If the Witcher was anything like GOT, it would be season 8 of GOT.. They have so much in common: rushed, awful storytelling and doesn't make any sense
Let me start by saying that I love the Witcher and I hate saying this but what a complete mess
The show is fun yes, I enjoy some of it yes but overall it was so confusing in terms of the timeline and time frame.. They jump back and forth in time without really making it obvious so I found myself questioning everything that happens in some moments
Another thing I hated is that the show was extremely rushed to the point that I felt like the character development of Yennefer didn't make sense at all, it's like over night she's a totally different person with no smooth transition whatsoever
One of the biggest flaws of this season is the directing and editing choices they've made.. The way they chose to tell their story mixing past and present in a hard to tell way killed it for me.. I would've enjoyed this show much more if I actually knew what was going on during the scenes not after
It's amazing how much and little progress they've made with this season at the same time LOL, it's like so much happened yet so little
Anyway I'm only saying this because I like the Witcher and want it to do better in future seasons
Overall season is 6/10
Yet Another Melodramatic Sageuk that fails to make sense with non-sensical plot and misunderstandings
This drama is full of action. It also provides you comedy scenes that makes you burst into loud out laugh. Sometimes, you will find it boring in the middle of the drama. But, don't give up. Just follow the stream and you will get the intense actions.
The concept of male cross-dressing is a refreshing thing in a drama and the first half of the drama was light hearted and humorous because of it but the second half took a turn and turned into the typical historical drama with the same old tried plot.
However, I thought this drama would be an epic drama with actions, assassinations, and betrayals. I thought the main character would be a zero to hero figure. Everything is so smooth, nothing wrong with the plot. It's enjoyable that makes you can't wait for the next episode. But, here's the main worst point of this drama:
But it's the performances of the ensemble cast that make me stay, along with the Director who at times brilliant executed the ambiance and create the chemistry. The chemistry between the cast also makes this drama enjoyable to watch (The power of the chemistry, heck not only the OTP. )
There is some compelling narrative going on that makes me stay in the third act, but alas I think the writers is not interested to unfold it better.
The ending was laughable and without much substance to be honest. Without spoiling I'll say that I don't understand how could they live happily with a dark cloud over their heads that can rain down at any time and wash away their peace.
It looks like the plot is skipped so much. Everything jumped to when the main character is back from dying to save his beloved girl without getting hurt or attacked by the enemy's soldiers. Then the conflicts are ended here. He and all his beloved ones live on a separated island peacefully, while the main conflict (throne stuff) is abandoned. When his enemies lost him and the soldiers, they didn't try to chase them as well. The story tells us the enemies choose the thone and the kingdom while the main character and protagonists choose the peaceful life on the separated island.
Intrigued, Frustrated and Disappointed
these were the emotions I carried while watching TWY. It was a show of great promise squandered for married couples romance.
I like Slow Burns , I like Time Travel and I love Thriller when executed well ; TWY is none of them while trying to be everything i like.
If you don't mind having numerous questions and suspicions unanswered until the final 2-3 episodes of a show, then you will love this. It has a steamy romance, several conflicts, a semi-confusing case of fraud, time travel (obviously), all mixed so that you're left in a whirlwind of confusion.
The drama focuses more on the mysteries of the future, on the bad guy in the office and on trying to figure out how to change one's fate. The drama starts kind of odd, with the guy meeting with the girl, and saving her from an accident. We then discover slowly his secret and her past. Sure, they get married very quickly, so if you're looking for a slow built romance, maybe this one isn't for you.
I wouldn't say that I was ever left on edge with this drama--there were no major cliff hangers that left me wanting more at the end of an episode, which may be a crucial fault as this drama was made to draw you in with its twists and turns in the plot. I will say that I was more often left confused than intrigued. I was really a fan of the first quarter of the drama, while I was bustling with questions they kept the plot line fairly light, due to the budding romance, and I wasn't too confused as to where the writers were trying to go with the show.
However, about halfway through the writers began to focus more on how the show was going to conclude and building up the drama to the finale and that's where things began to fall apart and really drag for me. It felt like the lead couple was constantly fighting, making up, and fighting again .... since the writers were trying to keep the audience in the dark about the backstory the only thing holding this drama together was the romance.
When there were things revealed, it was done in a confusing fashion and left you even more in the dark then before--don't get me wrong if it's done in the right way then this is great for viewers, however I didn't feel that way about this plot line. The couple episodes leading up to the finale are where things start to pick up again and I felt that the writers got things back on track and made the story interesting and entertaining again and finally, almost all but one or two questions I had were answered by the final episode .
Lee Je Hoon and Shin Min Ah...I have so much confusion with this coupling. I was completely on board with them for the first few episodes and was shocked at how well they seemed to be hitting it off together. But then things got pretty steamy between the two and pretty much made me cringe. There were literally some scenes where I just couldn't watch because it was painfully embarrassing. Granted it may have just been the overtly cheesy lines and the constant flip-flopping (fighting then making up) that made me not enjoy the two more.
Lee Je Hoon .. I am one of those people that still didn't watch Signal (saving it up for when i am about to give up on Kdramas) ... was a little disappointing ; it must be his character; I think he did a fairly well job at displaying all the proper conviction and emotions during his scenes and did Yoon So Joon's character justice.
Shin Min Ah...one of the prettiest faces ... there's just something about her that I'm unsure about or dislike or something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. As an actress she has so much room for improvement. I could not ever get on board with her crying scenes and there were so many of them! They were terrible, completely outrageous. At some points I was convinced she was laughing until they showed her face. I will say that there were times when she played her role convincingly, but because of those crying scenes I have to say I'm just not a fan.
Baek Hyun Jin played an unusual villain; one that I'm not too sure I liked. His character while a little mental, simply was played out all too reserved in my opinion. It felt to me like the character was stifled and wasn't at it's fullest potential--I really love the actors that are able to perfectly depict the psychotic tendencies of a villain rather than, in this case, just escalated frustrations. He is one of the reasons I rate this show 2 point slower ; the writers failed him or he failed the writers I am so confused ....
Remaining cast need no credit the performed average and were written so stupid that you can omit them from the thoughts!!
I overall, really enjoyed the soundtrack for this drama and I would never consider re-watching this show, the romance was too cheesy and plot is messed up and foremost the characters are too predictable that you wanna punch them .
The editing team that did a fantastic job of ensuring viewers weren't confused with when So Joon was in the future. I really appreciated the differential filters and the wide vs. full screen. At least I was never left wondering when it was the future and when it was the present!
Throughout the drama, you'll constantly hear the phrases: "Don't tell me!" Or "I can't tell you (God knows why!)" In places where just telling could've saved every damn thing!
You'll understand what I'm talking about if you decided to ignore my warning and watch anyway. You would need to conviction to finish this show but no convincing to start ; its one of those shows that seems like it has different writers or cast for 2/3 of the show.
