Entries tagged with movies

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Lil Ghost小鬼 — Tiger

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hay monday

Decided to add some Jdramas to my now watching list. One, initially anyway. I made a whole list of some at Viki and a few at Asian Crush. I have another list outside of that, but i was hoping to find stuff i could watch through my Roku and not KissAsian or DramaCool or whatever those sites are. Unfortunately, the vast majority of what they put on Viki is romances. But the Japanese sure love their age gap and status gap romances and i'm all for that lol. But before i could pick one of THOSE, i found an old Yamapi drama that i never saw. The one where he's a monk who persistently chases some gal who was set up with him in a match making thing. Problem is, she's a career woman dreaming of going to New York.

Lots of sketchy English abounds, and it's naturally very silly in a way that only the Japanese can pull off without being cringe. Srsly idk how they do it bc there's a lot of cringe comedy in Kdrams and Cdrams. Or maybe my sense of humor is just weird and more aligned with the Japanese lol. That's why I find Gintama hilarious when so many ifans seem to find it confusing. Anyway, it's only 10 episodes but they're like 45 mins. Still pretty short. My new rule is to start a new drama as soon as I get one up past the halfway point. This time around it was Psych Hunter.

And speaking of Psych Hunter...it really started out full of supernatural stuff and Jiang Shou using his witchery whenever possible, but now it's kinda devolved into murder mystery cases. They still haven't found Liu Zhi and JS never died when he was supposed to, and they kinda just glossed over that lmao. The show is still nice to look at and whatnot, but i'm a little disappointed. Did the censors get to it halfway or smth? IDK.

I had also intended to check out a particular drama on AsianCrush, and so i signed up for a free trial, but wtffff the app on Roku is trassssshhhh. I removed it and am gonna restart my Roku and reinstall it at some point bc upon searching i didn't find any threads trashing it and i can't imagine that i would have left it installed if it sucked. So something else is going on. I remember i installed it to watch something...awhile back. If it was really that useless, i know i would have removed it.

Anyway, lol, my drama thing down there is now kinda inaccurate. If i can get AC to work again, I'll likely start Junichi and when i get halfway through Five to Nine or finish UTP, I'll probabbly start Never Say Goodbye with Jialun. I need to get into a movie mood so i can knock a few of those off my watchlist.

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: ONE OK ROCK — Renegades

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a Final review

Kenshin the Final that is. I think this was maybe the longest one so far? 2 hours and 20 minutes and it didn't feel that long, like it could have been longer I think. Right, so the basic premise is that Kenshin is back in Tokyo, getting used to peace, and his pals obvious believe he's eventually gonna marry Kaoru, etc. BUT THEN. His past once again shows up to haunt him in the form of Enishi, the brother of his ex-wife. Ex-wife??? Nah but I guess this is basically true. I can't fully recall that arc from the manga so idr if she was his wife, like if they got married or whateve,r but they obviously slept together and that's pretty much enough. The twist though is that this girl was the fiancee of a guy that Kenshin killed and who gave him the first scar.

So anyway, Enishi is the head of some Shanghai mafia and has been planning revenge for ten years or whatever and he's got a bunch of other weirdos with him who also hate Kenshin. Like all the other movies, they did things differently. Enishi's pals launch an assault on Tokyo, so naturally people like Saito and whatnot are trying to stop him. They literally brought back everyone from the Kyoto arc to pitch in, so Aoshi was there, and Misao, and eventually Seijiro too lol. And that weird VK-looking weapons hunter guy. Which, that was weird, there was a scene with him that went nowhere. It was implied that he fought Enishi, but we never see it and they never show what happened to him. A random loose end.

The movie explodes in lots of fighting by the halfway point after backstory and whatnot. All fight choreo for the last 50 years and probably the next 50 years can eat its heart out bc I've just never seen anything better. So it all mostly leads up to the Kenshin and Enishi fight, which is why I said that, bc that fight was insane. While Kenshin is fighting Enishi, Misao and Saito are fighting some of his cohorts and beating them. Both fights were cool but the Enishi and Kenshin fight was kinda the magnum opus of the whole series. They killed the music and just let them go at it.

