The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep and Bogota: City of the Lost

Movies with ... colons in the title?

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep

This animated film follows everyone's favorite Witcher, Geralt as he gets embroiled in basically a much darker version of the Little Mermaid. Sorry, the parallels are just too obvious! That said it has a good deal of violence, adult themes and an important Witcher spin on the whole thing that keeps it interesting. While the animation is ok, too much spinning can be found in Geralt's depicted combat style. Not bad but I'd recommend this only to Witcher fans, especially the game version of the Witcher since its the same voice actor.

Bogota: City of the Lost

En route to the USA, a Korean family is robbed of their money and travel documents in Bogota and they are forced to live there. Wishing for a better life the son decides to get involved with petty smuggling and working his way up the crime chain because this is one of those movies where crime pays. Outside the interesting Colombian environment this is a pretty stock standard and mostly predictable crime flick with backstabbing aplenty. Not terrible but not great either.

Uprising (2024)

Expect lots of sword clashes!

Set in the historical Joseon Dynasty in Korea, a cruel, duplicitous and cowardly king who, with the other nobles, flees from Japanese samurai invaders is shocked when his slaves and the lower castes dislike him. One such slave happens to be a master swordsman who befriended and trained one of the nobles from childhood and, despite both sides trying to bridge the class divide, now find themselves well and truly on opposing sides.

While the plot is alright the pacing with the flash backs and time skips felt off, but hey there's a lot of killing and good sword choreography going on here which might give it a pass for sword fighting enthusiasts. Not as good as I thought it would be though.

The Marksman and Officer Black Belt

Dealing with criminals in their own way.

The Marksman

A veteran soldier and failing farmer (played by Liam Neeson) at the Mexican border comes across a mother and son illegally crossing the fence as they are pursued by a Mexican cartel who want them back. Our protagonist is torn between deporting them or helping them, and annoyingly this continues throughout the majority of the movie. Being on the fence so much is not a great quality, and with excess scenes and low on screen body count it doesn't really make for a great movie. Skip.

Officer Black Belt

A natural athlete and martial artist (played by Kim Woo-bin) is recruited into the South Korean probation officer task force where they must monitor and handle aggressive probation violators with non-lethal close quarter combat. It is a decent action comedy, with decidedly more action than comedy (especially with the bad guys, as they are freaking dark), and a pretty good story which only gets sloppy at the end. Better that I thought it would be. Recommended!

May 2024: War... War never changes.

It's day 827 of Russia's two day special operation to take Ukraine and while they are gaining ground slowly through sheer numbers, a few countries have finally given the green light for Ukraine to use their weapons into Russian territory. That's a strange handicap to have originally been placed on the clear under dog, but lets see if this shifts the momentum into Ukraine's favor.  

Meanwhile in the Middle East, Egypt had warned it might withdraw from its mediator position in the (so far failed) Gaza ceasefire negotiations because of recent doubts that "offend" them. These doubts are mainly center around getting caught red handed mediating in bad faith, secretly changing terms before handing them to Hamas after Israel had already agreed and signed to it. Not sure how the parties involved feel but I for one would say "good riddance" as it's clearly pointless to put your trust in these lying snakes in the first place.

Now Israel is taking out some serious revenge to the tune of around 35K dead Palestinians so far for the instigating October 7 Hamas raid which killed around 1.2K people (for comparisons sake 9/11 killed around 3K with a 3.6M retaliation). It's clear where the loyalties of some folks in Mexico are, burning down the Israeli embassy in Mexico City right as they are being hit by a water shortage.

Worth noting Hamas are now singing their old song (on replay apparently) of "we're willing to negotiate as long as Israel completely stops fighting". Israel would be stupid to accept that and let them regroup, given the Hamas charter  (#4) explicitly states:

“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement…. There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad”

Next it's over to China where they've developed some pretty cool gun toting automatons, but somehow they're still not as scary as the drones that can simply drop grenades on you. Then we have North Korea, trying to stay relevant by sending in explosive balloons of literal shit to South Korea. Are they trying to say all their septic tanks are full and are in dire need of help? Or simply that they're just full of shit?

