Reviews

Dang, Japan strikes again with this one.

Wow…. Honestly, I didn’t expect myself to love this movie so much. I was actually interested in the drilling ice core topic that they’ve shown in the trailer, cause my university lecturer used to say that ice core could be used to calculate the oxygen level years ago, and I got a little bit too curious so I watched this movie.

And what I didn’t expect at all was—contrary to where the story of this movie took place: the cold, dry, and lonely Antarctica—this movie is amazingly very warm, in a sense that you will be surprised to find yourself smiling through the movie, because of how heartwarming it is. The Chef of South Polar depicts perfectly how it feels to suddenly work miles away from where your home and your family are, how it feels to spend a year with strangers, how it feels to slowly driven into madness because you are fed up with your job but deep down you were just feeling really homesick and… lonely.

This movie has its funny moments too (and madly funny at that!), we get to see how these Oji-san being chaoticly funny and endearing at the same time. But the focus of this movie is actually leaning more towards the chef in the team. I love how they told us about the background story of the chef, which showed us that he actually doesn’t wanna go to Antarctica, but he has to. And I also love how they make the chef very attentive and full of affection towards his cooking ingredients, the food, as well as the people he used to call as strangers. He did have his meltdowns too, like the others, and omg it did make my eyes water, haha.

What I really love tho, is the accurate depiction of feeling homesick and having meltdowns because of it. My friends from university who has to live far from their family to pursue education used to told me the same thing what these Oji-san were experiencing. Sometimes they just wanna be crazy and give up to their cravings, just like the characters in this movie. Plus, that scene where it shows midnight craving for noodles? Very accurate!

I kinda wanna see the background story of each characters though, they are all very unique and interesting (especially the glaciologist, but well this is just a personal and selfish request of mine, hehe). All in all, It’s so delightful to see them spend their work and time as a team and as a family, miles away from their hometown, working their way out to heal their lonely soul with warm foods from the chef ❤️.

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a collective effort to accomplish a shared goal, in this case, to get a safe landing

I love this movie, lol. As a person who rarely flight, this movie is genuinely very informative for me. I get to know how the aviation industry works; from the one in charge of check-in counter, the pilot, the flight attendant, the engineer, the one controlling the birds, until the one in control room(?) etc etc.

Plus, I get to see, just how hard is their work…. and oh my god it’s actually tougher than I ever imagined. Like, you see, I always get blinded by how cool is that to be a flight attendant. You get to go everywhere, get nice photos, maybe some sneaky holidays, get to eat a nice airplane meal, etc. But, what we (well, in this case, me) don’t see, they have to handle their customers patiently, they have to stay calm in front of their customers despite their inner panic when something in the airplane goes wrong, they have to eat their meal fast, etc. It’s really a tough job. Also, being the one in charge of control room(?) you have to be on stand by in case the airplane got some emergencies, they have to calculate the weather, the wind, the rainfall.

This movie is just basically about a collective effort to accomplish a shared goal, in this case, to get a safe landing. Storywise, nothing really stands out but I really love this movie, it’s really delightful to watch.

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I must be a "psychopath" to have enjoyed this!

First of all, this movie made absolutely no sense at all! The aged teacher (Lee Kyung Young) is the only cast member with any common sense to his name...

Deok Gi (Lee Byung Hun), the traitor and Sul Rang (Jeon Do Yeon, the mother and the last of the surviving Three Swordmen, had absolutely no common sense at all; I wonder if Poong Chun (Bae Soo Bin, the first of the trio to die) was also lacking in common sense as well?

More on this later...

The music and cinematography were excellent; they went out of their way to make this a movie with great scenery on the level of Mural (2011) or The White-Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom (2014), sparing no expense on this part.

The acting was second to none: all three of the main cast did an excellent job in their portrayal of the above-mentioned roles and their interactions. You would even have thought, if they all lived in the same house, they could have been considered a family: a "dysfunctional" family, but a family nonetheless! Some criticized Sul Hee's (Kim Go Eun) acting ability in her swordplay, but since I have never seen her before in a swordfight movie, I cannot judge this.

