Reviews

Thrilling story with great acting

The storyline and execution was really interesting and unique and the synergy between the actors was amazing, they all bounced off each other extremely well. Best part was the cinematography, loved all the shots and the colouring.

I do wish we got to know a little bit more about the motivations of the Han character, without that, it was hard to understand his motives as a 'villain' or deeply care about the second half of the plot. Additionally, I would have also liked a bit more backstory about all the other main characters. I think this would've worked better as a 4 part series. The ending was also a bit weak, didn't leave me yearning for more, just unsatisfied.

Overall though it was a good watch and I enjoyed watching the movie. Props to all the actors!

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chorei

Crítica

Pontos fortes:

1. Retrato nostálgico dos anos 90: A ambientação é um ponto alto, com referências culturais da época que cativam tanto espectadores que viveram esse período quanto os mais jovens, despertando curiosidade.


2. Química entre os atores: As performances emocionais de Kim Yoo-jung e Byeon Woo-seok tornam os momentos românticos genuínos e tocantes.


3. Narrativa emocional: A segunda metade surpreende ao mudar o tom, focando nas consequências do amor e do tempo, levando o espectador a reflexões sobre perda e crescimento.



Pontos fracos:

O ritmo inicial pode parecer lento para quem espera um enredo mais dinâmico.

O final, embora marcante, pode não agradar a quem prefere desfechos mais leves e otimistas.


Conclusão
"20th Century Girl" é uma experiência emocional e nostálgica, especialmente para quem aprecia histórias sobre o impacto dos primeiros amores. Com uma produção bem cuidada e uma trilha sonora encantadora, é uma recomendação sólida para fãs de K-dramas.

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A movie so good, feels like you are in LOVE

woah.!!! don’t know where I should begin……an amazing movie…I have nothing but praises.

• if you are looking for something light hearted, this movie is for you, it has no villains, no obstructions and the leads enjoy a good amount of screen time…

• the chemistry between the leads is sizzling and trust me by the end you would end up asking for more…how I wish this could be longer….

• The best part about the movie is, that it is realistic yet dreamy, it gives you butterflies, trust me you’ll feel it, it low key has those old movie vibes, that make you keep on wanting to watch more…

• both the actors did a wonderful job and plot, although just another love story, is pretty unconventional and something fun to watch. This movie, in all senses is a great Rom-Com……!!!

• I am soooo glad I randomly came across this and ended up watching it, every single minute I was laughing, blushing, rolling and had butterflies after such a long time.

I watched such a great movie in AGES, will a 1000% re watch it.!!!!

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Beautiful message, plot, and characters

The story is very good!! I love how it criticizes Japan's dangerous overwork culture and the characters are both very likeable, especially Yamamoto! He's my new favorite character ( Fukushi Sota did a fantastic job at portraying him). Idk why some people claim this movie's a BL though?? Would be great if a romance was actually shown between the two characters (for those of us into romance) but I believe it is only hinted/up to interpretation. Also the plot twist is very good as well! Overall, this film has beautiful cinematography to go along with the beautiful story and characters. I recommend!

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Felt like a second chance

It has been a few days since I watched Wonderland, and I can’t help but write a review. Hopefully, this will help me process my feelings about it. I don’t have any strong negative emotions toward it, but there’s something unresolved about it that leaves you feeling like you're in a daze. I often find myself reflecting on the different storylines.

I wasn’t expecting to watch this movie, but the preview featuring Suzy and Bo Gum was so captivating that I had to give it a try.
The movie starts by giving us a glimpse into the lives of several characters: a mother following her dreams but is willing to do anything for her daughter, a couple in a long-distance relationship, and two program creators, one of whom seems to have feelings for the other. We eventually learn that some of these characters are only able to communicate through a phone. It is later explained that, for this to be possible, the individual is either in a coma or has passed away, leading to the conclusion that the person they communicate with on the phone is generated by AI.

I initially watched the film because of Bo Gum, but I stayed for Bai Li’s story. Reflecting on it, the film feels like a second chance at life for those who have lost loved ones. Everyone grieves differently, and for some, Wonderland offers comfort.

However, some viewers may find the lack of backstory frustrating. If you prefer clear explanations, this might not be the movie for you. Personally, I didn’t mind this aspect, as I filled in the gaps with my own theories based on the scenes shown. For example, I believe Hae Ri’s parents have passed away, and she was likely an early user of the system, as suggested by a comment from Hyeon Su.

One aspect I really appreciated was the portrayal of Bai Li’s mother’s grieving process. Despite knowing the full truth, her struggle felt real. Bai Li's character felt so genuine that she even caused a glitch in the system, which added an emotional layer to the story. I think Wonderland would have worked well as a miniseries—there's so much more that could have been explored, though I am still happy with the movie.

The only downside for me was the aftermath of Suzy and Bo Gum’s storyline after he wakes up. I struggled to understand Suzy’s character and what she was trying to portray. Her acting felt disconnected, and it left me confused about her emotions. For this reason, I’m knocking off a few stars from my rating.

