Went into it for a sweet romance and it’s mostly what I’ve got. Natural development of feelings between the leads and beautiful friendships were for sure the highlights. The issue was the second half of the show and all the overdramatic plotlines added. It worked the best as a chill slice of life, why add more?

The first half of the show is everything one might want from high school romance: playful, smart, caring male lead. Smart, positive and driven female lead. Friends with good comedic timing delivering a fun side romance. Plot touching on internal struggles like not knowing what you want to do in your life, wanting to both please your family, but also do what feels right for you. The chemistry between all the cast was amazing, the innocent jealousy, the bickering - butterflies in the stomach mode on.

But then something happened in the second half that made me lose a bit of my interest. The plot surrounding Zhou Si Yue’s family and how it made him hesitate and take a step back was literally enough to fill all the remaining episodes. Why add more to it? Why focus on the 2nd male lead after such a long time? Why add the whole “crime and business” related aspects? A lot of random plotlines were introduced and concluded in 2-3 episodes, so why even bother making them happen if they did not plan to develop them in a proper manner?

All that considered, I still enjoyed Our Secret for fluffy romance, heartwarming friendships and great performance from the cast. Honestly, can we talk about Chen Zhe Yuan? Because he aced the role. I am completely in love with this man right now. He was so natural in his performance. He made me want to go back to my high school days, and that was for sure not the best and most exciting part of my life…

Meng Jie Xu also did a great job with the presentation of Ding Xian. I wish some of her emotional scenes were a bit more… emotional? I don’t think the character was written in a way she would try to restrain her feelings, but that’s the vibe I’ve got a few times.

Overall, a high end of the decent high school romances. Surprisingly not cheesy, not leaving you with second hand embarrassment.

Citeste mai mult

You don’t always need an eventful plot…

... and I wish writers would keep that in mind from time to time. I honestly wish they removed all the pointless, ridiculous and frustrating misunderstandings and just gave us a slow burn slice of life and two people getting closer to each other as they simply spend quality time cooking.

It was so enjoyable at first. And then all the unnecessary tension, annoying supporting characters and lack of communication happened and I gave up.

Sure, the acting was great, but the characters were just so frustrating to follow, the performance could not save it. Does not matter how tasty the dish might look, when it’s not actually tasty.

Overall, this is for sure a ship. It does not really work as romance nor a slice of life.

Citeste mai mult

Going into this show one needs to understand this is not really a dating show. It definitely focuses on the hardships of existing couples and any “dates” seem more like a distraction from what’s going on. You won’t really get butterflies watching it, there is no “hot tea” of who likes whom and why. It’s more frustration, pain and a lot of sadness and this is kind of why I liked it.

Quite quickly you can figure out no new couples will form here. While the dates provide a new perspective for the couples to view their own relationship, it would be painfully ridiculous and unrealistic for any of these people to fall in love with a new person in just two weeks. And that’s one of the aspects I did not like - short duration. I honestly don’t think 2 weeks is enough of a time for a show with a premise like that. It probably would be better if the filming took a month - just keep them all in Seoul and let them go to work, so they don’t take a full 2 weeks off.

Because the duration was so short, a lot of things felt rushed and we kind of got bombarded with new developments, constant arguments and unresolved issues. I cannot even imagine how exhausting it must have been for the participants.

That said, it’s still a surprisingly great show. Somehow, no matter how flawed the relationships might have been, I rooted for most of them to stay together. It was nice to watch them learn how to communicate with each other and appreciate the bond they have.

Citeste mai mult

Nightmare for all women.

“It’s her right to live alone, not a reason to hurt her”.
Putting aside who the stalker is, what is also unsettling is how all the men in her life were acting creepy enough to be considered a potential perpetrator. The whole movie had little to no moments that did not make me feel uncomfortable.

Honestly speaking, I did enjoy it more than the Korean version. For starters, the police did not seem as painfully bad at their job. I am pretty sure they had less involvement in this version, but that was a good call. Detective and investigative work should never be the focus of a story like that.

