#the 2021 anime made justice to it imo

[charlieworkz]

Apollo & Horo-horo That moment still breaks my heart...

[consumeronionbulletin]

Inspector Koo (2021)

I didn't know what to expect from this show. It's kind of a quirky remix of Killing Eve crossed with a video game. But after a few minutes of watching Lee Young-ae on screen I was completely sold.

What Worked

This show is hard to explain, visually. The title credits look like some kind of anime tribute. They like to throw in weird flashbacks that aren't flashbacks, characters talking to each other in some kind of liminal space that doesn't exist, and cuts to cheap (though not necessarily bad) video game effects. This makes the show feel like a live action adaptation for a comic book that did not, in fact, exist (though I would totally read it if it did). As a way to keep the show fresh and interesting (while keeping the budget low), I'd say it mostly works, but YMMV.

What Didn't Work

The last 4 episodes kind of felt flat. It was mostly a writing problem (and maybe a budget problem). They had a chaotic energy running through the show that ended up being abandoned in favor of the more standard K-drama ending where everything gets put back in order and justice (of a sort) prevails. I don't think it completely ruined the drama, but they should definitely have let the chaos run for a few more episodes before trying to setup the ending.

Also (*spoiler*) the "battle of wits" in the last episode was just not interesting. What makes Inspector Koo great as a character is that she manages to use chaos to her advantage. She's not a Holmesian detective, they shouldn't try and put her into that role.

The Performances

Lee Young-ae as Inspector Koo. This actress is a legend in K-film and I had no idea who she was going into the show, but her performance in this was still magnetic. Throughout the show she's a complete wreck—she quit the police, and spends her days and nights playing video games (a pretty cool looking MMO) and drinking herself into a stupor. Basically, she's a total trash goblin and I love her for it!

She ends up in a better place at the end of the show, but manages to still have this chaotic goblin energy that is great. 10/10 no notes. We need more trash goblin detectives on television!

Kim Hye-jun as K. / Song Yi-kyun. She did a great job taking on (roughly) the same role as Jodie Comer in Killing Eve, but with her own spin. Everything up to episode 7 or so (the big election announcement episode) was great. Then the writers kind of didn't know how to resolve her arc. Her character needed to change in some fashion, IMO, and I'm not sure if they really did that. Still a great performance overall.

Kim Hae-sook as Yong Sook (Director Yong). She did a pretty good job as the "true villain" of the show, in a sense, and a big departure from her role in Hospital Playlist. I think the writers decided to play it a little safe with her character in the last few episodes, they could have made her more of an equal of the two leads and upped the stakes, but overall it was still a good performance.

Kwak Sun-young as Na Ja-hee. This was a slight disappointment compared to other roles I've seen her in. When the writers gave her good stuff to work with, she did well, but there were other times when they made her a bit bland and I think her performance got lost a bit. If you want to see her in a much better role, just watch the first season of Hospital Playlist.

Bae Hae-sun as Jung-yeon (K.'s Aunt). She started out as kind of a sleeper character, but as the writers made her more interesting, Bae Hae-sun started to wake up and by the end of her time on the show, you really felt for her. I've seen her in maybe a half dozen other shows, but this was the first one that was really memorable for me, for whatever reason.

Baek Sung-chul as Santa / Han Kwang-wook. I wouldn't say this was a complete standout performance, but I still really enjoyed watching him. Again, I think the writers were a little lazy with the character in a few places, but still a good performance and an interesting side character.

Everyone else. Most of the side characters / villains were fun to watch. I liked the guy that played K.'s sidekick (Lee Hong-nae) and Director Yong's family and lackeys had a number of good character actors. The guy who played the annoying rival team lead did an especially good job at being hateable without being evil. The other "trash" characters that were victims / potential victims of K. were also pretty good.

TL; DR:

I had alot of fun with the show. The title character is especially fun to watch, but there were alot of interesting characters and performances. I felt a bit of a let down in the final stretch of shows, but it was never bad, just not as fun / chaotic as the first eight episodes. Just one of those shows that peaks in the middle of the run, and that's okay.

[simplylove101]

2021 Horror Challenge: [51/?]

↳ “There's something about blasting the shit out of a razorback that brightens up my whole day.” Razorback (1984) dir. Russell Mulcahy

Plot: As a vicious wild boar terrorizes the Australian outback, the husband of one of the victims is joined by a hunter and a farmer in a search for the beast

Starring: Gregory Harrison, Arkie Whiteley, Bill Kerr, Chris Haywood, David Argue & Judy Morris

