Reviews

I watched this movie under the title "Super Dragon's Dynamo". How could a person turn that title down on late night tv? I probably should have.

The plot is very thin. A powerful CEO has a spoiled ne'er do well son who spends his time gambling and losing most of the time. Associates of the CEO keep getting brutally murdered. When the son, Champ (of all names), goes to jail on a trumped-up charge, the bad guy finishes nearly everyone off and takes over the businesses. When Champ (maybe should have been called Chump?) gets out of jail he's looking for revenge. His rampage is momentarily thwarted when he finds out his pregnant sister is married to the Big Bad's hired gun (though he uses a creative array of weapons). Suffice to say, the rampage is bloody and brutal.

The acting is acceptable. The main lead uses martial arts in a somewhat believable style. There are plenty of guns, fireplace pokers, knives, and pickaxes for other mayhem. Pretty sure they must have bought the pickaxes in bulk, I've never seen so many used in a movie that didn't involve mining.

If you are unable to sleep and in the mood for a violent almost incoherent movie with a sky high body count you might want to try this, otherwise, I'd move on to almost any other late night fare.

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Almost a copy of the anime

I've watched and read this manga. If you want to make a movie with actors based off a manga and there's already an anime, as this case, I feel like you need to add scenes that weren't included in the manga/anime but goes according to the main plotline.

For example, they could have deepen the plotline a bit and make it a little more realistic and less childish (i guess). Maybe add some scenes where Ryoma can develop some real feelings for Izumi, instead of just him having a similar eye color to a marble, or add some other scenes where Ryoma and Izumi get to know each other, spend time together, include some tension moments to really make the audience involved with the feelings. Or they could have explore a little more the relationship between the manager and the brother, that would have been nice too.

Instead they just chose to make a live-action movie and this is the reason why Ryoma's actor played Ryoma's role exactly as the anime character. Over the top and exagerated reactions work in anime, mainly because they're 2D characters and unless you gave them some big reaction they look plain but with real people these reactions just come off as cringey and veeeeery dramatic. I didn't not like it but it was just like rewatching the anime. I feel like a deeper plotline, a more developed romance and realistic acting could have really given this better chances.

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Meeh

First thing, this movie can be watched with or without having seen the prequel: Vince & Kath & James, a movie that is pretty decent giving me high hopes for this sequel Hopes that were not really met... As this movie does follow a lot o the patterns from the prequel just not nearly as well made and while the prequel shines with the lack of annoying elemaents this movie is packed with oddly and stereotypical written characters that become highly annoying at times instead of sticking to this otherwise very promising story.

Both leads are mostly fun, lovable and interesting to watch as they have pretty good chemistry and seem to know their way around a set.

The scenery is very pretty and makes me want to go to the Philipeens... The movie is also bursting in colour and fluffy scenes. So it is an okay watch but I guess it could have been a lot better...

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6 words rom com cuteness overload

This movie was just so much fun to watch, I am not going to say it had much new to offer but it does have a lovely combination of fun tropes, bickering, friendship, romance... Some drama here and there, an odd scene about a circumcision... Ok so it has some new things to offer... this is simply a lovely love trieangle movie with mostly lovable characters who are entertaining to watch, interesting, mostly smart and have the amazing ability to say a lot in just 6 words.

Just a heads up: The second male lead does however do some questionable stuff that did not get the attention they needed, drawing down the score just a bit for this otherwise highly entertaining rom-com.

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guess i'm the odd one out cause i didn't get it, like i got what i was seeing, it's about two people that in-spite of being in a relationship weren't verbal with their feelings(?!?) enough to keep one from going, or make the other one tell 'them' to stay(?!?)

cause leave everything aside (like the quarantine, COVID-19, work-related move, friends, vlog etc...) we talking about 2 people who have feelings for each other, but didn't communicate that importance too their partner? and that reason enough to not only break-up without a word but delete that person from ur life like they don't exist and never mattered to u?!?
one just upped and left without a word and now that he's back, she is regretting not being forthcoming about her feelings(?) and that is her wrongdoing(?!?), so she feels they equally at fault or cause she still in-love is ready to forgive and give him a second chance?!?