Then I also appreciate how the female lead made more reasonable and smart decisions. While I appreciated some mistakes the female lead in the Korean version made, because they made her more realistic, by the end I was a bit frustrated. Here, they were able to keep the realism without making her make questionable decisions.

What the movie failed at a few times were the transitions between scenes and sequences - some felt extremely jarring and confusing - that made me rewatch some scenes to make sure I did not miss something. It just felt out of place.

My biggest issue though was the ending - as over the top as the Korean version, if not more. It was going so well with presenting an unnerving experience women can truly face in real life, and then they had to make it more dramatic at the end, completely unnecessarily if you ask me.

Still, it was a great watch. The atmosphere was perfect and some scenes made me want to go around my house and check “just to be sure and safe” that ain’t no creep hiding somewhere. The performances were also solid - kudos to all the male cast for delivering that creepy factor. What’s more, I enjoyed some of the audio editing/mixing and the music picked for some scenes.

Citeste mai mult

Vast improvement in storytelling compared to previous movies.

I always had exactly the same issue with Whispering Corridors - they always try to make the audience question if the events happening are the result of supernatural or not, but they also always dump over the top spooky stuff in the last 15 minutes. Here, the pacing and storytelling was more gradual and the ending actually gave a solid answer to the events happening.

For sure my favorite installment. You still need to pay more attention than while watching other horror movies to get the story and not get confused by anything, but it is possible to truly understand everything, and that’s something I cannot say about all Whispering Corridors films. The Humming was simply a solid plot with good storytelling.

It does tackle some triggering issues (TW in the comment under spoiler), but it’s not explicit - they set it so everyone knows what happened, but they don’t slap you in the face with scenes you would rather not see. Can’t say the same about gore - while nothing bothered me (I’m not exactly easily grossed out), there is some blood, there are some mutilated bodies. Nothing too intense, but better know about it before picking up the movie. Especially since the previous Whispering Corridors movies were not exactly known for bloody content.

I liked the acting a lot. A lot of characters were rather basic, but Kim Seo Hyung as Noh Eun Hee delivered a perfect performance. Well presented gradual transition of where the characters started and where it ended.

Production wise it was a well made horror, honestly nothing spectacular. Two semi-jumpscares bothered me, because they were painfully unnecessary and cheap. Glad we did not get more of it.

Overall, that’s the Whispering Corridor movie I would recommend with no regrets. You can skip all the rest.

Citeste mai mult

Fanfic like story we all crave in the middle of the night.

I have hardly any thoughts about this show except for the fact that the female lead was amazing and the character deserves a full length drama. Strong, smart, confident - we need it.

The political schemes are complex as a set up and deserve a more in depth exploration too. The delicious angst this could bring if it was longer - I can only imagine.

The fanfic-like romance between confident and domineering female lead and puppy male lead with deadly skills was everything one might ask from a short show like this.

What surprised me the most was quite decent acting for a short, low budget web drama. This could have been a cringe fest and not fun entertainment if delivered with poor acting.

Overall, confident, hot male lead who? I only know Li Yun Zhen.

Citeste mai mult

Love the sismance, hate the dad.

One thing for sure - the dad in this movie will not win the award for the best father. While the sismance between the three sisters was amazing, I kept getting slightly frustrated every time they mentioned the dad, and how little reaction everyone had with the fact he had basically 3 different families in 3 different countries.

Hsia Ru Shu? A saint. The way she just took everything in, did not really complain much, never freaked out or yelled at anyone - is this emotionally detached reaction even possible in real life? It’s not that she did not care, just just accepted everything, as if it’s normal. Maybe it just shows her attitude towards her father at the beginning of the movie - she had such little expectations, even a big news like that did nothing to faze her.

That said, I did love her interaction and bond with the other two sisters. I loved how fast they clicked, and more realistic and emotional reactions from any of them would make it far less enjoyable. As long as I did not try to dive deep into their current situation, and just enjoyed what was happening on screen - it’s quite a well paced and moving journey.

