Buddy Cop Comedy, and what else?

This drama has everything you would expect out of an action/mystery drama with a basic premise: a brash male lead whose curiosity knows no bounds, his sunbae who is unwittingly dragged into his schemes no matter how hard he tries to get out of them, a maknae who seems like an amateur but is the one who's doing most of the work, or at least most of the work they're actually supposed to be doing.

A female lead who is kind of a badass but becomes kind of childish around the male lead (as does he around her) to depict their contradicting personalities, another sunbae the crew used to work with, and now the male lead dislikes for a reason that is very intricately connected to the plot and of course, a very handsome villain who puts his fists to use first.

We have the storyline of several different cases converging to seemingly become one case, and all signs pointing to our villain being the one behind all this. There are tons of characters and you don't really know what's going on, until you do, and of course, it all culminates in the final few episodes.

So what else? Well, the comedy is pretty good, as is the mystery. The drama being set around the Han river also makes it a pretty new addition to the genre. The pacing is good and for 6 episodes, they tie up the loose ends pretty well. And the crew actually seems to do their jobs (in addition to the crime scenes they inadvertently come across, of course). The small plotholes and few of the conclusions being not so satisfactory aside, this was a fun watch.

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The best short film I have watched. A beautiful story about first love, a mother’s love and love in all.

THE STORY:
The story follows Than and his mother. Than and his mother have a close relationship and know almost everything about each other. What Than’s mother doesn’t know is her son is gay and in a relationship with Palm. When she discovers their relationship, she is angry and causes Than to storm out on her. While staying with Palm, he realises that he must right his relationship with his mother and returns home. At this time his mother does not talk of his sexual identity. All the while he has been chatting with a secret neighbour, who is revealed to have been his mother all along. Than realises his mother has always known. The next day, while he tries to apologise, his mother apologises instead. He also apologises for hurting her and they make up. The short ends with Than and Palm hugging signifying their happy relationship.

THE ACTING:
What great acting! Although this series has War as Than, the mother turned out to be the breakout star. The way she cried when apologising to Than had me crying.

THE PRODUCTION:
The production could have been handled better, but I believe for a short it did its job.

THE OST:
The OST is awesome. Boy Sompob is on the track list so you know it’s going to be good!

I hope everyone tries this at least one time, as this movie deserves way more love. I also hope this review makes you watch it. Thank You!

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What a Series! I was skeptical about watching it at first when the initial trailer was released, but I changed my mind after watching the pre series trailer. I was hooked from episode one and I still am. This was one of the series that everyone was looking forward to and it does not disappoint!

THE STORY:
The story is so fluffy! It will keep you smiling throughout the episode and is extremely addictive. It is sweet at times, makes you cry at times, but at the end of the day, it is extremely satisfactory . The storyline follows Tine and Sarawat and their relationship, most of the times. The rest of the time is dedicated to Mil, Phukong, Type and Man. Every single episode is so cute and makes you feel all warm inside.

THE ACTING:
So natural. The actors suit their roles very well and have executed them very well. The leads as well as the supporting actors are very good. Props to Win as this is his first series and he’s already amazing as Tine. He surely has a very ‘Bright’ future ahead of him?( Sorry for the pun). This series has made me fall in love all over again with actors I’m already familiar with, that’s how good it is.

THE PRODUCTION:
The production was handled very well for this series. The story has been consistent and so has the quality of the series. The team has done a very good job with this series.

THE OST:
The OST man! Every time I hear it I start smiling like an idiot and my grandma has started giving me dirty looks about how often I’m smiling to myself. It perfectly encapsulates the series and the feel the series is trying to give out. Bonus, I also love Scrubb now.

THE NEGATIVE:
The only negative of the series was how the story progressed. Until the minute, Sarawat and Tine were pretending everything was perfect, but once they became an actual couple, the story was thrown out the window. Also, it seemed like Tine was way more into Sarawat once they were dating. The last few episodes were extremely out of character for Sarawat, who at the beginning was very intent on announcing to the world that he loved Tine, but when it came to telling one girl, he was suddenly hesitant? This was what I didn’t like. Other than that still a great series.

THE ENDING:
This was seriously such a beautiful way to end the series. While I will admit I would have liked them to at least hold hands, this ending was perfect enough for me. All the couples got together in the end, and I would like to believe they’re all happy. I just finished it and I saw a lot of people complaining about the lack of kissing, so I’m saying this once again, it’s not just physical touch that matters. Every time I see Tine and Sarawat on screen, I can feel their chemistry and love, and I feel that’s enough. A great end to a great series.

I hope this review was helpful to everyone and helped you make the decision as to whether you were going to watch 2gether the series or not. Thank You!

