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Reviews
Geomsanaejeon (2019)
Better than Attorney Woo!
Don't get me wrong, I love "Attorney Woo" but il is more of a classic K drama with a legal background, fantasy characters that entertain and criminal cases that center on specific aspects of the korean society.
What made my wife pick "Diary of a prosecutor", I don't know, the netflix trailer is nothing special, the description is like a myriad other legal k dramas but boy, she hit paydirt with that one!
What's to like?
- the best part is the team of prosecutors, you really care for them, even the initially not very friendly one, they are deeply human and the team they form is really special and heartwarming.
- the description of the prosecutor hierarchy and legal aspect of the korean society really gives you a vision unlike any other legal k drama. In "Attorney Woo", you guess they had legal advisors, here, I could swear the writers were prosecutors, some things you just cannit invent.
- it diverges from the "one episode, one case" template, the stories span several episodes, the situations evolve much more naturally, you really felle immersed in the everyday life of a prosecutor.
- this is one of the few k dramas that has no weak moment and you wish there were more episodes. Most of the time, you see that the drama does not have enough momentum for 16 or 20 episodes and the show seems kind of diluted to get to the end. Not here, I could easily have watched a score more episodes.
What could have been better?
- the private life of the prosecutors is skimmed over, like an afterthought, you get episodes about several of them but, outside of these episodes, you don't really get to know their personal life (but you don't really care because their relations inside the team are so much fun)
- you don't get resolutions of every case, some legal stories seem to just float away, if you like to get an answer to every question, this is not the show for you.
- the final episode is not really a final episode, you don't feel like everything gets a satisfying resolution, you could easily have added at least one episode.
To sum it up, if you want a really heartwarming (even better than "hometown cha cha"), well documented k drama that really teaches you things about korean society that other k drama don't really show as well, this is the one for you. Don't miss it, you won't regret watching it!
Cats (2019)
Not as bad as they say... It's worse!
It's this kind of film that piques your curiosity because it might just be so bad it's entertaining in a cheesy campy way... Except it's not.
Go and spend 2 hours on something with more suspense, better character, more entertaining value... like watching your toenails grow!
Facing the Giants (2006)
The perfect film for an atheist
First, I have to say that I do not believe in any higher power, much less the christian god, even though I believe in the message of love, humility, forgiveness.
For someone who doesn't believe in God, characters such as coach Taylor (not this coach Taylor, the coach Taylor of "Friday Night Lights") is a little disturbing since he obviously is a devout christian and is a good man, faced with difficult real life situations, who manages to (mostly) do the right thing. Even as an atheist, you can't deny that his faith has something to do with it.
But coach Taylor of Facing the Giants is nothing like that. He's just a carboard character, a tool to force-feed you Jesus in such a mindless and blunt way that it must be outlawed in some states.
It's too bad because the filming of football games is not bad, one scene showing how far strength of will can get you is truly uplifting, the (black) comic relief assistant coach had me laugh a few times but, apart from a few scenes, I can't help feeling somehow insulted by how simplistic and unrealistic everything is in this movie.
That, plus the let's say, not very healthy fact that there is a definitve trend in this movie to have white actors in good roles and black actors in the dirty, brutish and not very smart roles (apart from the comic relief black assistant coach).
To sum it up, if you want to watch an uplifting and family-friendly movie about football, you can do better and certainly not much worse than this (even though, once again, you have a few scenes that will entertain you, I think they dont make up for 95% of this movie).
I think that, as many christian critics have written, I would be even more offended if I believed in God since, in this movie, he's not much more than a motivation tool for a losing football team and a loser of a coach.
The Bay (2012)
Scary, intelligent, creepy... A treat of a "horror" film.
First, I have to react to all the reviews that say that this film is so medically wrong that they can't take it seriously. I just have to say that they don't know how wrong they are. I work in the ER of the largest hospital in Europe and had to cope with H1N1 flu outbreak as a "reference center" and you can't imagine how f... up the organization (at every level, from our equivalent of CDC to the hospital administrative board) is. Had H1N1 virus been the "bad guy" of this film, we'd all be minus our tongue by now. (and don't get me started on "they should use a cure, why don't they do this or that"...).
Apart from that, this is really a great film for someone who loves his scares with a brain. Of course, if you prefer stories about a bunch of teen ages who just decided to go to the woods where an serial killer offed a few people 10 years ago just for kicks, you'll get bored out of your mind by the first half hour. But if you enjoy films which don't take you by the hand from point A to point B, don't overexpose their villain, and scare you on a deep level (the one you only can reach when you KNOW these things could happen), you'll love every minute of this film.
So don't go and see it if 1)you want to see heads explode 2)you want to see some cleavage 3)you want instant action from the moment the lights go out
Go and see it if 1)you like films that are rooted in the real world 2)you like intelligent films ("Alien" is a very intelligent film) 3)you can stomach truly gross scenes
Whether you like "found footage" or not is inconsequential, this is one of the best use of the genre I've watched (better than Cloverfield, as good as Rec, wasn't very fond of Diary of the Dead).
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Much better than the trailer
When I saw the trailer, I was really disappointed since it looked like a no-brain action movie, a sad successor to Pitch Black (I particularly enjoyed the first half of that movie, before we see the aliens and appreciated the character development). Actually, it IS an action movie, but it does all the little things right : the combat scenes (for once, the muscular hero does seem to be all walking menace - take note, Arnold, Steven,the rock), the one-liners (which I didn't see coming about half an hour before they're told), the characters (much less developed than in Pitch black, but well...), the ambiance (great visuals), the CGI (much better than "spiderman 2"). What did make me cringe were the choices for names ("furians" is the most striking example) which are, shall we say, not very subtle. Bottom line, it has little to do with Pitch Black but Twohy managed to pass the test so many failed : deliver a multimillion summer action film that does not insult my frontal lobes. I'm still waiting for another film in the vein of Pitch Black though, centered on characters rather than action (if you guys want to see that kind of film by that director, I suggest renting "below")