Bride For Rent (Philippines Movie)

Released Year & Length: 2014 (2 hours)

Main Cast:

Kim Chiu as Racquelita "Rocky" Dela Cruz

Xian Lim as Roderico "Rocco" Espiritu Jr.

Synopsis:

Rocco Espiritu and Rocky Dela Cruz have one thing in common: they are both in need of money, fast. On the eve of his 25th birthday, the day he’s set to receive money from his trust fund, Rocco parties, gets drunk, and loses all his money on a poker match. Now he has to produce the amount, otherwise he will lose the client he needs to defeat his father’s TV commercial production company. Meanwhile, Rocky also needs money to pay the rent, otherwise her family will be homeless.

The only way for Rocco to get money from his trust fund is to fulfill the conditions set by his grandmother and that is to get married. That's when he meets Rocky who agrees to act as his pseudo wife in exchange for a “talent fee.” With Rocco's tempting offer and Rocky's need for money, the two seal the deal.

As Rocky and Rocco go through their married life, problems come one after another thus, they are forced to reconcile their differences and work with each other. However the real complication begins when feelings start to grow between the two of them. Will they be able to make their agreement work or will they be a victim of their own scheme and turn their whole pretense into something real?

My Thoughts:

To end the year of 2016, I present to you my favourite Philippine Movie of All Time. Seriously, I absolutely loved this movie. I will tell you that I have watched this movie many times over and never got bored of it and all its comedy. Yes, it's a comedy movie. The laughs and everything was priceless and incomparable to any other Philippine movie I have watched later. The synopsis is a bit much in explaining the story but don't let that get in the way because the movie is so much more than the synopsis. This movie is what got me into the couple's works because their chemistry is just in sync.

Synopsis analysis I guess, it is a typical plot of two leads from troubling backgrounds who meet and change each other's lives and slowly get to know each other deeper until what started as something pretend ended up as something authentic and genuine. When those feelings start rotting away on one's conscience, someone has to do something about it and not let the pretense drown one's voice. What breaks this movie away from the cliche is how they overcome problems and start getting to know each other and start being comfortable with each other. Their story is something not to be missed because of the touching moments in this story and being a hopeless romantic, I absolutely loved the interactions between these two. Besides, there's more to the story than just them, something to ponder about and strengthen in our lives. Find out more by watching, hehehe...

One thing I have to make note of is the amazing soundtrack of this story. The scenes of this movie is further enriched by the beautiful selection of soundtracks. My emotions is further enhanced listening to the soundtracks even though I don't understand it. It just perfectly settles the mood of the scene and make the story that much more worth watching. I get to enjoy the movie even more. Well, it is just something I have to say and appreciate. XD 

This may be your simple love story but I find the cuteness of their interactions and the humor which this story gives, an  A+. The surprising advances by the characters and how the character changes for the better is what makes this story even better. I hope you will enjoy this story as much as I do! Because this story is so worth the chance of at least to be watched once! Enjoy!

Love In The Moonlight (Korean Drama)

Genre: Romantic-comedy, Historical, Drama, Coming-of-age

Episodes: 18

Main Cast:

Park Bo-Gum as Crown Prince Hyomyeong (Lee Yeong)

Kim You-Jung as Hong Ra On

Jin Young as Kim Yoon Sung

Chae Soo-Bin as Jo Ha Yeon

Synopsis:

Hong Ra-On disguises herself as a man and counsels men on dating. Due to a love letter she wrote for a client, she meets Crown Prince Hyomyeong. Hong Ra-On is unaware that he is the Crown Prince and Hyomyeong is unaware that Hong Ra-On is a woman. The Crown Prince becomes interested in Hong Ra-On. His eunuchs become aware of this and attempt to get Hong Ra-On to become one of them.

My Thoughts:

This was an intricately laid out drama with many twists and turns that I absolutely loved and hated at the same time. Loved because of the depth of emotions laid out in the open by the actors and actresses of this drama, hated because of what it takes in the plot to reach those depths. Anyways, besides those other stuffs, there were genuine funny moments in the story, gag and slapstick comedy that truly gives off a laugh while I was watching it.