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More action than plot

I wouldn't say I'm displeased with the special, but this had more action sequences than required and less plot than it needed, and that's not really what I wanted after waiting for quite a while for it to become available online.

The story wasn't quite up there in terms of intrigue, while they did manage to close up a few loose ends from the series, the special really adds nothing to the actual story. An new storyline, new characters, and it felt more like a new series than a continuation. Even the thing I've come to expect most from specials, a ton of romance and updates on the couples and characters, didn't really come through. It isn't a deal breaker though, The Sign was also primarily an action and mystery series, I just personally expected a bit more.

The production though remained consistent. Several questions answered, but new questions arise, the mystery/action/fantasy elements didn't have the right balance yet again, and the storytelling was a bit up and down, but after a while and after watching The Sign, I've become accustomed to it.

There were quite a few elements that did feel odd and a bit out of place, though ultimately it was fun to watch the IDF gang, and Phaya and Tharn on screen again. The ending was quite good as well, once again left me with a ton of questions, but also very curious.

Enjoyable, a little underwhelming and a lot of action. A LOT.

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Not sponsored by the Japan National Tourism Organization

I just watched over three hours of a tourism advertisement for Japan. Four guys roaming around Tokyo, hugging trees, eating food and singing. Of course, making out, unnecessarily.

I've watched a handful of movies and dramas where a lead travels to find themselves and unexpectedly ends up finding love, no, no, this isn't that. This barely came close. I genuinely love those kind of stories because they find a way to move you, bring out certain emotions, but this was nothing.

Two friends (one living in Japan, the other visiting him) meet two brothers and the four of them somehow end up living in one person's appartment for the duration of their stay in Japan.
They go out, eat food, visit tourist spots, sing all the time and.. that's it. It's just a repeat cycle of eat/drink/play a game/make out/go out. They also talk a lot, but most of it was inconsequential, nonsense conversations. And the ones that were supposed to deep and emotional didn't really feel that way.

This was just bad, and I have no way to assess what I actually feel about this series. I know I don't like it, so I guess that's something. At least the episodes were short, because I don't think I would have handled more of this well. I didn't handle what I watched well in the first place.

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23.5 + more wasted potential

There's been a lot of talk about 23.5, ever since the pilot teaser was released, and for good reason. But as of this moment, I'm just a bit dissapointed.

It took me a while to actually clear up my thoughts on this and write a review that was cohesive and not spoiler heavy, because despite my disappointment, a lot of the series is worth watching. A cute and fluffy rom - com that looks like it's been engulfed in peach lighting, it truly did have it's wonderful moments. Unfortunately, the bad almost edged out the good for me here.

Let's start with the positives: a positive and playful setting, supportive friends, supportive family (mostly), supportive teachers, a lot of cute moments between all the couples, and some wonderful supporting characters. It doesn't seem like much when banded together, but there were individually quite a few good moments. But this is also where the list of positives end.

With the rosy lens they used to shoot they series, it's almost like they forgot that sensitivity is important when you try to address important and relevant conversations. This is one of the major reasons my rating fell, hard. The (almost) complete disregard of awareness in the storytelling absolutely boggled me, characters not facing any sort of repurcussions for their actions, slightly troubling behaviour from the leads being glassed over to display forgiveness and understanding, writing off a character's genuine worries and fears as her first being weird and then others being mean, this is just part of the bad writing of the characters.
Not that this was helped much by the plot, it was set up in the way that the plot only magnified the problematic stuff that the characters did. From Ongsa manipulating Sun's feelings, to Sun gaslighting Ongsa, I was incredibly frustrated with a lot of the plotlines they had in place. I realise that these are strong words and I don't have a problem when dramas exhibit these behaviours for what they are, what really ticked me off was the fact that they trying to keep passing all this off as minor arguments, and the fact that they tried to convince us that all was perfect and healthy, when it wasn't.

As I write this, I can say I have no problems with plots where nothing happen. Even if it's just two people falling in love without much else happening, I can appreciate it for what it is, but this felt like an attempt to create something where a lot happens, but towards the end, nothing has truly happened. I honestly would have preferred something that was boring as opposed to this. Maybe try fleshing out the characters a bit more, giving them time to grow into themselves and establish relationships with the other characters? What we got was a ton of half developed characters in a bid to rush along a nothing plot, which meant that when it came time for us to understand why certain characters behaved totally out of character, we're left scratching our heads.

That leads me back to the characterisation. I feel like the characters were split into two: the ones who get development and the ones who don't. They had so many wonderful characters, and only about two or three of them had actual growth and context, and even then, just half done. The rest of them were perfect as they were, needed no growth, could do no wrong which only made it more frustrating when they did something wrong. I'm circling here so I'll conclude the review.

