5
37
Heracin
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
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Sport rom-com with a slow burn heartfelt romance that gives you all the feels <3
This drama tells the story of 2 students at a sport university who are trying to become professional athletes. This is a super addictive rom-com with an amazing pacing. Sometimes, romance scenarios can feel a bit dragging (especially toward the end of a series), which was not the case here. The writers clearly managed to spread in a natural way all the content of their multiple plotlines in order for the building of the romance to feel totally genuine during the full 16 episodes of the show. This is a romance with a heartfelt slow burn that will for sure gives you all the feels.I found the chemistry between the female lead and the male lead exceptional. Their friendship evolving into something more was really cute, fun and also incredibly sincere. All their little gestures towards each other were properly convincing and heart-warming. Nam Joo Hyuk performance as the main male lead is fantastic. His puppy look when chasing after the heroine can only make the viewer heart melt.
However, I was less impressed by the secondary characters who were not very interesting. Except for the three friends of the female and male lead, I had no sympathy at all for a large part of the secondary cast. The secondary female lead was awful but at least the actress did a great job incarnating the role. On the contrary, the secondary male lead role could have been much more exciting but was overall disappointing due to the actor's acting which felt very flat.
Generally, all the adults 'storylines (the families of the heroine and the hero, the professors and coaches..) were clearly not the most captivating part of the series. I found myself a bit annoyed as they were often creating more trouble / pain for the leads than helping them. Still, some of the conflicts created allowed growth for the characters and great acting from the two main actors, so it was all worth it at the end.
I would highly recommend this to people looking for an amazing romance with a well-executed friends-to-lovers trope and who appreciate a slow burn story.
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A gut-wrenching youth drama! The "Weak Hero" trope done right!
An excellent drama carried by brilliant actors with such a good and realistic acting. The story is portraying the strong friendship between young people confronted with the violence of the world around them...whether at school or in their entourage.The episodes are short (about 40 minutes) and fast-paced; and yet at the heart of the action are more contemplative moments, full of sincerity with a sensitive OST giving an almost "old-school" feel. The brutal scenes are filmed skilfully and seamlessly, the strong images leave an impression of discomfort, the story is simply gut-wrenching: be prepared for a turmoil of emotions!
The trope of the hero who gets his ass kicked, the narrative of the weak who confronts the bullies, and who gets up to face adversity are here highlighted in a masterful and credible way. The spectator can only tense up in the face of certain situations and fears (often rightly) for the safety of the protagonists. The uncertainty regarding the survival of these characters to whom the viewer has become attached is one of the greatest strength of this show.
I would recommend this to people who like to read GTO or The breaker, love well-built youth drama and that are not triggered by topics such as bullying, domestic abuse and scenes of exacerbated violence.
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Very cute in some aspects but lacking too much in storytelling, pacing and developments
The premise of this BL story was pretty interesting with one of the male main lead needing any kind of physical touch with the other main male character to "block" the supernatural element of the show. It has been done before but not necessarily in that context and so I was pretty intrigued on how the relationship was going to evolve starting from there..Unfortunately, I found the overall story a bit boring, it remained quite superficial in a way with lot of questions not really addressed. I must admit that one of the protagonist was really written as pretty dumb (in an annoying and not -at least to me- endearing way), making it kind of difficult for me to understand why the other was so whipped for him (and also so quickly).
Despite those flaws, there are cute scenes that are worth the watch, there is a really good chemistry between the main actors with quite good acting...Some of their kisses were simply beautiful in a stiring way. I quite enjoyed the introduction as well as the last third of the story (even though the ending felt clearly too rushed) but there is clearly a saggy middle which dragged down the story for me. It is a bit of a shame that I felt there was so many issue in the pacing and storytelling given the short duration of the show.
I enjoyed the soundtrack, it gave some fun and almost cartoon / spunky vibe that created a good atmosphere. It will not necessarily remain in my memory but was really nice to hear during the show. The production value was standard for a university romance. They could have pushed more the horror vibe but decided to go for a comedic tone which I understand given the storytelling they were going for. I would have prefer the choice to be much more angsty to amp the stakes but it is a question of preference on the direction I wanted the show to go into...And it did not happen.
