TV Binge: The Uncanny Counter 2: Counterpunch (2023)

The Uncanny Counter 2: Counterpunch (2023)

Director: Yoo Seon Dong

Cast: Cho Byeong-Kyu, Yu Jun-sang, Kim Se-Jeong, Yeom Hye-ran, Ahn Seok-hwan, Jin Sun-kyu, Kang Ki-young, Kim Hieora, Yoo In-Soo, Moon Sook, Choi Yoon-young, Lee Hong-nae

Evil spirits from the afterlife arrive on Earth in search of an immortal existence. The story follows a group of counters who are tasked with catching these malevolent entities. – MyDramaList

Based on the webtoon Amazing Rumor by Jang Yi, The Uncanny Counter 2: Counterpunch continues from its first season’s adventures as the team now has moved forward from the past events for the most part, except for the “main lead” So Mun (Cho Byeong-Ku) who has now grown a few years, no longer a student and made a few new encounters which play a big part in this season’s story. The team is basically the same core members but this season makes rich older gentleman Counter Jang-mul (Ahn Seok-hwan) back on the field and as a main player for the team especially while they try to look for the next Counter to join their efforts which ends up being a country bumpkin Na Jeok Bong (Yoo In-Soo) who takes a while to assimilate into the Counter business but also ends up discovering a rather peculiar and ridiculous ability.

One of the best elements of The Uncanny Counter from the beginning is its cast and characters. The ragtag team of Counters is where all the dialogue balance comes in from their second family connection to their humorous moments together in banter and actions, it strikes a good balance to help facilitate the more serious moments in the series. The now older So Mun is almost like the leader of the group mostly because of his telekinesis and territory summoning powers which gives the team a big advantage when fighting against evil spirits. His character is still a little naive in his thoughts which leads to some unfavorable decision-making but at the same time, he almost is more burdened than in the first one. It does add complexity to the character itself.

The rest of the team Do Ha-Na (Kim Se-Jeong), Ga Mo-tak (Yu Jun-sang), Mrs. Chu (Yeom Hye-ran), aka the key players from season one also have their own developments. This series spends more time with Ga Mo-tak in his everyday work at the police department while Do Ha-Na’s back story now comes forward in a more romantic direction and Mrs. Chu’s backstory as a Counter gets added a little more as well but still remains the glue of the team. Having seen Kim Se-Jeong in a romantic drama Business Proposal before, it still is nice to see her back in the Counter outfit as her character has such a strong attitude but this season, her bond with the team adds a certain warmth as well. The same goes for Yeom Hye-ran who has been busy after the Counter role popping up in The Glory. The addition of Jang-Mul (Ahn Suk-hwan) and Na Jeok-Bong (Yoo In Soo) adds the comedic elements. The former is an elderly gentleman that is trying to win the affections of Mrs. Chu and is willing to sacrifice himself for the team in many situations while Na Jeok-Bong is a country bumpkin who is easily manipulated, very naive and gets caught up in the oddest situations especially since his ability is to smell out the evil spirits who smell like different intensity levels of poop. I know, its weird but adds in a lot of hilarious moments as he hones his ability. Not to mention, it makes me wonder whether Yoo In Soo is quite an actor since he can pull off this silly character but also did a splendid job prior in All of Us Are Dead as the villain. The Uncanny Counter 2 has the team’s ability to keep its charm and quirkiness from its first season to thank for a lot of the enjoyable moments.

Looking at the baddies, its a whole new lens to what the supernatural world of evil spirits has to offer right from that start from the cause and effects of consuming Counters and Level 3 spirits so how certain spirits and host relationships are maintained and the power struggle. By the end, its a deeper inner literal soul searching and the introduction of the biggest evil entity, the complete evil spirit. The villains start off with a trio of Level 3 evil spirits who return to South Korea after their refuge in China and soon reveal their involvement in the housing scam which drives a righteous firefighter to his eventual demise. The villain trio are a little predictable in personality and don’t possess a whole lot of uniqueness but the leader himself in the body of Hwang Pil Gwang, played by Kang Ki-Young is pretty decent and genuinely ends up creating a sense of despise even if he has an odd appearance and some weird facial expressions. The main part of the villains are the focus on the evil spirit themselves as they thrive in the body of their hosts and focus on the struggle. The new host which gets used ends up having many scenes with the spirit which is one of the more annoying elements of the series.

The Uncanny Counter 2: Counterpunch manages to keep a lot of its charisma and comedic elements well-balanced. What suffers in the second season is mildly because the villains aren’t quite as impressive as the first time around, perhaps because the first season introduced a lot of unknowns and it made them more thrilling and unique. It also had some pacing issues which made the series feel like it was longer than it needed to be, even though it was trying to throw in a lot of the extra elements of this world between the evil spirits and the Counters. The intention is good but at times, it felt like it could’ve benefited from a little bit more editing. Despite all that, it is still a fun series to watch and binge. The characters truly make The Uncanny Counter world an entertaining and unique one well worth returning to, even though it does feel like the two seasons has already accomplished what it needed to.

Marry My Dead Body (關於我和鬼變成家人的那件事, 2023)

Marry My Dead Body (關於我和鬼變成家人的那件事, 2023)

Director (and co-writer): Wei-Hao Cheng

Cast: Greg Hsu, Austin Lin, Gingle Wang, Chen-Nan Tsai, Man-Chiao Wang, Tsung-Hua Tou, Nien-Hsien Ma, Tsai-Hsing Chang

One day a police officer finds a red wedding envelope, only to find out that the owner is in fact a ghost asking for the officer’s hand in marriage before reincarnation. What will happen when a human and a ghost form a special bond? – IMDB

Marrying a ghost is not exactly a novel concept but its a type of tradition more related to the olden days in Asia to make sure that a ghost would have somewhere to belong in ancient times. Its not the first time Netflix has picked up something relating to this style since the first time was 2020’s historical drama The Ghost Bride. Marry My Dead Body takes an action mystery comedy angle with a buddy cop film style similar to that of Look Out Officer where the attachment of a ghost to your life is fate and you must help fulfill their unfinished business before they can move on to reincarnation except this adds in the LGBT angle where the homophobic police officer Ming-Han that accidentally finds the envelope ends up having to marry a deceased gay man Mao Mao and after learning more, tries to uncover the truth behind the hit and run that caused his death which his department had formerly closed the case due to lack of evidence. The story runs on a parallel between the special bond between Mao Mao and Ming-Han and Ming-Han and the case that the police department is investigating to capture a big criminal.

