Change Your Image
tictacgo
Reviews
Gisangcheong Saramdeul: Sanaeyeonae Janhoksa Pyeon (2022)
A joy to watch
I think the reason so many people have given it poor ratings is because of the age difference between the male and female leads. The same thing happened with "We are breaking up". I think many ahjummas who watch K-drama cannot tolerate the fact that a 40 year old actress could play the role of a 32 year old who romances a hunk 10 years younger than her. If not for that fact I can't imagine why in the world anybody would give this brilliantly written, cast, directed and acted show anything less than a 9/10.
Park Min-Young is simply outstanding in every single scene, showing once again why she's the queen of comic timing. The ML also does a good job, but PMY outshines everybody else. The side stories about her sister's fumbling love life, and about her co-workers each of whom is going through their own struggle weaves a beautiful and heartwarming tapestry which is a delight to watch. Each episode is unpredictable and unlike many other Korean shows you want to keep watching until that last 16th episode even though you know whats going to happen for the most part.
It is not just the romance, the heartbreak and the drama which keeps you watching though. It is also the intricate details of weather forecasting which are ingeniously woven into each episode which are a delight to watch. Did I just say "delight to watch" twice? Yes, I did. That's because it is. I'm rarely left with such a good feeling after watching a show. Watch it and you will see what I mean 😊
My love for K-drama started with "What's wrong with Secretary Kim", was renewed by "Crash-landing into you" and continues to be deepened by lovely shows such as this one.
Lost in Space (2018)
Plot holes so big you could fly a spaceship through them
The 1st Season was amazing. Astounding. Redefined what sci-fi shows could be. The second was an abysmal wreck. Episodes were cut down so short that it became more of like a Greys Anatomy in space rather than the splendid adventure in story telling that was the first season. And in the third season the writers seem to have just said "screw it, this show is for kids and kids are dumb so we can make up any nonsense as we go along".
SPOILERS: the surviving colonists form a ring from the Jupiter vessels and put it in orbit around the star around which the Robot's planet revolves in order to give the vessels using "photoelectric noise". What sort of vessel could possibly survive the flux of energy and radiation from being so close to a solar surface? But they seem to be just fine with temperatures rising to that of a sunny Miami day. And "photoelectric noise"??? WTH? Couldn't they find a single high school physics teacher to inform them that there's no such thing? Couldn't they have found simpler, more plausible means of hiding, such as perhaps staying on the dark side of the moon orbiting the Robot planet? They could make anything up. Its science FICTION for goodness sake!
When the kids land on the alien planet, they somehow find a valley with breathable atmosphere on an otherwise airless planet. Okaaaaay. That's sort of plausible. But then these kids decide to climb two miles up the mountain side to get "titanium" for their vessel, and somehow the oxygen or the batteries in their spacesuits never seem to run out. Pretty darn amazing tech if you ask me. Then somehow Penny and Will manage to climb down the same mountain carrying 20 kgs of titanium ore like it was nothing. Hmm? And Liam manages to take Vijay who has a fractured wrist down the same mountain without any trouble. Are these kids or Navy seals? 😅
The best part? When Judy finds the lander from the Fortuna on the planet's surface, somehow its managed to survive completely unscathed for twenty years on a planet without an atmosphere where meteors keep falling? And the lander's systems seem to run smoothly like it was just made yesterday? What the absolute ##!@!??#
Bad writing and execution turned an absolutely beautiful show into a totally forgettable wreck. Watch the first season and then pretend the show was cancelled. The second and third seasons are an affront to common sense and viewers' intelligence.
The K2 (2016)
That Soundtrack. Just kill me instead!
A very interesting premise. A strong opener. Intrigue. A fantastic lead actor ("Healer"). All rendered totally unwatchable by a soundtrack that seems to be some combination of African chanting and Korean words in a way that makes my ears bleed.
Don't know who or what made the decision to include such a horrendous soundtrack in what could have been an otherwise decent show. But, if you have any pity for your earbuds, this show is best avoided.
Astérix: Le domaine des dieux (2014)
The REAL UNDILUTED Asterix!!!
There have been many movie adaptations of Asterix's adventures. But none of the ones I have seen have ever come close to this movie in capturing, to the 't', the true spirit, character and sheer joyfulness of the original comic books.
What makes the Asterix comics so special is the witty repartee back and forth between the various characters, the often ill timed and hilariously disastrous shenanigans of Obelix and, of course, the wonderful artistry of Goscinny and Uderzo in giving life to the many characters with their funny noses, moustaches, costumes and expressions.
This movie is the first one I have ever seen which captures ALL of these attributes of the original comics. It does so by not diluting or modifying in the slightest the original storytelling or art. I mean, the original comic books are works of art and masterpieces of storytelling. Anybody trying to "improve" upon the original works, as so many previous animated and live action works have attempted to do, will only fail.
My deepest thanks to the makers of this beautiful movie which brings to life the characters of my childhood.
For those unfamiliar with the Asterix comics (there are such people? Seriously?), this is a hilarious, beautifully animated movie which will be enjoyed by viewers of all ages.
Another Life (2019)
Don't waste your time ...
There are two sets of reviews of here. One, by people such as me, who realised after watching the first fifteen minutes or so that this show was unsalvagable and undiluted crap. And the other, by the producers who quickly realised just what a disaster they had on their hands and got as many people as they could to give it a 7 or 8 rating with the exhortation to the skeptical viewer that "it gets better" after the 4th or 5th episode.
The only way this show could get any better if somebody went back in time and burnt the scripts, fired all the writers and actors - except Katie Sackoff and the guy playing William. To even THINK of comparing a show such as this to Battlestar Galactica is an insult to the memory of all those brave men an women who died fighting the Cylons and in the process gave us one of the greatest sci-fi shows in history.
Allegiant (2016)
Incomplete but worth watching
I have no idea why so many people posted such negative reviews. For a long time I was discouraged from watching this film simply because of what I read on IMDb. Today, I watched it with my wife for lack of a better alternative.
I liked it. She liked it. It has a nice story. Nice acting. Awesome effects. Nothing sloppy about it at all. No long dragged out sequence on the wastelands like some people said.
It doesn't have an entirely satisfactory ending. But this should not be thought of as a standalone movie, or even part of a movie trilogy, but as one more episode of a really good story.
It succeeds on all counts - writing, direction, effects, story. If you like the first two, you'll love this one.
Watch it. And don't read too many reviews :-)