goldenskies
ーマルセイユ辺りー
Flawed as it was, Green Mothers' Club will keep you on edge of your chair
Originality and ambition are two words that sum up the experience the drama makes you feel. It is original because it deals with social issues in a very explicit way that you don't see so much in other dramas, and ambitious because, in the end, the drama tries to get at a lot of angles that really don't make much sense.First and foremost, when it comes to this kind of drama, we must make a pact with the show to let ourselves be carried away and not use reason to verify if what happens is realistic or not; at a certain point, the drama only seeks to entertain without taking into account the veracity of what is shown. As viewers, we should not value the degree of plausibility of the facts, but the degree of entertainment it offers. Actually, this is not very different from dramas like Sky Castle, Penthouse, or Avengers Social Club, and all of them share the trait of putting the "wow factor" above everything else.
That being said, from the first moment the drama caught my attention, and from the first chapter, I couldn't stop watching it. The plots are very complex, which makes you get addicted to them at the beginning, although at the end they don't conclude in a clear way which leaves some holes; but, really, who cares? While the script could have been better, the acting was outstanding. From more experienced actresses in such roles as Lee Yo Won to the children, the acting skills of the whole cast definitely made up for the plot holes.
I found the story original in its initial formula. Mothers compete with each other through the education of their children. The mother whose children get more recognition in their education will be the most popular mother. Of course, every parent wants to be above the rest regardless of the mental health of the children, which arises problems between different families, but also inside the same families. Up to this point, the drama presents an original story. However, the plot is surrounded by false friendships, back-stabbing, stalking, drugs and even murder.
Flawed as it was, Green Mothers' Club will keep you on edge of your chair, that is for sure. The story is addictive and the acting is one of a kind. Give it a try!! you can always drop it if you don't like it, but such a good drama deserves a chance.
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Greed ruined Sponsor
The female Sponsor cliché is extrapolated to the masculine side; a man with many problems is seduced by a businesswoman to be his escort. We are faced with a plot that has been carried out on other occasions and that has never reached the expectations of the public, as in the case of Call Boy (2018).The plot opens up a very complex horizon that can be summed up in two questions: how to carry out the synopsis and for what purpose. If the drama seeks to reflect a social issue, the easiest thing to do would have been to opt for drama or parody; on the other hand, if it seeks to entertain (as is the case for this drama), it must create a web of plots that have to keep the audience entertained, because such original plot without some additives will not keep the public fully invested. Hence the director offers us side-plots that are, honestly, very rushed and do not really have much sense. The way they are performed, written, and balanced makes it easy for the audience to lose track of what was the drama originally about.
I do not really have any problem when it comes to the cast - besides the scandal, of course. The acting was not over the top, but I think the cast was able to convey the required emotions to the public, which is actually the bare-minium. One thing that I really hated was the fact that the drama did not have many characters, yet it had a lot of side-plots. Only when two episodes remain until the finale, new characters suddenly pop off. I do love Han Chae Young, though.
All in all, a drama with such ideas within the original synopsis could have been very interesting. It has never been really explored when it comes to male escorts; yet this time too, the drama focuses too much on side-plots rather than the original problem to the point that, at the end of the day, what you are watching is just any other poorly written and badly directed drama about revenge. I would say do not waste your precious time on this drama, it does not explore the male-escort and female-sponsor relationship that it promises originally nor provides interesting and well-written side plots to keep you watching.
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«Let's remove our make up, do you think I'm scared of you!?»
