Fun, but also silly and cheesy

Penny pincher Jia You Wei had been skimping and saving his whole life when he learns his days are numbered. What's he to do with all that money he'd saved? Blow it all of course. Remembering a vow he made with his friends in his youth, he sets out to find them and fulfill his promise. His plan is to spend his few last days having fun. If the plot sounds a bit familiar, it's because it probably is. This movie is like the Chinese version of Last Holiday, but with a strong theme of brotherhood, friendship, and reconciliation. Despite the seriousness of the main character's situation, the movie manages to be silly, goofy, and light. It's a bit slapstick and cheesy too. There are plenty of heartfelt moments as the main character sets out to fulfill his friends' wishes before his time is up. The movie had its fun moments, but was ultimately a little too silly and cheesy for me. Also, I wasn't really invested in his friends' dreams because the movie rushed through their backstories.

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If not friend, why friend shaped?

This film captures the joys and sorrows of parenting when it comes to raising a special needs child. The "child" in this case is in fact a wolf that was saved as a pup. Realizing the best thing for the wolf is not raising him in the city, Li Weiyi temporarily moves to a prairie/protected sanctuary in order to rehabilitate this wolf back into wildlife, something that had not been done before. There are plenty of proud mama moments, such as teaching the wolf how to hunt and seeing just how smart he is. The biggest proud mama moment is, of course, teaching him to return to the wolves. There are a few minor flaws in the form of chaotic editing (although it was mostly chaotic good). It was filmed by an amateur director. Some scenes were probably reenacted. However, it's still very impressive considering the first few months of the story were all cut from home video footage. Also, there are some gorgeous scenic shots. Occasionally, the dialogue sounded fake or scripted. It doesn't follow the usual documentary format, so I'm hesitant to call it one. Anyway, I don't know about you, but I could watch cat and dog videos all day long. This was time well spent. No one asked, but I absolutely cried.

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More of a Murder Mystery than It is Sports

The drama starts off in the world of Ssireum (traditional Korean wrestling), which led me to believe this would be more of a sports drama that would introduce me to the sport. Instead, it ended up being more of a criminal investigation drama that takes place in a small town. The investigation part of the story was incredibly boring and forgettable. I've never been so uninterested in knowing who the killer was. The wrestling part of the story was also a disappointment, but it got better in the 2nd half for the limited scenes it had. The most impressive thing about this drama was Jang Dong Yoon's weight gain transformation for his role. My favorite character was the dog. It was an odd mix of murder mystery + sports + small town drama + friendship/youth. Whatever this combination was, it did not work for me.

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Love it or Hate it

I feel like this is one of those dramas you either love or hate. On one hand, I found it entertaining. On the other hand, the plot was full of holes. It's a fish out of water story that involves a Joseon girl time traveling to modern day Korea. Unlike most leads in a fish out of water plot, FL is a quick study and adapts to modern life very quickly to the point that it's kind of unrealistic (but so is time travel so who am I to say anything). I found this drama to be mediocre, especially with the business succession part of the drama. However, I loved the cast, especially the lead actress (Lee Se Young). The main couple was also very cute together, but how they meet and fall in love is a bit cliché. The outfits were one of my favorite things about this drama. FL's outfits were simply gorgeous. I also loved the dorky secondary couple who acted as comedic relief. The last few episodes were a bit draggy which lowered my rating a bit. It's not a bad watch and even entertaining if you shut your brain off and enjoy the show. They even throw in a few good twists. Don't ask me how or if they make sense. I personally was satisfied with the ending, although I know a lot of people were disappointed. They certainly leave a lot of loose ends.

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A Loose Adaptation That's Kind of Okay

This drama is a loose adaptation of Rich Man, Poor Woman. They made a lot of changes so if you're watching it as a remake, you might not be as impressed. However, they made 2 or 3 major changes to the story that I actually kind of liked. They also made it a bit more romance focused. It was a decent adaptation for Thai audiences. That being said, one of the changes they made is that they simplified the business drama to something Thai audiences are more familiar with: a family business succession drama. Therefore, the business part of this drama is highly boring. All the startup stuff that appealed to me in the original was lost here. Neither leads appear as intelligent as they were in the original either. If you're watching this without seeing any other adaptations, this will seem like your average Thai business romance drama, expect there's an unusual face prosopagnosia twist and less catfights.

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A Light and Fun Introduction to the Sport

"It's not a loincloth, it's a mawashi!" This drama is a lighter more fun take as an introduction to the sport. It covers a more modern version of the sport on a collegiate level. It has female wrestlers, which I was happy to see because they are less covered when it comes to the traditionally men's only sport. The main character ends up joining the sumo team in order to graduate. He clearly doesn't care for the sport and is only there for the credits. The captain of the team is a girl who is super passionate about the sport and a strong wrestler. Unfortunately, she doesn't get many opportunities to compete and is often ignored by the team's alumni, who often only want to focus on the poorly performing men's team. Both of them have their own challenges that they need to learn how to face. Together they work together to first build a men's team and then bring the sumo club back to its glory days. Sumo is a strange world full of traditions, but I liked how this drama covered it from a modern sport perspective. It is a pretty wholesome drama. The club members absolutely suck in the beginning when they join the team but work really hard just to get one win and make their captain proud. I absolutely loved everyone's character growth by the end.