idk i don't get how 2 adults can be together and not communicate or know, how the other feels, without the need to freakin verbalize it! then how/why they even together in the first place?!? just cause one doesn't want to come visit u in another country or isn't offering to up-root their lives n follow u. means it's ok to end thing with a text message and cut off all contact like he did? i for sure wouldn't be waiting with open arms.

this too short IMHO to 'get' what's what and i need a bigger picture of their relationship, not so i can accuse one or the other, but understand why she feels her lack of telling him "i care, so even if i can't follow u. i will be waiting for u..." or "the fact ur moving doesn't mean we have to break-up..." idk, there is something missing - to get her still caring to the extant of rushing to the airport to look at him from afar, when he lands back in Korea, u can chalk it up to "love is blind" or "the heart wants what it wants" but then meeh . so this ok, but not blown away like other reviews i've read.

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Fuk u china

All chinese gay films end in horror. Never again will i watch China. Plus china is cracking down with new anti human gay laws. Screw them. Only if its hidden bromance do they allow it. How does it harm them. Moden China needs to be wiped future. Even ancient China was more human! How can we stop them from getting views and tickets? Done! You must fight for your voice. This is anti-human. We all need to stop watching Chinese bromance'bl. Does anyone know of a good Chinese lgbtqia++? I need so much water after tearing for this show. I know its not writer or producers fault. Its Evil chinese govt!

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Not even 30 min. long but so good because it heavily focused on Kairi (Lupin Red) and Keiichiro (Patren #1), kidnapped and brought over to the Gangler world. Every story that focuses on those two is simply marvelous.

And this one was no exception. It started with them bickering while they tried to fight the Gangler's henchmen only to realize that they would have to cooperate if they wanted to survive. And then the big explosion and the fall off the cliff and... Keiichiro waking up, realizing that he was hanging suspended in the air, held by the hand by Lupin Red whose blood was dripping down on Keiichiro's face. That was quite... something.

And the big fight between Lupin Red and Keiichiro on the one side and Gauche and Destra on the other! That was so well done! The action, the CGI!

Really, every scene, every story that focuses on Kairi and Keiichiro is gold because their chemistry is amazing. You can see that Ito Asahi and Kousei Yuki truly clicked and became great friends while filming this series.

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Only a genius could love a woman like Lynn~~

GODAMN THIS BLEW MY MIND AWAY IN THE BEST POSSIBLE, THE EDITING, ACTING, PRODUCTION, DIRECTING, SCREENPLAY, TIGHT-KNIGHT STORY, AND THE GENIUS ELABORATE CHEATING SCHEME ALL TOOK ME BY SURPRISE AND HOOKED ME TO AN ANXIETY TRAIN SPANNING 2HRS OF ME BEING STRESSED AF!! AND HOW TF DID THEY MANAGE TO MAKE ONE OF THE MOST ANXIETY-RIDE TO HELL ABOUT SHARING MCQ ANSWERS. LOVE THE GENIUS ELABORATE MINDS OF THE DIRECTOR NAT AND SCREENWRITER VASU AND TANIDHA, THIS WAS WAY TOO SMART SMH!OMG this was so stressing I wanted to pull out my hair. But it was so fucking good...

ALSO QUICK DETOUR TO THE ACTORS, I WAS SO SURPRISED TO HEAR THAT EVERYONE EXCEPT THE DAD WAS INEXPERIENCED IN THIS FIELD, AND DAMN, DID NO ONE EVEN GIVE A SIGN OF EVEN A SLIP, THAT'S HOW GREAT OF AN ACTOR EVERYONE WAS HERE ESPECIALLY MY THAI QUEEN CHUTIMON. FOR A MODEL-MADE ACTOR, THE WAY SHE MADE ME ROOT AND UNDERSTAND HER MORALLY AMBIGUOUS DECISIONS WAS SPECTACULAR. I LOVE LYNN'S MORALLY AMBIGUOUS CHARACTER AND HOW SHE MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE, IN THE END, TO COME CLEAN. SHE'S DEFINITELY A COMPLEX CHARACTER AND ONE HELL OF 200 IQ GENIUS~~~