The ending was good and better than the manga tbh. All the acting, again, good. But why tf did Sanno just get beat up in every single movie lmao like seriously. Other random things, icb there was about 10 years between when i first saw Saito's actor and this one and he srsly looks the same. Japanese oyaji don't age man. Also, I think Sato Takeru embodied Kenshin more fully in this film bc he's more the actual right age of Kenshin. He was obviously a great choice, but I'm surprised they casted him so young in the first one. Also, they've changed that Yahiko kid about three times lmao. The kid in the first one is like 20 now so there was a different kid for the Kyoto arc and then for this one bc that kid is like 17 sksks.

So anyway, I highkey HIGHKEY can't wait for the prequel bc I feel like then we'll see the real Kenshin, the dangerous Kenshin, plus there were certainly some hints of his relationship with Tomoe. I'm not gonna hold my breath, but i wanna see at least one ahem ~romantic~ scene.

I get Enishi's rage at Kenshin is bc he literally killed her, but hah, it felt like something else too. Like he was also pissed at his sister for falling for him in the first place. For example, the filthy sword line. I feel like that was major innuendo and he wasn't just referring to the sword that took her life hahaha.

Current Mood: peaceful
Current Music: ONE OK ROCK — Giants

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Monday Media Meme

What are you currently reading/watching/listening?

- Currently reading the Kenshin manga again, not listening to or watching anything really. I've stalled all my dramas of late to watch movies for some reason.

What did you recently finish reading/watching/listening?

- I've been going through the discographies of Grapevine, Hoshino Gen, and Lozareena, but I still have a few albums left for both of them. That was triggered by listening to the new albums by both Grapevine and Taichi Mukai, would recommend btw both really good. Also revisited One Ok Rock recently and listened to their album from 2019 that I never did then lol. I think they're prob gearing up for another one. I like their music for the most part, but their English lyrics are so annoying and sometimes also don't make much sense so I wish they'd go back to mostly Japanese. I also watched the movie Hard Core with Sato Takeru. Despite dumb girlies on MDL acting like it was weird and immoral, I highkey loved it. Very entertaining and funny and Sato Takeru is a fine fine man. He got skunked on the sex scenes though, only one?? I am disappoint lmao. It was also the most out of context and even unnecessary but idc i'll call it necessary all day long. 8D I'm prob gonna watch it again tbqh. The movie, not just the sex scene slkdlssldkjf.

What will you read/watch/listen to next?

- Wwell lesseeee besides finishing up those discos I just mentioned, I'm probably gonna watch some more Sato Takeru movies lmao. I found out he plays a villain in Inuyashiki and uh excuse???

HALP. But also that Ajin movie. Those are both at the top of my list bc they're action movies and that's just my preference ok. Basically i'm taking a quick Japan break before I get back to all my Chinese stuff lol.

Current Mood: lazy
Current Music: ITZY — SHOOT!

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stop kidding me now

I'm almost done with YAMH and Lost in 49 at 12 and 14 eps left respectively. I keep switching between which one I'm addicted to at any given time lol. YAMH is dragging a little bit, unfortunately. I'm hoping they have another good arc or whatever yet before it's over. I don't really find giving Kelei a medical problem to be all that gripping lol. I'll probably avoid modern dramas for awhile again after this one. Unless I decide to watch that other one with Jingting set in the old folks home lmao. Lost in 49 was getting super interesting where I last left off but then I started bingeing on YAMH.

BUT as it's a boring chill Saturday, I want to watch something less intense so I decided to go back to watch the Four. Gives you the feeling of like, Saturday matinee nonsense as a kid lol. I'm watching on Viki and I see that Mojin the Lost Legend is there. I've been wanting to watch that movie for awhile. I mean, Shu Qi and Chen Kun and tomb robbing? HOw come i haven't watched it yet? QIGUAI.

