Movie Title: 배심원들 (Juror 8)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (7/10)
Year: 2019

Juror 8 is a courtroom style movie, which probably have been done and audiences may have same something of similar around. However, little do many know this sort of genre is not exactly common in South Korea and what makes Juror 8 more special is the fact that the movie is based loosely from the first jury trial in South Korea back in 2008.

As the first citizen participation to judge 👩‍⚖️ a gruesome case where the defendant Taegu (Seo Hyeon-woo) is accused of murdering 🔪 his own mother. The case quickly turned complicated when a supposedly easy to conclude case as the defendant has pleaded guilty before trial turned his tone during the court session.

As all the media outlet attention 🎥 is on the case especially on strict yet emphatic judge, Kim Joon-Gyum (Moon So-ri) and the jurors.
Juror 1 – Yoon Geu Rim (Soo-Jang Baek)
Juror 2 – Yang Choon Ok (Kim Mi-Kyung)
Juror 3 – Jo Jin Shik (Yoon Kyung-ho)
Juror 4 – Byun Sang Mi – (Seo Jung-Yeon)
Juror 5 – Choi Yeong Jae (Jo Han-chul)
Juror 6 – Jang Ki Baek (Kim Hong-Pa)
Juror 7 – Oh Soo Jung (Jo Soo-Hyang)
Juror 8 –  Kwon Nam Woo (Park Hyung-Sik)

While the movie comes with a familiar storyline and genre with a predictable ending, the casting were superb as each of the cast played their role flawlessly. And juror 8’s character with never give up spirit to find out the truth does give a movie a great highlight and something to look forward to. Watch it if you love the courtroom mixed with a detective like movie style, where the plot doesn’t only confines the scenes to the courtroom but beyond just to find out the truth.

Movie Title: 淪落人 (Still Human)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (9/10)
Year: 2018

It has been a while since Hong Kong movie industry comes up with an emotional and heart warming movie.  Lead by one of the most controversial actor, Anthony Wong Chau Sang who played a paralyzed ‍ construction worker, Leung Cheong Wing  and his daily life with Filipino maid Evelyn Santos (Crisel Consunji).

The story’s plot is clear and simple. It started off building the character of Cheong Wing, an ex-construction worker ‍♂️ who got injured and paralyzed due to an accident on site, as such he would need help from a helper as he stays alone after he got a divorce and his ex-wife and son moved to overseas.

Love how Anthony manage to portray and brings the character to live, giving the character a grumpy, harsh and sharp tongued on the out side but soft, kind and emphatic on the inside. The story also unfolds nicely and to see the transition of their employer and employee relationship that is full of doubts, disagreement and crude to trustworthy, encouraging, kind and sincere.

For a first timer, Crisel Consunji’s acting is also solid. She manages to bring herself into the emotions of Evelyn’s character and nailed its performance perfectly. While Sam Lee’s performance as Cheong Wing co-worker and good friend Cheung Fai was notable despite lesser screen time. His appearance does provide a breathe of fresh air to the movie, giving users some light and hope in humanity.

It is refreshing to see Anthony Wong act again as he was largely banned and shut out of filming opportunities do to his vocal stance and support for the pro-democracy protesters during the Umbrella movement back in 2014. Still Human is worth the watch, especially if you want to catch the real day to day life and struggles of the lower tier Hong Konger which may soon change or disappear.

Movie Title: Free Guy
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (7/10)
Year: 2021

If you enjoyed The Truman Show and also Wreck-It Ralph, you will definitely enjoy Free Guy.
Even more so if you are play or watch someone play GTARP 🕹.

I personally love how the movie showcase the evolution and growth of Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a NPC in a game world call Free City.
Started off as a blue shirt bank teller NPC, Guy’s life started to change when he met the love of his life – Millie (Jodie Comer) who turns out to be one of the creator of the game. From a NPC that leads a routine life in the game, Guy decided that he needs to take charge of his life.