«乘风破浪» is often mistaken for an idol survival show. This is more like a variety show where a selected cast of renowned women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s serve as the embodiment of the fact that 30 is not the career-ending age and that you still can enjoy yourself in your 50s! I think not only the idea of the show was beautiful, but also the execution of it. This show is not trying to put big names together to get high viewership ratings, as they also showed stories from ordinary women in their 30s and 40s living their best life. The producers were giving new chances to the ladies, and they promised to still try to revitalize their careers after «乘风破浪» ended with more appearances in different shows by the same company. I think it is beautiful that not only those in charge of the industry are giving older women a new chance, but also the audience. This show is about a sincere attempt to make the audience believe a woman in her 30s should be the bravest she has ever been in her life.The best way to do it? Music. Not only the performances can sincerely evoke many emotions that other kinds of challenges would have never been able to convey, but also give the sense of nostalgia to remember that, no matter how strong was I during those times, I will keep strengthening now. It is a competition because at the end of the day it is up to the public to decide which "sister" embodied this feeling better. However, this season felt less like a competition, and it shows in the final lineup. Whilst in the previous season only 7 women made it to the final group, in this season the audience decided that more members were needed as they all sincerely overcame fears and challenges that deserved rewards.
All in all, and in the words of Na Ying, the winner of the second season, the final group is worthless, it is more a moral prize than anything. An achievement that proves that not only you have become stronger, but that you also made the audience feel stronger. I really liked this season. The relationships were sweet and sincere without leaving the competition part aside, and it shows in the powerful and iconic performances the teams put out. The was a line Ning Jing, another champion, said that I think sums up what the show is about pretty well: "Let's remove our make up, do you think I'm scared of you!?". Never be afraid of showing yourself as you are.
Give it a try!! Do not feel intimidated by the 2-hours long episodes, as they were not boring at all. You will get to feel many emotions: nostalgia, self-love, success, failure, disappointment, and inspiration. It could also be a nice way to introduce yourself to the c-showbiz as this cast was formed by legendary celebrities with a true legacy of artistry like Tan Wei Wei, Cyndi Wang, Jessica Jung, Amber Kuo, or TWINS among others.
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Love to Hate
«And I Hate You So» introduces the story of Luna Ng, who runs into a man whose first impression is the antithesis of her. Due to certain events, both of them are destined to see each other, confront each other and even love each other.The movie was great for many reasons. Let's see the weakest point first: the plot. Nothing really special about the plot, it is just the story of two people who slowly fall in love. But I really love this kind of plot. It might be slow, and not memorable at all, and even cliché, but the execution of the romance and how hate becomes love in this movie is strikingly beautiful. You either get it or not, there is no secret to it. The OST/BGM was amazingly well used in this movie as well.
The cast and acting were outstanding. I do not think it is that easy to portray the braveness and nerve of a feminist as well as her vulnerability, but Kelly Chen did a really great job. Her character was one that reminded us we are all humans: we make mistakes, we contradict ourselves, we do not really know what we want; and yet, we have to present the opposite appearance of those traits in public, especially if you are someone with a reputation for being the scourge of sexism. Chung Yeung, portrayed by Aaron Kwok, says "Is it hard to be a feminist and admit you love a man?". This movie is filled with powerful lines, but that one struck me a lot. The movie might present an ordinary plot, but the characters were definitely a challenge, especially for Kelly Chen.
All in all, «And I Hate You So» will make you enjoy a "despicable" impossible transition from hate to love, portrayed by a strong female lead who is, in fact, just like any of us. What we say we want, what we force ourselves to believe we want, and what we really want, no matter whether is a contradiction of our ideal and people's opinions is depicted incomparably well in this movie.
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Terrifyingly boring
After the open ending and the massive success of its predecessor, «Ringu 2» is presented as a movie that intends to continue the saga while maintaining the critical and commercial success of the first film. However, the outcome is far from achieving that. I have to say I am a little bit clueless when it comes to horror movies, but I do not think this movie has any horror component.Firstly, to point out what the film is about, it is the sequel to «Ringu». However, the movie does not start continuing the events until after the first half. This sequel takes about 30 minutes to remind the audience in a very explicit way what happened in the previous film. I say explicit, not because it is "graphic", but because it literally takes exact moments from the first movie.
Secondly, to mark some serious flaws, I cannot even say that the idea for the film was good because I do not think there was even an idea to begin with. The plot, even though it is taken from a novel, seems totally improvised (and despite that, absolutely predictable). I also do not understand why, if the original protagonist is still in the movie, it is another woman who takes the leading role. And finally, I also do not understand how we got from a folklore tale to having people with superpowers, it is not like the script doesn't explain it either.