The support cast also did their jobs well, although no one except the aged teacher tried to talk any sense into the main cast's heads. The support cast excellently allowed the main cast to fulfill their psychopathic roles in this movie.

The music was very good; it many a time foreshadowed changes in the coming scenes in the movie.

The problem is, I don't think anyone actually knew what Park Heung Sik was trying to do in this movie.

I usually don't read other people's reviews of a movie until I have done my own, but I have to admit I had to see what others thought about this movie...and I wasn't disappointed!

Was Park Heung Sik smoking "weed"/marijuana or high on acid when he wrote the screenplay of this movie?

Both of the older main cast members, even though they seemed to have done what the director wanted them to do, were complete PSYCHOPATHS in this movie...Deok Gi at least had a rationale for being a psychopath in his lust for power.

If I was a Psychology professor, I would have my students watch this movie to show what a 'psychopath' looks like, mixed with a little Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Passive-Aggressiveness thrown in!

Both Deok Gi, for his undying lust for power and Sul Rang, for her undying lust for revenge were total psychopaths from the death of Poong Chun until the end of the movie; Sul Hee (Kim Go Eun), the bastard daughter of the two, was psychotic in her relentless quest for revenge; however, if I read the movie right, Sul Rang raised her this way!

If she had any commonsense Sul Hee could have just traveled in the opposite direction of the Palace; and simply forgot about the vengeance her mother instilled in her.

Deok Gi could have worn his armor before fighting his daughter, and Sul Rang would have sooner or later returned to her tea house; Deok Gi even loved her so much at the end that he would have let her go eventually.

What makes so little sense than any other part of this movie is the LOVE that the two older main characters, the remaining couple of the initial trio, had to each other. Both admitted their love, but both anticipated their death as well.

Both ALLOWED Sul Hee to kill them.... self-preservation is the first and foremost characteristic of all members of the Animal Kingdom.

This movie isn't about common sense, though; and as much as I hated it, it would be a good re-watch in the future...

Does that make me a 'psychopath' as well? Or did it just hit a chord in my mind?

However, there are a few other psychopaths out there that liked the movie as well!

Park Heung Sik is going to have to make a follow-up movie about how Sul Hee was a recluse the remainder of her life, moving around China and mindlessly killing people who remind her of her parents, then asking for their forgiveness!

This is a 3/4ths of a box of Kleenex movie, by the way.

RE-WATCH VALUE: only if you are a psychopath as well!

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I did cry a river

Bear with me, this is my first review ever. I found this movie whilst scrolling on tiktok and finding a montage of said movie. I've never been too inclined toward Chinese cinematography because I've rarely watched any realization that made me go "wow" or that succeeded in making me interested enough to keep watching until the end.

This movie has its flaws, saying otherwise would be lying (mainly in the making process, some things are only seen through flashbacks which makes it hard to really have full empathy toward the mc to a certain point, you will still cry because at the end of the day the mc can only get to you and the actor playing her character does it very well). However, it is an overall great movie that I enjoyed watching and could be rewatching in the future. The acting was, for the most part, good (the mc really did great and the emotions get well transfered to the viewer.

Like I said that's my first review so bear with me because I know really well how messy this redaction ended up lmao.
Will definitely keep it as a "I am sad, I need emotional support by crying all the water I have in my body, life is unfair" kind of movie.

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"For a Killer, Women Are More Dangerous Than Guns"

First of all, there are three versions of "Daisy" on the Internet, each one with a varying length of run time; one version left out an important fact that would cause someone watching that version to know what really happened...this ""armchair" director should be shot and buried without a way of adding other movies to the Internet!

Go with the longest version, or stick with one of the movie sites where they only upload the original version of the movie.

"Daisy" was not only a romance, but also a macabre psychological thriller that makes you want to keep your eyes glued to the screen as you watch it...about 40% romance and the rest thriller!