The Mandalorian started out OK, but ended up as some half-baked, lazily written show that exist merely to lure parents to justify a Disney+ subscription. Kids get the usual Disney contents, moms get Baby Yoda, dads get Star Wars nerdy reference. The show almost feels like being made by a bunch of fanfiction writers with familiarity of the setting but zero sense of screen writing.
Nothing wrong with liking it, it's just the show appears to be all style and no substance.
Storyline shows no complexity at all. In fact, most of them are fillers. You can skip 4 of 8 episodes and you'll still understand the story just fine. Characters are completely uninteresting. None of them are developed. None of them had nuances: protagonists are morally good heroes; antagonists are one dimensional evils. The show relies only on a cute muppet and flashy action, but has zero substance. Had a potential great world-building with some details, but they chose to abandon it for rule of cool (and cute).
The "it's Star Wars, so it'll be simple" excuse commonly said by the series' defenders doesn't hold up if you actually consider other Star Wars titles such as Knights of the Old Republic, Republic Commando, Jedi Academy, Thrawn trilogy, the original and Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, and so on. Those titles are known for having remarkable storytelling; something that The Mandalorian doesn't have for its poverty of creative vision.
I still hate Red/Blue Harley. I much prefer Red/Black. That said I like her costuming MUCH better in this movie than Suicide Sqaud. Somehow between the costuming and the framing there's a LOT less "Look how sexy and skimpy Margot Robbie is dressed like a slutty Harley Quinn". I'd only seen one teaser video and I thought Harley looked stupid in her outfit. However on screen it worked a lot better than I thought it would. A lot of my biggest issues with the movie are weird shots and framing and the uninspired soundtrack. I mean I like Barracuda but I wish the score had more signature to it. Just generic pump up music and generic heartfelt music etc etc etc. The soundtrack need not be filled with covers of songs done better when they aren't slowed down RnB remixes or acoustic pop remixes. The James Brown joint (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H77fRz1rybs) was okay but honestly why not go full girl power out there. Why not give me a Spice Girls cover like maybe "Viva Forever". That would be interesting and in a movie with (level of violence) a little girl getting her face sliced and then ripped off maybe some of that creative energy could be spared to the music choices. I mean I hate Ariana Grande but women love her maybe a version of "Dangerous Woman" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnyBfSXdcTQ) would have been more fun and interesting or maybe Amy Winehouse who has choice jams beyond "Rehab" such as "You Sent Me Flying" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfZj2h1t0Jc) or "I Heard Love is Blind" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMM3HqKw9JA) and she has tons of club remixes for the fight scene rehash.
But there are inspired sequences in Birds of Prey like when Harley breaks into Gotham PD. It's a fun romp even if some of the physics completely break verisimilitude. The Breakup with Joker was great. Not seeing Joker was fine, and then roller derby. I liked how no one at roller derby really cared about Harley's level of violence. They just considered her weak for going back with Joker so many times. The eponymous Birds of Prey don't really have the character work that Harley has but they don't really need it.
When Huntress came on screen i didn't like her. I wasn't feeling this dark comedy take on Huntress but very soon I was flipped on that as well. Rosie Perez is still cute. Ali Wong was fine. I still don't see Ewan McGregor, man that guy's face has changed a lot. But everyone is good. The character are fun. The ones I complain about are the guys actually Zsasz was kinda odd, Black Mask is still confusing as a character. I don't know him, I don't understand why he has his mask or when he wears it. I thought it might be related to his gloves but we never really learn. Harley was mostly good. I think her best fight scene was when she had a bat though. That was some creative, interesting fighting that felt like Harley's character. It fit. I wish it was edited better with longer and/or wider shots. But uninspired fight scenes are a staples of action movies now and Harley Quinn is of no particular exception to this.
The funniest part of the movie was everyone staying to the end credits scene to get trolled. It was beautiful. The guy in front of me was literally upset "I wasted 3 minutes of my life for that". I say stay for it though just for the giggles. Birds of Prey is something the DC universe needs more of. Fun. It's dumb, there's scenes that don't make any sense. Bad guys standing around waiting to be hit but in the end.. it's just got fun. Genuine fun like Wonder Woman had genuine sincerity (as opposed to constant sarcasm). Well worth the price of admission even if it doesn't have Oracle.
“Do it!”
I’m surprised they added that in there despite all the memes.
Anyway…
A long time ago...four years to be distinct; the space opera ‘Star Wars’ returned to cinemas with ‘The Force Awakens', that brought back the bittersweet experience that fans have been craving for over 30 years. Well lets just say Christmas was magical that year. While I wasn’t quite as wowed as everyone else, but I still enjoyed it otherwise and I was interested where the story will go after J.J. Abrams left his “mystery box” of questions for another director to answer. How exciting and epic the next years will be.
And then the sequel and two spin-offs happened. Well lets just say my interest for these new movies has completely evaporated. Sad times indeed. And no I don’t feel like I’m being overly negative in the heat this movie is receiving, because right now, at this very moment, my thoughts and overall feeling on this movie are genuine, and re-watching it isn’t going to safe it. I’m not disappointed or angry, because at this point I stopped caring.
‘Rise of Skywalker’ is a factory made movie with no heart, no soul, and no magic. Words and phrases like: bold, epic, and satisfying - are not the type of words that I would describe this final chapter in the Skywalker saga. I can’t call something bold if it played things incredibly safe. Each movie exists just to shred up and apologize for what came before it.
J.J. Abrams can be hit or miss sometimes, but I must admit he had a difficult task to follow up on ‘Last Jedi’ and Rian Johnson undoing his mystery box questions. If that wasn’t bad enough, the death of Carrie Fisher also had a massive effect on the story, and including her into the movie, while respecting her legacy and giving her as much screen time with the limited deleted footage they have. Abrams sadly treads on familiar ground and doesn't really handle the originals (or even the prequels) with respect. This is literally a remake of ‘Return of The Jedi’.
The story in this movie is almost nonexistent. It’s so rushed that you can’t catch a breather amidst the chaos. Nothing flows naturally. Characters running around and jumping from location to location. I think the quick pace easily hides the poor writing and plot holes. I also thought the title crawl is a bit off and felt it was written by a Reddit user. From the moment the movie starts until it ends nothing makes a lick of sense.
I think the biggest waste of opportunity is the character of Finn, because the potential of greatness was set up in ‘The Force Awakens’, and they didn’t do a single thing with it. I mean, a Stormtrooper who revolt against the corrupt and sinister empire, which is something we haven’t seen before. Heck, a long time ago he held a lightsaber. Unfortunately in this movie he’s a comedic buffoon that sweats and shouts a lot. What a waste of John Boyega’s talent. They did him dirty.
I like Daisy Ridley, not so much on Rey. I don’t want to jump on any bandwagon here, but I don’t understand how someone can be so over powered and skillful at the force with barely any training. Whenever there is training it’s over before you know it. There was a point where I said to myself, “Who taught her to do that?”, or “how the hell did she do that?”. I really struggled to emotionally connect with Rey, because there’s nothing more dull than a character with no flaws or growth.