The one thing I disliked about the show were the countless excuses made for the dad. I had no issue with him being a questionable parent, my issue was the fact they tried to make him look like a good, but misunderstood one - which was not true. The framing matters, and I hated it here.

One of the best parts of the movie? How visually beautiful it was. I am one that appreciates nice shots a lot. I’m willing to watch a bad movie, as long as it’s beautifully done. This had both good writing and amazing filming.

Performance wise, I especially enjoyed Sammi Cheng and Megan Lai. Their emotional delivery, even though quite different, just worked so well with who the characters they were playing are.

Overall, I would definitely recommend it. There is not much plot, and the whole movie focuses on forming relationships, grieving, reconnecting with people in your life and letting go of past misunderstandings and regrets.

Citeste mai mult

Why did it feel like a comedy?

Something about pathetic people thinking they are "all that" makes me laugh. I don’t think I ever laughed so much watching a film focused on so much murder, blood, gore and all the other awful things you can think of.

While I was rather entertained watching, this was not enough content for an over 2 hours movie, especially since this had less depth than a puddle. And there was some good potential, don’t get me wrong. Better writing could make it into some solid psychological thriller.

The thing I enjoyed the most about the movie was how amazingly sloppy Bayu was in ALL aspects of his life. Nomura Shuhei was not much better, but some practice made him deal with issues just slightly better.

The performances were good. Kitamura Kazuki’s english delivery was so exaggerated, it added to how hilarious the whole movie was. Loved Oka Antara and his portrayal of Bayu.

I did like some directing choices, especially the opening kill and the plastic bag shots. The last scene gave me a low budget bollywood, and it was the cherry on top I needed.

Overall, I had fun, I would have liked it more if it was shorter by at least 20 minutes.

Citeste mai mult

Comedy on point, messages and plot - not so much.

The comedy in this show is so good that even someone who is not that into the genre will appreciate it (I’m talking about myself here). The jokes always made sense in the presented situations, were driven from the characters’ personality and the cast never failed to deliver them in the most amusing way.

These are the highlights of the show - comedy, performance and the chemistry between Satoh Takeru and Watabe Atsuro as the bickering son and father. Honestly speaking, the show did not need more to be amazing. That’s why the “evil threat that lurks in the shadows waiting for the last fight off” Kaizuka Takehisa truly lowered the quality of the show.

This guy had nothing to offer as a character - the motivation was weakly explained, how resourceful he was made no sense, his plans were ridiculous and the big finale with him in the ast episodes was not set up in a proper way, feeling painfully disconnected from the rest of the show.

The main villain was not the only aspect that felt disconnected, so were the episodes. At times they started in weird places and I had to check if I skipped an episode or something. The show honestly did not flow too well.

There was also the issue of questionable messages in some episodes. I am sorry, but we should truly move on from using "I can only offer you money" as an excuse for bad parenting and dads who are never home.

Do I care though? Not really. I went in for the comedy and that aspect was truly aced. I could not ask for more. Shimao Akimura was such an eccentric character, whatever he did seemed like a comedy goal.

Overall, great comedy with (at best) mediocre cases and an awful villain.

Ps. That intro song is amazing.

Citeste mai mult

Feels like a fanfic written by an inexperienced teen.

And yet I enjoyed it so much. Let’s get real - the writing of everything except for the romance was laughable. When I found out that the actors actually had some training with the professionals, it made it even worse. Without it, I could excuse it on the lack of research, but there was some effort put into it, so why is the result so bad?

All that, it was pure entertainment. I must say, I actually enjoyed the villain the most. He had such a massive negative brain energy I could not stop laughing watching his shenanigans. Especially in the last episodes, everything was so dramatic, when realistically speaking nothing made much sense. It had its cons though - I felt nothing, no pain, no angst, no sadness - nothing. The lack of brains from the villain and the plot completely distracted me from actually connecting to the characters.

