Hovaxu
A pack of emotion, plot twist and superb acting
The story started with Liang Wen Chao (Chang Chen), a prosecutor, was near his final stage of cancer, wanted to do everything he could to support his wife and in born baby. Hence, he decided to take on the high profile murder case of Wang Shicong, a CEO of billionaire biotech corporation.
The Soul is a sci-fi thriller with murder mysteries, and many plot twists. It is heavily dark, blood and violent but at the same time, there are also many tear-jerker emotional scenes.
Despite some overuse and repeat of spiritual belief, I am sold by Chang Chen and Janine Chang’s performance. Both portray mixture of strong emotions, but at the same time resolute, solid and intelligent. Their love is unconditional and that they would do everything for their partner.
Knowing Chang Chen has to lose almost 10kg( 20lbs) to make his cancer patient’s character believable, I’m sold. His acting is stunning. His body movement portraying his character half paralyzed after undergoing brain surgery is impeccable and flawless.
The final scene is smart, but it’s predictable to me: Love will always remain.
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This review may contain spoilers
Poor and Greed can distort a human.
When my significant other told me: Hey, Squid game top number one ranking in US on Netflix. I was like, okay let’s watch it.
Now, having heard mix reviews that It is plagiarized from Battle Royale or Alice in Borderland, but since I have not watched any of those mentioned, I tune in with the least expectation, though knowing dark theme is unavoidable.
After more than 9 hours of cursing, screaming, and hiding inside my blanket, here is my review:
The story begins with Gi Hoon, a man hit his low end due to some failed business decisions, in bad debt, leaching off his mother’s bank account , gambling days by days and cab barely afford finance for him and his daughter.
Then one day, he was chosen to play the game in which he could win millions of dollars.
There were 456 players selected to play 6 rounds of game which resembled childhood game; however, the difference is that if one makes mistake or luck is not with him, he/ she would end with brutal death.
Each main character had their backstories and reasons for entering the game. None was righteous nor skillful, in the end they need to take all desperate measurements in order survive.
This is Netflix original series and thus the quality production is top notched. The casting is phenomenal, and I’m very impressed and surprised with model turns actress Jung Ho Yeon. Her acting is raw and real and you wouldn’t know this is her first debut series. Wowww, such a talent..
There are also two big cameos Gong Yoo and Lee Byung Hun. Their appearances only few minutes on screen; however, their exceptional acting really elevate the series to another level.
What I do not like is the character of Gi Hoon, it’s unconvincing and unrealistic to me for him to make a turn at the end. Also the twist of the master behind the game and the reasons
is just plain boring and predictable.
Overall, Hwang Dong Hyuk has successfully conveyed his message to the audiences: this society is full of unfairness and divided, there are the poor struggling to live while the rich, after meeting their physical needs, what made them happy is nothing but toying with the lowest class.
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This review may contain spoilers
A love story continues to living on.
I have been waiting for this drama for a while and once it is released, I’m so excited. I have to say that its quality did not fail me. Thanks to Allen Ren and Bailu, they portrait their characters so well and even though there are not much kinship but you can feel their chemistry is firing. Their eyes when they look at each other’s already tells everyone that they are deeply deeply in love.The cinematography, the costumes are spot on.
This is a prequel to “Forever and Ever” which setting is in modern time. In the novel, their past story is really short and based on female lead memories but then when they made dramas, they made into two parts, past and modern time.
Please do not hesitate to watch it regardless of the ending because as it said, it’s not the ending yet.. their love continues on to modern time.
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When you only live to survive
Even when I finished watching the Brother hood of blade, I don’t feel the urge to write anything. Only after I’m done with Brotherhood of blades 2, which is considered the prequel of the first one, then it gives me some motivation to put down some thought.
In Brotherhood Of Blades 2, our main lead Shen Lian( Chang Chen) was caught in political conspiracy with his assignment to kill rebel painter Bei Zhai ( Yang Mi) , whom he later fell in love.. Later, the story revealed with more plot twists, schemes, betrayals and everyone met their loose ends.
As the same in the first movie, the second one was also packed with so many spectacular action scenes. Those were shot in wide frame, presented in continuous shots, thus it is more realistic effect.
The fighting scenes were also raw and original, this is a truly original Wuxia that your eyes were feasted with tension and captivating scenes.
Also, I still think this part is even better in term of dynamic plot and character developments . The love between our main lead develop slowly, subtle but you can see their eyes communication speak louder than words.
And of course, the success of the movie also lay in the stellar performance of castings : a cold, calculated, but also yearn for love Chang Chen’s Shen Lian; a funny, witty, brave Lia Jie Lai’s Pei Lun, and a vulnerable, but brave and independent Yang Mi’s Bei Zhai.
Overall, this is such a wonderful movie to enjoy and another great movie of Chang Chen
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After 1000 years of separation, they finally deserve their happy ending forever and ever.
Their love story is heart wrenching in One and Only, so anyone who witnesses what they had been through in the past life is waiting for their happy ending in the Sequel Forever and Ever.
In this modern life, both ZSC and ShiYi are total different persons. ZSC is just an average normal dorky and shy professor with influential family background who mostly spent his time in lab and research.
