Completed
A Werewolf Boy
2 people found this review helpful
Jan 6, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 5.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 6.0

Unexpectedly warm

Honestly, I came into this movie expecting a contemporary slow-burn — I did not expect it to have any supernatural or fantasy. And after watching, I kind of wish it didn't. It came so out of the blue and almost ruined the softness of the movie when people started talking about scientists and super soldiers.

While I still loved the relationship between the two leads and how it developed, I wish there wasn't such an obvious villain in the story as it made the conflict a little too comical.

Overall, still a nice movie.
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Completed
Silenced
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 6, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 7.0

Harrowing and heartwrenching

This was a really really heavy watch, but in the best way; I really felt emotionally invested in the main characters — both the adults who were doing the right thing against all odds, and for the children who we were watching learn to trust people again and actually act (and laugh) like kids should — and in the outcome of the legal process. In the end, it was a really bittersweet and realistic sort of ending, but it was the best I hoped for and I thought it was perfect.

The acting was so good for all the characters, but especially the three kids. I could feel their fear, their pain, and their hope in every single one of their scenes.

There were some parts of the story — more side aspects of complacency — that I wanted to see more of because of the moral greyness, but I understand why it wasn't the focus of the movie and I think the movie did just fine without it.

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The Immeasurable
3 people found this review helpful
by jpny01
Jan 6, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 5.0

Excellent Short

DON'T read the synopsis on GagaOOlala - it spoils the story.

This was really good - it's beautifully shot and edited, with fantastic color grading. The acting is good - the bigger guy is a stronger actor, but the cute one holds his own.

This is very narratively tight - the meaning of the strange opening scene becomes starkly apparent at the end - it's quite powerful. There is one plot hole which will almost certainly come to mind, which is "do people not ask each other what they do for a living?" I think this is somewhat plausible given how they meet and immediately launch into a fairly physical relationship, but the story appears to span at least be a few days so it's a bit odd, although I will say that I dated a guy for 2 years and he had no idea what I actually did - just that I had an office job.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter - this film isn't trying to be realistic, it's about perspectives.

This is NSFW - it's not graphic, but there's a lot of love going on. A lot of hot, sweaty love.

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Completed
How to Get Low Income
5 people found this review helpful
by jpny01
Jan 6, 2022
Completed 2
Overall 6.0
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Alrighty then.

This is not a BL, and barely qualifies as LGBT. While the perspective character is a gay man, the story is entirely about a woman, and while her sexuality is not irrelevant to the plot, it doesn't revolve around it either.

The poster is really deceptive, and I feel sa if I was tricked into watching it.

It's shot well and the acting is good. The music is minimalist, but does a good job of supporting the film. This was well-done, but when it's over you may ask yourself what was the point of it.
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Completed
Fall in Love Like a Star
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 6, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

An under-rated movie for all lovers to watch together!

I agree with Cambear about this being a great movie!

I saw this online several years ago but couldn't remember its name when I joined MDL; a movie recap by an Asian girl helped me find the movie's name again. Thank you, miss!

I do love movies like Wedding Dress (2010), More Than Blue ( 2009), Bw With Me (2010), The Gangster's Daughter (2017), or the worst of all, Come To Me Like A Star (2013)...but they tell the story of what usually happens in situation between lovers...especially if selfishness is present on one or both of them.

Occasionally, we want a happy endiing, such as Timeless Romance (2019), Jenny & Juno (2005) or Marbling (2004)! Now we can add Fall In Love Like A Star (2015) to the list of times when romance works out the way it should!

Su Xing Yu (Li Yi Feng) and Tian Xin (Yang Mi) are both working for the same band and one loses their job defending the other against a chauvinist band member, messing with the girl..

They split and end up in a long-distance relationship over the phone. The KEY to this movie, and to most good relationships, is S-A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E of one part of a couple to help the other out.

This sets off the love/hate/love hate see-saw that this movie projects; the key is that BOTH sacrifice to make the other look good or to protect the other one somehow throughout the movie.

In " A lonely Cow Weeps at Dawn (2003)" the eldlerly farmer, jolted out of his dementia by his returning daughter, sells his farm so that his daughter-in-law will seek out another man with which to be the rest of her life. Before the return of his daughter and sanity, the elderly man and his dead son's wife comfort each other daily trying to survive the rural Chinese farm on which they both reside.

In "Sex is Zero (2002) the male lead sacrifices his time helping the woman he loves, who started out loving someone else, go through the pain of an abortion and saves her life later as she starts bleeding profusely from overexerting herself after that abortion. She realizes that he was the better choice for a mate.

In Timeless Romance (2019), a girl realizes the different needs of her personas and makes a choice between different boyfriends to suit her different personas; and many loved her choice in that movie!

I mighit add that Mei Jie (played by veteran actress Chen Shu) was the perfect jilted former agent of Su Xing Yu, and did a superb job of being the villianess in this movie; the other support cast members worked very well together helping make the main couple look good and supporting the storyline - kudos to them all!

