Movie review: 1987 When The Day Comes

I like it! First I watched it because Kim Taeri starred in this movie, but then I really liked it because it was definitely my cup of tea. 1987: When The Day Comes is a patriotic historical movie released in early 2018, telling about June Democracy Movement in South Korea (or popularly known as June Struggle) that generated mass protests from June 10 to June 29, 1987 (source: wikipedia). The demonstration forced the ruling government to hold a fair and democratic election. It started when Park Jong-cheol, a SNU student activist, died after being interrogated by official authorities because he refused to reveal the whereabouts of his fellow activists. This sparked many questions from reporters as his caused of death was said to be shock. He was a healthy 22yo man before this happened. The Seoul Office Prosecutor was forced to sign the permit to cremate the corpse as soon as possible, but he refused since it’s not 8 hours after death and his family needed to see him for the last time. The Prosecutor asked for an autopsy and the result showed that he died because of waterboarding techniques during his interrogation. Doctors were also asked to keep quiet but one of the doctors leaked it to a reporter when they accidentally met in the toilet. The issue blew up fast; people started to question about it. Authorities were told to find and arrest Kim Jeong-nam, the leader of democratic movement at that time so that the truth about Park Jong-cheol’s death would never be known. The story continued on how they would reveal the truth by the help of the prisoner guards, civilians, student activists, reporters, prosecutor, etc since this case involved higher authorities. There’s also Lee Han-yeol, another student activist from Yonsei University, who recruited people for the movement through his school student club. During the protests, he was seriously injured when a tear bomb hit the back of his head. His condition provoked another protest in the following weeks, which resulted in an agreement for direct presidential election by the Republic of Korea in June 29, 1987. Through 1987 I learnt a lot about Korea’s history as it was based on true story but still you need to confirm for the historical accuracy by browsing articles ok? If you are interested in history like me, then this movie is really recommended! All of these actors are Chungmuro movie veterans so no doubt their acting are the best. Enjoy!

Rate: 9.3/10

 

 

Official trailer:

Movie review: Little Forest (리틀 포레스트)

At first, this movie was not in my list but I decided to give it a try because of the positive reviews I read about it. Little Forest was said to be a healing movie, made you felt relax and peaceful. It's released in early 2018, starring Kim Taeri as Hyewon, a girl who failed in her university exam and decided to go back to her father's hometown. She has two bestfriends: Jin Kijoo as Eunsook, a banker and Ryu Junyeol as Jaeha, now a farmer. Hyewon was born in Seoul but then moved back to her father's hometown when he was sick and stayed till his death. She and her mother continued staying there but one day when she just came back from school, her mother disappeared without saying anything. Because of it, she hated her mother so much and learnt how to survive alone in the changing four seasons. Studied hard to pass the national exam, Hyewon was eagered to move to Seoul as soon as possible. She was back to her hometown again when her university entrance exam failed but her boyfriend passed. Tried to adjust to village life, she planted, harvested, and cooked by herself and didnt tell anything to her friends. Not to mention how her foods were awesome and portrayed aesthetically. It felt like she was having a vacation and taught us how to cook with her recipe. I was really amazed when she cooked spaghetti with some kind of flowers; in another scene she fried the flowers to make it looked like tempura. It definitely made people wanted to move to rural hometown and lived a simple life. Her friendship was another thing to admire: both her bestfriends are always by her side. They were also the one telling her not to run from her problems but she needed to settle it. Some of you may have known Kim Taeri from The Handmaiden which I hadnt watched (so dont ask me about it) but reviews were mostly positive. She's the rising new actress because of her versatility in acting. Currently Im watching her drama Mr. Sunshine and all I can say is it's really awesome! If you hadnt watched any of her works, this one is a must try. Little Forest teaches us a lot about life, probably one of my favorites because the storyline flows naturally and every scenes are just so beautiful. 