I would recommend this to people looking for a short BL romance with a fantasy element and cohabitation trope. If you have enjoyed drama such as "The Master's Sun" or movie such as "Marry My Dead Body", you might enjoy this because they share some similarities (either in the concept or the humour). I find it lacking in terms of story as well as relationship development but there are quite a bit of very lovely-dovey moments.
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Untitled Park Ji Eun Project
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Despite writing flaws, swoon-worthy romance with a touch of sorrow carried by super strong cast
Given its screenwriter and its main cast, I was expecting a lot from this drama. I overall really enjoyed it (especially in its first half) but I must admit that the writing and pacing let me down in its second half (and more particularly in its finale act). I'm always looking forward to the new work of screenwriter Park Ji Eun: I tend to really enjoy the way she builds her romances, with a lot of details, dramatic elements and fated lovers' narrative. Here again, she writes what I think is an iconic love story with a touch of sorrow, which is really her trademark.The premise of the series is super interesting as it hijacked the classical "male chaebol & poor hard working girl" trope. I loved so much how lines that are usually said by male lead are done by the female lead and vice versa. The series is really playing on the usual tropes of romantic comedy and diverting them, it is excellent on that aspect. However, the ending did not totally hold its promises : the plot got crazier with an overwhelming amount of coincidences, the villains losing their strategic edge to go into full madness territory. As the story unfolds itself, there were also much less gender reversal of dramaland tropes and it went unfortunately back to a more classical romantic dynamic between the two leads. Still cute, but much more expected.
The acting was the best part of the drama. Kim Soo Hyun, Kim Ji Won and Park Sung Hoon are actors/actress that I really love and once again, they showcased incredible performances. Even when the writing became clunkier, they made it work and made a lot in terms of making digestible some of the more bonker elements and rhythm issues of the last act. The chemistry between Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won was off the charts: their characters' relationship went through so many phases and they managed to sell every step of it. Park Sung Hoon's darkening and brooding face was incredibly chilling even when his character fell apart in terms of writing.
The production value was super high. There were some very pretty sets as well as incredibly swoon-worthy scenes (the helicopter one, the lavender field, the castle,...). The making was beautiful and above all, the soundtrack was amazing. With the acting, the OST did a lot in exacerbating feelings for the viewer. I will likely go back to listening to many of the songs of the drama which is clearly a sign of its addictive quality.
I would recommend this to people looking for an emotional love story. Given the episodes length, It is quite an investment in terms of time and there are some issues with the writing in the second half of the series. However, despite its flaws, I truly enjoyed the drama thanks to the incredible acting, great OST and iconic romantic scenes.If you loved other dramas from this writer (such as My Love From Another Star and Crash Landing on You), you are in known territory and should like it as well.
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Incredibly well-acted meaningful story + impressive action scenes = Instant Favourite !
This series is an aggregation of what I love the most: attaching characters, deeply moving storylines intersecting in interesting way over time period and various settings, impressive and riveting action sequences with purposeful cinematographic choices and amazing acting by the whole ensemble cast...The pace of the story was very good: it is divided in three narrative arcs which have in a way their own flavour and still manage to form a cohesive great piece. I was super invested and watched the complete drama in two days: that shows how good the whole watching experience was to me.
The characters were amazing and portrayed by very skilled actors. There are a lot of faces that I love among the casting which helped even more making this series such a perfect one to me. Han Hyo Joo and Zo In Sung (who is totally dreamy in this role) are two actors that I like a lot and they once again proof how great they are here. The chemistry between them was impeccable. All the main "parents" roles were great and went beyond my expectations over the course of the show. I'm grateful for the drama to made me discover Ryu Seung Ryong and to have featured is such an outstanding way the excellent Kim Sung Kyun who I love so much in each of the drama I saw him in.
Go Youn Jung who I discovered in "Alchemy of Souls" keeps to continuously impressed me and I will be looking for her new shows as well as for Lee Jung Ha who was the revelation of the drama to me. His character is the heart of the show: he was such an adorable cutie pie, full of green flags and the actor played him so candidly that it became immediately my favourite part of the drama.
I really enjoyed the show so much that I can really forgive its sole default (at least to me) which is linked to its last arc and ending being a bit too quick and with some relatively unnecessary flashbacks. I would actually not have minded to have a couple more episodes to develop even better the end...But I still enjoyed it so so much that I am pretty sure I am just being greedy here.
