Gangsters, Neuroscientists, and Basketball
I finally got around to watching Rough Cut, which has been sitting on my hard drive since the beginning of the year, I think. Mostly that is thanks to dangermousie for announcing her opinion on her journal last week. Apparently all the awards the film received (and Kang Ji Hwan's face) weren't enough to convince me. I've been burned too many time, but it my own damn fault. I watch movies and specials with actors I like before things that are probably better quality.
Rough Cut was an interesting movie, not exactly the genre I normally seek out (noir/action?), but I never that picky when it comes to stuff like that. The basic plot is Kang Ji Hwan is kind of an asshole actor who has sent his past two costars to the hospital after beating them. No one wants to work with his, so he get's So Ji Sub to step in. The only catch is that So Ji Sub wants all the fighting to be real, no pulled punches. So, people tend to get their ass kicked in this movie.
I viewed it as more of a character study than anything else (the sub plot with the gangsters was kind of a snorefest for me, but it set up the ending, so there you have it). Because, while both leads are violent, and share many similarities, they actually couldn't be more different. They both have many dimensions to their personalities, both hard and soft, but in the end the fact that one is an actor and the other is a gangster is undeniable.
I need more Kang Ji Hwan on my journal, like NOW.
The subs for the last two episodes of MR BRAIN came out (FINALLY) and they were goofy, fun procedurals just like the rest of the show. I did enjoy this series, but I never thought it lived up to its potential. They tried to pull it together in the end, with the conspiracy they eluded to in the beginning, but by then it was too late for me. I didn't really remember what the bent cop had done in the first episode and I had been hoping they'd deal with that throughout the run of the series. And, like scanky_chops mentioned, what about the woman Tsukumo met right before his accident? Tie those loose ends please.
So, I stopped looking for anything spectacular and enjoyed the ride and Kimura's hair.
I was glad for the return of kinda-sexy bent cop. It would have been nice to learn SOMETHING about him though, besides his love for hard candy.
I found it amusing that after he was caught in the middle of an explosion, Hiro made it out practically unscathed besides a broken leg and a few well placed bruises. No facial scaring for the pretty boy!
One of my favorite bits was when Tsukumo gets a cell phone and the senior detective asks him for his number... so Tsukumo writes it on the back of his shirt because he didn't have any paper.
Retrieving it later was a little difficult.
So they end the series with Tsukumo letting the bent cop know that he is going to catch him... at whatever it is he wants to do... so they NEVER MAKE THAT CLEAR. And that's the end. Nice closer, MR BRAIN.
Still, it was a cute scene.
Then we get the ending credits, with HIro suddenly deciding to take on some of Tsukumo's traits in his detective work. At least he didn't fall down this time... -_- Worst detective ever. Though, after I just accepted that they allowed someone with -10% toughness on the police force I started to find him sadly amusing.
Everyone back at IPS is also acting goofy. I guess Tsukumo just does that to people.
Last scene of the credits gives us Tsukumo calling a plane hijacker's bluff (because in the universe of MR BRAIN, everyone who lies apparently falls into a stage play and exaggerates their movements. So they end up looking ridiculously obviously to the right and up)
Dawww, oh show.
I kept refreshing the thread on d-addicts for Buzzer Beat all day because the first set of subs came out last Sunday so they HAD to come out this Sunday. AND THEY DID. I was so happy. I liked this episode a million times more than the pilot (probably because it is freshest in my memory). This whol show is so cute.
Pi and Keiko are kind of adorable together as Naoki and Riko. I am excited for them to get closer, but for now their light little friendship is pretty sweet. She's going to be his first fan! Dawww.
That's her friend in the background wondering why she is sharing her family's financial situation with a stranger. I don't think Riko thinks about those things. She was just sharing her trials and tribulations as a violinist.
Naoki's current girlfriend is played by Aibu Saki, whom I think has just gotten prettier. Maybe it's the longer hair? Anyway, she just slept with his rival on the basketball team, because she's secretly a bad girl who smokes cigarettes. That must be an interesting change of pace for her from her roles in Utahime and Zettai Kareshi!
To her credit (?) she does keep turning down the other guy when he calls her, but she obviously not really feeling her relationship with Naoki. She asks for a second goodnight kiss and gets this:
This is her reaction:
Naoki: YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
Then take Riko and Naoki's coach. He kind of fell in love with her at first sight, because she's a total doll. They are pretty cute together drawing treble clefs and sewing on suit buttons.