Then we have the medical aspect. It was so bad I honestly don’t even want to talk about it. The glorious closeups to the actors' faces as the medical procedures are happening, because the actor cannot deliver them in a realistic way - this tells you all you need to know.

Putting the villain and the medical aspects aside (which means just ignoring a massive portion of the plot lol), the romance itself was great. I liked how they emphasized that the characters make each other better, and how you need to put an actual effort in relationships - no first love type of a deal. The chemistry was great and very natural - no awkwardness, unless the scene literally demanded it.

I also had no issues with the performances. There were no groundbreaking deliveries, but everyone did a good job with their respective roles.

Overall, it was so dumb it ended up being great.

Citeste mai mult

A simple story executed in an almost perfect way.

There are countless romantic comedies showing how opposites attract. The opposite gives as the comedy bits, while the attraction leads us into the land of love and romance. Even though the opposites here were truly extreme, unexpectedly, they worked well together. As a viewer, I could slowly observe how strict and perfectionist Lu Jin and free-spirited and messy Gu Sheng Nan start to adapt to each others' ways, and go from hate to love, in such a fun and exciting manner.

The thing I loved the most about this movie was Zhou Dong Yu acting - it's so amazingly raw. All the emotions seemed so real, rich and clear. Not one scream seemed fake, not one tear forced, not one laugh insincere. Not to mention, she presented probably THE BEST acting drunk scene in the history of cinema. If someone told me she was actually taking some shots here and there in the middle of filming the scene, I would believe them.

The movie is quite honestly beautifully shot. Some scenes were stunning - adding emotional value to what was happening on the screen. Some had fun and exciting filters and effects added, which exaggerated the comedy just the right way. It was just smart and well planned: where and what to use, to enhance the vision of the director and writer.

Any complaints? There was exactly one scene where I was completely not connected and not convinced by Ming Xi acting. Zhou Dong Yu was slaying on her end, and Ming Xi's performance just felt flat in comparison. What's more, even though I appreciated how they took the time for the leads to make this bond over food, before they had a chance to actually confront each other face to face, I wish the movie was about 15 to 20 minutes longer. This way, we could get a bit more story behind how, why and when they started to have feelings for each other, especially on Lu Jin's side.

Overall, it was a truly funny movie, with great acting, amazing scenography and cinematography. The characters, even though extremely exaggerated in their character traits, were still believable. I laughed a lot, I cried a few times and I enjoyed myself throughout the whole watch.

Citeste mai mult

It almost worked.

Why, oh why are Korean writers so obsessed with overcomplicating everything. Not all romantic comedies need a slapstick over the top side characters, not one, but two obsessive exs with various levels of traumatic past, and 978674 random plot lines. Remove 70% of plot lines and elaborate on the remaining 30%, give characters more depth and time to develop and you would have a truly amazing healing rom-com. Sadly, we still had to deal with the unnecessary 70%, because the Korean writers believe in a simple rule of “more means better”.

I loved the relationship between Hae Kyung and Woo Do Hee. Even though at first it might have seemed like a one way street, by the end of the show it was clear that they both helped each other a lot. Jung Jae Hyuk truly stole the show in the second half and Lee Ji Hoon easily delivered the best performance. The connection between Jae Hyun and Keanu was one of the best side plots of the drama and I would have loved to watch a show focused on them more. On the other hand Jin Noh Eul was one of the most boring and cliche second female leads ever. Even though she was nowhere near as toxic as the second male lead, I somehow hated her more, simply because she was so poorly written.

Dinner Mate had some great messages and the overall plot, but too much was going on for anything to be truly developed in a meaningful way. One thing I did appreciate though is how it clearly showed that dealing with mental issues is a long process that at times takes many attempts and different approaches - sometimes it takes years to face what you fear and what holds you back, sometimes you will never be ready to fully accept it.