This drama came out long ago but I would guess the craze is not over yet. It took 18 hours to finish this and it was not 18 hours of pure enjoyment because there were moments when I truly felt I couldn't finish this drama because I could definitely see where any certain scene will lead to and I don't ever want it to materialize into reality. It did unfortunately but I am glad I persevered to see the ending this story deserves because while watching it, I got some historical information from the comments that definitely scares me due to finding out this story had some adjustments to correspond to history but I was glad that the ending was worth it and they adjusted it to make sense of things.

This story overall was filled with cute romance that is just lovely and beautiful just like anything being shone by the moonlight at night. I enjoyed the story despite the darkness behind some things because of how the main characters brings forth emotions in their relationship and their longing for each other. Seriously, the interactions between the leads once they confirmed their feelings is just to die for and lovely. I could just die at the cuteness of their interactions. Hahahaha.....

This is a drama that must not be missed and has to be in the list of dramas to watch. Besides, it entered the year's list of main actors who dramawatchers' fell in love with in 2016.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Thai Movie)

Other Names: First Love

Released Year And Length: 2010 (2 hours)

Main Cast:

Pimchanok "Baifern" Lerwisetpibol as Nam

Mario Maurer as Chon

Synopsis:

The ordinary 14 year old girl Nam is unattractive or in simple terms...ugly. But she's always been secretly in love with an older guy in grade 10 called Chon, the most popular student in high-school. He's hot, perfect and generous, and that's what makes girls go crazy about him, including Nam too. But she doesn't give up easily. She tries to do everything to make her get noticed by the boy she loves, in the hope of him turning around to look at her just one more time.

My Thoughts:

This movie was pure lovely and relaxing to watch. I don't know whether relaxing is suitable because right now my vocabulary is limited to think of a suitable pair for lovely but damn, this movie was just Thai-like for sure. Thai-like as in teaching its viewers, life lessons and moral values that works because Thais are just great at implementing any human values into their works and it blends perfectly to the story and enliven the story even more. The synopsis is just perfect at explaining the story in a way that intrigues you to see what exactly this girl did to earn the attention of her crush and the funny antics she did in that journey which will surely make for good humor amidst the slow but fluffy flow of the story.

On to the synopsis analysis, the crush in this story is so cute and relate-able to the max because who never had the experience where they liked someone and thinks that they are not really that worth the attention and wants to make a change so that the crush will notice them and finally make their life more beautiful. Because that's just it about this story, it relates the story that most people went through and enriches it with values and comedy. Now, that's a story I want to watch for sure because I understand the character and can empathize with the character and seeing the story makes me want to root for the character as if the character was my friend. And it's not just earning the crush attention at stake here, well, watch the movie to find out what else drives her to work hard.

Expect cute advances and jaw-dropping humor also the amazing things that this girl did, when a character pours so much hardwork, you can't help but be proud of her. This is a cute and lovely movie, worthy of being produced by Thais and fun fact, it is based on a true story and I am serious. Won't it be lovely to watch a movie about a real life person's journey which just proves how relate-able this story is because a single person's story won't be enough to garner attention right? Anyways, enjoy!

Jealousy Incarnate (Korean Drama)

Genre: Romantic Comedy. Drama, Family

Episodes: 24

Main Cast:

Gong Hyo-Jin as Pyo Na Ri

Jo Jung-Seok as Lee Hwa Shin

Go Kyung-Pyo as Go Jung Won

Synopsis:

Weather caster Pyo Na-ri and news anchor Lee Hwa-shin are long-time colleagues at SBC broadcasting station. Na-ri has had a crush on Hwa-shin three years ago but things change when she meets the perfect man Go Jung-won, a chaebol heir and close friend of Hwa-shin.

My Thoughts:

I just barely binge-watched this drama for a few episodes and I'm hooked. The synopsis is so unfitting of the drama itself which is actual reason why I held off watching this drama in the first place but Jo Jung Seok's cameo in LOTBS and the commenters got me into watching this drama finally and glad I did. I do have to mention I have a slight problem getting used to Go Kyung Pyo's character in this drama since in previous works where I seen him, he plays off the funny, goofy and fun character and the image of him is totally opposite and I do have to say gives off a different charm to him in that manner. I'm like finally seriously noticing him when he's all serious like that. 

