Reviews

ofc, k-drama is always better than american shows.

this was one of the best space movies i ever seen, i saw the crit, i thought it will be bad, and like american movies and etc, but it wasn't like this at all !, it may make you feel that the movie is like cowboy and etc american movies at first, but every 10 mins you can know that what you are watching is different, VFX Is the best thing in the movie, the story was very amazing, the characters , and the acting, i give it 8/5 , but because people are hating this show for nothing i'll hit it with 10, because this movie have to be trending, more people most watch it, stay away.. K-drama haters.

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Don't waste your time......

I found this movie on the gagaoolala app and decided to watch it just based on the fact it was in the gay section and the title of "The chronicles of a boy (homo phobia)".

The description seemed semi promising (from gagaoolala): "Young-taek is one day visited by one of his schoolmates who claim to be his fathers lover. Young-taek unable to bear this fact decides to do something. In college, a senior boy comes relentlessly at him, to get the test questions, Young-taek lets him do what he wants to him, only to be blackmailed. In the military, while on leave, he goes out with his sergeant and the mans girlfriend, but in the night, the sergeant takes advantage of him".

So I decided to have a watch thinking this might be one of those I hate gays, but in the end realizes he likes guy's.....

Nope!!! Not even close!!!

The description of the movie is very misleading compared to what you actually get, which is a lot of Young-taek getting hit on, sexually harassed and him choking people out. (Oh and him biting his sergeant's penis, but yet he still talks to him??). This has to be in my top 3 never to re-watch again gay movies.

As my title says, don't waste the 1:24:44 of your time to watch this garbage, unless you are homophobic.

I feel bad for the actors that did this movie, hopefully the pay was good!

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It's showdown time between Godzilla, a titanium rainbow-laser shooting look-alike Godzilla (Mechagodzilla), King Caesar (protector of Okinawa), cigar smoking Planet of the Apes aliens, Interpol agents, some scientists, and a royal priestess. Okinawa will never be the same!

Big G has his hands full with Mechagodzilla, luckily King Caesar/Shisa and some plucky humans are around to help. Returning for another Godzilla adventure is Hirata Akihiko as Professor Hideto Miyajima. This veteran actor is always a welcome presence. The humans were fairly interesting in this movie as they dealt with the aliens in various dangerous, if convoluted scenarios.

Though made during the classic 1970's rubber suit era, the makers of this film backed off the camp and upped the danger for Godzilla, complete with spurting blood. I have to remind myself that these movies were often made to be kid friendly though they did tone down the humorous fight scenes in this one. The laser effects were good for this time-frame and for what looked like a movie that was shot on a very limited budget. No miniature armies appeared, only buildings and mountainsides were destroyed. This was strictly monster on monster fighting.

Many Godzilla movies have a moral behind them. In this one, King Caesar/Shisa seems to be a call back to older Japanese traditions where the priestess must sing a hymn to awaken him. He is the god-like creature who protects the island and appears when called upon. Mechagodzilla shows modern technology encroaching on society. And somewhere in between is Godzilla, an ancient creature enhanced by modern nuclear radiation. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and King Caesar is just a giant dog eared monster, Godzilla is a giant, destructive lizard and Mechagodzilla is just a large tin can created by some aliens spoiling for a fight!

Mechagodzilla's suit and weaponry were innovative though the real Godzillas's suit was underwhelming for me in this one. This is one of the rare times I enjoyed the humans' story as much as the monster fights. That's not to say their story was riveting, perhaps it's more of a reflection of my apathy toward the monster fights. I found King Caesar/Shisa to be lacking in particular. Mechagodzilla's weaponry and fights with Big G and all the spies both alien and human running around kept the film interesting and the action moving forward. Not a bad way to spend 90 minutes if you are a fan of the classic era.