I love that fact that this movie portrayed how 'sacrifice' in a relationship sometimes is necessary and how the 'self' must die in order for most relationships to survive and work. Tian Xin's 'sacrifice' or what is known by good parents as "tough love" sometimes is needed for the other partner to survive, thrive and obtain their dreams in life...a lesson many parents know how to use and many selfish partners today should learn...

Quit trying over-analyze this movie and just enjoy a good movie with a happy ending...for BOTH main stars!

The cinematography was excellent and the music (which I paid more attention this time) was superb. I didn't get the joke about the cosplay costunes at the end until i found out that they both starred in a costumed historical series together; it made the ending scenes much funnier this time around!

My main criticism is that I would have shot some scenes from the balloon and pacaed them strategically within the movie.

I also loved the fast-paced action in the movie, which was necessary to tell the story of the movie that happened over several years apart for the couple.

RE-WATCH VALUE: Yes, when couples want to see how sacrifice saves marriages and relationships!





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Completed
My Young Auntie
3 people found this review helpful
Jan 6, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
Kara Hui, Lau Kar Leung, Johnny Wang (as the villain of course!), and Hsiao Hou battle it out for a will with fists, swords, song, and dance!

The synopsis does not do Kara's character justice. Cheng Tai Nan married an elderly man and second brother in the Yu clan who had taken good care of her and her father. He had made the special request so that she could see to it that his will and property deed went to his brother Yu Jing Chuen (the amazing Lau Kar Leung) and not to his nefarious brother Yu Yun Wei (Johnny Wang). Her husband died soon after their marriage and Tai Nan took the deed to Jing Chuen and was prepared to help him defend this inheritance. Tai Nan had incredible martial arts skills and did not suffer fools lightly, always ready to put the beat down on disrespectful rascals-including her new grandnephew! She represented the old ways as she bumped heads with Hsiao Hou's character and the encroaching modern (cars in a Shaw Brothers movie!) elements and Western influences.

Kara Hui was the gem in this goofy kung fu comedy. Her skills and beauty took center stage until she was sidelined for the final fight. She also won the first ever Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress for this role!

Lau Kar Leung wrote, directed, and choreographed this film. It's no secret he's one of my favorites. His fights are always quick and creative. I could almost forgive him for keeping Kara out of the final fight because it meant a showdown between him and Johnny Wang.

Hsiao Hou's performance as Charlie Yu Tao, Jing Chuen's reckless and immature son could be wearing. While an acrobatic martial artist, his acting is usually over the top and devoid of any nuance.

Johnny Wang played the role he's played so many times before, and yet always does a good job. Gordon Liu in a wig showed up as one of Charlie's friends. A long list of supporting and bit characters played by martial artists made my fangirl heart sing.

The sets were the best I've ever seen in a Shaw Brother's movie, none of the obviously cheaply made walls and windows for people to be thrown out of. People were thrown around, just on a higher class set.

For me, the movie ran about 30 minutes too long. There simply wasn't enough story to tell and some of the dance numbers/fights dragged on. Having a very young, great auntie and elder of the clan was a nice gimmick even if it was run into the ground at times.

My Young Auntie is a kung fu classic even if parts of it haven't held up well. For fans of Kara Hui or Lau Kar Leung it's worth watching.

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Completed
The Beauty Inside
1 people found this review helpful
Jan 6, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 5.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 5.5
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 4.0

Heartwarming but...

I felt like the first half was a lot better — it was a lot of the main leads getting to trust each other, one of them being so used to be alone and the other thrown into a situation that just made no logical sense. Their dynamic was really cute and interesting, and this did stay balanced throughout the entire movie; I really loved that there were no stupid misunderstandings and that any issues they had with each other were discussed. I loved the acting for all the Woo-jins, and the cinematography was unique and worked really well.

With that being said, however, the ending just felt like a cop-out; it felt like it was very much created for the hopeless romantic, the one who believes that love triumphs above all. But for a movie I loved for its practicality, it was disappointing. All those times the movie brought up things that made me go "Whoa, I hadn't thought about that" and suddenly it was like they couldn't think of an answer and decided to just drop the subject altogether.

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Completed
Age of the Legend
1 people found this review helpful
Jan 5, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.5

Action - Historical ?

Since I’m Covid bound, getting to explore all kinda of drama-movies. Sometimes a“blerg” or SURPRISE 🎉.
If you’re looking for high action to entertain your Covid frustrations, this felt fun and good.
Story: if looking for kungfu action, and no triangles of miscommunication, evil eunuchs or love starved palace maids, Watch this!
A/C: solid action fellas ready and happy to kick butt for country! The female assassins were bada** also.
M: modernized and fitting
RW: depending on Covid results maybe. Not a problem.
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Completed
A Company Man
1 people found this review helpful
by Haze
Jan 5, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 2.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 4.0
Music 2.0
Rewatch Value 2.0

PATHETIC FALLACY

Before you decide to watch this movie,
Read this carefully.