I feel sorry for Bank though... I mean, it ruined him. If only they didn't drag him into that shit he would've gotten the scholarship and became successful while still being good and all... For Lynn, I love the character development. She's a smart girl and I'm proud of her, ALSO FUCK MYOU GRACE AND PAT YOU FALE ASS BITCHES. NONE OF YOU EVER CONSIDERED HER A FRIEND. LYNN DESERVED BETTER. GOOD THING NONE OF YOU WILL EVER MAKE IT TO COLLEGE ANYWAY. I love how Lyn realized that she should face her wrongdoings and admit to her mistakes. The touching part was her father supported her all the way but I felt sorry for Bank, money changed him. He was an honest person but he became corrupted. Lynn is my fav 100 IQ GENIUS CHARACTER EVER WRITTEN IN A MOVIE!! This movie is truly the best THAI movie I've ever watched.

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Tou Qi; perfect Taiwanese flick for a Saturday night with soda and popcorn

A horror film featuring S.H.E's Selina Jen? Definitely worth the time and money.

I watched The Funeral because of how hard Jen trained for her role as the troubled mother, and she's done a good job for someone who's known more for her singing prowess. She's come a long way in her career, and the solid supporting cast doesn't disappoint either.

While the storyline is simple, the music and sound effects take things to the next level. It's nearly a masterpiece with suspenseful twists and turns. Overall, commendable performances, and a shoutout to the director too.

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(Over)simplifying it, all Japanese movies could be divided into four categories:

1) The GREAT ones, stuff like the "Kazoku wa Tsurai yo!" trilogy, or "Umimachi Diary", or many many others, all magnificent examples of what makes Japanese culture so unique and fascinating

2) The SILLY ones, titles like "The World Sinks Except Japan" or "Oppai Volleyball" and many others; in a decent portion of these, the silliness is actually pretty funny, making such movies still enjoyable

3) The YAWNFESTS, or what I tend to refer to as "Victims of the nefarious influence of French 'Nouvelle Vague' and 'Cahiers du Cinéma'..."; pompous and artsy, painfully slow, with horribly thin (or even non-existing!) plots, unappealing dialogues etc.

4) All those which cannot fit in any of the previous (hey, I did warn you I was oversimplifying it! ^___^;;;.....)

Unfortunately, this "Bread & Bus Etc." fits in the third category. It took me FOUR DAYS to finish it, because I literally couldn't stand watching more than half an hour of it in one go (and usually my eyelids would start feeling horribly heavy already after ten or fifteen minutes...>____<).
The whole plot could fit on the back of a postage stamp, and if it had been done as a short movie (like, five minutes, tops) it might have been okay. But at close to two hours, it's almost unbearable.
Too bad, because Fukagawa Mai (the reason why I've watched it!) possesses a pretty nice acting talent. But it just couldn't shine in this yawnfest, alas.

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Fun and suspenseful movie

South Korean film “Special Delivery”, whose theatrical release in South Korea was incidentally delayed for around 2 years due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, is a competent genre product to be appreciated for its taut and efficient handling of story and action. While it is clearly influenced by a number of well-known seniors ranging from Walter Hill’s “The Driver” (1978) to John Cassavetes’ “Gloria” (1980), the movie has enough style and substance to engage and entertain us, and it also confirms again to us the considerable talent and presence of its lead performer.
Park So-dam, who has been more prominent these days thanks to her delightfully saucy performance in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite” (2019), plays Eun-ha, a tough young woman who has earned her living via her particular set of skills. On the surface, she is just a mere employee working at one shabby garage in Busan, but she is actually a very skillful driver who can “deliver everything that the post office service does not handle”, and the opening sequence, which is reminiscent a bit of the opening part of Nicholas Winding Refn’s “Drive” (2011), shows us how deftly and swiftly she handles her latest delivery job without any misstep.

However, not so surprisingly, this delivery job turns out to be much riskier than expected. When Eun-ha is waiting for the client at that certain spot, a young boy is frantically running toward her car, and she instinctively senses that something is terribly going wrong. At first, she considers leaving the spot as soon as possible without looking back at all, but, probably out of pity and compassion, she decides to let the boy get into her car, and then they soon find themselves chased by a bunch of thugs.

