I hate her hairstyle in this one. Super. Hate. Awful.
Anyway, if you've seen Attack no. 1, I'd suggest you leave this one alone. If not for the storyline (and female lead!) that is exactly the same, then perhaps solely for the bad hairdo.
Beginner tennis player, singled out by the coach (surprise *yawn* surprise) and becomes star player after grueling training.
The end.
So, it's no secret that I have absolutely no liking for Angelina Jolie.
I watched this solely because of the good reviews I've heard about it, which I've now forgotten where they came from.
For some reason (hint: lead actress), I couldn't watch this in one sitting. It took me a few days and much mental motivation to watch this movie till the end.
Directed by Clint Eastwood whose first choice for female lead was Angelina Jolie because her face suited the period, I'd say that I might have enjoyed it a lot more if it was, say, Julianne Moore?
Based on real-life events in 1928 Los Angeles, Changeling is the story of Christine, a grief stricken mother whose son had vanished overnight. Several months after the disappearance, she was informed that her son had been found. Alas, it was a mere impostor who was nothing like her own son.
It seemed that everyone except Christine believed that it wasn't her son they brought back. Declared unfit and thrown into an asylum for challenging police authority. Changeling is a true story depicting women in the 20s when a voice is unheard of.
One of the best movies. Ever. Hands down.
You know how every class has a fat kid (no offense, really) and he's really annoying?
Well, that's Russell. Except, he's so cute it's hard to be mad at him.
Just thinking about him puts a smile on my face.
A man ties a thousand balloons to his house to keep a promise to his dearly departed wife.
A boy scout shows up at his doorstep offering his service to help the elderly.
They meet a talking dog and a bird named Kevin along the way.
What else can I say?
A must watch for everyone.
I rate it 11 out of 10.
It is only on TV that the nerd wins the heart of the beauty.
But nonetheless, it is also a story that we always love hearing.
Tsuyoshi is your typical nerd who lives in a world of anime and manga and has only other nerds as friends. He's stuck in a job with a bully as his boss and has never really had any contact with the opposite sex due to his extremely shy nature.
One day on the train, our beloved otaku rescues the beautiful Saori from a drunken man. As a gesture of thanks, Saori sends him a set of Hermes teacups in the mail. Overjoyed but clueless as to how he should reciprocate, Tsuyoshi turns to an online forum for advice.
And on that day, Densha Otoko was born. The beautiful Saori was known as Hermes to the legion of fans that had begun to offer advice to Tsuyoshi regularly.
The one thing that I really liked about this drama is how diverse the forumers are. From businessmen to other otakus to housewives to train conductors. Like it says in The Alchemist,
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.But the one thing that I really hate (yes, hate!) is how Yamada is such a big crybaby. Otaku or not, I don't think anyone turns the tap on so easily.
No idea how this one creeped into my external disk, but I'm glad I saw it.
Someone had recommended it to me sometime ago. And I remember thinking to myself "The Hangover must be such a male movie!"
4 men head to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, and on the morning of the wedding, they wake up to a missing groom. Their hotel room is trashed, and there is a tiger. No groom.
Wedding takes place in 5 hours and they 3 remaining men realized they screwed up big time.
As they try to retrace their steps to the day when they left for Vegas, a series of the most bizarre events take place.
Expect loads of laughs and plenty of killer one liners. Also, many WTF moments to savor.
The gist of it: 14 year old junior high student gets pregnant and decides that she will keep the baby.
Now, this Jdorama has many, many cliches which I frown upon.
Case points:
Everybody needs a chick flick once in a while.
And in cases of Shan, I guess he needs a Zac Efron more than a chick flick.
If you were given a chance to relive your youth, would you do it all over again, and differently?
1989, Mike O'Donnell seemed to have it all at 17. A chance at a basketball scholarship, good looks, the prettiest girl in school, and a nerdy best friend hanging at his arm.
And then comes the mistakes so many teenagers make.
A pregnant girlfriend.
Then comes the mistake even more teenagers make.
Early marriage.
Fast forward to present day and Mike has children of his own. 17 years old(!) and so hating him. His wife thinks he's been blaming him for everything that's gone wrong in their entire marriage and his life.
From basketball hero, Mike was literally a zero in the office after a much anticipated promotion went to a much younger (and ditzy) female colleague.
After being thrown out by his wife and crashing at his (now)computer software genius best friend's house, Mike was driving in heavy rain when he thought he saw his old school janitor about to jump off a bridge.
