Priceless Review

Title: Priceless

Genre: comedy

Episodes: 10

Broadcast period: 2012-Oct-22 to 2012-Dec-24

Cast: Kimura Takuya, Nakai Kiichi, Karina, Fujigaya Taisuke, Renbutsu Misako, Masu Takeshi, Maeda Oshiro, Tanaka Kanau, Nakamura Atsuo, Issey Ogata, Natsuki Mari, Fujiki Naohito …

Kindaichi Fumio (Kimura Takuya) is company worker who earns good money and spends it. In his opinion you should use the money you have on things that make you happy instead of keeping them locked up in a safe. One day he is suddenly fired from his company, he is accused of selling information, somebody plotted this against him, that somebody is the new chairman who for some reason tries to keep Kindaichi far away from the company. As Kindaichi is on his way home with all his stuff from the office, just as he arrives in front of his apartment he sees his home explode! Now without any job, savings and no home, he is forced to spend the night in the park just as other poor people. The next morning he meets two kids who teach him how to get by without money, and they take him to their home, where he starts renting a room for 500 yen per day. Now he has to find a way to get 500 yen every single day, money he used to think was nothing.

Ahhh yes, this is Kimura Takuya, this is his work, his acting, making you love the character. Never fails. I really loved this drama, it shows that, having the will, talent and never giving up can make you go from bottom to top with just hard work. I liked Takuya’s character and the way he worked and actually I liked that it wasn’t the story where the character gets this revelation and changes because something bad happened in their life, but he stayed the same and just worked harder. I think it would be too typical otherwise and something we see too often. This is more.. normal kind of. Except it really takes talent to think and work like Kindaichi. Getting contacts easily and befriending everybody. But I liked how.. hmm.. Not complicated his thinking was. He was thinking about repaying those who have given something to him, or helping ordinary people without thinking of them paying back. Whereas the other characters actually did change a whole lot and went through a transformation. Aaaaanyway back to the point. A really nice short drama, I recommend it, I enjoyed it, wonderful acting by Kimura Takuya. Yokshi, this is Kimura Takuya.

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts 

Bunji's verdict
This is a good drama, like good good, not good great. It’s funny, interesting, and very new, but somehow it just has a boring factor to it. Kimura Takuya is and has always been a great actor, and you can see it in the drama. Though I have to admit that I was disappointed: The drama’s good points is the way everyone is portrayed and how they grow (if you watch Japanese dramas you should know that it’s actually a key factor for that to happen), but somehow, nothing really happens. Yeah the lead suddenly gets poor, and learns the value of 500 yen, but that is only in episode one. The rest of the episodes are about the supposed ‘growth’ that doesn’t really happen. And the ending was anti-climax if you ask me. Like pretty dull, you would hope for just a bit more of excitement…. But it’s not bad. I can’t really explain it. “A good drama, but just not thrilling” would be the best way to explain it..

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

The Thieves Movie Review

Title: The Thieves

Genre: Crime, action

Origin: South Korea

Release date: 25 Juli 2012

Cast: Kim Yoon Seok, Lee Jung Jae, Kim Hye Soo, Jeon Ji Hyun, Kim Hae Sook, Oh Dal Soo, Kim Soo Hyun, Simon Yam, Angelica Lee, Derek Tsang, Ju Jin Mo, Ki Gook Seo, Choi Deok Mun, Yeh Soo Jung, Chae Gook Hee, Shin Ha Kyun . . .

Popeye (Lee Jung Jae) is the leader of a small professional group of thieves consisting of Chewing Gum (Kim Hae Sook) a middleaged woman, Anycall/Yanicall (Jeon Ji Hyun) a young mischievious burglar and Zampano (Kim Soo Hyun) the youngest of them and Popeye's associate. The four of them fraud people with acting, getting close to them with the purpose of stealing from them where after they sell on the black market, earning their living. They are later joined by Pepsi (Kim Hye Soo), Popeye's old partner and the woman he likes. The team is offered a new deal. To help Macau Park, an thief who in the past had ran away from Popeye and Pepsi with gold bars they stole. Now Popeye and Pepsi see this opportunity to get their revenge on Macau Park and so the team is headed to Hong Kong where they meet another team they will work with, to steal the Tear of the Sun, the diamond worth 30 million US dollars.

I definitely understand the popularity of this movie, it has pulled up the standards of Korean action movies and is really a class higher. It was very professional and that is why I enjoyed it. I am pretty good at spotting stupid NGs and that often ruins movies/dramas for me. But this was decent, I only noticed one thing but it didn’t ruin anything. So it was very clean and pro. It had a long story, it doesn’t just end with them stealing the diamond but continues. Though I wished for a liiiiiittle bit different ending this was alright. And what I really liked was that even though they speak in Korean, Chinese and English, we didn’t have those awkward accents and weird talking, the actors had definitely practiced very hard and did a great job. I think its hilarious with the names actually, I can just imagine the writer sitting at his desk and wondering what to name them and he sees some Pepsi, some chewing gum and maybe just ate spinach so he thought of Popeye and then he received a call from a hot lady and named one of the characters Anycall. There was one scene I thought was way too long and that is the one where I spotted a stupid ng, but overall it was good, especially for a long movie like this one.