On to the story, it is seriously comedic, sometimes exaggerated and sometimes plain funny. I just can't hold on my laughter on the plain funny ones and the huh? at the little exaggerated ones, and exaggerated that it's weird. Anyways, the story is plain intriguing and I'm liking how I am always like "Go, Pyo Na Ri, go!", I am seriously rooting for this character who I saw is plainly underrespected and misunderstood and the times when she stood for herself is when I'm feeling super proud and happy. 

There are so many love triangles in this story that I'm enjoying it but there are too many characters that I get lost as they never gave way to truly explaining a character, it made me like I don't care who you are, let's just get on with the story. The ties between each character is still vague at this point and I can't wait under they fully developed each character correctly because though I am blur about the characters, they are slowly revealing layers of the characters which give them a whole outlook and image that I am intrigued to discover more of what's hidden inside.

The romance parts haven't officially started yet and the fun parts are not reached yet based on news I got while this drama was still airing. And I am excited for those to come because the pace is still endurable at this rate and I can't wait until I don't need to endure anymore. But at this point, the cuteness is still so so cute and the whole "I am definitely not in love with her" act is making it more bearable to watch. The little sparks in between scenes is just divine haha.. 

The story is just getting started and I can't wait for it to start. If you haven't watch this drama, then come watch, because it is super worth it. Besides, you can marathon it to the end while waiting for your other dramas to release new episodes like I did. ENJOY!!

Legend Of The Blue Sea (Korean Drama)

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Comedy, Melodrama

Episodes: 20

Main Cast:

Lee Min-Ho as Heo Joon Jae/ Dam Ryung

Gianna Jun as Shim Cheong

Lee Hee-Joon as Jo Nam Doo

Shin Won-Ho  as Tae Oh

Synopsis:

Sometime during August, 1958, newly appointed governor Dam Ryung stays for a night at an inn. During that evening, the owner shows Dam Ryung a captured mermaid named Shim Cheong. Later that night, Dam Ryung releases her into the ocean and, before she swims away, she reaches out her hand to Dam Ryung which he briefly holds.

In the present day, Joon-Jae is a smooth talking conman with magician like abilities. He works with Nam-Doo and Tae-O. For their next score, Joon-Jae impersonates a prosecutor and swindles a large amount of money from a wealthy suspect's mother. Joon-Jae then travels abroad and stays at an oceanside resort. Meanwhile, Shim Cheong is swept up in a tidal wave and washed ashore near the oceanside resort. She sees Joon-Jae.

My Thoughts:

My goodness, this drama is super funny that I laughed so hard. It was so damn enjoyable and the slapstick comedy is to die for. This is a drama to watch for sure. I am still only at episode 4 so I have nothing much to say yet about the plot other than the smooth way they blend comedy into the plot. There are times when the story just needs a break from all the cool and serious stuffs and then includes the comedy factor and sometimes they will input the seriousness that we need. The interchange is clever and well-executed.

I will say one other thing, the actor and actress did a damn fine job to liven up the comedy and I have to say that the actress worked hard to make the show all the more enjoyable. The exaggerated acting was just on point that it was not too much to take in at once. The drama is just getting started and I am expecting a lot for this drama especially since this is a fantasy drama, so anything can happen and variables are everywhere. The potential is endless. I seriously can't wait for the next episode...

May Who? (Thai Movie)

Other Names: May Nai Fai Fang Frer

Released Year and Length: 2015 (2 hours)

Main Cast:

Udomsilp Suthatta as May Nai

Mahayotaruk "Bank" Thiti as Pong

Leeratanakajorn "Tor" Thanapob as Fame

Synopsis:

Pong is a high school geek who belongs to a group of high school outcasts known as the ‘Invisibles’. He enjoys letting his imagination run wild, drawing cartoons of a girl he likes. He doesn’t have the guts to ask her out because she belongs to a more popular clique in school. Pong’s cartoon illustration is the reason he gets to know a schoolmate named May. A nickname, so common for Thai girls that whenever anyone talks about a girl named May, whoever is listening will ask, “May who?”