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Part Drama, Part Documentary

This drama was a relaxing and refreshing watch. I would call it a hidden gem. It's an experimental drama in the form of part drama and part documentary. Due to the documentary factor, it might not be for everyone. However, I would highly recommend it to art history nerds, documentary fans, and people who appreciate art (both tangible and non tangible forms). Sorry, romance fans. This is not a romance. However, there are a few people in love and they hint at a few ships. The female lead is adorably evil. It makes for some great comedy and entertainment. I loved the rivalry between FL and the competition. The guest cameos were stellar. And last but not least, the art is beautiful.

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Solid Remake, But Not Quite Funny and Wholesome as Original

This is a lakorn remake of my all time favorite Taiwanese drama. It's hard to review this remake without comparing it to the original. After watching this version, I can say that they didn't royally screw it up. It was an okay remake that was catered toward Thai audiences. It was more of a lakorn style, which included some over the top drama and a lot more violence. They managed to keep most of the core story intact. They got rid of a lot of the dirty jokes from the original and made some characters more evil than they were. As a result, some of the humor and wholesomeness from the original was lost. They also got rid of the little girl storyline, which was one of my favorites. As a result, this eliminated two of my favorite tropes from the original. However, some of the changes they made might keep you on your toes because they also changed a few of the twists. I thought the acting was decent. If you are a lakorn watcher who hasn't seen the original, I think you'll still enjoy this drama. There are no screaming banshees, so that's a plus. Some of the story is a bit predictable for lakorn standards, while some of it is not. This is definitely a more violent remake though.

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It's very hard to dramatize curling, but it can and has been done. Unfortunately, this was not one of those cases. It was very difficult for me to get through. The acting, dubbing, and sound mixing were subpar. There were some poor music choices made for certain scenes and the bgm volume was so loud at times that it was distracting. I know this is a low budget mini drama so I wasn't expecting anything award worthy, but these few things ruined the experience for me. On the plus side, the episodes are super short. It seems like the purpose of this drama was to educate people on how the game is played. I guess they did this well. Unfortunately, the excitement of the game did not come through. The drama's aim was to promote the sport and get people interested. It failed to do that. However, I appreciate the friendship that was depicted. Who would have thought there would be so much drama among the curling players? The story itself has many sports drama cliches. Overall, I'd recommend skipping this drama unless you are an avid fan of the sport or the cast. I personally think it would have benefited from being in a movie format instead.

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Romcom with a Little Bit of Everything

It was just an enjoyable romcom with an older couple, which is so rare these days. It has that feel good romcom warmth to it, yet also covers some serious issues. In a way it reminded me of Sky Castle, but without the intense melodrama. They did the FL dirty when it came to fashion. Just because she is a mom doesn't mean she had to dress like an unfashionable ahjumma. I was low key getting stressed seeing FL dressed in those ugly sweaters that were tucked into those mom jeans. Anyways, this drama had a little bit of everything. It just hit the spot if you like this romcom thriller genre. They might have tried to bite off more than they could chew with all of the subplots the drama had going on. In a way, the pacing didn't feel too draggy because of them. However, the writing would've been better if they focused on a few. The last episode was kind of slow since they were winding down the story, but I'd say that's normal. It has some flaws so I won't say it's amazing. Overall, it's light and solid entertainment.

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Beautifully shot, but hard to follow

Hidden Blade is a Chinese espionage film that takes place around the time of World War II in Japanese occupied China. It follows the stories of two men working for the Japanese government. Although it is a propaganda film, it doesn't feel as preachy as I was expecting it to be. It had a great cast starring some big names, such as Tony Leung and Wang Yibo to name a few. In my opinion, Tony Leung really stood out in his role compared to the rest of the cast. Before going into this film, it would help to have some historical context of this time period. Otherwise, the story is hard to follow as it is. The film drops you into the story and barely bothers to explain things. The main issue I had with this movie was the flow of the plot. There were a lot of times where the movie would jump back and forth to the same few particular scenes. It made it very difficult to follow the story and the timeline.

The musical score, though not bad, was a miss for me. There are some really great cinematic shots in this film. It is an art film after all. One thing I liked was the depiction of dogs in the film. There were various types of dogs featured that led very different lives. You can say their lives paralleled some of the characters in the film. If you've seen a lot of espionage films or dramas from this era, you might find the movie a bit predictable. Would I watch this film again? Probably not. Although it had some great shots and the climax was entertaining, the storytelling wasn't quite there for me since it was hard to follow. I also felt like there was a lot of subtext I might've missed. I knew a particular scene or moment was important, but couldn't quite put my finger on why. Even if I were to re-watch it, I don't think I will understand some of the hidden subtext unless someone explains it to me. It might be worth checking it out for the cast though.