I realise this an incredibly long review, but I guess I just had a lot to say. And for all the faults I found, I will say that they truly did try to make something worthwhile, and they almost did. It genuinely did have some moments that made me so happy, but now I'm just so sad because I was expecting to love this a lot more. The acting was good, the chemistry was decent and like I mentioned, a few of the supporting characters were amazing. But the writing just let everything down.
I've said this before, but bad acting, subpar cinematography and editing can be supplemented, but a bad story? Drags everything down.
I really wish it hadn't.

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That was.. a trip..

I'd like to say I understood, but I'm clueless. I mean, I understood and I know what happened, but it's still beyond comprehension.

The plot revolves around Third, a bird watching enthusiast who hires Pai, a social companion to accompany him on a weekend trip to a national park to go bird watching. Each of them are in the midst of their respective personal turmoils and this excursion is the perfect excuse to forget everything and just have a fun and relaxing time. This is where it get convuluted, with the introduction of two other characters who contribute heavily to the plot.

And then just like that, it got.. boring. There was no big plot twist of any sorts because there were literally only four characters, the dots connected themselves way before they actually wanted us to connect them. All this mixed with incredibly repetitive flashbacks (that were also incredibly unnecessary) led to a truly weird ending. That ending literally came out of nowhere and contrasted every word and action of the main characters. They tried to make it seem like an open ending, but again it was incredibly obvious.

I'd like to say I'm disappointed, but that's not it. While everything is clear as it can be in the story, there's just general confusion while watching it because you don't know how you feel, about everything that happens in just two episodes.

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Fake it till you make it

Did they? Both their secrets are still intact at the end of the two episodes, but what was the point since nothing else really happened?

The plot is about two guys who enter into a pretend relationship to protect their respective secrets. And that's pretty much it. They know each other's secrets and they agree to keep those to themselves. A majority of the episodes was utilised to set up their contract relationship, and the rest of it was used to show that the conflict was resolved. It does sound like a well rounded plot when it's put that way, but there was so much missing.

Admittedly, Phol and Pheem do have chemistry, and by the end of the series, they do have an actual relationship that's somewhat endearing. Too bad we couldn't see much of that connection and development though, it was some wasted potential and screen time that they used to display flashbacks instead.

I'm a little disappointed, not going to lie, because I do love a good pretend relationship plot, but the lack of development and the wishy washy dialogues paired with an equally inconsistent story didn't really make for a good series.

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Rainfall Ruined

Sometimes, soulmates may meet, stay together until a task or life lesson is completed, and then move on. This is not a tragedy, only a matter of learning.
- Brian L. Weiss

Perhaps this would have been better if soulmates really were meant to part sometimes or at some time. Basis aside, the story promised something new, something that would go against the very premise of the drama, that soulmates don't always need to end up together. A situation where the lead doesn't necessarily end up with the person who promises to be his soulmate, or with anyone at all. As the episodes go on though, it becomes evident that this is through and through a "I'm the one for you and you're the one for me story".

The drama definitely starts out strong, the chemistry is clear, the premise is interesting and the characters seem empathetic and fleshed out. However, as the show goes on, small cracks begin to appear, and the story loses it's steam. The creators definitely want to create tension with the "who will the lead pick" storyline, but it's glaringly clear who he will. Filler scenes, uncharacteristic behaviour, unreasonable misunderstandings and unnecessary characters really drag down what could have been a solid story and the more you watch, the more uneventful it seems. Even the genuine conflicts that are presented at the beginning of the show as a roadblock for the potential couple are resoundingly solved within a matter of five minutes, but something that can be resolved with a quick conversation is dragged out for 3 episodes.

Interestingly, with a premise as promising as this, you expect some kind of follow through or proper explanations, but everything is ultimately chalked up to the rain gods playing their games and the very thing that led to this huge snowball is conveniently tossed aside (rather underwhelmingly) when the writers realise they've messed with it too much.

What should have been a simple story was needlessly contorted to create a drama that effectively lost all direction causing them to pull out a Hail Mary at the last moment, and let's just say this should have ended at episode 6, whether the story was complete or not.

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I'll say it - Jayden should have been the lead

What constitutes a good revenge drama: suspense, an intriguing lead, and of course, great revenge.

Doctor Lawyer lacks in all these categories and only makes up for it with the acting of Shin Sung Rok aka Jayden Lee.

The story of a good revenge drama depends on a fast paced and totally lead controlled narrative, but Han Yi Han, the lead here seems to depend upon the actions of others rather than his own to exact revenge. Even when the revenge is served, it feels like a let down when compared to other such dramas.

The acting doesn't help much either, with the other two leads delivering some of their scenes in the stoniest way possible.

