Pethushka

Probably won't be movie of the year, but I’m guessing David was going for something else anyway. Surfing in Jeju, batik comfort in a not very functional guesthouse, and her encounter with certain people from Seoul. All in a calm, unhurried spirit. No big plot twists and turns. With smaller, lesser known actors. But you can't say it didn't work...

Anything that's based on true events and is somehow connected to Korea interests me. I like to expand my knowledge, and when I get hung up on an event I dissect it for a while afterwards and look up facts about it. Well, here I was offered some truly unique material. This is supposedly the first Korean film to describe an economic crisis, and at the same time it is based on an event that actually happened. And right from the start, it's clear that there's a story to tell. I will freely admit that even with English subtitles I didn't fully understand some of the debates and some things are still stuck in my head, but even as a complete layman I enjoyed the film. The actors were, I thought, very well cast. Hye-soo Kim relished her role and immersed herself in it as if it were her own, and Ah-in Yoo can play love of money, he's just good at it. Not the strongest, but after one scene at the end it deserves it, 4 stars.

I've known for a while now that zombies are the last thing I'd be attracted to in movies. So, if I'm going to give them a chance, it has to be for a good reason. Here, it's Hyun Bin. And while I enjoyed him, and enjoyed having another of my favorites join him, the movie is still about nothing. I've seen so many beautiful, action-packed, interestingly to brilliantly written historical tales that I kind of don't see why I should like this one. It basically has no concept, no surprises, and was apparently created with only one purpose in mind... zombies in a palace, what an idea! But it's pretty dry for me. 2.5 stars

A film that is unexpected in absolutely nothing. You can easily guess the story after a few minutes and the acting is rather below average. Yeong-kwang Kim is not a great actor in my opinion. Dong-seok Ma is, but his role wasn't worth much. Besides, I didn't feel enough of a connection between the main characters to maybe shed a tear for them at the end. 2.5 stars

This is what I imagine a documentary about a celebrity should look like. A little bit of the artist's private life, a lot of the artist's work, a sample of everyday life and big moments, and a little interview here and there. Lady Gaga as she is now suits me very well, and this documentary brought me a little closer to her again.

The first two stories – good. I wasn't sure I fully comprehended them, but I suppose they don't have one clear explanation. It made me extra happy that Hje-su Pak was in it. So let's just say I took a little something away from the first two as well. The next two I didn't enjoy and didn't understand. I don't need to see any of them again.

For a long time I was clinging to the idea that I would end up liking this series after all. I mean, Hyun Bin is in it! So what went wrong? In one trailer – where I found the main characters very entertaining, by the way – Hyun Bin says that we'll see beautiful scenery in the series. And it’s true, that's definitely the best part of the show. Shin-hye Park, on the other hand, promised some nice romance – but unfortunately I didn't see any. Emotionally, it completely passed me by. Hyun Bin was so cold the whole time. He bored me most of the time and I absolutely couldn't relate to his character. Just an uninteresting and arrogant ahjussi. No wonder the main character didn't understand what he wanted her to do under that umbrella. Okay, not every man has to be a romantic, but what about at least a little passion when he loves someone? In keeping with tradition, Shin-hye has been cast as a weeper who cries as if out of habit. She's carries the romantic storyline by herself for some time, and cries over it just to be on the safe side. Sure, love is blind, but I still don't understand why she would fall for this weirdo who flits around town without explanation and barely talks to her. I can't even name any supporting characters who hold the show together. The main character's annoying friend, the people in the company, the two ex-girlfriends, Marco, the scared brother, the bad guy... all these characters lack personality, and the director got a bunch of crappy performances out of them. I'd love to add to the rave reviews (not just here), but it's hard to latch onto anything. The idea was very interesting, no question about it. They managed to make it nicely graphic, it's awesome in the Spanish setting, it's just that everything else is boring. And that's why even the scenes from the game, which were fine at first, soon get boring because it's the same situation over and over again. And instead of starting to resolve it somehow, maybe getting more people involved in the fight, the main weirdo doesn't talk to anyone and solves it all by himself. So as an advertisement for Granada – great, I'm adding it to my list of places I want to visit. Otherwise, the series didn't do it for me. 2 stars

It’s a long way from perfection, but it's a good film. Hyun Bin was convincing in his role, and you could really see he was enjoying it. For Ye-jin, on the other hand, it was one of her weaker roles. Yet her first shot, when she confidently takes the case and gets mad that she's being dragged into work, gave promise of a character with a completely different personality. The kind of character I like in Along with the Gods. I don't know if the creators' intention was to show that the first operation broke her or if they just wanted her to be like that. As for the script, for a movie that takes place almost entirely in one location and mostly on a monitor screen, I wasn't bored for a moment. 4 stars.

After twenty hours of just melting over Chang-wook, I can report that I could have easily melted for another couple dozen hours. But I'm happy to award points to the others as well. His girlfriend is a great, sensible, and incredibly fun main character. Their lovey-dovey groping didn't cease to amuse me towards the end. It's just that I've basically had a weakness for all of them, including the bad guy. I enjoyed the cases, I laughed very hard, and even tears weren’t lacking. You probably don't want to hear about the butterflies in my tummy and how I replayed some scenes over and over. So I'll close with a bit of objectivity and admit that I was bored for about half an hour with one episode. The reason? Not enough Chang-wook. God, what did it do to me this time? 5 stars.

You can pretty much say that this is a terrible movie. And I actually kind of blame myself for that. Because no one would ever suggest that having JLo in it is a guarantee of quality cinematography. But you know, it's not good to be prejudiced. So I gave it a shot. And if it weren't for the craziest "plot twist" they came up with for basically no reason at all about halfway through the film, I probably would have said it was good. This way, though, I wonder if an 8-year-old kid accidentally got his hands on the script. Otherwise, this "idea" is an unfathomable mystery to me. 1.5 stars