn't taking care of himself in order to take care of her. They treat each other so gently with utmost care and love. So much so that when troubles arise, giving up isn't even a question. For anyone.Where it falls short would be giving more growth to the story. I was fascinated by many characters and the business, but there wasn't enough time to expand on everything. The movie felt cut short in some ways, but the emotion stayed strong. In the end, however, there is so much wholesomeness in this story that I instantly fell for it. It hurts just right and heals you even more. It's fast pace and raw emotion are reason enough to recommend it. 8/10.
As always, my rating for music is also my rating for sound production, and the rewatch value represents that of entertainment instead.
Cheers,
Kenzie
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This review may contain spoilers
What goes around, comes around!
This movie was made in 2013 and it shows: the Thai BL industry was only starting to explore the market and the budgets were limited but creativity was there.There are three seemingly independent stories: the first one about a high school couple exploring their burgeoning feelings for each other, the second is a story of a gay influencer couple who are being stalked and the third one is about a small hotel owner falling for one of his guests. The ending surprisingly connects all three stories together. And therefore explains the title because I must admit I could not figure out why the movie had this title while I was watching it! All comes to those who wait!
They were directed by three different directors and you can tell. The first story looks like a high school project, badly filmed and acted, all over the place. The story about discovering one's own sexuality and acting upon it, is told well and though it looks messy, there are no red flags!
The second story is somewhere between a comedy and a horror, not really knowing what it wants to be. It also briefly touches upon the ugly side of intensive social media presence. What goes around....The filming is ugly though smoother than the first film.
The third story was the best in terms of storytelling as well as filming. It was polished, flowed naturally and there were more feeling involved. It is a story of a hotel owner looking after his bedridden boyfriend who suffers from an unknown sickness and is feeling miserable. One day a guest comes to stay in his hotel bringing back the laughter, joy and happiness in his life. He is so sorely tempted.
The quality of the movie grows as it progresses: if you manage to watch the first story without dropping it, you will end up loving this movie in spite of all its flaws. Keep in mind it is a low budget movie made 10 years ago and you should forgive them for some amateurish looking scenes!
I wanted to add cast and crew but they are not known to MDL so you can find them here:
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/362535-timeline?language=en-US
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