Reviews

Movies are built on “what ifs”

Devastating, cruel, heartaching, bleak like a domino effect of misfortune
Just like Saw and The Mist, everything would’ve been better if they worked together
But in this black cold interpretation, one bad choice, one act of unkindness, led to another bigger deeper hole

In ways no one was to blame, he was scammed and he lost everything and then some when the earthquake hit and took his family so all he had left was that empty shell of apartment
They had to kick the intruders cuz they almost killed a person
And with that power came dark responsibilities
He took his anger at the supermarket guy and I think that should’ve been the line
But that was just a spark that made the “outsiders” fear and despise the apartment ppl
For me, the most heartbreaking thing that really made me burst out crying was the “kidney” guy that hid the kids and mom, lose it and killed himself after he saw how the apartment ppl made the others who hid outsiders apologize so cruelly ?
Then it got darker when the “outsiders” attacked and 902 was just really trying to survive and fit the narrative of the apartment ppl, they were the ones who suggested the kicking, he just wanted to grasp and survive
But dang dude went crazy when he threw the kid in the never ending hole but the way he still tried to help the rest and threw the bomb… things were just so grey…
Now minsung and myunghwa should’ve stayed cuz 902 had time to go back to the ninth floor, yet another sad symbolic way of his desperation to grasp at the last thing he “owned”, but in ways minsung was already over his limit when he didn’t help out the ppl cuz he to was just desperate to survive with his wife
And myunghwa needed to go out and show the ironic and simple way ppl beside the “cockroaches” lives, a simple act of coliving and helping each other out
Tho another plot hole was how eventho they always went out to look for food, they rarely met other ppl and never found other survivors in such a big scale
Tho the news about the crazy apartment ppl would surely make ppl try hard not to show themselves

That was honestly beautifully acted tho, every emotion, every devastation was perfectly executed

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It's just beautiful

Love the storyline, love how it's presented, acting is great, camera work is even better and the chemistry between the main characters is very unique but I gotta add one more thing: the lack of all the "beauty filters" in this series is just beautiful and you don't get to see it in many series (especially these days) which is upsetting. So glad I found this one cause I just started getting tired of all those "sugary sweet" looking series with heavy filters on them so that that the actors look "cuter".. idk it's just nice to see some skin texture, you know? not anime like glossy blurry skin ?

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Paolo Rivero in movies 10-15 years ago, that's my big weakness. Moreover, here in a movie that is not subpar at all compared to a bunch of same old Pinoy movies where men like men. Unlucky in love, Raymund (Paolo) seeks relief in occasional one-night stands. His sister goes to Hong Kong for a few weeks and entrusts him with the care of her son Zach (Renz Valerio played it flawlessly). At a get-together party, Raymund meets Tim (Douglas Robinson, also from Symposium) and their love ignites... But how to combine the love of two men who have never experienced it, in addition, when his nephew Zach is also at home? Nicely acted, enjoyable and Pinoy movies also include such stupid things that I can see, for example, Raymund urinating in the toilet bowl over a folded board (seat) or wiping the floor in only one place, but that's just Pinoy and somehow horrified by it I'm not ...

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This movie was so funny... and so unexpected. Suppose it's because Kanna was in this as Akazukin, this whole setting felt like just another Gintama setting but it just made for an amusing setting. Just throw away all of the previous fairytale lore that we used to know of these characters because we're in for quite a different adventure!

We already know the original story of the Red Riding Hood, yet this movie was not about the young girl's trip to visit her grandmother and encountered the Big Bad Wolf. Akazukin has set out on a journey, yet along the way encountered an incident that led to the discovery of a murder! And it's up to Akazukin to identify the real culprit.

Akazukin met with Cinderella, and decided to help her to go to the ball. Yet they ended up involved in a murder investigation. And the truth later on end up unlike what anyone could've expected.

I totally didn't expect how Gintama-like this movie end up being. And Sato Jiro playing the king just brought back the old Kagura-Henpeita banter that always amuse me. And seriously I love the different take on the 'fairy god mother' trope in which in this movie was just an old witch who's a bit bad on magicking people's shoes and her niece who's a bit better at it.

I really enjoyed this movie, and it's a pity that it's not a serial drama. I would've love watching what other kinds of adventure that Akazukin would encounter.