The cast for Marry My Dead Body is top of the line with a lot of familiar faces especially if you have been following some of the Taiwanese Netflix offerings. Greg Hsu is a big name when he broke out in 2019’s drama Someday or One Day (which isn’t streaming on Netflix but seems to be part of the Disney+ catalogue) and also the first time, I’ve seen him in a big role since he was part of the Light the Night cast as a supporting character, much like Austin Lin who also had a supporting role in Light the Night but had a main role in Mom, Don’t Do That. The two male leads of Marry My Dead Body carries the film for the most part since it mostly surrounds their interaction and eventual bond. They both capture their roles dynamically.

While Ming-Han’s character has a much bigger development arc, Austin Lin’s Mao Mao stands out a little more simply because his ghost character has a lot more to do and him as an actor has really proved that he is able to capture a lot of different roles whether its a person with OCD in iWeirDo or a lazy cheating boyfriend in Mom Don’t Do That and now, this spans again into another direction as he takes on being a dead gay man who fights for his romance while being incredibly kind-hearted and eventually having a positive influence on Ming-Han by the end. Mao Mao is a character whose back story is what sheds light on the LGBT social issues within the general and Taiwanese society. Its not to say that Greg Hsu isn’t very good also because they bounce off of each other very well and that probably has to do with a great script as well as direction to help them rebound each other’s lines very smoothly and also have the special bond believable by the end.

Other than the main leads, the film’s supporting cast is also pretty decent. The main familiar face on Netflix would be the female “lead” Gingle Wang who was previously in TV series Detention. In this one, she plays a similar sort of role contextually where her character is rather multi-faceted and has a couple of layers to uncover as the film progresses and becomes both a possible love interest for Ming-Han but also a worthy opponent and superior in the police department. The actual police team leader actually brings in a few of the comedic moments as well both in his appearance and his dialogue. A lot of characters, despite the more serious situations whether on a personal or police investigation side, has its share of silliness and it sets the right mood from the start when Ming-Han gets chosen to be the person that his grandmother insists on having this ghost marriage.

Comedies are truly different for everyone. Marry My Dead Body actually feels fairly in line with the tone of what to expect from a Taiwanese comedy. There’s a few themes here but for the most part, the fun elements is to give a more relaxed angle on a more serious issue of the LGBT society in Taiwan (especially in a more traditional family unit). For a supernatural film, this one has one or two “horror” elements but for the most part, its meant to be a good time and it definitely is, even if there are a few tropey and predictable elements.

TV Binge: Business Proposal (2022)

Business Proposal (2022)

Creators: Seon-ho Park, Sul-hee Han, Bo-hui Hong

Cast: Hyo-seop Ahn, Se-jeong Kim, Min-kyu Kim, In-ah Seor, Duck-hwa Lee

In disguise as her friend, Ha-ri shows up to a blind date to scare him away. But plans go awry when he turns out to be her CEO – and makes a proposal. – IMDB

Despite the fact that I’m incredibly behind on most Chinese drama reviews, something everyone should know here is that I’ve pretty much been swimming in the world of Asian dramas specifically about romance or romantic comedy. Lately, its been a bit of a break to just take a breather and wait for something better to come along. I’m not going to lie that Korean romance dramas are not my first choice since I never got into that hype. However, when my friend recommended Business Proposal, it did sound like a fun time.

The foundation for the story of Business Proposal is quite simple and straight forward. It doesn’t deal with anything different from the basic romantic comedy-drama series. Fake relationships, rich boss-type perfectionist male lead, simple normal female lead: its all been there done that. In fact, there’s quite a big hype of this type of thing (fake relationships/marriages) in the past few years. However, where Business Proposal does stand out is in its comedy. Its story grabs right away with the over the top blind date experience right from the get-go. Nothing goes quite as planned and despite all this, the entire attempt to hide her identity as his employee makes for some even funnier moments. Of course, there’s also a question of how different can someone look with and without the makeup and fancy clothes that can make them unrecognizable apparently.

Running at a 12 episodes, its one of the great elements of Netflix series that keeps things concise and well-paced. Despite that, Business Proposal’s usual plot does still at times make the flow feel slow and predictable but the overall pacing and progression of events is relatively good. The series runs on a parallel focusing mostly on Ha-ri and Tae-moo’s relationship as the focal point with the secondary relationship between Ha-ri’s best friend, Young-seo who was supposed to be paired with Tae-moo but ends up being attracted to Tae-moo’s secretary, Sung-hoon. Between them and the lies that are trying to stay hidden for Ha-ri and then Tae-moo’s grandfather’s constant desire for the marriage to be sealed regardless of the girl as well as the company politics and work colleagues itself, the show already has a lot of elements to work around.

Looking at the casting choices, everyone feels well-casted. While Korean series has been on a new level of hype because of various past successes, the faces do tend to be revolve a lot of new ones rather than a lot of repeat views. However, Ha-ri is played by Se-jeong Kim, who was previously in Uncanny Counter (review) in a different style of role but also was fairly comedic in a different way. It was nice to see how she was able to fit into this romantic comedy role. Ha-ri’s character is the equivalent of a Cinderella-type role which in Asian dramas in general just means that its always lots of barriers to marry rich. It is fun that she does choose to make that comparison with an over-dramatized tv series that is playing throughout the series to add that extra bit of humor that makes fun of these types of soapy dramas. Tae-moo, played by Hyo-seop Ahn is a pretty generic male role. He is a good-looking guy and there’s a good contrast from pre-romance discovery to post-romance. The other familiar face here is Secretary Cha, played by Min-kyu Kim who plays as the secondary male lead and was previously in The Battle of Jangsari (review). In some ways, his role, much like the secondary female lead, Young-seo played by In-ah Seor are much more vibrant roles, especially the latter.