While I love the cheerful, happy ending with slight romance scene, the show somehow lacks major climax or excitement.
Perhaps the movie itself take shape from 2 of the best movie, hence trying to out-do its precedent if never going to be easy.

Watch it, if you are a Reynolds fan and are looking for a fun thing to watch and put a smile on your face 😃.

Movie Title: 톱스타 (Top Star)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (7/10)
Year: 2013

Top Star 🌟 is all about the glitz and glamour ✨ of the entertainment world.  The movie sets to tell the tale of Won-jun (Kim Min-joon), one of the most popular Korean male artist 👨‍🎤 and Tae-shik (Eom Tae-woong), Won-jun’s assistant artist manager. Tae-shik is always on the look out for Won-jun and tries his best to make things happen for him which includes helping him take the blame after Won-jun hits a food courier late one night while drunk driving.

In return for the large favour, Won-jun helps to make Tae-shik’s dream come true – to be an actor and star in a movie. Personally grooming and growing Tae-shik, their friendship grew too but was short lived when Tae-shik’s popularity grew to be comparable to Won-jun’s. The conflict between the both grew and so is Tae-shik’s ambitions which further strained their friendship.

While may seems not be from the highest budget movie, the actors performances in the movie is definitely worth the mention. Kim Min-joon suave and charming personality does fit the role perfectly and I completely love how the contrast of the both character is portrayed.

The ending of the movie is quite tragic and comes as a surprise for me, which is cleverly layered to pave to an open-ended ending. Top Star is worth watching especially for viewers craving for plot depicting the entertainment 🎥 industry and about the glamourous life of artistes.

Movie Title: 지푸라기라도 잡고 싶은 짐승들 (Beasts Clawing at Straws)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (7/10)
Year: 2018

Beast clawing at straws is a smart movie based on a Japanese novel by Keisuke Sone of the same name, which I particularly love how the director showcase a multi-character and multi-connected plot that revolves around the circle of greed.

The movie tells story of 3 different plots of how desperate they are all in to get fast cash.
1. The life of  a sauna worker ‍♂️, Joong-man (Bae Seong-woo) who is going through a tough time when his wife works as a janitor to help make ends meet after the family went into bankruptcy, his mother (Yun Yuh-jung) who has Alzheimer while his daughter failed to get a student loan.

2. An immigration officer ‍♂️, Tae-young (Jung Woo-sung) who owes the loan shark Park Doo-man (Jung Man-sik) money when his girlfriend Yeon-hee (Jeon Do-yeon) left him without a trace. In the attempt to repay the Mr. Park, Tae-young tries to earn some money through his illegal connections which failed miserably.

3. Mi-ran (Shin Hyun-been), a prostitute in a “hostess” bar who were scammed and faced with domestic violent from her abusive husband who constantly hit her. Tired of her life, Mi-ran work together with her client Jin-tae (Jung Ga-ram), when he falls in love with her and offers to kill her husband in a drive-by “accident” so she can collect the insurance money.

All this characters and their story were cleverly linked together with greed painted all over their plots and are connected through that same Louis Vuitton bag filled with cash which landed at the start and end of the movie. The solid performance by each and every artist helps elevate the movie one-step higher and when paired with a cleverly connected plots drives audience deeper into the storyline.

A movie worthy to watch as it will get you to think and wonder about the danger and what price to pay for greed. While one can tell the colour of greed is definitely red from this movie, with some humour injected in it despite it being dark and gruesome.

Movie Title:  아빠는 딸 (Daddy You, Daughter Me)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (7/10)
Year: 2016

Movie Title: 수상한 그녀 (Miss Granny)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (6/10)
Year: 2013

Movie Title: 삼진그룹 영어토익반 (Samjin Company English Class)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (8/10)
Year: 2019

Movie Rating: 새해전야 (New Year Blues)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (6/10)
Year: 2020