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Romanticizing abuse in relationships..

Okay so first of all, this movie is veryyyyy graphic. In terms of sexual content and abuse. I spent half of my time pausing this movie because of the very very nauseating scenes. I may sound extra, but as all the other reviews say this movie includes rape.

What I don’t like about this film is the fact that it leads the victim back to his abuser and accepts him back to whatever you call a toxic relationship. I feel like stories like these just make out the victim to be clueless and “ask for it”. Like the amount of trauma this character had been through. Like the first chapter of the story was already upsetting, but the next one is a whole different story.

The only thing I could pick from this was, “there’s not much left until you experience the reality of life.” In the sense of this whole movie and manga included, that this movie is essentially about life and death.

One character wants to die but cannot bring himself to die. While the other character just wants to die. There’s nothing more to it. The overall story was compelling and it was very intimidating. I guess it would somehow make you think in the end.

But this also all roots down to consent and what to bring in a relationship. What the second main lead had, to him it was something special, and because he never had that closure of his other partner passing, he chose to “save” the first main lead. And sort of keep him away from him doing anything to himself. And I think because he chose to set him “free” in the end was because he knew he’d come back.

“Dangerous drugs of sex” has nothing to do with sec other then the dynamics of a toxic relationship with an abuser and a victim that has been affected by Stockholm syndrome. Because no one in a sane mind would willingly go back to such a person.

But regardless I think everything else was good. The acting was good, the music, etc.

I just would’ve liked a much less predictable and graphic story.

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inutile

Affrettato e infantile, pieno di buchi nella trama e, in definitiva, abbastanza inutile.
La coppia principale, che è anche l'unica, tutto sommato ha una chimica decente e la recitazione non lascia troppo a desiderare, così come i costumi, per quanto abbastanza dimessi, e le ambientazioni decisamente anonime. i combattimenti almeno, non fanno rabbrividire come quelli di altri drama. Il lieto fine è d'obbligo, ma il colpo di scena finale è talmente telefonato che la produzione deve aver pagato un capitale in bollette.
Il fatto che ne abbiano fatto un film forse l'ha penalizzato, magari ci avrebbe guadagnato un po' con la formula del mini drama, alla quale si perdona qualcosa di più. Il fatto che, invece, si trattasse di un film, ha fatto brillare tutte le cose negative. appena sufficiente, buono se si hanno un paio d'ore da buttar via.

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More teeth but not more fun than the original

If you watched surprise hit, The Meg (2018), and go into The Meg 2 expecting Shakespeare, you get what you get. The first Meg film was so bad it was hilariously funny. The second film had better acting than the first and tried to have a stronger plot and slightly better science. Unfortunately, it made the cardinal sin of focusing too much on the humans and not enough on the monsters. Which was perplexing given there were more Megalodons and a dangerous menagerie of creatures from the mysterious depths of the ocean.

Jason Statham returns as Jonas the Daredevil Diver who has turned into a fighter for eco-justice. Cai Shu Ya once again plays The Special Child, Mei Ying. This time Mei Ying is motherless and seems to be living at the Oceanic Institute either with Jonas or her uncle Jiu Ming. Jiu Ming (Wu Jing) is brilliant and reckless. He attempts to train a young Meg named Haiqi and is unafraid of being in the water with her. Cliff Curtis as Jonas' friend Mac and Page Kennedy as DJ (who can now swim and is no longer a terrible stereotype) are back as well. Along with new guy Jiu Ming, Melissanthi Mahut joins the good guys as Rigas, the fearless pilot.

This time instead of stumbling upon the Megs on their maiden voyage, the crew is studying the bottom of the Mariana Trench with better equipment and understanding of what lurks in the scientifically inexplicable dark…or so they believe. When they stumble upon a secret facility at the bottom of the ocean, they face betrayals and bad guys willing to do anything to protect their valuable secrets.

Statham made for a serviceable good guy who can face 90ft/27m ancient sharks without flinching and take down bad guys with his bare hands. Wu Jing was also shown as being super heroic and invincible. While I'm usually disappointed when an actor replaces an actress, Li Bing Bing struggled in her role as scientist and Mei Ying's mom in the first film. Wu Jing seemed to be enjoying his time running from prehistoric creatures and attacking a giant octopus. Curtis and Kennedy had more to do in this film instead of standing around wringing their hands. Mei Ying as the adventurous fourteen-year-old and Rigas as the tough talking pilot at least made viable female characters. The Big Bad and her minions were all but cartoon characters.