My Thoughts:

I decided to start with this movie because this was one of the best recent movie that I have watched, recent being last year because this year I have not watched many movies yet. I would say this was practically the funnest movie ever, I literally liked the attention to detail since this movie was taken from a comic so to see them putting comics scenes in respect to the original was amazing and enhance the viewing experience because it is not everyday you get to watch a movie and also a comic at the same time.

This movie was super electric, filled with excitement and action. I liked the way the movie flowed that the comedy of it was funny and the sentimental parts are sad. The story was amazingly executed where I did not get bored for even a single minute. Fantastic and a movie to watch for sure. Don't miss it.

Super Star Academy 1 (Chinese Drama)

 

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Friendship, Youth

Episodes: 30

Main Cast:

Xiao Zhan as Fang Tian Ze

Wang Yu Wen as Cheng Zhi Er

Bai Shu as Wan Shi Cun

Xu Xiao Lu as Huo Bei Bei

Wu Jia Cheng as Shen Hao

Peng Chu Yue as Li Ya Dang

Synopsis:

In a parallel world, Super Star Academy ranks people based on one's horoscope sign. Cheng Zhi Er, who has been bullied all her life, was suddenly recruited for enrollment at this academy. Her own supernatural power is slowly awakened and thus begins her new life with the heirs in this parallel world.

My Thoughts;

This kinda reminded me of an anime I watched a long time ago, the whole school for the extraordinary hidden from the outside world and the lead girl who finds out she had had powers her whole life and begins a journey of self-discovering with a tinge of romance on the side as desserts. Anyways, the whole concept was creative and they even indirectly paralleled the thoughts of our original 12 Horoscopes with the 13th one not being very welcomed. You'll see how they envisioned the whole thing, it was innovative and excellent. 

I am Aries and truth be told, I am sad that they envisioned Aries as just someone who can run fast and sentimentally emotional though the latter may be true. Still, when I see all these cool powers the other horoscopes had, the character who was Aries paled in comparison. Anyways, if you're not Aries, you may be happy with how cool they envisioned the powers of your horoscope! 

One thing about this drama is that the actors and actresses are all newbies, rookies or debuting idols. But, they were very professional with the job in hand as I did not saw an awkwardness in their acting (maybe some) that could dull the drama at all. They executed it well and to that, I offer tons of claps. Since that is so, I included besides the main leads, four supporting characters up there to support them and hopefully they will make it big.

Okay moving on to the story itself, the comedy is so obviously funny that I die or had to pause the video for a while to laugh for a while. The inside jokes and everything. They are just too funny and the blatant advertising, I died for a moment. The romance itself was cool, not so much angst or internal conflict... just the mundane externals. They saw, they fell, they meet, they date..... Anyways, their interactions are interesting. I love that the female lead did not lose herself in this foreign world and remained true to herself. She really shines from the crowd. By the way, the comedy gets better the further you get into the series (damn.. I'm smiling right now just thinking about it) 

This drama is also great in the way that it put forth tons of variables making it possible to have anything to happen because I thought one is subjected to a fate and they can't change it. The possibilities are endless in the story and that's what makes it more exciting to watch. The drama editors are bad with cliffhangers but my last episode was on the 19th and this time they created a cliffhanger for sure. I really want to watch the next episode but currently, I have some research to do before I get to it. Did I mentioned that the episodes are 20-minutes long at most, that allowed to marathon it all the way to episode 19 within a day because I want to know more and more. 

