Reviews

Meaningful Overall

This is a very slow moving movie. One thing I will say, is the acting is the best I’ve seen, especially the child. The story, although slow, had a deep meaning that involves acceptance of yourself, and how much it means to you. It left me with mixed feelings. I didn’t particularly like the ending, although I read it as the characters moving on in their life. Like of a re- birth, so to speak. It is worth watching it for the superb acting. But as I mentioned at the outset, it is VERY slow moving, with many conversations and scenes that should have been shorter. I would call it a BL, but more implications of a BL. But if it was more physical, it wouldn’t have fit the story.

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Gripping, emotional storyline.

For over a year I battled to see where to watch this movie, until I eventually stumbled on it in Dramacool and gave it the attention I'd wanted to give it for long. And honestly, this movie is a BOMB. The love triangle is intensely captured. Imagine, chief and the king, with the former growing up under the latter and the latter loving the former from their formative years...and Chief, even as a kid, saying the best person is one who would lay his life down for the king. Reading through comments here I can see people berating the king and hating on him, but in this instance I feel he did what he had to do given the circumstances. I do not applaud it, but I understand it, and him. Furthermore, with the introduction of sex between the Chief and Queen, we see Chief opening up to a new, strange love he'd never witnessed and also being sad about it; he did go to the queen, then sleep next to the king and cuddled him, with tears leaking from his eyes. That was a sign that he loved this man, and he felt sad and confused about loving another. Then the anger, the sense of betrayal, the brutal punishment meted out, are all mind blowing. For me, chief did really love King, even though he told him otherwise in his last moments, to deeply hurt him. I know I would say the same, in the same circumstances... But the love remained there, as, even as he lay dying, he turned to King, in those very last, dying moments he had. That, dears, was love right there.

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Would it have?

This was amazing to watch this was heartwarming and bittersweet at the same time

I enjoyed listening to all the songs and the last one especially was probably the saddest song. My favourites would probably be stand by me and sayonara. When sota joined with the last two lines they both sounded amazing.

The ending has me in tears a whole river. i watched it today and rewatched the ending about twice already and it always ends up with me crying.

Especially since the song I kinda feel like when aki was singing it was about sota before they switched back. I feel like when aki was singing sayonara it was about sota and him after they met and all their journeys they had together.

I feel so bad for aki. I was hoping for him to be standing at the end but in the end he wasn’t it’s as if he finally found peace and could let go.

I feel like when sota’s spirit ( when they switched) was in the crowd I could see that he could see him fading away even though they barely knew each other or even met they had grown a beautiful friendship. It looked like sota quite didn’t want him to go.

I still can not get over his spirit leaving in the end when he was singing. The last song will always make me cry honestly it’s amazing but quite sad at the same time

I wonder if sota met aki earlier would that have changed things? Would it have ended the same way? Would it have ended differently? Would aki still end up dead?

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Its was an over all ok movie but compared to the manga i thought that the Subaru that was casted was a bit too elegant for the roal and not adventerous and rough like the original subaru. The acting was also a bit akward especially in the parts where the actors spoke english. At moments where actors entered a scene was also really akward. When actors exited and entered a scene it kinda felt like i was watching a play instead of a movie.
The dancing didnt really make me go wow! when i was watching it. All the dancers danced the same tbh. I also wished that they would have incoporated some of the impactful moments from the manga.

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Exceptionally Well Done Documentary Film on "Field of Wonder" ONE OK ROCK Live Streaming Concert

This documentary is the last film I watched in 2021, and I was completely blown away by it. My encounter with One OK Rock was many years ago when I found their MVs on YouTube, even before I found the rabbit hole leading to the Asian dramaland. I fell for their high energy, wildness, loud music, plus English mixed Japanese lyrics. I love most of their songs, from the heavier “No Scared” to softer “The Beginning”. I didn’t even know that the latter song is the OST of the “Rurouni Kenshin”, the first of its famous movie installments.

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Production: The making of this video is exceptionally well done. Specifically, I love the smooth shifts between their rehearsal and the actual concert scenes.