Doing the only heroic thing for the first time in 20 years, Mike tries to stop the old man but was too late and instead, falls into the black churning water.
And he wakes up. In all his 1989 glory. Except, he's in present day.
Being a man with nothing, Mike was determined to relive the years that he'd thrown away with an early marriage.
And the rest should be predictable with a happy ending.
It's one of those feel good movies that makes you go awww when the credits roll.
Oh, watch out for Mike's best friend trying to woo his children's principal.
What does it take to become the ultimate volleyball player? The smash hit manga spikes its way onto the TV screen for the first time!A smash hit manga spikes its way onto the TV screen for the first time! Kozue, a positive and cheerful high school girl devotes her entire energy toward her school volleyball team. Extremely severe practices designed by the strict head coach Inokuma, highly competitive matches against the toughest top players, friendships and rivalry among teammates with strong characters…. Can Kozue’s genuine love toward volleyball make the impossible come true?
--TV Asahi
And that basically sums up the entire drama.
I love this drama. Love.
It's a little hard to summarize what this drama is really about except that there are two boys who, for the love of baseball, became best friends.
Harada Takumi, arrogant, handsome, quiet and broody. He's the best pitcher there is in the prefecture. It was rumored that no catcher is able to catch his fast pitch.
Until he moved to his grandfather's house and met Nagakura Go, who is everything Takumi isn't. Cheerful, responsible, sociable, good manners.
Go became the first person to ever be able to catch Takumi's legendary fast pitch. And when he did, he asked Takumi, "Doesn't it ever get lonely out there, with no catcher to catch your fast ball?"
More than just baseball and the friendship of two boys, there are a lot of other layers and characters to be unearthed in this drama. Everyone has a story of his own, everyone is equally important, everyone plays a part.
"The catcher is the pitcher's wife."
Why do I always watch just Japanese dramas, you ask?
For their nail-biting plots and fantastic camera work, of course.
You think?
Also known as Ikemen Para, Hana Kimi is one of the most ridiculous (and enjoyable) dramas I've seen so far. It is so absurdly far-fetched and funny that I question my own integrity sometimes.
In a school that has students taken in solely for their looks, one girl has managed to smuggle herself in by taking on the appearance of a boy.
Now, now. As we all know and are fully aware, these girl-taking-on-boy-appearance matters are often not idiot proof. There's still the unbound chest, feminine features, squeaky voice, etc.
And so is the case of this girl.
Like the rest of the girl-taking-on-boy-appearance dramas, no one finds out till the very end. Genius or what?
Anyway, the story follows this girl during her short months in the academy as she makes friends that will last her a lifetime before she is discovered.
The end.
One of my least favorites.
And I didn't manage to get the subtitles to work for the special episode.
Tsk.
Noda-kun (yes, suffixed -kun even though she's a woman) is nicknamed by her younger co-worker as Anego due to her superhuman abilities to multitask, help others, educate freshies as well as have a fling with a married man.
Although said to be very realistic (I can probably say that is probably true with less dramatics), there isn't the X factor that will make me root for her, want her to win, or even just like her.
Way past 30 and with no prospects of setting up house and popping babies anytime soon, who wouldn't be worried? I know I would be (and I'm walking right down that path, destination in sight).
Just, you know, I have a thing against people coming in between a marriage. And she did exactly just that.
No, I will not sympathize.
Noda Naoko - 0 points.
I watched this halfheartedly and I don't even remember why I took an entire day to try get the subtitles to work.
Seriously.
I wouldn't say "Don't watch it", but well, I don't recommend it, either.
This was one of the very first few dramas that I got myself hooked on when I started watching JDramas.
But having said that, Gokusen really isn't anything to shout about.
Expect anime-like behaviour, funky sound effects, a lot of exaggerated fights, and there you've seen them all.
Gokusen basically runs on the same tried, tested, and apparently successful (the sole reason for having 3 seasons and a full length feature film under the same title) formula of naive teacher saves the world and wins the hearts of her delinquent students.
The end.
Really.
If you've seen the first couple of episodes, then you've basically summed up the entire 3 seasons.
In the beginning of every season, we see the Yakuza descendant teacher being transferred to the worst class in the school. Everyone hates her. She tries to understand them. They get into trouble and fights, she comes to save them with her absurdly incredible strength (she usually beats up about 30 guys in one go by herself).
And there, by the end of the season, the delinquent class miraculously graduates from high school with their diplomas in hand. Not only that, a lot of them seemed to have turned over a new leaf, too.
