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LadySpice
Reviews
Eoneu Nal Uri Jib Hyeongwaeuro Myeolmangyi Deuleowassda (2021)
Hand Potential for Greatness....but just average.
The premise was uniquely interesting, and had the potential to be an epic Romantic Fantasy. Loved some of the characters...ML is an awesome actor (seen him before in "The Smile has Left your Eyes", "Hello Monster", and "Master's Sun". I've never seen the FL before but I was very impressed with her acting skill...very appealing and likable. I even liked some of the supporting characters.... particularly "God" and the Team Leader. Despite all its got going for it...this dramedy kinda fell short.
It's not a horrible show, but it just doesn't quite cut it.
The problem to my mind was not the acting...but the Story/plotting. There simply wasn't enough going on. Its like the only essential happenings and dialogue took place in the first 5min and the last 5 minutes of each episode...and the middle 40 - 45 min was just filler. There was long stretching of dialogue and multiple scenes in every episode wherein NOTHING happens. The ML and FL just wonder around and ramble on about nothing. We get multiple flashbacks of scenes that just happened in the current time frame which we really don't need to be reminded of. Other random flashbacks that don't tell the viewer any new information. Repeat scenes where we're literally just watching people walking and think with music montages in the background. Also, there were too many pointless characters:
1. Kevin, the aunt's husband. He's married to a Korean woman and he doesn't speak Korean and the Aunt, nor anyone else in the family speak English. There are whole scenes/conversations where he's speaking English and the other person is speaking Korean...and neither can understand the other..WTF?!
2. The CEO/Boss of the Publishing company and pretty much all the office staff...except the Team leader, he was interesting. The rest are literally just filler. They add nothing to the story. Their actions don't advance the plot. They don't provide much conflict or motivation. And its not believable that after FL finds out she's dying in 100 days, she decides to make a bold new commitment to a job she herself admits that she hates with a Boss who's an insensitive jerk. But the writer's had to fill her time with something.
3. The Team Leader's Father. What does he add to the story? Nothing but running time.
4. The Writers/authors...none of them added much of anything either. They seemed more like plot devices than characters
Why not just shorten the running time/Episode count and make a better drama? Why is *16* the magic number? This could have easily been cut down to 10-12 episodes and told a more concise, tightly woven tale of Doomed Love. Instead, we get a meandering mess that losing some of its magic along the way.
Nal Nokyeojuo (2019)
Good Couple....Bad Show
This series suffered from a common problem that I see in a lot of the Asian dramas...Bad genre-bending. What is "bad genre-bending"?....Put simply, this show had way too much going on, genre-wise. There was the central romance (the only good thing!), Science Fiction (flawed but interesting), Slapstick Comedy (ugh!), Mystery/Thriller (plot holes), Memory Loss/Medical Drama, some weird Russian(?) Mafia side-story (wtf?), Family Drama...you get the picture. There's just no way to cohesively tell *that* many stories at once. To be fair, I do enjoy a moderate amount of genre-bending but they need to trim 2 to 3 side-stories off this genre-monster. I finished it because I really liked the central couple, but I wouldn't recommend it. To anyone looking for a good Kdrama to watch I'd say, watch Healer instead.
Un-myeong-cheol-eom neol sa-rang-hae (2014)
Good Couple....Bad Show.
I'm about halfway through it and, although its not a complete bust, I think this would have played much better as a more serious drama. The talent in there. I've seen the ML in some truly kick-a$$ roles (Beautiful Mind, Money Flower, Tell Me What You Saw, to name a few). Likewise, the FL has impressive eyes and very good emotional range. Her hurt/anguish/ frailty here are just heart-breaking. I've also seen her in Hello Monster (a serial killer mystery) and she was pretty good in that one as well. So, I don't get why the director/ producer (or whoever makes these decisions) would set a cartoonish tone here. Geez, at least do it as a dramedy or something. But to reduce what could have been a hauntingly beautiful romantic drama into a low-rent Slapstick comedy is a criminal waste of talent. Still, I'll probably finish it just because I like the main couple so much.
