Tag: Movie

A-Movie: PS I Still Love You (7.7/10)

This is the sequel to the movie To All the Boy’s I’ve loved before. They are both books by Jenny Han and are now movies on Netflix. The lead character is Koraen American, as is the author so this isn’t straying that far from my regular reviews.

I did not do a review of the first one so here is a very brief review and synopsis of it: It’s a high school movie. The lead female, Lara Jean wrote love letters to all the guys she had crushes on, but wasn’t planning to send them. Then her sister sent them out 😲. One of the guys Lara Jean liked was a Lacrosse player named Peter who got one of the letters which lead to them talking which led to then pretend dating so he could make his ex, Lara Jean’s former friend jealous and keep her crush from realizing she was crushing on him. And of course they start liking each other. The end.

I liked it since I am a sucker for exactly this type of movie. I liked the lead girl and the plot, although it was slightly formulaic. I did not like that the lead “boy” Peter who was supposed to be in high school was played by an actor who looks like he is 30. It was weird.

On to the second movie…

In this one Peter and Lara Jean are now in a new relationship and having to figure it out as they go. Lara Jean has never had a boyfriend before and is insecure about Peter’s ex who eggs her insecurity on a little since they have become pretty solid frenemies. Lara Jean also heard back from one of the boys she sent a letter to, possibly her favorite of the bunch who seems to like her back. In the first movie, the boy was a Caucasian brunette yet somehow in this one he is African-American. The wonders of movie magic.

Lara Jean finds herself in a love triangle while still worrying about the ex and this is the major challenge the couple faces.

I like the fact that the movie looks at the start of a new relationship and its challenges,. But I felt that Lara Jean basically fed the love triangle and led both guys on a bit, which I did not like. She even did the same thing to one of them that had hurt them in the past- something they had previously confided to her. Peter was also kind of dumb at reading signals.

There were good parts to the movie, but it didn’t end on a high note for me since I felt that both leads were not the kindest people they could be and didn’t seem all that compatible to me. And Peter still looked 30 :/. That said, when the next installment comes out I will probably watch it and hopes that it is a little bit better than part two.

J-Movie: Tori Girl

I adore this movie and highly recommend it. Tori Girl aka Tori Garu! is everything good wrapped into one. It’s lighthearted and funny, with a great protagonist. And it possesses something that I love about Japanese movies and shows, which is a plot that is about people working hard towards their goals, which is always motivating.

The movie is about a girl, Toriyama Yukina, who enters a college of science, which she is excited about, until she realizes that most of her classmates are dorks.

She gets dragged to a meeting for a “human powered flight” club. For anyone, who like me had no idea what that is, it’s basically a plane made with bicycle parts that runs when the pilots synchronize their pedaling. (Note: It is very similar to the extreme sport Flugtag).

Yukina is not particularly knowledgeable about or interested in human powered flight until… she sees the club president who she immediately likes, especially after he tells her she should join because “she has a good body.” After that, Yukina joins right away, excitedly training to ride into the sky with the club president.

Only, Yukina soon learns that there is another pilot that the President rode with before, who he is also trying to recruit. A big jock like fellow, who spends his time drinking beer and looking mean, named Sakaba Taishi. The two do not hit it off, and spend most of their time squabbling. Squabbling that is extremely entertaining to watch.

Yukina and Sakaba end up having to fly together, just the two of them. Despite their never ending disputes, they somehow manage to perform in the human powered flight competition.

By the time their bike-plane took off, I was so sucked into the movie, and rooting for them, that I realized I was actually holding my breath. And their time in the air was not only suspenseful, but sweet, slightly heartbreaking, and very funny.

This movie is not especially deep or romantic, but it is great. To put this into context, I will only re-watch films or shows after years have gone by because I don’t see the point in seeing something I recently saw. But, I’ll be making an exception for Tori Girl, and will probably watch it again soon because I like it that much.

C-Movie: Fall in Love at First Kiss

I watched this movie after having failed to complete any of the First Kiss, Missin Kissin franchise thinking that a bite size version is what would work best for me. This turned out to be true. Unfortunately, this version was not that great.

My 8 year old and I watched this movie and not only did she pick up on the couples very unhealthy relationship (even by c-drama standards), but I had to keep telling her not to be like them if she liked someone later in life.

What made it unhealthy?

The lead girl was a complete stalker (my 8 y/o pointed this out to me, so you know it was bad) to the point where she had a picture of the guy on her blanket and pillow so she could faux spoon him during the night, plus a wall of memorabilia to him. And no matter how many times she was rejected (at least 20) she kept on pursuing the guy.

The lead guy was a jerk to her, which is most c-drama leads, but usually they turn nice by halfway through the show or movie. This guy called the girl stupid, told her not to to tell anyone they were living together, humiliated her, shooed her away repeatedly and even said he was marrying someone else. I mean come on. That might be considered love, if you’re dysfunctional, but it was just sort of pathetic to watch.

There were some cute moments, but not enough. And the idea we viewers were supposed to have, as pushed by the dialog, was that the lead guy became “more fun” because of the girl. And their relationship blossomed while he helped her study. Except none of that was obvious from the scenes they showed. There was no cute montage of them having fun together, and not only did she blackmail him into helping her, he mostly called her stupid the whole time.

The only highlights were lead actress Jelly Lin who was both believable and adorable and Kenji Chen (the second male lead), whose physical comedy was pretty entertaining.

I give this movie a 7/10.