Reviews

Can't hold the candle in front of other Parts

The Roundup series is pretty interesting. New Story in each part with next characters and villains. But what I don't like is the decreasing reputation of villain.
Part 1 villain was tactical and adamant, Part 2 villain was the most scary psychopath, while Part 3 got the smartest villain. But in this Part, Villain lacked any presence at all. He kept the straight baby face, which is not very suitable for Antagonists. The Hero, Do Seok, is consistent but it's the villains who add value in the movie. The more cunning they are, the more fun it is to watch. Part 4 villain was just a fluke. He was neither a psycho nor intelligent. The only redeeming thing about him is fearlessness. That's his x factor, which is if you think about, is common in every villain. They don't fear hence they break laws.

Second was the choreography. The fight part was lackluster. Even the last fight looks pale in comparison to what Jang Chen did at the airport. So that was another let down. It was an okayish movie with not much of chase. There was chase but very mediocre compared to Part-1 & 2.

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Realistic and heartbreaking plot but production was rushed

I’ve saw reviews on this film and many had said it was really sad and would make me cry. I anticipated shedding some tears, and though I didn’t, I felt the pain and sorrow of this whole storyline. It’s raw and gives a perspective on how bullying can take such impacts on a person/who they love as well. I just felt that the production and the way it was executed went by very quickly. I think if we took a moment to really understand the situation, it would’ve made me cry for sure. We went from one clip to another without truly appreciating the music, feelings or visuals. I wish that the producers would’ve made the film more slow-paced, so we can learn more about what the film is telling us and the lessons we should grasp.

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"Don't come back!"

If you are curious about those insanely expensive grapes sold in Japan, The Grapes of Joy gives a tiny insight into how they are grown. I’ll admit the heartwarming part of the story was something that attracted me, but the hyperventilating, inept, female lead hired for her smile dragged it down for at least the first half of the movie. This type of overly-enthusiastic character is hugely popular so this is just my curmudgeonly response to her.

Soma Haruna shows up late to her interview at Minamoto Kitchoan but the president of the company has mercy on her and lets her interview. Her sob story gets to him and she is hired despite everyone else’s reservations. Haruna is shuttled from department to department after making hilarious and kindhearted mistakes until the only place left for her is working in the vineyards where the grapes are grown for the company’s signature treat. There she meets the owner of the vineyard, Akiyoshi Shinsuke, who has no desire for her to work for him. Haruna doesn’t know the meaning of the word “no” and continues to show up every day.

Within the first 30 minutes, Haruna---fell dramatically twice, was late for her interview, lost her wallet, lost her phone, presented an error riddled resume, ruined two batches of candy, left the candy store and register unattended, got lost, ran a customer off with her pushy, unrestrained enthusiasm, nearly ruined expensive grapes, demonstrated no self-awareness or ability to follow simple instructions, and was unable to comprehend when people were making fun of her. I know I was supposed to be charmed by her, but I sympathized with her supervisors. I wouldn’t have hired her to water my houseplants while on vacation. At one point when she was relegated to making copies I wondered if she’d accidentally and hilariously burn the building down. Of course, Haruna discovered Akiyoshi’s secret pain and worked to save not only the grapes for the company but also heal the older man’s heartache.

I found the grape growing aspects of the film interesting though there wasn’t much to be learned. Haruna calmed down the longer she worked at the vineyard and began to think beyond her own desires around Akiyoshi, which helped my viewing experience. The Grapes of Joy worked hard to be heartwarming, maybe a little too hard and obviously.

15 July 2024

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Good but not great

Beware => spoilers

The plot and storyline of this movie are pretty simple, basic but efficient : an older sister looking for her little sister after she disappeared. And she decides to take revenge.

Lee Si Young well portrays a badass FL (similar character one as in Sweet Home). Her acting skills in movies of this genre (action/fighting) are very good.
The other characters are not really important. Not that I want to minimize the job done by the other actors but I think support roles could be portrayed by any other actors, I doesn’t matter. This movie was only done for Lee Si Young.

I give this movie a good rate because of badass FL, because of the revenge taking story and also because of action scenes. But not high rate because I admit I’ve felt pretty uncomfortable about everything the young sister went through… I’m sure storyline could have been the same even if the bully/abuse level had been lower.

Good movie but no rewatch value for me.
(Didn’t pay attention to OST)

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"A tiger's daughter is no kitten indeed"

Lady Detective Shadow was a low budget Dragon Gate Inn adjacent movie. The fights, story, and sets were the equivalent of a mediocre Cdrama. What it did have going for it was a competent female lead, a former royal constable, ousted by an evil, powerful eunuch during the chaotic times of the Ming Dynasty.