Rate: 8.5/10

 

Official trailer: 

Movie review: The Swindlers (꾼)

Here another movie review again after I went on hiatus watching movies since earlier this year. It’s a korean movie released in the end of 2017, starring Hyun Bin, Yoo Ji-tae, Bae Seong-woo, Park Sung Woong, and Nana called as The Swindlers. I watched this in flight on my way to Japan. It started with Hwang Jisung (Hyun Bin), a conman, who was searching for his father’s killer. His father was a conman too who worked with gang members to falsify their passport information. One day his father was found dead; he felt suspicious as his father was working on something secretly the day before and told him he would retire after finishing it. Because of his job (he falsified passport, used other people's face as masks, etc), Hwang went on jail and met Prosecutor Park Hee Soo who asked for his help to find another conman, Jang Du-chil (Heo Sung Tae). Jang has committed huge fraud and was rumored dead, but someone said he saw him alive. Hwang was also tailing the same man because he felt Jang has a connection with his father’s death cause. Prosecutor Park’s team consisted of Go Seok-dong, Choonja, and Ahn Se-ha together with Hwang tried to track down Jang Du-chil whereabouts through Kwak Seung-gun (Park Sung Woong), who was his righthand man. Hwang was told to befriend with Kwak and made a business agreement so that they could tail on him meeting Jang. Prosecutor Park has his own motive: he wanted to kill Hwang after all his tasks had finished. Hwang also has an ulterior motive: finding his father’s killer. This movie really gave a big twist in the end; I was stunned for a while thinking about how it can end like this. You might find there's no connection between Prosecutor Park and Hwang but it was wrong at all. Pay attention to the details in the movie because at first I found the storyline was quite confusing. The movie's vibe was similar to The Thieves (2012) so if you like the latter, you might like this one too. I liked the way they concluded everything in the end as sometimes korean movies didnt have a great ending. Just give it a try!
Note: I've done other movie and drama reviews before but because I changed my blog url a while ago, the links werent connected. in the left side of this blog you can see 'LABELS' section and just click movie, drama, or review. Thanks!

Rate: 8/10

Official trailer:

Drama review: 我和我的十七歲 (Love at Seventeen)

After a long time, finally I can do another drama recap again yeay! This time it's a Taiwanese drama; I found this accidentally and the premise seemed interesting to me. Never saw both main leads' drama before, I decided to give it a try. Lego Lee as He Hao Yi is a guy from divorced parents and he came to Taipei to find his mother after his father died to revenge because he thought his mother didnt care about him and his father anymore. He has a twin sister living with his mother. Nikki Hsieh as Ai Li Si is a humble yet bubbly girl who always do everything to make people around her happy. She has two bestfriends, Bai Su Lei the school's most popular girl, and Liu Xiao Fen who is He Hao Yi's twin sister. He Hao Yi met Ai Li Si through misunderstanding; he thought she was his twin sister so he always tricked her. After everything was clear, he lived with his mother and twin sister and four of them (He Hao Yi, Ai Li Si, Bai Su Lei, and Liu Xiao Fen) became bestfriends. He liked Ai Li Si and vice versa but they didnt have the courage to confess to each other. Something happened; it made their friendship into such a big mess where actually it's another misunderstanding. Ai Li Si hoped her bestfriends could understand her actions but all of them rejected her. She transferred to another school and time jumped to 13 years forward where she is now the cold and strict Ai Li Si. She doesnt even care about others; everything she does is based on her schedule and preference. He Hao Yi meets her again by chance and doesnt want to lose her anymore but she didnt believe in him at all. Then she has amnesia because of her illness and it gives second chance to He Hao Yi to repair his relationship with her. What I like about this drama is that everybody deserves a second chance because maybe the things happened in the past was caused by misunderstanding. It showed us how a misunderstanding can harm someone's relationship; in this case it makes Ai Li Si doesnt believe in human's relationship anymore and doesnt want to have any interaction with others. Thirteen years wasted. Her bestfriends are even worse; how can they dont believe in her when she always thinks of her bestfriends' happiness in the first place? The storyline is cliche, but they execute it beautifully and makes me learn a lot from the drama. Not to mention how much I like Nikki's fashion in this drama. It's only 15 episodes and you should give it a try since this one is refreshing. Ciao!
Note: Im sorry I cant find any eng sub for the trailer but you can watch this drama HERE 