So everyone's happy.
The end.
This drama has redefined my profound love for Italian food (and stupidity for deleting subtitle files, but that is another story, of course). Really.
Every episode tempts you with mouth watering Italian fare (and the best part is that sometimes they're generous enough to let you pick up some hints here and there on how to cook the dishes!) and desserts.
See, that title picture doesn't do the drama justice. But to be really honest, if not for the food, I don't think there was much of a story, anyway.
Now, I'm sure Waiters of the World Association (or something like that) would disagree with me if I said that a huge chunk of the show went into glorifying waiting on tables. Mr. Waiter, you may now stone me to a slow and painful death.
Really, now. I have waited on tables myself and know for a fact the kind of idiot diners that exist to make my life hell. But, hey, haven't we seen all that already in just about every other show there is?
Therein lies the originality of the show--the fusion of Italian Japanese food.
So, to give a very brief summary of what Bambino is about, let's just say it's about a naive young man from Fukuoka called Ban who went to Roppongi in hopes of becoming a star chef in Baccanale.
Of course, things don't work out the way he wants them to. And of course, we have to bear witness to the struggles of his young life in the business. Of course, as with other Japanese dramas, they're always running in the streets.
"Why is he running?"
"Because he is young."
Please, please, watch it for the food. Please. It will make you crave all things Italian for the months to come.
When we were wee young girls, we dreamed of handsome boyfriends and big houses (possibly with rainbows and ponies in the garden).
And then we grew up to realize that no matter how many frogs we kiss, they do not magically turn into princes in shining armor.
Enter Nightly Lover Series 01. Or more affectionately known as Tenjo Night.
He is everything a girl would want and more.
Handsome, a little jealous (as opted by owner Riiko), good cook, good in bed, picks her up from work, etc.
What's not to love right?
Although apprehensive in the beginning, stumbling past hurdles and roadblocks, Riiko did end up falling in love with her machine of a boyfriend.
As a lover robot, Night had done everything according to Riiko's chosen preferences, yet, he never seemed to make her happy.
Until he developed an ego of his own.
Don't ask me how, but that must've been the most wonderful thing to have ever happened in the story.
In the light of Night becoming an almost-person, the littlest (and most important) things in a relationship start to show.
It is perhaps this little bit in the story that made everything so much more memorable. It is perhaps also this little bit in the story that every girl looks out for; not the flawless, perfect boyfriend in Night, but the little things that made him so much more human, so real.
In the beginning I laughed so much, watching Riiko deal with that clumsy (albeit handsome ) machine.
Towards the end, I couldn't stop myself from crying.
"In the end, I will be the only one who will stay the same. You will grow old and die. But me, I'm built to love you. That will never change."
This is perhaps the one drama that I learned the most Japanese words/terms from.
Many may not know, but when I was little, I wanted to be an air stewardess (the Japanese call it cabin attendant). And even up till I was in college, I held on to that one dream of traipsing the world with a luggage trolley in uniform.
That, of course, didn't happen because I ended up just watching a Japanese drama that is based on the airline industry.
Anyway.
Misaki Yoko, clumsiest, worst, most obnoxious trainee cabin attendant. Ever.
She doesn't dress the part. Doesn't do what the instructor teaches. Goes where and when she pleases.
But this Misaki, she's quite something when she puts her heart and her head into being a good cabin attendant.
She may fumble, she may fall. She may even fail. Then again, isnt't thats how we all are in life?
We decide to want something on a whim, dive headfirst into the matter without thinking it over at all. Then before we know it, we're fumbling and falling and close to giving up, wondering what in the world possessed us to do what we did. Some of us grit our teeth and put our hearts into it to rise to the occasion.
Like Misaki.
And along the way, we discover a little bit more about ourselves. We learn about people and relationships. We grow up and become more comfortable in our own skin.
I laughed a lot watching this, cried some.
Misaki Yoko may seem like the most irritating person on earth. But like a lot of things, she grows on you. And you can help but root for her.
Recommended for the cabin attendant wannabes.
I've strayed a little and wandered into the Korean foray.
Not that it's a bad thing, though.
One slight problem: I watched the entire movie without subtitles.
Yes, I watched it in Korean. Without a clue of what they were saying.
I enjoyed it nonetheless.
In a nutshell (without understanding any of the dialogue, save for the English bits), the story is set in wartime Korea.