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Painfully Slow and Full of Itself

OK, just finished watching. Haven't read comments so maybe I'll feel stupid later, but here goes:

I found this to be painfully slow and full of itself, as if by just being on screen it had somehow already proved its worth, so there was no need to let me know what was going on.
Constant smoking does not replace quality acting. Not that the smoker is a bad actor, but that kind of 'movie smoking' is such a cliche.
The other character didn't smoke so he chewed gum in a deeply meaningful, sort of Clint Eastwood-type way.
Walking extremely slowly in silence does not always replace dialogue or plot, especially when its repeated over and over.
One of those films that presents being gay as the worst thing on earth, and maybe it is in Korea, I wouldn't be surprised by that, but offers no hope, no route to something better, no nothing.
Why on earth would orange jacket keep pursuing the gum chewer? Boring, arrogant, uncommunicative, weird, sullen, sulky, and he should have picked up on all that in the first five minutes. It was downhill from there, yet he kept after him. Why? I didn't find that believable.
I thought orange jacket had a limp at the beginning? Where'd that go? I though we were in an extended flashback but that turned out not to be the case.
Meh...whatever. There's so many much better films out there.

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What a beautiful story!

This movie was excellent and it handled the serious story line very well. I was reluctant to watch it, based on the synopsis, but decided to give it a try and I'm so glad I did!

Iitoyo Marie is wonderful as Okamara. This poor girl had some serious self-esteem issues! It was so sad at the beginning as you watch her try to fade into the background so no one notices her. Again, according to the synopsis, I imagined that she would be this strange character, only interacting with her bird, but that wasn't the case. I'm also glad that the bullying was kept to a minimum. We can use our imaginations and get the idea, so I was glad not to have too much of that.

Nakagawa Taishi as Kira - this is my first time seeing him in anything, and it certainly won't be my last show with him in it! He was terrific. You could really sense his fatalism and detachment due to his circumstances. He had a few scenes where he cried and it was very effective and not over the top. And he did a lot of smiling and he is absolutely gorgeous, so there is that!

The chemistry between the main characters was so sweet! They each brought an equal amount to the relationship and they were both better people for having gotten involved with one another. The film spent a lot of time showing them doing everyday things, which was such a good way to go, because of Kira's circumstances. I really felt the ability to bond with both of them and they were a joy to watch.

The secondary male character - I liked their friendship but I could have done without him yelling all the time. Is that a Japanese thing or was he overacting? I don't know, but that is my only (slight) complaint.

This is definitely a "rewatch" movie for me. Not too much angst, wonderful characters, the pacing was wonderful (no wasted scenes, etc.). I loved the innocence portrayed by all of the characters. The bright colors used throughout really helped with the overall feel of youth. Seriously, I can't recommend this movie highly enough!

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Attracting anyone who is lifeless's attention!!!!!!!!

This is the movie for you if you are a completely lifeless, good for nothing, disappointment and a person with all the time the world has to offer also someone whose disgusting taste in movies no one can beat, then i am delighted to tell you--- you will LOVE this godawful abomination of a movie. I feel disgusted at myself for calling this a 'film' to define whatever piece of shit this is. You are more likely to understand the plot of a show made for a 1 year old than this one. No word in english dictionary will be able to define how stupid, bland, BASIC,BAD and plotless the plot was. If you donot have the time to watch every horror movie ever made then watch this one because the director took ever horror movie ever and made this disgusting piece of work. Thank you.

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Mixed thought about movie

It is a movie so they didn't elaborate much every scene just give a glimpse of it.
Ends confuse a lot .he told her that he will be atree for her so don't lose hope and then they sat near water other lead come to suprise her then they both married so I thought happy ending but very last scene had shown he passed alone in the tunnel what we conclude that she is not with him ,she married to other lead so that can't be possible so she died but if she died then why he gave her hope. So confused.
About story ,it is very sad story, no happy moment . And ending is sad

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Near Perfection

I loved this movie as it presented the love between two men in a very realistic manner given the societal and cultural norms we have to live under (even here in the so-called free state of the USA). There is a message of hope here and this stories and others like this one plant the seed of change in more closed societies. (I live in California which is way more progressive that other parts of the USA).