My drama moods are weird and I try to police them unnecessarily lmao. I'm still thinking about starting Psych Hunter but I want to finish at least one other drama first. I've also lowkey been thinking about trying Confession with Junho and/or Secret Royal Inspector with L. I've been wanting to see him in something else since I tried that stupid mask drama but he's only been in annoying romcoms. SRI sounds kinda funny. In that One More Time drama i remember being surprised by his comedic skill bc he always struck me as super serial.

Anyway...omg The Four has a bunch of super boring talking scenes about fate and deep love lmao. Too much wuxia is bad for the brain. Like het versions are bad enough, imagine tryna watch heteronormative BL. Gad the cringe. I wish there was some wuxia like The Four with either a group of guys and no girls or a group of girls and no guys. No romance, just action.

Oh special, Viki has decided to fuck up and i haven't gotten through one episode yet. Feihua.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: 鹿晗 — 敢 Roleplay

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I'd like that time back please

Well I watched Time Raiders last night and it's rare for me to totally trash a movie, especially if it's not an American movie, but I'mma bout to do that right now bc it was AWFUL. It's basically the same story as from the drama Lost Tomb with Yang Yang and another guy who can currently act circles around Lu Han. The plot though, and getting to where they got, was incomprehensible at best. They explained next to nothing about anything. The only reason I half-knew what was going on is because I'd already seen the previous Lost Tomb, plus the Mystic Nine so I know all about this tomb raiding thing lol. Ok so the plot was bad. Then you have all the fucking Engrish spoken with all the wrong emphasis like they were reading off a sheet. Not just a few lines for laughs either, it was ALL THROUGHOUT. Ugh. Random compliment though lol, Jing Boran's English was actually passable.

Then we have Jing Boran in Yang Yang's role and he was so bad lmao. He looked as though he was sucking on the most sour candy in the world the entire time and the majority of his acting was a lot of grunting. See Yang Yang's character was as calm as death with zero emotion most of the time, you could easily feel his "other" status. The rest of the acting was just as bad, Lu Han looked 12 for the majority of the movie until the end when he had some fuzz and that was pretty hot lol. But what was his obsession with taking pictures? The bromance was also terrible, again, it was way better in the Lost Tomb when both characters get the chance to save the other.

I saw people ranking on the CGI, but honestly I don't give two craps about CGI. If it's good, I'll recognize it, if it's bad and the rest of the movie is good, I might mention it as being funny, but the movie itself is far more important to me than stupid CGI. It wasn't that bad and it was definitely far less offensive than the rest of the movie, that's for sure.

Finally, they just had to included those nasty bugs from the Lost Tomb lmao, except they were way less creepy and for some unknown reason, Lu Han's character could tame them with a flute. Him and flutes, lol.

Tl;dr I'd rather plop down and watch the 20 or whatever hours that comprised the Lost Tomb again than get anywhere near that movie.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: 이민우 – One In A Million(1/1000000)

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Weekly Wednesday Media Meme

What are you currently consuming?

Pretty Man. Yes, even though I have other dramas to finish and anime and all that jazz, I've been wanting to watch this. I'm enjoying it for the most part so far. It reminds of some of the better Taiwanese romcoms I've seen, with the surly main and cute, goofy girl. Also, the guy that just came in is hilarious. I think it's only 16 eps? Hopefully I'll get addicted and finish it lol. Been listening to E.via/Tymee lately and I'd like to hear more actual songs as she has a lot of...chaff so to speak.

What did you recently finish consuming

I finally finished BlazBlue Alter Memory and tbh, it sucked. It started out really cool, but then spiraled down into an incomprehensible mess. I watched the last ep in hopes of some kind of resolution, but nope. Also recently watched At The Gate of the Ghost and Tai Chi Zero. Both were not that great. The first one I didn't think the acting was all that good and the second was just Stephen Fung trying way too hard to be funny, quirky, clever, whatever. It was boring and pointless. Had some good fight scenes I guess though. I also finally got to M.I.A. and Lecca's new albums and I liked both for the most part, but wasn't blown away by either.

What will you consume next?

Will likely continue watching Pretty Man and I see that Minwoo's mini album is out and he is so fucking addictive, so I could see that turning into a binge on his discography lol.