I’d recommend Wonderland if you’re looking for something new and are interested in AI. As I mentioned earlier, it reminds me of the idea of giving life a second chance. For those who are alive, we keep the memories of our loved ones alive by thinking about them and wondering what they would be doing. For some, Wonderland might offer that kind of comfort. In this world, individuals are living their dreams and are in a happier place. We all have our own stories, and sometimes, through loss, we learn to rely on others. We come to appreciate the small things our loved ones do for us or even the things they might hide from us.

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Souls trapped in the human realm, unable to move on

As much as I hate to admit it, it was the movie adaption of John Green's The Fault in our Stars that taught me, "Funerals... are not for the dead. They are for the living."

From watching the trailer, I thought this film would be presented in clashes of dichotomies: death vs life, tradition vs modernity, religion vs industry. And while all these themes do surface in the film, they don't do so as mutually exclusive dichotomies. Instead, the richness of The Last Dance comes from the intersections and overlap of these themes.

The story structure itself is neat. There are three parts and the narrative comes fulls circle, starting and ending with the Taoist funeral ritual of Breaking Hell's Gate. The cinematography of the ritual scenes alone could carry the film if needed. But the bulk of the film is what provides the emotional impact of these scenes.

The strength of this film is its messiness. And the messiness is found at the intersections. Tradition and modernity don't so much clash with one another as grasp out to one another, trying to find purchase, albeit sometimes in awkward or painful ways. This doesn't only play out in the funeral home between the male leads. The friction and fondness also happens within the family home as the characters try to figure out how religion features in their own identities and how it impacts their relationships with one another. There is also just enough wry humour – mostly from Dayo Wong's character – to provide breathing space (pun intended).

Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of death in this film. Despite the music being a tad heavy-handed at times, these are emotionally deep touch points. Each death progresses the narrative and also reveals some new aspect to the intersecting themes of the film.

To bring this review back to full circle, The Last Dance itself is for the living. Perhaps this is why we don't ever get to see any of the deceased characters on screen alive. The film is *about* the living because it is *for* the living. After all, no one gets to see their own funeral.

NB: "Souls trapped in the human realm / Unable to move on" are the translated lyrics of Terence Lam's song 普渡眾生 which plays during the credits.

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Watch this for my Alphabet challenge. But hufh.... What a ride...

Story about crime organizations that involves in gambling, bet, and overall just cheat people in all possible ways by using women and interesting advertising.

This movie choose the uprising problems in the world these days, where many people really being trap in these evil web.

They bring out the sensitivity of the problem & the victim. They emphasize that the victims not only the one that being swindle over they money, but also the face in the screen, like the women whose job as the dealer.

It’s really a hard world & people so easy being trap inside it, with all the promises they given at the beginning.

The minus this movie had for me is simply they make the person who's in charge, the true perpetrator not so crazy and the way they get captured is a little too easy. I hope we can get to see more from the police side, the investigation & the action they need to do to disassemble all of it

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"Don't worry, nothing is going to happen"

Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, and Anita Mui returned for this sequel to The Heroic Trio from the same year. While The Heroic Trio was campy and fun, Executioners was dark with an erratic script and zero fun.

Wonder Woman aka Tung (Anita Mui) is now married with a daughter. Her husband, Commissioner Lau, is rarely home as he is dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear strike that has left the people without clean water for several years. An entrepreneur named Mr. Kim (Anthony Wong) has figured out how to clean the radiation out of the water and sells small shipments at premium prices. Invisible Girl* aka Sandy Ching (Michelle Yeoh) turned over a new leaf after the first movie and is helping transport medical supplies. Thief Catcher Chat (Maggie Cheung) is still doing whatever she can to make a buck. Religious leader Chung Hon and a military colonel are both in cahoots with Mr. Kim. The president is vulnerable as well as the government in general with Kim and the Colonel both gunning to take over the country. Somehow the Heroic Trio must find a way to save themselves and the people from the evil men’s machinations.

The budget must have been miniscule for this film. In order to make the cheap sets appear post-apocalyptic they turned down the lights and turned up the fog machine. The strength of the first film was the relationship between the three women. Here, they were rarely together. The main exception being a gratuitous bubble bath scene at the beginning of the film as they played a game of grab and tickle. If there was a Sapphic subplot it might have made more sense but here it seemed to be designed to titillate 15-year-old boys. There weren’t many action scenes and most weren’t memorable. The plot seemed to be focused on the women fighting in skirts or short shorts and having as many people killed as possible. If they had ever planned a third film those characters eliminated should have counted themselves lucky.

It is no secret that I love the beautiful and talented Michelle Yeoh and will watch anything she is in. I also adore Maggie Cheung. The three women combined could not save this movie, actually if they’d had scenes together it might have helped. Anthony Wong as the villain was hampered by having to wear heavily scarred facial prosthetics and a mask on top of that. Kaneshiro Takeshi’s religious leader seemed to be a prominent role until he lost his head early on. Lau Ching Wan’s character had possibilities but ended up all wet. One of the characters that dragged this movie down considerably for me was the daughter. She was always getting lost or making a scene or diving into danger. It didn’t help that the dubbed voice was equally annoying as the character.