Plus, when he kisses her:
We get this reaction:
I've never seen Keiko is anything else (I may at some point watch the live action Sailor Moon, I just don't know when. The episode amount scares me a little. I'm finding the 20 episodes of Painter of the Wind a little daunting at this point), but I think she's doing a great job here. The entire drama is pretty light and fun and she's pretty much my favorite character. She's pulling some pretty great faces.
It's also nice to see Yamapi in such a cute, fun role. Kurosagi is great, but how much of a downer was Kurosaki? Even Ken in ProDai was kind of a sad sack. I only watched the first episode of Code Blue, but Aizawa was kind of a tool from what I could tell.
Also, WHAT'S WITH ALL THE KISSING IN THIS DRAMA? I mean damn! There were four kisses in two seperate scenes. That just doesn't happen. The fanservice is a little ridiculous. Only the boys have been subjected to it though.
I actually laughed out loud at that bath scene. I mean really. I guess they know who their audience is? XD
One of the best scenes from this episode is when Riko goes to the practice game that the coach invites her to. Naoki is on the bench at the beginning, because he's in a basketball funk. She doesn't understand, because from what she has seen (on the neighborhood court where they met) he's pretty good. So, when he finally gets to play, and subsequently SUCKS, she yells at him about it inbetween free throws.
She tells him to snap out of it, to the confusion of EVERYONE else.
But oh, what a surprise. It works! He scores the second free throw and goes on to win the game.
Kind of horrified at herself, RIko makes a hasty exit.
Keiko pulls some pretty funny faces...
Naoki actually goes looking for her after the game, disappointed that she left, to the confusion of his girlfriend. They finally meet up at the neighborhood court and introduce themselves properly.
I really hope they can keep up the level of cute here, it's really refreshing. And I pretty much like every character, even Aibu Saki's "evil" girlfriend character, because, come on, how can you not love the sugar sweet cheerleader who smiles to your face and then turns the corner to grab a smoke. It's so Snidely Whiplash, I hope she gets super evil.
Also, the basketball uniforms the team wears are possibly the worst in creation. You be the judge.
I like how Pi is pretty much shorter then everyone else on the team, and yet he gets the Air Jordan freeze frame in the opening credits. It's HILARIOUS.
L.O.L.
Question for those of you who have seen Painter of the Wind (this may just be sailorgaia and darkeyedwolf): The subs I have for this are kind of awful. It's like they combined three different translations of a line for everything each character says, so I know I am missing some things. Or maybe I'm just not quick enough, this is totally a possibility. I just finished episode 9 and I can not for the life of me understand why the Dowager Queen and her political lackeys don't want the King to appoint a portrait artist. What is the deal?
Rough Cut was an interesting movie, not exactly the genre I normally seek out (noir/action?), but I never that picky when it comes to stuff like that. The basic plot is Kang Ji Hwan is kind of an asshole actor who has sent his past two costars to the hospital after beating them. No one wants to work with his, so he get's So Ji Sub to step in. The only catch is that So Ji Sub wants all the fighting to be real, no pulled punches. So, people tend to get their ass kicked in this movie.
I viewed it as more of a character study than anything else (the sub plot with the gangsters was kind of a snorefest for me, but it set up the ending, so there you have it). Because, while both leads are violent, and share many similarities, they actually couldn't be more different. They both have many dimensions to their personalities, both hard and soft, but in the end the fact that one is an actor and the other is a gangster is undeniable.
I need more Kang Ji Hwan on my journal, like NOW.
The subs for the last two episodes of MR BRAIN came out (FINALLY) and they were goofy, fun procedurals just like the rest of the show. I did enjoy this series, but I never thought it lived up to its potential. They tried to pull it together in the end, with the conspiracy they eluded to in the beginning, but by then it was too late for me. I didn't really remember what the bent cop had done in the first episode and I had been hoping they'd deal with that throughout the run of the series. And, like scanky_chops mentioned, what about the woman Tsukumo met right before his accident? Tie those loose ends please.
So, I stopped looking for anything spectacular and enjoyed the ride and Kimura's hair.
I was glad for the return of kinda-sexy bent cop. It would have been nice to learn SOMETHING about him though, besides his love for hard candy.
I found it amusing that after he was caught in the middle of an explosion, Hiro made it out practically unscathed besides a broken leg and a few well placed bruises. No facial scaring for the pretty boy!
One of my favorite bits was when Tsukumo gets a cell phone and the senior detective asks him for his number... so Tsukumo writes it on the back of his shirt because he didn't have any paper.
Retrieving it later was a little difficult.
So they end the series with Tsukumo letting the bent cop know that he is going to catch him... at whatever it is he wants to do... so they NEVER MAKE THAT CLEAR. And that's the end. Nice closer, MR BRAIN.