I'm gonna be brutally honest
This is the worst Korean movie I've ever seen.
A huge blunder.

There was no plot, it was so boring, I could just skip to 1:16:00 and watch it for 20 mins to understand what happens.
The direction was pathetic, the narration was even poorer and all above the acting was bland.
Now if you're a person who can watch anything as long as it's on-screen, I highly doubt this review is for you, but if you do care about a good plot and direction, this movie is just a waste of time.

Coming from ' A Man From Nowhere ' this movie is a huge disappointment. Ugh!

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Completed
The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese
1 people found this review helpful
Jan 5, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

painful love tangle

very good but painful film〜 appears to me a classic story of a man unable to love himself and therefore unable to be loved by others、protecting himself from vulnerability by pushing them away and leaving emotional havoc behind: I think especially with the women he so easily attracts trying to sustain the outer image of a conventional straight relationship which is false to his (maybe unconscious) real self which Imagase begins to pull to the surface。yet it seems Imasage ultimately fails too。 I detect irony comparing Otomo's relationship to Imagase at the start and the end of this film as it seems at the end Otomo needs Imagase as well as the other way round where before Imagase alone pursues Otomo: finally we are left with images where Imagase experiences the pain of real love but Otomo is left literally with an empty room reduced to fantasy ーusing an ashtray of Imagase to evoke Imagase but without the cigarette ends that would show Imagase is actually there himself

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Completed
The Stormy Family
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 5, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 5.5
Rewatch Value 1.0

poor storytelling





goood actors put together in a bad movie the social issues the movie tries to analyze and highlights were done poorly but worse than that the last paranormal scene for an emotional ending. (goshhh I'm not saying anything more plz don't waste your time unless you like the actors and wanna complete their films/dram list you got.

bye
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Completed
Collectors
0 people found this review helpful
by SieL68
Jan 5, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

Must watch comedy heist

Who doesn't love heist movies, right? I can say that this movie is almost on the Hollywood level movie for heists. What's interesting about this is there were lots of comedic scenes throughout the movie. But of course while building a big picture story that makes sense. There's also a twist towards the latter part so watch out for it.

The casts' performance also made this movie fun and great to watch. All of them have unique roles to fill and the chemistry is undeniably good. I really wish that there will be a sequel for this although I am not sure if there were talks about it.

You can watch this on Netflix. It's a good movie to watch on a weekend when you just want to relax.

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Completed
Craving
8 people found this review helpful
Jan 5, 2022
Completed 4
Overall 4.0
Story 1.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Well that took a turn....

Overall: I'd rate the first part (until 8min 25sec, just end it there, trust me) an 8. It felt a bit contrived but the NSFW was done well and steamy (no fake kissing there). But the 2nd part just took such an unfortunate turn. Also I think a better summary is "a security guard meets a bartender and things go down south" (or was he actually a police officer? I don't know the uniforms...). Watched on Gagaoolala.

Content Warnings: stealing, trespassing, violence, murder?

What I Liked
- the first 8min and 25sec

What I Disliked
- everything past 8min and 25sec, this all seemed so unnecessary and done for shock value

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Completed
The Cursed: Dead Man's Prey
4 people found this review helpful
Jan 5, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 1.0
great cgi, solid plot and reasoning though it is repetitive and obvious. the horror elements were nice and best of all it's always great to have kickass female characters and villains.
it's also refreshing that the "husband" is the one who ends up hurt while the fl is the one chasing evil

Uhm Ji Won is an amazing actress, she's versatile and totally believable in her role. Jeong Ji So is like a Kyoko, better at dark roles, though she looked more like an idol than her awful drama. Jung Moon Sung is not the "typical" hot tall buff ml but he's 1000% better and totally admirable, as someone who fights with all his strength, someone who doesn't fear the fact that his wife is a total kickass boss and also doesn't mind staying in the sidelines.
it's so so rare to see a happy, alive, married couple in dramaland, honestly I love them~


the revelation, the villain and the end are all predictable, but walking corpses that steal/drive taxis and fall from staircases? scary and a nice enough twist on brainless zombies

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Tokyo Revengers
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 4, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 8.0
This review may contain spoilers
"Draken is Mikey's heart..."

Woo boy, is that true! What an ah-mazing movie! It reminded me so much of High & Low, Mikey & Draken, they were so much like Cobra & Yamato! Which means they were totally up my alley, pushing my buttons, making me squee like a silly goose! Goodness gracious!

I loved it so much, I loved the switching between the present and the past, how things kept changing with Takamichi going back and forth, everything but Draken's death which then always led to Hina's death. I especially loved the change that happened in Mikey who used to be so silly and fun but after losing Draken, he died on the inside, he was just going through the motions, not caring about anything or anyone, because with Draken he lost his heart. The dragon tattoo on his neck was the perfect touch!

Oh wow, oh my! I'm kinda sorta vibrating on the inside because this movie is so full of bromance and whump and the chemistry between Yoshizawa Ryo (Mikey) and Yamada Yuki (Draken) is out of this world!

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