Engaging narrative that ties everything together.

Slow paced storytelling that trusts the viewers are smart enough to connect the dots themselves. Noroi opens with seemingly random plot lines that do not quite fit together, but as the story progresses, you start to notice the connections and by the end of the movie, everything falls into a perfect picture. Not a scene nor a frame seemed redundant.

I appreciated how Noroi: The Curse believed in my memory skills and brain power, and did not spam me with countless flashbacks that are supposed to help me connect the scenes and lore elements. It’s up to a viewer to either see the patterns and hints in the background that are dropped throughout the movie. With that, it presents itself as a perfect rewatch material - as a viewer, it’s entertaining to try to find things you might have missed on the first watch.

If you expect a lot of jump scares and a fast paced scary story - you won’t find it here. It relies on building the creepy and disturbing atmosphere framed into a realistic documentary style. It takes a while before anything truly happens, and yet the plot itself is interesting enough, so you won’t get bored waiting.

Overall, one of the best documentary-like horror movies I have seen in quite a while. The filming, editing, acting - all comes together to make it seem like a real story that truly happened. It requires you to pay attention to understand the it completely, but it’s worth it.

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Cute, extremely well produced BL, that almost got everything right, took a step in the right direction, but then countless steps back.

It presents two different romance stories - one more lighthearted with lots of comedy, and the other showcasing the potential hardships that can hold someone back before they are able to accept the love. Pi's character for sure will become one of my favorite BL main leads. The writing did a good job in presenting someone who has low self-esteem and is aware of it. Some of his lines were truly hard-hitting and perfectly illustrated what he was dealing with.

Sadly, the characters' writing suffers from "2gether syndrome" when writers, for some strange reason, decide to ruin the writing for the sake of an artificial conflict and more dRaMa. With 2gether Sarawat was the victim in episode 11, here it's Mork, with the painful writing in episode 8 and our poor girl Bam later on. It was truly hard for me to root for the main couple after a few questionable scenes and decisions that were made on Mork's side, but as it is with BLs - you learn how to ignore some mistakes for the sake of the overall enjoyment.

The thing that the show for sure needs to be prized for is the production and editing. As a viewer, I don't really expect much from BLs on that side - you get used to the fact a lot of BLs look cheaper compared to other dramas, and there is not much attention to detail. Not here though. I was truly amazed with the quality. I never take screenshots while watching BLs, because, realistically speaking, rarely ever is there anything to screenshot. And yet, I have a full folder of pictures from Fish Upon The Sky. Hopefully this will become the standard in the production quality.

And here comes one flaw, that is a flaw no matter how you look at it: the shippers. What bothered me the most was not even their toxicity, but the fact the writer was not sure how they wanted to present them - as a toxic or comedic harmless duo. The powerful scene between them and Pi was completely disregarded in later episodes and I was truly confused. What exactly am I supposed to get from it? What is the message? Is there even any message?

Overall, it’s quite an enjoyable ride. There were bits that frustrated me to the core, but that's the beauty of watching any drama - they evoke emotions in us, whenever positive or negative. It's a show I would for sure recommend if someone asks for some BL suggestions. It's an easy watch with some good qualities that will keep you interested.

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Painful lack of balance.

Duel is an interesting tale that serves as a commentary on morality, what it means to be human and what one can do for survival. It mixes typical corruption and crime plot lines with underlying science fiction elements. Sadly, the lack of balance in terms of writing the characters and their backgrounds makes it hard to truly enjoy and appreciate it.

To keep it simple, this show kept making me feel angry, depressed and frustrated. This drama was determined to dump any possible bad event on one character, not letting him, nor me as a viewer, take even a small chill break. By the end of the show I couldn't care less about any other character except for Sung Hoon. While making me care so much about the "villain" - the angry, manipulative and selfish one of the Sungs could be considered excellent writing, the fact that it also makes me dislike Sung Joon says otherwise.