ShiYi, on the other hand, is a beautiful and successful voice actor.
One day at the airport, ShiYi upon hearing the name ZSC through the intercom, she immediately followed him and their love starts to bloom…
I enjoy watching them together from being cute, shy, awkward to completely trust, respect, love and support each other wholeheartedly.
Both Allen and Bailu deliver their characters to my full expectation. Allen’s portrayal of ZSC in Forever And Ever is on point : a shy, introverted, details oriented chemistry professor, but very gentle and caring, is completely different from the righteous, heroic Prince Nanchen ZSC. ZSC in this modern life is the man of “actions speak louder than word”. Bai Lu, with her subtle and nuanced expression, brings freshness to Shiyi: an independent, caring, energetic voice actor who fully devoted her love to ZSC because ““I don’t have time. I don’t have time to use tactics, to use techniques. I need to seize every minute and second and just be with him”.
This is a slow pace romance, but adheres strictly 90% to the novel in chronically order. Everything is slowly revealed at the end. So it does require some patience from the viewers.
There are also many meaning subtle elements which can also be easily missed if you don’t really pay attention: ShiYi phone number, the coin ZSC gave ShiYi when she was sleeping at his grandma’s house, the envelope ZSC returned back to his brother as a warning: do not mess up with my wife.. or ZSC’s family name..
Having all said, due to Chinese censorship, the reincarnation theme has to be changed. So it is less convincible to understand ShiYi’s boldness toward ZSC on her first encounter with ZSC and agreed to be engaged with him over the phone just after 3 times meeting him.
There are some lack of creativities in term or language uses when the two are together in bed. They introduce ZSC a person who loves collecting Wu Songs, but instead of exploring and utilizing the beauty of Wu Songs to seduce his partner, they use the off mood line “I’m ready”. It is not only once but twice and the second time is with Shiyi repeating the same line. I really don’t understand the thought process behind this. Does the director/ writer underestimate our Wu Songs comprehension skills or are they just trying to be comic? If the latter is the case, then I don’t think it’s even funny. It is just unglamorous and lazy.
Despite some drawbacks, I still like the drama and enjoy both characters better than in the novel.
To sum up both OnO and FnE, let’s revisit what ZSC said to Shiyi in the novel which is just beautiful and yet, so emotional:
“I think, I must have used my beautiful bones as an exchange for you to have unrivalled beauty, as an exchange for you to remember me, as an exchange for you to be able to utter my name when your lips moved.”
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A warm, healing slice of life drama
After draining my mind and heart with Squid games and One and Only, I just need something warm, a slice of life drama, so I’m checking out ”Hometown Cha Cha Cha”. Because of ML’s recent scandal, I couldn’t bring myself to complete the last two episodes of the drama, but I think it’s still fair enough to wrap up the review.The script is nothing new. It is a story of Oh Hye Jin, an uptown girl with a promising professional career in Seoul, but had to move to remote seashore area in Gongjin to start her new life. There she met Hong Du Shik, an unemployed man, but kind and skillful, is willing to do any kind of job to help out the people in the village. He also had his hidden past and is trying to move on and live his simple life.
Oh Hye Jin is nice, but also cold toward people. She is straightforward, calculative and practical. She has a sense of upholding justice and does not sweet talk or sugarcoat. And because of that, there was some misunderstanding and she did not leave good impression on people.
However, with the help of Du Shik, people in town started to recognize the different warm side of Hye Jin, and she got to learn to open herself, understand that “life is not always fair to all people and thus everyone has his own stories and difficult time”.
When watching Hometown Cha Cha Cha, it reminds me of my hometown where both definitely has cultural similarity. People in town know each other. They gather together to eat, cook and gossip, but at the same time they help each other to overcome life challenging.
Aside from our main leads, the story also emphasize on side characters. Their daily stories and challenging they emphasize were truly reflecting realities that one may see them through their characters. We learn to appreciate our partners, to nurture parents-children relationship, to have good parenting and understanding our future generations.
I especially love our side couples Mi-Seon and Eun-Chul. Their cute interaction and confession always make me laugh and giggle.
Mi-Seon and Hye Jin friendship is truly golden, and that is one that everyone could wish for.
Overall it is a good slice of life drama though there are some clingy moment, and the music is just okay.
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A complete package of perfect production, good acting and good story.
HP2 again never fails me.The story continues with the lives of five friends from college to their workplacr and the people surrounding them.
All five characters Ik Jun, Jun Wan, Song Hwa, Jeong-won, Seok-Hyeong give me vibes of positive, fun and warm energy that I feel when I’m tired or sad, by just watching them, you just feel so much hopes and happiness.
What special about HP is they emphasize the humanity of profession rather than the life and death situation.
They treat their patient with sincerity and at the same time respect and understand the family member’s point of view which is very rare in medical dramas.
Music: I have nothing more to say, each episode is rewarded with true, authentic performance from the main leads that make you feel like you are watching their lives performances
It is proven that this drama is made with high quality production.
Acting wise: they make you feel like you are enjoying and witnessing their daily personal life instead of watching them acting. Everything blends naturally.
I would totally recommend this and this forever will be on my rewatch list.
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