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*

Double Feature: The Witch Part 1 The Subversion (2018) & Part 2 The Other One (2022)

The Witch: Part 1 The Subversion (2018)

Director (and writer): Hoon-jung Park

Cast: Da-mi Kim, Min-soo Jo, Woo-sik Choi, Min-Si Go, Hee-soon Park, Byeong-Ok Kim, Jung-woo Choi, Da-eun Jung, Ha-Na Kim

A high school student with amnesia tries to uncover what has happened to her. All leading her into deeper troubles ultimately revealing a darkness she could not have imagined. – IMDB

The first part of The Witch trilogy sets off the story as a girl ends up in a small town home and grows up for many years there. As she enters her teen years, odd people start showing up insinuating that there’s more to her and trying to snap her out of her amnesia. When we look at typical Asian storylines, traumatic amnesia is probably one of the most frequently used plot point. What Hoon-jung Park does with the script sets the story apart as he takes this plot into a deeper horror thriller with a young protagonist with super powers and intelligence full of twists and turns that take the audience by surprise as it steps into a new sudden change in narrative when it seems to be going steady down one path. What starts off as a more teen drama takes a sudden turn into psychological thriller that turns into an action-packed horror.

There’s a lot to love about Part 1 The Subversion. First parts always does the job to set the foundation for the story at hand from the setting to the characters. Its does a great job at doing this especially when the story revolves around an evil corporation of sorts and super humans. The first part ends with a lot of set-up, a cliffhanger of sorts and a few unanswered questions that leaves intrigue. As much as I have a massive pet peeve for films that aren’t standalone enough, this one closes enough doors to feel like it has somewhat drawn a decent story plus it does sell as multipart so its a lot more acceptable.

With that said, the cast in Part One is pretty good. Da-Mi Kim carries this super human role perfectly grasping the innocence at the start when amnesiac but also finding a wild side when things start going crazy. Playing as somewhat of an enemy but also her memory stimulator is a group of young English-speaking witches lead by Woo-sik Choi’s character. The other character that deserves mention is the older cast member who is the head showrunner of the corporation and this experiment Dr. Baek played by Min-Soo Jo which embodies a lot of a manipulative authority figure.

The Witch Part 1 The Subversion is a great film. Its a two hour wild ride that has a bunch of twists and turns. There’s blood and action, strong narrative plot and a great foundation for its next part.

The Witch: Part 2 The Other One (2022)

Director (and writer): Hoon-jung Park

Cast: Cynthia, Min-Soo Jo, Da-Mi Kim, Eun-bin Park, Jin Goo, Jong-suk Lee, Yoo-Bin Sung, Justin John Harvey, Ji-min Kim

A girl wakes up in a secret laboratory and meets Kyung-hee, who is trying to protect her from a gang. When the gang finally finds the girl, they are overwhelmed by an unexpected power. – IMDB

The Witch Part 2 The Other One tells of another one of the super power kids which we soon know is a “twin” of Ja-yoon in the first part. With this, the story of what hides further in these experiments start becoming much more apparent. Part 2 is a different type of story. What this girl goes through, albeit also rather small-town, is full of much more threat and cluelessness, making her character a little more dangerous and unpredictable.

There’s a lot more dark humor injected into Part 2 mostly with the going on and the interactions, making this feel a little bit more of a fish out of water story but at the same time also had a few side plots going on from a military duo trying to track her down to Dr. Baek and her sister’s confrontation from another leader of the organization also trying to track her down and a look at the past with a pregnant teen girl who falls into a elaborate plan just to get her baby. In some ways, it makes the story a little more convoluted and while there is a decent bit of action, the film takes a turn for an over the top style with a lot of computer graphics.

The acting for the most part is on point. The characters, while more to follow this time around, do still have its own distinctive personality that contributes to their purpose. The only characters that seem to not have truly exposed their purpose is the military duo who also has special abilities and adds to the internationalism of the organization but seems to perhaps have gone rogue (or not). The conversation between these two revolve around a lot of nagging and bickering in English which at times angles on annoying but has its comedic purposes. There are more characters or maybe because its more in-your-face since the audience already knows the basics of the story, its trying to set up for the next part while tying up some loose ends from the first part.

The best part of the film is definitely not the length since you do feel the drag especially in the middle part. Overall, the film feels less of a wow factor since the big reveal was already revealed in the first part but what they find digging deeper and whether this girl is as powerful as the other. The best parts of the film is where the Girl will have her unpredictable moments from her reactions which still has a mild psychological horror effect.

Overall, The Witch Part 2 is a more straightforward action horror film with some comedic moments as relief. The film is a little longer and the story feels like its partially meant to set up the stage for Part 3, which I’ve read is the last part (you can correct me if I’m wrong). However, it loses the unpredictable level but maintains some bloody over the top action sequences (even if its computer graphics heavy). Its still a fun watch even if its a little convoluted since it sets up enough to anticipate for the next part.