I love the "flashback" method of filling in details when the are needed for a segment of a movie; and I also loved the way that the narrative jumped from Hye-young (Jun Ji-hyun) to Park Yi (Jung Woo-sung) to Jeong Woo (Lee Sung-jae ) as the story unfolded, plus with the excellent music incorporated (including classical, one of my favorites!), it and the psychological aspects made this so mesmerizing as the movie progressed.

The main cast are superb together: Hye-young , a 24 year old virgin, who doesn't know, through no experience, much about dating; Park Yi , who is a professional assassin who takes up flower growing and learning about art and flowers from following Hye-young, who he stumbles upon and starts following as if she is a hobby for him (he is not "stalking" per se, but knows to keep his distance from anyone who may be used to get to him as an assassin); and Jeong Woo, who starts out using Hye-young due to her position doing drawings on the main plaza at first, but then falls in love with her.

To correct the review of another reviewer here, Jeong Woo is investigating drug smuggling, not Park Yi! The drug smugglers are operating near where Hye-young makes money drawing people's portraits on her time off.

I wound up watching "Daisy" because I was given a recommendation to watch My Sassy Girl (2001), and if a movie I watch is good, I will watch as many of an actor's or actresses' movies as I can find with English subtitles. I had only seen two of Jun Ji-hyun's movies before this one, which were both comedies.

However, the young lady proved her ability to do drama as well; doing an excellent job as Hye-young; extra kudos for her facial expressions and body language after her becoming mute here. She actually was able to portray the "confusion" of a young girl who had not dated yet in this movie, and was being 'pursued' by the other main cast members. Also the confusion she faced, and appropriately portrayed. I also give her extra kudos for the 'gun' scene, using body gestures, her face and body to convey loathing of Park Yi , yet at the same time showing her inability to do anything, since she was slow but surely falling in love with him as well (in the movie) .

This was the first movie seeing the other two main cast, Jung Woo-sung and Lee Sung-jae. Both did excellent job here, but I cannot compare either with other movies, since I had not seen them act before. If they do as well in other movies as they did in this one, you would be smart to try their other movies as well!

Both did a fantastic job at being interested in Hye-young while playing their role of assassin and Interpol cop, respectfully.

I questioned Jeong Woo not exactly admitting that he was not the daisy provider, but I guess I would have also 'not told the truth' if I was falling in love with Hye-young myself (you guys know what I mean!).

The support cast also did excellent jobs in this movie, playing thier roles and supporting the main story between the three main cast. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe President Cho (director and actor David Chiang) played the head of the assassin group; the script, especially in his roles, shows that he knew more about Park Yi's life and flaws than Park Yi, did and he played the cool, unemotional assassin head perfectly!

The cinematography was outstanding...I checked out websites on Amsterdam and its surrounding area; this movie does an excellent job of portraying that beauty as well! The internal shots were outstanding as well...

This could have eaily been a "10" movie all-round, but as with many Korean movies I deducted 0.5 off my review for the fact it portrayed what would have actually happened had this been 'real-life"; I love this about Korean movies, but detest it as well!

As I have said before, Shakespeare left America and moved to SE Asia a few decades ago!

CAU TION: have at least a full box of tissue handy if you watch it, especially by yourself!

I rate this just beloe Wedding Dress (2010) More Than Blue (2009), The Millionaire's First Love (2006) and the much-underrated Mural (2011).

RE-WATCH VALUE: Definitely, with Kleenex!

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THE MOVIE

I have seen Blackpink THE MOVIE yesterday. It's a very beatiful film. During a lot of time Blackpink's members sing the most popular songs from "How You Like That" to "Boombahya". Before to see the Blackpink Movie I enjoyed Blackpink song but after to have seen the movie I love the songs, I love Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo and Rose and I Love everything about the group. At the end Lisa cries and it's a cute and beatiful scene. They use a lot of word for the BLINKS.

"Blackpink, Blinks, Forever" say Lisa.

Sorry for my bad grammar but english is not my mother leanguage

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A Waste

I am failing to understand how this movie got such high ratings, and yet I found this extremely boring and the cinematography was so dark that you could hardly see anything especially when the play was starting!!!

