₍ᐢ..ᐢ₎ My 2021 Watch Challenge (Completed!) ഒ

Favorite:

↪Watch a drama/movie that has one of your favorite actors.

After thoughts: I wasn't expecting much from this short movie so little did I know that it would turn out to be even better than most of high-budget 60+ episodes long dramas I've seen. I've watched the original movie it was adapted from and I'm surprised to find that despite being an adaption, this movie is actually much more well-written and intriguing than the original. The ending also leaves you begging for more and I believe it's something that Xiao Wei, who's a clever and greedy by nature fox spirit, would rather do than sacrifice himself like in the original Painted Skin.

This was originally what I was intending to watch for the 'watch a drama/movie that has one of your favorite actors' block but it's unlikely to air this year so I switched it with PS since I watched that movie this year and it has my favourite actor (Ding Chengxin) in it too, therefore it fits the catergria. But if by any chance haoyixing decided to suddenly drop before New Years, I might switch them back because I soooo want to see this beautiful drama in my watch challenge + unlike PS which only has one of my favourite actor, this drama has TWO of them and in the main roles too. You can't blame me, alright? ( ⚆ ◡ ⚆ )

↪Watch a drama/movie that has one of your favorite actresses. 

Yeah I believe in Bailu supremacy. 

After thoughts: I watch almost every genre because I believe there's no bad genre, just dramas that sometimes fail to execute them properly. However, I rarely watch modern rom-coms (especially office romances) because they feel repetitive and boring, but to my surprise 'Love is Sweet' completely won my heart thanks to the leads naturally great chemistry, lovable characters (the second couple, sml and sfl are exceptions but well, at least they were useful a few times?), tropes executed so well that they don't make you cringe, addicting storyline and overall light-heartness of the whole drama. In addition to chemistry this drama was also blessed in the writing department, the plot was consistent and enjoyable even though most of the business related things went over my head. There were also no misunderstandings, characters, plot-holes or anything else that annoyed me for long, I genuinely enjoyed it because it might be cliché but it was not a mediocre cookie cutter rom-com in any way ^^

I've to admit that It went a bit downhill in the last few episodes though, it's like the writers didn't know what to do with some of the characters anymore so they ended up making them one-dimensional just to keep the drama going; It's a pity that the anticipated character development for some characters like the sml and the second couple never happened. But I couldn't care less about them because the leads and their chemistry was so perfect in every single way possible that even if I try my hardest to find, there's still nothing to complain about in their relationship tbh. 

In short: Modern rom-coms aren't my cup of tea but I absolutely loved and enjoyed this drama because of how well executed everything was and of course, also because both of the leads are my favourite actors lol. 

↪Watch a drama/movie by the same writer as one of your favorite dramas/movies.  

Same screenwriter as 'Untouchable Lovers'.

After thoughts: Where do I start from... There was many things I loved & many things I hated. Without giving away any spoilers I would say, This drama lacked consistency and was sometimes over-the-top, however the fl didn't lack a brain (even though she seemed pretty clueless in the first few episodes) and the ending legit made up for EVERYTHING. My likes ended up outweighing my dislikes just because of the ending. 

I haven't watched 'The Story of Yanxi Palace' yet because it's really long and I was afraid I'll end up losing interest midway, but this drama just convinced me to give it a try— because if the daughter is that smart despite being known as hot tempered and dim-witted, then how smart must her mother be when she's already popular for her rationality and schemes in the palace. Not to mention, just a few glimpses of her cleverness in this drama already makes me want to crown her as the best cdrama fl. 

↪Watch a drama/movie by the same director as one of your favorite dramas/movies.  

Same director as 'Kingdom'.

After thoughts: One of the things I love about the kingdom series is their rawness, it's a relief they didn't tone it down just to avoid making viewers uncomfortable; like there's literal zombies shown munching on humans as if they're eating a kitkat chocolate, half-kneeling dismembered bodies with blood dripping from their necks after mass beheading of a whole village and the cruel reality of a shunned woman living among men (rape and possibly child molestation), they didn't shy away from any of them and I appreciate it. Kingdom just keeps getting better and better with each sequel, and it only exceeds my expectations but never disappoint.

Also, since it's about Ashin - the main antagonist to others and the protagonist of her own story, I can't just avoid talking about her but the thing is, no matter how much I try to describe my love for this complex character and the amazing portrayal by Kim Shiah and Jun Jihyun, it'll never be enough. Both the child actress, Kim Shiah, and Jun Jihyun were on-par with their performances, I loved how Ashin barely spoke during the movie but clearly conveyed her pain and thoughts with her subtle facial expressions. Seriously kudos to the both the writer and actresses!