The strongest element throughout these three movies was Kylo Ren by the magnificent Adam Driver. This guy literally carried this series on his back. At least his character as an arc, and not just wasted potential. I actually connected with his inner conflict between the dark side and the light side.
The cinematography looks beautiful and absolutely striking. The visuals and music will always be great with these movies regardless on the actual movie.
Emperor Palpatine is back...for some reason. The vague explanation of why he’s back made it clear to me that Disney had no plan from the start for these new movies. Still, Ian McDiarmid is fantastic as always. He oozes with evil and soaks up every wicked moment of it.
The awkward and ill-placed comedy from ‘Last Jedi’ is still present and it got worse and worse as it went along. With this being the finale, new characters still get introduce and get some development. Like, why are you introducing new characters now? Billy Dee Williams returns as the slick and classy Lando, but sadly doesn't really do much for the story. Richard E. Grant is great as the ruthless new commander of the First Oder with the small screen time he has. Dominic Monaghan, on the other hand, feels like an extra. Rose Tico has a smaller role this time around and her entire love triangle with Finn from ‘Last Jedi’ gets brush under the carpet. Kelly Marie Tran sure can’t catch a break.
The action sequences with the lightsaber fights and space battles were mostly forgettable. Even the scenes that stick to mind wasn’t that special. The camera fails to capture focal points with the grand scale lacking.
I like how there’s a lesbian couple towards the end that’s on screen for about two seconds. So when the studio want to market the movie for China, they could easily edit out it to make it more “marketable”. How progressive Disney.
Overall rating: An unsatisfying conclusion. At least ‘The Mandalorian’ is good.
so sherlock is over, and these are my thoughts on the finale in order of appearance:
since when the show is a horror movie and why was there a fucking clown.
the motion sensor was activated after the drone had landed and mycroft obviously knew enough about those explosives to realise that’s how they work, so why the hell did they wait for that to happen instead of immediately running away? oh wait. the drama.
they actually put that horrible cgi explosion from the trailer into the episode… why. later, in the very end, i will be reminded of it while watching sherlock and john run in slow mo.
why couldn’t mycroft, an important government figure and a relative of eurus, officially check up on her instead of the whole dress up game? and then he obviously shows us that he can fire or order around anyone in that prison which makes their shenanigans even less relevant. it’s really sad to see non-existent problems beings “solved” just to use screen time and mindlessly entertain the viewers. detective stories are supposed to be reasonable.
okay, i’m sorry but i’m not buying that “enslaving” bullshit. i want to know how she does it, because all we were given is some pieces of weird bullshit that wouldn’t faze anyone in their right mind. it reminds me of the cabbie from the pilot episode that supposedly talked his victims into killing themselves. but in the end we learned that he just threatened them with a fake gun. ah those good old times when the show had its wits and integrity still intact…
they sure like to deliberately make sherlock obtuse. i just don’t buy him missing that there’s no glass when he’s close to it and there’s still no reflexion. and shouldn’t the music sound muffled too or did the fiddle had its own voice modulator installed? interesting.
i know moriarty being alive would make no sense, but the show is guilty of occasionally doing that already, and he’s such a believably smart and psychotic character that’s interesting to watch that i would have gladly used my suspension of disbelief card.
i thought the girl on the plane was an idiot because she kept giving useless answers to important questions, but the reveal in the end explained it. 1-0, touche. then again, surely eurus would be imagining herself as the young version of herself and the sole reason they used another child actor is to keep the mystery up, which is a pretty cheap trick. 1-1.
now the real idiot (or more like a dumb plot device) here is undoubtedly molly. she fucking knows what sherlock does and in what kind of situations he sometime ends up being, and he obviously sounded nervous and agitated from the get go and eventually resorted to fucking begging, so why the hell couldn’t she trust him and just say what he asked her to? oh i know why. the drama. again. also her making sherlock “confess” his love for her she knows he doesn’t have literally came out of nowhere and had fanservice written all over it. and that conversation was so unrealistic and forced for the sake of plot progression it honestly made me cringe. god i wish they were more subtle with molly and her sad love for sherlock and all the irene adler mentions before it instead of jamming them into the storyline and reinforcing their awkward attempts to bring to life sherlock’s absent libido. they even made him destroy that coffin in a melodramatic fit, which was ridiculous because compared to the other experiments the molly incident surely warranted that kind of emotional outburst the least, no one had died after all. but wait, some fans are gonna love using that as proof for sherlock’s romantic feelings for molly, so that’s why it happened.
mycroft goading sherlock into killing him was painfully obvious, considering he’s the one who has been quite vocal about his brother not being a pragmatic automaton but a quite emotionally driven creature, and that he would never kill john, regardless of his intellectual capabilities.
so the lesson here is that you should pay more attention to your little sisters?..
you can’t just switch psychopathy on and off. but of course eurus was able to. in once instance she’s a cold blooded murderer that doesn’t understand the difference between killing someone innocent and someone guilty, in general she has a spontaneous child murder on her record, but oh no, the episode is almost over and we can’t possibly kill john watson (like we couldn't blow up molly or shoot mycroft, but had no problem axing mary, a character that no one gave two shits about, dead or alive, or moriarty, who had basically been the best character; good job on fucking up twice), the fans would rage, so let’s make our villain a crying scared little girl that longs for brotherly love and make her suddenly change her evil ways, so we could wrap this shit up and move on.
and why did they put her back in the place she can easily break out from? what even has changed? can’t she make the staff into her bitches again just by talking to them (eternal eyeroll) like she did before? yeah she’s not mad at sherlock anymore (because he gives her attention now! how cute), but she’s still a mentally disturbed person and the cage must get boring when you have a fiddle as your only source of entertainment.
so yeah, i basically wrote a fucking essay or more like a hateful ode to the show, but i don’t actually hate it, i still adore first two seasons, tolerate the third and i have been relatively entertained by the last one, this episode included, even if i undoubtedly think the show hasn't been clever for a long time and it's finale was less a detective and more a weird left-field saw tribute without everything that actually makes saw enjoyable. i'm writing this as a former fan that for the last few years has been mostly disappointed by the show they once loved, that’s all. i’m also bored and writing this kept my mind busy. that makes this otherwise useless “review” worth it, i guess.
There are bad movies and then there are movies that just aren´t for you. This belongs in the latter category.
Malick came back after 20 years and a who-is-who of Hollywood lined up to get even the slightest part in the movie, offering to work for free and even paying for it. And I don´t understand why. This is the third movie from Malick I watched. I didn´t made it through the first two (Knight of Cups & The New World) and in a way I didn´t made it through this one, too. After an hour with the prospect of another two ahead it faded into the background and I let play itself out barely taking notice of the plot anymore. Maybe if it would have been an hour shorter I would have stuck with it.
Malicks kind of filmmaking is of the sort that lets movie critics exult in critiques that are as hard to understand as his movies. I´m not bashing this, after all it is production wise a well made movie and the actors are doing their best. A lot of people like it and that is fine with me. But if you have, like me, had difficulties with a Malick movie before you can save the three hours because I am sure you won´t like this.