Still, it was a cute scene.
Then we get the ending credits, with HIro suddenly deciding to take on some of Tsukumo's traits in his detective work. At least he didn't fall down this time... -_- Worst detective ever. Though, after I just accepted that they allowed someone with -10% toughness on the police force I started to find him sadly amusing.
Everyone back at IPS is also acting goofy. I guess Tsukumo just does that to people.
Last scene of the credits gives us Tsukumo calling a plane hijacker's bluff (because in the universe of MR BRAIN, everyone who lies apparently falls into a stage play and exaggerates their movements. So they end up looking ridiculously obviously to the right and up)
Dawww, oh show.
I kept refreshing the thread on d-addicts for Buzzer Beat all day because the first set of subs came out last Sunday so they HAD to come out this Sunday. AND THEY DID. I was so happy. I liked this episode a million times more than the pilot (probably because it is freshest in my memory). This whol show is so cute.
Pi and Keiko are kind of adorable together as Naoki and Riko. I am excited for them to get closer, but for now their light little friendship is pretty sweet. She's going to be his first fan! Dawww.
That's her friend in the background wondering why she is sharing her family's financial situation with a stranger. I don't think Riko thinks about those things. She was just sharing her trials and tribulations as a violinist.
Naoki's current girlfriend is played by Aibu Saki, whom I think has just gotten prettier. Maybe it's the longer hair? Anyway, she just slept with his rival on the basketball team, because she's secretly a bad girl who smokes cigarettes. That must be an interesting change of pace for her from her roles in Utahime and Zettai Kareshi!
To her credit (?) she does keep turning down the other guy when he calls her, but she obviously not really feeling her relationship with Naoki. She asks for a second goodnight kiss and gets this:
This is her reaction:
Naoki: YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
Then take Riko and Naoki's coach. He kind of fell in love with her at first sight, because she's a total doll. They are pretty cute together drawing treble clefs and sewing on suit buttons.
Plus, when he kisses her:
We get this reaction:
I've never seen Keiko is anything else (I may at some point watch the live action Sailor Moon, I just don't know when. The episode amount scares me a little. I'm finding the 20 episodes of Painter of the Wind a little daunting at this point), but I think she's doing a great job here. The entire drama is pretty light and fun and she's pretty much my favorite character. She's pulling some pretty great faces.
It's also nice to see Yamapi in such a cute, fun role. Kurosagi is great, but how much of a downer was Kurosaki? Even Ken in ProDai was kind of a sad sack. I only watched the first episode of Code Blue, but Aizawa was kind of a tool from what I could tell.
Also, WHAT'S WITH ALL THE KISSING IN THIS DRAMA? I mean damn! There were four kisses in two seperate scenes. That just doesn't happen. The fanservice is a little ridiculous. Only the boys have been subjected to it though.
I actually laughed out loud at that bath scene. I mean really. I guess they know who their audience is? XD
One of the best scenes from this episode is when Riko goes to the practice game that the coach invites her to. Naoki is on the bench at the beginning, because he's in a basketball funk. She doesn't understand, because from what she has seen (on the neighborhood court where they met) he's pretty good. So, when he finally gets to play, and subsequently SUCKS, she yells at him about it inbetween free throws.
She tells him to snap out of it, to the confusion of EVERYONE else.
But oh, what a surprise. It works! He scores the second free throw and goes on to win the game.
Kind of horrified at herself, RIko makes a hasty exit.
Keiko pulls some pretty funny faces...
Naoki actually goes looking for her after the game, disappointed that she left, to the confusion of his girlfriend. They finally meet up at the neighborhood court and introduce themselves properly.
I really hope they can keep up the level of cute here, it's really refreshing. And I pretty much like every character, even Aibu Saki's "evil" girlfriend character, because, come on, how can you not love the sugar sweet cheerleader who smiles to your face and then turns the corner to grab a smoke. It's so Snidely Whiplash, I hope she gets super evil.
Also, the basketball uniforms the team wears are possibly the worst in creation. You be the judge.
I like how Pi is pretty much shorter then everyone else on the team, and yet he gets the Air Jordan freeze frame in the opening credits. It's HILARIOUS.
L.O.L.
Question for those of you who have seen Painter of the Wind (this may just be sailorgaia and darkeyedwolf): The subs I have for this are kind of awful. It's like they combined three different translations of a line for everything each character says, so I know I am missing some things. Or maybe I'm just not quick enough, this is totally a possibility. I just finished episode 9 and I can not for the life of me understand why the Dowager Queen and her political lackeys don't want the King to appoint a portrait artist. What is the deal?