How many writing mistakes must you commit to make me dislike the good, loyal, selfless and cute character, while I wish to see the happiness of the evil, shady and selfish one? And that's where the lack of balance shows. The good guy was too good and didn't have an interesting backstory, while the bad guy had a compelling background and more complex personality.

The plot follows a rather typical structure of a crime show. The science fiction aspect has little if not no closure. All storylines for each character got a conclusion - some more, some less satisfying.

I have to applaud Yang Se Jong's performance. He aced both the goodness in Sung Joon and madness in Sung Hoon. Truly believable dual acting. I wasn't the biggest fan of Kim Jung Eun in here, but I'm honestly not sure if the problem was her acting, or how her character was written.

Overall, watch it if you like to suffer and be frustrated - for some people it makes them feel alive. For me, the drama could have dived deeper into how external circumstances can shape who we are and how we act, what it means to act morally and if it even matters when faced with a life or death situation.

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Touching and heartbreaking stories ruined by business power struggle plotline.

Doctor Detective touches on the sensitive and controversial topic of industrial corruption and the focus of profit with disregard to the health and life of others. Sadly, it adds other plot lines, mixing the stories of everyday people with conflicts arising among the elites.

Honestly, with the heartbreaking cases of industrial accidents, negligence from the companies and the fight for justice done by UDC, why would anyone care about the power struggle of the higher-ups in the TL and the business politics? The TL side of the story should have been nothing more, nothing less than a background story of industrial corruption, without getting too into details about the specifics.

The cases that UDC deals with are based on real life events. At the end of the episodes we get epilogues that allow us to see the truth behind them - with footage, photos and interviews of the victims. Truly touching and sad stories, showing how much work still has to be put into bettering the laws.

The UDC team is quite perfect. We have the members who are driven and bring the spirits up, ones that use their wits and brain to solve problems, some that bring bits of happiness and jokes. Each and every one of them is unique in their own way, but together they make a perfect team.

On the other side, we have everyone related to TL and their fight for the attention of the CEO and future power over the company. And that's where the problem of the drama lies. There was nothing new, interesting, exciting about that plot line.

The acting was definitely amazing. Especially liked the high quality of skills from the supporting cast. The sadness, frustration, anger, fear... all these emotions that the victims felt had to be well presented, for the show to work out.

Overall, I would suggest watching the show while completely skipping TL scenes. The cases taken by UDC were interesting and knowing they were based on true events, adds to the value of presenting them.

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Well, that was a sweet and wholesome 4 minutes movie.

It was like watching someone's memories. Passing moments of happiness, unsureness, bravery, sadness and then hope. Even though this short movie is truly short, it portrays a wide range of emotions. Shot without any spoken dialogues, it relies on the small moments, touches, stolen glimpses.

The movie is filmed in a beautiful way. The scenery is truly breathtaking. Supported by a good choice of music, it has this magical, light feel to it, that makes you miss your youth, first love, that is often unrequited and traveling with friends - full of happiness and undisturbed joy.

That said, since the movie does not have any spoken lines, they should have been slightly smarter with the choices of music/sound directing. There is a moment that is not accompanied by any sound, and it makes it feel empty, not finished, unpolished. It should be full of ambient noises. That would create a great contrast to the dreamlike feeling given a few seconds earlier.

Overall, well shot, well acted, well directed and produced sweet, short love story.

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The Girl Power won against Mnet's evil editing.

I went into this expecting the worst. Mnet making the girls seem evil and uncaring, like they did in Unpretty Rapstar. The emotionally exhausting feel of constant competition and shame of losing. And this show was everything but that.

I am not gonna lie, Mnet tried at first to show the girls is less than appealing light, but the cast was so amazingly fun, supporting and caring, there was nothing to evil edit. They gave up. And from that point I could focus on the perfect performances and the bond building between the girls.

The strongest point of the show was the fact, everyone could be unapologetically themselves without the need of toning down their personalities and thoughts.