A small group of North Korean and South Korean soldiers meet in the village of Dongmakgol, where time appeared to have stood still and the villagers have no inkling of the war happening outside their little village. They live simply, without machinery nor electricity. Of course, they had no idea that these soldiers they had so warmly accepted into their village were enemies.
Through days of spending time with each other and helping out with village chores, the soldiers become unlikely friends and stand together as a unit to protect the village that had temporarily shielded them from the horrors of war.
The end.
Well, not really.
There are some gaps that needed filling, but that'll give away the entire story.
I'd say watch it because it will be a pleasant experience.
Olive Hoover has probably claimed a very special spot in my heart.
"You are the most beautiful girl in the world."That has got to be my favorite lines in the entire movie.
"You're just saying that."
"No! I'm madly in love with you and it's not because of your brains or your personality."
There is one word that I can use to best describe this movie.
It spells M-I-N-D-F-U-C-K.
Oh, but it's such a good mindfuck movie, you say.
Look at my bothered face. It just reminds me of the very films I hated watching in class. Mis en scene and surrealism and French New Wave crap. Jean Luc Godard. God, I hate his films.
Film as art.
At best, you succeed in confusing me and making me want to stand up and walk away. Now, that's saying a lot because I have a lot of respect for films and their makers. Yes, I do. I know the blood, sweat and tears put into crafting a film that speaks the pictures in your mind.
But.
Do not confuse yourself as a genius by saying that the mere masses have herd mentality and therefor are unable to comprehend your very brilliant film.
The idea is original, that I give it credit for.
I am a romantic, that much I admit.
But who are we really kidding? Jim Carrey? Kate Winslet? Elijah Wood?
Were these characters created from a 10 year old's papier mache project?
No offense to 10 year olds and their craftmaking, but if you wanted an elitist audience to watch your film, perhaps you should've put more care into moulding your characters.
Kate Winslet annoys the hell out of me with her utter lack of chemistry with the entire cast. Tangerine? Hello?
Love and romance and relationships, we have all been there before. We approach matters of the heart with care and a lot of thought. Which is exactly why it really irked me to the bone when I had searched the entire movie for that spark, that fire, and never found it even till after the credits started rolling.
In a sardine can, I'll summarize the movie for you so that you can save yourself from the frustration of unknowingly wasting 108 minutes of your life.
Joel and Clementine had gone through a procedure that erases their memories of each other when their relationship turned sour. With each memory that they had built together fading from his mind fast, Joel realizes that it may be the single and least wisest choice that he's making.
Moral of the story: There is no delete button in life
Any blind person would've been able to figure out by now that I'm on a Jdorama rampage.
Yes, rampage.
Akihabara@DEEP must be one of my favorite dramas, ever. Japanese or not.
Having been to Akihabara almost a year ago, I was fascinated by the sights and sounds of this strange city. People are different, almost like an alien race. I felt strangely misplaced.
But having seen this, the characters in the drama were just as, if not more, misplaced than I am.
Six strangers brought together by their "savior" known only by the name Yui weathered sunshine and storm as a tight unit to become a group of unlikely friends. Misfits.
But, oh, how they loved Akihabara.
There isn't really a grand plot in the drama, but watch it if you want to validate all your questions about what Japan is like.
Highly recommended.
Being on a J-Drama craze can be a pretty good thing.
My Japanese vocabulary has been expanded to approximately 10 words now. And that's saying a lot.
This is one of the more enjoyable Japanese dramas I have seen (that's not to say I've seen a lot).
Kousaku Hatanaka is played by one of the guys from KAT-TUN. For the uninitiated, KAT-TUN is like the Japanese Backstreet Boys back in the day.
Anyway, he's this really skinny fart of a boxer who somehow always manages to screw up his weigh-in before a big match. On one occasion, he was exactly one pound overweight.
*Hint: See where the title comes from?
As annoying and naive as Kousaku is, he can be quite lovable in many ways.
Enter object of affection: Sister Angela
Of all the kawaii Japanese girls in the Land of the Rising Sun, Kousaku had fallen hopelessly head over heels in love with a nun. Yes, a nun.
Having only led a cloistered life, the poor Sister had no idea what hit her. Very much like her ardent admirer, Angela was just as naive.
This drama has its ups and downs, supported by a pretty good cast. The head nun is especially one to watch out for, as is the chair(wo)man of Kousaku's boxing club.
What to expect: A lot of laughs and slapstick moments
Don't watch it if: You really can't stand KAT-TUN
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