Finally, the wait is over after 5 years! Kim Nam GiI, Honey Lee, and the gang are back. I miss the old villains but the new group of villains, led by Sung Joon as a drug lord in Busan, is as good if not better.
Kim Hae-Il (Kim Nam-Gil) is a hot-tempered Catholic priest with a burning sense of justice. He heads to Busan to pursue a drug case which originated in Gudam-district, Seoul. Helping him in his pursuit are Prosecutor Park Kyung-Sun (Lee Ha-Nee), Detective Gu Dae-Young (Kim Sung-Kyun) from Gudam Police Station, and Detective Gu Ja-Young (Bibi) from Busan.
In modern-day Metro Manila, a diverse group of Filipinos faces life's lows as their destinies collide on a fateful train ride, unfolding a heartwarming and comedic tapestry of interconnected stories.
First time I watched a Filipino movie in 1 sitting. I usually stop the movie or series to decide if it is worthy of my time then I eventually abandon it. Filipino movies are always either dramedy romance or horror usually with subpar script and acting.
Fruitcake is mostly comedy except for one character who got pregnant after a drunken night with her ugly co-worker. She wanted to abort the baby and asked her brother, a priest, for advice. Naturally the priest was against it and gave her the reasons why she shouldn't. And they were good reasons too without him being preachy. The movie bombed at the theaters. I knew why I liked it because Filipinos didn't.
The characters have indirect connection with each other except for the guy who wanted to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend. The movie will be funny only to Filipinos. Foreigners won't understand the jokes. Example: the guy who went to Manila to look for his ex-girlfriend has a piggery he runs with his mother. The sows have names of famous movie personalities with 1 or 2 letters altered but still recognizable as the celebrities they are named after. One of the pigs was sold by the mom so he can afford the trip to Manila from the province. It was later shown being roasted over live coals, a Filipino delicacy called Lechon.
A demon Jeong Gu-won is superior to humans in every way, but when he loses his powers, he will have to work with a chaebol heiress Do Do-hee to recover them, and romance begins to bloom in this process.
Song Kang and Kim You-Jung. They are both pretty. Kim You-Jung is not only beautiful, she is also one of the best acting actresses in KDramaland.
Song Kang's Sweet Home Season 2, a horror fantasy series is coming on December 1, 2023 on Netflix. Can't wait.
In the 21st Century, where a human vs. human "Big Hunt" is used as an alternative to war, a veteran huntress agrees to kill a "victim" to get a major TV sponsorship deal, but romantic entanglements between the two complicate matters.
Before The Running Man, The Hunger Games, and Battle Royale, there is the 1960s Italian movie, The 10th Victim, with Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress as prey and hunter. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
The movie is funny and satirical. The opening scene with Ursula wearing a shiny silver bikini while dancing and slapping men inside a masochists club is specially hilarious and ending in her triumphant elimination of the "hunter".
The movie is also rather prescient with regard to current reality shows where contestants are being filmed in real time. I liked the costumes, jazz music, the witty dialogue, and specially the beautiful Ursula. I enjoy watching these types of old movies with cheap gadgets and sets but with beautiful leads unlike the latest Hollyweird drecks filled with fat ugly unfunny people like Melissa McCarthy, Whoopie Goldberg et al. Bring back the beauties, Hollywood!
tags: Amazon streaming, comedy, crime, murder-mystery, Spanish series
8 episodes
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
From Amazon
1940s, Galicia. Marina Quiroga, a bold upper class girl with the soul of a detective, decides with the help of Héctor, her loyal butler, to trap the killer who has been terrorising her city.
My favorites Aura Garrido and Jean Reno are the leads, how can I not watch. I like the first two episode so far and will rate when I am done watching the complete series. Amazon is showing interesting series [at least to me], at last.
Update September 24, 2022: 5 stars.
Highly recommended. Watch in original European Spanish with English subtitles. Dubbing in English is always atrocious.
Worldwide excitement is escalating in Seoul in the days leading up to the opening of the 1988 Summer Olympics. The fashion is old school, the music is sentimental and the racing is the best in the world. The drivers of the Sanggye-dong Supreme Team receive an offer they can’t refuse and become mired in a VIP slush fund investigation.