Overall, Business Proposal doesn’t change a lot of the formulaic story. The best way to compare it would probably be to Chinese dramas like Love O2O which featured a relationship that had a supportive male lead despite the challenges that would hit especially after the relationship commenced, it was a level of trust that wasn’t easily waivered which is usually one of the frustrating elements of other shows. Faking relationships is a rather over-used back story at this point but there is a fresh and fun take here that makes this one well worth a watch. Plus, Se-jeong Kim in the female lead is truly an extra fun time.

Ride On (龙马精神, 2023）

Ride On (龙马精神, 2023)

Director (and writer): Larry Yang

Cast: Jackie Chan, Haocun Liu, Kevin Guo, Yueting Lang, Andy On, Jing Wu, Shenyang Xiao, Joey Yung, Rongguang Yu

A washed-up stuntman and his stunt horse become an overnight social media sensation when their real-life fight with debt collectors goes viral. – IMDB

For most Jackie Chan fans, Ride On is a film made by a director who is a big fan of his as well as he gets to work with someone that he praises but also creates an alternate storyline of a character that has the life of Jackie Chan but is called Luo who is a stuntman who knows gains a second fame with his stunt horse, Red Hare. There’s no doubt that this film almost feels like a farewell film from Jackie Chan as it feels a lot like a tribute as Luo’s character rewatches the Jackie Chan blooper reel of all the accidents he has had at one point. At the same time, the film does highlight Jackie Chan (and his fellow stunt peers) who has lived their lives at the heyday of Hong Kong action films and their dangerous stunts that they had no choice but to do for their living but has now moved forward to try to provide a much safe environment, praising both the hard work and the fight from the past stunt actors (and actresses) but also the respect and pride of the career being more than the authenticity of doing the stunts but also accepting that there is a better way in today’s technology because its important to protect the lives of those involved even if its just a horse in this case.

Ride On is more than just about the stuntman life although everything else around it does feel like the result and sacrifices of choosing this life. The film runs at around 2 hours with Jackie Chan’s Luo portraying an older man who has gone through his career hardships to finally be a washed-up stuntman living at the Hengdian World Studios with his horse Red Hare. When the man who sold him Red Hare gets taken over, the company tries to get back their property, Red Hare, sinking him into a seek for legal help which leads to him trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Xiaobao (Haocun Liu) who is a law student dating a young lawyer Mickey (Kevin Guo). Despite the rocky start, he soon bonds with his daughter through this case but also a constant breaking point when his new fame takes him and Red Hare to more and more dangerous stunts which Xiaobao doesn’t agree with and constantly tries to convince him to stop before they both get hurt. While this is categorized as an action comedy, its hard to deny that when a father and daughter relationship and a man and his horse ‘s relationship is put to the test, there’s a fair amount of drama that will inevitably be involved.

With that said, Ride On has a lot of tangents and side plots and side characters which aren’t completely all necessary to make this story’s point but some of it is added for the comedic moments, some is there to give more classic Jackie Chan comedic stunt action with a new twist and some of it is to give it the stronger backup cast it needs to give this film more credit with small roles like successful action stars like Jing Wu and Joey Yung playing as Luo’s disciple and Andy On as the debt collector. The story does have some lull moments but Larry Yang crafts a story that truly gives such a shining light primarily to the relationship between Luo and Red Hare right from the first scene that makes all they go through in these two hours all the more connected to them by the end when their final fate lies in the final verdict. Boy, were my heartstrings pulled. I never thought I’d feel so much for a horse.

Now’s a great time to talk about the cast though. This film is a tribute to Jackie Chan’s career so casting him in his role and having him rewatch those reels is a strong moment. Growing up on Jackie Chan films, its been crazy to watch his career get to where it is now and at his age (almost 70) still being able to carry out these stunts. The man truly respects this life a lot and its what aligns with this character of Luo. The daughter Xiaobao is played by Haocun Liu which is a decent job. Her role does feel like it lacks the depth and feels a little more by the books since her relationship with her father does play a big role but its never quite as strong as his with Red Hare. Mickey, also called Naihua is played by cross-talk actor (Traditional Chinese style stand-up comedy) who is the main comedy outlet here as his interaction with Jackie Chan is one of a future father-in-law trying to craft his future son-in-law to be strong enough to protect his daughter while creating some reluctant interaction with Red Hare. The fear of both Luo and Red Hare from Mickey makes it all the more humorous, which is great when it cuts into some of the more tense moments between their relationship and gives the film a good balance. The English subs are truly fantastic giving him the name Mickey and when they meet his parents, their names are Donald and Daisy. Its not really a big part of the film and not a spoiler by any means but just a good example of the fun moments.

The star of Ride On has to be Red Hare. While this film shows Red Hare as a stunt horse, in reality, he is a retired professional race horse which is also carefully chosen so that his champion race horse stubbornness would play well into Red Hare’s personality here and gives him a certain playfulness. Red Hare is probably one of the most endearing animal characters which didn’t need to talk but the directing and cinematography and I guess choreography managed to give a great performance and truly make the audience care about him from worrying about the possibility of him getting hurt in the dangerous stunts and being scared for him when he was scared or even feeling bad for him when Luo was giving him a hard time for not completing his tasks on par.

Ride On isn’t probably what anyone expects when they first turn on this film. Its not as plentiful in the stunt department although there is one big scene. There are little moments in the film that you can recognize as variations of Jackie Chan’s past stunts. There’s a playback of his reels where he got hurt through his film career. The tribute is done in a really great way. If this is Jackie Chan’s final film (but nowhere has announced it to be), it would be a fitting one. Since it isn’t, its a fun and touching one and especially memorable and well-appreciated for Jackie Chan fans.