The filmmaking truly deserves a lot of praise. The director managed to be really creative in the numerous actions sequences. I was never bored and he made some seemingly mundane scenes feel very innovative and fresh. The soundtrack was not overly present but was pretty good in setting the mood and pushing me to watch the next episode.
I would recommend this to people looking for an action series with some slice-of-life elements, impressive cast, superheroes vibe and amazing cinematography. It is quite graphic in the violence depicted so you might want to skip it if you are triggered by that. If you enjoyed series such as Heroes (only looking at its very good *season 1*), I would strongly advise to give a chance to "Moving".
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Pure fluff - cute but quite redundant with the main series
This really short episode of 25 minutes takes place at the end of the parent series. It was super cute: mainly pure fluff and not a lot of plot. Cherry on the cake: it focused on the main couple with almost no intervention of the secondary couple (who is much less interesting to my eyes anyway).Despite all the lovely scenes, I was a bit disappointed because I expected to see more of the couple life of the two main male leads. Instead it felt quite redundant as the story revisit the past already shown in the main series with some little changes. It is clearly not a sequel but rather a feverish dream with quite a bit of flashbacks of scenes already seen.
The music is still really sweet to the hear, it is catchy and romantic. Production value is similar to the main show, it was clearly filmed in the continuity of it.
I would recommend this to people that enjoyed the main series. It is totally dispensable but at the same time, it is super cute...and that can be enough for an enjoyable watch.
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Disappointing BL story. Lack of excitement and characters development.
I'm disappointed by this BL story. The romance was lackluster. It is a shame because the premise was interesting and could have led to some exciting relationship. However, I found myself utterly bored and not interested.I did not found the chemistry between the actors believable. There were very few sparks until the last episode and I did not understand how they fell in love with each other. I could blame it on the short episodes but honestly there are similar sized series that do a much better job in terms of developing both plot and characters' depth. So for me, it is a total miss.
I would not recommend this except if you are an aficionado of BL romances. As the drama is quite short, it might be worth to test it and make your own opinion.
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Hyung concept brought up a very savory flavor to the romance and made my heart flutters
This BL series of 6 episodes (which has also been released under a full length movie format) features a gripping story between two childhood friends. The "Hyung" cultural aspect gave to the drama a very savory flavor that I particularly enjoyed. I would have loved for the epilogue to be a bit longer but was overall happy with the poetry of the conclusion.I really enjoyed and believed in the chemistry between the two main actors: more specifically, I was fascinated by the infirmary scene. It was beautiful and made my heart flutters. There might be room of improvement for some of the most serious scenes but they were credible together.
The budget felt relatively low but in a quite expected way I feel for this type of production. Filmmaking was efficient in conveying the story, but not really outstanding and the overall soundtrack was quite forgettable as well.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for BL with a well executed childhood friends-to-lovers trope. Chemistry and story was good and overall 6 episodes are highly bingeable (which is expected with the original format being a movie).
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Enchanting tale, beautifully filmed and acted with a strong message despite some flaws in writing
I truly enjoyed the thematic of the series and the atypical mix of the genres the writer and director went for. I like the message of the series and the take it took regarding some of the more fantastical elements. Pacing could maybe have been a bit better and I wish the heroine would have had some stronger moments to shine like it was the case for the two other main male roles. The mystery side was pretty easy to figure out but its resolution was also satisfying.The main cast was really key in insufflating life and feelings to the story. With less talented main actors and actress, what was a magical tale could have felt very bland or at the least relatively not as fresh and original as it was. Indeed some of the storylines were pretty common for the fiction school genre and still they managed to get me invested in what was happening to the characters. In particular, Ji Chang Wook and Hwang In Youp are both excellent and took my breath away several time with gut-wrenching emotional moments. Choi Sung Eun did a good job as well but her character was less interesting to me and did not evolve enough throughout the series for me to be totally satisfied.
In addition to the acting, the overall making and soundtrack are the most impactful part of the series. There are numerous beautifully filmed and directed scenes, it is a feast for the eyes in addition to be very symbolic and elaborated tableaus. There are a couple of very memorable musical numbers and I was impressed by the singing voices of the main cast. The quality of the production is impressive, up to part with some high budget movies.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for magical tale with a tad of mystery. If you enjoy Disney animated movie, musicals pieces of cinema such as La La Land or The Greatest Showman, or even if you have some affinity for the Peter Pan fairytale, I would strongly advice you give a shot to this atypical drama.