Escape to Burma (1955)
My Impression: Weird Gender Swap Version of The Naked Jungle...w/ plot holes
What a wasted opportunity...you got Robert Ryan and Barbara Stanwyck in the same movie and *this* is all you could come up with? Strange plot holes...
1. Why would Stanwyck's character risk all she had for a random stranger whom she had a lusty fling with? She is obviously well established in the region as the Gwen Mar...which appears to be a multi-faceted position with excellent financial, social, & political standing in an obvious community that is hostile to both outsiders and women. She has the trust, friendship, and community ties that take decades to cultivate and in her own admission goes back to when her father was in charge...so again I ask...why would she put all this on the line for a guy she just met, who's background, personality, motivation and last name she doesn't even know??? The only way this would make sense to me is if this were either a relative she grew up with and knew extensively or an ex-lover whom...again, she previously loved and trusted. Then there would at least be a rational basis for her belief in his innocence. Otherwise, how does she know he's not a serial killer?
2. The Gwen Mar's Estate (camp or whatever) welcomes everyone...literally anyone just walks up/walk in and out....gets a room and is treated to food and drink. Except apparently a dirty, hungry native child traveling by himself...who is callously turned away for being a "beggar". Really? But random white men who enter without knocking and help themselves to the liquor are welcome guests. And the police office who showed up with an obvious hidden agenda. I found this weird.
3. The dying prince was so concerned about spreading the plague that he sent a boy (whom he obviously had contact with because how else would the kid get the letter the prince wrote) to the king to convey a message. The kid likely brought with him the plague germs he caught from interacting with the prince long enough for him to write/dictate the letter.
4. Why is the letter written in English? Its clearly a private letter written by a dying son to his beloved father...the content of the letter bear that out. So again, I ask...why English? Its believable that he would know English because there's an obvious long established American presence in the community...but it makes no sense that this type of letter would be written in English. Why not have it written in the native language and have Stanwyck's character translate to English...as she had a long history living in the area, it makes perfect sense that she would know both English and whatever native language they spoke. She clearly knows all the native customs, so its not a stretch that she's bilingual.
5. If the prince had plague and was contagious enough to isolate himself... except apparently from the messenger boy and Ryan's character...how does everyone know that he's been murdered? Wouldn't only Ryan and the messenger know? But the word is out far and wide that he was shot dead by Ryan. But if he's dying of plague when he was shot....wouldn't whoever examined the body also see the ravages of disease along with the bullet holes? Its not like the plague is asymptomatic...he'd be sweating/dehydrated from fever, covered in poxmarks and likely emaciated & pale. Also, wouldn't the person who found and examined the body then be exposed to plague?? Yeah, the dude is dead but he's also still contagious.
I'm sure there are some more lapses in logic....but these are the most egregious. Still its nice to see Ryan and Stanwyck.....thou not their best work. Honestly though, no one could save this misfire.
Security (2017)
Imperfect, but engaging little action/thriller
I watched it on Netflix on Saturday night when I had nothing better to do. I think it a highly watchable, there's enough character development in the main leads to make you care and to keep you interested in the outcome. With one blaring exception...
**Mild Spoiler ahead**
The lone female security guard was a cardboard plot device, to the point where I can't even remember her name and I just watched the movie last night! I only cared about her indirectly because one of the more interesting male guards appeared to have a crush on her.
Anyhoo, I think the average viewer with fine the movie entertaining if they don't analyze too much. If you give the goings-on too much thought you are sure to notice a plot hole or two which will ruin any enjoyment movie. (For example, there's noisy gunfire, explosions, major damage/ destruction to the mall as well as several vehicles, and none of the surrounding residents heard? Was the mall in the middle of nowhere? Every mall I've every been to was surrounded by other businesses and/or residential homes.
The final word: decent for low-budget action.