Around that point, the movie lets us have a pretty clear idea of what is going on around Eun-ha and the boy. He is the only son of the client, and, before he gets killed in the end, the client gave his son an incriminating piece of evidence against someone with whom he has been associated for years. Of course, that criminal figure in question and those thugs are quite willing to retrieve this evidence by any means necessary, and the situation later becomes more complicated as we get to know more about how dangerous and powerful this criminal organization really is.

As instructed by her boss, Eun-ha could just let the boy handled by one of her boss’ criminal associates, but she eventually decides to take a much harder way for the boy’s safety, and the movie accordingly gives us a series of well-executed moments including a suspenseful scene where our heroine must outwit her opponents as soon as possible. Although her driving skill is utilized less than expected, you will not grumble at all as watching a gritty vehicle action sequence which will grab you hard from the beginning to the end, and director/co-writer Park Dae-min and his crew members did a commendable job of vividly conveying to us many physical impacts during this impressive sequence.
Meanwhile, the movie also pays a lot of attention to the growing relationship between Eun-ha and the boy, who is not just a story element to be wielded in one way or another. Although she simply follows what should be done in her view, Eun-ha comes to care about the boy much more than she admits on the surface, and the boy also comes to depend a lot on Eun-ha as being reminded more that there is no one to help him except her.

It surely helps that Park and young performer Jeong Hyeon-jun, who also appeared as one of the main characters in “Parasite”, click well with each other on the screen. While confidently embodying her character’s toughness and resourcefulness, Park ably demonstrates another side of her talent here in this film, and her terse but undeniably strong acting is complemented well by Jeong’s unadulterated natural performance.

In addition, the movie assembles a group of colorful performers around Park and Jeong. I will not go into details for not spoiling any of your entertainment, but I can tell you instead that Kim Eui-sung, Song Sae-byeok, Han Hyun-min, Yeon Woo-jin, and Yeom Hye-ran are well-cast in their respective supporting roles, and, as a longtime cat lover, I will not deny that I smiled during a few tender scenes between Eun-ha and her grumpy pet cat, who cannot help but steal the scene a bit from Park whenever the camera looks at it.

On the whole, “Special Delivery” did its job as splendidly as expected, and I and a friend of mine had a fairly thrilling time as watching it at a local movie theater during last evening. As a dude who knows a lot about vehicles, he pointed out some unrealistic moments in the film after we came out of the screening room, but both of us agreed that the movie is still entertaining enough nonetheless, and I am sure that you will agree to that after watching it.

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interesting movie

Amnesia has often been a key element in actions films and Yoon Jae-keun’s work also makes use of it to an entertaining effect here. The protagonist’s dilemma of trying to recall who he is while moving bodies is however a unique one and puts a fresh spin not just on the memory loss notion but on body swap too. The issue of identity, of course, is a key theme here as the hero tries to hold on to tiny threads to figure out his own true self, to emotions and memories that make him “him”. This is all rather high-concept in nature but Yoon doesn’t aim to rewrite the genre rulebook here and besides a few minor plotholes, manages to make the straight-forward story narration flow at a fast pace. Throw in one of Korean cinema’s favourite element, bureaucratic corruption, and it results in a decent mix.

“Spiritwalker” comes to life as soon as the action sequences start. Hand-to-hand combat, gun fights, car chases, foot chases- you name it, “Spiritwalker” has got it and got it good. If the close quarters fight sequence remind of the similarly amnesia themed The Bourne series, the large-scale action set pieces show off the production’s lavish scope. In general, the feature’s cinematography follows Hollywood standards but plays a big part in heightening the impact of the action sequences by keeping flowing camera movements and minimal edits which help highlight the stunt work. The climactic shootout particularly underlines these aspects well, in addition to showing off the impressive action choreography. The music also has an adequate but familiar feel,reminding of similar works in the genre.

Yoon Kye-sang was last seen in an action film as the antagonist in the smash-hit “The Outlaws” and the producers of that film clearly saw merit in his performance there, casting him in yet another production of theirs here. If his performance doesn’t have the dramatic effect that it did in the 2017 film, he fares a lot better in the action department. His portrayal of the confused man figuring out many things at once is believable and Yoon makes him likeable and easy to follow around, but it stops short of being memorable. The action, however, ensures that his work here remains impactful. Lim Ji-yeong gets a couple action sequences herself as Moon Jin-ah, the mysterious woman our protagonist’s story is somehow tied to. Park Yong-woo is mostly watchable as the antagonist Park, but an odd writing choice near the end makes the character, and thus Park’s performance, lose necessary gravitas.