Talk about underwhelming. This is some really bad writing. Like everyone else, I was excited for this, but left disappointed. Chris Pine and Pedro Pascal were the best part of it. I really root for Gal Gadot, but her lack of acting skills really are noticeable with the bad writing. As for the movie, it just got more and more absurd as the movie went on. There were so many unnecessary scenes as well. These are some of the cons just off the top of my head?
Cons:
* The beginning - it kind of made the ending predictable on what was ultimately going to happen.
* The mall scene - it felt like a scene from a tv show. Also, how did the bad guys not die from that drop?
* The highway chase with the kids. How did the kids not hear a full convoy coming that were firing guns at each other?!? Also, how were they not seriously injured from that tumble?
* They didn't give Kristen Wiig's character enough time after the initial introduction. Her final transformation comes out of nowhere.
* Fireworks scene - How the hell did he not know that fireworks existed??
* Flying a Jet - How the hell does he know how to fly a technologically advanced jet?? I don't think the knowledge transfers over quite like that.
* Was Max Lord's kid just sitting in the office the entire duration of the plot? Was he being fed? Did he sleep on the floor and wear the clothes? Where was the mother?
* How come the transformation had to happen in another person's body, but nuclear missiles can appear out of nowhere?
*How come Diana never considered the moral ramifications of her wish? Like not even for a second. Weird.
Nothing makes sense in this episode.
Dialogues feel forced. Like the previous episode, everything is shoved just to make the plot moves. Especially terrible every time the rookie has a conversation.
This episode and the previous feel like series of unrelated events. Nothing literally happened in these two episodes. There are some cool throwbacks and references (cantina scene, dune sea, Amy Sedaris blurping Star Wars jargons, etc) but it's all fanservice. It appears the show is directed by people familiar with Star Wars universe but has zero sense of screen writing.
I thought I'd jot down some random thoughts I had watching Rise of Skywalker:
-Why does Kylo Ren wear his helmet only when it's NOT needed?
-Does Rey have a change of clothes? Can't she at least bring a carry on?
-Chewbacca's hair doesn't do well in dry desert conditions
-Lando's got connections. He must keep his LinkedIn account current
-Poe gets promoted to General and then hits his personal Peter principle
-I'd like to fix shit with Babu Frik in his workshop
-Rey isn't totally annoying in this movie
-Finn actually seems to matter. He's keeping Poe, Chewy, and Rey in line
-C3PO isn't totally annoying in this movie
-Do you need gravity to run around the deck of a Star Destroyer in space?
-Do you need air to run around the deck of a Star Destroyer in space?
-Why are data transfers done with RJ45 and IDE connectors? Where's the WiFi?
-Why did they name that new droid after an '80s Metal band?
-So that's what those blue slots on R2D2's front plate were for
-Why can't Zorii Bliss take off her helmet like everyone else?
-Advice to the Empire...Going forward, just give the Stormtroopers shotguns
-Ghost Luke walking out of the flaming Tie Fighter is the funniest thing I've seen in a movie all year
While looking for the dragonballs Kylo Vegeta Ren finds the emperor and he reveals a clown car with 10 trillion death stars in it. Instead of conquering the galaxy the emperor chooses to just give it to Kylo as long as he kills Rey, because she is a sayan prince or something.
Meanwhile Rey is also looking for the dragonballs and to find a dragonball she needs a wooden stick that some guy made 10 days ago.
Luke and Lanpedo have been looking for this stick for 10 years, but Rey finds it after falling in a hole and helping a snake. She blows up 10.000 people with a kamehameha, but is sad because she lost her dog. Their robot needs to talk with an alien monkey on another planet because it can give him red eyes. Rey goes on Kylos ship to find her stick, kills a few hundred more people with a gun and finds her dog. Rey notices the stick looks like a death star so they go to the death star and find the dragonball. Vegeta comes and is killed by Rey because his mom calls his name. Rey brings him back to life because she wants to smooch and kills his mother. Kylo finds his sayan spirit and becomes a good guy (he only killed a few million people no big deal). Rey rams her ship into another planet for fun and finds another stick that points to the emperors clown car. The emporer wants to get whipped, by his granddaugther, because he is into that. Rey charges a spirit bomb with the power of her 10 trillion fans, but the emporer snaps his fingers and kills all her fans in 1 hit. Kylo comes to help Rey whip her granddad, but he slips and falls down a staircase. Rey grants her grandad's his dying wish, but because the she used the wrong whip they are both dead now. Kylo revives Rey, they smooch and he turns into a ghost. Also his mom now is a ghost. Rey uses the dragonballs to destroy 10 trillion death stars and become a dirt farmer with a different last name, because some ghosts nod their head. Somehow her 10 trillion fans are back alive, her dog gets a medal and Lanpedo starts an inappropriate relationship.
10/10
I actually liked the Mockumentary approach, and sometimes it was the only thing keeping me interested, how they would react to eachothers stories was one of the high points of this show. However, as mentioned before, the two main leads are not likeable characters, and to be honest, at some points EVERYONE was pretty much annoying, there are three scenes were the other couple made the episode borderline un-watchable with how annoyed I was with their attitutes. In the end, the two side characters (the cop and the actress) stole the show for me, with a story that looked really interesting...or maybe the other ones were just oversaturated for me.
Personally this is not a show I would recommend just for the sake of having a beautiful cinematography and interesting approach of plot, because both of these things are dropped mid season and even the documentary falls as a background element, only being used once in a while, which actually just happens because friendships in this series are LAME, so instead of having a moment when the character can talk about their feelings with friends, we have them talking to the camera.
I do wanna point out tho, is refreshing to have a series that don't make 30 years old virgin stories about first love, everyone is adult, had sex, kissed before and had relationships just like any adult in that age would have.
The worst thing about this film isn't that it's snatched a lot from 'Se7en', nor the fact that it's attempting to lure its audience with three big Hollywood actors in it.
The worst thing about this film is what a wasteful script it has.
This film tries so hard to be all that David Fincher aspired to when he made both 'Se7en' and 'Zodiac', but contains none of the emotive allure.
I got fairly excited when I saw actors from 'The Wire' and 'Oz' in this film, but nothing from the script excited me.
Don't get me wrong: I didn't expect this film to excite me. If it'd been like Tarkovsky's 'Stalker', I'd be happy. I'm not.
Rami Malek plays an investigator who tries to solve a serial-killer mystery. Malek has made his voice so deep that it irritated me throughout the film. Bar that, his playing mimics that from 'Mr. Robot', the TV series that made him fairly famous.
Denzel Washington seems disengaged, not caring about this film at all. He's like a ghost, in a bad sense of the word.
Jared Leto is quite the same as Washington.
The main three actors probably don't have to make another film for as long as they live because they're wealthy, so in a sense, yeah, they chose to act in this film. I can't tell why. Leto overacts and most of what they do feels implausible.
I will fault the writer, who also directed this boring mess of a film.
The script contains a lot of vapid and audience-punishing film noir wannabe lines, stuff like 'He decided to suck a twelve-gauge'.