The subtitle was well done.

Story: The film starts with restless Taka telling us how hopeless he felt when Japan and the rest of the world were shut down because of the pandemic. Their last world tour was Australia tour in March 2020. Everyone was afraid, especially when Toru was contracted with the COVID-19. Forever a visionary, Taka started having this dream to create a live-streaming concert online. Most of the film then spent on how they prepared the concert. However, we also see a glimpse of their personal lives, for example Tomo spending time with his three little boys (the newborn is cutely presented in his father’s arm in the credit scene), Taka visiting his dad whom he once was estranged from, the members playing sports and barbecuing together.

I like the fact they also collaborated with other Japanese musicians and singers not from rock genre to perform together. Especially for the singers, each has their own unique voice and style and blended together harmoniously during the duet and chorus.

I also like the angst during rehearsal scenes on the second and the one day before the concert, when typhoon blasted Chiba, Japan where their live-streaming concert is held. Although there was no sign that the typhoon would stop on the concert day, the group and the team still rehearsed professionally and didn’t lose hope.

Acting: What to say, they’re performers. It was quite interesting to watch a glimpse of their anxiety in performing at an empty stadium, not seeing crowd neither hearing their cheers. However, one the concert started, the band and other performers just loosened up; especially knowing 100,000+ people bought online tickets (totaling to 110,000 live audience).

Visual FX: No complaint, everything was artistically created, like they were making a real movie!

OST: Although this film is not a video of their concert (you need to buy separately for their concert video), but we also hear and see them performing popular songs like “We Are” and “Wasted Night”. Their new song “Wonder” was also introduced at the concert. Taka singing a cappella the last line of “Wasted Night” as the last song gave me goose bumps, and closed the concert impressively.

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Lastly, congratulation to Toru who announced his marriage to Japanese model and actress Omasa Aya on 28th December 2021! Now with three of the band members are married, we’re waiting for the last eligible bachelor of the band Taka, to find his life partner!

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Perfect Movie To Start New Page

If you are looking for a simple romantic story, this is for you! The director behind this movie is famous for that genre and A Year End Medley won't disappoint you. In this cold weather, we get to watch 7 different heartwarming beautiful tales from 7 different couples on Christmas day setting.

Every character here are individually interesting and has a well written background to build their personality. I thought 2 hours movie wouldn't be enough to show every character's details, we don't have only 2-3 people to introduce, but a whole 14 characters! Despite the duration, they managed to show each of their layers, goals of the couple arc, and how they are linked to one and another.

I must mention out of all the couple, my favorite couple here goes to Yong Jin x Lee Young. Such a cute mature girl with supporting boyfriend! Beside fav couple, I love all the characters plot but if I have to choose, I will pick Kang Haneul's character as the best arc! From depression to comedy and move to breaking down, what a journey from his acting! Of course all the actor & actress also delivered the plot well, but Kang Haneul is just beyond.

I love the production team took care the clothing. They are all so pretty to look at. The cinematography in this movie also well taken. What I dislike from this movie might be the soundtrack only, they use a cliche classical music *cough* canon in d *cough* and that kinda ruin the flow for me, i just wanna laugh at that part.

Anyway, this is a nice movie to start the year, I wish there will be a sequel or maybe make it into drama series instead, all the stories are interesting to watch and they still have many to reveal.

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LOOKING FOR FUN ? COME HERE

This has to be one of the most enjoyable movies I've watched.
Starts off with a hilarious concept and ends the same way.
Consistent comedy accompanied by action.

The acting is above the roofs . Impeccable!
I couldn't stop laughing every 2 minutes there was something hilarious.
Even the dialogues were golden.
Movies such as these are rare.
All the things were simple, they didn't try to complex anything and the result is wonders.

Even the action was clever, pleasing to the eyes.
A must watch movie.
A gem in terms of comedy.