The actors were not well matched and they just seemed so confused with each other, the lady was down right annoying, to the point I just couldn't watch this anymore and just wanted it to end.

For me personally this movie was the absolute worse that i have come across!! And will not be able to watch this again, I think the thing that let me down the most was that it was dark and you couldn't see much, maybe if this was done in a drama and there was more depth to it, it might have worked.

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Not a real movie just a summary of S1&S2

At first I thought it was going to be a short recap I was very wrong the entire “Movie” apart from the few minutes at the start and end are new but the rest was old clips from previous episodes. I was very disappointed they should not have called this a movie. I hope they actually do come out with a real movie not what ever I just watched.

As a 2gether fan I was really sad the trailer made it seem like this movie was going to be about getting married maybe I am wrong and if I am I will are this down but as of now I am very confused. I will look around to see if what I watched was wrong or the actual movie.

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Wrote this after a rewatch and though I already knew, my feelings were the same in two watches

Seeing the concept (and Wi Hajoon) was what made me interested, and it didn't disappoint me. I absolutely love Hajoon's (and everyone's!) performance in this movie. I first watched Hajoon's soft side in 18 Again, then saw his cooler side in Squid Game, and this is (I'm pretty sure!) the third Hajoon project that I've watched and he did amazing in every single project of his I watched so far, and Midnight is definitely one of my favorites.

The chase scenes were honestly so scary and definitely made me just want to focus on it (tbh the whole movie is), like, I felt like if I just tear my attention away for a second, she would get caught or something. There were times when there was absolutely no sound at all, kind of putting it in the girl's point of view and at those times it was the scariest. Even for those few seconds of silence it felt terrifying for me, I really can't imagine how terrifying it must be for her. Running from a serial killer that you have to look back on to check if he's close or not, and though she was on the run herself, she still felt the need to help out the girl she just met. But it was the most frustrating thing ever. She was the nicest girl but when she was the one in need of help, no one did. When she approached some people and they just kinda walked away, it REALLY frustrated me. And I guess the killer is a pretty dang good actor himself for people to believe him over his victims. Or are they not able to sense ABSOLUTE FEAR FROM THE GIRL???? LIKE?????? YALL SERIOUS???????? Maybe if they bothered to actually pay attention to the girl and what she's TRYING HER BEST to convey............ But yknow what, I'm not even surprised about that because that's what these genres do. But it's overall pretty good. Honestly, I don't watch movies a lot but after watching this movie, I suddenly got in the mood to watch some other movies too.

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It's much better than I thought, honestly...

At first, I only watched this because of Junho, and hearing that he has a double role intrigues me because i haven't watched a lot of medias where the actor plays double roles (and more Junho!!) But other than that, I know nothing about the other actors and all and thought that it would be like a love triangle between two Junhos and the girl. The typical story line but you don't know which Junho is gonna end up with the girl. But it's not and even turned out to be much deeper than I thought, and the message hitting close to home made me like it a lot, and I'm sure there are many more people that will also relate to this. It makes me like and appreciate the story a lot more.

In their own different ways, I can relate to both Nero and Daewon. As someone who loves art and thinking to turn that love into a career, now currently studying design, I can relate to Nero. I can tell Nero genuinely loves art and wants to paint whatever he wants and likes, but as he studied he learns that he can't just paint what he wants and has to follow the teacher, the curriculum. Honestly watching that as I go through it myself hurts and it feels sadder, it feels like I was looking at myself. While Daewon is different from Nero, I relate to him a lot too. At first he seemed like a happy go lucky guy who doesn't have anyone or anything that can tie him down. But, when he felt happy because he was for once useful, and someone needs him for something, my heart hurts. Both Nero and Daewon just feels like two peas in a pod (the pod being me)

well wow this review is so personal... But yeah... I also really like Junho's song for this movie titled "Nothing But You". It's a really cute, nice, soft song, pretty sure at one time I had that song on repeat because it was so good.

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Floating City takes place over several decades culminating in the end of the British rule over Hong Kong. Based on a true story the film focuses on Bo Wah Chuen, a man of mixed races and cultures, never fully accepted by any of them. Despite his humble up-bringing he manages to rise in stature and power.