Reality TV Roundup – March 2023

March Reality TV Roundup had a little update. I never thought about including documentaries into the round-up and thought it would be a great addition seeing as it adds a little more seriousness as well. Plus, I do watch a good few documentaries nowadays that I don’t particularly want to do a full review so this is a perfect outlet.

NEXT IN FASHION (SEASON 2)

Hosts: Tan France, Gigi Hadid

As I wait for the next season of Queer Eye to pop up, I’m basically waiting for anything with the Fab Five. Tan France is truly a fantastic human being and so much fun to watch. The first season of Next in Fashion was a ton of fun. Probably due to the pandemic, things are a lot more centralized to USA and less international like the first season was. Is It a good or bad thing? Probably depends on what you plan to get out of it.

For those unfamiliar with Next In Fashion, its a fashion competition to find the designer who is most “next in fashion”. A bunch of carefully chosen up and coming designers have to go through a variety of themed challenges with different special judges to decide who is the winner of the challenge and the worst that has to leave. The structure of the competition is definitely a familiar one and it works pretty well.

Hosted by Tan France and Gigi Hadid this time around, switched up from Alexa Chung in the first season, its still a lot of fun that gets injected into the show with the duo’s dynamic. Gigi Hadid being a renowned model delivers a lot of her knowledge in regards to fashion and has a fun edge. While I’m not a connoisseur of fashion or models, Gigi Hadid did such a great job as the guest narrator for two episodes on Never Have I Ever that it made me see her in a new light which sees that fun side translated over here. It matches the energy for Tan France which has really grown over the years in comparison to the first season of Queer Eye. He has a unique and broad view and knowledge of fashion that makes him so suitable as the host and judge.

Looking at the designers chosen in season two, as mentioned before, its mostly focused in the USA which isn’t a problem to be fair. The first season was more international and the style was much more avant-garde. This time, despite the designers being based in US, there’s a lot more diversity in the level of design from skill sets to creativity and it ranges from casual wear to more creative and colorful unique pieces. While its a competition, in the end, shows like these is such a wonderful platform to show off these different designers which are trying to change the world with their clothes empowering different types of people with their designs.

Overall, Next In Fashion Season 2 is a fun competition show if you can appreciate fashion. This season is much more approachable than the first one since there are more “casual” styles rather than funky stuff that normal people probably wouldn’t wear everyday.

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (2023)

March 8th, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from radar. 239 people went missing, a global investigation into this greatest mystery Despite reports, countless theories, and searches for evidence, nothing. What Are We Missing? – IMDB

Other than knowing about the actual event happening in broad details, I’ve never really followed the whole MH370 disappearance in a lot of depth. Its why the documentary for MH370 seemed like an interesting topic of choice. There is no actual resolve for the disappearance but spread over these few episodes, this Netflix documentary limited series dives into not only the facts but also a lot of theories because what else could you have other than theories when the truth will probably never be found and the plane wasn’t ever retrieved except for the alleged pieces washed ashore.

For the first part of the documentary when it was just laying out the facts and what happened, the documentary held up rather well. Even the beginning investigative bits and light theories about possibilities based on the facts were still relatively interesting to watch since it gave something to think about.

Where the documentary falls apart and becomes slightly frustrating to watch is the few farfetched theories that start being pitched which eventually does get minorly debunked based on the details. To be fair, this whole situation’s takeaway is that the lack of information gives space for a “he said she said” situation where its all about who can deliver a convincing enough story for you to believe where one side believes that its a huge plot between one country or another.

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared started off rather strong with an interesting topic at hand but eventually truly unravels when their interviewees start using their research to expand too far from where its supposed to be.

Cheat (Season 1, 2023)

Host: Danny Dyer & Ellie Taylor

Equal parts brains and blagging, this quiz show expects and encourages contestants to cheat their way to a cash prize. The one rule? Don’t get caught.- IMDB

Recent Netflix British quiz show Cheat hosted by Danny Dyer and Ellie Taylor is very similar to past Netflix quiz show called Bullshit. While the details aren’t the same, the concept is very similar where the game is not completely about how smart you are but rather its about spotting who is cheating the most. The good part of this show is that it doesn’t reward cheating so even if its a valid option and encourages it to keep the game entertaining but the end result of the pot doesn’t reward it completely.

Game shows like this are rather entertaining on two folds. If you are like me, I watch this for the trivia element. Yes, I’m a nerd and I like to know that I at least know some general knowledge. On the other hand, the entertaining element comes from the contestants and how quippy they are especially when exchanging banter amongst themselves or the hosts which becomes all the more fun when the audience actually sees how much they cheated and the contestants don’t.

While Danny Dyer and Ellie Taylor’s comedian work isn’t known to myself, they work well as the game hosts. Ellie Taylor does a great job with reading the questions and guiding the actual game portion whereas Danny Dyer is more of the person who comments and interacts with the contestants, dropping random jokes here and there to keep the mood light. They are fairly entertaining overall.