Physical: 100 (2 Seasons so far)

Looking for the "perfect" body...

In this Korean series, 100 athletic people from all walks of life are invited to compete to see which body is superior. I'll get my main negative out of the way now, as the first half of the first episode in both seasons is basically people coming in and saying "Oh hello," and getting a quick blurb of how they were a gold medalist / fire fighter / strong man / soldier whatever. They don't do all 100 but they do quiiiite a lot!

It picks up after all the "hello's".

With that out of the way all the cool stuff happens, which this show refers to as quests. It might be hanging from a bar as long as you can or getting the most distance running on a treadmill in x minutes - and those are just the preliminary quests! The demand for feats of physicality and tactics progressively increase with each quest and the sharp editing, constant elimination of around 50% of participants per quest and the segments where they have to team up makes it a very interesting show to watch (where was that sharp editing at the start guys?). Awesome show - highly recommend and am looking forward to watching the next one!

Echo and Solo Leveling (Season 1)

Weak protagonists gaining ridiculous powers.

Echo (Season 1)

This five episode series focuses on Maya, the titular Echo, who is a pretty disabled gangster (being deaf and missing a leg) previously working for Kingpin as was last seen in the Hawkeye series. Probably a good series to practice your sign language knowledge on as there is a LOT of it, but the story is very average and the action scenes and budget are subpar for a Marvel show (maybe just one fight near the start is good). I do enjoy that the protagonist is naturally very easy to sneak up on, and I hope that remains to be the case despite gaining some ancestral super powers, because its a superhero show and apparently because she's not good enough without powers? Mmm, what's your message here Disney? Lol. Only for die hard Marvel fans; everyone else can give this a miss.

Solo Leveling (Season 1)

The setting for this Korean anime is a strange one: present day but with fantasy monsters occasionally warping in from dungeon dimensions and modern equipment has no effect on them. Lucky there are people born as "hunters" who can fight and defeat these to protect the world. Yes, a hunter with a tiny dagger is more effective than a tank or Gatling gun versus a goblin. Just don't think about it.

Further more, hunters are ranked by strength and this never changes or fluctuates. A strong guy will always be that strong, never weaker / never stronger. Except for our protagonist who is the weakest hunter of all. For plot device reasons "the game" decides that he in fact CAN level up, and boy does he make use of it. While the plot isn't very deep the animation quality and fights of which there are PLENTY are very good. It also helps that there's a good amount of blood and gore thrown in there too. Quite entertaining if you just want an action anime. Recommended!

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Season 1) and Strong Girl Nam-soon (Season 1)

Featuring female protagonists that make you laugh and cry. In a good way.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Season 1)

 
This anime is a strange masterpiece. It takes place in a Dungeons and Dragons like fantasy world focusing on Frieren the long lived elf mage, and the story begins with her and the party of heroes having saved the world from a demon king - usually the end of a campaign but that's ok, because this is a mostly a melancholic drama about characters growing as people. As a bonus there just happens to be a good portion of awesome action sequences on top of the excellent art, music and story. I'm sorry Blue Lock, this is now my favorite anime as it regularly hits me in the feels. Highly recommended!

Strong Girl Nam-soon (Season 1)

This continuation in the world of Strong Girl Bong-soon gives us a new cute protagonist but unlike Bong-soon, Nam-soon (and her family) has no problems making use of her superhuman strength in public. While yes, there are bad guys who just happen to be idiots despite their good looks, this is mainly a love story with a heavy focus on humor. This works for the most part but in the few episodes where Nam-soon is taking a back seat in the plot it can get quite taxing... Ultimately if you enjoyed Bong-soon you'll probably like this too, but just don't expect it to be as good.

Gyeongseong Creature (Season 1) and The Dry

Investigations into monsters.