*Screener provided by Well Go USA*

TADFF 2022: MexZombies (2022)

MexZombies (2022)

Director: Chava Cartas

Cast: Inaki Godoy, Marcelo Barcelo, Roberta Damian, Luciana Vale, Vincent Michael Webb, Barbara de Regil

A group of teenagers must face a zombie apocalypse, and help reestablish order. – IMDB

MexZombies is a Mexican horror comedy and a love letter to mostly zombie films. It features a group of teens who group up together to keep the zombies in their gated community and stop them before they have an all out apocalypse in Mexico during Halloween night. The film blends horror zombie style to Stranger Things, The Goonies à la Zombieland vibes. Packed with mentions of horror films in dialogue, the homage flows pretty well in the script while still having its own style.

MexZombies is set in a gated community and with that brings its upper class families which also happens to be next to a lower class area in the vicinities which is where a social class issue is brought up and creates some of the comedy here when the main character Tavo sneaks into the community to spy on Ana, a girl that he has a crush on and has been caught before by the security. Both adults and teenagers alike all have their own issues with it as they either use it as a sense to exclude him or see him in a different light. Its a nice use of the topic itself. The gated community “one setting” has a big scope so the whole neighborhood comes into play with its Halloween festivities and such.

While that comes up, MexZombies is a fun zombie film with a charming young cast filled with four Mexican kids and one American kid. The film is set on Halloween night which also makes it all the more fun when the doubts are cast further when its hard to differentiate between a real zombie versus a fake one for a prank or whatnot. The challenges around every corner turns itself into its own fun twist of events for the most part. Even in lieu of certain plot points where its meant to be drama, its moves through it really quickly and refocuses back on the subject at hand: killing zombies to defend the nation.

Being someone who isn’t particularly well-versed in Mexican films or the actors/actresses in it, the young cast of character of quite a nice bunch. They each have their distinctive characteristics and it also calls back to the Halloween outfit that they are wearing. Much like they are kids and might know where to find the weapons, they don’t quite know how to use it. Of course, in this case, firearms expert among them is the American kid Johnny, played by Vincent Michael Webb who has a pretty fun character especially since he plays on the same line over and over again and it kind of works well especially when the others start reciprocating the dialogue in English to his surprise. Much like his host family’s daughter Rex (Luciana Vale) who ends up wielding a katana as her weapon of choice and rocking a fantastic outfit but has the moment where she realizes the sword is too long for her to pull out of its casing.

All that said, the two main characters of this entire films are best friends Tavo (Inaki Godoy) and Cronos (Marcelo Barcelo). Cronos is a nickname and while I’m not sure if I missed the reference but does make me wonder whether its a reference to Del Torro’s Cronos. These two characters are the highlight as they nail their roles completely with Tavo supposedly being on the wrong side of the tracks and expected to know all this tough business when he isn’t and Cronos is a cinephile for all things horror and faints at a sight of an insect. Suffice to say almost all the film reference is by Cronos.

Overall, MexZombies is a real gem. In terms of the storytelling, its one clever little plot. There’s a link to how this whole thing starts and who gets pulled right back into the equation while still creating some fun twists to play on various societal issues in a relaxing comedic way. The young cast while not all shining in the same way, they all deliver some solid acting for their characters plus some nice character development as well. Horror comedy zombies aren’t exactly anything to be scared of but between the comedy and the zombie action, there is a nice balance achieved. As a side note, it was hilarious to watch a little supporting role by Xin Wang as Maton Asiatico, which is super random without even an actual name for his character since he just talks in Chinese the whole time and feels out of place to be there as a thug because he’s cheap labor (and I have seen him before in TV drama Love Scenery (review)). I do love some random humor and this film is filled with it in such a witty smart way.

Double Feature: Wedding Season (2022) & Look Both Ways (2022)

Wedding Season (2022)

Director: Tom Dey

Cast: Pallavi Sharda, Suraj Sharma, Arianna Afsar, Sean Kleier, Veena Sood, Rizwan Manji

Pressured by their parents to find spouses, Asha and Ravi pretend to date during a summer of weddings, only to find themselves falling for each other. – IMDB

The latest Netflix romantic comedy plays into the Indian culture as it revolves around a summer full of weddings and two kids who are set up together and decide to fake a relationship to avoid all the chatter. Asha (Pallavi Sharda) is the main character who is the central point of view where the plot is concerned. In some ways, it plays along a generation gap and culture gap that drives with kids born and raised in another country and while some details aren’t quite the applicable, the general story does apply to a lot of immigrant families. Its a fun angle to take for the story even if the romantic comedy of fake relationships turning real isn’t exactly a really unique idea overall and honestly has been done to death a lot, much like when I talked about the same general concept with another recently released Netflix film Purple Hearts (review).

Despite the predictable elements, the characters and cultural elements are pretty fun. The nagging parents and the whole wedding scenes all in different styles and the fun banter between the two leads are fairly entertaining. Its probably where the charm of this film is mostly centered on. Asha’s character is done pretty well as she plans this own thing because she wants to achieve better things in work and forgets about the core values of the project she is working on so as she tries to distance herself from her background because of growing up in the Western society, she eventually realizes a little something more about herself that exceeds that of just romance in the whole picture of the film. There’s a certain depth for Asha as her mindset shifts especially as her and her sister also have a lot of moments which eventually derives to a deeper understanding for the arranged marriage and relationship between her parents as well.

This is a romantic comedy so its time to take a look at the male character Ravi, played by Suraj Sharma. Honestly, I haven’t seen this actor since Life of Pi (podcast discussion). He definitely plays the more chill and fun character here but there is a definite secret that he and his family are trying to keep away that gets revealed by the end. Its a rather silly secret but the reaction from it is on one side fairly comedic because it did feel a little over the top but also a bit annoying because it felt like something that shouldn’t have gotten the reaction from Asha seeing as she is more modernized in her thoughts. Regardless, Ravi does have some fun bits and does also represent a certain other group of immigrant children who take on their own path against their parents’ wish.