Cheat is a pretty simple concept for a game show and because of that, the entertainment element is there for sure. Its always a toss-up for people to win because of cheating which sometimes ends up a bit based on luck and might not always seem to end up sending the pot to someone worthy. Its always my biggest issues with these shows but these shows aren’t exactly about how much you know, just how well you can pretend to know something.

TV Binge: The Glory (2022)

The Glory (Season 1, 2022)

Director: Gil Ho Ahn

Cast: Hye-Kyo Song, Do-Hyun Lee, Ji-Yeon Lim, Sung-Hoon Park, Hye-ran Yeom, Sung-il Jung, Kim Hieora, Joo-Young Cha, Gun-woo Kim, Sang-Im Park

A woman lives for absolute revenge against her childhood bullies who destroyed her life. – IMDB

Revenge is a dish best served cold. The director and writers for The Glory really took this saying and crafted an entire 18 year revenge plan put in motion. The 16 episode series takes you on a two part journey since it was released in staggered 8 episode chunks. The first part is the motive for the revenge and the set-up for her revenge plan and the second part sees her revenge plan in motion as she breaks down her bullies one at a time. In case you don’t know the story and the IMDB synopsis isn’t quite detailed, a woman who was physically (and mentally) bullied by a group of rich kids and their not well off but wanting to be rich friends when they were in high school decides to come back with an elaborate revenge plan to reveal them for their wrongdoings and destroy their status. With the help of some friends she meets along the way, she sets these plans into motion to mostly psychologically disturb them.

The Glory is an intense narrative. It comes with the territory when the intense level of bullying that happens in the first part is revealed. The first part keeps a strong sense of hatred as the main character Dong-eun still has these moments haunt her from her youth. I’m not going to say what the bullying is to avoid spoilers. The story itself focuses on the injustice of the situation because of the group’s status in society that creates a situation where Dong-eun is unfairly treated and betrayed. The first part acts as a stepping stone to truly understand why she is targeting these people as they either hurt her or treated the situation unfairly, all contributing to her plan not only including the five bullies but also a few people. In many ways, as we see her past, the characters in the present also prove to be even worse than they were, making them even more abhorrent.

To be fair, the first 8 episodes lays the motive and hatred on very thick and in some ways, it feels almost too much but when the last 8 episodes come in and the revenge plan unfurls, all the build-up in the first part makes a lot of sense because it makes it easier to fully embrace how she manipulates each of these situations, setting herself up through meeting certain people or verbally creating fear and controlling the situation then actually dealing the harm herself. Its a clever plan that might be morally wrong but its a strong message that if she was heard when she was experiencing this, perhaps it wouldn’t have turned out like this. There’s a few decent twists throughout the series as well, with one of the biggest ones probably in its finale.

While the writing itself is done pretty well, the true shining elements of this series is the cast. Dong-eun is played by Hye-Kyo Song which probably credits for the start of the Korean series popularity internationally with Autumn in My Heart (at least to my knowledge), a role that is very different from this one. This one digs much deeper into a vengeful psyche and she’s able to create a lot of friction especially facing her main counterpart, the leader of the high school bullies Yeon-Jin who is casted incredibly accurate with Ji-Yeon Lim who truly captures the condescending and self-centered elite when faced with the much less fortunate like Dong-Eun and believes that there is nothing wrong with treating them that way. She is the ringleader which sparks the fire for her little group of bullies which not only physically but mentally traumatizes their victims (yes, its not only Dong-Eun) to fulfill their constant need to prove what they can do. She has these little facial cues which reveals how her character is feeling even if she doesn’t say it.

The group itself also has its own diversity in characters. The whole group being rather well-casted to fit their own profile uniquely to fit into the revenge plan and ends up all finding their own fates in the end with a slight guidance in the revenge plan by all digging their own grave. The other shining characters has to be Dong-Eun’s amateur detective Hyeon-nam, played by Hey-ran Yeom who was also in The Uncanny Counter (review) who has a rather sad backstory but is the comedic and heartwarming relief that balances out all the negativity much like Dong-Eun’s love interest aka “executioner” who is a plastic surgeon with his own set of inner turmoil Yeo-Jeong played by Do-Hyun Lee previously seen in Sweet Home (review) who adds that little element of comfort in this whole plan but he also ends up playing the hidden sly character that helps her out of situations.

Overall, The Glory is well-deserving of its hype. The story itself highlights a lot of societal issues that stem from the basic foundation of the mentality that divides the elites and anyone below them which transfers from its generation. Bullying becomes a means to make them feel powerful and in control. The execution of the TV series is pretty clever since sometimes, the guilty only need a little nudge to drive themselves into their own doom when their dirty laundry is laid out for everyone to see and they need to desperately seek a path of redemption.

As an ending note, while The Glory does set up the stage for a potential second season if they do want to do it, I’m not really sure it needs to have one. The characters are great but when the stage shifts to the revenge plan for this other character, it might not quite have the same effect. Who knows, right? I say that but if a second season were to happen, I’d probably still watch it just to see these characters again.