Not only that, there is a remarkable downgrade when it came to acting skills (maybe they relied a bit too much on the kid's acting) and directing overall. The only memorable scenes are the ones that made the movie looks like it was a joke. So, all in all, do not waste your time; the decent score comes because I love some members of the cast, but that is all about it. I'm curious about what people thought while leaving the theaters after watching this... Let's remember the «Ringu» saga for its first movie only!!
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Sincere yet underwhelming depict
«Kiss Me Much» shows us the story of a big family that is suddenly on the verge of losing everything due to the father, who got scammed and fired. Not only the movie shows us the transition between their lives before the problems and after the problems, but also makes the audience wonder whether the ways to get the money in less than a month should be valid or not.The story might seem like a cliché, but, it goes beyond the typical "oh no, we are broke" kind of plot. It transcends that kind of story, I feel like the movie was more to make the watchers ask themselves whether the actions they commit to get the money in order to save themselves are morally correct or not. However, the script was kind of all over the place. At first, it seems like a family movie, but it gets very R-rated very soon. It is not that being R-rated makes it a bad movie, but you will find yourself asking if what you are watching is really what you expected and if it lives up to your expectations.
Besides, barely anything takes place in the movie: at a certain point, the parents got indecent offers in exchange for money, and the movie shows us the protagonists going back and forth many times. I liked the last part of the movie the best when is up to the family to get it together and realize they are a family despite everything that happened. Family, money, affairs, and sacrifice are words that cannot be omitted when describing the movie, but then again, who do you put them together? The script could have been better when focusing on the transcendent part of the movie.
The acting and directing were what made me give this movie a decent score. Despite the fact that every single role was a predictable cliché (the hardworking mother, the absent father, the bullying coming from rich kids, etc.) the acting was great and warm; it was the warmness that made me forget about the old typical roles the actors were playing actually. The directing and photography were nicely done as well, I really liked some of the scenes and I think the director should have invested more time trying to convey emotions through scenes rather than the not so well written script. The music is kind of important in the show too, as it works as a mantra that reminds them all they are a family and the relationships will never be broken no matter what happens to them.
I would not rewatch this, and I think this line sums up everything pretty well. It was a nice, light, movie, but is it really worth your time? Definitely did not meet my expectations, even though I was nicely surprised at some parts. I appreciate the attempt to show how bad capitalism can be to the point of destroying a family physically, mentally, and emotionally in less than a month just because their father was a victim of a scam. As well as the contrast between the parents' honesty and their subsequent situation they must resist. The idea was great, the directing was striking and the acting superb; it was the script that did not work out that well for me, and in this kind of movie the script plays a huge part.
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Starting off with the plot, I have to say I really liked it and that was what hooked me. Everything starts with something somehow supernatural, and without leaving that, we can find very interesting side plots related to the base story. At the same time, the story is kind of new as other dramas that present the same kind of double personality problem are based on male characters; here is a woman the one who has issues with her personality. Having these two elements in the drama from the start makes the drama very attractive for the audience, but then the story also turns into a melodrama, a very good one. Overall, I really liked the evolution of the story, there were some episodes that I couldn't stop watching in the same night because of how good they were. I also have to mention the drama is very light to watch, which makes it easier to love it.
When it comes to characters, I'm very satisfied with the cast and their acting skills. I think the roles were made for the final cast of this drama. I have to admit, though, the weakest actor here was Yunho, probably playing a student isn't really his thing, but was still very good. Kyung Soo Jin, on the other hand, was immaculate: from playing the innocent and cute student to the sexy and bold woman, she nailed pretty much everything. The rest of the cast was a surprise for me, in a very good way, as most of them were by the time this was released either new or unknown, but their acting was superb. Leaving the cast aside, if we focus on the characters themselves we can see a clear evolution in all of them, from Eun Ho to Han Ye Ri / Han Joo Ri, the characters change and prove to us they are very human, having to face situations that also make me wonder how would I act if I was in their place.