Rate: 8/10

Synopsis:

If you had a second chance to correct the biggest mistake of your life, would you take it? Alice (Nikki Hsieh) is a cold, 30-year-old woman who lives her dull life like a robot programmed to do the same things everyday. But her boring life changes when she wakes up one day to discover that she has returned to her 17-year-old self! Back in high school on the day of an important swim meet for her best friend, Shu Lei (Amanda Chou), Alice literally runs into the moody He Hao Yi (Lego Li), who has just transferred to her school. Hao Yi mistakes Alice for his long-separated twin sister, and because of a grudge against her and his mom, Hao Yi decides to torment Alice at every turn. Meanwhile, Han Ming (Edison Wang) is a nerdy student who has long harbored a secret crush on Shu Lei. After a few mishaps, Hao Yi realizes that Alice is not his sister, but will Alice take this opportunity for her to correct her biggest mistake with her first love and change her own future destiny? “Love at Seventeen” is a 2016 Taiwanese drama series directed by Jou Shiau Peng.

 

Long preview:

Drama review: 必娶女人 (Marry Me Or Not)

This drama ended around two weeks ago yet I didnt have the time to recap it. I really like this drama in the beginning, but the ending was lacking for me. Drama ending has always been a problem in most Taiwanese dramas. MMoN is one of the best Taiwanese drama in recent years starring Alice Ko as Cai Huan Zhen and Roy Qiu as Hao Meng. This is their second time pairing; the first one was in the big hit Office Girl in 2011. Cai Huan Zhen is a successful and competitive carreer woman with her competitor being her ex bestfriend, Hao Sheng Nan who is also Hao Meng's younger sister. They compete for everything: job opportunity, clothes, bags, shoes, and even boyfriend. Both of them meet again at high school reunion and Shengnan brings her brother claiming he's her boyfriend. Huanzhen will be married soon and her boyfriend turns out to be Hao siblings' cousin. Shengnan who knows about this asks her brother, a divorce specialist lawyer, to persuade their cousin and makes him cancel their wedding. The cousin falls for their trap and cancel the wedding; Huanzhen knows Shengnan did it. She vows to steal Shengnan's boyfriend, in this case it's Hao Meng. The story goes on as they start to date without any feeling towards each other. The problems starts when she finally knows he's not her boyfriend but realise it's too late; she's fallen for him and vice versa. Everything was great till the middle but I didnt know why the hype to watch this drama decreased as it approached the end. I thought this drama wouldnt be as draggy as other dramas have been all these days. There were parts where I thought it wasnt necessary at all. I should say the chemistry between Alice and Roy were awesome although I didnt watch their previous drama. The character Alice portrayed here was a strong and optimistic woman which I really like since most dramas tend to have a Candy type main lead (kind, soft, bullied by others woman). Roy was so handsome with his black hair in the drama but he dyed his hair to brown now. Perhaps because of my high expectation in the beginning, Im a bit disappointed. But still, I would recommend this drama since the story is great and unique.