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This is the holy graal

Man, this movie is all that you are looking for, they give you action, love, sex, affection. The whole movie was built in a beautiful way. It's addictive. Like I just finished but I want to come back to this movie. I think certain points of this movie were well thought out, they literally can blow your mind in some points, but can give such a warm hug in general. The soundtrack was good too, I'm right now seaching the music, the actors do a good job too, they really put out all the emotions that the story want to tell us and the story was good, if you are sensitive take care to watch.

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WARM

I watched the K-Drama version first.
It was lengthy but worth it.
Felt like watching the movie and guess what, What a lovely movie.

This kinda movie makes you get lost somewhere.
The whole transition of this movie is beautiful.
The scenes are fast, the acting is magnificent.

The BGM was to die for, so melodious, perfectly matched the theme.

The acting was sky high, so natural that you could get lost in those 2 hrs.

From the other versions of the story this plot has.
This one seems to be the most spot-on.
The coldness from our protagonist fits the description of the character and his ability to feel the wavering as well /.
Those expressions that he's wasting his time but he's doing something cruel .and still continues to do it.
Brilliant, although I came to know he died in 2017.
Damn! That's really sad.

And Moin Geun Young played such a perfect blind character.
Can't believe she was 19 in the movie.
You should watch this movie on a cold winter night.
Perfect Occasion.

PS : Also, who would believe Seo Hyun Jin acted like such a B*tch in this movie in her debut role xD
Seems like she had plenty of surgeries for the look she has now.

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Beautiful cinematography and great message, but a little overdramatic

This was almost the perfect melodrama. I really loved the way they portrayed differing worldviews between different characters based on different upbringings.

The relationship between the FL and SML were undoubtedly the best part of this movie; I kind of wish they'd have gone more into that because it was short-lived and kind of one-sided. Other than that, the SFL also was a really great character and I also wish she got more screentime. The pacing overall was okay, but plot points aren't really explained much. This movie is more about the feeling.

The anti-bullying message was really powerful, but I kind of wish it didn't get so explicitly didactic near the end of the movie with all the political and legal references.

With that being said, I think sometimes the way the movie was filmed really felt just a tad bit over-the-top, with monologues that were beautiful but so literary sometimes it kind of took me out of the movie because "who talks like that?" Other than that, the filmography is pretty great; there's a lot of time dedicated to montages and stuff though, so if you like a more in-the-scene sort of movie, this isn't it.

I really liked the ending (unfortunately I didn't really cry at all) but overall this was a decent watch.

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Surprisingly Good

I loved this movie. I found the female character so refreshing. Even as her parents kept her lock up because they were rich and would not let her learn about the world she was strong, smart and very logical. She ran away from the Filipino and went to Korea to meet stranger who gave her a job and a place to stay. I love the romance and the chemistry between the lead characters. The story takes an interesting turn but I like the lead male character realizing what is important in life. I also like the parents giving her a chance after she ran away. I really enjoy it. A must watch. The performance of the actors was good.

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Zu Warriors boasted a heavy hitting cast, Ekin Cheng, Louis Koo, Sammo Hung, Zhang Zi Yi, and Cecilia Cheung. It was directed by Tsui Hark and had Yuen Woo Ping for the martial arts director. They obviously spent a ton of money on the constant CGI and SFX. Yet somehow, this fantasy martial arts film missed out on the one thing required of this type of movie---it should have been fun.

The acting was all serviceable. The problem is that there was no depth to the characters, no moment when we were able to see behind the frozen masks. Everyone was staid and emotionless making it very hard to care about any of them. Ekin Cheng's hair that magically blew in every scene had the most life of any character.

From beginning to end the CGI dominated the movie. Unfortunately, even for 2001, it wasn't very good. The cinematography was awful. The few sets that had any realism were also bad. Even the fight scenes, which did have some interesting moments were too often overpowered by the special effects. Very few scenes were not CGI enhanced which along with the unemotional acting made everything seem distant and cold.

The story had some good ideas and moments. Sadly, too often, it veered into an incoherent mess, seemingly unable to keep up with its own world building and mythology.

If a movie is going to take itself this seriously then it should be well thought out and give us characters to care about. Or it should have the decency to be so bad that it's good. Zu Warriors failed on both counts.

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