Sima Fei Yan and her sidekick Yezi head to Shacheng in search of the bandit Lu Jiang. Lu Jiang and numerous sects and bandits are headed there in search of the mysterious treasure that reveals itself every 49 years in the desert. Everyone converges on a rundown inn where death is a familiar guest. Official Song and his servants wind up in pieces out in the woods giving Fei Yan another case to solve. Helping her is the local official, Wu Ping, a friend of her late father.

This film had an adequate story and acting though the logic during the final quarter of the film fell apart. The fights were shot for people with no kung fu skills with lots of obvious cuts, sped up and slowed down action, and wire work. The bare minimum was put into the sets and CGI. Shang Rong did her best with the Sherlockian, unemotional role of the brilliant detective.

If you have nothing else to watch except for this film, it’s not an awful way to spend 90 minutes if you keep your expectations as low as a buried city in the desert.

15 July 2024

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Don't watch without watching drama

I just finished watching the movie and I want to point out that it's important to watch the drama first, otherwise the movie won't make much sense. What I enjoyed the least about the movie is that they left out the most important and interesting parts of the drama, which made the movie more boring and confusing. It's okay if they want to focus on the love story, but they shouldn't just include boring scenes, especially for those who have seen the drama. For instance, in the drama, there was a significant shared moment between the characters when the male lead carried the female lead after she was drunk and they walked to their base talking. Also, there was a skipped part before the movie where they had a shared little date, which would have been interesting to see. Additionally, there was a part where he asked if they could give it a try, but they skipped the part when she responded to him and they started dating. There were many other interesting parts that were skipped, such as after they started dating when they went on a date to the movies and he got a little angry. The movie only showed a little bit of what happened. Lastly, the movie also missed the part when one of the characters found out they were dating in the rain when they kissed. Instead, it jumped to a scene where they were in their rooms talking on the phone.

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GOOD FILM IN ITS ENTIRETY BUT….

Okay so..
This film was pretty chill to watch eventhough it actually challenged my feelings.
First, too much timelapses and things showed partially making us confused at some point.
For example (only one in a lot btw) :
Idk, I don’t understand why Jonathan stopped when they were about to have sex with Carrie, like I can’t he couldn’t but why ? He was sort of motivated smh so…
Then the characters :
- Carrie ! I know everyone is coming at her and I’m also in this case. I mean I loved her reaction when she understood Jonathan had feeling for his best friend like she didn’t go harsh on him and respected him. BUT girlie I can’t tolerate that you went for Shane after that (I know it was completely not planned, that she couldn’t help but still…) because you knew how Jonathan felt about him. Also because of those confusing timelapses I was talking about, we had her on screen ´grieving ´about the end of her relationship with jonathan and then after few times going to the basketball game of shane and her breaking down in front of him out of sorrow and then they got together. Like out of the blue. We didn’t get the background of them getting together except them kissing. And this scene also bothers me because Shane (yes shame on in him as well) initiated the kissing move while she was confiding to him and she answered back….

A little thing that had me confused as much as the timelapses was the transgender book’s apparition. Although I’m still pretty confused now about it I’m thinking maybe he was questioning wanting to be a girl to be able to date his best friend, I mean you know when people see others and are like ´ do I wanna be her or do I wanna be with…’ maybe he was questioning himself about wanting to be one of those girls around Shane or else.
But even this explanation (far-fetched I know lol ) still doesn’t explain fully the apparition of the transgender book instead of another queer book but maybe it was also the only knowledge they had back then in Taiwan about queer people idk tbh ?

Also what the heck was the old dude who slept with a broken hearted Jonathan doing ?? He disgusts me like why would you go in the streets, sit down next to someone for no reason, seeing they are crying and still invite them over an hotel to litteraly f*ck them ?? This scene was as uncomfy as confusing to watch…

- SHANE ! Because why most are shaming only Carrie when Shane was also the problem in this ? I mean he didn’t know abt his bsf’s feelings BUT what he knew for sure is that Carie was his girlfriend…. I also ´forgive ´ him smh as I did for carrie because you can’t ´help ´ with feelings but still…
Then I think it’s pretth clear that he is in love with his best friend by the way he looks at him (anybody becomes transparent to him smh when jonathan is in his sight), he wants to be with him everytime (even when jonathan clearly wants some space ?). I know I’ve also described typical best friends’ actions but he went further and don’t wanna realize his feelings for jonathan (I understand smh knowing how hard the times were back then especially in taiwan). I mean who would get down to their best friend like nothing ?? Also many things I didn’t like about this sex scene was :
* Jonathan didn’t seem to be consentent. He said multiple times ´no ´. I know he stopped talking at some point but still idk. It felt wrong like I felt uneasy…
* Shane it is cheating on carrie! Even if you did tell her right after (which is a good thing to do to begin with) it still is gross !
* The fact he played the blind at what happened even when he was the one initiating sex between him and jonathan… Like why didn’t you try to give him explanations ???