To be fair, Wedding Season isn’t a bad film overall. The romantic elements actually are the weaker links here as the cultural elements take over to make the film more unique in this area. That’s not saying that the chemistry for the two main leads isn’t there as there definitely is even if some bits feel like it just jumps over fairly quickly. However, the film shines with the family moments with Asha, her sister and parents as well as the supporting characters from the nosy auntie to the judgmental views of others. There’s some truly charming elements here.

Look Both Ways (2022)

Director: Wanuri Kahiu

Cast: Lili Reinhart, Danny Ramirez, Aisha Dee, Andrea Savage, Luke Wilson, David Corenswet, Nia Long

On the eve of her college graduation, Natalie’s life diverges into parallel realities: one in which she becomes pregnant and remains in her hometown to raise her child and another in which she moves to LA to pursue her dream career. – IMDB

Look Both Ways is one of the latest Netflix films and balances really well the romance, drama and comedy elements of its story. The story itself while being compared a lot to Sliding Doors (a film that I haven’t seen yet) runs a parallel storyline which starts at the beginning when its main character is thrust into a situation following a quick decision when it bases around her pregnancy test on her graduation night. On one hand, the positive result turns her life around and the negative one takes her to execute her five year plan. Look Both Ways is a story about options in life regardless of what things may pop up accidentally and the positive message that it will all work out in the end as both sides of her realities lead to a different level of success and achievement and its own set of challenges as well.

With that said, a film like with alternating realities is heavily reliant on its execution and flow. In this case, it does a pretty good job. There is a logical bounce between the realities which is easily to follow and is a long enough set piece that doesn’t feel like the jumping from one reality to the next is too abrupt or lacking in delivering the feelings of the scene. It does help that the storyline keeps itself simple. On one hand, the planned reality focuses on the workplace challenges while the other side sticks to the challenges of a having a baby and the mixed feelings and responsibilities that come with it as well as how to rebuild her own life. While its a very hypothetical element to give the story two outcomes and their own timeline, these two timelines still feel rooted in a lot of realistic feelings and trials and tribulations especially when even the planned moments in life will have their unplanned obstacles. The positive message is truly what makes this film a fun one, despite perhaps a few plot point flaws here and there which doesn’t take away from the feel-good elements.

Look Both Ways stars primarily Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart, an actress that is very underrated as she does a great job with the role of Betty in Riverdale and despite the supporting role was pretty good in Hustlers (review) as well. In Look Both Ways, she is the focal character and all the events revolve around her and she gives both sides of the realities a really good portrayal and connects really well on both ends with the sentiments at that moment. Its nice to know that destiny doesn’t play a big part here mostly as both realities sees her end up different romantically as well. In reality, the two parts actually play together to create the full person that she becomes. Much like the LA career five year plan focuses on her career and friends more, letting the story focus more on her friendship, the pregnancy sidetrack takes her back home where it brings in a lot of nice conversations between her parents (Luke Wilson and Andrea Savage) as they have to also accept this new reality and gradually despite their disappointment also brings their own form of support.

Overall, Look Both Ways is a pretty good film. The cast is pretty decent especially with Lili Reinhart doing a great job at portraying her character. Its also a film with a wonderful positive message that ends in an open-ended way which gives the film a good thoughtful ending as well. Perhaps, its a good point of view for life in general to explore the reality that when things don’t quite go as planned that it will work out one way or another.

TV Binge: Never Have I Ever (Season 2, 2021)

Never Have I Ever (Season 2, 2021)

Creators: Lang Fisher & Mindy Kaling

Cast: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, Darren Barnet, John McEnroe, Jaren Lewison, Benjamin Norris, Richa Moorjani, Lee Rodriguez, Ramona Young, Megan Suri, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Adam Shapiro, Christina Kartchner, Niecy Nash, Dino Petrera, Common, Utkarsh Ambudkar

The complicated life of a modern-day first generation Indian American teenage girl, inspired by Mindy Kaling’s own childhood. – IMDB

Picking up right where Season 1 (review) left off, Season 2 continues on as Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) is now faced with her mom deciding to move with her to India as this prompts her to believe that dating both Paxton (Darren Barnet) and Ben (Jaren Lewison) secretly is a great idea. However when the India idea is cancelled, she now faces the consequences of her actions when both of them now despise her. At the same time, another cooler Indian girl Aneesa transfers to Sherman Oaks which makes her feel uncomfortable. On the side, Kamala (Richa Moorjani) has to deal with her new lab and labmates and her long distance relationship while Devi’s mother, Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan) is faced with dealing with another dermatologist Dr. Jackson (Common) who has opposing approaches to their practices as well as still trying to figure out how to deal with Devi’s constant issues.

The second season of Never Have I Ever is pretty fun. Arguably, probably even better than the first season because the foundation has already built for all the characters. The series still focuses on Devi quite a bit as she is still coming to terms with a lot of herself as she constantly made bad decisions which always lead to some bad situation that she needed to resolve. She is a very imperfect teen and that’s what makes her so easy to connect to as she struggles with her culture and blending into the student body with a lot of the high school drama. Before getting into the student body, its really about navigating between her two boys, Paxton and Ben and learning that she can’t really get everything, her temper/rage needs to be in check and she needs to embrace that she doesn’t have to be perfect despite remembering that her father would always call her “perfect girl” but slowly feeling less confident about things as everything seems to fall apart. Amidst all this, its learning about honesty and trust throughout this season (which was cleverly introduced through one of her therapy sessions) as well as not feeling the need to reach unrealistic expectations for herself (which leads to great revelation when she dreams of her father who explains why he calls her “perfect girl”. Devi’s journey is a fascinating one to say the least, even if sometimes she seems to truly go way off in her interpretation but its what makes her charming and comedic to watch.

