Pethushka

I've grown to love Marie Kondo because of her inner calm, bounciness, and sense of order. Plus, I followed her lead in tidying the entire house. This show may be a classic American reality show, but the fact that it's headed by this cute Japanese girl makes it fun for me.

I feel like I have to like Roma if I want to consider myself a film connoisseur. I'm not even close to being one. I'm just a casual viewer. I watch movies that I assume I might enjoy, or ones I want to see if I might happen to enjoy. This movie was in the latter group. I found the answer. I didn't much enjoy Roma. It was too "artsy" and lethargic for me. What I can't deny this film, however, is the atmosphere and the interesting cinematography. The film certainly has other bonuses, but unfortunately I can't appreciate them properly, at least not yet.

A series that marginally addresses a very topical issue. Finding a decent job is no small problem for Korean women who have had a child or, heaven forbid, gotten divorced. And I just love it when a film or a TV show has an educational message. Plus, when the show is very adult, balanced, has a great plot and actors who downright enjoy their roles, I couldn't be happier. Jong-seok Lee's is clearly the best role, in my opinion. He and Na-young Lee were (surprisingly) absolutely perfect for each other, and for perhaps the first time ever, I found him incredibly endearing. I wouldn't have thought he could have such a nice rapport with an older actress. With Na-young, I'm glad I finally got to enjoy her in a series again after a long time. This great piece is also a beautiful profession of love for the books. For characters who work in publishing, one would expect them to be well-read, or at least somewhat intelligent and reasonable. And that's exactly what they are. And it's a beautiful thing to see. Stories from life, different characters, and of course romance. If you like books, don't give it another thought, put it on right now. 5 stars.

The Sun and the Moon is one of those TV series that I would have wagered in advance that I'd like a lot. And because I need something to look forward to all the time, I deliberately kept it "for later". I myself can't believe I managed to put it off for so long. At first, it seemed like my hunch was absolutely right. I don't really go for the childhood period in the series, I usually treat it purely as a prelude and look forward to getting into the main plot. Here, though, is perhaps the first time I've fallen for the childhood prelude more than what followed years later. I'd be hard pressed to find better young actors. These ones were absolutely amazing and their performances had everything. Sadly, that can't be said for the actors in adulthood. The king is probably the only one who was ultimately able to match his younger counterpart. The choice of the main character was rather unfortunate in my opinion. Ga-in Han just couldn't pull off the role. While her predecessor may have set the bar very high, she also laid a really nice foundation for this character to be loved by the audience. And Ga-in didn't take advantage of that. I'm not saying it didn't work with her at all, but if I imagine another, slightly more capable actress in the role, the series would have been stretched to near perfection. The slower pacing after the time shift could be excused. But the chemistry between the main characters in the second part of the series is really lacking. It's a shame, a little would have been enough. 4 stars.

You could say that on one hand this film encourages women to be confident and celebrates the strength created when women come together. But on the other hand, it portrays women as simple animals who have one goal in life – to find a man and force him, by any means necessary, to put a ring on their finger. I'm not sure if Martin meant to point out this sad setup of society or if he thinks that this is just the way the world works. Either way, he somehow managed to strike a balance and set a pleasantly combative atmosphere that almost encouraged the audience to get up and start running. In short, I really enjoyed the girls, and Ondra played the jerk well too. I'll go again next time. 4 stars.

Okay, another piece from the courtroom setting is behind me. For a series that I was reluctant to chew on at first and hesitated over its qualities, it didn't spoil the taste in the end. In fact, on the contrary, it was a great ride to the finish. And in it, the most interesting character for me was clearly Ahn Oh-joo, played by Min-soo Choi, whose accent is unmistakable. I wasn't completely enthralled this time by Joon-gi Lee, who lacked depth of character and was bland. Fortunately, this was made up for by his partner Ye-ji Seo, whose character was a nice change from the classic, naive heroines. And it's probably because of her and the relationship she and the lawyer had that I can easily describe the series as above average. 3.5 stars.

Who would have thought that the bland kid from Brooklyn (Gossip Girl) would turn out to be such a consummate lunatic that I’d miss as much as I’d hate. I feel like this show belongs first and foremost to him. Everything else is basically just a tune-up. We'll see what he does in season two, but for now I've decided to give him full marks after all.

A movie that is almost completely built on the acting prowess of Sarah Jessica Parker. I have nothing against her, I think there were even times when I thought she was amazing. And she is, as a fashion icon. But not as an actress. For this movie, her acting is too limited, in my opinion.

I'll watch Searching quietly and happily a few more times. And for several reasons. The first is the original portrayal, which surprisingly also carries with it a lot of emotion. You only see the computer screen, you only hear the sounds coming from the person looking into the computer, and yet you can understand exactly how to feel. On the one hand, it's eerily true to our times, but on the other hand, it's brilliant. The way the filmmakers came up with the finale thrilled me a little less, hence the star down. But I still think it's one of the most important films of last year.

The best thing about the whole series is the soundtrack. This one is worth five stars. And then there's Suzy... she was great; not amazing, but only "just" great. I don't think the role really allowed her to do any more than that. And that kind of pisses me off. Not that it's a bad show, but it's still rather disappointing to me. Something was missing; maybe the cast just didn’t have the right chemistry. The cases weren't bad, but I also got tired of them over time. I’m giving it three stars, but they’re weaker ones.