Enola Holmes 2 (2022)

Enola Holmes 2 (2022)

Director (and co-writer): Harry Bradbeer

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry  Cavill, David Thewlis, Louis Partridge, Susan Wokoma, Adeel Akhtar, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Helena Bonham Carter, Himesh Patel, Hannah Dodd

Now a detective-for-hire, Enola Holmes takes on her first official case to find a missing girl as the sparks of a dangerous conspiracy ignite a mystery that requires the help of friends – and Sherlock himself – to unravel – IMDB

Enola Holmes is probably one of the better Netflix offerings of the last few months. The first film (review) gave us the introduction to Sherlock’s baby sister and her capabilities, drawing out a picture of the people that is a part of her life and using breaking the 4th wall in a very natural way. The sequel has much more depth this time as there is no more foundation building and can jump start into investigating. This keeps the film at a good pacing however, the use of the 4th wall is not quite as natural and clever as it was in the first film, with only a few instances that work well for the scenario. Being a sequel, it still manages to be relatively standalone while giving small nods to the first film here and there.

Enola Holmes 2 is a charming and fun film with very much the same witty vibes as the first film. This time, the case is much bigger and gives a more prominent role to her own family with her mother played by Helena Bonham Carter and her brother Sherlock Holmes, played by Henry Cavill being a more important part to this mystery adventure. Sherlock becomes key as they start off separate and Enola trying to prove herself independently but soon realizes that their cases may be connected and that her brother is the one to protect her when the time comes. At the same time also being able to exchange with each other a fresh pair of eyes to their respective cases. The film length does also give space for her little crush with Lord Tewkesbury for some growth and include him in a part of her adventures in time for the big finale.

Enola Holmes 2 is a pretty decent sequel. Sure, one focal element isn’t done as well as the first but Millie Bobby Brown makes Enola Holmes so fun to watch as she moves through the cases. Its a vivid character that is growing as a detective but still has the mistakes in judgment every once in a while that makes for some well-timed comedy. At the same time, this film did give Henry Cavill a bigger role and with that, Sherlock Holmes also has more depth and starts to open up a little more to Enola and value company. Much like their mother that has a bombastic entrance literally and Helena Bonham Carter somehow fits that role incredibly well and adds a nice dimension to the film with the one segment that she’s part of.

Enola Holmes leans into the 2 hour length but manages to keep it well-paced. This time the villain is multifold and from different angles with a menacing crooked character but also a more subtle villain and a familiar face in a Sherlock Holmes mystery. While I haven’t checked out the source material yet for Enola Holmes and my knowledge for Sherlock Holmes is more the many film and TV adaptations than the classic novels, its a lot of fun to see the two siblings’ world be pulled together to cross paths. This one ends with a nice little end credit scene hinting at a new character entering his series that makes it all more fun.

As an ending note, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of these Enola Holmes films. Its a ton of fun and tends to be one of the better Netflix offerings so far. Hopefully we will see another sequel eventually.

Reality TV Roundup – February 2023

The Mole ( Season 1, 2022)

Host: Alex Wagner

It follows twelve players as they work together in challenges to add money to a pot that only one of them will win. – IMDB

While I haven’t seen the original The Mole, Netflix picking up this show is a completely new thing for me. The Mole feels like familiar games that have found popularity like Werewolf (not sure if that’s the actual name) or Among Us. Deception is a wonderful game especially when the audience gets to watch all the angles and try to figure out who is the mole along with the players. Of course, the showrunners are doing the deception here since the editing is what creates even more intrigue a lot of times. I went into The Mole thinking it would be another guilty pleasure sort of watch, it actually turned out to be more than that.

What makes The Mole stand out from the other shows is that it has team missions. Everyone wants to cast doubt on themselves or someone depending on their strategy so it all comes down to who is trying to mess up the game the most. The team missions go through a lot of different places and settings from the beginning at the jungle to prison break to bank heist. The scenarios make big changes and the variety along with each of the players’ know-how is factored in. At the same time, the show also throws certain curveballs to give certain players a chance to make certain decisions that will affect the pot to reveal whether its a positive or negative choice. It all makes the elimination at the end of day feel more intriguing. However, the intrigue does set a lot more near the end since its fairly predictable who will be eliminated in the beginning episodes.

The Mole has some compelling settings but with many shows like this, the players are a mixed bag with a variety of personalities and different strategies. Nothing is quite exciting than seeing how one player can mess up the plan for everyone out of selfishness for example. Human nature to the test is just such a fun thing to watch. However, as fun as all this is, the host Alex Wagner is really great. She’s the consistent compelling element that makes The Mole very enjoyable. I’m not sure how Netflix does it but they’ve been getting some great hosts for these money-winning shows with Nicole Byers, Michelle Buteau and now Alex Wagner.