As for the rest of the characters, the script makes them go through a lot of the issues that teens would encounter whether its from a teen dealing with their single parent like their disapproval of their new love interest. For Kamala, who is in her lab rotation, she has to deal with the realities of workspace in terms of gender and blending in. The high school setting brings on the issues of not fitting into despite coming out for Fabiola and somewhat losing herself in the process while Eleanor deals with a toxic relationship which she soon learns to differentiate. At the same time, Paxton gives a new angle to the jock forced to turn academic due to unforeseen issues. With dances, PDA and boyfriend/girlfriend issues to deal with, there’s a lot of area to cover for the show and probably a lot more issues to explore.

While the first season also had these characters, the second season really gave the smaller supporting characters so much room. They aren’t very deep characters but they had their purpose of being either very over the top or simply weird to mostly give insight to the main characters but a lot of times add in another level of comedy. The one that comes to mind is absolutely the history teacher Mr. Shapiro (Adam Shapiro) who is such an odd teacher especially with his freestyle of teaching history and his reactions to certain things but so funny to watch in all his weirdness. There’s characters who are impactful like Paxton’s sister Rebecca (Lily D. Moore) who is there to be the person to set Paxton straight. The new addition this time is Devi’s English teacher Mr. Kulkarni (Utkarsh Ambudkar) who comes in as a love interest for Kamala but also has the cool teacher vibe.

The culture and the generational gap plays a big part in the show breaking some of the stereotypes. That’s a big element of the show that also makes it rather appealing. Its nice to see Netflix embrace these things especially as its an international streaming service, much like its recent release of the romantic comedy film Wedding Season. Another big part of the show’s appeal which makes it unique is the voice-over by John McEnroe for Devi which adds a ton of charm to the show as someone who judges her on the spot a lot. Last season had Adam Samberg do a voice-over commentating on Ben and this season, there was one episode for Paxton with Gigi Hadid doing her narrative for his point of view which was quite a nice change of pace.

Running at 10 episodes of around 30 minutes ( makes it approx. 5 hours in total), Never Have I Ever is completely bingeable. To be fair, much like most comedies, the humor does depend a lot of a person’s taste. For myself, the first time watching Season 1 didn’t quite work too well but the show did grow on me that I’ve gone on to rewatch it a few times since its release of Season 1 and 2. Its an easy and fun watch overall and one that does share a lot of deeper topics despite navigating a teen’s life as she constantly messes up and learns from those mistakes. Isn’t that what life is, even if we’ve probably not gone through all of it.

Double Feature: A Perfect Pairing (2022) & Trust (2021)

A Perfect Pairing (2022)

Director: Stuart McDonald

Cast: Victoria Justice, Adam Demos, Luca Asta Sardelis, Samantha Cain, Craig Horner, Lucy Durack, Antonio Alvarez

It follows a hard-driving LA wine-company executive who travels to an Australian sheep station to land a major client and there she ends up working as a ranch hand and sparking with a rugged local. – IMDB

The latest Netflix romantic comedy released pairs up Afterlife of the Party (review) Victoria Justice and the Sex/Life actor Adam Demos as they meet on a sheep station, one trying to use her hard work to prove her capabilities as a self-starter and win a contract from a wine company executive while also sparking a connection with the “boss cocky” as he teaches her the ins and outs. Suffice to say at this point, romantic comedies are rather rinse and repeat and for the most part with Netflix rom-coms, they haven’t really been too groundbreaking. A Perfect Pairing doesn’t escape the rom-com formula or deliver anything too special. What does give it a fun vibe is that the chemistry between the main leads are pretty good overall and the setting with the beautiful scenery of the Australian countryside.

With most rom-coms nowadays, the selling point is the chemistry that the main leads deliver. In this case, A Perfect Pairing is pretty good. Adam Demos and Victoria Justice do work rather well together in their respective roles and the progression of everything is pretty fun especially when you have a city girl thrust into a foreign rural setting, learning something from the start. The fun isn’t only with them but also the co-workers that she encounters there who go from doubting her to accepting her gradually in their own way. The little bickering and conversations are pretty good since there is a variety of people there. It makes Victoria Justice’s character’s initial goal to bag a deal for her little wine distribution company fall into the background. Like I said, that sort of thing isn’t exactly unseen, in fact its a plot point for many rom-coms for the main female lead to head out to achieve something with extreme measures to eventually realize that its not the point. Only difference here is that hers is very clear right from the start and in this scenario, Adam Demos’ character is the one with a bigger secret to hide (which actually didn’t feel like it was such a big secret overall and the reveal causing such big reactions).

Overall, A Perfect Pairing isn’t anything too special in terms of plot points or execution. However, where it works best is capturing the beautiful Australian vineyards and rural setting, adding in that bit of fun as Victoria Justice’s character gets dirty as a farm hand and the pretty decent chemistry between the two. In reality, Victoria Justice has proven time and time again that she does capture her roles pretty good.

Trust (2021)

Director (and co-writer): Brian DeCubellis

Cast: Victoria Justice, Matthew Daddario, Katherine McNamara, Lucien Laviscount, Ronny Chieng, Lindsey Broad

In this sexy and twisty ride, New York gallery owner Brooke and her husband Owen each face exceptional temptations, with most unexpected results. – IMDB

Trust is an erotic romance drama which is based on Kristen Lazarian, one of the co-screenplay writer’s play Push. I’m always a little skeptical when I start any film that sells itself as an erotic and romantic film. Most of the time, it lacks a lot of those elements and just turns into a really soapy sort of deal. Trust is a rather middling experience. There are some really good execution plot points that help make it feel pretty unique to watch. Its like a semi-Shadowhunters reunion with Katharine McNamara and Matthew Daddorio in bigger roles and then there’s Victoria Justice which I’ve been catching up on a lot of her films, much like the Season 2 of Emily in Paris actor, Lucien Laviscount. While the plot itself does try to seem more clever than it really is, it actually does work through the whole “trust” element in relationships pretty good. The ending is a bit silly but the overall feeling of the film does have a decent use of these two people who are encountered by their own temptations and emotions as they have their own experiences.