Final words, come and join me while we wait for it to subbed till the final episode which would probably be by next week!!! It is a super fun and if you've have read me for some time, you would know that I really love fantasy stories and this truly is one to watch! =)

Rosy Lovers (Korean Drama)

Genre: Romance, Family, Comedy, Drama

Episodes: 52

Main Cast:

Lee Jang-Woo as Park Cha-dol

Han Sun-Hwa as Baek Jang-mi

Synopsis:

Baek Jang-mi is a sophomore majoring in design, a rich girl who grew up without experiencing any hardship in life. Jang-mi's parents want to marry her off to an eligible man they chose for her, but she rebels and begins dating engineering student Park Cha-dol. Lively and outgoing Cha-dol was raised by a single mother, and he's eager to graduate and start earning money to take care of his mom. But when Jang-mi gets pregnant, she and Cha-dol are forced to change their plans. And this doesn't sit well with Jang-mi who can't get used to the poor life. Once the baby was born, she caved into her parents' offer and left Cha-dol with the baby. Years later, through an odd chain of events, they meet again. Will they love again despite the past she left behind....

My Thoughts:

I will start by saying that this is one of the special dramas in my life in different levels. For me to watch a weekly drama is a sign that this drama is amazing. I finished it a year ago and I still get excited by its' scenes especially the lead-up to the ending. Those scenes are the best exclusively when it's a 50-episode drama, 50 long hours of story. Hopefully you can imagine the dread and pain of watching these characters go through sorrow and challenges, like I'm always hoping 'Come on, he/she has had enough already, can't he/she be happy already?' Like the moment you knew their struggles are over, you feel happy for them and the fact remains that this means the show's ending soon. But for me, that just makes me cherish every single smile and the atmosphere even more. Well, stopping my babbling for now.

This story was a trial-run if I'm not mistaken because I remember seeing trailers and stuffs of it that got me interested for a moment. The synopsis was intriguing because I normally see single mothers kind of dramas and not a single daddy drama. Pardon me if there are many of those dramas, I am just talking based on my experience. I like how they played out the story. It is not depressingly sad but a good balance to show that all is not bad. Another thing I like is how the character matures because in this kind of drama, there are many future possibilities to how the character would turn out and this drama brought them to one of the best possible future. Note, I like the feeling that this drama gives me, the actors and actresses brought their character to life and are so on-point that the emotions is deeply felt and I felt touched and sad and happy easily. The suspense are also painful as the drama gives you so many hints of information that I just like, will it be reveal now or later or now.... They are really good at making situations where it could almost get revealed.

Some stories don't click with me as they dragged on with fillers and stupid annoying plots. That's sad when I saw the potential these stories had with the first few episodes. This story had potential, I will say that as I got baited into a marathon. This is a makjang(illogical) drama for sure but I love this drama because of this genre. I never saw the potential of a makjang until I saw this drama. I always thought it was useless and just to fill up the time. Makjangs are supposed to make a drama interesting but this drama gave a new side to makjang. A side that I really love about this drama and made me continue watching.

I am not gonna say much about this drama. For those who are used to twice weekly dramas, why don't you give a drama like this a chance? I find that the more you looked down on the potential of the drama, the more satisfied you get when you find that the drama reached the potential and beyond, making the journey much more fulfilling. Go for it! As long as you have enough time to spare that is because if you were to marathon this, it would take two days at least. I took a week or so to finish it. And it was worth every hour gone. If you can't take my note on it, then give it a go.

Something About 1% (Korean Drama)

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Episodes: 16 

Main Cast:

Ha Seok-Jin as Lee Jae In

Jeon So-Min as Kim Da Hyun

Synopsis:

Lee Jae-In possesses a good appearance, he is smart and comes from a wealthy family, but he is also arrogant. His grandfather orders Jae-In to enter into a 10 month contract engagement with a female school teacher that he has never met in his life. Lee Jae-In slowly falls in love with her.

My Thoughts:

I never expected this drama at all. Technically. I by a string of fate found it through an OST of it being released in a channel I subscribed to in Youtube. The mv was so nice that it got me eating the bait. Seriously, the cuteness in this drama got me hooked straight away. Now this is another of those, happens only in comics plots because of the ambience of the story. Besides, this came from a book and also had awesome comic art of the character each episode. 

Each episode goes by so fast, you won't realize the time gone. Well, one of the reason for that is the incredibly short 30-minutes episodes for a 16-episode drama. And, the one thing great about this setup is that everything is compact, fast and delivered in satisfaction guaranteed. Like, people were commenting about how it was boring at first, it might have been, I don't know because I was immersed in the story and getting to know the characters. But once you're beyond that, I guarantee you have entered the train towards cuteness kingdom. The romance and chemistry is just divine.

