Never Let the Ridiculousness Go

The scriptwriters of Never Let Me Go are not good, but at least they are self-aware. Recognizing how ridiculous the series' plot is, they decided to embrace this ridiculousness. The result is a surprisingly funny combination of historical fantasy and the fated soulmates trope. It is as full of plot holes and convenient coincidences as Never Let Me Go, but it manages to be entertaining because neither Pond nor Phuwin, nor the other actors take themselves and each other seriously. If you enjoyed watching the series despite its many drawbacks, you will like these two episodes too. Just keep it in mind that Ben and Chopper do not make an appearance.

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Bros Solving Crime Together

Broject is a simple story. A pair of private detectives, Do Yoon and Ka Ram have different personalities and a common interest, money. Their friendship and partnership are strong, but their skills and bond will be tested as they team up to solve a murder case in an elite high-school.

This series would have been good if it was not so short and had less predictable twists. In its current form, it is worth watching only for the funny bromance between the two main characters.

Overall, if you have half an hour to spend, you might watch this. However, you should not expect much. It will not take you long to figure out where this story is going. This is a weak whodunnit.

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Funny and Feel-good

The Dude in Me is a hoot – easily one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. If you are looking for entertainment, watch it. It is comedy gold from start to finish.

What makes it remarkable, though, is that it gives much more than just laughs. A story of love, forgiveness, and second chances, it will warm your heart and make you smile as you follow the struggles of gangster Jang Pan Soo and high school student Kim Dong Hyun, who find themselves in each other’s bodies.

The highlight of the movie are the actors, especially the two main ones. Park Sung Woong is brilliant in his portrayal of a teenager stuck in the body of a middle-aged man. However, it is Jung Jin Young who steals the show with his exceptional, and exceptionally funny, performance. He nails it! I am impressed, and I think that you will be too.

Overall, if you are in the mood for a feel-good comedy with an interesting plot, you should watch this movie. It is also great for the approaching holiday season.

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More than Just a Comedy

What a fantastic movie! I was expecting a typical buddycop comedy, but it is so much more than this. This seemingly generic story brings attention to important social issues in such a masterful way that I cannot praise it enough. I hope that my review will give it at least some of the justice that it deserves.

Park Ki Joon and Kang Hee Yeol are two students of the Seoul Police Academy that could not be more different than they are. Ki Joon, Mr. Action, is hotheaded and way better at sports than at studying. Raised by his single mother, he comes from poverty and has decided to become a policeman because he cannot afford going elsewhere. Hee Yeol, Mr. Bookworm, is calm and excels at his studies. Unlike Ki Joon, he is well-off and has entered the Police Academy to stand out from his classmates, who have all gone to study science at prestigious universities.
Against all odds, the two become best friends and team up to solve a kidnapping case, overcoming obstacles such as indifferent policemen, bureaucracy, and their own lack of experience along the way.

Aside from entertaining the viewers with Ki Joon and Hee Yeol's bickering and mishaps, this story is a serious one. It reminds that the main objective of the police is to protect people and that excessive sticking to protocol clouds rational judgement and causes more suffering. Most importantly, it draws attention to human trafficking, one of the most difficult issues that our society faces today. Every minute one person gets trafficked, but few people talk about that. Please, check out the organization A21, whose goal is to abolish slavery everywhere. This a link to their website: https://www.a21.org/ You can educate yourself, donate, and even volunteer.

Park Seo Joon and Kang Ha Neul deliver brilliant performances. They have great comedic timing and are a really funny duo. Notably, their fighting scenes are realistic. The two main characters do not take ten men with one blow. The bad guys are actually stronger or at least as strong as them. It is their genuine desire to save the victims that gives the students the strength to prevail over the criminals.

Overall, Midnight Runners is a gem. It is hilarious and feel-good and makes a strong statement about the duty of policemen and the meaning of being a good person. I think that everyone should give it a try. The final scene, the one after the credits, alone makes it a beautiful story.

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An All-time Great

When the conversation turns to Japanese action movies, Crows Zero is usually one of the first that are mentioned – and for a reason. Almost fifteen years after its release, it is still one of the greatest. Fast-paced, entertaining, and feel-good, it is so rewatchable that I keep returning to it like to an old friend, and now that I have rewatched it I came here to tell you why you should make it your friend too.

