Reviews

Ji Sung just nailed the role

•Watched it only for ji sung and its 18+ title to know the story. And its really good and gives you break from a typical romcom.

•Story- nicely written. With shocker introduction. I liked that how friendship developed into.

•Acting- huge fan of ji sung and his acting. But this was like a blast when I saw him, although its just acting, it gave me shivers, and thats why he is just excellent.

Kim ah joong was also nice, as in phone voice she sounded really sexy.

The chemistry was natural and soft.

•Music- ofcourse the “panty song”.its lyrics are so amn hilarous yet so emotional. Ji sung sang it awesomly and really hits hard.

▪︎Rewatch- since its 18+, once is enough for me.

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Good premise & cast with many BUTS (disappointed)

The setup of overweight FL and her long time friend, ironically ML was real chubby when young n FL stood by him. Throw in Madhatter from Alice in wonderland and a potion that instead of growing tall/shrink is a magical slimming potion. All this is going really well until the 'BUT' starts:

The leads have a good chemi but the story isnt exploring it in the right way. I want to enjoy their friendship and their blurry feelings for each other. Instead theres so much wasted footage on unimportant things.

SML is also a character that wasnt likeable. His personality is the opposite of his appearance. I get annoyed when he constantly fat shame bigger sized women. I did not enjoy them and also felt Xiao Xi wasted too much time on him.

Given that the leads wasted so much time. I thought the make-up would be good. I didnt mind the comedy bits here. Except the way it was wrapped up was very disappointing. I am left wanting, wanting a rewarding couple moment of Xiao Xi and Han Bin.

The appearance of the movie promises a sweet romance between 2 friends but it never delivers on that promise. And its a shame cause the actors were great but the plot and direction went awry.

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The Hot Chick

I watched Hot Chick and Hot Chick 2 both on YT with English subs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjmVC8R7Mow (60 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taaNtWmgIig (61 mins)
I don't know whether to consider this one movie with two parts, or two short movies, but either way it's about 2 hours watch time in total.

Part 1 was at best OK, even bad in spots. The poor subs make it seem even more ridiculous than it already is. Nothing is all that developed. It's like you get just a taste of everything, almost like you'd see in a trailer. They jump from not knowing each other to in love and ready to move in together in minutes.

Part 2 was much better. The characters are more developed and there is an actual plot. It's fairly predictable and the acting is far from amazing, but overall it is a relatively interesting story and a quick watch.

I only watched this after I tracked it down for someone that was looking for it on reddit. Definitely not worth recommending. There are much better ways to use that watch time!

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A MUST WATCH PREQUEL

If I will compare this to its sequel, Four Sisters and a Wedding, I'd say that it does not exceed it. Its story have many places that take place for a 2-hour movie, it has a scene in a two different university, a high school, a house, a studio, and a coffee shop. When they move from different places, I somewhat feel dizzy. But for a prequel, its story is really good. It makes a nice background story between the four sisters. Although I complain about the different places, it somewhat answers why the four sisters have different personalities. It makes you understand why their attitude in life is like that in its sequel movie. Like in the first movie, which is its sequel, it is a feel-good movie with a twist of romance.

The acting is the greatest aspect of this movie. The young counterpart of the sisters definitely brings back the characters that I love in the first movie. You can see that they really study the characters that they will act as. They got every nuance that the characters have.

The music was not that iconic as the first movie have. I don't remember when they use its OST aside from the end credits.

If the first movie focus on family, this movie focus on the family with the teenage romance of every sister. I must say that if you loved the first movie, you will definitely love this too.

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Ending sucked

The movie was entertaining and the acting wasn't bad. The ending could've been better but I hated that Lin threw everyone under the bus. She snitched on everyone and betrayed her friends because apparently "its the right thing to do" which in my opinion is pretty stupid of a reason to betray your best friends. I could see why she did what she did but still i would've just tooken the money and go to a school out of the country.