People don't speak like that in real life.
Even if this is just a fantasy film, consider how other, much greater noir-ish scripts were written. See one of the big films that Humphrey Bogart starred in, and you'll see what I mean.
Compare this film with Dan Gilroy's 'Nightcrawler', a fim that Gilroy both wrote and directed, using far less money than 'The Little Things'. There was an atmosphere. It had grace.
The main men in this tale are almost Gods: they feel and notice things. They're supernatural, not to be compared with the po-leese we know from 'The Wire'.
Speaking of people, check out the non-people: women. They're poorly represented in this thing. They cook, entertain, are murdered. That's women for you.
This film reminds me of 'Get Out', in the sense that I feel like everything is constructed, that the people in it, the dialogues, the interactions, everything felt contrived.
Part of me wants to read the script to try and understand the minds of the people who financed this; I guess that the big Hollywood-actor names made up their minds, and not what's supposed to make this film.
Don't see this. See 'Se7en' or 'Nightcrawler' instead.
probably wouldn't watch this again but the acting was great and it has the grungey 90s thriller vibe that it was going for in spades, with the addition of sharply hd imagery. this is less a movie about the hunt for a killer and more a movie about the way law enforcement can become consumed by things in cases that don't even propel them forward. rami malek did a great job making me care about the la county sheriff, that's a tall order. both protagonists are haunted, heartbreaking characters that the actors bring to life perfectly, and jared leto is finally playing someone as unbearable as he is irl so that's a great casting choice too. editing is occasionally odd but honestly with the pandemic i go into new movies expecting to suspend a little disbelief regardless of whether they filmed during 2020 or not.
all in all an enjoyable watch but still a bit forgettable even with the solid cast. last point though: did they NEED to go through the pains of talking about serious decomp only to show the victim julia with better complexion than me on a sleep deprived monday? like. just don't make a point about how disastrous the body is gonna look if it's not going to actually pan out that way.
Sensible , Modern and Practical romance portrayed in three decades of life
A narcissistic studious young bloke rejects a lovable young lady due to misjudgement ... fast forward to a decade ... the lad discovers the reality of the world and despite being smart is on the verge of abandoning his dreams.. the girl who only dreamed of supporting his dreams is living a dream life as most lovable actress and now meets the lad again to face hurdles together and they develop feelings... rest is history.
This is my first C-drama ; although it didn't have enough pull as Crash Landing on You that forayed my entry to Korean dramas; it is a pleasant watch and I will be comparing some aspects of the show which are well done compared to some typical K-dramas.
Pros :
- The chemistry between the leads are off the chart & how breathtaking they look every-time... The skin-ships are just so detailed, the small small things count, I like how they portray how real couple acts when they r in luv, like how they just can’t get their hands off each other, those eye contacts, etc...
- No 2nd leads! Yes there were 1ex for each of them, but they appeared briefly just for a closure, no annoying moment like the second leads and their evil plots or interaction with opposite leads and the exs
- No breakup! I love how healthy relationship this couple have... the angst came a bit only before they get together, but afterwards it’s happy relationship till the end... it’s a light fluffy romance... when needed break they were mature about it and didn't immediately reconcile when the other apologizes .. they learnt from their mistakes and adapted well
- No cliche moments (like accidental fall n kiss stuff)... what happens to them feels like a normal people relationship...
- The cinematography, the directing, the music, the editing, the wardrobe are all amazing!
- Good casts... There are people in there that I have never seen before but will remember and all support characters are basically angels xxx
- How it focuses on just getting in to relationship but evolving into marriage and beyond . Ep24 is the highlight for me ; those Long Distance Relationship - AI text goals and Ep26 the scene that got me into the show by an MDL article about Umbrella shielding the jealousy lol
Cons:
- First half is promoted by a Tencent Game and second half by Chinese Aerospace agencies. I am not kidding ; if you don't care about the promotional agenda about Motherland and the comparison with West you can skip them
- Like there is no conflict; as someone who is used to conflict in K-dramas like evil Second leads , Work Jealousy and evil Parents/Manager. Its impractical to be blessed with such wonderful colleagues , parents and importantly an idol manager who doesn't care about money
- The chinese paparazzi are harmless and at somepoint i event felt the ML gets more heads turned than the FL.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the drama but since I am a newbie to C-drama and chinese unlike Korean drama the enjoyment factor has dropped down as i need to follow subtitle more . I would defintely re-watch it i get into the habit of watching more C-dramas and learn some chinese .
P.S : Amazon Prime is missing the crucial Ep.30 with marriage scenes so find other source for that episode or complain to amazon.
This is a love story between two broken people who have abandonment / trust issues and trying to find a reason to stay alive.
The main cast was good ; great chemistry. The second cast were not that great ; their actions irritated me at time ; especially Jin-Sung an idiotic hot-head.
Song Hye Kyo does an excellent job playing a blind person.I have seen her in other dramas (DoS) and I think her acting improves with each role that she takes. If I didn't know better, then I would have thought she was blind.
The story/plot in last 3 espisodes is not upto the standards setout in the beginning.The ending was what expected of K-Drama not that i liked the twists.I also dislike a story when the writers have the characters do something that is totally out of character. I felt like in episode 15 and 16 that the writers did that with Young and Jin Sung. Honestly, after episode 15 I could care less what happened to Young. I hate wishy washy characters...Is she strong? Is she weak? The writers should have just picked something. It is like they thought they needed to add something to make it more interesting. I felt more deeply for Moo Cheol than Young and that is sad considering I saw a heck of a lot less of him in this drama than her. Beyond that, I think most of this drama is well paced and the cinematography is out of this world. I enjoy the basic story line. There are just so many things that I would change. I just felt disappointment as I ended this drama.
I think the music was beautiful.I won't rewatch this.If you like melodrama, then this is one you should watch. Most people like it, so don't make a decision to watch it or not based on my review.
After the master piece that was Doom at Your Service, I started this show to try and fill the hole that one had left. It had big shoes to fill, and it failed miserably.
I really struggled with the first few episodes and almost gave up. Everything would be going well, and then they'd add these horribly over the top scenes with extremely cringy, unfunny humor. I powered through because I saw potential on what the show was building with the main couple, and wanted to know how that would continue. Luckily, after episode five or so, the cringe lessened significantly (either that or I just grew desensitized).
As a whole, I have to say I think quite of bit of thought was put into writing this show. There were a fair number of characters and a ton of different plot lines, but somehow they all ended up being interconnected and tied together in some way or another. A lot of them I didn't care for, and wish would have been taken out for the sake of making the show shorter (I don't think this needed to be 20 episodes long). We spent a whole chunk of the show on storylines completely unrelated to them main couple and plot, but at least there was a point to everything that was added.
Lee Seung Gi definitely was the MVP of the show. His acting was fantastic. And him and Yeon Seo played quite well off each other. I really enjoyed every scene they did together.
However, coming back to the fact that I was expecting an epic, fantasy love story riddled with angst and heartbreak, this whole thing ended up being a huge disappointment. I went in fully expecting to cry, but I never even teared up.