1. First-rate Action.

The drawback of many action movies are the slow motion scenes. They were discovered somewhere along the way, and now it seems that they are all directors know. Their abundance has turned them into a tiresome cliché that has made me skip a lot of action scenes. This movie avoids this pitfall. The action is filmed in a realistic way that conveys the chaos and speed of fights among groups of violent, and remarkably well-trained, delinquents.
Most importantly, everyone, including the main characters, gets hurt. There is none of Hollywood's favorite "the extras die from a kick in the shin, the main character is unscathed after taking down fifty armed men" here, and I appreciate this. If you like action, you will not be disappointed.

2. Hot Guys.

Aside from the top-notch action, you will be treated to gorgeous visuals. Some of the unhinged delinquents of Suzuran High do not have to worry about neglecting their studies. In case they decide to leave the gang life behind, they can achieve success in life by pursuing modelling careers. It is not only Genji Takiya with his anime proportions who attracts attention, but also Tamao Serizawa, Tokio, Izaki, and many others. Every time several of them are in one frame it is difficult to choose whose looks to admire.

3. Characters and Relationships.

But what makes this movie a true treasure among its counterparts is its characters and their relationships with each other. Although they are used to solving every problem with their fists, the characters are all likeable and easy to sympathize with because they know good from bad and have human flaws. From bromance to friendship, to romance, their relationships convey important messages about loyalty, forgiveness, and sacrifice.
The highlight of the movie is the friendship between eccentric yakuza Ken and Genji, a transferee to Suzuran, who is good at throwing punches and bad at social skills. The bond that they build over the course of the story is the catalyst for their significant character development. For Ken, Genji is a second chance to live his youth, to redeem past mistakes and find a new meaning in life. For Genji, Ken becomes a caring mentor, a father figure who substitutes his own emotionally distant father and helps him navigate human relationships, which cannot be sorted out with fists.
No less touching and beautiful are the bromance between Serizawa and his best friend, Tokio, whose loyalty to and love for each other are so strong that many romance couples seem inferior if compared to them, and the friendship that Genji develops with the members of his gang.

Overall, if you are tired of plotless action movies with unlikeable characters, this movie will be a breath of fresh air for you. It is over two hours long, but I think that those hours will be well-spent.

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The Only Series That Has Made Me Cry

This is a biased rating and review, but hear me out.

When I say that I do not cry to films, series, or books, I mean it. By the time I started watching He's Coming to Me in December 2020, I had seen plenty of movies and read a ton of books from every genre imaginable, and the only tears that I had shed were tears of laughter.

Thus, it is not a stretch for me to declare that this series achieved the impossible. It made me cry – and by crying I do not mean a few tears here and there. I sobbed like a baby, rivers of tears running down my cheeks and vision so blurry that I had to pause the episode to wipe my eyes because I could not see the screen.

This is why He's Coming to Me holds a truly special place in my heart, and I will not hesitate even a little to recommend it. I am sure that it has its flaws in both plot and acting, which more objective reviwers must have pinpointed, but let me tell you: unless you are made of stone, the story of Mes and Thun will captivate you, shake you, break you, and then heal and uplift you. It is a masterpiece, a rare gem, not only among BL series, but also among fictional love stories in general. Outstanding.

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The Best Kind of Bittersweet

Although the unique premise of this series immediately caught my attention, I did not expect much when I sat down to watch it. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise: I was hooked almost immediately – and not only by the attractive actors.

The main thing that makes watching this series such a satisfying experience is that it delivers on its promise. It tells the story of Mono Yeon Woo and his growing obsession with his Probe, Yoo Han, without making unnecessary deviations from the main plot, introducing annoying tropes such as love triangles, leaving glaring plot holes unfilled, or dragging out scenes. The romance between the lead characters is bittersweet and touching. Kudos to the scriptwriters for the crisp, engaging writing.

The acting adds bonus points. Yoo Jun and Hyun Jun might not be the most skilled and experienced actors that BL fans have seen, but they portrayed the struggles of their characters well and had sweet chemistry with each other. They both managed to deliver performances that touched my heart. I was especially moved by the final episode, which I consider the perfect ending for this series. I find season two to be unnecessary, and I am not planning to watch it.