Hyoyeon could enjoy performing without feeling like every stage depends on her as she was the senior compared to others, Cheetah showed her strong presence on stage and caring personality behind the scenes, Ailee was like a supportive angel making sure everyone is feeling good while enjoying the show herself, Jiwoo could shine bright with solo performances and truly show her true colors as a performer, Yeeun, who was lost and confused at first was able to learn how to define herself and be daring in chasing after what she wants, Jamie killed everyone with her cuteness, but also bold charisma, Yunhway brought this calmness and sophistication that left me in awe, Sleeq was just the best person on the planet and her growth and openness was admirable, Young Ji was a happy virus that woke everyone up with her energy and impressive skills and Queen Wa$abii who was tearing apart all the prejudice people might have for a daring and provocative performers.

It's a competition that focuses more on the bonding and personal growth of the cast, and not the competitive aspect of it. Even the teams they were going against were far more focused on just enjoying the process.

I cried a lot while watching. I got amazingly attached to the whole cast and did not want the show to end. It just felt like a new family was created. The change in the views the girls had about each other was amazing to watch. How all of them had such distinctive colors and yet they worked so well together. Pairings that made no sense at first created some of the best stages.

Overall, it was just truly touching. Not only did it have some beautiful and powerful songs and performances, but what is more important: a heart.

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Confusion, frustration, disappointment... since it could have been so good.

The writers in a writing room be like: do we want romance? melo? thriller? psychological? crime? buddy cop? family issue? gray character? psychopaths? serial killers? good characters with gold morals? tragic past? every cliche on the earth? yes.

The Good

I have to admit, it has quite a well written side/supporting characters with nice stories and development/progression. Young Mi being the "behind the scene heart of the story". I have to say, her and Hyeon Woo's scenes were some of my favorites and I was always curious where they would lead. Hyeon Woo has been just a huge mystery and I never knew what the heck he was thinking. There is also baby boy Dae Jin, who broke my heart. Definitely the best executed story line in the whole show.

Another good aspect of the show was the editing and production value. The show was simply beautiful. I loved all the "from the floor" shots/low angle ones, even though they started overusing them at some point. But from an aesthetic point of view, it felt as if it was made for me.

The Bad

Lee Tae Kyung... What a boring main character. Legit did not care about him at all. Isn't it tragic? The main character being the weakest one?
The confusion I felt from the writing team. As if they could not make up their minds on what the drama is supposed to be. Is it a character driven drama set in a court/business setting? Is it a crime, fast paced one with action? Is it a psychological one with some good old psychopaths? What was it?
The set up of the characters and the plot was too long. It basically took 10 out of 16 episodes. While I enjoyed the last 6 a lot, the first 10 were truly off. It felt as if I was watching two different dramas.

The "I couldn't care less"

The romance... What was the point? It leads to nowhere, they have no romantic chemistry nor they look or act as past lovers. The only scenes that gave you that impression are the few when they are talking about it and you are like - oh yeah, they were a thing before the show started.
Yeon Ah character - I don't know if I was just not impressed with Nana's acting (though I know she ain't bad and has some good skills), but I could not connect with her at all.

Overall, I would not recommend watching. The only memorable bits and characters are the supporting parts, so it would be a waste of time. It was not a bad show, but I rather take a bad one that I can laugh about than the mediocre one, that I just feel bored and frustrated with.

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pew pew pew ratatatata
as a wise woman named Jo once said.

The biggest problem I had with this movie was the beginning exposition. It was supposed to give me a background of the story, sort of an introduction, but these few minutes just bore and confused me. I lost focus in the opening scene and it never came back. Giving me a narrator explaining all the history and all the information I need to know is the laziest way of starting the movie.

With that in mind, I barely cared about what was happening. It was a beautiful movie with a great cast, but it was simply not engaging. They introduced a lot of characters, and it felt like half of them just got lost half way through the movie, just to be brought back by the end.

Anyway, in a few days I will forget I have ever seen it, and even now I can't really tell what was the plot. There was some romance and no one was happy. Lots of fights and running in metal.