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Dramatic & angsty romance with fantastical twist that got me hooked despite filmmaking limitation
This drama features an intricate romance intertwined with a well conceived time slip concept. I was properly captivated by the story of Huang Yu Xuan and Li Zi Wei : it was pretty dramatic, with a lot of angst and high stakes which made it an intoxicating and enchanting cocktail. The nostalgia factor was also a key aspect that got me hooked.The series is not without flaws. First, I think that even if I found the ending in overall satisfying, I wish the landing would have been smoother and better paced. I also would have appreciated a longer epilogue so that the writers get to the bottom of the time slip gap between their main characters. Second, I truly wished that the budget limitation will have felt less strong. There were quite a few time when I could not help myself to think that a better budget and filmmaking would have elevated some of the scenes to give them an even more fairytale and nostalgic vibe.
Regarding the main cast, I found them pretty good overall. I was completely under the charm of Greg Hsu (not sure if it is character or actor related but for sure he had me swooning during the whole duration of the series). The main actress had what I felt was the most complex part and she did a good job handling the various layers of the role. I honestly wish sometimes that she would have upped her acting game even more for some of the most emotional scenes but it was certainly not a deterrent to the story. I also felt that having the female lead and male lead playing high schoolers was unrealistic but at the same time, I understand that this choice was necessary for the sake of clarity in very entangled storylines.
I would recommend this to people looking for a captivating and quite dramatic romance with a fantastical twist. There is some minor writing points that I would love to be improved and I also wish they had a bigger budget for some of the sequences. But despite these few nitpicking points, it is really worth your time and will take you on an emotional and mysterious journey. I will be curious to give a shot to the other remakes of the story at some point.
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A new form of delightful torture when you are watching it hungry
I'm in overall very satisfied by this new competition cooking show launched by Netflix. It is a bit reminiscent as some of their other survival shows (such as Physical 100 with one hundred contestants competing). Here, it is similar principle: 100 individuals (mostly all skilled-professionals active in restauration field / highly respected chefs and so on..) are competing with each other through various cooking challenges.The food is really appetizing, the candidates have pretty varied skills and cooking styles and there are enough variety in the challenges they do to not bore the viewers. In addition to having a good cast, the editing style of Netflix as well as the way they often finish their episodes on a cliffhanger make it an highly bingeable TV show. The pacing of the competition is really nice and tight with the format being a breath of fresh air from the usual cooking shows.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for a refreshing take on competition / survival cooking show. The food is simply mouthwatering so be careful to have some food at home when you watch it (or be prepared to be delightfully tortured). I hope they make a season 2 with hopefully some new ideas to keep the concept interesting without repetition.
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One of the best watch of the year: dark, gripping in the best way
I love a lot this truly thrilling dark movie. It was torturous and violent, gripping and fascinating in the best way. The pyschological aspects coupled with impressive action scenes really got to me. I was on my toes during the full duration of the movie. It does not feel outdated at all (minus maybe the special effect and again it was still quite good to express what needed to be expressed).The cast is amazing. I love Yeo Jin Goo (since he was acting as a kid in Iljimae) and I have seen quite a bit of his work. He was probably about 15 years old maximum when he filmed this movie and his performance was astounishing. There are many very well-known faces in this movie, actors that I really enjoy and who also delivers strong performances. It felt like a real feast to see actors that I knew from other works: Yeo Jin Goo but also amazing Jo Jin Woong, incredible Kim Sung Kyun, great Yoo Yeon Seok, as well as to discover very talented (and new to me) people: Kim Yoon Seok, Park Hae Joon,...and more.
I truly recommend this to people that are looking for a dark action movie that will take you on a thrilling journey with its main character. The psychological elements behind the characters actions and bonds between them are disturbingly captivating and pretty memorable. It is very violent and dark, so if you have any triggers, of course proceed with caution.