Taking a look at the execution, Trust uses a non-linear format to shed light on unveiling the story here from both the main characters Brooke (Victoria Justice) and Owen (Matthew Daddario) side of the story, filling in the pieces as it becomes relevant. Its one of the stand-out elements of this film as it keeps the mystery in place and helps keep up those questionable trust moments but also making the reveals gradually, sometimes being more effective than others. There is no doubt that the film itself takes up a rather soapy drama tone especially when dealing with a relationship square as there are 4 parties involved and the two mains having their own temptation: Owen with a girl at the bar Amy (Katharine McNamara) and Brooke with the artist that she represents Ansgar (Lucien Laviscount).

That leads to the characters themselves. The cast itself is rather small but is pretty sufficient for a story like this one that keeps it rather simple on the surface but when adding in the elements of trust between the characters, it does pull a few nice tricks out of the hat. That has to do with how these characters are portrayed as they develop throughout the film and does add a nice element of how trust should be portrayed and questions the element of trust effectively in its scenarios on both sides. The roles themselves are pretty much on the surface but then the story itself doesn’t really need too much depth since its more about the situation than the characters themselves.

To be fair, Trust isn’t anything to call home about and the ending itself seems a little flimsy. There’s a little play on details about trust and how Brooke and Owen will move forward after this all settles down. Its plays out thinking its more clever than it actually is, however, there is some decent entertainment here. I can’t say that its very romantic or erotic in that regard but there are definitely some moments that work relatively well that regard. For sure, its not a film for everyone and some moments and dialogue even feel a little cringeworthy but somehow, maybe the clever execution or how the story is plotted out that it works for me to a certain extent.

Double Feature: The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021) & Knives Out (2020)

The Mitchells Vs. The Machines (2021)

Directors (and co-writers): Michael Rianda & Jeff Rowe

Voice Cast: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Michael Rianda, Eric André, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Charlyne Yi

A quirky, dysfunctional family’s road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity’s unlikeliest last hope. – IMDB

*Originally written for Friday Film Club*

Most known for his work on Gravity Falls as creative director and writer, Mike Rianda’s debut directorial feature film is one that combines his personal family experiences with his childhood love for robots. The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which was once titled Connected but retitled back to its original name upon its shift to a Netflix distribution due to the pandemic, tells the story of the dysfunctional family The Mitchells who are all a bit odd in their own ways who embrace their quirky daughter Katie’s departure to university by going on a family road trip to take her there however, they collide with a robot takeover as the leading tech company PAL Labs loses control over his virtual assistant who ends up exacting revenge by using the newly designed robots to capture all humans. The Mitchells try to escape together and with their odd ideas and surprisingly lucky twists and turns try to save the world together.

The Mitchells vs the Machines is pretty balanced in all its elements. Its comedy is one of the standouts especially since it features a dysfunctional family on a road trip during a robot apocalypse especially when it includes their silly dog Monchi. Driving in an old car and each of them wielding their gifted tool, the Mitchells bond together in the oddest way and yet embraces their oddities while learning about each other a little more. The story never rests on the drama too long and remembers constantly that its a dangerous robot takeover and that they are on the run. The constant moving keeps the film quick-paced and entertaining as it throws in different obstacles, solutions and things going wrong constantly which adds to the entertainment level.

That’s not to mention that the voice cast also is pretty decent. Maya Rudolph voices Linda, the mother character who is a wild ride while Danny McBride voices Rick, the father character. Katie is the main character and the focus of the show as her relationship with her family is the biggest element here along with her knowledge of technology and social media along with her imagination and creativity. She is voiced by Abbi Jacobson. Her younger brother Aaron is voiced by director Mike Rianda himself. The villain is a virtual assistant voiced by Olivia Colman who also captures a nice villain for an animated film which is has this comedic villain sort of feeling, still a little threatening but very entertaining as the whole thing unfolds. The voice cast also includes these cameo characters of a perfect family that Linda envies secretly The Poseys where the parents are voiced by Chrissy Teigen and John Legend.

The Mitchells vs the Machine is a fun little animated film which plays well with its premise. While the story layout itself isn’t completely unique as most comedic family adventures, animated or not, usually include some type of dysfunctional family but the whole film is constructed really well from the voice cast, comedy and pacing while tackling the themes pretty well.

Knives Out (2019)

Director (and writer): Rian Johnson

Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Riki Lindhome, Edi Patterson

A detective investigates the death of the patriarch of an eccentric, combative family. – IMDB

Inspired by the early murder mystery from Agatha Christie and feeling like bringing to life another character similar to Hercule Poirot, Rian Johnson directs and writes Knives Out, a film that sets itself in a modern world but has the little twist and turns of the classic murder mystery style. Packed with a star-studded cast of great actors and actresses and a wonderful set piece for its main location along with some great cinematography and screenplay, there’s a lot to love about Knives Out. Plus, its a great time to catch up to it seeing as there are two sequels scheduled for Netflix with the first one expected to show up some time in 2022.

While I am personally unfamiliar with Rian Johnson’s work, Knives Out is a brilliant murder mystery. He structures his story in a few acts which moves through the initial setting of what happened which leads to the interrogation which introduces each of the characters and their own statements along with their own truth and lies as they each recount the situation. Everyone is included from the dysfunctional family members who all seem suspicious as they each have their own reasons and conflict. At the same time, it introduces the sleuth hired by an unknown party, Benoit Blanc. The second act focuses a lot around him trying to get more out of those unrelated to the family like the caretaker to get a good idea of what is actually going on. Until the big will announcement turns the tables and the story unfolds further as the schemes, misdirection and twist reveal comes alight. The execution of these events from one to the next is well-measured and keeps it engaging to watch.

Looking at the cast, its quite a packed one: Christopher Plummer as the deceased father and famous mystery author, Jamie Lee Curtis as the eldest daughter and Rian Johnson as her husband and Chris Evans as their son followed by Michael Shannon as the son with his family, his son played by Jaeden Martell (known for his role in IT) and finally, the daughter in law of the second son played by Toni Collette. While all these stars together would seem like quite the crowd, they actually all do their part, no matter how big or small and the spotlight is mostly cast on Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc packed with a Southern accent and the caretaker played by Ana de Armas. There’s also LaKeith Stanfield who is one of the main detectives.