Gyeongseong Creature (Season 1)

In this Korean made series set during the Japanese occupation of Korea 1945, a well connected pawn shop owner and a pair of sleuths tasked with locating missing people find clues that lead them to the local hospital where it just so happens the Japanese are conducting some monstrous experiments. While there are horror/monster aspects to the plot it isn't the bulk of the story, with heavy focus on the drama / love segment of it instead with some really colorful segments. That's not a bad thing but it certainly slows the pace down a bit, and I'm not sure I would have made it if we weren't watching at 1.5x speed. Entertaining enough to watch but I'm only going to be recommending it to K-drama lovers. Season 2 is already confirmed.

The Dry

This Australian made movie focuses on a Federal Agent (played by Eric Bana) who returns to his home town for the funeral of his childhood friend thought to be involved in a murder/suicide. Obviously he is asked to investigate but to complicate matters his history with the little town is spotty at best from a murder that took place in his youth. These two events really drive the two timelines that this story follows which nicely depicts rural Australian life. Basically, it's an Aussie whodunit and it is bloody good mate - she'll be right! Recommended!

All of Us are Dead

Korean High School zombies!

All of Us are Dead (Season 1)

Ah, another zombie series - but this one starts at a high school, and what better way to showcase that than to put a huge emphasis on bullying? Yes, you will absolutely hate some people in this currently one season show but that makes it all the better as students band together to try to survive. The high death count is nice, and while the zombies are almost just "guys and gals with ketchup" the vast majority of them are athletic and nimble which makes for excellent physical action pieces that you can only get with this running type of zombie. There's also a unique trait for the zeds I won't spoil here, but it really clinches the show into a winner for me. Recommended! Not sure if there'll be a season two, but I'll definitely watch it if they make it!

Exception and Sweet Home

Two first season horrors!

Exception

In this CGI animated series, the copies of five specialists are "printed" on an advance ship (which goes so fast that no life form can survive that journey) to begin terraforming a planet for a colony vessel that will arrive in a hundred years or so. Issues arise when crewman #5 is misprinted into a monster, and that the ship's printer won't let them print "weapons". While the horror here is less jump scares and more cranial, there are some really fantastic and philosophical ideas in this series too. The art is... a different style with very angular characters but it can be overlooked. Story wise it starts off very strong but it does feel that the season could have been shortened, or did something else towards the end where it wobbles a little. Recommended if you are in the mood for something different.

Sweet Home (Season 1)

This Korean horror focuses on an all-in-one apartment block that gets locked down when people inexplicably start turning into monsters world wide! It must also be one of the few times that I was actively rooting for the monsters to kill all the moronic, scummy and worthless humans for at least the first half of the season. That's actually my main problem with it, it takes that long to find someone to get behind as the main protagonist is one of the most unlikable wooden person (probably by design) through out all of it. The show does better when he isn't on screen! Isn't that a problem? Lucky the story is entertaining enough to stick with despite the plot going through phases of monsters showing up out of nowhere and difficult to follow action sequences - possibly to try hide their lack of monster budget. The monsters are ok though, really. The story is too. They just need to do something with the protagonist. Surprisingly, I'm still recommending this and am hoping season two can improve some things.

Decluttering Day 12: Old plug-in type vacuum. The stick vacuum replacement is really much better.

Illang: The Wolf Brigade

Live action Jin-Roh.

Set in future Korea, the Public Security Department enact machinations to try and disband an elite and merciless police task force. On the surface, this film has a lot going for it: It's based on a moderately popular anime (Jin-Roh), it has good action scenes, nice sets and costumes, and is quite violent (even if it's not as gory as Jin-Roh). Unfortunately outside of these it is an absolute snooze fest as they lean heavily into the political drama side of things (which to be fair is a criticism I also level at Jin-Roh).

Needs more of these guys in action!

There are many characters you don't end up caring about and long scenes that don't really add anything but running time to the movie, especially traversal scenes near the end. Yes we know where everyone is going, we don't need ten minutes of speechless film showing them get there. This is another case where less is more and unfortunately, this falls into my not worth watching category.

Squid Game (Korean TV Series)

Might make you want to try Squid Game. :P

Drowning in debts and desperate for money, Gi-hun decides to join a mysterious game that involves hundreds of others who are in the same financial situation. To win a massive cash prize, all they have to do is pass six games. The only catch is being eliminated means you die.

There is a lot of elimination.

Backed by a high budget, good acting and a really great script this has easily become one of my favourite series. Obviously this also means there's a fair bit of violence, gore and a high body count but it makes for some excellent viewing. Highly, highly recommended and I would definitely watch all this (currently) one season show again. Four squid games out of five.

The King (2019), Outlaw King & Kingdom (Korean TV Series)

People with heavy heads.

The King (2019) (geez so many movies have this title, putting the year is mandatory!)

Prince Hal (Timothée Chalamet) has no desire to be king or to war with anyone, but despite his best intentions fate has other plans for the young prince. Especially since this is basically a war flick! That said, the story and acting is decent and the fighting scenes are cramped, dirty, messy "do what needs to be done" type which is probably more realistic than flashy displays of swordsmanship.

I'm also glad they didn't try force a love story in there for the sake of it, this way we can just focus on Hal's growth and all the people influencing it. Good movie and one I can recommend. I give it three and a half Dauphins out of five and would probably watch it again.

Outlaw King

The English have all but conquered Scotland as the remaining nobility including Robert the Bruce (Chris Pine) bend the knee to King Edward I. Anyone that knows history though can tell that Robert doesn't bend the knee for long and instigates a rebellion. While the action bits are good and the opening is one of the best I've seen in a while, later cuts are very strange but keep the film moving at a reasonably fast pace.

Not a great title nor promo pic, but an OK movie.

There's a fair bit of singing too as I suppose was the way back then, but there's actually enough to make mention of it. All up this film is better than what I thought it would be but could have been better still. Give it a watch and see if you like it - especially if you've watched Mel Gibson's Braveheart recently. I give it two and a half bogs out of five.

Kingdom (Seasons 1 & 2) & Kingdom: Ashin of the North

During the time of swords and funny hats in South Korea, the cure to "save" / revive their dying king quickly turns into a pandemic... of zombies! This one surprised me in that a) it is a period piece and b) they found a way to make their zombies unique. It also helps that the action scenes are very good and the secondary plot of succession helps move things along when the zombies don't. Definitely recommended for zombie fans to try out!

Ashin of the North is a prequel to the tale, and while it is decent there are more holes in the plot and much fewer zombies. If you enjoyed Kingdom then by all means you should broaden the world building by watching this. Otherwise you can probably skip this and not miss out on much, should a season three ever arrive.

Train to Busan

It's a zombie express!

When a little girl convinces her selfish father to take her to visit her estranged mother via express train, she didn't realize just how traumatic the trip would be. Traumatic and bloody! That's what happens when you put zombies on a train.

Well, this day is going to hell.

This Korean action horror is quite entertaining and does have an interesting version of the infected undead. The main cast do a good job in their albeit stereotypical roles and the camera, stunt work and action bits are quite good. Effects wise is quite passable too.

That leaves the plot, which is predictable and has some holes the size of which people can crawl through - but don't most zombie movies have that? All up I really enjoyed this one and would definitely watch it again. I rate it 4 lemmings out of 5.

Strong Girl Bong-soon

A surprisingly enjoyable show!

I'd never thought I'd blog about a TV show, much less a Korean Romantic Comedy but here we are. At it's heart, despite being about a girl who is desperately trying to hide her super strength from the world, this show is definitely a romance with many minutes spent on gazing. Yes you heard that right. She looks at him, he looks at her. Sometimes, it's even in slow motion. There are also many obvious sponsor shots and blurred out tags post production and some of the humor is very stupid.

Yet despite all of that, this 16 episode series got us hooked easily with the catchy music, great casting (Park Bo-young is  a very cute protagonist), good plot (though episode 10 drags a little) and high quality production. There's also a surprising amount of eating in each episode, each of which are over an hour long.

She doesn't need a super hero outfit.

Best of all, there's a decent villain who keeps things interesting which was a very good surprise given theme of the show. I give this 4 noodles out of 5 and can easily recommend it to anyone who likes rom-coms or simply want to try something different, as long as you keep the expectation that this is a drama rather than an action show.

Today I Smiled: Winter Olympics 2018

Taking a break from the Direbug Saga today to give a nod to the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics which has proved to be very entertaining. :)

My personal faves were: Chloe Kim's amazing halfpipe run, Ester Ledecka's unexpected Super G win, the pairs free skate (Germany starts at 12:54) and Javier Fernandez's silly Gala performance.

Aljona was flying!

I'm not sure if those links will work for everyone, but just in case they don't I looked for more so people wouldn't be left out in the cold.

Since I'm very into figure skating, here is the Alina Zagitova in practice, a tribute to Canada's Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue (20 years of pairs ice dancing), and Evgenia Medvedeva as Sailor Moon (not performed in these Olympics, but still cooky. Volume warning)

Didn't get to see much curling which is a shame, but watching the final shots for the men's tournament was great. Just for kicks I've also been ranking the Google Doodles during the Olympics (because I'm an animator too sometimes) and here are the results:

Rank 6
Rank 5
Rank 4
Bronze Medal
Silver Medal
Gold Medal

Also interesting that there are a few things not allowed or simply missing from the games. Lastly, for those who need that "Olympic" itch scratched - have no fear, the Marbelympics are free to watch on Youtube! Enjoy! :)

Snowpiercer

Even at the end of the world, everyone has their place.

The world has frozen over, and the last remnants of humanity are aboard a super long and advanced train (the titular "Snowpiercer") which circumnavigates the globe. The main problem is that while the front of the train is full of luxury and the upper class, all those crammed in the tail end of the train are treated as third world garbage. As with most oppressed people this is the tale of their revolt, to be more than what they are.

This is one crowded train.

Led by Captain America Chris Evans, this is a fascinating movie that had my full attention at all times. The acting across the board is also surprisingly good as are the action scenes which complement the crazy "world" that is the train. I'm not going to spoil any more of it for you so I'll simply say - watch this movie. I found its mix of action and drama to be really good, and highly recommend it to everyone. Just be sure you watch with subtitles for the few but important korean speaking bits.

I'd eagerly watch this again at the drop of a hat, and give it four doors out of five.

For the Emperor

It's like a Korean, live-action version of Gungrave sans guns, coolness, and zombies.

A somewhat skilled baseball player with a lust for money is caught match fixing and soon is hired by a mafia type boss to be one of his enforcers. He quickly rises through the ranks to try reach his own ambition. Now is a good time to mention that this is a very violent movie. Most of the first five minutes is a stab fest where people are knifing each other, which brings me to an interesting point: no one in this film -including the police- uses guns, preferring to instead use clubs or knives. Maybe that's how it is in Korea? I wouldn't know.

Sub-titled title?

This is also the first movie where in no main character is part of the police force, yet the police utterly kick ass when they are brought in. They don't even need to fight, and I found their use very clever as the main players all try back stab (literally) each other. There's also a number of sex scenes and nudity that are there to showcase Lee Tae-im's hotness.


On the downside, there are a few shots that linger a bit too long on the main character and the story telling itself is a bit of a knot in places. The fighting is also more brawling than anything else, and the "boss" battles are pretty average. I suppose the main issue though is it doesn't really leave much of an impact and is a bit ho hum at the end. All up I give this two knives out of five and while I would watch it again, I'm not sure who I'd actually recommend it to. :P