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Not my type of show but I learnt interesting stuff, pace of stories could have been better
It took me almost 7 months to complete this variety show. I must preface this review by admiting first that "Mystery concept" variety show are not necessarily the ones I gravitate towards the most. I always have trouble to get into the reenactement of crime/mystery because even if the stories are interesting, cast reactions (or rather over-reactions) often leave me with an uncanny feeling. It is also quite odd when they play games right in the middle of it.Indeed, the viewer knows that everything is fake, so it is a bit cringe or strange to see over-the-top acting by members of the show. The idea might be to immerse the spectators as if they were watching a theatre piece, but unfortunately it often produces the opposite effect as I feel quite distached. The rythm of the show was super strange: each episode felt king of sluggish, especially in the middle. However, they often managed to have good endings with some rush and thrills at the end of a lot of the episodes but not enough to make me anticipate the next one.
That's said, and despite all the flaws that I perceive and point out, there are positive aspects as well. First of all, I especially liked the fact that I learnt quite a bit regarding contemporary history and various South Korea news items from different period of time. There is an inherent repetive aspect to the mecanics of the show but I also found that they managed to bring enough variety in the stories to not feel too monotonous. Guest cast members (to be fair mainly Choi Yeon Jun who I like a lot) were also a good way to change a bit and renew the dynamic of the episodes.
I enjoyed the main cast: they had a good chemistry together but it somewhat lacked in terms of balance. I started this show for Lee Jung Ha but honestly the whole actors gang ( Lee Jung Ha, Cha Tae Hyun and Oh Na Ra) were my favorites. The others members Yoo Jae Suk, Yang Se Chan and Jennie do the job properly as well. It is clearly more a colleagues relationship and felt not as genuine as some other shows I have seen.
I would recommend this to people that enjoy Mystery Variety show concept. If you are fan from one of the member of the cast or if you are interested by miscalleneous news items you might also want to give it a shot despite its shortcomings (repetitive mecanics as well as relatively bad pacing of the episodes).
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How is it possible for an horror movie to feel so boring ? Cast could not save it
This horror movie about a MMA fighter confronted to evil had too many flaws to entice me. Its main qualities reside in its cast as well as in its filmmaking. Indeed, the esthetics was quite good as well as the special effects, you can feel there was quite a big budget.However, the scenario in itself felt poor and repetitive. The editing could have been better to amp the angst as well. The villain is quite a blank canvas and the introduction of the hero to position him in the action takes up almost half of the movie. The pacing of the film is sluggish at best, which is kind of a big issue for a movie belonging to thriller/action/horror genres...
It is my first time seeing Woo Do Hwan and even though I found the character clearly lacking in terms of motivation and background, I'm curious to see what he can do with a better script. I am quite biased toward Park Seo Joon, so he was the saving grace for this movie to me. He is always good and believable in action scenes, and here again he brings the charisma up. Unfortunately, as for the antagonist, there is not a lot offered by the scenario for him to do much acting-wise with his character.
I would not recommend this movie to people unlike you are really a big fan of one of the main actors. If you are an avid fan of horror movie, you might like it but honestly because of its very generic story and strange pacing, I don't think it is worth the watch.
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Frightening chase, Wi Ha Joon amazing performance shook me
I truly enjoyed this action movie. It has a really simple but efficient concept, focusing on a frightening cat-and-mouse chase between a serial-killer and a deaf woman. With very few characters and plot points, the film manages to keep the viewer on its toes during the dark pursuit.The scenario relies a lot on people making not so smart decisions as well as a lot of police incompetence which might make your blood boils...There are a lot of successful jump scares and action sequences are really well-done. As one of the character is deaf, the surrounding noises and sounds carry a particular importance on the story. It amps the viewer's anxiety as the filmmaking manage to make the watcher understand how it is to be in the shoes of the victim.
The casting was really good, especially Wi Ha Joon who delivers a shockingly horrifying performance. I only saw him in two other roles playing overall good characters so the shift here truly astonished me. Jin Ki Joo acting as his main counterpart was also very solid in her role.
I would recommend this to people looking for a thriller that will brought you all the feels in a very short time. It is very dark and efficient in providing thrills with some good jump scares and action sequences. It might require some suspension of disbelief given the reaction of some characters that might seem completely stupid. But, honestly that did not bother me because I found the story gripping enough to not care about the script flaws. I just went on a scary ride and enjoyed it for what it was.
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