If you're thinking of watching this and haven't seen Doom yet, go watch that one instead, it's better in every single aspect.
Another unimpressive office romance
If you have see What's Wrong with Secretary Kim , She's Pretty and My Boss is Shy etc ... this has pretty similar cliches , trauma and the past connections. Despite that once in a while we need to indulge in a sweet romance especially after a disappointment like My Extraordinary You
Two attractive leads does not make a great rom-com. CONTENT matters. I was able to quickly guess who was who and what the relationship was from the get go ... so the mystery was out. The love triangles were unimaginative. I couldn’t find anything exciting to look forward to from episode to episode.
Fangirling was shown as a completely normal thing here. Deok Mi and Seon Joo are both in their 30s, but they are fangirls. Why not? I’m not with people that say she was too old to be a fan girl. It’s not the fangirling that makes this show a fail. BUT half-way through the PD drops the fangirl plot and there is no conclusion that outing !!! I found myself fast forwarding through most of the episodes because the content was just dull after 8 episodes we know the ending but its not arriving yet !!!
The cast for this show was phenomenal and while I didn’t like some characters and maybe they weren’t needed the actors/actresses that played them played them relatively well (yes even crazy director). I don’t particularly like any other character besides the main leads and perhaps Cha Shi An and the child.
Park Min Young is one of my favorite actresses and Kim Jae Wook is great in this drama their chemistry and Jae Wook's brilliant portrayal of a perfect boyfriend, you can't hate on this lead couple. Nothing much to write about the characters but both of them have great chemistry and she knows how to do an onscreen kiss right; She sizzles here as does the male lead; It has lots of real kisses and skin-ship too.
Seon Joo and Deok Mi were friendship goals honestly. Seon Joo is my favourite character here and I loved their relationship with her husband. And their child was sooo cute!
I think Eun Gi and Cindy were pretty pointless here, especially Cindy. At first, she seemed to be the antagonist, but then she became just a random character who had some funny scenes here and there; she does have a good character development when she is kicked out of home for fangirling. its cute she was paired with Eun Gi at the end as we can see some sparks but should invested more time instead of making a obvious surprise . As for Eun Gi, he was sometimes annoying and his presence didn't really affect the story. I guess the writer just needed a second lead, because what is a rom-com without a second lead? do they have make it an hopeless incest ? And Ryan's friend was also annoying. I don't even remember her name, I couldn't get the point of her existence in the drama; should have made her more relevant even if it means making her non-neutral!!
The show has it’s funny, cute, a handful of decent lines moments. There was no toxic relationship so that was a plus. The acting is good as well, but none of this was able to save this show. It would have been tolerable if it had ended on episode 14 but the additional unnecessary plot ; which u can guess half-way through due to the nightmares shown to stretch it to episode 15 & 16 left me even more dejected. Is there some unwritten rule that says there has to be some childhood connection for couple to be fated that this has to be a troupe in every other drama?
The music was also wonderful and matched very well ... 'Precious Little Girl' is still echoing inside my head. The re-watch value is a bit low because while I loved watching their romance, since the story isn’t really there I feel that it doesn’t really make me want to re-watch the drama. Totally recommend this show for those that want a racy love romance ! with no evil second lead or nerve-wracking plot twists
Below average. The mysery was expressed with a lot of standard questions to to the main charcaters self in the dialogue, or obvious neon light style obstacles in the main character's path. So the journey wasn't interesting, subtle or even well crafted. Did it make me think? No. The movie is about as intellegent as an average hollywood action movie, which doesnt really bother me. In that way it's on par with something like Sin City. The main character I didn't care for, nor was he interesting and he didnt realoy develop. So he was a fighting expert because he watched fighting on tv for years and practiced? Don't think so. And despite knowing a life and humanity before being locked up he seems all feral on release. Didn't work for me. And yes he stayed wild the whole time. He may as well worn a sign that said 'gunna kill ya n eat ya.' Sure he's driven by revenge, revenge alone, but in the end that makes this movie and character very one dimensional. It's like watching a movie version of a very basic Japanese comic. Also having classical music play to extreme violence seemed a cliché contrast, like a 12 year old trying to be arty. I've read some say people don't get this movie because it's not stupid hollywood, but it's very simular to stupid hollywood. This is the type of movie people like and read into way too much to seem intellectual and serious about movies. You could read into postman pat and make that art if you try hard enough.
Before you watch this movie, a tip: if you don't understand German, watch it without subtitles, it's a completely different experience.
I felt like I watched two different movies. At first I started to watch with full subtitles, so by the time I reached 1 hour into the movie, while they were rehearsing the heist, I thought the movie was pretty average, other than the exceptional one-take aspect that we all know about. So I thought to myself: what if I watch it like Victoria? That whole heist rehearsal scene would be completely different and confusing, which I think is something that Victoria might be thinking and feeling. So I look it up online and saw that some people recommend watching without subtitles. So I started to watch the film again, and it was nothing like the first time. Sure, you don't understand 80% of the dialog, but you get something else, you get to experience what Victoria is going through, she also don't understand German, so other than the Sonne translation, you have no clue about what is happening, and to me that's the best part of this movie, to experience exactly what Victoria is going through, to discover with her what is happening, to feel confused just like she is feeling, trying to understand things through their body language, through some words that are similar to English. It gave to me a whole new perspective. But since I only discovered this halfway through the movie, the experience was kinda ruined for me, so for that I'll only give 7/10
So, I watched 'Victoria' and I have mixed feelings about it. For those of you who don't know, 'Victoria' is a German heist movie filmed all in one take - quite the impressive selling point if you ask me. Credit where credit is due, this film is nothing short of an achievement. The level of planning, timing, and coordination that it took to make this one-shot movie is absolutely awe-inspiring. There were several shots in which the camera was behind a ledge, and when the camera moves up to see what's behind the ledge, in the background, we see an action taking place at that exact moment. It's moments like those that really show that talent involved in making this film.
Now, although this ambitious single-take selling point is extremely impressive, it is just one aspect of the film. And as much as I loved and enjoyed the movie, there were a few aspects that were kind of lacking - one of those aspects being post-production audio. The film had a good soundtrack, and for the most part I didn't mind the extra music being there. But in one scene, instead of the music accompanying the sounds in the film, it literally replaced them. All of a sudden, at a very unfitting moment, the film decided that what the characters were saying wasn't really important. It kind of seemed like the music was only there as a cover-up. Maybe one of the actors flubbed their lines, maybe they couldn't fit the mic guy in the elevator; it just seemed really weird and out of place for the characters' voices to suddenly be muted.
Closer to the middle of the movie, we hear this inexplicable post-production nose-breathing sound. It happens three times in the span of less than fifteen minutes and then never happens again the entire movie. The main character's in a vehicle and all the sudden we can hear this really loud breathing. My initial thought was, "Is that the cameraman?", followed by, "Oh, maybe there's someone in there with her." Then she gets out of the vehicle, and a few minutes later the same thing happens again. It happens when the camera moves closer to her face and then stops when it moves away - At which point I think, "Oh, it's just a really bad foley to accentuate how intense this is for her." But then the third time it happens, the camera's nowhere near her and she shouldn't reasonably be making those noises. It's confusing, distracting, unfitting, and completely unnecessary, And all it would have taken to fix it would be to just not add it into the movie.