Born to a Chinese mother, with a Caucasian father, and adopted by a poor Tanka fishing family, the Brits name Bo "Half Breed" and the Chinese call him "Mixed". Though he carries a British passport he finds out that he's not really British either. The story begins near the end so we know he succeeds but we also know as movie viewers that the climb will not be an easy one. Much of his youth is faced with helping his family survive and dealing with tragedies as they come. With the help of a priest, he enters school though he is older than the other students. Education opens his eyes to other possibilities, and he rebels against his father and the fishing life he is supposed to inherit. He discovers that the way out of his barefoot poverty and at times perilous existence is to find a job with the Imperial East India Company which runs much of Hong Kong. As a Chinese man his route is not without challenges, his inability to speak English has to be overcome and he's daily confronted by the limits of deeply ingrained racism.

Aaron Kwok gave a quiet performance as a conflicted man who was not sure who he is. Sometime too quiet. I found his character too enigmatic and unemotional in his relationships and struggles. Josie Ho who played Bo's mother in her younger years and Bau Hei Jing who played Bo's older mother both gave compelling performances as a woman who had to make heart-wrenching decisions through the decades for the family if it meant keeping them alive. Charlie Yeung as Bo's wife was given little to do. The heart of this story was between Bo and his tenaciously loyal adoptive mother.

Floating City flies over the complex issues giving us a nice overview of the problems in Hong Kong, but without connecting us emotionally with the tumult and cultural conflicts inherent in a place, and man, caught between two powers. It hints at a depth it is unwilling to dive into only skimming the surface as many of the performances do.

I wanted to like Floating City more than I did. It revealed parts of Hong Kong history not always covered in cinema but at times felt more educational than entertaining. That's not to say there weren't some deeply touching moments in it, I just felt it missed some opportunities to connect more with the audience. If you enjoy family stories and rags to riches stories, this is a movie you might want to check out.

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A Sweet Movie About Self-Exploration

It's a really fun movie discussing about the "taboo" topic of S&M and its effect on relationships. I liked how the ML changed from " Mr. Perfect" to a cutiepie asking for love and how the FL put effort into learning about this type of relationship, not just straight up turning to violence and insults, providing a safe space for both of them. This seemed to be a more realistic and loving relationship than the S&M portrayed in other movies. If you are put off by the 18+ rating, do not worry most of the movie is innocuous and there is no nudity( except maybe the upper body of the ML and pajama wear if you count them as such).
Overall, sweet couple, nice OST and an excellent ending.

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Interesting but slow-burn noir film filled with action

The overall vibe of the film is unique and unfamiliar to me. I saw that this movie falls on the noir genre and seems like it was set on an unknown time/era in a completely made up world.

At first, I feel like there's a lot of potential about this story however as it turns out I didn't like this movie as much as I expected. The story started of very interesting that's why I kept up with it until the end however it only made me confused really. I hoped that there were more back stories about what's happening or additional details that will let me understand why did those things happened. Why are the villains opting to kill the entire village? What was the real relationship between Hong GilDong and Kang SungIl when they were younger? There were a lot more things that I wished I knew in this film which could've helped me appreciate it more.

There were good points on the movie though that I loved like the casts. I love how the characters were portrayed and the 2 little cute girls that tagged along Hong Gil Dong throughout the movie that melt his heart in the end. The concept of moral ambiguity presented on the movie kept me from wondering how things will turn out in the end. But I feel like for most parts, the movie is overall draggy. There were scenes that I felt insignificant on how things finally worked out in the end.

Mostly, these are my opinions after watching the movie. I feel like the plot become too complicated for me to enjoy it. I personally think that if it didn't involve a big conspiracy of some organization and it focused more on whether Hong GilDong will exact his revenge or not, I probably enjoyed it more. Obviously, I wouldn't want to re-watch this movie again but overall I still think it's a good movie. I'm glad I gave it a try. The action scenes will surely keep you on the edge of your seats and the cute girls will surely melt your hearts.

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