Reviews

A Satisfactory Introduction to the World of Nisekoi (Watch the Anime Next!)

Looking at the clips of the actors, this seems to be so-so, which is why I had to drag myself to watch this. Imagine my surprise when I liked what I saw.

I haven't seen the anime yet, so I have no prior knowledge of the story. I read somewhere that this live action movie was made for someone like me who hasn't seen the anime or read the manga. I was entertained so much. It's funny. It's a Yakuza comedy that reminds me of the anime 'Seto no Hanayome' / My Bride is a Mermaid.

But for people who have seen the anime first, this may seem like a cheap knockoff of the original. Keep this in mind as you may or may not like it depending on whether you've seen the anime or not.

Even if some details in this movie may annoy fans of the anime, it has adequately explained the basic plot, and based on the anime's trailer, it seems to be the same, but perhaps with some different execution of events. Also, it has adequately explained why this is called 'nisekoi' or 'false love.' This false love leads to hilarious events that I won't spoil you.

Suffice it to say that I am entertained enough by this movie that I am looking forward to watching the anime. Thus, it achieves its goal.

Some other remarks: As already mentioned, the main lead actors don't look that appealing as far as I'm concerned. (The third wheel was cute though.) If you feel the same way, don't let that deter you from watching it. It's worth watching.

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This is a lot more than just some trashy smut-film.

This is one of only a handful of movies I've ever watched where the sex scenes aren't gratuitous. Each one conveys something different, and when you add them all up, you have a very beautiful message, in which the director is trying to convey how for some people in some situations, sex and love aren't a straight line. Sometimes people, through complex situations, get wired differently in that area of life.

I see this movie as controversial because in a very distinct way, it romanticizes prostitution, and romanticizes dysfunctional sexuality. Yet the opposite side of that is that it humanizes sexual dysfunction, so that a person isn't defined by their kink, it's just another aspect of their personhood. Also in defense of the film, it is highly respectful of how it treats the topic of AIDS.

If you skip the dialogue and just watch for the smut factor, you miss the entire artistry of the movie. If you skip the smut and just watch for the dialogue, you also miss the artistry of the movie, because each sex scene has something to convey. In this sense, the movie is sort of genius. A very deliberate movie.

We have all seen shows that depict sex work as seedy, dirty, depressing, hopeless. This is the opposite side of that. I think it's relying on the concept that most of the viewers already have seen the sordid side of the sex industry and know what it entails, and this movie is almost like an apology to that. A serious attempt at an explanation for why people end up in the industry, why they stay, or why they support it.

I don't agree entirely with some of the viewpoints the film takes, but I respect that at least it wasn't at all just another piece of smut. There are very deep emotions running through this movie.

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Since the synopsis is rather non-descript, let me start by giving some more information:
After the owner of a Japanese publishing house has died, a power struggle ensues. Hayami is appointed as the managing editor of the magazine Trinity by one side -- and editor Takano is also caught up in this, even though she just wants to publish well-written and interesting serialized novels. Both will try to save Trinity in their own ways.

The writing is tight -- every dialogue has meaning, so this is not a casual watch. It took me a while to get who is who and who wants what, which is important because this is very much character-driven, I had to rewind some scenes in the first half hour.
The characters' motivations and ambitions are only revealed by what they say, or don't say; sometimes by their actions -- and a lot of it means you have to read between the lines. The movie's title -- 騙し絵の牙 -- Fang of Deception -- or, the official English title Fangs of Fiction -- hints that at least of these characters may be hiding secret motivations.
There are several plot twists in the end, one of which I did not anticipate at all, but, in hindsight, made a lot of sense.

Also, I want to point out that the office sets, like in many other Japanese productions, are excellent! For example, I love how cramped and busy the editors'room of Trinity is, the mountains of paperwork of every available surface. The space of the much revered Kunpu Reviews, in contrast, looks much more organized and still as realistically used.

Fangs of Fiction is both really funny and shows us the contemporary struggles (of the publishing industry) at the same time. Both the external struggle as a traditional company against the new online world, and the more internal struggle about traditional values and old styles of story-telling versus modern innovation and showing more diversity in stories (I loved the cameos of the disabled and the old model and of Ladybeard.)
It also subtly touches on issues of how women are treated in fiction: The main female editor is constantly trying to point out how outdated the depictions of female protagonists in the fictional novels are -- and is instantly shut down by her male companion. I am glad to see that the female protagonist in this movie is at least as important as the male main character -- and how she found her own successful way of dealing with the issues of the publishing world in these modern times.

Recommended! Maybe you'll find more subtle deceptions when you watch the movie, I'm sure I did not catch them all.

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"The more you know, the more you see." I've seen enough.

A Trip with Friends is the third film of Kim Chang Gyun’s that I’ve watched and sadly it was the weakest. All three of his short films were made in 2018 abroad. This movie as well as Snapshot were filmed in Thailand. Like Snapshot, the characters visited various historical sights and tourist attractions.

Kim Hee Jung, Seo Mi Jung, and Lee So Jung are theater and film studies majors at university. They decided to take a trip abroad to Thailand together. They eat, shop, and visit the elephants and later talk about the elephants. Over the next few days they take boat tours and go to the beach and visit other sights. They talk ad nauseam about acting and their love lives. Two of the girls have dreams about their professor of Arts in Images class. On the plane ride home, the third girl has her own dream about the professor.

I would worry that this was more of a Kim Chang Gyun Ego Trip rather than A Trip with Friends except that his professor Hur Dong Chul came across as a deadbeat in two of the girls’ dreams. During the dream sequences it became obvious how low budget the film was as there were people in the background yelling and babies crying. Much of the film was watching the girls take selfies together as they explored their surroundings. When they weren’t taking pictures, they were talking in their room, or at least two of them talked, the poor third girl spent most of her time trying to look interested during the mundane conversations. The two girls who did most of the talking also did what I call “hair acting”. They could not keep their hands out of their hair. They were constantly tussling, tossing, and flipping it.

I thought there were elements of Chang's other two films that were of interest, but I found A Trip with Friends tedious at best. I enjoyed seeing some of the places they visited, I just grew tired of watching them taking pictures of themselves. The dreams ended up being a little creepy. And the long, long, monologues about their lives held little interest for me. I don’t mind a bargain basement budget for an independent film, however, I need something to keep my attention. I wished I had stayed home instead of taking A Trip with Friends.

5 June 2024

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only good thing was the cgi visuals

This movie is inherently a bunch romance elements unravelling among a hurdle of insane traps and trials on the way through the tomb.

Production Value:
I must say the set design and background and lighting (it was great being able to see the characters despite being in a cave) was so well done. I've seen other tomb raiding produced in 2022 but it does not compare. The production value is very aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

The creatures and monsters in this film was done very well. From the design to the execution is very cool. Although they might not be something we see in reality, it does not look out of place.

The cutting and costume changes between Hubayi and shirley kind of makes me mad. They dont match up and are all over the place - ruins the chronological flow for me. Voice dubbing was a bit off for me especially for shirley, they need to work on the sound editing so things line up.

Characters:
Everyone seems to know how to be athletic and have super human jumping and be able to dodge deadly fast arrows or falling spike traps. Why was their six people in the cast, there was definitely no need for the ling long girl - just to be wang kaixuan's love interest. Who is she and why is she relevant? And the speed lore dumping from Shirley TT I'll just say in the grand scheme of things it feels too rushed and not incorporated well.

Acting
Everyone looks to young for their roles lol. Not a big concern but especially for the professor, he's supposed to be old based from other drama adaptations. Everyone I reckon did okay, the problem was the material they were given to work with. Some lines just felt useless in the grand scheme of things, others could be expanded and reworked in a way that better served the story telling. It really felt like dialogue - screaming - dialogue type of story to me.

Music + Rewatch:
I dont have any qualms about the music, wasn't part of my focus. Super super low rewatch value. This movie was sort of a waste of time, not engaging, and prolly a common opinion; dont try to squeeze a lot of content that needs time to build within a short movie.

I'd only recommend watching this if you want to see cool cgi and sfx.

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A Godzilla story with humanity at its core

Having only previously watched the recent Hollywood films about Godzilla, this was a refreshing take which returns to the original Japanese conception of Godzilla. A metaphor for nuclear weapons, Godzilla is Japan's monster; an indiscriminate destroyer and a punishment for their actions in WW2. This metaphor is conveyed through the story of the main character, Koichi Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who abandoned his duty. He is haunted by survivors guilt and views Godzilla as his punishment for what he failed to do.

For a film about Godzilla, he features very little. The human characters make up the core of the narrative and tell a story of learning to move on and build a life in the aftermath of a war. As a Japanese film, obviously the Japanese soldiers are painted in a more sympathetic light than other countries would perhaps do so, but at its heart is a criticism of the disregard for life that was central to Japanese wartime policy. There is an anger in the men who have to face Godzilla, arguing why do they have to continuously risk their lives over and over again. However, they recognise that by fighting Godzilla they are fighting for a chance to live and for a future, whereas with the war they didn't know what they were fighting for.

The importance of life is emphasis in the final fight scene where Shikishima once again fails his duty as a kamikaze pilot, but this time it is not out of cowardice but out of a desire to live and the acknowledgement that he has the right to do so. Though his survival is a bit 'luck of the main character' and other characters' survivals within the film seem a tad unlikely, the happy ending feels rewarding and is a final push of the message that life is something to be treasured.

In terms of production, this film was fantastically done. In spite of its shockingly low budget in contrast to the American films, the visual effects were pretty much flawless. The budget is probably why Godzilla doesn't appear too often, but his design is brilliant and his general absence from the film makes the moments in which he stars all the more affective. The film's setting in post-war Japan also likely reduced the need for a major budget but this made the film all the better as they had to come up with more innovative ways (even though they did fail) to defeat Godzilla which made the story more interesting and memorable. The use of music and silences was also done really well in this film that emphasised the emotions of the scenes perfectly.

Though this film doesn't need a sequel, the ending did suggest there might be one. If so, I would be really intrigued to see where this Godzilla story goes next.

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Enjoyable performances, but a mish-mash of ideas.

The setup for this movie is great, 7 young actors gather in a villa in the mountains to act out a play that their acting coach/theatre director will be watching on livestream. The goal being to be cast as the lead in the next production.

The play they are meant to act is unfortunately non-descript, and we don't really get much exposition or explanation as to how the play ties in to the story. Outside of an initial scene at the beginning of the movie where they find 7 copies of the same book to read, and then a reference to that book nearing the end of the film.

It turns out that there are some 'real' murders taking place, and the remaining cast are slowly discovering that this might not actually be a play but the real thing. The main character is an outsider to the others and is slowly introduced to the backgrounds of the other actors relationships, and we find out why some of the actors are so tense around each other.

The reveal(s) at the end are not at all unpredictable, which on it's own is fine, but the main character all of a sudden connects all these dots together that we as the audience were completely unaware of and it feels very ham-fisted and convenient.

I like that at the end it is revealed to us that these turn of events had been turned into a play, and we are watching a performance of said play in front of a live audience. I thought it was done very well, and it was a very pleasing transition from 'actual events' to the stage-play itself at the end.

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decent follow up to the series

Overall: this was not the follow up plot that I wanted but I think they executed it fairly well. I originally bought/watched on Amazon Prime Video in 2021, re-watched on GagaOOLala in 2024 https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4290/hello-stranger-the-movie-2021

Content Warning: homophobia, vomiting, punch, manhandling

What I Liked
- supportive friend group
- maybe I read too much into it, but I liked how Mico took the top bunk and said he was used to being on top and Xavier said that was okay and he'd adjust
- non cliche female love rival
- character mentioned having 2 moms
- Mico had self respect

Room For Improvement
- very confusing start based on where the season left off, and the timeline took some time to figure out
- we didn't get nearly enough time with them as a happy couple for me to want to really root for their relationship to succeed
- wanted Xavier to do a bit more groveling for what he put Mico through
- the guy love rival was unnecessary and I kind of wanted them to be end game
- cliche thing that happened to Mico

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Hello, Best PH BL Ever

First and foremost, This was an amazing sequel to the series. I loved the series but this blew it out of the water.

I WILL always love Steph, I just think he is the cutest bean and he looked so good with Kookai. I wouldn't of minded a spin-off or something with these two.

JunJun is as cute as a button and I love that he's always there for his friends. Him in that last costume? Fire, he looked so good

Now onto my boys...

First, I commend Crystal for being mature and stepping away when she realized that Xavier truly loved Mico. In the past, she did manipulate Xavier so he wouldn't leave her but in the end, she knew that they weren't meant to be together and she gracefully walked away, she was also still friendly with them and supportive, so I can't dislike her for any reason

It also took Simon coming into the picture to make Mico and Xavier see that they are in love with each other

Speaking of Mico, his acting talent is perfection, his raw emotion when talking to Xavier was one of the best. I was in tears watching him crying, I could also feel the pain that he was feeling. I would 100% watch everything that he is in

Mico and Xavier's chemistry is one of the best, so natural that, that type of chemistry can't be taught. They are right underneath First and Khaotung (From Thailand) with amazing, natural chemistry. I need them to act in more BLs together because they are just stunning.

The last kiss was everything I knew I needed

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"We lived life to the fullest!"

Five of the six Venoms made a return for Shaolin Rescuers. Only Wai Pak was missing. I enjoy the Venom actors, but this movie took too long to gain any traction. It was an hour and fifteen minutes before any real action occurred and that is too long for a kung fu movie. The last forty minutes were entertaining if you can hold on that long.

The story begins in familiar territory with the burning of the Shaolin temple and Hong Xi Guan injured and on the run. Gao Jin Zhong (Centipede Venom) and his crew of Manchu fighters are hot on his trail. Hong finds his way to a town that is fraught with danger. Lucky for him, four working class fighters are sympathetic to his cause. Chen A Jin (Toad Venom) is a tofu maker who practices his Mantis Style at work. Yang Da Bao (Lizard Venom) works in a restaurant where anything is a weapon with his training from the Black Tiger Clan. Gao Ji (Scorpion Venom) finds himself on the venomous end of the martial arts school he trains at, learning most of his 49 Big Dipper skills working at the dye factory. Eventually, Han Qi (Venom Apprentice) arrives with his acrobatic troupe. Three of the Venoms care for Hong pooling their meager resources to nurse him back to health. Before long Gao and his men track them down and the five heroes will be in for a fight for their lives.

The major drawback to the story is that for over an hour the Venoms spend most of their time goofing around and fighting each other for fun. It wears thin after the first “comic” fight. When danger strikes, everything picks up as the fights have real stakes. There were a couple of skirmishes with stuntmen and Lu which were faster than most of the other fights. In true Venom form there was a lot of kung fu posing. The last fight was quicker or maybe the editing was better. With the various weapons and fighters, the action felt more exciting. Phillip Kwok and Chiang Sheng were acrobatic as always, playing to their strengths. Sun Chien, a taekwondo artist in real life, brought the kicks. Lo Meng, the “big” guy, was the muscle. He was supposed to use Mantis style but I never saw it. Poor Lu Feng ended up a villain again and was often fighting against Jason Pai Piao as Hong.

Because it was a Chang Cheh movie there was plenty of blood and death. Disappointingly, the story wasn’t very tight. They could have easily cut 20 minutes of hijinks out and gotten down to business. All the smiles and pranks weren’t fooling anyone. Chang Cheh doles out death like a Vegas card dealer and you know better than to get attached to anyone. I have a soft spot for the Venoms so I was willing to impatiently wait until the final lethal confrontation knowing it would be entertaining. It was, but it still didn’t make up for the previous hour.

4 June 2024

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An era where the Sexual Revolution collided with the Vietnam War---and the world was never the same.

Not sure how or why I missed this movie for so long, but this is the astrological time when many aspects of our lives in this incarnation are appearing for maybe another layer of lessons or a deeper awareness of what was happening at the original timing of events. As a point of clarification...when a movie/drama appears in my feed via multiple paths...I will watch it. I stopped trying to make sense of these synchronicities years ago. Their appearance is always an unexpected set of knowings.

I came of age in the Vietnam era....it was a socially explosive time as thousands of baby boomers across 3.5 decades of birth headed to universities at higher rates than ever before in history. It was also the end of an era in the US of mandatory military service. Thanks to what some would see as unexpected partnerships between tens of thousands of college students and the wives of POWs applying political pressure to the Washington decision-makers. The political power of those two groups, along with an outraged citizenry sick of seeing hundreds of body bags arriving in the cargo holds of aircraft daily on the 5 o'clock news. In the 60s, 70s, 80s, everyone had different triggers, but for many of us, it was selfish...we just wanted our classmates and friends, who were drafted, forced into fighting for one of the many wars for profit, being used as pawns in the "no intent to win" war.

Understanding the context of the time is a layering of understanding of the many possible definitions you could assign to the word "obsession". The scriptwriting was a blend of simple human reactions/actions and the accompanying physical/psychological aspects that drive each of us into our own obsessions that drive us. The script is simple with the selection of dialogue well chosen, moving throughout the roller coaster ride of the relationship between the Colonel and the Captain's wife, relationships within the military ranks, and ultimately the final choices that leave a lasting impact in your memory. Sometimes doing what is right is not the optimal choice, but few of us realize it at the time. There is an element of inspiration in the relationship between the leads that reflects the same desperation of the Vietnam era.

The ensemble of actors was authentically believable. As each scene unfolded, many of them reminded me of people, I knew in those times who were doing, thinking, and behaving as depicted. When the "letter arrived", my reaction was visceral. I knew so many families who received similar letters. The "love" scenes were realistic and were an intersection point between the sexual revolution of the era melding into military duty/risk/destruction to lives.

Song Seung-heon as Colonel Kim Jin-pyeong ; Lim Ji-yeon as Jong Ga-heun---their characters were far enough apart in age and life experience yet despite their differences, their similarity of thoughts converged in their dialogue. I rarely watch Kdrama/movies....which could be an error on my part as a Gold Star daughter whose father gave his all for South Korean freedom...they are sometimes quite difficult to watch. That was not the case with this drama.

Our life journey has many phases and twists...this movie brought many of the events back into the conscious framework of my reflection. Sometimes a movie is a better book....but in this movie...the acting, direction, and visuals bring depth to the story even when the Colonel was sitting in the meeting remembering his "experience" with the Captain's wife in the front seat of his car... no, it was not his memory I found interesting (although---) it was his posture in the meeting as he gave the appearance of attention to the war discussion while mentally being at a place of personal ecstasy that was having a secret window into his thoughts...a private secret between the character and the audience. This is not a movie for everyone (as shown in the other write-ups), but I knew as the ending credits were rolling, I would not only re-watch this but purchase it for my own movie library. Happy Watching....Hope.

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simply mediocre

There was nothing special about this story. It was entertaining enough to finish it, but there was nothing memorable about it nor anything that would make me want to watch it again.

There were some good things about the film, the music was good and the characters, bar the creepy nerd guy, were likeable. One part of the film that I thought was done especially well was the sudden switch from Win's innocent love confession to the student dying. It was an excellent use of the shock factor but it was disappointing that this was the only shocking thing when the film had so much more potential to strike a chord with the audience.

The plot of the drug trial itself was weak. There were no real consequences as the only person to die was an unnamed student. If they wanted to leave an impact on the audience, one of the main four should have died, particularly Win or Jane. I also believe they should have kept the whole thing as something organised by a large company and the twist should have been that the teacher worked for that company and was grooming kids into taking part in the trial.

In general, the entire thing was rushed. It would have worked better if they had paced it better, perhaps using the story for a mini-series rather than a film. As it revolves around a lack of sleep, by slowing down the pace they could have enhanced the agony of sleep-deprivation very well. However, it would still fall short on delivering a message. Perhaps I missed it, but I don't think the story actually had something to say. The only thing I really got was that sleep is good and I don't think anyone needs to watch this film to understand that.

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Could have been worse

Lotta flaws in this production but some good parts too.
The script sounds like a draft that needs a lot of work. In the right hands the anime might have been a new franchise series, but (I didn't read the anime) I suspect a lot of background material was left out. Some expansion on the why of the characters' motivations and background details would have helped. Given the wide variety of creative inputs it's surprising it worked as well as it did (not very well at all). The Korean and American actresses went on to active careers so they did what they could with the material. The movie was too short (1.5 hours) and even that was padded with excessive chopping and slashing scenes as if someone thought that would distract from the wooden acting and dialogue.
Once the big reveal happens I was curious to see more of the Saya character and what she would to do going forward. This movie should have been the set - up for a great series revolving around Saya.

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A Monster Calls.

The only Godzilla movie I have watched is that 1998 which, I would later learn, was universally panned by critics. So, this is my second Godzilla movie. (Or rather the first one from Japan.)
What I liked about this is not the monster or the CGI, which without saying, was stunning enough to land an Oscar.

In the backdrop of a war torn Japan, a kamikaze pilot, Shikishima Koichi, who, instead of going to fight a losing war, evades it by lying that his plane had mechanical troubles. The island in which he had landed for repair is soon attacked by a dinosaur like creature and when he is asked to shoot at it using his plane, he becomes frozen with fear, resulting in the death of the mechanics who worked there.
He returns home grief stricken, only to find out that his family was wiped out in the air raids. Now, slowly struggling to make ends meet, he accidentally picks up a lady, Noriko and a child whom she had rescued.
However, he is plagued with guilt and endless nightmares which hinders him from moving forward. Fate comes in the form of Godzilla, which had now become even more indestructible. Shikishima decides to set things right once and for all.

As usual, Japanese movies make simple events seem touching and this one was no exception. It dealt with grief, guilt, loss and the courage to move forward inspite of that all. Noriko, who has just lost everything as he had, had a much more positive disposition whereas Shikishima's inner monsters a him mad.
I liked the simple banter he shared with his co-workers. The movie stressed along on human feelings. All the cast members were excellent and managed to invoke the necessary emotions without overdoing it.

The Godzilla was plain scary. The way it crushed and destroyed everything on it's path was terrifying. I mean, some of the dog's barking as it approached and people screaming and fleeing is the stuff that triggers your worst nightmares. And the radioactivity thingy coming out whenever it was pissed was beautiful, yet, frightening.

All in all, I really enjoyed the experience. It's one of the few rewatch worthy movies I've seen in recent years and it's definitely worth a try.

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