Rate: 7.5/10

 Official trailer:

Drama review: Reply 1988

 

I.LOVE.THIS.DRAMA.SO.MUCH. I should say this is the best drama of the year (2015-2016), more than Oh My Ghostess and Healer. I have zero expectation when I started watching this series. This is the third one, preceeded by Reply 1997 and Reply 1994. R1997 was an awesome piece. Eunji and Seo In Guk were so good in portraying the characters; the drama did bring them to another level of stardom. I skipped R1994; the casts were not my favorite and people said it's the weakest one compared to R1997 and R1988. R1998 focus more in family story, mix with romance and comedy. The story is about five families living in Ssangmundong. The first is Sung family with the children Sung Bora, Sung Deoksun, and Sung Noeul. The second is Kim family and the children are Kim Jungbong and Kim Junghwan. The third is Sunwoo and Jinjoo's family. The fourth is Choi family with the only child Choi Taek. The last is Ryu family with the child Ryu Dongryong. Deoksun (Girls Day Hyeri), Junghwan (Ryu Junyeol), Sunwoo (Go Kyungpyo), Taek (Park Bogum), and Dongryong (Lee Donghwi) are childhood friends and they are really, really close. The only girl in the gang, Deoksun, is the second daughter; she is a bubbly personality and always makes people around her happy. Junghwan is also called as Jungpal; he stays cool most of the time but actually he's very warm inside. He and Sunwoo are the smartest students in the class. Sunwoo is an FM (Field Manual), the one who always stick to the principle and studies all the time. His father died two years ago so he's the only guy of the family. Very obedient to his mother, he is a loving family guy and never complains anything to her. Taek is a 18yo genius baduk player; he quits school and his world is only about baduk. Has a puppy like personality, Taek is very happy whenever his gang gathers in his house after he comes back from the international competition. The last, Dongryong, is the moodmaker of the group; he never study even though his father is the school's principal and dances all the time. This time the story involves not only the main leads and the friends but also everyone in Ssangmundong. There are the father group and mother group and each has his/her own story. I cried a lot this time like almost every episode; Im a sucker for a touching story. Watching R1988 makes me realise how people have changed over time; in the past everyone is close to each other including their neighbours and they can survive without any internet or electronic. People talk and communicate when they meet, not like now where people meet and then focus on their cellphones rather than talking to each other. I also envy Deoksun for having such a great childhood friends like the gang; they are probably the squad goals of life. 

For the romance, it will be about Deoksun-Taek-Jungpal. Jungpal is so frustating. He likes her but why doesnt he have the courage to confess and always miss the timing? If you are not confessing even though you like the girl and she likes you back, she may end up with another guy. Poor him :( There are two group of shippers, #TeamTaek and #TeamJunghwan. Im in #TeamTaek! Taek is an innocent and lovely guy; he may be clueless about life but when he has a goal, he will go for it. That's why I love Taek. I dont know what spell Park Bogum has put on me, but now Im totally fangirling over him. Everytime he smiles, Im done (he smiles A LOT in the drama). At first people also hesitated when Hyeri was announced as the main lead; I read in some news that she wasnt a really good actress. But in Reply series you cant predict anything. Now everyone is praising Hyeri for doing such a great job portraying Sung Deoksun. Park Bogum and Ryu Junyeol are definitely the biggest stars of the series; they are extremely famous right now. If I have to choose which Reply series is the best, it will be R1997 and R1988. Dont tell me to choose between two of them because I cant. It's true they say original is the best but R1988 has all the best things a drama could ever had. Not forget to mention how awesome the ending is. The drama also had the highest rating ever for cable drama viewership, achieving 18.8% for the finale. They also have the husband hunting mystery as usual! Who do you think the husband will be? Im happy that I make the right choice to watch R1988 after it ended and I finished it in 3 days *proud* The only thing I regret is that I watch the ending first when I havent decided if Im going to watch the drama. That doesnt decrease my love for this drama anyway; I already rewatched my favorite scenes like for the nth times. I just love this drama to the bits.

Note: If you are bored that I always say recommended to most of the dramas I reviewed, it's because when I watch a drama and lose interest in the middle of it I will stop watching right away. Dont even bother to make a review about it.