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REALLY WELL WORTH WATCHINGGGG. I REALLY LOVEEEEEE IT!!

Finally, I have finished watching it even without subtitle. There's some part I can't understand but overall anyone can understand the story. This film deserves more recognition and is well worth watching. I really recommend it. For people who can't wait the sub.. you can just watch it. I literally cried sobbing while watching it. It's really sad. There's a plot twist that will make you more sadder. As an international fan, I'm really shocked by the full movie goes beyond the reach of the movie trailer that we all watch. because I think this story about Ri Ae is a woman who had everything but could not fulfill her dream. Cheol Woo is a man with a genius talent but is not lucky. Ri Ae bought the painting of Cheol Woo who she met by chance, and they decided to complete the last work by borrowing each other's names. unknowingly the two of them have actually been acquainted since childhood. that's what we all know just from watching the movie trailer but there's something different. Maybe it's just me who feels like this but whatever it is I REALLY LOVEE watching it. 100/10 ^~^ I'm gonna repeat watching it until there's eng sub. I REALLY LOVE JEON SO MIN. She is indeed good at acting in characterizing the character. I fall in love with Jeon So Min acting for the million timesssss. JEON SO MIN FIGHTING!! CHOI JUNG WON FIGHTING!! THE NAME MOVIE FIGHTINGG!!

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Welcome to the world of Junji Itou

So, I can see straight away why a lot of people weren't too keen on this on their viewing; it's weird, it's zany, it's grotesque and it's a massive "what the fk is going on here" all at the same time. It's not hard to see why a lot of people didn't like it or got confused (and if you're someone who got confused, I recommend reading Uzumaki by Junji Ito - the source material).

However - holy sht this is one of the best J-horrors I've watched in a long time. This is ultimately everything the manga is; it gave me the same feelings of confusion, the same shocked horror, the unnerving feeling creeping up my spine as I turned pages (or in this case, watched on). There were some really good jump scares in this that I can't even be angry about the cheapness of some; it all worked so well with the general theme that Ito gives throughout his works.

The sound track in this was very original and very out of the mold and I adore it, it adds so much to the film as does the bad acting at times - something I first thought would annoy me, but only goes on to be a defining part of the film as everything else.

All in all, I would say for sure, read the manga and then hop into this - don't mind the reviews and make your own viewing assumptions as you go along. Easily my favourite film of 2020 and I cannot wait to watch the rest of the works from this director and the cast. Brilliant, brilliant film, cannot wait for the eventual rewatch!

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When Elijah Canlas became popular to the BL world as he played the role of Cairo in Gameboys. Did a couple of search regarding his background. I was intrigued when he won the Best Actor in 17th Asian Film Festival (Rome, Italy). After months and months of searching, finally and fortunately, Netflix got the right to air it.

STORY
===================================================
It is actually more than an HIV story. It tackles not only the prevalence in the Philippines, but also other like it shows how normal having an extra-marital affair is, getting pregnant without being married, substance abused, making ends meet. And Kalel's father. These social issues are more rampant in the poorer sector of the country, but it ain't exclusive to the sector.

This film shows a slice of each to the social issues mentioned above. Raw, unadulterated, rustic way by the use of black and white color scheme will give you a sense of how grim, dark, challenging a person needs to go through every single day. It able to show and concentrate on Kalel, both the protagonist and antagonist, as he make his way through a teen life full of hardships and uncertainty. Why is he the antagonist? You can clearly see how conflicted he is, how inconsistent magnified by having the disease. Until in the end, he succumb what he needs to do to survive.

The film depicts from Kalel's point of view. No heartaches and heartbreaks. Just pure struggle. I heard and know similar stories, but with different circumstances, all with different outcomes.

Make no mistake, this ain't your HIV advocacy film per se. It shows one of the many faces of a Person Living with HIV (PLHIV) in the Philippines is like. The struggle, the stigma, having a sense of dignity, of what left of it, for having the disease. Raw, unadulterated, rustic.