The music of this drama was very good, I even bought the OST. We find songs that go perfectly well with most of the situations showed in the drama. Having as the lead singers for this soundtrack excellent singers like Park Ji Min or Yoo Yeon Jung from WJSN, I still listen to some of the songs as they remind me of this drama; songs with that much of identity are not so easy to find.
As a side note, I want to mention some stuff that made people kind of awkward with this drama. There are some unusual scenes that we don't always find in a great part of dramas of the same genre, that's true, but I think that also makes this drama very special. The story is very realistic, and so are these kinds of scenes, they are not trying to censor anything and at the same time, they are necessary to understand some parts of the drama. Personally, I don't think there are any "sexual themes" or that this drama is not for people who want to see something "light"; in fact, I think those scenes make the drama lighter and more humorous.
All in all, Meloholic presents an almost perfect blend of supernatural, romance, comedy, and suspense with great touches of cuteness and sexiness. All this with the great execution of the story as well as the superb acting of the cast makes this drama gets a well-deserving 9 out of 10, an almost perfect score for an almost perfect melodrama.
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Rich, handsome boy meets in the office the humble and unpretty worker: a combo that no one would think could work. I feel like I have seen many shows with this plot, and the strongest point of all of them is the incredible chemistry between the two lead actors that prove the audience they were wrong. She Was Pretty is not an exception, but I think its strongest point is rather the unexpected events and the countdown to see the truth being unveiled than the chemistry of the leads. I loved the early episodes because of the thrill of Sung Jun finding out who Hye Jin was, and I also loved the second half of the drama for the romance. All in all, She Was Pretty did quite well with the execution of its plots, even though you can feel it is kind of slow-paced sometimes.
I love it when fictional characters prove they are humans by making mistakes and making up for them afterward. The characters of She Was Pretty are all very realistic in a way that all of them are near to the actual reality, but what makes them more realistic than anything is how they gradually change for different reasons: they realize they mess up, they realize it is not that bad to change for someone you care, etc. I truly love this, and I think She Was Pretty has done this better than most of the dramas I have seen so far; especially with the friendship between Hye Jin and Hari.
Was the cast a fit for this drama? I think so. I think Park Seo Joon and Hwang Jung Eum did exceptionally well with their roles, some goes with Go Joon Hee and the co-workers at the office, especially for Hwang Seok Jung, and except for Kim Shin Hyuk / Choi Siwon; probably because he was a character that constantly got in my nerves for his sudden changes in personality and the empty scenes he was involved most of his time in the drama.
The soundtrack from this drama still makes rememorate scenes from the drama, and it is great when a song creates such a special link with the drama. Having among more artists Kihyun from Monsta X, Soyou, or Park Seo Joon himself as the lead singers for the songs of the OST, every track work well for She Was Pretty.
She Was Pretty is a cult drama for many reasons. Great cast and superb acting, well-defined places, a good script, and exceptional chemistry between the leads, whether it comes to the main couple or the friends, can be translated into an 8 out of 10. It is usually pretty hard to make a drama of this genre work if we keep in mind the number of cliches that can be found in it, but She Was Pretty meets all the expectations by far.
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Starting off with the main plot, it is true that is not the most original, but that is a positive point in Fight For My Way as the important things are not the story itself but what composes the story. It's the little details and imperfections that make Fight For My Way unique since they are trying to show us a real story. I really like the plot twists on this show as well as the side plots and characters.
The characters are (very) round: they show us they are humans when they make bad decisions and have to make it up for their errors. With each episode, we can see the characters change according to their true morals. At the same time, the characters prove they are real when they make realistic decisions in realistic situations, you know those kinds of circumstances that also make me wonder what would I do.