Executioners had a wealth of talent and wasted all of it on a dreary, convoluted story. When the three women were together fighting it was exciting. The trouble was the director forgot that key piece and squandered his cast and my time.

5 December 2024
Trigger warning: Rats and drinking of rat’s blood
* In the first film, Michelle Yeoh’s character wore an invisible cloak, but not in this film.

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A beautiful inner experience.

For me, it's not a movie called Balloon Landing, but it will always be Bay of the Vanishing Whales, and when I watched it for the first time, only the second half of the film made everything clear, and then when I watch the project for the second time, I perceive everything from a different angle. The Japanese film Dangerous Drugs of Sex, where there are explicit sex scenes, is completely different, like this fantasy film with only one random kiss, where everything is on the level of the inner character and the viewer, but still both films have something in common ... first they save each other, so that in the end the second one saves the first one. For some viewers, and they write about it on world servers, it's not BL just because they don't fuck and there are no bed scenes, for me and many others it's a deep and inner film about two wounded beings and hidden homosexuality (I don't see it only as a bromance), because love has many forms and it's practically on the same wavelength as the Taiwanese project The On1y One, where there's also no physical contact. Excellent acting, beautiful scenery of southern Taiwan and modern Hong Kong, a handkerchief at the end and I will return to the film... and an amazing fresh spark in the form of actor Fandy Fan and a great performance by Hong Konger Terrance Lau. A beautiful inner experience.

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Loved this and is one i have seen more then once!

I truly enjoyed this and felt it was a total stand out for the time as most bl's can be focused more on the spicy time then any kind of story. Feels more adult and plot heavy then most bl's with an interesting mystery leaving you wondering at the end of each episode and had me hooked from start to finish.
Summery:
Dr. Tihn works in the emergency room and has seemed to have lost that spark for helping people but when he loses a patient he finds himself thrown back in time reliving it over and over as he tries to find out why he meets the patient named Tol. He thinks is all he has to do is save the boy but no matter what he does it does not seem to work and with each try he unravels more of the overall mystery. He then realizes he needs to go back further as he finds he has fallen in love with Tol and eventually wins the guy over but dies in order to save him and this time it is Tol who is forced to go back in time and win over the dr. but the version who had never been through any of it but eventually wins him over after finding his journal from his previous time travels and the mystery finally unravels. I love the ending so i hope you watch it yourself!!

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HK cinema is back baby!

I'm so happy to see a modern Hong Kong film that remembers it's a Hong Kong film and not a pretender to the throne, an action-packed homage to the nitty-gritty choreography-crazed neon-daze of '80s Hong Kong cinema, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is a long overdue and very welcome dose of ass-kicking goodness, hopefully signalling the start of a new wave. Packed with wall-to-wall bone-crunching, wall-shattering mayhem, dizzying feats of acrobatics and martial arts madness, the film might be a bit long but it's extraordinarily stylish, seamlessly edited and viscerally exciting. It's all directed to masterful effect by Soi Cheang, his nimble camera swimming through the walled city with a hyperkinetic frenzy that balances the excellent action that brings you closer to the edge of your seat with every punch and every kick and the misery enacted by neo-liberalism and cold vicissitudes of fate. A bittersweet dystopian canvas, but also the purest action machine built on the choreographed denial of physics. The cast is all excellent with veteran stars Louis Koo and Sammo Hung giving as good as they get, however, it's Philip Ng who makes the biggest mark as a cackling villain with supernatural abilities, even if his ascension to villain doesn't feel entirely warranted. The musical score by Kenji Kawai is utterly joyous and so typical of his masterful touch, I especially loved the use of Walking in the Air as part of the underscoring. If anything, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In proves that Hong Kong cinema is far from dead, and not every film the country produces has to be subjected to a Mainland committee's scrutiny. It's easily one of the best action films of the year and I'm annoyed it took me this long to watch it.

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Lively and entertaining

I liked the 2nd movie better. Has more emotional moments and shows more closeness between Aki and Haru. The storyline are mostly similar to the 1st one.
The liveliness and humor is so enjoyable in the movie. The progression towards the end was good.
Aki's sudden realization after hearing Rikka's announcement was something expected, its sad that he had to hide it, but understandstable. The turmoil both goes through when they realize they have to live apart makes one sit on the edge. The hesitation, turmoil in the scene where Aki finally mentions he likes Haru gives mixed feelings.

Aki's photos in the gallery shows how much Haru cares of him and holds him in a special place in the heart. Haru's realization when Aki says he likes him was cute. Not to mention the final confession, thank god for including that. The story shows a deep caring loving relationship between the two.

Oh! not to mention, both of them makes the food looks soooo delicious 😋

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