Overall, everything was good, but almost nothing was truly great. The few plots that stood out the most could not save the drama, when there were most scenes and plots that felt completely useless and empty. Maybe it should have been a 8 to 12 episode drama with none of the filler?

Citeste mai mult

It feels like a passion project for someone who really dreams of making movies…

but are not quite there in terms of skills.
I could feel that a lot of care was put into this movie and it was taken seriously. I could also feel all the limited resources and how they impacted the final result. The plot had quite a number of twists, but the writing and directing was not smooth and detailed enough to truly tell the story well.

I think one of the biggest issues I had was the fact, I was not exactly on board with male lead. I don’t know how old he is supposed to be, but clearly old enough to know better. Yet he acted like a teenage boy. Sure, his mother would not win an award for the best parent, but he completely disregarded her struggles and just dumped all his grievances - whenever justified or not - on her. Dude had some issues and I struggled with rooting for him.

As for the storytelling - it was a bit confusing. The main lead investigates the attack on his grandpa, keeps referring to the attacker as a killer, barely does anything, but still finds more information than the police? And there is also a dirty lady in the forest that lurks here and there. Also a lot of focus on romance and romantic feelings people have. It all does make sense at the end, but to get there, you need to truly push forward feeling like nothing connects and it’s just a few random scenes put together.

Every character had their traumas, and they yelled about their traumas… and yet we as viewers did not really know what said traumas were. Everything felt extremely detached and awkward because of that.

The acting was decent. Some actors did better than the others, some scenes and lines felt more natural than the rest. Nothing major to praise nor to complain about.

The production was kind of all over the place. The transitions between the scenes were distracting and rough. They had hard-cut the background music during some scenes, not to mention some choices of the songs were rather questionable. The views though, some were quite beautiful. Also… I was over 6 minutes into the movie and they still kept showing credits here and there…

Overall, it dragged painfully. 30 minutes in I felt like I already watched 2 hours. It picks up by the end, but I feel like too much information and actions are dumped in that last 20 minutes so the whole pacing of the movie is off.

Citeste mai mult

Zombie flick with lots of laughs and surprisingly moving moments.

I did not expect to cry during a zombie horror comedy, yet this movie surprisingly had a few touching moments and a lot of good comedy.

Flawed family that obviously cares about each other - I am weak for things like that. Add a found family trope to that and you won’t see me complaining. The characters were the core of the movie and they were both amazingly written and perfectly portrayed.

I am honestly not much of a comedy person, but this was amazingly funny. Some jokes were more in my face than the others, but it was all well balanced so I never felt overwhelmed. They were able to keep the light atmosphere without killing all the thrills that come with zombie apocalypse.

Out of all the characters, Hae Gul, Jjong Bi and Man Deok were my favorites, but with how unique and fun everyone was, I’m sure each viewer can find their favorite to root for.

It’s almost a 2 hours movie, but it never felt long. Some might think the set up took too long, as the true action starts well past half point of the movie, but for me it was all necessary. For the characters’ choices to have sense in the last few scenes, we truly needed all that built up. Personally I believe this had some solid pacing - not too slow, not too fast.

Production value was amazing. Honestly beautiful shots. Sometimes I did not know if I should laugh about the comedy or appreciate how pretty the scenery is.

Overall, I would highly recommend it. Great cast, great characters, great story and great jokes. It’s simply a well executed zombie horror comedy.

Citeste mai mult

While other shows that center around youth that are set in high school make me glad I’m not in that age group anymore, Twenty-Five Twenty-One made me wish I was back in my late teens with all the glorious cringe, freedom and passion that represent that age. It also hits you hard with the reality of growing up, making me appreciate the memories I have of my younger self.

I think it’s important to know the title of the drama is more of a destination and not an indication about what the plot will be. Most of it is set when Hee Do is a teenager - last year of high school and the beginning of her 20s. We join her on the journey, as she tries to follow her goals and dreams, builds friendships, experiences sweet victories and bitter loses. She is both mature and innocent with her approach to problems and how she interacts with people. Truly a wonderful female lead that could inspire a lot of younger and older audiences.