Later there's a sleeping baby in a crib. Later on, the camera's not looking at the baby and we hear it screaming and crying; and within seconds, as the camera looks back towards the baby, it is sleeping again, making it obvious that it was just a poorly done sound effect. Again, something that easily could have been fixed by just not adding it into the movie. And last but not least, the absolute worst culprit of post-production audio cheating was the piano scene. With the short clip of her playing piano in the trailer, it left me thinking one thing: if what she winds up playing is actually impressive and complicated, then that'll add a lot to the movie. I mean, if it takes a certain level of coordination and you fuck it up, then you have to start the whole movie over. So this was a scene that I was particularly looking forward to. And unfortunately it is some of the worst fake piano playing ever. You realize that you actually need to press down on the keys for it to make noise, right? This scene clearly only exists to impress the audience by having us think that she's actually playing, so having it cheated this poorly is kind of disappointing. And the way that this scene pretends to be doing something impressive is just misleading and dishonest.
Another issue that I had with this movie is that these are the stupidest characters ever of all time. Not going to spoil anything, but there are moments in this film where the characters are so stupid that they become unrelatable. And then if something bad happens to them, all I can think is, "Well, what did you think would happen?" Still, for the most part, this was a very entertaining and well executed movie. Every single performance on screen was absolutely fantastic, and that, combined with the pressure of not really wanting to mess up your lines, had me impressed, to say the least. Yes, it's flawed. But I think its achievements outweigh those flaws, so I would recommend checking this one out and seeing for yourself.
The first twist (the premise of the film) is that the lead investigator Richard is a corrupt cop/crime lord and every other cop in the team (aside from foreign-exchange cop Liu Jian) is not only equally corrupt but also super-loyal to Richard as he starts killing his own henchmen cops out of rage. In order to hunt down Liu Jian, the corrupt cops shoot machine guns and kill people in broad daylight in front of the hotel's kitchen staff and laundry workers, creating so many witnesses that it defies belief. This because Richard decided to frame Liu Jian for the murder of a criminal (it's not clear why Richard needs a fall guy anyway) and Jian had the nerve to run away instead of letting himself get shot. So Richard first deliberately creates a witness then instead of letting said witness escape he creates several dozen witnesses who are presumably silenced off-screen and also presumably needs to explain to his superiors how the hotel ended up riddled with bullet-holes while two of his henchmen blew up in the laundry chute.
The action scenes and the performances are competent, so technically it's fine. It would almost be worth a watch as mindless entertainment, but it keeps reminding you how poorly it's written, and the sidekick Jessica is among the more useless and annoying of action movie sidekicks.
THE UGLY: SAN ANDREAS
WRITING: 55
ACTING: 60
LOOK: 65
SOUND: 50
FEEL: 65
NOVELTY: 0
ENJOYMENT: 60
RE-WATCHABILITY: 15
INTRIGUE: 60
EXPECTATIONS: 50
THE GOOD:
We have seen just about every action hero actor appear in one of these movies, so it was given we’d see The Rock join the group sooner or later. He fits the role just as well as the others, if not better.
I enjoy Paul Giamatti in the typical role of the befuddled scientist trying to convince and warn everyone of impending doom.
The emotional dimension of a father determined to save his daughter to right his past wrongs and the themes explored around that are the only truly rewarding parts of this experience. The climax feels truly emotional and rewarding thanks to this.
THE BAD:
Another extremely formulaic disaster flick, down to every little plot detail, structure and character type. It makes the plot tiresome to follow and the conclusion predictable.
Alexandra Daddario has the looks but remains a wooden actress. It doesn’t help that she’s forced to play an incredibly clichéd character.
This film loses believability quickly in favour of cheap thrills. Everything is epicly crumbling down following the super earthquake, leaving the entirety of San Francisco in ruin.
When the introduction is done and dusted, we follow three separate groups (the parents, the children and the scientists) who try to survive, find each other and understand what is going on. All three plotlines are roughly handled and don’t go very in-depth into character emotions, but allow for Paul Giamatti to drop some comedic one-liners.
I’m allergic to forced plot devices that have no impact on the story other than to force certain characters into certain situations. The divorce between Ray and Emma is such a forced plot device that goes nowhere.
There is no real chemistry between Johnson and Carla Gugino and the forced love story between Daddario and Hugo Johnstone-Burt is cringeworthy.
THE UGLY:
Also known as Dwayne Johnson Commandeering Just About Every Vehicle Known to Man: The Movie.
THE VERDICT:
San Andreas marks a return of the disaster film in every conceivable way but also packs a surprising emotional punch in the finale.
48% = :heavy_minus_sign: = UGLY
"San Andreas" was just as big and stupid as I thought it would be. It reminded me of every other big disaster film of the last decade or so. You know, "The Day After Tomorrow", "2012", "Dante's Peak", that type of deal. But for as corny and predictable as this movie was, I was totally entertained.
Somehow, Dwayne Johnson's character was able to fly around in a rescue helicopter and actually save no one. Well, other than his wife and daughter. Anyone else caught along the entire crumbling California coast was toast, because Dwayne wasn't saving them. But then, who can blame him. He's married to Carla Gugino. I'd take the straightest line possible, too.
I found myself feeling a bit guilty for a moment or two about how much I was getting a charge out of the total carnage. Skyscrapers toppled, the ground split open and swallowed up whole suburbs and neighborhoods. And then to top if all off, look out for the Tsunami! Freighters and battleships were no match for Nature's wrath, as they were washed up over the Golden Gate bridge and into San Francisco, left hanging precariously from shattered buildings.
But Mother Nature herself was no match for The Rock. Anything in his way. Anything falling from above or falling out from under him was merely delaying his inevitable success in saving his family. It had me in stitches. I was laughing and shouting, "Hell Yeah, Dwayne!!!"
An FBI trainee infiltrates an ecologic terrorist group in order to bring them down. But the head of the Eco-terrorists is a lot more likeable than the cop. Said antagonist is driven by the kind of ecologic spirituality which animates most environmentalists these days: a love for Earth, and a disdain for those giant multinational corporations that make ample use of natural resources. This particular Eco-terrorist is not above hurting these multinationals where they hurt: sabotaging their operations. Also, he is a modern Robin Hood, distributing his ill-gotten gains among the poor. That makes him very likeable in the film. On the other hand, this Eco-terrorist doesn't care which corporate lackey gets hurt during his exploits. This part is not as well highlighted in the film.
The main antagonist is driven by some kind of spiritual connection to an older ecologic activist who drew up a list of 8 extreme-sport challenges which would guarantee those who performed them some kind of spiritual ecological enlightenment. This is the chief motif of the movie, and it is telling that it simply is there in order to provide wonderful scenes of extreme sports athletes doing their thing in breath-taking natural environments. Yes, those scenes are very nice to see. But the motif seems no more than an excuse for the daring scenes, even at the end when the head Eco-terrorist presumably meets his end while surfing 100 foot waves.