Overall, I think that you should give Color Rush a chance if you are in a mood for a bittersweet romance with a unique premise and a happy ending. Do not let the low production quality put you off. You might love Yeon Woo and Yoo Han's love story as much as I did.

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Boring

This series makes four episodes feel like fourteen.
Not only is the story mundane and based on a clichéd, illogical premise, but also the way in which it is presented is boring. So many scenes drag that halfway through episode two I started yawning.

Furthermore, the acting is subpar, especially Tee's. The only one who does a good job is Bever, but his charming performance is not enough to compensate for the awkwardness and lack of chemistry between his character and Tee's.

The one great thing about this series is its positive representation of women. I liked that the production team chose an actress who is beautiful in a realistic way to play the pretty net idol Mook. It is high time the entertainment industry stopped promoting the idea that only actresses who look like flawless dolls can fit into the beauty standard. Kudos to the production team for challenging this harmful stereotype.

Overall, though, 21 Days Theory is predictable and forgettable. I did not finish it. There was simply nothing that could keep me interested.

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An Engaging Story Spoiled by Bad Acting

I understand the hype around this series. Its complex, well-written, and twisty storyline draws the viewer into the cultivation world. For those who are not familiar with the genres of wuxia and xianxia, watching it will be a unique cinematic experience. I am sure that there are plenty of competent reviewers who have underscored the many things that The Untamed deserves praise for, though, so I will not expand on them. Instead, I would like to address its biggest weakness – the acting.

Let's start with the lead actor, Xiao Zhan.
His character, the witty rulebreaker Wei Wuxian, drives the plot forward from start to finish with his tragic story. He is the core of this series – a young man who inspires with his bravery, resilience, and kindness. He is the one who intrigues the viewer and draws them in. He is the one who should make them laugh, cry, and care the most. If he fails to do so, this series will lose its charm.
Xiao Zhan did not manage to become Wei Wuxian. His unconvincing acting failed to convey the charisma, the quiet power, and the complexity of this remarkable character. His Wei Wuxian is shallow and difficult to sympathize with. His tears look fake and so do his smiles. I believe that if the production team had chosen an actor who could handle the role, this series would have been a ten out of ten only because of Wei Wuxian. They did not.

My next problem is with actress Meng Zi Yi, who played Wen Qing, the skilled doctor of the Wen Clan.
Wen Qing is the only notable female character in this series, which suffers from a scarcity of interesting female characters – Jiang Yan Li, the other female character that the viewer will be seeing a lot, embodies a collection of stereotypes about women. This is why Wen Qing, who, contrary to Yan Li, is strong, independent, and not obsessed with cooking soup for her future husband, had potential to be memorable. However, Meng Zi Yi's lackluster acting constantly made her character blend into the background. She is a pretty actress, which might have been a factor in the production team's decision to cast her, but I think that her role demanded acting skills and facial expressions other than a deadpan more than beauty.

The third actor who demonstrated unconvincing acting is Wang Zhuo Cheng.
His character is Jiang Cheng, whose complicated relationship with Wei Wuxian is one of the central themes in the story. Jiang Cheng is notoriously bad-tempered, and his personality constantly clashes with the more easy-going Wei Wuxian's. Their interactions, which are meant to illustrate sibling love and rivalry, should have been moving, but instead bordered on the comical because in no given moment did Wang Zhuo Cheng managed to convince me that his character is actually angry or upset.

These actors' mediocre performances made me indifferent to three important characters, whom the viewer has to care for if they are to be invested in the story – and do not even get me started on the villains, both the major and the minor ones. I could not take any of them seriously despite their sinister deeds because their acting ranged from mediocre to bad.

Overall, the actors in this series, with the notable exception of Wang Yi Bo and Ji Li, delivered unconvincing performances. I could not force myself to care about their characters and eventually stopped being invested in the story. The production team should have been more selective during the casting. Such a long series that relies on its characters to drive it needs an exceptional cast.

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Great Premise, Mediocre Execution

The premise of Café Minamdang caught my attention. A former criminal profiler is pretending to be a shaman with the help of his sister, a genius hacker, and brother, a private detective. This promised to be a lot of fun. However, the execution seems to have ruined whatever uniqueness there could have been in this story.