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars 

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts 

Bunji's verdict
I don’t get this movie. Like yeah I get it, but what… Like yeah, good idea whatever, and interesting storyline. But I seriously wonder how many people wrote this movie together - like nothing was cohesive, except the plot. Like none of the actors acted together, and when they did the script was stupid. I just felt like it was a imitation of a Bollywood movie I once watched, except - besides that the story is different - the writer (most defiantly more writer that didn’t talk with one another) didn’t really bother to make sure that the characters gave a damn about what they were doing. It felt like a group of random thieves that have connections with one another, but barely. And it all makes me go like: how on earth do you trust each other. Which I later on realized they should have thought of. Okay I bet you don’t get anything of this, but to sum up: I wasn’t fond of it, bad wanna-be American action movie, but made decently with the exception of constant revenge/betrayal. But some people (most people honestly) might like it, I just didn’t. 

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars


♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

A millionaire on the run Movie Review

Title: A Millionaire On The Run

AKA: 5 Million Dollar Man (literal title)

Genre: Comedy

Release date: July 19, 2012

Cast: Park Jin Young, Min Hyo Rin, Jo Sung Ha, Ko Hie Bong, Oh Jung Se, Cho Jin Woong, Lee Kyeong Yeong, Kim Jun Bae . . .

Choi Young In (Park Jin Young) works with his friends for Director Han (Jo Sung Ha). One day his friend is found dead with a suicidal note, which actually makes no sense, but for the time Young In doesn’t pay too much attention to that and continues with work. He is given a special mission by his boss but on the way an accident happens! The next morning he wakes up lying by the road, away from his car. In his pocket he finds something looking like a suicidal note just like his friend’s. He calls his boss who desperately asks where he is and where the car is. Young In now confirms his suspicion, his boss tried to kill him, and there is something in the car. In the truck he finds a big black bag with 5 million dollars in. This is where he starts his adventurous run and meets the girl Mi Ri (Min Hyo Rin) who is also on the run because she “accidently” stole some diamonds, both of them chased by gangs. 

This movie has some really hilarious scenes. And I find it quite funny how everybody thinks JYP isn’t Korean. A really great comedy, but it is a bit confusing in the beginning since it jumps in time and stuff. And it had a hard time getting started somehow. But then it was really good. Good nice movie, I don’t know what else to say. The acting is fine I think, as far as I remember. And I like the ending. But seriously the most hilarious part is probably when the two gangs, the one cooperating with the director and the one from whom Mi Ri stole the diamonds, collide. The swearing and all is just hilarious, it’s almost a battle of who can swear the longest and best. Great comedy actually…

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Atashinchi no Danshi Review

Title: Atashinchi no Danshi
AKA: My boys
Genre: Comedy
Episodes: 11
Broadcast period: 2009-Apr-14 to 2009-Jun-23
Cast: Horikita Maki, Kaname Jun, Okada Yoshinori, Mukai Osamu, Yamamoto Yusuke, Seto Koji, Okayama Tomoki and Kusakari Masao.

Mineta Chisato (Horikita Maki, Hana Kimi, Kurosagi..) has been living as a homeless for some years. The reason for that is that she is being chased by debt-collectors, because her father left her a huge debt without her approval. One day as she is running away from some debt collectors a man helps her and says that he will pay her debt if she agrees to be his wife for a month. A month because he believes he only has a month left to live in. So she agrees cause there is no way she can pay the debt on her own. But she does not know what awaits her after the man dies. She now has to spend 3 months in a castle with the man's 6 sons. She has to be their mother and unless she fulfills the 10 goals the man has written her to do the debt will not be paid and all her work was for nothing. It is not an easy job she has gotten because the boys dont have a bond at all. So she has to start from the scratch and first of all make them all eat dinner together. But that is gonna be hard when one of them doesnt even live at home, the other doesnt come out of his room, the third has a fear of women aso. But somehow she manages them all to be together and finally bond. But it only gets worse when the company of the man who died is being taken over by his secretary because he wants the treasure hidden in the castle. And they can only protect the castle, their home, by fulfilling the 10 goals.

I suddenly decided to watch this drama, before i thought it was just a drama about a bunch of homeless people but after watching just the first episode i found it really funny and interesting. It's a comedy so just the thing for me. Lots of fun especially with the secretary being all weird and the boys got all different personalties. And the girl omo. Like in 1 episode she moves out and in to the castle like 5 times. She just cant decide whether to stay or not ahaha. And so fun with her father, like whenever she sees him she starts yelling at him and he immediately starts running away yelling "Do ur best to pay of the debt!" hahaha and omg there are like 5 boys who like her and she doesnt even notice haha. Anyway its definetly a drama u gotta watch, lots of fun -of course when its japanese it gotta b fun. And it like grabs ur attention right away. And thats always a good sign.. I mean who would watch a drama that gets exciting at the .. 16th episode.. gaah. Hate those kind of dramas.. especially when they spend 5 episodes explaining the past.

Ill be kind and give it ^^ :

☆☆☆☆/4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Bunji's Verdict
Hahaha! ''She'll be kind'' - as if the drama needs kindness!! Lols, sorry.
The drama is pretty different and a lot of fun, but again very typical when it comes to Japanese dramas. Like one girl and a lot of guys, where have we heard that before? hmm, let me name a few: Hana Yori Dango 1 & 2, Hana Kimi, Yamato Nadeshiko Shinchi Henge, Gokusen 1 & 2 & 3(okay, not the same, but u get the point) and so on. So it's pretty tiring. Even though this time around, she plays the role of the mother, makes the story more fun, and the love blossoming more interesting, BUT still VERY typical..
I’m pretty fond of detailed and precise background stories, as well as interesting “why did that happen” reasoning. The 6 brothers have all different backgrounds, and different personality, which makes it totally worth watching.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ /4 out of 5 hearts