Baek Yi Jin perfectly represents the time of our life when we are not quite kids anymore, but we still have a long way to becoming adults. New responsibilities are piling up, and you are slowly learning how to handle them. He was also one of the best male leads in the history of Korean dramas - understanding, supportive, pointing out the mistakes in a mature way, which helped Hee Do grow as a person. Was his selflessness too much? I think it served as a quite well structured flaw that led to many interesting internal and external conflicts he was facing.

He was not perfect, taking steps back when he was overwhelmed by the given situation or unsure of the future results. On the other hand completely immersing himself after he makes a decision to take action - these realistic flaws made him an even greater character.

I think it’s also important to mention how great of a job the writer did with Go Yu Rim’s character. She was quite flawed, self-centered at times, extremely insecure - all that led to many unfortunate moments, making her behave in an awful way. Yet, by the end of the show, the majority of the audience adored her, felt sympathy and wished her happiness.

Not only the main characters, but also the supporting cast did a wonderful job. That said, I find it slightly disappointing how little we got to know both Moon Ji Woong and Ji Seung Wan. I think both of them could present an interesting and unique perspective, but they were not really given the chance to do that. Yes, Seung Wan had a few truly moving and inviting further reflection scenes, but overall, she was mostly pushed to the side lines.

The character that I could not fully understand and root for till the end was Hee Do’s mom, Shin Jae Kyung. I found her striving to be a good journalist and presenter rather one-dimensional and boring. Her reasoning often made little sense and her overall stand on the issue seemed a bit artificial - only existing to create some drama between her and her daughter.

Most of the performances were solid, some truly amazing. I’m surprised how well Kim Tae Ri delivered the role of Na Hee Do. It’s honestly not easy to give a believable performance of a teenage girl by a woman in her 30’. She aced the role and no other actress could do as well as she did.

I’m not the biggest fan of Nam Joo Hyuk, granted it had more to do with the roles he took than his performance. That said, he was born to play the role of Baek Yi Jin. He did great with the duality of the character - mature and protective, but at the same time scared and struggling.

Go Yu Rim’s character and her arc was not an easy task, but Bona did the character justice. Probably one of the characters that evokes the most emotions in all the viewers - be it positive or negative.

The only performance that did not convince me at all was Kim So Hyun as an adult Hee Do. Watching her on screen, she had that theater actress characteristics, so I was not exactly surprised when I found out she is in fact a musical theater actress. Theater and dramas demand a completely different approach, and I am not sure she was able to successfully switch from one to the other. Things needed on stage will work against you in front of the camera.

What a beautiful show it was. My screenshots folder is full of amazing pictures. The pacing was perfect - slow enough for me to have time to appreciate the scenes and dialogues, but fast enough to always keep me entertained. Loved the shots that focused on the details, objects, often hands - they at times served as the guidance of what is the center of the scene and where our focus should be.

The arrangement for the song truly perfectly fits the 90’ and early 00’ sentiment. Being perfectly honest, I am not the biggest fan of the music style from these times, but the show could not have a better list of songs. Wonstein’ Your Existence is probably my favorite song from the drama.

Overall, this is far more than just a romantic comedy. I would say the romance, even though presented throughout the show, is not the focus point. It’s a heartwarming story of finding yourself, fighting for your dreams and convictions, creating meaningful relationships and beautiful memories while slowly facing the reality of adulthood.

If it just concluded on the ending of episode 15. I actually think the last scene from that episode would be the superior and more fitting ending. Where is a white truck of doom when you need it? I’d take one dose of amnesia - please let me forget I’ve seen that last episode. Still, the journey was worth it.

If I had to leave with one last complaint - the whole present times storyline was useless and the drama could do without it.

My explanation for the ending and how for me it makes sense in the comment under the review (hidden for spoilers).

Citeste mai mult