As soon as I started watching episode one, I felt a strong sense of déjà vu. I was introduced to a rich, eccentric, handsome, slightly narcissistic guy, a strong, independent woman, incompetent detectives, and a murder case. Sounds familiar? Well, this is essentially Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. Shaman Nam Han Joon gives the precise same vibes as CEO Ahn Min Hyuk – same exaggerated mannerisms, same ability to analyze people and figure things out quicker than the police, same tendency to fall in love at first with a woman who beat up several bad guys because she is strong and can protect him. The two main characters have, of course, also known each other when they were younger because K-drama scriptwriters consider it unthinkable that two people might have a romantic relationship without having a past together. I can go on pointing out similarities, but I think that you get my point.

Instead of centering the narrative around Nam Han Joon and his gang's scam, the production team went for what has been done many times: a murder investigation, which probably ends with an underwhelming revelation, and a little romance on the side. The comedy element is not funny in the slightest.

As if all of this was not enough, this series features the worst female lead that I have ever seen. I usually try to focus on the positive qualities of each character and do not judge them quickly, but I can confidently say that Han Jae Hee is a b*tch. Her character is an insult to women. She is the worst possible version of a Mary Sue, and this makes her not only uninteresting, but also incredibly annoying.
In a time when positive representation of women has become an important issue, it is discouraging to learn that women are still characterized like that. A woman who can stand up for herself and has proved to be a skilled professional in her field should not be depicted as rude, insensitive, and frustratingly narrow-minded. A woman detective should not be portrayed as someone who stalks and uses physical violence against civilians while claiming that the law must be followed. When Nam Han Joon told her that she was not cut out to be a detective, he was right. It is great that the story does not focus on their relationship because if I had to see more of her, I would have dropped this series.

Overall, scenes with Han Jae Hee aside, this series is sometimes entertaining, but it is nothing special. I keep watching for Nam Han Joon, who has become likeable despite being too much in episode one, and his gang. However, I will probably drop it and plead justice for Seo In Guk – he deserves to work with better scripts.

Edit: I dropped this series at episode seven.

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Fails to Entertain

I was looking forward to this series. The trailer looked incredible and evoked iconic mafia movies such as Goodfellas. It seemed to be just my cup of tea – organized crime, corruption, drug lords, exotic destinations. This is why I was really surprised that I could not even get through episode one.

Organized-crime movies and series are usually flawed in terms of plot and characters. They prioritize being fast-paced, action-packed, and suspenseful over being deep, and the audience accepts this because they succeed in entertaining it. However, when such a story fails to entertain, it goes from being shallow but really fun to being shallow and tiresome. Such is the case of Narco-Saints – it has the flaws of similar stories, and it is also boring.

Episode one introduces us to the main character and embarks on a long, tedious summary of his life until now. It is not clear if the production team actually aimed to film a series about organized-crime. In such stories, suspense is key, but halfway through episode one out of only six, there is still no suspense. The story of the main character's past is unnecessarily long and repetitive, and, despite that, has plot holes. It should have been short and told wittily, as is common in the genre, or, if long, it should have at least been well-written. It is neither.

Furthermore, the initial scene, in which the main character is shown riding a truck through the jungle and whose purpose is to capture the viewer's interest, did not offer any information that could have intrigued me and made me wonder how the main character ended up in this situation.

Overall, the premise of this series has potential, and the actors – at least those whom I saw – are great. However, the story is frustratingly slow-paced and fails to entertain. It might become more interesting in the subsequent episodes, of course. I see that the other reviewers have enjoyed it. I decided to drop it, though, because I cannot help comparing it to the classics of the genre, which are superior in all aspects.

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Slow

This series has only eight episodes, so when I completed two of them and realized that I am not even a little interested, I decided that it was time to drop it.

If I had to describe Once Again with one word, it would be slow. The characters walk and speak slowly. The plot progresses slowly. The episodes pass slowly.
The screentime could have been cut in half and no important scenes would have been lost. For instance, a substantial part of episode two shows what the viewers already saw in episode one.
The phlegmatic mood makes all the characters seem lifeless, like NPCs from a game. Kang Ji Hoon is the closest, in behavior and facial expressions, to being a real person. I liked him because he is kind. However, the script requires him to do things that do not make sense, such as taking a child to his dorm for the night despite knowing that the child's mother will come home in the morning and probably panic when she realizes that her son is missing.

Overall, although this series has an interesting premise and great OSTs, it suffers from bad execution.

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