I love this movie 💗💗💗because I love movies set in the 80s. What's not to love? 1988 Seoul, the clothes, music, the actors.
I remember when I went to Seoul a few months before the 1988 Olympics and everything was Olympics Olympics Olympics. I even bought a hand fan with the swirly logo. I think it's kept somewhere in the basement. LOL
American brands, culture, clothing, and food were very popular at the time, specially Pizza Hut and McD's. Koreans were obsessed with anything American. In the movie Park Yoon-Hee wore a jacket with Washington Redskins and her brother Park Dong-Wook, played by Yoo Ah-In was wearing a jacket with Oakland Raiders at the end of the movie. The pair of Nike shoes offered to a rival is so spot on.
Most of my favorite Korean actors are in the movie but I specially love Lee Kyu-Hyung and his 80s clothes. He is one of the more versatile Korean actors in Korean dramas and movies.
Highly recommended for fans of Korean movies and set in the 80s.
After learning her estranged father is a hotel mogul, Belinda bumbles her way through a new, sophisticated lifestyle with the help of a charming lawyer.
Why oh why was this horrible movie made? I'm not fond of Filipino movies and this one made me more than cringe. This movie is garbage and I hate it. The acting is over the top and dialog is atrocious. The girl Belinda is so vulgar using all the crude stuff [vomit, poop, fart, stomach growling, Brazilian wax, the attorney's d*ck] for what she thinks is "comedy". She is a loudmouth, obsessed with sex ugly lead character and almost everything that comes out of her dirty mouth has sexual reference. When she gets startled or stumbles, she utters male or female sexual anatomy. Each. And. Every. Time. I wanted to drag her into the bathtub and wash her including her mouth with disinfectant soap.
The writer and director think this is funny. Even the poorest people in the Philippines are not as crass as this Belinda creature. I am so ashamed for the Filipino people for creating this dreadful abomination they call a comedy movie and streaming on Netflix.
tags: comedy, drama, post-metal music, Netflix streaming, teen movie
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
from IMDB
Two kids want to start a heavy metal band in a high school where exactly two kids care about heavy metal. They try to find a bass player, and fail but they do find a girl who is very good at cello. If the three of them can't settle their differences and work together, they're never going to win the Battle of the Bands.
I couldn't care less if the movie is rated unsatisfactory by "professional" reviewers. Yes, it is clichéd and has a predictable ending but it is funny and engaging. I loved it. Sometimes, Netflix comes up with an enjoyable movie about high schoolers that is worth a second watch.
Totono Kuno is a university psychology student. He has curly hair, which he has a complex about. He doesn't have any friends or a girlfriend. His memory and observation skills are very good and he is also skilled at making conclusions from a given set of facts. A murder case takes place in a park near Totono Kuno’s home. The victim is a university student that attended the same school and Totono Kuno becomes a suspect in the murder. He is interrogated by detectives at the police station. During the interrogation, Totono Kuno becomes aware of hidden clues behind the student's murder and also the personal worries of the detectives. But a weapon, which contains Totono Kuno’s fingerprints, is found.
This Japanese series is almost perfect IMHO. Only 4 episodes have been aired so far but I am rating it 5 stars because it has the perfect balance of comedy, mystery, and drama with great background music. During police interviews on the first episode, Totono Kuno ends up interviewing the detectives and learns about their personal problems and the same time is able to find the true murderer. He uses philosophy and psychology to solve the mystery. The ongoing joke is he prepares his favorite curry but as soon as he sits down to eat, he gets interrupted by either the door bell or his cellphone. The viewers never get to see him eat his curry dinner.
I can't wait to see the next episodes. Japanese doramas usually have only 10 or 12 episodes which I like as the story is not stretched with unnecessary plot twists.
Action, comedy, corruption in politics and police, Korean series starts December 17, 2021 Fridays and Saturdays
The first episode suggests that the 2 characters are one and the same person just like the characters in Fight Club. Ryu Soo Yeol (Lee Dong-Wook) is a competent police officer but with questionable work ethics kissing a politician's ass for fast promotion. But his activities are suddenly thwarted by the appearance of K (Wi Ha-Jun of Squid Game) who is rather crazy but righteous.