It is a continuation of Present Perfect but with a mature and more definitive approach to life and what constitutes a family. This is not your typical BL series and is quite a journey into what (gay) love is all about. It shows clearly that love is the determinant.

The acting is superb and the story is organic and literally is in the moment (present).

My full review of this great movie is at BLBliss.com. Leave comments if you like.

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A Solid Melodrama Hampered by Cenorship and Comrpomise

It's hard to believe that anyone watching "Better Days" would miss that the story was clearly critical (condemnatory) of the toxic culture around the education system. A system that suggests that you're weak for failing, and that it's all about not failing your parents. Not that it's own approach to learning has severely damaged its youth and their ability to empathize with their fellow peers.

At least, that's how I interpreted the suicide (of Hu Xiao Die) that's the catalyst for the film. So the hard swerve into hyper-focusing on school bullying alone, and attributing the death solely to that (while there are giant signs condemning children for not being perfect in school, contrasted against security gates lining the school balcony) was tone deaf to me. "We just gon' pretend that the school system wasn't also responsible for this?"

Reading up the film (Hollywood Reporter) certainly clarified things for me. Chen Nian's story lost a lot of context with the removal of most of her mother's subplot, which seemed to tie her directly to way Liu Bei Shan made a living in the absence of his mother.

Still, even with all this knowledge at the forefront of my mind, I don't think the film in its present form is terrible (hoping a fool's hope that an uncut version surfaces at some point). Even if the film never condemns the education, or the parents, or the financial straits that lands Chen's mother in a bad place, their actions are a damning document on how it harms the children (who act out that trauma on their peers, driving them to death, until it's eventually visited upon them).

But I suppose that kind of messaging only works if the audience intended actually sees it for what it is (and from what I read about it, that flew over everyone's heads).

If the film falls off the rails, it's when it becomes about the sudden murder of the comically cruel school bully (Wei Lai) and how the two characters deal with it. As something buffered against the hyper nationalistic "we shall prevail" exam scene, it comes out of nowhere. When did this happen? Why was this considered important enough to dwell on, but not important to actually see happen on-screen?

We don't get explanation until the last hour of the film (it was an accident spurred on by rage, and the Wei Lai's inability to leave Chen alone). The structure, for lack of a better word, throws the pacing of the film off completely because it's looking to surprise the audience with a brief whodunit. This is something we should've seen in real time (chronological order). The rest of the film is a melodramatic drag race to the conclusion of the film that sees both characters arrested (like some moralistic twist straight outta the hayes code).

What holds the film up, for the most part, are the performances of the leads (Zhou Dong Yu and Jackson Yi), and the development of their kinship. I believed these two strangers would form a rocky friendship as a means of coping their toxic environments. But for a film that's two hours and some change, I don't feel like more attention was given to their dynamic.

However strong Yu and Yi's chemistry is, Chen and Bai's relationship feels rushed. A lot of the film was really hyper-focused on how Chen was terrorized by her peers, almost gratuitously. And if they wanted me to empathize with Wei Lai, why was more time not afforded to her side of the narrative instead of dumped at the end of the film?

I wish that the director (Derek Tsang) never pursued a release in mainland China, because its sounds likes the guy's work was put through the ringer of a completely avoidable situation.

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Wonky plot but enjoyable acting from some

Although the plot was everything but stable I still found myself to enjoy this movie despite the sometimes rather off-putting soundtrack. The reason? It's simple. Namely, the actors playing the twins. Although the plotholes in the script were as many as holes through cheese, the dynamic between those two the few scenes we could see them together made me stuck to the screen watching. Although the actors playing the grownup twins were superb in my opinion, the actors playing the teenage twins should nonetheless have some huge credits too. Especially the one playing Taesung. The raw emotion that kid emits, damn.

I don't highly recommend this movie, but I recommend it nonetheless (If only for Sung Hoon's spectacular visual in it). I wouldn't even say no to some time in the future watch it again and see if I notice even more subtle details from the two ML's acting.

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