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Interesting take on a typical procedural crime show.

In all honesty, I had a hard time getting into this drama. The first 3 episodes seemed like a retelling of the same old crime stories we have seen in many shows, with details and settings changed here and there. But as the plot progressed, and we got more puzzle pieces about what was truly happening, that's when I got invested.

In 8 episodes, the show was able to tell an interesting tale on humans' motivations, desperation, morality and despair. Why do we do what we do? What are the lasting consequences of our actions? How can our good intention turn into tragedy that, at times, is impossible to fix? How twisted one's mind can be.

The majority of the characters started quite unlikeable. They are morally gray - driven by their own agendas, showing how much of a hypocrite they can be. And yet, as the drama progresses, I ended up appreciating their flaws, which made them more relatable and real. Not to mention a rare case of getting a lead with Asperger, presented in a realistic way. Oftentimes dramas present people with Asperger as either incapable of living a successful life, or having extremely specialized skills on a level unobtainable by the general public (basically making them savants) - making the Asperger the core characteristic of the person. Glad it's not the case here.

The Victims' Game was also visually stunning. Granted, it might be too much for people who don't like gore, as they don't shy away from gruesome images of the corpses. The set design was perfect, and I truly appreciate how much work has been put into making it reflect reality in a great detail.

Each episode ends with behind the scene footage explaining the process of creating the drama. It shows how each cast member, writer, director and staff truly treated the story with care and tried to present the best possible result, with the help of many professionals from various fields of work.

The last episode was truly cherry on top, and became one of my favorite conclusions to any show ever. In my eyes, it was truly a perfectly directed and written ending for the series.

Overall, as long as you survive the first few episodes, and start to see the big picture, you will most likely love it. Surprisingly, I believe this show would be even more enjoyable as a rewatch. Knowing the full story would allow me to appreciate the individual episodes more.

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Another sad movie, that is supposed to make you sad, shock you, and then technically leave you with a hopeful outlook, but it didn't work out.

The best way to describe my view on it is: it didn't flow well. The scenes between leads had this deep, melancholic vibe, but then there were some scenes incorporated here and there that felt amazingly out of place with how graphic and detailed they were. As if the writer didn't know if they want to keep everything vague and leave some parts for the viewers’ interpretation, or if they want to shock the viewers with some "realistic" and tragic plot points.

There was one scene, that was simply heavy emotional bomb dropped on me, but nothing followed after it. I had no chance to release the built tension since the ML didn't really do it either. It took me out of the movie completely. I had to pause and ask myself: what exactly have I just seen and why none of the characters truly reacts to it?

It wasn't exactly a short movie (average length) but it felt short because it lacked content. The portrayal of Alzheimer was superficial, taking into consideration the amount of scenes with the mother. They could have done a better job. Or leave out the majority of the scene and focus more on how the ML sees his situation and how he describes it to others.

My biggest problem was probably Do Hyeon. I saw him struggling, but it never felt like he did. I didn't feel sadness, resignation, doubt, fear... The only time I truly felt strong feelings from him was during the "emotional bomb" scene I mentioned earlier. Whatever his character was supposed to feel, I wasn't connecting with it.

The ending seemed rushed. We found out all the tragic details and background story and then again: nothing followed. They went straight to a semi-happy/semi-open ending.

Overall, it had good potential, but it left me with a conclusion that even the writer was not sure exactly what she wanted to portray in it and how she wanted to do it.

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Am I too dumb for this movie or is this movie too dumb for me? Guess I will never find out.

Things happened... there was a clown, but not really. And aliens, but like fake ones. They played rock, paper, and scissors for 2 hours. But by the end they forgot about the rules. The main guy is hot.

I HAVE QUESTIONS THOUGH!

Why all the rules, why use the brain power with all the probability and math stuff, when apparently you can just steal the stars? Here's how you win folks!
Steal at least 12 stars, play 12 rounds without caring if you win or lose and be done. Have any extra stars by the end? Sell them. They just stole each other's stars by the end. So what was the point of the game?