↪Watch a drama/movie by a director/writer you haven't seen anything from before.  

After thoughts: There's an addictive pull to this drama that draws you in from the first episode and doesn't leave even after you complete it, that's what makes it so unforgettable. There should've been a warning in the beginning of each ep that it's almost impossible to get over 'Flower of Evil' in this life, because it's highly unlikely a thriller kdrama as good as this would ever find it's competitor even in the future. 

Genres - Dark

↪Watch a drama/movie whose genre is Horror.

One word: Cinematography. 

Idc how many aesthetic jumpscares it has, I'll probably appreciate the cinematography of those scenes too. 

After thoughts: This movie was a bit confusing, unusual and different than what I originally expected, but I wasn't bored for even a single second and genuinely enjoyed it. 

↪Watch a drama/movie which has Monsters.

The 'Monster' would probably look like it jumped straight out of a barbie movie as expected by chinese CGI but at least it has Nini (˵ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°˵)

After thoughts: The CGI was unsurprisingly bad (even worse than in a barbie movie tbh), Plot was all over the place and the leads lacked so much chemistry that I would rather ship the monsters, but what bothered me the most was how everyone treated it so casually when the ml lost one of his arms and a leg while saving the fl from a monster. That just proved how the characters were cool but not well-written or realistic in any sense, I'm not saying a character have to feel bad for someone to be considered 'well-written' but they at least need to stay true to their (supposed) moral values... Because how can you just say you want to protect the world but don't even show any sympathy to those suffering around you? 

In short: Either be a totally cold mf or a totally sympathising mf, You can't be both at the same time. Contracting personality ≠ Complexity and I'm tired of pretending like the characters who are just indecisive about their moral values are 'complex'.

↪Watch a drama/movie which has Politics.

After thoughts: This drama was a wild-but-unforgettable ride. I went from rooting for the protagonists to save Chang'an to rooting for the 'antagonists' to let the hell break loose upon the incompetent Emperor and his greedy officials. It's simply my most favourite historical of all time.

↪Watch a drama/movie whose genre is Military/War.

After thoughts: It was neither good nor bad, it was just meh. The CGI, cinematography, worldbuilding and fighting choreography was top-notch but the rest sucked. The main characters would utter the most dryest lines ever and the side characters would legit be like:

"MY LORD! I'VE BEEN ENLIGHTENED! I shall heed your orders and do as you wish even if it means I've to sacrifice my firstborn for it!!" 

▄█▀█●

Like seriously, I'm not kidding. I'm usually not even the kind to care about dialogues but here they were so cringey-worthy and awkward that I couldn't help questioning if they hired a 12yo manga-obsessed kid as the writer. Everything was so freaking dramatic that it was laughable, and the MC was supposedly a 'normal poor slave-next-door' kind of guy who never learnt sword skills from ANYONE but he was still overpowered as heck. Dude's fuelled solely by the power of friendship and legit kicked a mf human-eating hulk (not kidding, it was like hulk both appearance and size-wise) with his bare legs and killed it out of nowhere... Maybe this movie was meant to be for kids to begin with because I don't believe any grown up would be able to turn off their brain for 2 hours just to watch it. Ten and Youtanwa (the Mountain King/Queen) were like the only good thing in this whole movie. 

↪Watch a drama/movie whose genre is Thriller.

After thoughts: Another masterpiece that's going straight to my favourite dramas list. I love how the writers managed to keep the drama interesting till the very last episode without making it unrealistic in any way, It didn't even feel like a fictional story to me tbh. The symbolism was also mind-blowing, it made up for the everything they had to remove due to the censorship and completely changed my perspective on the main characters. 

Tags - Leads

↪Watch a drama/movie with a Strong Lead.

This drama is full of strong characters in general. Even the antagonist's lover's maid knows how to fight and scheme lol. 

After thoughts: The best thing about the 'Arthdal Chronicles' series are probably the characters. Each and every single one of them has their own motive, beliefs, personality & perspective on life and way of survival, nobody was one-dimensional and that's what made all them so humane imo. I really respect the writers for actually spending effort into creating such realistic characters. It's hard to hate someone in this drama completely but it's also hard to like them, but it's pretty easy to understand them and where they're coming from. The world building is also amazing and a breath of fresh air. 