Once the critters in the water and on land showed up the movie became more interesting. Guys with guns, and not done well, really weren't. Were the confrontations between man and giant fish/octopus/freaky amphibians realistic? No. Were they fun? Most of the time, yes. There were a couple of very funny moments. The underwater scenes that should have been frightening and claustrophobic, weren't done particularly well. It was hard to care about the people who died because we didn't know them and didn't provide the jump factor either. My biggest complaint with the Megalodons was that they didn't show the size perspective very well. But there were plenty of fins and teeth. The monsters always appeared on the surface where there were revelers in the water to give the ginormous sharks and creatures plenty of people to choose from and the heroes lots of innocents to save. For those who are very squeamish the chomping wasn't too blood thirsty with a PG-13 rating.

It's hard to not compare the two movies. The Meg 2 had better acting and in some ways a better script than the original because while it also used stereotypes at least they weren't racist and sexist stereotypes. The drawback was that it took nearly a third of the movie to pick up traction. Jonas' fight with polluters in the opening scene had nothing to do with the rest of the movie except to give him a reason to pummel people. No one wants to watch someone talking on a microphone at the beginning of a giant shark movie either. Bring on the talent! For the genre, TM2 wasn't bad, if you watched Big Octopus you'll know what I'm talking about. Those who enjoyed The Meg may enjoy this one as well. If your tolerance for clichés, stilted dialogue, and people being chomped on by creatures is low, better to avoid this one. The Meg 2 may not have been an ex-squid-it Shakespeare Underwater, yet for a ridiculous movie about Megalodons, it wasn't carp either.


10/1/23

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O:G1 - Exactly what I hoped for

I've had my eye on this series for a few years now, but the boxset has been hard to come by (for a decent price). I had high hopes going into it, probably higher than they should have been too. However, I am so happy this film lived up to everything I wished for.

The movie moves at a breakneck pace, much like other Yakuza films from this period. What sets this one apart, however, is that we're given characters we can actually like and feel for, which is a bit of a rarity with this genre. While I found the twists to be a tad on the predictable side, it was still a pretty satisfying venture despite that. The only "real" criticism I have for this movie is, as is usual for these Japanese oldies, the fight scenes were pretty awful. This would have been a solid 10 if they had managed to fix that up. However, you know what you're getting into with these.

Can't recommend this enough if you're lucky to stumble across this set for a decent price.

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Executed Poorly but...

This is one of those movies where the story is there but the execution is not. For a low budget movie the production was excellent however, the story is lost in all of the mood and suspense building. The title is also not the best especially when this is more of a ghost story. I mean I guess one of the characters can be considered a stalker but not for the title to be Stalker.

The cast is really good too so that's a plus for the film. The FL is outstanding but unfortunately I don't know her name. She's not listed in the credits here and tried every avenue I could to try and find who she was. She was very believable as a person who seemed to be losing their mental faculties and Kim Jung Han was great as the perceived, crazy next door neighbor.

The movie is worth the watch at least once.

10/1/23

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F**k ideology

It is said that no happiness thrives during war times. You either kill or get killed, it’s all about survival no matter who you are against to. And yet, movies and pieces of media like this teach us that modern times are worry free and meaningless in the face of true mid-war misery. Even so, we would like to imagine they still had at least one drop of happiness during these times, be it fictional of not.
This movie not only portrays the fight for life that is war, but also sensitive topics that still apply to this day: ideology, power abuse by high ranked people, race discrimination, poverty instigated by war, domination and territory take over. All people are more or less equal and entitled for survival during war, even so, the best to deceive and take advantage is the one to win. Fool or be fooled kind of situation. Amidst all of this, five random people form a group to… dance? Who would have thought tap dance would be so entertaining to watch? I had a good feeling about this movie once I saw the poster and read the synopsis. I do not know much about tap dance or 50s American dance and culture, but I know for a fact that a bunch of bullied and discriminated people portrayed what freedom through dance means so damn well.
“A group made up of a Chinese prisoner who would’ve been a brilliant choreographer if it wasn’t for war, a bright confident strong-willed young woman who was forced to provide for her family after losing both her parents, a civilian who became a prisoner only because he was wrongfully accused of being the commies; a Communist dance who could’ve stood on the stage of the Carnegie Hall if it wasn’t for the political ideology and… a humble black man who has found his only friends in life in this four individuals. Ladies and gentlemen… we are… the SWING KIDS!”
And so they danced, they danced like they were free birds on their way to Broadway and the great great country of possibilities and freedom, America. Dance and music, these two fine arts have existed since the time of Gods and before that, but they are still the most expressive and fascinating universal language that breaks any kind of prejudice, barrier or fucking ideology and as far as it gets until the world will collapse on itself and there will be no music, no dancing and no laughter.
During the entire movie we see here and there tactical and war focused strategy and terminology, but the ending, I believe it’s a realistic one. No war causalities or compensation can cover the tragedy that happened during every kind of war, yet still, humanity will find another reason to dance and sing as if nothing happened.

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Important staple of the South Korean cinema: thought provoking but not enjoyable per se

Going through the cinematography of the very famous director Park Chan Wook, I was compelled to watch this movie for which he was acclaimed for. I am happy to have seen it for my cinematographic culture but I must admit that it was not a gratifying watch. Even if I recognized the quality of the overall cinematography as well as the concept and ideas behind this movie, I cannot say that I enjoyed it.

I found its pacing kind of sluggish and felt bored more than once watching it. I disliked quite strongly the main "hero" making it impossible to care and root for him. I also found the main female protagonist too meek and passive... Overall the female roles were really not the most developed which is honestly a shame as I feel that would have brought much more nuance and sensibility to the plot. Here, I was just not understanding those characters and was not able to empathize with any of them except maybe the "villain". It is the only character I kind of appreciated and was curious to see more of...I knew the film passed me by when I found myself more intrigued and supporting the antagonist than the hero...

The acting was good with solid performances from everyone casted. Even though their portraying is impressive, I had trouble to feel emotionally involved in what the characters were living through. In addition to a good cast, the production value is very nice as well. There are some really striking shots in terms of production, it is not as refined and polished as the most recent works of Park Chan Wook but there is clearly an already pretty strong identity and style to the work of this director. The soundtrack is not very memorable to me but felt very adequate while watching the movie.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for a noir action thriller centred around vengeance and quite enigmatic. It is an important piece for South Korean cinema and even though I did not "enjoy" it, I still think it is worth the watch and that it leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.

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Concrete description of human nature when in survival mode

Concrete Utopia doesn't do anything particularly new for the dystopian thriller sub-genre, but it’s consistently engaging and well-executed. is an emotional force of a film. Not concerned with the disaster itself or the spectacle it could employ to focus on the moment of tragedy, the film offers epic landscapes but always keeps an intimate eye on the people in the high rise.

Concrete Utopia presents a disturbing picture of humanity that dribbles into the absolute worst when the social structure is dismembered and survival becomes the only need of the hour. Talking about the direction, Uhm Tae Hwa did a good job in capturing raw human nature in every possible way. The cinematography and acting, especially by Lee Byung Hun, were also enthralling.

Concrete Utopia is a gripping, disturbing, and powerful representation of the worst of society, yet equally showcasing the best qualities in humans and how hope, community, and decency will always exist through the dust and devastation.

My Rating : 8.5/10

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Classic set up with unexpected twists

The group of main characters is pretty formulaic - we have the beauty, the thinker, the rich guy, the arrogant guy etc. - and so is the setting, a big locked mansion. The victims died in a locked room. A simple setup that is a classic in the investigation genre for a reason. After that, a riveting story unfolds. With fresh twists that will surprise even long-time fans of the genre. There is also slight comedy which will make you laugh without throwing off the suspense and mystery.

The actors did a great work embodying these characters so they feel like individuals rather than stereotypes. Special mentions Yin Zheng and Zhang Ben Yu. Yin Zheng lives up to every expectation I had for him in this movie, it is a delight to watch him act (if you are also considering watching this movie because of him you will not be disappointed). Now Zhang Ben Yu, I have never seen him before this movie, and I am very impressed - he brings all the mystery and wit his character needs to constantly keep you on your toes, well done!

The music works well and doesn't take away from the movie, but it isn't particularly memorable either.

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