Why did the big guy (close to the end) bring the diamonds in, when he was not planning to use them? What would he use them for? Was it only his backup plan if he lost, to get others to buy him out? This part was so random...

They should have explored the whole "psychological problems" the main character had. He thought he was turning into a fighting clown... and people around him into aliens... He needs help. I need help... this movie ruined my last 0.5 brain cell.

WHERE ARE ALL MY LADIES?!

Overall, watch it with friends, have a blast, try to understand the rules and the plot and then be angry by the end, because nothing really matters. Enjoy the beauty of Li Yi Feng (he drops the clothes at some point), the random existence of the mastermind Michael Douglas and that one hot asshole player played by Alberto Lancellotti.

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Hot coffee with a spoon of life lessons.

Would You Like a Cup of Coffee? is a perfect morning drama to accompany your coffee - setting you up for a good day.

The show presents a variety of episodic stories linked together by the 2nd Generation Cafe. With a short format of 25 minutes per episode, the viewers might feel like the stories were told in an insufficient manner, never explored enough, ever going too deep into the tackled matter. For me, that’s what I enjoyed about it. They expressed the ideas enough to make me entertained as I was watching, but left me with enough space to wonder about the topics myself. They opened the door and it was up to me whenever I wanted to close them or take a step inside.

The on-screen chemistry between Ong Seong Wu and Park Ho San was amazing. Well presented mentor-mentee dynamics that we don’t see much in dramas - pointing out the value of both: years of experience, but also the perseverance and determination of the youth.

With a cast full of well known names in both main and guest roles, the acting left nothing to ask for. Each character had their own colors that were portrayed perfectly on the screen - even if it was just a smaller role.

That said, this show can be truly enjoyed only in the mornings. I have seen one episode late afternoon and the magic was gone - it just did not hit right. It’s not a drama you would want to binge watch, but it’s a show that made me come back every week to get my own dose of warm feeling to start my day on a positive note.

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Thirty-nine is a slow paced, “eventless” drama that focuses on the characters and their relationships, when faced with a tragedy that cannot be stopped, while trying to keep their lives moving.

Honestly speaking, half way through the show I was not sure what exactly happened. Each episode was rather repetitive with just a few details changed here and there. I felt like the drama lacks focus, the core plot that would drive the characters forward. Rather, we had different stories for different characters that seemed separate in their tone.

While the drama does a really good job at presenting the friendship between the three female leads, I can’t do anything about being disappointed with the romance. Son Ye Jin and Yeon Woo Jin have little on screen chemistry, and their characters do not present an interesting dynamic to watch. Chan Young and Jin Seok’s situation is too over the top and makjang like for this type of a story. Joo Hee and Hyun Joon were the only pairing that worked well on screen, had great chemistry and a well built romance that was entertaining to follow, but with each episode, it got less and less screen time.

The disappointing love lines could be forgiven if they were not such an integral and important part of the plot, taking quite a portion of the screen time. Not to mention, realistically speaking, not every character needs a love line of their own.

Since the show tackles so many different issues, most of them are not explored enough. Some of the topics introduced are adoption (relationship between the child, biological parents and adoptive parents, views of the society on the adoptees, identity issues revolving around it), terminal illness (pain it causes the person who has it and their family/friends, accepting the inevitable, different choices concerning treatment or lack of it), emotional cheating and complicated romantic relationships, starting over with new passions and dreams at 39, and honestly speaking, probably more.

Even though the drama has three female leads, it’s a fact that Son Ye Jin stole all the spotlight. Jeon Mi Do’s portrayal of Jeong Chan Young did not leave any room for improvement, especially taking into consideration the complex situation the character was in.
While I enjoyed Kim Ji Hyun a lot, the character was written in a way that required less work. She did amazing with what was given for her, sadly she was often kept on the sidelines. Jang Joo Hee was there to fill the space as a 3rd friend. Which is a bummer, since the history of that character would perfectly fit into the story if utilized correctly.