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The drama itself I found to be decent and enjoyable at times. Plotwise, it is pretty standard. It's got your classic college to working life story arc. The only difference is that the ML disappears for a couple of years due to some incident and then the story starts back up again after he returns. However, what happens to the ML is a pretty common trope in melodrama plots, so this is not anything new. Speaking of the ML, he is a cocky asshole just because he's a genius programmer. There was no reason for him to be so stubborn and rude. He's unlikable except for that pretty face of his. The writers try to justify his attitude by giving him a "tragic" backstory. I still don't think his past justifies his behavior. Part of his story arc is learning how to make friends. I think they did a good job with this. He still, however, has that cocky attitude until the end of the drama.

The way the writers set up the story in the second half makes it seem like it's going to be a revenge story after the male lead returns. They also set it up to be a business drama about a start up company. The start up related stuff is fun to watch. The revenge story fell flat for me. There was all this buildup making it seem like they were going to get the perfect revenge. What actually happened to the bad guys was not worthy of all that buildup. I really wanted to see one of the antagonists go down in flames. Yet all I got was 5 seconds of him going down for his own unrelated wrongdoing.

Now for the romance, this couple was cute at times (there were a lot of tickle attacks). However, someone mentioned their relationship was toxic and I have to say I kind of agree. In the beginning, a lot of it involved ML leaning in, invading her personal space, trying to make her blush, and ordering her to do things. He would get away with being bossy and rude because of his pretty face and the fact that he is a "genius" programmer. FL's obsession with ML was a bit alarming. They manage to slip in a shirtless scene toward the end for the thirsty folks...so I guess that's a plus. Like I said, they were cute together, but there were a lot of red flags that should not be ignored either.

One thing I liked was FL's growth story. She becomes a better programmer and gains more confidence in herself. I wish she gained the ability to stand up to her parents. I think she actually did toward the end, but I don't think it actually resolved anything.

Overall, I think it's a decent watch. It's not amazing or mind-blowing as some people are making it out to be. The romance is okay (though it has some red flags). The songs are pretty awesome. I think if you lower your expectations, there's a good chance you will enjoy it.

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It was by no means perfect, but this was a feel good drama and happy pill for me. I mainly loved this for the wholesome work environment. It was entirely unrealistic, but I needed a break from all the negativity in dramas. That's not to say this was void of negativity. You have Kwon Min Woo who serves as the closest thing to an antagonist. And of course you have the evildoers in all of those cases too. I'm a sucker for some character growth, so I really loved seeing Woo Young Woo grow as a person and lawyer.

Do NOT watch this show if you're expecting an accurate representation of someone on the spectrum. I feel like some things were exaggerated or misrepresented. However, the writers do get some things right. This drama brought up a lot of discussion on the subject matter, especially in countries where people don't have much knowledge about ASD. Some viewers made the extra effort to do some research and this is a big plus, but don't watch this expecting it to be accurate. The writers wanted a story to be different and they got one.

Do NOT watch this solely for the cases. I don't know how to describe them. They were a bit ridiculous, but outcomes/twists were entertaining? They seemed impossible to win, but somehow the team got lucky. Watching this law drama as a foreigner/outsider was a bit weird because I would think of a law in my country and wonder, "They don't already have a law about this?" and "How is this even legal?" But again, this is not my country so I cannot judge or make conclusions based on South Korea's laws. The cases from the first half were more interesting than the second. Then the show starts to go downhill again a bit. You can tell the writers got a bit lazy. Also, news of a 2nd season was announced so maybe they're holding out on stuff. Overall I enjoyed this as a workplace drama, where a newbie joins the workforce and makes a considerable amount growth by the end.

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Pretty Cliché Revenge Lakorn with One Crazy Twist

The one thing I have to love about revenge lakorns is that the characters will go to such extreme lengths for revenge all over a simple misunderstanding. Honestly, this drama is technically bad, but it's pretty entertaining. There were so many slipups that were lol worthy. For example, the ML would throw punches and his hand was very clearly not making contact with the other person. Then there was this another scene where FL's arm gets bandaged, but in the next scene the bandage is below the wound and you can see the "wound" showing above. These are just a few examples.

Also, this lakorn has one of the most insane plot twists I've seen since Well Intended Love. It gets revealed pretty early on and is so ridiculous and unbelievable that I had a good laugh. Other than this ridiculous plot twist, the rest of the story is very cliché and predictable. It has your typical tropes seen in farming and revenge related lakorns. I ended up fast forwarding through most of the villain related stuff cuz it was boring and predictable. It has the Forced Marriage tag, but it's also a Contract Marriage plot. It falls under the Slap/Kiss genre because ML is aggressive in the beginning and main couple don't get along in the beginning, but there's no slapping and kissing.

Production wise, the quality felt a bit lacking. There's a lot of flashbacks and the sound mixing felt off at times. It just felt super slow paced in the beginning. The acting overall was also subpar. However, I appreciated Sa Anisa Nugraha's acting as May. The way her character was written is another story. Overall, it's cliché, but entertaining. If you don't mind fastforwarding and enjoy watching badly made lakorns for humor, this is one that's worth checking out.

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