Korean cinema seems to be on a mission to reinvent and make a name for itself in the action genre in recent years. “Spiritwalker” successfully manages to be an absorbing watch that takes an overused plot device and gives it a fresh spin and, in the process, manages to have its name registered alongside the select few impressive productions in the genre in recent years from the country.

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I placed any potential spoilers at the end of this review.

This has such an impactful story. It shines a light on the many misconceptions about gay men that society has and how everyone deals differently with confronting it. At the same time, it breaks some stereotypes some may have on certain communities. The acting was outstanding and the cinematography was beautiful. The script was excellent and had a very realistic ending. I only have three criticisms. See the potential spoiler alert at the bottom if you want more info.




******Potential Spoiler Alert******
1st criticism: This is supposed to be a sequel to a series (His - I Didn't Think I Would Fall in Love), but it has no real link to it. It does use the same main characters’ names and gives silent nods to the series (choice of clothing colors for the main characters for example), but that’s it.
2nd criticism: The movie does not completely explain the main characters past relationship. You have to rely on the movie’s description for this (hence the 3rd criticism).
3rd criticism: The description of the move does not completely match what happens in the movie. It mentions various things but does not actually show it in the movie. However, this seems to be a common thing on Viki.

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Super Cop is supposed to refer to Jackie Chan’s character in this movie but could just have easily been referring to Michelle Yeoh’s character.

Jackie Chan’s Chan Ka Kui from the previous Police Story films goes to China and teams up with Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Yang Chien Hua to go undercover and break Yuen Wah’s bad guy out of prison and join his brother’s (Kenneth Tsang) drug gang in order to take out the Big Bad. After being accepted into the gang, they all go to Malaysia and meet up with Lo Lieh’s drug general. Lots of shooting and things blowing up ensue. They also have to bust Tsang’s missus out of jail before she is executed because she’s the only one who knows the number to the Swiss bank account where a fortune in drug money is stashed. Along the way, they run into Chan’s tour guide girlfriend (Maggie Cheung) who blows his cover because she is the dumbest girlfriend in cinema history.

The plot isn’t very strong or consistent. Most people don’t watch Chan’s movies for the plot anyway. The action is slightly different in some places because it relies more on guns and explosions. If you enjoy Chan’s comedy schtick, it’s dialed back here, but should be still enough to satisfy you. As always, the draw to his movies are the insanely dangerous stunts he performs mostly himself. Super Cop is not short on them. The bonus is that Michelle Yeoh performs most of her own death-defying stunts as well.

Chan gave his usual manic performance, though he didn’t mug as hard for the camera in this one. Michelle Yeoh’s gravitas made an excellent foil for him to play against and there was never any question that it was a partnership of equals. The two had good screen chemistry with Yeoh nearly stealing the show. It was hard to watch the talented Maggie Cheung play the jealous dim-witted girlfriend. Yuen Wah and Kenneth Tsang made excellent bad guys. One of my favorite old kung fu stars, Lo Lieh, made a brief appearance as a general supplying the drugs to the different cartels.

I would like to have seen more hand-to-hand combat, but what there was played out well, no surprise with Yeoh and Chan. The stunts were quite good with Jackie dangling from a helicopter over Kuala Lumpur and Michelle Yeoh landing a motorcycle onto a train. Rumor has it that the stuntman who initially attempted it broke his leg trying the stunt. Michelle Yeoh was able to land the scary jump herself.

Fans of Jackie Chan or Michelle Yeoh movies should be satisfied with Super Cop. The two martial arts stars bring enough daring action and excitement to help overlook the flaws in this film.

17 April 2022

edit--I liked this movie better than Police Story 1 which was graded on my pre-1990's curve so I went ahead and bumped this up to an 8 on the curve because the stunts were just as amazing and the cast was stronger. It also didn't have the 30 minute lull in the middle of the film. 25 March 2024

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