The ending was no better, and I don't think the final arc of any character was satisfying enough. Just fell extremely flat.

Admittedly, this is not totally terrible, and has some absolutely brilliant moments too, but in retrospect, the drama could've been a tad better based off of the premise.

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Dissapointment noises

What did I expect really? That it would somehow become exponentially better after that dissapointment of a second half of Love Sea?

It didn't, and I'm not surprised. It's a bunch of nothing, which I've come to expect from specials, but this is also a bunch of BORING. And a bunch of nonsense, but I couldn't pay attention to most of it.
The island visuals were the only good thing, I'm just glad they didn't decide to split the time between that and Bangkok like Mut and Rak were going to.

The end credits were easily the best part.. the beach views and the crystal blue ocean.. and the fact that it was over, of course.
But hey, I finally figured out what his tattoo is. It's a quill and an infinity sign. Yay.

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A return to teamwork thrillers

I'm incredibly glad to see the return of investigative thrillers, and with it some great teamwork. Crash is innovative in some ways and follows the formula in others, creating the perfect balance. While maintaining the formula with the episodic arcs, typical rich boy villains and fathers, the very basis of the TCI (Traffic Crime Investigation) team was a very new concept.

Add to that an ensemble of dynamic characters, and subtle comedy, I was sold after the first couple of episodes. Despite the simplicity of the solution for each case, the teamwork displayed by the TCI squad made each of them worth the watch. That's what set this show apart from many other investigative thrillers for me, there was never a hint of distrust among the team, even when they weren't a team.

I was a little dissapointed with the main villains once again being rich jerks and their corrupted parents, but the direction in which they took the story, and the character arc of each individual, protagonist or antagonist, definitely made up for that disappointment.

I've missed my crime dramas with good teamwork (I realise I've used that word so many times, but it's true! It's really good), and Crash nailed it. Despite starting on a slow note, each episode picked up the pace with the fast plot, attention to detail and yes, incredible teamwork. It very much reminded me of some older crime shows and I can say with confidence that this is very much an underrated title. An underrated title you should give a try.

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The highs and lows.. of a wedding.

This is what I would categorise as an ensemble comedy, where each character gets their time to shine. Because this wedding was not only about the bride and the groom, it was about everyone who came together for them, and then a few more.

From the groom, to his boss eager to make a comeback, and the bride and her father wanting to display his skills, their friends nervous about the wedding performance, juniors and seniors wanting to make an impact on the wedding and the world, teachers, mentors, and family. And the wedding planner. Each character had a purpose to fulfill, closure to attain, goals to achieve, and all of it came to a head on this wedding date, and of course, chaos and hilarity came with it.

I loved the in depth look we got into not just the wedding trade, but the traditions of modern day Japanese wedding and the role of everyone part of the ceremony and reception. I didn't quite understand the need of the roles of the ex and the random thief, except for maybe comic relief (which I still think was unnecessary).

Funny, chaotic, maybe tapering off a bit for a while, fun nonetheless.

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Historical Accountancy

I'm pleasantly surprised by this movie. I won't go as far to say that it's perfect, but for being two hours long, there wasn't one dull moment.

The trope of being thrust into unfamiliar situations is usually one well done, and when the lead experiences it here, he rises to the occasion as one would expect, doing it better than I expected. With his rag tag group of friends and advisors, and adversaries unexpected, from all directions, it's up to our hero to gain the support of those he meets and turn their accounts around.

I especially loved the setting around accountancy and finances. Watching them come up with various solutions, and seeing how they handled the financial records was fascinating.

The principal takeaway though was the sense of family the lead created with all those around him. Not just with immediate family, the lead's persistence and positivity won over people left and right, making for a surprising and enjoyable watch.

Although it is foremost a comedy, I found it to be so much more as I watched on. This is the kind of title that can be watched on a lazy afternoon, and I assure it will keep you engrossed.

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The story of a man and his school meals.

This is the saying "good food, good mood" in cinematic form. I've always thought there's a correlation between the enjoyment of food and the environment we choose to consume it in, and I liked seeing that as a movie.

The story revolves around junior high teacher Amarida Yukio and his love for school lunches. We watch him navigate his enjoyment of school lunches, his relationship with the others in the school and the feeling of enjoying food in general. He also has a rival in the form of his student, Kaminou Gou, to see who can come up with the more creative way to eat lunch with the dishes they are presented with.

I laughed, I cringed, I was moved by something I had no backstory about, even though they did (two seasons and a movie prior), and somewhere between the childish rivalry to see who can enjoy food more and the pure instict to just enjoy good food, I saw the development of a wonderful mentor/mentee relationship.

Eat well, in your favourite environment and then give this movie a try :)

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