Its hard to talk about these types of murder mysteries without giving away the whodunnit element so lets say that, for a 2+ hours film, this has very good pacing and execution and a lot of it has to be credited to Rian Johnson’s writing. His directing also can’t be dismissed as he starts and ends the film with a very basic item: a quirky mug, giving it a full circle sort of feeling whole also making use of the space especially bringing in the Knives element with the Game of Thrones-esque throne of knives. There’s so much to appreciate and have fun with with this film as a whole.

Double Feature: Time (殺出個黃昏, 2021) & American Girl (美國女孩, 2021)

Time (殺出個黃昏, 2021)

Director: Ricky Ko

Cast: Patrick Tse, Petrina Fung, Suet Lam, Suet-ying Chung, Sam Lee, J.J. Jia, Belinda Yan, Zeno Koo

Once famous for his quick blade, a retired assassin can no longer earn a living with his cut-throat skills. Summoned again, he partners with his chauffeur to carry out special missions – fullfilling the wishes of old people looking to kill themselves. When commissioned by a young girl who has been deserted by her parents and lover, the “Elderly’s Angel” squad finds an arresting way to complete its task. – IMDB

Having missed this one during last year’s Fantasia Festival, its great to see this one creep into Netflix very quietly. Co-written by Ka-Tung Lam and the directorial debut of Ricky Ko (mostly credited with the camerawork for making of and assistant director in other projects prior), Time tells the story of a retired assassin team that now struggles with their own lives as they become elderly: being phased out of work, loneliness, neglect, loss of health, etc. They find new purpose when they use their skills as the Elderly’s Angels performing euthanasia for the lonely and sick elderly. That is until their services are requested by a teenage girl Tsz-Ying who wants to die by all means and slowly gets acquainted with Chau, the lead assassin of the crew now in his 80s.

There is no doubt that Time’s main draw is its stacked cast of main leads who are acting veterans in all regards dating back to their hey-days back in the 60s. Patrick Tse was once the heartthrob of films and a main leading man in Hong Kong TV while Petrina Fung was known as the “Shirley Temple of Hong Kong” in the 60s. It also adds in the consistent supporting man of Suet Lam who seems to find himself in a lot of Hong Kong films in so many different roles and in this one scores himself a main role as the driver for this assassin team. However, this roles takes a much more dramatic turn of events.

Aging is a theme that matches to this leading cast and gives them a platform share their acting skills especially for Patrick Tse who is already in his 80s when filming this one and gives him a chance to reunite briefly with Chow Chung (currently 90 years old) in his cameo role as one of the elderly seeking the help from the Elderly’s Angels. The film executes the topic of aging and the elderly in the form of a dramedy. The drama and the humor does keep a decent balance. The drama is in these three characters lives as they deal with all the struggles that aging has brought for them, at the same, it also reflects bigger societal issues and the modern day values or lack thereof. Between all this, there are some bits that do come across in its dark humor or even a little silly at times that makes for some decent laughs.

Time is not your typical Hong Kong film filled with action and crime. However, this one shows off a wonderful talented cast when the basic Hong Kong acting pool is honestly growing a little thin. The story itself is relevant to the current society towards the elderly (and even dabbles into the topic of teen pregnancy). The film does give it a heartwarming overall feeling as old friends and unlikely acquaintances open up a whole new world for each other as life deals each of these elderly assassins a serious negative dose of aging.

American Girl (2021)

Director (and co-writer): Feng-I Fiona Roan

Cast: Karena Lam, Caitlin Fang, Kaiser Chuang, Audrey Lin, Teng-Hui Huang, Kimi Hsia

During the SARS outbreak of 2003, 13-year-old Fen returns to Taiwan. – IMDB

American Girl is the directorial feature debut for Feng-I Fiona Roan who tells a semi-autobiographical story of Lily Wang, a mother who returns to Taiwan from USA with her two daughters after she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Between adjusting to her life back in Taiwan which proves especially hard for her two daughters especially her eldest with her school work and making friends, the 2003 SARS outbreak also hits causing their alert to be high.

American Girl focuses mostly on the mother Li-li (Karena Lam) and the eldest daughter, Fen (Caitlin Fang) as they navigate through this new life. Li-li struggles with her illness and feeling herself again as she fears the breast cancer getting worse and death causing her to become a rather depressing sort of character which transfers over to her family. Fen in turn doesn’t quite understand all this but despises the negative energy causing her to fight with her mother constantly especially being stuck in Taiwan where its hard to be accepted by friends or the lack of understanding at her school when she falls behind. She also struggles with identity as well when she constantly is referred to as “American Girl”. While both Li-li, Fen or even her father (Kaiser Chuang), they each are flawed characters. Its easy to understand their position but also feel a little frustrated that they each lack the communication to fully portray their feelings properly in this time of adjustment after years of living apart.

The situation feels realistic and the film chooses to set itself during the 2003 SARS outbreak in Asia which is something fairly relatable in our reality. The fear of infection and a mother’s own situation as her own health issues creates a sense of hopelessness when something happens to her younger daughter. There’s a lot of mixed feelings going on but each of these situations and how these characters deal with them help build up these characters and make them realistic. In fact, some of these things are happening as other things are, just like in real life.

Don’t get me wrong though, American Girl isn’t just a depressing slow-burn film. In fact, it is rather heartfelt in many ways. It might not be a film for everyone in terms of pacing or sentiments. There are certain elements that feel like it happens a little late in the story but it does however gives these characters the moment they need to reflect. There’s no big moments in this film and everything is fairly everyday life from conversations at the dining table between the family or arguments in the bedroom or classroom interactions however, it reflects the differences between certain cultures in Taiwan (an East versus West mentality, especially in the school setting) and the film does have some good moments when they do little things together as simple as it all feels.