Rate: 9.5/10

 

 

 

I will miss all of you a lot ㅠㅠ

 Official trailer:

Below is my most favorite OST in R1988. I cried twice listening to this because I remembered the scenes. Yes it's shameful I know. Whatever lol

Movie review: 杜拉拉追婚记 (Go Lala Go 2)

 

This is the second installment of Go Lala Go and I didnt even watch the first one, simply because I wasnt interested with the story and the casts. When the news came out that Ariel Lin, Vic Zhou, and Chen Bolin would collaborate in this movie, my inner fangirl soul screamed happily! I had put this movie in my list after Our Times since the main leads were all my favorite actors. I like Ariel Lin a lot from They Kiss Again days and shipped her even harder with Chen Bolin after watching them in In Time With You. Vic was and is still my most favorite one of F4. A few years ago he ever worked with Ariel where she starred in his MV Make A Wish. So basically this is a reunion for everyone either for Ariel and Vic or Ariel and Chen Bolin. Having three of them in one frame means total eyecandy throughout the movie. Ariel is Du Lala, a 33yo career woman with a stable job and is highly competitive. She's the opposite of her photographer boyfriend, Vic as David Wei, who views the world differently. He thinks that one should enjoy his/her life with the money they earned. Lala doesnt think that way; she works hard to earn money so she could have a better life. She started to doubt her boyfriend's seriousness when he still doesnt propose to her even after 5 years being together. There comes Chen Bolin as Stanley Chen, a manager (Im not sure about his job) from another company that everyone's has been dying for to work with. The same goes to Lala's company; they tell her to pose as a vice manager to attract him so that he want to collaborate with them. Another character is Nana from After School as Sha Dangdang, Lala's assistant manager as well as a freelance model. She ever worked with David and is interested with him. Lala feels insecure with everything; her biological clock starts ticking but her boyfriend hasnt proposed to her, a younger girl wants to woo her boyfriend, and a financially stable guy wants to woo her. I really like the story because it portrays exactly the bitter reality in our life. For 30s unmarried woman like Lala, people keeps asking when she will get married. David feels inferior to her because she has a promising career and earns more money than him; he is a newbie photographer who has just had his own studio and wants to get married when he is ready. As for Stanley, I think he is just the right man in the wrong time. He appeared in her life when she is doubting her boyfriend and with his great qualification, no wonder she wavers easily. Im quite annoyed at Lala because she keeps on giving pressure to David, yelling here and there saying he isnt serious with her. How can she waver that easy when they have been together for 5 years? Anyway their acting are so good that I can stay to finish the movie. Nana leaves only slight impression to me; her acting is still too weak compared to theirs'. The plot itself is interesting for me since this kind of story may happen in real life. Im also satisfied because finally I can see my most favorite actors all in a movie and I hope they can work together again in the future. 

Rate: 8/10

AAAAA MY FAVORITE

Official trailer:

Highlight of my 2015

It's the last day of the year. I still cant believe how time flies so fast. I have experienced many things this year; I can say this is one of the best year in my life. Tomorrow will be 2016 and of course I need to make a new resolution and try to achieve the things I have not done this year.

Highlight of the year:

1. I managed to spend Chinese New Year with my family and had vacation with my relatives since it's a long weekend (if Im not mistaken)

2. My mom came to the town again for my birthday; I cant be thankful enough for always having mom here during my birthday for 3 years straight.

3. I watched T1ST0RY in Bangkok! Im a hardcore TVXQ fan and I was sooooo happy finally one of my dreams came true. Last year I also got to watch JYJ's concert in Hongkong.

4. My first time going to Europe and travelling alone! I was afraid at first but then everything changed since I went to Prague. I travelled alone without any knowledge about the city and internet connection, only based on the map I got from the hotel I stayed.

5. A month exchange in Budapest. This should be my best month of the year! To be honest, when they announced I would be doing an exchange in Budapest, I was scared at first. I didnt even know where Budapest was since it was really far from Indonesia and whether I would be able to survive there in my own. Turned out everything was fantastic; I met friends from all around the world and learnt a lot about the habit and culture. Budapest is definitely the most beautiful city I've ever visited. God always knows what's the best for us right?