ACTOR
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Elijah as KALEL - definitely hold his own here despite being supported by 2 of the most decorated and veteran in PH entertainment industry. He definitely deserved to win the Best Actor.

MUSIC
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Is there any? Or am I just focused on the story too much? I guess it doesn't need to as Kalel is not the music type of guy, it will be off to include one. There is no heartbreaking scene as well.

REWATCH VALUE
===================================================
I am the type of guy that rarely do a rewatch, not unless it am dying of boredom. Even I'm in that mood, this won't be the top of my list to rewatch.

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Obviously, the best part of this movie is seeing just what the country looked like during this time. The film is beautifully shot, and it definitely gives you a good picture of not only how devastating the 2011 flood must have been, but also what daily life must have looked like. Wading through calf/knee high water, traveling everywhere by boat, evacuation orders; it's a light-hearted film, so it doesn't spend a lot of time on the more upsetting aspects of such an event, but it certainly gives you a glimpse.

Of course, that's kind of the only real reason to watch it, outside of you just really enjoy highly cliché rom-com's of this nature. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this movie at all, but I certainly enjoyed the first half a lot more than the second. The second half, as is often the case in these films, is the most heavily cliché portion of the story, and I stopped caring pretty quickly into it. There's some pointless melodrama, the childhood connection serves no purpose (although the child actors are adorable as heck), and the pacing is too fast. Basically, this movie is like almost every other Asian rom-com of it's time but with a real natural disaster going on in the background.

If you like cliché rom-coms or are interested in seeing what Thailand looked like during the 2011 flood or both of these things appeal to you equally, then check the movie it. Otherwise, probably not worth your time.

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Jpop boys turned lethal fighters

Plot? what plot?
Friendship? overload
Beautiful people? too many to count
Action? the best
Entertainment Value? through the roof

This isn't just a review for this movie but for the whole franchise.

Disclaimer: HL is my emotional support series, this review is biased.

Obviously it's not without its flaws. Some plot points really didn't make sense to me, but I overlook it for the greater good, the sheer entertainment of it all.

First of all, THE ACTION. It's what most of us came here for. What lured me in was watching the Rude Boys trailer because I heard I will find KuboMasa there. I was very impressed by the parkour and that's what pushed me down the rabbit hole.

The action choreographer is Takahito Ouchi who previously worked on Crows Zero and Rurouni Kenshin. Him and director Shigeaki Kubo (who has directed many beautiful music videos for Exile Tribe) utilize the athletic and dance abilities of the cast to the fullest. They are able to do a lot of their own stunts.

The actions scenes are very dynamic. Location and perspective constantly changes thanks to the drones who follow the fighters around. The one-takes are spectacular, I'm in awe at everyones abilities. They also mix it up by having one on one fights, all out brawls and some chase scenes. With each new project the action gets better and better. It's not boring even for a minute (I've seen a lot of action movies and sometimes it's just stale and repetitive tbh).

What I really appreciate here is how each gang has their own theme going on. Not just their own songs but also fashion sense, emblem, and even transportation mode. Like you have the cruiser bikes, sports bikes, dirt bikes, trucks, convertible Cadillacs, luxury cars etc. Some characters even have a distinctive fighting style.

Friendship is a major theme throughout. They always have their homies back, but sometimes the loyalty gets shaken and drama ensues. Also across the SWORD groups the guys who are at each other's throats all of season 1 later somehow come together against a common goal, develop respect towards one another and even tentative friendships.

There's so many characters that it's honestly hard to pick one favourite because they're all different and they all have something appealing about them. Among the SWORD leader there's our main boy Cobra who used to be more laid back but now responsibility of being a leader weighs on his shoulders. Hyuga the batshit crazy one, Rocky our feminist hero, chill and rational Smoky, and Yoshiki whose lifelong ambition is to date Cobra (jk).