28 Days Haunted (Season 1, 2022)

Three teams spend 28 days in some of the most haunted locations in the United States for an experiment based on the theories of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. – IMDB

I’m not really a Mythbusters and ghost hunting watching sort of person. Chinese believe in ghosts too much to want to watch this whole question about whether ghosts exist so this is a completely random selection from the husband. On top of that, I never watched The Conjuring and haven’t really dove into what Ed and Lorraine Warren has solved on this front so I’m going to take their word that this experiment is based on their theories. Its an interesting one for sure especially when trapping mediums and paranormal teams in three different haunted locations.

What makes this reality show good mostly is the locations they choose and having the different team and their dynamic really come through. Some of them is the location that shines through, some is the team itself that makes it more intriguing. For the most part, the biggest question here is whether you do believe these things are actually happening or whether its all staged.

At the end of the day, 28 Days Haunted is an intriguing show. For most of it, it feels creepy and intriguing. Sure, the whole idea of mediums and such is a little odd since they all have different approaches. It is kind of a 101 course on ghost hunting and the technology and techniques behind it. While the season did feel rather convincing, what broke it and felt staged was the last shot and it broke the whole concept.

Physical:100 (Season 1, 2023)

One hundred contestants in top physical shape compete in a series of grueling challenges to claim the honor – and cash reward – as the last one standing. – IMDB

Being big fans of Ultimate Beastmaster (review) and very sad that its never been renewed for more seasons, Physical:100 is a good placeholder. Its not quite the same but it does achieve other things. Yes, there is negative news regarding a participant who hasn’t been specified the last I saw but it doesn’t take away that this show does break a lot of preconceived image of Asian bodies because these participants both male and female are seriously ripped, big, well-built. Plus, it highlights a lot of their athletes from national to Olympics level.

With shows like this, its always the structure of the competition and the challenges that makes or breaks the show. Physical:100 uses 5 challenge plus a pre-challenge to eliminate its contestants to a final 5. With that said, the elimination goes pretty fast. Looking at the challenges, it definitely has a preference over strength and endurance as a whole. Some challenges favor one over the other which also gives the smaller built players a little more leeway to play with strategy.

In terms of challenges, there are quite a variety starting from an endurance strength hanging from a structure raised to the ceiling as a pre-challenge and follows with 1 on 1 matches to recuperate a ball within a time limit to eventually team challenges which prove to be more fun to watch from moving sand to the best challenge of the show which involves pulling a wooden ship to an sloped destination.

While some of the challenges feels a little skewed to a certain build, Physical:100 is a pretty fun show to watch if you like this sort of thing. It can get a little confusing to match a face to the name but as the numbers go down, there’s no doubt that there are a few frontrunners that take more spotlight than the rest.

Perfect Match (Season 1, 2023)

Host: Nick Lachey

Couples who prove their compatibility gain the power to make or break other matches in this strategic and seductive dating competition. – IMDB

The newest social matchmaking reality show by Netflix is Perfect Match which seems like a bankable idea as it takes all a bunch of normal single people turned famous through their various reality shows and puts them all in one location to find their perfect match. Of course, maybe its just another way for Nick Lachey to have more work seeing as he now hosts three of these matchmaking shows making him the person that is the most familiar with the majority of these people. Being an avid viewer of The Circle (review) and Too Hot to Handle (and catching The Mole before watching this show), I also was rather familiar with the majority of these people as well. Still, its not the depth of these shows that are make them popular, lets just be honest there. If you weren’t into those reality shows to begin with, this probably offers nothing at all.

Perfect Match delivers exactly what you’d expect from this group despite whichever show they might be coming from. There’s a lot of switching partners and a lot of dramatic reactions and arguments over the silliest things. Its really hard to be completely invested into the show at times because its obvious what this whole thing is trying to do and much like the other matchmaking shows, the chances of success do feel very low so the only bit to enjoy is the conflicts and arguments which reveal some unimpressive character traits. Still, as I said before, we’re not here for the depth of the show and its just some mindless entertainment.

There’s really not a whole lot to say about Perfect Match. Its not a particularly great show but really just feels like a show that Netflix thought up to bank on these people that they’ve made famous by putting them together in a Panama resort. They don’t even earn anything other than a trip for the winning couple. Judging from some other resources online, it doesn’t even seem like any of the couples ended up together making this an even more meaningless show.

Reality TV Roundup – January 2023

For those who have seen the recent Adventure and What’s Up, you already know what this is all about.

As I sit here uninspired of what to watch and not sure what I want to write about next as a result rewatching Gilmore Girls for probably something like the fifth time. I decided to start up a new monthly segment for the great amount of reality and variety TV shows that I watch. With that said, I did use to review them but as time went by, it just didn’t hold up for a post of its own especially when we look at say the many seasons of The Circle or Nailed It for example.

I’m starting this a tad late and I like to start things at beginning of the year preferably so we’re releasing this January one right now. If this segments interest you, I plan on releasing it on the second weekend of the month (since the first weekend, I usually release Music Obsessions).

Let’s get the January 2023 recap on the way!