Lee Dong-Wook as Ryu Soo-Yeol and Wi Ha-Joon as K
Ryu Soo-Yeol was relaxing in the sauna when K suddenly appeared fully clothed wearing a bike helmet and shoes and tossed the poor guy around. He asked for CCTV footage but K appeared nowhere in the video.
At the end of Episode 2, newly promoted Bad Ryu Soo-Yeol realized he is Crazy K when he kicked the dirty politician right on his face. One of the best and funniest second episodes in KDramaland. 😁
Racket Boys - Korean comedy drama sports streaming on Netflix
16 episodes, 85 - 90 minutes, Monday and Tuesday
from AsianWiki
A story of a boys' badminton team at a middle school in Haenam as they compete in a junior athletic competition. The 16 year old boys and girls in Haenam grow as people during this time.
Yoon Hyeon-Jong was once the best badminton player and he now takes the coach job of a boys' badminton team at a middle school in Haenam. The badminton team is on the verge of being disbanded. The players on the team are Yoon Hae-Kang, Bang Yoon-Dam, Na Woo-Chan and Lee Yong-Tae. The players are not very good yet.
Meanwhile, Ra Yeong-Ja is the coach of the girls’ badminton team at a different middle school in Haenam. Her badminton team ranks #1 among their peers.
The drama comedy started airing May 31 and June 1, 2021 and I'm already hooked. The drama has lots of laughs, has quirky characters, and witty dialog. I'm not a sports fan and it's surprising that I enjoyed the competition at the end of the second episode.
The main story is about middle school boys training and competing in badminton tournaments to be able to continue the school's badminton program. Their coming together as a team is well told and the minor characters also have interesting stories to them. It's a heart warming series and it has a potential to become my 2021 favorite.
This new Korean drama sageuk (historical fiction) has 16 episodes that started December 12 and 13. The first 2 episodes are mostly comedy with a present day male chef who drowns and finds himself in the body of the designated queen during Joseon period. The male chef in a female's body creates hilarious scenes. Shin Hye Sun's performance of the male chef played by Choi Jin Hyuk is nothing but perfection IMHO.
Shin Hye Sun as queen on her wedding day
Highly recommended for Korean sageuk drama and comedy fans.
tags: action, comedy, Chinese triad, Japanese, Takashi Miike, yakuza
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Leo is an orphan and a boxer. He works in a Chinese restaurant in Kabuchiko, Tokyo. When he was knocked down by a weaker opponent, he went to have a scan and was told he has a brain tumor. A young girl, Yuri, is a drug addict and working as a prostitute to pay for her abusive father's debts. She hallucinates seeing her father wearing only his underwear and a blanket over his head when the drug effects wear off. She is being held by a demented yakuza couple, Yasu and Julie. Julie, played by the lovely Japanese tarento, Becky, went crazy and made me laugh when she jumps on the hood of the car shouting "Kase!" wanting to kill him with a crowbar and later with a katana because Kase "accidentally" killed a lot of people, the first one was Julie's man, Yasu. The young couple, Leo and Yuri, are caught in the middle of the fight between yakuza, triad, and the corrupt policeman.
Takashi Miike threw in all the crazies in this hilarious action comedy - yakuza, corrupt cop, Chinese triad, old man dancing on a train in his tighty whiteys, one-armed triad wielding a sword - in a drug deal gone wrong that all happened in one night. The opening scene has a newly severed head of a Filipino thug, still twitching, which reminds me of freshly chopped fish heads and headless chicken running around. LOL. Miike was asked about the title and he answered, "to make money" which is vague on purpose. Miike never disappoints.
Eun-young is an ordinary school nurse with an extraordinary secret: she sees strange and beautiful jelly creatures that no one else can see. She’s not particularly fond of this gift, but when the school comes under attack, it’s up to her and fellow teacher In-pyo to save the day. Question is, does she feel like saving the world today?