This is a LDH project therefore the cast mostly comprises of it's actors, singers, dancers and models. Considering some of them had very little acting experience they did well and nobody was in your face bad.

These artists are also singing the OST, they made a whole album out of it, it's called HIGH&LOW THE ALBUM. Shoutout to Doberman Infinity for winning the SWORD theme song challenge having the best 3 songs :P
BTW if you liked the music, do yourself a huge favour and watch the concert to end all concerts, HIGH&LOW THE LIVE.

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Is this movie really that good?

The red fox named Bai Shisan goes on an exam where he is to find a calman who holds the elixir in his heart. Bai Shisan tricks Wang Zijin into getting the elixir with a certain two-faced teacher. Wang Zijin is a naive and poor scholar who lives with his grandma. Honestly, Bai Shisan is very quirky and loves chicken. This movie is like a short drama you can binge to and can rewatch anytime. At first, I really had a bit of expectations but this movie turned out much more emotional and amazing than my original thought. Yes, bromance is a bit less but you can expect a bit of emotional romance in here. I really want to dig my heart out to Yinglian. She is so pretty and has a pretty bad background story. If only they would star Chen Linong and Hankiz Omar into a Chinese costume drama, that would let me Stan and cry for a bit more.

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I finally got to watch this movie after deciding to rewatch the TV Special (prequel).

First, I'd like to discuss its similarities and differences with the prequel. Just like it, the movie starts off with the mysteries right away wherein cases of different origins actually intertwine with one another. This time, however, everything is a tad more complicated than before. We weren't just touching the cases themselves, but even tackling a diverse number of topics ranging from historical events to personal past grudges and more. It was also amusing seeing Mitarai outside nearly the whole time in this film, although all things considered, the cases here did not happen around his place after all [and since Ishioka isn't around for this one, he doesn't have anyone to push on his work to]. The movie also had a much more serious tone than that of the prequel.

Tamaki Hiroshi's Mitarai still remains as charismatic and wise as before, albeit due to the change in the cast and character relationships, it's a bit lonely this time around. I have to admit, the surrounding characters were pretty much just prop, only following Mitarai's lead, as opposed to his conversations with i.e. Ishioka in the prequel that sure added amusement. What interests me as well is that Ishioka's character seems to be presented somewhat differently here. Domoto Koichi's Ishioka was refined yet curious and engaging at the same time. Ishioka in this (although we only get to hear him during a phone call) was much "louder"; Ogawa (Hirose Alice) also shares this very trait which can be annoying and noisy to perceive. We also get to see more faces this time around, so the jump to each of them can be a little overwhelming to follow.

While it is a fun thriller, I would have to admit that a number of things were happening at once and the diversity of subjects we're exposed to do not add up much to the mystery; they turned into rather extensive backstories that complicated things further. Knowing them *did* help in revealing the answers of the cases, but in my opinion, we ended up spending too much time unpacking those that we didn't really focus on the cases themselves.

I wouldn't go out to recommend this, but nonetheless, I enjoyed the journey towards the end.

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A movie worth watching and reflecting.

The movie was whole black and white and it didn’t bother me. The cinematic experience was unique and it tackles the HIV issue well as it showed the real perspective in a creative way for us to bring attention and be serious about this topic. This movie does not romanticized as it showed sensitive content but I hope this film will change the point of view of HIV, poverty and discrimination etc. In the Philippines.

I like the movie. The way the actors portrayed their character is great and honest. It truly showed the harsh reality where a lot of people are experiencing these days. The movie does not only focus with the HIV issue but also to irresponsible parents, poverty, toxic family, politics, life choices, pedophile and drugs. A lot more actually, the small details in the movie speaks a lot that connects the life of Kalel. Knowing that he’s just 15 years old, pains me. Realizing how many young people are experiencing the similar way are just hard to take in. This should bring major awareness for us to open about this topic and to help prevent, not just the HIV but the other issues as well, through the suffering of Kalel which is even not his fault but the toxic relationship of one’s society we live in.

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