↪Watch a drama/movie with a Nice lead.

After thoughts: When I first saw the line "The film tells a warm and realistic story" in the synopsis, I thought they were just bluffing and it's going to end up like any other tearjerker movie about cancer out there, but it proved me wrong. It stayed true to the term 'realistic' from beginning to end and wasn't full of happy characters with pipe dreams - who stay 'strong' despite all the shit they've been going through in life unlike most of the cancer related movies I've seen so far. They had dreams, they had sorrows, they lied to others and themselves that everything's going to be alright, they were imperfect and humane yet likable in their own ways. 

The performance from the cast was also top-notch, I swear Jackson Yi never let's me forget that he's the best idol-actor to ever exist. And no matter how many praises I say about Liu Haocun's acting I doubt it'll ever be enough, she can literally convey a thousand emotions through her eyes. Easiest 10/10 for me. 

↪Watch a drama/movie with a Rich lead.

After thoughts: The ending still caught me by surprise despite already knowing it was going to be unexpected from the comments. However, before some people start assuming that I must've supported the main character's decisions (and cheating in general) just because I gave this drama a high rating: I came for the odd story and that's exactly what this drama served, it has nothing to do with my morals and I doubt the fl was supposed to be likeable or pitiful in the first place. It was mentioned again and again in this drama how terrible two-timing/cheating is and the fl even admitted it herself, she's a self-aware morally questionable character - not someone the writers tried to idolise or make us sympathise with (even if you accidentally did, the ending would change your mind), that's why I liked it. 

↪Watch a drama/movie with a Smart/Genius Lead.

I heard the ml is a huge dumbass and I like that in a man (˵ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°˵)

After thoughts: This drama didn't let me rest my mouth for even a second, the only drama who has made me laugh so much before was 'The Boy Next Door' and I think It has finally found it's competitor. I know I've been only talking about it's humour but that was indeed the BEST thing about 'Su Yu' and also the main reason why I still enjoyed it despite the inconsistent and cliché storyline, so I don't really have anything else to say about this drama tbh.

↪Watch a drama/movie with a Naive/innocent/pure lead.

After thoughts: It was a delight from the start till the end, I've honestly lost count of how many times I almost died from cuteness overload while watching this drama. It has nothing to offer beside the characters and their love for cute things but that's exactly what makes it so heartwarming and pure imo. I might rewatch it whenever I'm feeling down or having a bad day. 

Random

↪Watch a drama/movie that starts with the same first letter as your username.

(When I started the watch challenge and completed this drama, my username was 'baekri') 

After thoughts: This drama's beauty is in it's simplicity and realism. I love how you can actually see all these scenarios happening in real life because they're not unrealistic or unnecessarily dramatic just for the sake of shock value. It also has the most amazing cast I've ever seen, there was no one who didn't give their best. 

↪Watch a drama/movie that starts with the same first letter as someone on your friends list.

After thoughts: It was so silly yet cute. Most of the time, I couldn't even tell why I was laughing as much as I did. XD

↪Use Random word generator for titles, pick 3 custom lists and watch a drama/movie from one with one of these words. 

I got: Graduate, Suit, Leftover - I chose "S" which lead me up to this random list that I made on some random day while I was half-asleep. 

After thoughts: Someone please bring me some tissues T^T

↪Watch a drama/movie that begins with one of the following 3 letters generated from this site. 

I got: Breakfast, Inside, Vanilla - I chose "I".

After thoughts: I usually love disturbing movies but this one was a bit boring and had nothing to offer beside body horror :/ It was just a dumbass sicko raping, killing and eating girls and a dude beating tf out of him over and over again until the movie ends, and to make this all even more boring - It didn't even take any effort for the protagonist to find the killer... The ending was the only interesting part imo. 

Tdlr: How can a movie have such a great performance from the cast, amazing action scenes, perfect amount of gore to make anyone go pikachu face and yet still manage to be so boring is beyond me. The title is really suiting though because both of them were 'the devil' to each other. 

↪Watch a drama/movie from an actor/actress who has 5 or fewer credits to their name.

After thoughts:

"This town is a highway to nowhere."

"I don’t know what the other three are thinking. I’ll never know. We share the same fear. That’s what friendship is." 

After watching so many dramas and movies about people trying their hardest to live a peaceful and ordinary life, it was refreshing to watch something completely opposite in which the main characters find a peaceful life boring and consider themselves no different than a 'living zombie'. I could find myself relating to each and every dialogue, and almost all of the main characters in someway.