The cast is good too. I think it is great that Park Seo Joon left the kind of roles he's always been playing before to dive into this kind of character. I think the execution of his character was great as well. Kim Ji Won was perfect for her role too, an imperfect heroine that takes what it's hers, but still has some personal issues. The chemistry between Dong Man and Ae Ra was amazing too, but then again, have we ever seen a drama whose male lead doesn't have chemistry with his partner when it comes to Park Seo Joon? On a personal note, I have to say the biggest surprise was the second lead couple, Ahn Jae Hong and Song Ha Yoon. I became a fan of Ha Yoon after this drama, I think their story was very well written and amazingly executed by both actors.
When it comes to the soundtrack, I have nothing but good words. Kassy and Btob were excellent with their beautiful songs, just like the lead track, "Dumbhead". The music was pretty well accompanied with the most emotional scenes which make me remember exactly most of the vibes that the drama gave me when I listen to the songs.
I would also like to mention how good the general ambient of the drama was. I've seen many dramas whose characters are kind of poor and have to live in humble districts, but Fight For My Way is the first drama that comes to my mind when I think about that kind of scenario. I think there were strong links between the places and the characters and their stories, which is another positive point for the drama.
Imperfect heroes of the modern world fight their ways to survive and live a little bit better, facing all kinds of difficulties, including their biggest weak spots. A show that presents a solid drama with humor and great characters, places, amazing acting, and also tries to teach all of us a lesson. Fight For My Way gets a 9 out of 10.
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The only thing that caught my attention first was the cast. Mostly idols-turned-actors filled the cast list when this was announced. I gave it a try, and I absolutely regret it.
I gave the plot a four. A very generous score, but I really liked where the drama was supposed to go from the start. I liked the plot of overcoming a loss and helplessly falling in love after the trauma. What goes wrong with the performance? Pretty much everything. From the age gap to the lack of chemistry, this drama was really a failure from the first episode. The "thing" with the two main couples constantly comes and goes, and comes and goes, and comes and goes, and at a certain point, you ask yourself why are you wasting your time watching the same thing. To be honest, I don't even remember how the drama ends, the only thing I can remember is Se Na being forced into a terribly violent situation that constantly made her choose one man. Let's also keep in mind the fact that this drama doesn't go deeper into the idol world when there could've been some very interesting side plots about it; when it comes to music and the idol world the drama tends to focus on Shi Woo only which really disappointed me, what a waste of potential.
The characters seem pretty flat and don't really change until the last episodes, Shi Woo is most likely the only exception I'd say. I personally think they didn't "exploited" Shin Hae Yoon as a character as well as her plots when she was one of the good things about this drama. At the same time, there was no chemistry. No matter how hard you try to find it, you will never find it, neither between Rain and Krystal, or between Myungsoo and Krystal.
Is the cast what made this drama that bad? I'd say that maybe it is. I don't know if the story was originally about a grown (grown) man constantly chasing a girl in her 20s or if the girl was supposed to be a different actress. I heard about the rumors of SM giving this role to Krystal to make up how they shattered her being in the second season of Jessica & Krystal as well as the release and promotions of the unit mini album with her sister, which were Krystal's original plans for the last quarter of 2014 before they kicked Jessica out of SNSD. Whatever the case is, I liked Krystal even though the character was boring and Krystal's acting skills were not at her prime in this project. The chemistry with the other characters was utterly bad, very awkward to see, and the only fault here was the cast. Whether the problem is the girl or one of the boys, this triangle just didn't work leading the drama to a complete failure.
The OST was great, though. This drama is about music producers and idols so thank God I can say one positive thing about this drama. I really liked (and still like) the two versions of "Pray" just like N-Sonic's "I Miss You" and Krystal's "All of Sudden". However, I wish there was a connection between the great songs and the drama. I know there was an attempt but I would've liked it if they tried to kind of "force it".
To sum up, a very awkward drama with terrible chemistry and forced situations for the main character that will never leave her alone. To be with a man whose age gap is huge and is also your boss, or to be with a rude boy that harrassed you from the moment you met him (and never changed)? I didn't like how you can predict each character's moves and how frustrating is it when everything that goes on was very violent to me, I almost (miss)understood Se Na's psychology, but she's constantly being played with mind games situations and forced to choose between one thing or another. Extremely boring, My Lovely Girls gets a 4 out of 10, being the OST the strongest point of this drama.