6. Song Triplets is my pill of happiness for this year. In the past few years whenever I had problems, I watched TVXQ concerts and videos or listening to their songs. This year I have moved on to Song Triplets; they are really cute that I always forget my problems when I watched their videos. I even bought their calendar after trying so hard to find it. They will be leaving the show next February; everyone is sad about it but that's the best for them. They are so mature for their age and their brotherhood is just awesome. Please grow up healthily and happily ok Daehan Minguk Manse^^

And this will be my resolution for next year:

- A slimmer and healthier me (always)

- Graduated in May 2016

- Study hard play hard

- Travelling again (my checklist would be Iceland, Japan, or America)

- Good health and happiness for my family

Thank you for everything that happened in 2015 and Im excited to see what 2016 will give me. See ya 2016!

Movie review: 我的少女時代 (Our Times)

THIS MOVIE IS SOOOOO GOOD. I just finished watching it an hour ago and decided to make the review directly. The movie, literally translated as "My Teenage Years", is the biggest hit movie this summer. I had put this in my must-watch list when I saw the preview for the first time. Both main leads, Vivian Sung and Darren Wang, are newcomers and made their breaktrough roles through this movie. Our Times starts with adult version of Lin Zhengxin (Vivian Sung) telling the story of her life now and then reminiscing about her teenage years. She was an ordinary highschool girl having a crush on the school's most popular guy, Ou-yang Fei Fan. One day she got a letter containing a chain message saying that she would get bad luck if she didnt pass the message to 5 people. When she was confused about who she should pass the message to, she saw her crush was being cornered by school's gang leader, Xu Taiyu and decided to secretly put the letter in his bag. That day Taiyu was hit by a car and searched for the person who put the letter. Zhengxin was found to be the culprit and that was the beginning of her nightmare. Taiyu made her as his "friend" which meant his slave lol Accidentally she found out Ouyang and the school's prettiest girl, Tao Minmin, were dating secretly. She and Taiyu, who liked Minmin, decided to work together to separate both of them. As the time goes by, they started to like each other whithout realising it. Taiyu has stopped fighting and started to study again because of Zhengxin. Then one accident happened and Taiyu disappeared but this is not the end of the story. I had high expectation before I watched the movie and it's even beyond my expectation. The storyline, characters, main leads, and OSTs are just perfect. I smile, I laugh, I cry when I watched the movie. I really like the main leads' characters. Lin Zhengxin was ugly and no self confidence at first; after she befriends with Taiyu, she gains her confidence and also helps him to forget his pain and be a better person. Taiyu himself is a school's gang leader but then the story tells he wasn't like that before; a scar deep inside his heart has changed his personality. Not to mention his retro hairstyle that I like so much since not everyone suits that kind of hairstyle. Vivian and Darren are so great in portraying the characters; you know they aren't the pretty boy and girl type but rather the charismatic actors. Many people compare this movie to You Are The Apple Of My Eye because of the similar storyline. As for me who watched both of them, I would say this one is better. First, I like this storyline more. Both people are friends by accident and they helped each other to get their dream guy/girl but something happened. YATAOME has a more depressing story; he likes her and she likes him but because of misunderstanding each other, they separated. Second, the leads here are better; their chemistry is sooo good. Third, the confession part really touches me and the ending is a clean finish. As a bonus, there are also cameos of Qiao En as adult Lin Zhengxin, Jerry Yan as adult Xu Taiyu, and Andy Lau. They try to find actors with the similar features to portray the adult version. This movie is definitely worth watching! You can watch it HERE
NB: If you are curious why Lin Zhengxin is called as Truly Lin, it's because her name in Chinese is 林真心 where 真心 means "truly".

Rate: 9.5/10

 我們說沒事, 就是有事。

When we say nothing's wrong, it means something's wrong.

沒關係, 就是有關係。

When we say it's ok, it means it's not ok.

 

 

Official trailer: