At the Moment
Let me see if I can remember all the movies I watched recently.
In no particular order:
* The Gray Man - About Cap. America beating up on a spy. I kept having to be told Ryan Gossling (sp?) is in it. He's so bland to me that I can't even remember him (or how to spell his name). Good action scenes, but too long and not very good story.
* Barbie - Speaking of Ryan Gossling (sp?). I was reading some comment (not necessarily about this movie) about recent feminist movies where they're less fun and more about "you as the audience must love this movie or you're a misogynist". It made me think of this movie. It's very superficially feminist, where it touts all the (I thought) well-known ideas of feminism and expect people to go "oh wow, that's deep. I never thought of that before!". There's also the feeling that, if I disliked this movie, I would automatically be labeled a misogynist. But maybe that's the general feeling I get out of the internet these days. There's very little room for disagreement before you're bashed for something.
* The Covenant - Guy Ritchi's Extraction? Not terrible movie, actually. A very long portion detailing my struggles: dealing with the USCIS. I feel you, Jake Gyllenthal (sp?).
* The Greatest Showman - Probably the greatest movie I watched in recent memory! It looks great, the songs are catchy, and I like Hugh Jackman, Zendaya (sp?), White Michelle Williams.
* The Hunger Games: Song of ___ and Snakes - sorry, I already sort of forgot the title of this movie. I'm inclined to say Song of Songbirds and Snakes but I can't be sure because Song of Songbirds? That sounds really clumsy. Maybe it's Ballad of Birds and Snakes? Anyways, not a terrible story about ML who is not trying to be bad, but turns out being bad anyways. I can see what it's trying to do. But so very long and not well executed. I also hate scream-singing.
* Oppenheimer - So long. Kind of okay. But too long.
* Napoleon - Also so long. But nice visuals (better than Oppenheimer, IMHO, which people were raving about in terms of visuals). Makes me want to read Napoleon's Wikipedia and/or play Civ.
* Eurotrip - Ah, back in the days when movies were short. It's a teen movie of the early 2000s where the humor is crude and not entirely PC. But pretty amusing.
* Lilo and Stitch - Finally got around to watching it and it's not terrible.
* Rebel Moon (part 1) - A very Star Wars not a Star Wars story. Feels very derivative, but whatever.
* That movie about Magneto trying to assassinate people and littering the world with his assassination crap. I can't remember the name of it at all.
* That movie about Some Guy trying to save a bunch of Asians. If Some Guy wasn't black, he'd be a literal White Savior.
Did I miss anything? Probably, because I feel like we watched a lot of movies recently and not all of them are memorable/good.
I watched this drama fairly fast since it's a nice short 10 episode drama at about 45 minutes each episode. Each episode focuses on a love story and it's sort of interconnected since it takes place in the same universe with some overlapping characters/events. So I'll go episode by episode.
1. Reality Dating Show
Hsia Wei Ting, played by Gingle Wang (Detention, On Children, Light the Night, Till We Meet Again, The Outsiders, Marry My Dead Body), joins the reality show, New Tenants, in the hopes of "finding love". In reality, she, like the other three contestants on the reality show, are just trying to find fame. The only doofuses trying to find love are Chang Yung, played by Berant Zhu (Danger Zone: The Dark Night), and Joe, played by J.C. Lin (The World Between Us, Someday or One Day (movie), Light the Night, Shards of Her, What the Hell Is Love, Moneyboys, Terrorizers). Will anyone actually find love on a reality show?
It's kind of a cute story and setup and the characters are likable. I give it an 8/10.
2. The Night in Question
Deaf guy Chen Chun Pin, played by Terrance Lau (Leap Day), has one chance of finding "love" with his regular masseuse only to find that she had been replaced by Yang Chien Chien, played by Puff Kuo (Miss Rose, Fabulous Boys, Bloody Romance, Lost Romance, Falling Into You, Light the Night, Shards of Her). The two of them spend a crazy night together running from the police and Chien Chien's deadbeat ex-husband.
That's what she said.
It's a very standard, predictable romance about two people on the margins of society finding each other. Don't get me wrong, it's cute and I like Puff Kuo. But there's nothing special here. Unsurprisingly, people on MDL loves this episode. For me, it's just 6/10.
3. The Color of You
Two people fall in love after livestreamer Wang Pao Lin, played by Lulu, pulls a "social experiment" prank on Hsu Pei Ming, played by Austin Lin (At Cafe 6, To My 19-Year-Old Self, Sweet Alibis, I Will Never Let You Go, Tears on Fire, I WeirDo, Light the Night, My Best Friend's Breakfast, Mom Don't Do That!, Terrorizers, Marry My Dead Body). Turns out, both people are lying about something in this relationship.
Fairly interesting premise with an open ending. I would probably rate it slightly higher if Episode 10 didn't give us a definitive ending. 7/10.
4. From Beyond the Stars
Yao Chih Hsuan, played by Nikki Hsieh (It Started With a Kiss, The Crossing Hero, Meet Me @1006, Light the Night, I WeirDo), believes she time traveled from the past into the future. She befriends her neighbor, Lin Yu Te, played by Zhang Guang Chen (Someday or One Day (drama and movie), Light the Night), who tells her he's an alien (the outer space kind, not the immigrant kind). Romance happens.
The twists ends up being the sort of cringy "break someone's heart for their own good" type of story, but both characters are charming and likable that I can overlook it. Story is also told in a quirky, cute way. 7/10.
5. The Perfect Dodgeball Game
"A bunch of us guys are gonna sit around in our underwear and watch the football game and drink beer and eat chips and, you know, maybe wrestle with each other a little, you know, just us guys."
Ko Chia Hao, played by Johnny Yang (Bromance), is a gay man that has been living his life dodging questions about his sexuality and pretending to be straight. He meets Huang Shao Kuang, played by Derek Chang (Light the Night, Oh No! Here Comes Trouble), a new intern at his work and falls in love with him.
I like this story a good amount, since it's less about romance and more about finding acceptance and friendship. 8.5/10.
6. Something Old
Such Taiwanese problems.
Due to pandemic reasons, Fang Jo Nan, played by Vivian Sung (Our Times, Cafe, Waiting, Love, Lost Romance, Till We Meet Again, Oh No! Here Comes Trouble), has to stay with her ex-boyfriend, Joe (the same Joe from Episode 1). Why did they break up in the first place and will they get back together?
The answer ought to be obvious.
This story reminds me of 500 Days of Summer, where the ML Is very in love with FL. As the story progresses, he does insane things to win FL's heart but is in reality fairly creepy. That's not a terrible concept, but I feel like this episode goes nowhere. ML and FL begins and ends with no growth and no story progression. Probably the only good thing (asides from cast) is the wordplay in the title ("Joe" is a homophone for "old" in Mandarin). 3/10.
7. The Promise of Karuizawa
Chang Wei Hsi, played by Dee Hsu (Meteor Garden), and Chao Ting Yu, played by Chris Wu (The Crossing Hero, Love of Sandstorm, On Children, The 9th Precinct, The World Between Us, The Making of an Ordinary Woman, Light the Night, I Missed You, Mom Don't Do That!, Shards of Her, Copycat Killer), find out that their respective spouses are cheating on them with each other. They decided to cheat on them with each other, too. There's probably a way I could have written that to be less confusing-sounding.
In any event, I don't feel there's any logic or chemistry in their relationship, so it was a pretty boring watch. 2/10.
8. Head of the Family
Tseng Wan Yu, played by Esther Liu (Chinese Paladin, Meet Me @ 1006, Light the Night, My Best Friend's Breakfast), thought her husband was depressed. Turns out, Su Pai Jui, played by Xiu Jie Kai (Mars, They Kiss Again, Black and White, K.O. 3an Guo, Absolute Boyfriend, Light the Night), just hates his office job. When the pandemic hits and he has to work from home, he relishes doing housework. When he is laid off from work, husband and wife switch roles with Wan Yu going off to work while he stays home to take care of the kids and cook. Conflict happens when Wan Yu's mother comes to stay over.
It's a very cute story with a wholesome relationship and watching it makes me smile. 9/10.
9. The Ghost in Your Heart
Lo Hsin Lan, played by Ruby Lin (Princess Returning Pearl, The Duke of Mount Deer, The Victim's Game, Light the Night, Copycat Killer), used to like Ting Chih Chieh, played by Lin Xi Lei, but ends up marrying someone else because she can't bear the thought of what everyone else would think of her if she came out of the closet. After her husband dies, Hsin Lan and Chih Chieh reunite.
Internet loves Taiwanese BL dramas, so it's nice to give GL some love too. I also like young Chih Chieh. 7/10.
10. Based on True Events
A story about a problematic romance between boss and employee. Boss Chou Li Wen is played by Alyssa Chia (Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber (2002), The World Between Us, Nowhere Man, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, Mom Don't Do That!, Shards of Her). Employee Wang Ko Chieh is played by Tseng Jing Hua (Detention, The Victim's Game, Danger Zone: The Dark Night, Light the Night, Oh No! Here Comes Trouble, Your Name Engraved Herein). Ko Chieh comes off as icky to me, yet portrayed in a positive light.
The only good thing going for this episode is that it showed updates on the couples from the other episodes. Even then, I don't like how most of them got together in the end. 3/10.
There's a line at the end of the drama that these stories are "based on true events". I'm guessing it's more of a reference to what characters said in Episode 10 than the fact that they're actually based on true events. At one point, Ko Cheh, in talking about reality television, mentioned how they're more like fictions "based on true events". But I think people are taking that literally and thinking these stories are actually based on true events.
Overall, I enjoyed watching this drama a good deal. As with all short stories, it's a mixed bag of excellent, average, and bad. But I feel the excellent outweighs the bad. It also has a good soundtrack:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2duBYpXEadjymnt2cBLUkY
In no particular order:
* The Gray Man - About Cap. America beating up on a spy. I kept having to be told Ryan Gossling (sp?) is in it. He's so bland to me that I can't even remember him (or how to spell his name). Good action scenes, but too long and not very good story.
* Barbie - Speaking of Ryan Gossling (sp?). I was reading some comment (not necessarily about this movie) about recent feminist movies where they're less fun and more about "you as the audience must love this movie or you're a misogynist". It made me think of this movie. It's very superficially feminist, where it touts all the (I thought) well-known ideas of feminism and expect people to go "oh wow, that's deep. I never thought of that before!". There's also the feeling that, if I disliked this movie, I would automatically be labeled a misogynist. But maybe that's the general feeling I get out of the internet these days. There's very little room for disagreement before you're bashed for something.
* The Covenant - Guy Ritchi's Extraction? Not terrible movie, actually. A very long portion detailing my struggles: dealing with the USCIS. I feel you, Jake Gyllenthal (sp?).
* The Greatest Showman - Probably the greatest movie I watched in recent memory! It looks great, the songs are catchy, and I like Hugh Jackman, Zendaya (sp?), White Michelle Williams.
* The Hunger Games: Song of ___ and Snakes - sorry, I already sort of forgot the title of this movie. I'm inclined to say Song of Songbirds and Snakes but I can't be sure because Song of Songbirds? That sounds really clumsy. Maybe it's Ballad of Birds and Snakes? Anyways, not a terrible story about ML who is not trying to be bad, but turns out being bad anyways. I can see what it's trying to do. But so very long and not well executed. I also hate scream-singing.
* Oppenheimer - So long. Kind of okay. But too long.
* Napoleon - Also so long. But nice visuals (better than Oppenheimer, IMHO, which people were raving about in terms of visuals). Makes me want to read Napoleon's Wikipedia and/or play Civ.
* Eurotrip - Ah, back in the days when movies were short. It's a teen movie of the early 2000s where the humor is crude and not entirely PC. But pretty amusing.
* Lilo and Stitch - Finally got around to watching it and it's not terrible.
* Rebel Moon (part 1) - A very Star Wars not a Star Wars story. Feels very derivative, but whatever.
* That movie about Magneto trying to assassinate people and littering the world with his assassination crap. I can't remember the name of it at all.
* That movie about Some Guy trying to save a bunch of Asians. If Some Guy wasn't black, he'd be a literal White Savior.
Did I miss anything? Probably, because I feel like we watched a lot of movies recently and not all of them are memorable/good.
I watched this drama fairly fast since it's a nice short 10 episode drama at about 45 minutes each episode. Each episode focuses on a love story and it's sort of interconnected since it takes place in the same universe with some overlapping characters/events. So I'll go episode by episode.
1. Reality Dating Show
Hsia Wei Ting, played by Gingle Wang (Detention, On Children, Light the Night, Till We Meet Again, The Outsiders, Marry My Dead Body), joins the reality show, New Tenants, in the hopes of "finding love". In reality, she, like the other three contestants on the reality show, are just trying to find fame. The only doofuses trying to find love are Chang Yung, played by Berant Zhu (Danger Zone: The Dark Night), and Joe, played by J.C. Lin (The World Between Us, Someday or One Day (movie), Light the Night, Shards of Her, What the Hell Is Love, Moneyboys, Terrorizers). Will anyone actually find love on a reality show?
It's kind of a cute story and setup and the characters are likable. I give it an 8/10.
2. The Night in Question
Deaf guy Chen Chun Pin, played by Terrance Lau (Leap Day), has one chance of finding "love" with his regular masseuse only to find that she had been replaced by Yang Chien Chien, played by Puff Kuo (Miss Rose, Fabulous Boys, Bloody Romance, Lost Romance, Falling Into You, Light the Night, Shards of Her). The two of them spend a crazy night together running from the police and Chien Chien's deadbeat ex-husband.
That's what she said.
It's a very standard, predictable romance about two people on the margins of society finding each other. Don't get me wrong, it's cute and I like Puff Kuo. But there's nothing special here. Unsurprisingly, people on MDL loves this episode. For me, it's just 6/10.
3. The Color of You
Two people fall in love after livestreamer Wang Pao Lin, played by Lulu, pulls a "social experiment" prank on Hsu Pei Ming, played by Austin Lin (At Cafe 6, To My 19-Year-Old Self, Sweet Alibis, I Will Never Let You Go, Tears on Fire, I WeirDo, Light the Night, My Best Friend's Breakfast, Mom Don't Do That!, Terrorizers, Marry My Dead Body). Turns out, both people are lying about something in this relationship.
Fairly interesting premise with an open ending. I would probably rate it slightly higher if Episode 10 didn't give us a definitive ending. 7/10.
4. From Beyond the Stars
Yao Chih Hsuan, played by Nikki Hsieh (It Started With a Kiss, The Crossing Hero, Meet Me @1006, Light the Night, I WeirDo), believes she time traveled from the past into the future. She befriends her neighbor, Lin Yu Te, played by Zhang Guang Chen (Someday or One Day (drama and movie), Light the Night), who tells her he's an alien (the outer space kind, not the immigrant kind). Romance happens.
The twists ends up being the sort of cringy "break someone's heart for their own good" type of story, but both characters are charming and likable that I can overlook it. Story is also told in a quirky, cute way. 7/10.
5. The Perfect Dodgeball Game
"A bunch of us guys are gonna sit around in our underwear and watch the football game and drink beer and eat chips and, you know, maybe wrestle with each other a little, you know, just us guys."
Ko Chia Hao, played by Johnny Yang (Bromance), is a gay man that has been living his life dodging questions about his sexuality and pretending to be straight. He meets Huang Shao Kuang, played by Derek Chang (Light the Night, Oh No! Here Comes Trouble), a new intern at his work and falls in love with him.