The plot itself was interesting but though I enjoy watching the main leads, the story was just developing the relationship of the two of them to the point that when I see the supporting characters, I am confused of their purpose and character setup because they just randomly come and then go. Like, I don't really see anything much in them other than creating future crises. I was hoping to begin to understand the supporting characters after the halfway point but no, just about the main leads all the way. I know a story should revolve around the main leads but this is focusing too much on them that I kinda lost it for awhile. Am I the only one imagining it, I don't know.

Anyways, my hopes are still up for this drama. Hope those of you who are reading this would give this drama a chance. No matter how the reviews are, it is better if you review it yourself. This is a great drama after all no matter the circumstances. Love it a lot. Gonna finish it!

Suki Na Hito Ga Iru Koto [ To Have A Person That You Love ] (Japanese Drama)

English Name: A Girl And Three Sweethearts

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama

Episodes: 10

Main Cast: 

Yamazaki Kento as Shibasaki Kanata

Kiritani Mirei as Sakurai Misaki

Miura Shohei as Shibasaki Chiaki

Nomura Shuhei as Shibasaki Touma

Synopsis:

Sakurai Misaki has not dated in a long time. She has focused on her work as a pâtissier to eventually run her own business. One day, she gets fired from work. She then meets her first love from high school Shibasaki Chiaki. Misaki works part-time at Chiaki's restaurant and also stays there. While she lives with Chiaki at his restaurant, she realizes that Chiaki's two younger brothers Touma and Kanata also live there.

My Thoughts:

I will start by saying I really like this drama a lot. There is an abundance of charm to the story and its characters in more ways than one. Again, I started this drama reading the comments beforehand and some were complaining about the slow development of the story and another was defending it. For reasons unknown, I find this drama promising because of that. I began a mindset of a child filled with wonder and then find myself not needing such mindset and that I just need to be myself watching this because it was indeed promising and excel. Read whatever comments you can whether bad or good about this drama, I am gonna defend this drama to the end. No matter if you came in expecting lots or less, I will stick to saying you will be surprised either way. 

To me, this drama is perfect for me right now. I find myself searching for a kinda slow-paced story and something that can attract my attention and seriously, this story got me digging deeper. I thought it was something pointless at first and I will get bored soon and finally say, at least I tried. But, as always, I hit the jackpot, this story not only keeps me entertained, it got me wondering the whole time because I can never guess perfectly what happens next because this drama is super unpredictable. All I could do was guess on small hints. It got me stuck thinking what's gonna happen next. It breaks away from all the cliche that I know. 

Enough blabbing for now, on to the story itself, I like how the writer moves along with the story. The writer slowly brings each and every single character to life even if they appear for a short while. Like that random best friend who always seem to be having parties or those couples who are always having fun with each other. They may seem pointless characters but they do help to develop the story and not serve as filler. The main leads of course always have troubles of themselves, one particularly highlighted in this drama is inferiority complex, you see that a lot and how different characters respond to their troubles is to me, one of the charms of this drama. 

The most obvious charm is the characters themselves. Seriously, I'm falling for the characters so much. So well set-up in their personality,i just love their interactions with each other. There is not a single character that to me have done a stupid decision in their life choices. They did the right thing always, yes they may act silly and irrational but I realize later on, they did so out of pure logical reasons. Some decisions they did were unknowingly for others. I find myself grinning all the time seeing each character because I can't help by their cuteness, boy and girl alike. 

It was a short drama and I didn't want it to end but I was glad to end it because as I quote from W: 'I am one of those people who wants a happy ending' and believe I enjoyed this story  One thing, I know it's cliche for hate to be love but this writer did it with perfect transitions; bad first impressions, misunderstandings, clears up misunderstanding, starts trying to understand, starts caring, falls in love, begins to be super considerate and so on and so forth. This was a well-written drama and one sure to be missed and watched again someday. Took a day to hold on watching the last episode but did not regret watching this drama till the end at all.