The production was great, though the story telling itself could have been improved. Some essential information about the characters and their relationships could have been explored a little bit earlier - keeping me in the dark didn’t make me more curious about the plot, but rather frustrated me, since I did not understand the context of the events happening on screen. Another thing that kind of bothered me closer to the end of the show - they did not care about realism. Made sure everyone looks stunning and has full make up, not matter the circumstances the characters were going through.

The original songs, while truly good, were exactly what one would expect from a drama like that. None caught my attention, but they did fit the scenes they were played for.

Overall, it’s a really slow drama with a great beginning that loses the spark around the middle point. It had some great heartwarming moments, but a few gems cannot make this drama amazing. If only the middle part was as good as the last episode, which was truly a masterpiece.

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Noble intentions with lackluster execution.

Is tackling important issues enough to praise a drama? For me, no. The more serious topic we want to discuss, the more work and care should be put into creating the content.

Online bullying and harassment is dangerous, mostly because of two reasons: anonymity takes away responsibility, so people are not afraid to exaggerate their negative opinions, and lack of insight into the effects it has on the victim.

The show tried to convince me, it’s just a bunch of normal teenagers who made countless mistakes, because they were not aware of the negative impact their online behavior had. But it was not true. The Comments mixed online and off-line bullying, clearly showing these kids were aware of their actions, they just did not care about the victims.

The victims themselves were not exactly good people either, barely managed to be called gray, with the majority of them committing criminal acts and bullying others themselves. It made it impossible to connect to them on any emotional level.

The show completely missed the mark by the end, mixing different issues and situations that affected the main cast. Was it online bullying? Was it just bullying? Was it family problems? Was it depression? It never tried to show a full picture, but rather put the whole blame on one aspect. They were aware of the complexity, but they tried to direct our attention to just one thing.

That said, The Comments had quite a number of positive aspects. The cast did quite a good job in portraying the characters. Aye showed a whole range of emotions from happiness through the confusion, ending or anger and sadness.

The production value was also nice. They found quite a few ways of showing us the online activity, some emotional scenes were well accompanied with beautiful aesthetics.

Overall, I appreciate the effort, but I wish they tried a bit more to create a cohesive picture that well presents the dangers of the online world.

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Psychological drama with supernatural elements.

Judging by the poster, I expected horror. Checking the genres, I expected a suspense thriller. At the end - I did not get any of these. It's a well crafted and written psychological drama that uses the supernatural elements to tell the stories of two young girls, and how they confront their past and the mistakes that they made.

Detention serves as a commentary on youth's problems and how they and adults perceive and deal with them. We follow two different stories, set in different time periods, yet resembling each other a lot. Liu Yun Xiang and Fang Rui Xin try to work around the restrictive and outdated school system and the twisted mentality of the adults running it. Both girls had to face family and relationship problems that led them to take, at times really drastic measures.

I loved some characters (the list was really short though), and hated many. Not everyone got what they deserve. There are some triggering themes included in the show, so I would advise checking the tags before watching it. That said, they were presented in a quite realistic manner, showing them as something serious and not easy to deal with.

The production value seemed high. The show is shot in an interesting and aesthetically pleasing way. Some camera work choices perfectly complemented the writing and the plot points happening on the screen. I honestly do not remember any song or instrumental used in the series, but I am confident they were all fitting (would most likely remember if they weren't - one always remembers what they dislike).

The acting was believable and the delivery was ranging from good to great. I only had a problem with Wen Liang's dad. The acting was just quite robotic and not on par with the rest of the cast.

Overall, if someone looks for a horror or a thriller with fast paced plot and a lot of suspense - this ain't that. If someone wants to see an emotionally driven story with romantic elements, that comments on overwhelming pressure that is put on the female leads, family drama and struggling in a constricting environment, with some nicely done horror/supernatural elements (mostly in first and last episodes), then this is for you.

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