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The drama looks good at first even though the main plot, as well as the side plots, are not original at all. Still, I wanted to give it a try for the casting, and after seeing how successful other dramas of the same genre were, I have to say, I had high hopes for this. I have seen a lot of people say they had high hopes for this and that was lowkey what ruined everything; I think they are not wrong, but there is no way you couldn't have high hopes for this as both the cast and the story were pretty hot at the time this was released.
What went wrong? Let's start off with the plot and the story in general. I didn't read the manhwa when I started watching the drama -and I still haven't. Because of this, everything related to the world of the gods was quite confusing to me, I personally think the writers should've focused a little bit more on explaining what went wrong with Habaek, the different gods and their problems, etc. In the drama, we don't really find a lot of scenes explaining that kind of information, which is the genesis for the rest of the story. So without a clear base, the rest was almost nonsensical, is like everything turned into a rom-com drama but at a certain point, you wonder, how did we get here? Besides this, everything becomes cliché, extremely repetitive, and very confusing.
Some characters were a waste, at least for me, because of the lack of evolution. We had the (typical) main couple and other couples with their respective side plots. Great, that is how it's supposed to be. The problem arrives when the characters barely evolve throughout the whole drama; I'd dare to say the only character that evolves a little bit and shows us some change is Moora (Krystal) -no wonder why she's the fan-favorite of the drama. Seeing a character evolving, showing us their weak points and different faves is very interesting, especially when it comes to characters like Moora, and that makes me wanna watch more of them to see where are they finally going. But when a character barely evolves and remains almost the same from the time we first met them, then it's a disappointment, almost makes me wonder why did I even watch that in those cases. In Bride of Habaek we barely find the evolution of characters, just like we don't find a grey area, it's either black or white when it comes to the actions of the characters.
Another problem with the characters is how bad they are distributed, or rather the lack of investment in them. We have gods in the modern-day world, making their best to adapt to the world of humans while the "villains" put some traps, and I honestly really liked that, I wanted to see more of that as I thought that could have been a great "thing" for the drama, but it seems like the writers didn't think that way. Without that, do the villains really have a purpose in the drama? Probably yes, related to the original plot regarding gods and all that; if only they explained that! The other issue with the distribution of the characters is how bad they invested in great characters that most parts of the audience liked, like Shin Hoo Ye (Im Joo Hwan) or Moora (Krystal).
When it comes to cast and acting, I have mixed feelings. I think the characters were poorly written, as I explained before, which is a minus point to this part of the review already. I loved how some actors did their roles just like I despised others. Starting with Nam Joo Hyuk, what can I say? I didn't get any vibes from god from him at all and he is supposed to be one of the greatest gods; now that is a problem. It was like I was seeing a man in his 20s being rude and ungrateful for every little thing that happened to him, and not even that really fits Nam Joo Hyuk. Was Shin Se Kyung good? Well... probably? I don't know exactly what to say because her character was really (really) intense and that got on my nerves most of the time. I've seen a lot of people talk about it as a drag for her acting, but I don't think it's her fault but the writers' fault for building up a character that unlikeable. On the other hand, I think Im Joo Hwan was exceptional, Krystal's aura was already defining her character and Gong Myung did quite well for his role too.
The music was one of the best things about the drama. Having as the singers for the OSTs the acclaimed Yang Da Il, Kassy, or Junggigo really added a lot of emotions to this drama. I even still listen to the songs from time to time!
All in all, would I rewatch the drama? Not exactly rewatch the whole thing at all, but rather revisiting some scenes and parts that got stuck on my mind. I think there were some wasted talents on this drama and the potential and the high hopes already asked for a lot of things from this drama that it clearly didn't have from the start. A bad script, poorly written plots, and flat characters make this drama deserve a 4 out of 10.
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