After watching this new Netflix 6-part series from South Korea, I felt as though I have just walked into Haruki Murakami/David Mitchell/Takashi Miike universe. It is fantastically weird full of weird people competing for the most weird one. Eun-Young, the school nurse has a gift of seeing jellyfish-like creatures which are visible to her only. She uses her plastic toys, a retractable sword and a gun to kill the jellies. She is a ghostbuster protecting the school kids from evil spirits roaming the school. When a swarm of bugs appeared, again only visible to the nurse, a female high school student appears out of nowhere. She was never born to human parents and has lived many lives as a male and for the first time is living as a female enrolled as a new student in the school. She is a bug eater which is beneficial to humans much like green lacewings and ladybugs eating harmful insects to protect plants. This character dies every 20 years and is reborn as a high school teen so she or he never ages. The series is absolutely entertaining.
I just wished the male lead is older. Nam Joo-Hyuk is 26 years old, 12 years younger than the female lead actress. I like both of them, just don't do a romance story line later if there is a second season. I wish McKenzie has more screen time because he's a very interesting character. Or maybe it's just me because the actor playing him, Yoo Teo, is good in all the shows I've seen him in specially as Ragaseu in Arthdal Chronicle and as Kwon Min-Seong in Chocolate, both streaming on Netflix. All 6 episodes are streaming on Netflix and now I can't wait for the second season. I have to re-watch.
Heroes do not exist. David, a young policeman who has recently moved to Madrid, is forced to collaborate with Jorge Elías - an endearing freak and owner of a comic book shop - in order to solve a series of atrocious murders that recreate the secret origins of the classic superheroes. Each grotesque murder is a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that has the streets of Madrid as a backdrop, but whose complete image they are unable to distinguish. Jorge's encyclopedic knowledge about the comic world and the unexpected discovery of David's dark past will be fundamental in helping them solve the enigma hidden behind the awful crimes. The clues will guide them through the Spanish capital, along a labyrinth designed by a disturbed criminal mind and the only person who knows how to find the exit. Will they be able to unravel the tangled mess of clues and win the game against the troubled criminal that tries to manipulate them? They say that, sometimes, it is necessary to put on a suit and get out ...
If you see it with very low expectations like I did, you'll probably enjoy this 96 minute action comedy from Spain, Origenes Secretos. It won't win any awards but it made me laugh a little. I got maybe almost all of the comic book, movie, and TV characters mentioned including some Japanese anime like Gantz:O and Berserk. It's easy to guess who the villain is.
This movie is not serious at all although not slapstick either. Watch it in the original European Spanish language with English subtitles.
Princess Jellyfish centers around Amamizukan, an apartment building in Tokyo, where the only tenants are otaku women, and where no men are allowed. While each character has her own particular fixation, the protagonist is Tsukimi Kurashita, whose love of jellyfish stems from memories of her deceased mother taking her to an aquarium and linking the lace-like tendrils of jellyfish to the dresses of princesses.
Tsukimi hopes to become an illustrator and is an awkward girl terrified of social interaction, attractive people and the prospect of formal work. The other tenants of Amamizukan are the same, being NEETs who refer to themselves as the "Amars" (nuns). Tsukimi meets the stylish Kuranosuke Koibuchi, the illegitimate son of a politician, who cross-dresses to avoid the obligations of politics and to feel closer to his mother. Tsukimi keeps the secret of his masculinity from her man-hating housemates, even as she is troubled by the intimacy of having a man in her room at times.
Amamizukan's surrounding neighborhood is under threat of redevelopment, as opportunists aim to turn the quaint area into a more cosmopolitan region, with many of the buildings being demolished to make room for hotels and shopping centers. Although Amamizukan's tenants fear and loathe attractive people, they are helped by Kuranosuke who does not want to see Amamizukan destroyed.
the 5 otaku women, each has her own obsession
Japanese live action anime movies never fail to entertain me. This one is LOL funny and has a bit of a love triangle too: the cross-dressing boy and his older brother both fall for the lead character, Tsukimi. I really like the movie and hope there will be a sequel. I'll also start watching the anime series.
Highly recommended for fans of anime and silly but fun stories. Streaming with English subtitles on several streaming services. DVD is not available yet in the US. The cross-dressing boy Kuranosuke wearing one of Tsukimi's "jellyfish" designs. The actor Suda Masaki does a fantastic job of wearing dresses without losing his masculinity.
Kuranosuke helping Tsukimi prepare for a dinner date with his older brother
The last scene from the movie - Tsukimi wearing one of her "jellyfish" dresses
and Kuranosuke wearing regular boy clothes.
