Valerean

I discovered while retrieving the link to Love O2O the series that there is also a Love O2O the movie, and wondered if that was what all the fuss was about. Since it was only a little over an hour and a half I decided to give it a try (the male lead being played by Jing Boran also factored in.) The movie was made in 2016 like the television series, but from the serious editing done I expect it came after, not before. All of the things I disliked from the series version are gone, including the hugely annoying roommate and the multiple love triangles. The conflicts are simplified and winnowed down to reasonable amount, too. Jing Boran plays a slightly less intense lead role, but also brings plenty of his own charm. The female lead, played by an actor with the rather improbable stage name of Angelababy, is an enormous visual improvement over her counterpart from the series. I thought both actors brought a lot more realism to their roles. Special effects dominate both productio...

I've been a fan of Korean actor Park So-dam for a while now, so when I got the chance to watch her latest action thriller movie Special Delivery I didn't hesitate. So-dam plays a North Korean defector turned special driver who takes on risky clients and delivers them no matter what to their destination, using only her insanely amazing talent at driving cars. She also takes care not to get involved with any of them, at least until the young son of a runaway gambler asks for her help. Meanwhile, a corrupt and seriously sadistic police captain (masterfully played by Song Sae-byeok) murders the gambler and comes after his son. This movie is pretty dark, very violent and packed with action driving scenes that I have to say are some of the best I've ever watched. So-dam was completely convincing in the role, and took time to really let down her defenses to get involved with her very young client, Seo-won (beautifully played by Jung Hyeon-jun). It was a tad too violent ...

Amor is an interesting if sometimes confusing Korean film that tells the story of a man whose lover is dying of a terminal illness. The story is told from the man's perspective as he copes with the responsibilities of supporting his girlfriend during her final days, fulfilling her wishes, making the necessary practical arrangements and trying to cope with the loss. The man, Tae-Woo (Jung Kyoung-Ho), seems almost detached in the beginning as he deals with the impending death of his lover, Hee-Yeon (Jung Yoon-Sun), but through the actors' lowkey yet excellent portrayals you soon realize just how much they love each other. They're also orphans, so they have no families to help them get through this (something that deeply resonated with me, too.) Just as Hee-Yeon is growing sicker, Tae-Woo finds a mysterious mute woman (Mina Fujii) who seems to have collapsed at his workplace, and does what he can to help her. This movie was short (less than 90 minutes) but it felt much...

Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds is an epic, dazzling film that hurls you into the Korean version of the afterlife while showcasing some of the most impressive special effects I've ever seen in any movie. The story begins with the death of firefighter Kim Ja-Hong (Cha Tae-hyun) who jumps out of a burning building with a child in his arms. The kid lives, but he dies at the scene. Two strangers inform him that he has passed away right on schedule, and toss him into a vortex that takes him to the world of the afterlife, where he meets his three guardians: Gang-rim (Ha Jung-woo), Haewonmak (Ju Ji-hoon) and Lee Deok-choon (Kim Hyang-gi). At the gates of the afterlife Ja-Hong learns that he is considered a paragon (an exemplary person who lived a noble and self-sacrificing life) and is eligible to be reincarnated -- but there's a catch. First he has 49 days to make it through seven hells in which he will be judged on his sins. His three guardians will help and defend...

I am not a television watcher, or a movie buff, but I do have a pretty large DVD collection. I like mostly SF and mysteries, and a lot of BBC productions of historical novels (I think I have every version of Jane Eyre ever made.) I put the DVDs on a personal player and listen to them with head phones. There are a few series I never tire of watching, so here are: Ten TV Series That I Watch Over and Over on DVD, and Why Battlestar Galactica (the 2004 remake) -- Very realistic, terribly gritty and always melancholy, the modern remake of this old tv classic SF series has amazing actors, awesome special effects and some of the best world-building I've ever seen. I hate the ending, though. Blindspot -- I'm watching Season Four this week, as it happens, and there's one more to go. The storyline is supremely convoluted, but Jaimie Alexander is superb in her role as a woman who wakes up covered in tattoos and has no idea who she is, or why she was dumped naked in Ti...