Daxtreme
Quebec, Canada
Korean American Pie
Whoever makes Ha Ji-won cry will have to answer to me!! ?The things I put up with to watch her in anything... Ashhhhhhhhhhhhhi
It's en entertaining movie but it's crude and gross (expected) but just not very good, unfortunately. I hear the sequel is better but at this point I'm giving up on this "franchise", if you want to call it that.
Only recommended for Ha Ji-won completionists, and only that. Or you're curious to see a Korean take on American Pie (why would you though?)
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And then it gets even better. I never thought in my life that I’d ever watch a South Korean movie ending on a Zhang Ziyi cameo flying around Crouching Tiger-style and fighting to the tune of—yes you guessed it—I WILL SURVIVE
Oh my god, YES
Kick-ass movie! And kinda trash at the same time.
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Stunts - 80/100 | When the guy drops Eun-jin at the beginning I physically cringed, especially since I fell this way once and had a concussion from it. It’s like a short blink and you’ll miss it stunt that nobody probably remembers, but it was the most impactful for me lmao
Narrative - 72/100 | What I like most about this movie is just how much the character of Eun-jin grows. There’s a deplorable attempted rape scene in this movie (played for laughs…) but apart from that I was engaged throughout. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea since nothing happens for a while with the plot but I thought it was an interesting character-driven story carried big time by Shin Eun-kyung’s central performance in her role of Eun-jin. Wonderful range of expressions, demeanor, and body language on this one. Oh and a very physical performance too.
Fight Choreography - 81/100 | Haven’t seen the third one yet but the fights in this sequel are a definite step up. I really liked how they just went all in on the wires and crazy stuff, I dunno I thought it fit pretty well with how the character is basically a legendary figure at this point. It was filmed and put together a lot better.
Enjoyment - 82/100 | You can feel the Hong Kong influences here, they’re everywhere, but with this lovely touch of South Korean out-of-place comedy that I very much appreciate as well. I love amnesia-fueled stories. It just brings so much to the table sometimes, as evidenced by how much I enjoyed this, however nonsensical it was at times.
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Stunts - 69/100
Narrative - 48/100 | It’s way too silly at the beginning. The tonal shifts in this movie and weird editing in the beginning are quite jarring, whether they’re intended or not. It seems nobody stopped at some point to ask themselves the question “wait, what are we going for again?”
Fight Choreography - 77/100 | This is basically sword-fighting ballet. If I got this right, they meet and engage in metaphorical sex through duels? Except yelling at each other there doesn’t seem to be anything of substance to their relationship. Eventually becomes excessive slow-mo melodrama for no reason, but it looks damn good.
Enjoyment - 52/100 | The mise en scène in this movie is quite something, and so is the cinematography. Great-looking movie, that’s for sure. But I’m not sure I got the message, if there was any to begin with, except the usual “love is not something you can control”. And I’ve always preferred plot and characters (basically, writing) over visuals.
If you liked Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster, give this movie a try. It’s basically a more messed-up and less coherent version of it.
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Today was a strange day.
Guy looks bit too feminine I thought.
He tells her that, as his master, she can have him do anything, anywhere she pleases (she also confesses that she's lonely), and somehow this movie doesn't involve any kinks whatsoever for the whole runtime. Nothing, not even a small something? Criminal!
Some legitimately funny scenes and a pleasant dynamic between the duo almost salvage an ultimately cringy movie about a love triangle the kind of which we've seen everywhere that's also 20 minutes too long. Random but it was interesting to me how the woman was 10 years older than the man here. And it doesn't play into the plot at all. That's not something you see often, at least not in Western movies.
It's just so absurd for a premise that I just had to watch it.
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…
> Mission: Operation Nun Sense
xD my sides
Quirky and effective South Korean comedy that I found way better than it had every right to be, thanks to the charming performance of lead Kim Seon-a and some surprisingly good action sequences for a movie in that genre.
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Stunts - 71/100
Narrative - 72/100 | It helps that I have a special (and biased) fondness for pretty much everything that happens in this movie: quirky lead performance, awkward high school setting, undercover high school setting, "forbidden" romantic undertones, good fight sequences…
Fight Choreography - 79/100 | You know, I wasn't expecting good fight scenes in a movie like this. The lead could certainly act the part of someone who could fight. Not too many cuts, decent stunts, good choreography, good flow… Some hits could have hit harder but thumbs up!
Enjoyment - 80/100 | I was never bored, not a single second throughout, and that says a lot since it's a 2 hour comedy movie (which usually bore me at some point). As usual with South Korean movies, expect some tonal whiplash near the end. However, I appreciated the melodramatic turn at the end, I thought it fit the moment and wasn't out of place.
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Too slow
The nonsensical writing sinks this. Also the pacing, which is terrible with easily 25 mins of bloat, but I kind of expected that one. There seems to be this unwritten rule with Korean films where they need to clock in at around 2 hours even if they have nothing to show for it, not sure why. A shame because the actors were good and the story was compelling.I know that they're supposed to be the same age in the movie, but in real life, Kim Ah-joong is 5 years older than Joo Woo, which I thought was interesting because you don't often see a casually older female lead like this. Well, as far as Hollywood movies are concerned.
I guess Korean films couldn't be further from them in that regard.
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I headed into this because it looked funny, and I wasn’t wrong.
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Stunts - 64/100
Narrative - 62/100 | The main character was so good at looking clueless, it’s like it was second nature for her. Hilarious at times. I remember her from The Huntresses, quite a funny actress!
Fight Choreography - 49/100 | Jump cuts are the only way you can show a 100 lbs girl successfully taking on 4 guys in a fight. The fights are just… bad. Seen worse though.
Enjoyment - 68/100 | Somehow this movie kept me engaged. The main girls had great chemistry, the plot had a few surprises of its own, and it was funny enough. Definitely not boring, even though it was a tad too long as most standard fare South Korean flicks tend to be, since they aim for 2 hours even if it means forcing it.
Really loved Chae-ah's overly fierce attitude like she's about to brawl with anyone in sight all the time. Also, her seduction scene in the office... damn!!
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Gritty revenge story in the style of John Wick
Korean Netflix productions are where it's at right now, apparently. Add this one to the pile of cool shit coming out of there recently.It's basically a revenge story in the style of John Wick mixed in with Infernal Affairs, had it been stretched out to an 8-episode mini-series.
Aside from the titular character though, it's astonishingly lacking in female characters. It's like the entire police force and pretty much all speaking parts are men aside from the main character, so she sticks out like a sore thumb. Kinda feels intentional to reinforce how alone she is but… such a weird choice.
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Stunts - 85/100 | A bit of annoying CGI fixes here and there but nothing that bothered me all that much. Great stunt work for the most part.
Narrative - 68/100 | This show takes itself very seriously, it's dramatic and emotional and tense. It's also exciting and has quite a few enjoyable action scenes, however the last 3 episodes or so become quite a bit needlessly convoluted. Could have easily cut 1 episode overall for much better pacing. Lead actress Han So-hee gives a great, wide-ranging performance. As far as how she postures herself, she reminds me of Hong Kong action star Moon Lee in how earnest she approaches the role of a tough petite woman up against the world. She's not nearly as acrobatic though.
Fight Choreography - 80/100 | The fights start off pretty damn amazing in the first half but get progressively worse as the episode count increases, which bums me out because the earlier ones got me so excited. Early sequences have a wonderful flow to them. Precise and concise choreography, it looks real. Later on, overdone editing comes in the picture and, while it's decent, it looks disjointed a bit, and not as good. Sadly, it's a typical outcome in films and shows involving martial arts, fights, and stunts. The earlier fight sequences usually star background stuntmen and/or martial artists who can sell the hits and perform better stunts. As more important characters become involved in fights (because the narrative demands it), fights get worse because those primarily dramatic actors aren't so good at selling the hits, and performing the stunts. And so the director has to hide some things behind editing and framing wizardry. Or sometimes it's a different team and they approach the fights differently. Previs is key here to help prepare for that.
That being said, the fights in this series aren't anywhere close to being bad, they're great and the lead (who fights throughout the series) is really dedicated to selling everything she can. But the tumble in fight scene quality is quite noticeable between the first half and the second half of this show, it's actually interesting to see it unfold, and is a subject I wanted to broach one day or another, so this was a good time to do so. It happens in martial arts movies too, all the time.
Enjoyment - 72/100 | Thrilling show with lots of hard-hitting action and dramatic heft. It gets bogged down in some weird narrative beats near the end, but overall it's still an impactful winner. And I loved the killer synthwave soundtrack that started almost every time an action beat kicked in. That was simply awesome. If you want to win me over when making something, definitely do that!
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Fresh and interesting, although a bit nonsensical
This is a fresh take on the genre, going full meta on it. I might have enjoyed it more had I seen more kdramas (working on that)The lead was... okay I thought, definitely lacking in some charisma. But the storyline was intriguing and engaging, even though it's short. I like how they explained why some people spoke English, others Korean, and it made sense. The premise is good too.
The villain mostly worked I should say, although his plan seems to contradict the rules they set up in Dramaworld.
Either way, recommended for those who want something different, and will check out season 2.
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Another good entry in the Zombie genre
Both the cafeteria and the library set pieces in the earlier episodes were action highlights, splendid zombie mayhem scenes.As with any zombie show starring teenagers in a narrative that has to span over many episodes, you need to expect melodrama a bit. But it was handled mostly well I think, considering the backdrop and characters. Plus, they weren't dumb. Although they did make a few questionable decisions, you had the feeling that they were really trying to survive and trying to be resourceful in face of an apocalypse and nothing too egregious happens.
So yeah, I thought it had great and varied characters (who didn't have plot armor), the mayhem scenes were of the typical kind we're used to with Zombie Korean stuff, so mostly excellent, and the story progressed in a neat way that didn't feel contrived. I thought it was quite sincere in the way it portrayed how the Korean government would react to a situation like this.
I really liked this show, a respectable new entry in the Zombie genre.
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Convenience Store Saet Byul
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That being said, this show is garbage, even if it has its moments. And I usually don't notice those things too much, but the casual racism on display here is sickening. It's so unsubtle...
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Fight Choreography - 65/100 | Over-the-top silly fights that make no sense, but they're funny and aren't actually bad. I'm not sure if there is more fighting in the latter episodes, I didn't stick around to find out. Somehow the lead actress is a black belt in Taekwondo and it's obvious she has training. Doesn't make the fights great though. Just passable. Blame the team behind the camera.
I'm not even gonna bother scoring the rest as I dropped it. Not watching this would be my advice.
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Raunchy romance sex comedy drama
Now that's the real shocker. A kdrama that's not afraid to go down the R-rated road!It's somehow softcore porn and yet very romantic at the same time, which I guess only a kdrama could pull off, as it has all the usual tropes you'd expect and is one through and through... except a lot more sexually explicit. Is it the beginning of a new subgenre?
It's pretty good, and educational too. I liked how frank the characters were, both to themselves and to others in their lives. All the leads were great, but the audio editing was rough. Script had some issues too.
It moves at a brisk pace and has no real downtime typical of the genre. Very much enjoyable.
For those annoyed that most kdrama characters seem to be wearing chastity belts, then this is the one for you I guess? A welcome variation, if not a bit too basic overall.
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Mediocre body swap show
More body swap content, more logging from me! Always been a fan.Yeah this just stalls at some point. Stops dead in its tracks, going nowhere. No momentum...
Really unfortunate because it started out quite fun and the lead actress has got it, and I'm always up for some body swap content, especially when it lasts longer. But as usual in these the male lead is toxic, even more so than usual this time as he's also a cheater (not a spoiler, the show basically opens on that).
Then the story becomes needlessly convoluted and the side characters are average.
Watch Secret Garden instead.
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