I like this story a good amount, since it's less about romance and more about finding acceptance and friendship. 8.5/10.
6. Something Old
Such Taiwanese problems.
Due to pandemic reasons, Fang Jo Nan, played by Vivian Sung (Our Times, Cafe, Waiting, Love, Lost Romance, Till We Meet Again, Oh No! Here Comes Trouble), has to stay with her ex-boyfriend, Joe (the same Joe from Episode 1). Why did they break up in the first place and will they get back together?
The answer ought to be obvious.
This story reminds me of 500 Days of Summer, where the ML Is very in love with FL. As the story progresses, he does insane things to win FL's heart but is in reality fairly creepy. That's not a terrible concept, but I feel like this episode goes nowhere. ML and FL begins and ends with no growth and no story progression. Probably the only good thing (asides from cast) is the wordplay in the title ("Joe" is a homophone for "old" in Mandarin). 3/10.
7. The Promise of Karuizawa
Chang Wei Hsi, played by Dee Hsu (Meteor Garden), and Chao Ting Yu, played by Chris Wu (The Crossing Hero, Love of Sandstorm, On Children, The 9th Precinct, The World Between Us, The Making of an Ordinary Woman, Light the Night, I Missed You, Mom Don't Do That!, Shards of Her, Copycat Killer), find out that their respective spouses are cheating on them with each other. They decided to cheat on them with each other, too. There's probably a way I could have written that to be less confusing-sounding.
In any event, I don't feel there's any logic or chemistry in their relationship, so it was a pretty boring watch. 2/10.
8. Head of the Family
Tseng Wan Yu, played by Esther Liu (Chinese Paladin, Meet Me @ 1006, Light the Night, My Best Friend's Breakfast), thought her husband was depressed. Turns out, Su Pai Jui, played by Xiu Jie Kai (Mars, They Kiss Again, Black and White, K.O. 3an Guo, Absolute Boyfriend, Light the Night), just hates his office job. When the pandemic hits and he has to work from home, he relishes doing housework. When he is laid off from work, husband and wife switch roles with Wan Yu going off to work while he stays home to take care of the kids and cook. Conflict happens when Wan Yu's mother comes to stay over.
It's a very cute story with a wholesome relationship and watching it makes me smile. 9/10.
9. The Ghost in Your Heart
Lo Hsin Lan, played by Ruby Lin (Princess Returning Pearl, The Duke of Mount Deer, The Victim's Game, Light the Night, Copycat Killer), used to like Ting Chih Chieh, played by Lin Xi Lei, but ends up marrying someone else because she can't bear the thought of what everyone else would think of her if she came out of the closet. After her husband dies, Hsin Lan and Chih Chieh reunite.
Internet loves Taiwanese BL dramas, so it's nice to give GL some love too. I also like young Chih Chieh. 7/10.
10. Based on True Events
A story about a problematic romance between boss and employee. Boss Chou Li Wen is played by Alyssa Chia (Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber (2002), The World Between Us, Nowhere Man, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, Mom Don't Do That!, Shards of Her). Employee Wang Ko Chieh is played by Tseng Jing Hua (Detention, The Victim's Game, Danger Zone: The Dark Night, Light the Night, Oh No! Here Comes Trouble, Your Name Engraved Herein). Ko Chieh comes off as icky to me, yet portrayed in a positive light.
The only good thing going for this episode is that it showed updates on the couples from the other episodes. Even then, I don't like how most of them got together in the end. 3/10.
There's a line at the end of the drama that these stories are "based on true events". I'm guessing it's more of a reference to what characters said in Episode 10 than the fact that they're actually based on true events. At one point, Ko Cheh, in talking about reality television, mentioned how they're more like fictions "based on true events". But I think people are taking that literally and thinking these stories are actually based on true events.
Overall, I enjoyed watching this drama a good deal. As with all short stories, it's a mixed bag of excellent, average, and bad. But I feel the excellent outweighs the bad. It also has a good soundtrack:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2duBYpXEadjymnt2cBLUkY