And the fact he decided to still stay stucked to his ´best friends ´ card after that is actually quite disappointing. I mean you had sex with him, he confessed but instead of giving explanations before rejecting him if you don’t have the strength to commit into queer relationships, you stucked with anecdotes of your childhood and took out once again the bsf card ?.



To end, it was a good and pretty chill film to watch but a few things were actually confusing and/or annoying. No memorable OSTs but the cast and acting were fire !
The end had me confused a little bit but I understood it. A shoutout to the people who explained things especially the end further in the comments ! I love y’all sm ??

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Gangsta's Paradise

I bounced off walls with joy and excitement when I came across this movie. It has been too long since we have seen a hard core Hong Kong style triad martial arts movie like this. Not to mention the cast - Louis Koo, Sammo Hung, Raymond Lam; literally a Who's Who of veteran Hong Kong action super stars. Adapted from Andy Seto's manhua "City of Darkness," this movie is set in the 1980s in the Kowloon Walled City, or Hak Nam/黑暗 as it was known to locals. Dismantled in 1993, this was once the most crowded place on earth, packing 35,000 people within 6.4 acres. This infamous den of iniquity was a gangsta's paradise; a dystopian, lawless enclave of mostly refugees where crime proliferated and triads kept the peace with their own brand of street justice. The replica of the Walled City is viscerally authentic down to the chaotic claustrophobia of structure piled precariously upon structure and the stench of overflowing humanity permeating the dank, narrow corridors.

This fast-paced action-packed movie that pays tribute to the golden age of Hong Kong cinema exploits tried and true themes of loyalty, brotherhood and vigilante justice. Chan Lok-Kwun (Raymond Lam) is a mainland refugee that sneaks into HK in the 1980s. He runs afoul of triad boss Mr Big (Sammo Hung) and in a thrilling chase, jumps from the frying pan into the fire of the Walled City. Through blood, sweat and bone-crunching fights, he earns the grudging respect of Typhoon and his underlings, who keep the peace within the Walled City. The narrative rushes through not that well fleshed out subplots involving past grudges and shady business deals but who cares? They are simply excuses to stage one innovative, physics defying action scene after another featuring fighters dressed to kill at 1980s comic-con. While Typhoon and his rival Mr Big anchor the narrative, the younger crew really hold their own up against the intimidating cast. I laughed out loud at their moments of dark humor and brash camaraderie.

One of this movie's top highlights is the the gritty, awe-inspiring recreation of the dystopian underworld within the Walled City; a place that spawned countless video games and works of fiction. The action scenes pay tribute to the manhua with outlandish cartoon-like combatants and the death proof brawls featuring wildly exaggerated superpowers. The fight scenes got more fantastical as the movie progresses and climaxes in a crazy, all-out extended take down of an almost invincible villain. I was on the edge of my seat with excitement and anxiety the entire time; thinking more than once that the bad guy was gonna win. Nonetheless I felt the best fights were early on, where despite the astounding athleticism, they were still grounded in some semblance of reality. I had my heart in my mouth watching Chan Lok-Kwun's opening shattered glass skirmish, the way he fights his way out of tight spaces on the bus and his parkour like first foray into the Walled City. This is how real martial arts action scenes should be choreographed and filmed. Later on, while still inventive and gripping, the action strays a bit too far into the realm of the fantastical.

This movie is a must watch and not just for old times' sake; preferably in Cantonese and on the big screen. It shows that Hong Kong cinema is still alive and well and stands the test of time. I am only rating this an 8.0/10.0 because the plot could have been better but the overall entertainment value vastly exceeds this rating.

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uma aventura de se acompanhar

Uma das coisas que mais me impressionaram nesse filme é como as relações nele são construídas, você consegue perceber o amor, a tristeza, a amizade etc de forma tão intensa que é quase como se eu fosse a pessoa por trás da câmera captando os momentos. Honestamente o filme foi uma experiência muito mais dolorosa do que qualquer outra, me peguei refletindo como cruel a vida pode ser com algumas pessoas em aspectos diferentes; com o ryuta é possível acompanhar um personagem que precisa se submeter a uma rotina exploratória para ter um mínimo de dignidade e conseguir ajudar sua mãe. Enquanto no kosuke se acompanha uma pessoa que teve uma certa negligência ao amor por boa parte da vida finalmente encontrando uma reciprocidade e tendo isso tirado de uma maneira horrível. Estou de verdade surpreso com o filme, se encaminhou para um lado que eu não esperava mas foi uma experiência incrível até o final.

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