Pressure Cooker (Season 1, 2023)

Follows eleven chefs who will cook and cohabit with one another as they compete to become the ultimate chef’s chef and win $100,000. – IMDB

Netflix releases a lot of cooking reality competition shows in a year and I’m pretty much always at the front row seat be it, cooking, baking or drinks, you can count me in. At one point, I wanted to do a ranking of best to worst of these shows since they throw a ridiculous amount of prize money in it and while most of them are entertaining, some are pretty silly at best.

Pressure Cooker is a different type of competition. Its almost like Netflix mashed the concept of The Circle with a cooking show where friends and alliances actually do come into play as these cooks live together and wake up everyday with a new mission and chefs with the least votes are eliminated. The key point being that the voting is done by the chefs themselves so everyone has their own standards, integrity and strategy to try to make it to the end.

This style of competition is fun since it mixes a social element with the actual skilled cooking element. Competitions like this are good and bad. On the great side, its seeing all the drama since the audience sees everything from the scheming and strategy to how each cook will approach it. On the other hand, for someone like myself who enjoys a good honest cooking competition, sometimes its frustrating that the friendships end up making a good chef leave before its their time. There’s a good balance between the two here and its not the craziest idea that Netflix has played around with so it does work in the realm and seeing as I am a fan of shows like The Circle and catch almost all of the cooking competitions on Netflix right away, Pressure Cooker is one that I’d probably love to see a second season even if the concept itself at first felt a little unfair but I guess life’s not fair and the entertainment level with the different themes of each competition and the structure is pretty well-structured.

Wonderland Junior (Season 1, 2022)

12 young artists stay together in the seaside Wonderland to meet unknown challenges and create a trendy life together. By working hard to win the opportunity to be seen by the audience, they show their talented selves. – MyDramaList

Wonderland Junior is a spin-off variety show of the parent show Wonderland which features a group of bigger celebrities in all fields of entertainment from musicians to models to TV hosts to actors etc. Wonderland Junior probably is a bankable one since it reuses the location resource that they have already but uses it to boost popularity for some young faces to help show off their talent. Its a little less sophisticated than the parent show but rightfully so since it has the framework of the first but adds in the element of youthfulness.

This one works more as a continuous few days that the group is there as they work together on different tasks from performances to themed fashion shows and little games to earn more of the island currency. The person that gets out with the most will end up winning an opportunity to be a main guest in another Tencent variety show. The show itself is unknown but I’m sure when the winner of this show pops up there, it will be clear what it is.

There’s not a whole lot to say about Wonderland Junior. The group of younger talented people is good. They are a fun bunch and these shows are always feel-good experiences and that’s really what makes it so fun to watch.

The Circle (Season 5, 2023)

Host: Michelle Buteau

Players start off isolated in an apartment, and with their online interactions as their only means of any communication. The players use a social media platform called “The Circle”. – IMDB

I’ve watch The Circle USA since the very first season and I’m always there the first day the season drops. I even have a review of Season 1 HERE back when it aired in 2020. Its hard to imagine that the pandemic made this show ever so viable and its only the beginning of 2023 and its already done with Season 5.

Every season they put a few twists here and there to make it feel a little different from its prior seasons. I can’t remember too far away but the show’s introduced Joker and Circle Hack and Doppelganger profiles and the Spice Girls. This season, its focused on the singles because we all know that Netflix is seriously banking on this matchmaking showbiz, plus most people who pop up on The Circle never really admit that they are taken since being single usually gives them a bigger possibility to flirt and get other players on their side.

I’m not going to talk too much about Season 5 of The Circle since its a little been there done that at this point. The Circle Season 5 delivers exactly what you are looking for. The themed Singles doesn’t really add too much difference to the experience. I do like that right off the bat, they throw a curveball very early on that ends up playing out throughout the whole season. The players they gather are also much more diverse in background.

The Circle is a personal guilty pleasure. While I don’t like that shows like this has ridiculously huge banks for winning, it delivers on the entertaining content (if you’re into this stuff of course). But lets just get this straight, 50% of the reason I watch this is because Michelle Buteau is the host and commentator. The stuff she says is just off the charts hilarious.

Bake Squad (Season 2, 2023)

Expert bakers elevate desserts with next-level ideas and epic execution. Now the battle is on to win over clients in need of very special sweets. – IMDB

I honestly don’t know if Bake Squad is that popular but I personally love the concept of it. Bake Squad is a show that gives back to the people in the community. Where Queer Eye does makeovers to deserving people to make them feel good about themselves, Bake Squad helps someone’s special event have the best surprise extravagant dessert that they deserve from some wonderfully talented young bakers. The first season of Bake Squad delivered some great desserts and designs and the second season actually felt like they went beyond that for some designs that went even more risky and bigger in challenges and scale.

Bake Squad is honestly just a feel-good competition. The main goal of the competition between the four bakers is to win the chance for their creation to be shown at someone’s celebration whatever or whoever its celebrating. Its not about winning prize money or for themselves, although I’m sure being on TV does boost their popularity and gets known by the public more, but the show feels like it has such a pure intention of just bringing some big and creative ideas to add to someone’s meaningful celebration.