There is a romance between the undercover cop and one of the Eco-terrorists. But this motif too, is extremely underdeveloped, and didn't add anything of substance. She is there purely to incite the lower passions of male viewers --- because sex sells, and modern culture seems to demand under-dressed women in all movies. I wish that the movie had paid more attention to this motif. It is, after all, a mythological tragic event when the cop shoots the girl while she tries to escape a bank robbery. And yet, this has little effect on he cop. That is how under-developed this motif is.
Had to be one of the well done Ghost related shows I've seen but falls short in the end.
This is a drama where the character development was rich and quick, but the plot dragged on too much.It is not a totally bad drama and it does have a lot of romance in it.But it is simply not my kind of drama, it just lacked an intelligent plot. The central questions were very intriguing, notably the cause of Soon Ae's death, they were only really addressed in the last episodes of the drama. But still, while I felt that on the whole this drama's themes weren't well balanced, the quality was pretty consistent from start to end.
Despite the blurry romance line for a couple episodes (was it Soon Ae or Bong Sun the chef loved?), it was very touching from the three points of view. It was nice that all characters involved were ultimately respectful of one another other, and never turned petty or jealous.
I generally don't like Ghosts/Reapers/Robots impersonating someone but I was cheering for possessed Bong-Sun/Soon Ae more becuase the real Bong-Sun is so timid and boring initially. The pacing in the first half of the show is good and the interactions b/w Soon Ae & SunWoo were funny and interesting. The second half gets boring when it tried unveil the mystery behind SoonAe's death. The way they sidelined Soon Ae in the second half and focused more to fabricate the romance b/w Bong-Sun & Sun woo made it boring.
Chef Sun Woo, shy Bong Sun, brash Soon Ae, the policeman Sung Jae, Sun Woo's sweet sister Eun Hee, the cool and likeable second female lead Lee So Hyeong, Sun Woo's meddlesome but endearing mother, the reluctantly friendly shaman, Soon Ae's brother and father, and of course the hilarious crew at the restaurant: all these 14 characters were perfectly cast, and it really felt like the director managed to bring out what was special about each one of those actors, down to the more minor roles. Somehow Oh My Ghostess managed create a world of characters that felt very alive, all while keeping a strong focus on the romance between the leads.
Oh My Ghostess is truly a gentle drama, where one can wholly empathise with the characters because of some hidden flaw, weakness or insecurity -- and this goes from the leads to the villain. Something that touched me was the way this drama sometimes showed the gap there can be between a person's inner life, and the image that person projects exteriorly to other people. Bong Sun was a person with passion that came across as dull, Sun Woo was someone very unsure about himself, but who learned how to appear confident, Soon Ae was a very sensitive and caring person behind her loud antics, Sung Jae was someone deeply troubled with a happy mask, and the list goes on with Joon, the mother, the shaman, Eun Hee...
Park Bo Young was of course amazing, as everybody says, Jo Jung Suk was completely charming, and Kim Seul Gi managed to be both comedic and deep.
I definitely think this drama is worth a try, but stay away from it if it's a fast-moving mystery plot you're looking for! In terms of events, this drama is sloooooow (though I do like that)...
What? That's it? Stupid meteor and the stupid shield of the stupid ship that wasn't strong enough to disintegrate it.
I never thought it would be possible to make a 2 hour movie with basically only 2 actors. The studio must have paid good money, though, to cast them. The movie budget must have been half to pay the actors and the other half for sets and special effects.
Visually, it was very enthralling. Story wise, it was kinda dumb. I mean, how many stuff has to go mysteriously haywire before you start wondering if there's something wrong with the ship. As soon as the Deck Chief guy awoke, I would have awaken all the engineers of the ship's crew. It's ridiculous to leave the lives of 5200+ people in the hands of two random persons. Also, only ONE med pod? Seriously!? There are over 5000 people onboard the ship and there's only one friggin med pod? That's bullshit. And only two space suits. Sure, that makes sense.
I found the ending to be really unsatisfying (except for the whole jungle that formed. And the random chicken. That was hilarious). It would have been so much more meaningful if they'd had children, and at the end you learn they are the ones telling the story. As ir was, it was sorta disappointing.
I'm listening to the soundtrack right now to put me in the mood, which the OST is actually pretty darn good.
I think this movie frustrated me more than anything. There was so much fucking potential with the concept, and some of this movie does work, but most of the time, it comes off as generic Hollywood bullshit. When this movie does work, it works really well.
There's this one scene early on where, let me explain:
Chris Pratt's character has been awake by himself for almost a year now, and he's had enough of living alone, knowing he's just going to wait around to die. There's actually a very effective emotional scene where he gets into the airlock without a spacesuit on, and is about to open the airlock to kill himself. The music and the emotion on Pratt's face actually got to me, I don't know why.
The whole idea of being alone on a ship, doomed to live the rest of your life on it alone, is a fantastic idea. It's a great concept that could have so much to explore, the meaning of life, the importance of a partner, the possibilities of heartbreaking stories and lessons that could tapped into with this movie... and it doesn't amount to much. They take this great concept that could really talk about the meaning of life and could've been one of the best movies of 2016, ends up being butchered by studio executives, given a 150 million dollar budget to add action scenes, and a standard Hollywood romance story that's dumbed down for American audiences.
It really makes me sad, because there very brilliant glimpses of intrigue and worth-while storytelling, but that's all they were, glimpses. I wish this was more of an independent production, so a small group could actually flesh out some meaningful ideas with this idea.
They even have an 88 years later recap and a pop song for the end credits... fucking fantastic. When it does work, it works. The music is great and there are some well-done scenes, but it makes me more unhappy than happy. I want to love this movie, but I can't.
"Passengers" has an interesting story, solid cast, and raises it's questions, but was poorly exacted on screen. A story like this it could've been anything. A horror, mystery, romance or just a movie with Pratt by himself. Well technically all four are combined together. A premise this good, it tries to be everything at once, because it doesn't want to miss a opportunity of being something else. When you find out the actual story that the trailers once again lies about, it's pretty creepy and makes Pratt's character selfish.
But with that said, I actually enjoyed the movie and didn't hate it like everyone else. Which is surprising.
I liked the first 30 minutes of film that really got the feeling of fear and anxiety spot on. Even Chris Pratt was pretty damn in the first act, when he realizes he's the only person to wake up due to a malfunction with his pod. I actually brought into Pratt performance, as it did convince me he's scared for his life. Jennifer Lawrence is good in this, but sometimes overreacts in a few scenes that wasn't needed. Pratt and Lawrence had chemistry, but despite the lackluster script that doesn't fix or get around Pratt's character actions that are unforgiving. Or the third act.
The movie is filled with flaws, but at least I found some enjoyment with it (somehow). I mean, it wasn't really bored with it, so there's that.
