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rdhaun
Reviews
Meant to Be (2017)
OK, I think Huang Peijia is adorable
Synopsis: the lead guy, played by Bruce Hung, can see ghosts. In particular, he's followed by his great-great...-grandfather's ghost. Later he also sees a young woman ghost (played by Huang Peijia). The main plot is in the old ghost's "unfinished business" so he can leave this world; the woman's story and why she's even in the movie gradually becomes clearer.
I'd seen Huang Peijia in Netflix' "The Ghost Bride", after having read the book, so I was happy to find her in another lead role here. Much of my high rating is because I think Huang Peijia is adorable and the lead male is enjoyable as well playing and everyman caught in a crazy situation.
Beyond that, this is a made-for-TV movie and isn't particularly heavy at all but the evolving relationship with the leads had good chemistry and the ending was a satisfying and happy wrap-up.
I like artsy movies but also enjoy some light and fluffy ones too. This would go in that second category.
King-kong-eul deul-da (2009)
A hard-to-rate sports movie about girls' weightlifting
It's hard to rate Lifting King Kong. The first half would get a 4 and the last half an 8.
Sports movies follow a clear pattern: the coach might not want the job, the team is a rag tag bunch that can't succeed or work together, the team is comically bad, but something sparks their interest and all of a sudden, they're engaged in camaraderie and hard work while exciting music plays; the big game comes and something terrible happens but they pull together at the end. Lifting King Kong, in many ways, follows that same pattern. If that's a spoiler for you, you haven't seen many sports movies!
The focus of this movie is on a man who won an Olympic bronze for weightlifting -- bronze, because he injures himself in his final lift. He can no longer lift and feels like a failure. A few years later, he's down on his luck but is pushed into a job as a coach for a school weightlifting girls' team. The team is rag tag, etc. (see the previous paragraph).
In watching Lifting Kong King, it was like watching two different movies. The first half (the rag tag, down-on-their-luck team) is so ridiculous in how it's portrayed, that the word "cartoony" kept coming to mind. I rarely quit a movie in the middle but I was tempted to here. It was just too overdone.
The second half of the film, though -- the part of the sports movie where the team is finally getting it together -- seems utterly different in style. The actors and actresses are generally quite engaging and the ending pretty powerful.
In short, if you start it, stick with it past the 1:15 mark and you'll likely find it worth your time.