The world needs more shows like Bake Squad that delivers on doing tasks for someone else and not scheming to win money. Its been a few hard years with the pandemic and shows like this remind us that in a world where things have gotten really out of balance, there’s still some people out there doing good in their own ways, even if its making something like desserts. Obviously these aren’t the everyday desserts and in many ways, its wild for the most part for example, building a chocolate Dinosaur Egg in the first season and then upping that and building a 1:1 chocolate piano.

Honestly, out of all the shows in this round-up, I’m hoping that Bake Squad gets many more seasons.

Hidden Blade (無名, 2023)

Hidden Blade (無名, 2023)

Director (and writer): Er Cheng

Cast: Tony Leung, Yibo Wang, Chengpeng Dong, Zhou Xun, Eric Wang, Huang Lei, Mori Hiroyuki, Shuying Jiang, Jingyi Zhang

Follows the story of underground workers who risked their lives to send intelligence and defend the motherland, set after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor when the Wang Jingwei regime declared war on Britain and the U.S. – IMDB

The last chapter of Bona Film Group’s China Victory Trilogy (which feature separate stories), Hidden Blade is a World War II espionage thriller. The film is structured from scattered events throughout the Japan-China War of Resistance from the bombings of Guangzhou to Japan’s surrender. Structured in a scrambled timeline of events, the espionage thriller right away implicates that there will the unknown elements of which character is secretly working for their own forces while on the service the characters all work for Japanese espionage agencies performing at times some brutal moments. Between the director’s intricate script and the outstanding cast selected for this film, Hidden Blade delivers a great thriller and will keep the audience keeping its detective hat on to spot who is not who they appear to be.

Hidden Blade is a visually stunning film. Er Cheng crafts a film where every scene is set up beautifully. There is a wonderful and atmospheric use of lighting and the cinematographic grasp of each scene from where the characters of placed all add to the suspense. The artistic element sets its tone right from its first scene with darkened space and Tony Leung’s character sitting on a chair with nothing much around and he just turns to the camera. With that said, the structure of the scrambled storyline is one that relies on having a decent knowledge of what happened between Japan and China with the Chinese Communist Party and Japan’s invasion. While that’s the case, it does give common knowledge like the attack on Pearl Harbor for wider known events which gives a good point of reference for that timeframe.

The script does touch a few details to give it the basic foundation but knowing more does help with grasping how the timeline moves back and forth through different events and scenes. It does help that the film makes the effort to add in the necessary timestamps to make it easier to grasp. Once the different scenes are set up at the beginning, it does become easier to figure out the sequence and follow the story. While the scrambled storyline takes a little bit of time to adjust to, it does help to create the suspense for the characters and their actions. There are certain hints like drops of blood and a newspaper on the table to help hint towards certain events but a lot of the reveals are cleverly written to give its twist in the final act. Another great element of the film is the language it uses and even for Chinese audience, it will still require subtitle reading as it moves between Mandarin, Japanese, Shanghainese and Cantonese.

The cast is a highlight with Hong Kong veteran actor Tony Leung, most notable to the Western audience from In The Mood of Love and more recently, in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. For those familiar with his filmography, this is right up his alley as he has done films before from this era as well like Lust, Caution but also excels in a variety of genres, much like his work in Infernal Affairs. There is no doubt that Tony Leung is the headliner for this film. However, China’s rising young celebrity Yibo Wang is one that does a fantastic job as well. Multitalented musically as his boyband debut in South Korean band Uniq as their rapper and dancer, his recent years of acting has opened up a lot of opportunities, most notable for popular TV series The Untamed (which is currently available on Netflix Canada and Youtube). Hidden Blade is probably the most sophisticated role he has taken on and proved that he is capable of delivering both a subtle character but also not afraid for the action scenes. While his role as Mr. Ye is mostly paired with his partner Mr. Wang, played by Eric Wang, there are some pivotal plot points that deliver some well-choreographed action scenes. The leading cast between these two are very deceptive for the majority of the film.

The supporting actors are also pretty big names. Eric Wang, Huang Lei and Chengpeng Dong are all renowned actors in China. These three all have rather significant roles in Hidden Blade and each has their own twists and reveals. Its as much as praise again to the intricate script and in turn, the character design as none of the characters are what they seem. Its a strong male cast in this film and reasonably so due to the decade and era that its set. However, the limited female cast also gets very little screen time which is most surprising with Zhou Xun as Ms. Chen who is one of the biggest female actresses in China. While Ms. Chen doesn’t have a big role, her character is embedded in a few plot points in Hidden Blade. Unlike her, actress Shuying Jiang mostly known for TV series like The King’s Avatar (currently on Netflix Canada) and Nothing But Thirty who has one scene in Hidden Blade as an alluring character called Ms. Jiang who we can only wish had a bigger role as that one scene was very memorable.

Hidden Blade is a well-executed espionage thriller. It has all the pieces to put together a thoughtful and clever story set in a significant part of history especially for China as they were oppressed by foreign powers. It focuses heavily on the Japanese espionage agencies inner working with its various characters and spends the film making the audience wonder who is not what they seem. Packed with an exceptional cast, visually stunning cinematography and a well-constructed non-linear thriller, Hidden Blade is definitely a great addition to Chinese cinema.

*Screener provided by Well Go USA*

TV Binge: Lockwood and Co. (Season 1, 2023)

Lockwood & Co. (Season 1, 2023)

Creator: Joe Cornish

Cast: Ruby Stokes, Cameron Chapman, Ali Hadji-Heshmati, Jack Bandeira, Ivanno Jeremiah, Louise Brealey, Hayley Konadu, Luke Treadaway

A tiny startup, run by two teenage boys and a newly arrived, supremely psychically gifted girl, a renegade trio destined to unravel a mystery that will change the course of history – IMDB

Based on the novels by Jonathan Stroud, Lockwood And Co. is a Netflix series set in an alternate London which has been infected with The Problem which has birthed a world of kids born with different talents for ghost hunting. Surrounding this is Lucy who runs away from her training and ends up working for a young agency run by Anthony Lockwood and other associate George Karim. Together they face different cases together. While I haven’t read the novels, the first season is based on two of the books The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull. The show follows itself in the recent successes of kids/teens in peril as the main cast like Stranger Things and Locke and Key.

There’s a lot to love about Lockwood and co. One of such is its setting. There’s nothing like and alternate reality to make it feel like a whole new world. In this case, its the ghost-infested UK which doesn’t really spend a lot of time laying down what happened for it turn this way but uses multiple articles in its intro to lay down the basics. Its a pretty clever way to let the audience learn more about this world as the show progresses. The quiet curfew streets of London and the haunted ghosts flying about and grave diggers in cemetary being seemingly normal while the policeman are now ghost hunters mostly comprised of kids who have discovered their talent whether to sense or see ghosts to some extent but as we know by the end, will also gradually lose the talent as they get older. Its a grim and exciting world especially in the starting sequence when the first conversation shows a woman who hired Lockwood and Co. and tells them about how its sad that they never go to experience a normal childhood (compared to her).

Lockwood and Co, the agency is the focus of the show with its three members being the main cast and focus and their professional relationship and personal connection growing as a “family”. Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman) is the owner of this private paranormal investigative agency and he is both talented and reckless and willing to do anything to prove him and the agency’s value. For a debut role, Cameron Chapman does a decent job. There are certain moments especially in earlier episodes that does feel like he is not quite at ease and a little less emotive however, it does slowly find a better momentum. Usually YA series tend to have that issue for the most part so its rather expected but his character is pretty well-written that it does help.

Lucy (Ruby Stokes) is a runaway from the government funded Fittes Agency (Lockwood and co’s main competition) when a case goes wrong and she loses her entire team resulting in her best friend being ghost locked due to a bad judgment call from their supervisor Jacobs who denies the situation and shifts the blame to her instead. Refusing to apologize and leaving her unloving mother behind, she seeks refuge in this job and soon realizes that she has outstandingly superior abilities in paranormal connections as she can build a psychic connection with them and speak to some stronger ghost forms. Ruby Stokes does a great job with this character even if its hard to not think of her as a younger version of a combination of Brie Larson and Jennifer Lawrence in various angles (in my opinion). Lucy is one of the better developed and executed characters in season 1 and is a great strong female lead.

The third member who feels more neglected o the sidelines is their researcher George Karim (Ali Hadji-Heshmati) who has some rather odd habits but despite feeling insignificant to the group does end up being quite a strong asset. While George does feel much more toned down in his role compared to Lucy and Lockwood’s, he does get a lot more spotlight by the end of the season and he is the balance that his two associates need to make this agency work.

There’s a lot of elements to the story that makes for a well-paced series and making it have the action and adventure to keep things moving. While there are some moments of hints of romantic vibes between Lucy and Lockwood, for the most part, it never dwells on it for too long. The ghosts and the mysteries that they end up trying to solve are pretty fun and while its not considered very scary, it still have some pretty good ghost moments.

Overall, Lockwood and Co. is a fun series. Perhaps not quite as polished as say Stranger Things or Locke and Key but there’s a good pace and a well-structured set of characters. Add in the intriguing alternate reality setting of a grim and dark UK with a rather uninventive problem that has turned its world upside down called The Problem, this world feels like there’s a whole lot more to discover than simply what the first season has dolled out. There’s a lot more to look at from its haunted relics to what’s behind the door in Lockwood’s house, the mystery behind what goes on behind the Fittes Agency and who is this mystery man they called Golden Blade played by Luke Treadaway. Season one ended on a lot of loose ends and even a cliffhanger, which is something of a pet peeve of mine, since there’s no confirmation whether it would get a second season. If there was one criticism, that’s it right there but seriously TV producers need to stop doing season finale cliffhangers if the next season isn’t greenlit yet. Despite that being the case, its safe to say I’m hoping a Season 2 will happen.