It is not hard to believe that this got compared heavily to Jaws by the critics when it first came out. It’s a horror movie about an oversized creature that’s killing people; in this case, a huge boar. Which normally would turn me off from watching this tbh. But once again, it’s another movie that was mentioned in the In Search of Darkness doc that made me wanna give it a chance. From a logical standpoint, I was able to remind myself that a boar can technically be deadly to humans, this is just an exaggerated version of that so I told myself to just suspend my belief a bit. Which was helped because the filmmakers made the wise decision not to have the hog on the screen more than was necessary until the end. The animatronic was still an impressive feat for the 80′s but not having it on the camera at all times certainly helps add some suspense for the audience, along with the fast camera work. And oh my God, the cinematography is the true highlight. Beyond anything you’d expect a movie of this kind to have. That is not an exaggeration. I heard even Spielberg himself asked how some shots were pulled off. Now, I will say as a story it was kinda just okay for me. I did feel for characters but it does take a little time to settle down because the story jumps a little until it finally makes it clear who the main character is. That was a little frustrating imo but it did make you wonder who was safe a bit. Overall, it was a nice watch. But as I said, the real star was the cinematography. These pics aren’t doing it justice tbh. People who like the oversized killer animal horror subgenre might like this.

[startwithbrooklyn]

THE GREAT ND REWATCH OF 2021 / SEPTEMBER 10-11, 2019 // the car crash

-"stop acting offended" oh god sis 😰🥶

-"lucy knew hudson family secrets in the past, tiffany knew hudson family secrets in the present. both of them are dead." and you ARE a hudson family secret, hes trying like a pretty little liar to keep it 😭

-"you suspect everyone of everything, you always have since you were little" 🤔 *professor voice* "the ad hominem is a fallacy of relevance where someone rejects or criticizes another person’s view on the basis of personal characteristics, background, physical appearance, or other features irrelevant to the argument at issue.

An ad hominem is more than just an insult. It’s an insult used as if it were an argument or evidence in support of a conclusion. Verbally attacking people proves nothing about the truth or falsity of their claims" https://thebestschools.org/magazine/15-logical-fallacies-know/#adhominem

-"if you keep suspecting the people closest to you of horrific crimes you're gonna end up alone" this quote becomes fascinating in the context of our future knowledge of nancys parentage foreshadowing "i've been alone my whole life" threatening nancy with solitude comes off weird. the price of being too perfect i suppose.* wonder about ryan's take on this as a parent. strangely i think she honestly wouldn't mind being alone (on some level anyway)

-wonder what exactly makes captain tom a "legend". he was featured so prominently in the press that a serial killer engaged w him and made him out to be a hero.

-"didnt want his mom to see" where was aces mom this ep and w the poisoner? wonder why they only chose to reveal her s2. maybe to give captain tom more of a feature?

-"he was letting us down" ...or just you?

-"you two are that kinda close" its been like 2 months since they met sis i guess that is 'close' to you

-"how are you and your family?" laura says that to ace in the recording --> s2 ironyyyyy

-love how mcginnis forces the nurse to update these random strangers at the hospital lmaooo

-i love how nancy kinda thinks shes the only one doing supernatural things like shes always surprised to find people who think its legit, even hannah gruen who takes it so straight faced and seriously, nancy always respects her but gives off a little "you might be taking this a bit too seriously" vibe imo

-bess w that unintentional save on the phone to nick lmaoooo

-rawley side eyes the fuck out of nancy as she literally breezes past him to get to mcginnis 😂

-wonder how mcginnis owes tom exactly

-mcginnis looks just as reluctant to admit he cares about ace as nancy does lmfaoo

-damn she knows him really well, all he communicates to her are fucking facial expressions (and her back lmao)

-"theyre not my friends" vs "i'd try anything to save my friend" - is ace the first one she calls a friend? like, the actual f word? 👀😳

-in sharp contrast to nick, george is ironically good at mysteries bc shes always suspicious of everyone

-"okay. dead lucy-" *everyone groans* 😂

-*breezes past carson in his own house* what a mood lmao

-wonder if adam beach supported this feature or if he thought it was disrespectful/cringe

-"there are many things you and i need to discuss" 👀😳🙈👗👑🤰😰🥺🤱😔

-so do we think ted has been corrupted by simon when bess opens that door orrrr was that just ted doing 8 year old things

-love this nick/bess bonding tho

-so carson-wolf, nancy-whale, george-turtle and ace-bear. wonder if those specific animal choices have any particulr meaning. 🐢"a turtle, cool" 😂

-carson definitely has his white "do not understand but dont wanna offend" face on 😭🙈

-when i first watched this ep i could not stop saying "nifty!" the whole time 😂🤦🏼‍♀️

-carson's like "okay ive had enough of indulging this make believe crap dont tell me somethings wrong w my very clearly wrong kid"

-"this is serious" lmfaooooo at this point nancy only appeases mcginnis' beliefs bc shes desperate for answers at any cost (ie "i can just ask tiffany what happened")

-wonder how long carson has worked on this cover story for when nancy inevitably asked (the fact that he got the most curious child in the world is so fucking painful yet funny)

-nancy like 😌👉🏻👈🏻"hey mom, my friend accidentally wandered into your world for a minute, could u help find her?" lmaoo

-"are we even dating?" its been a week baby chill lmaooooo

-lisbeth + hairstroking 💙

-okay bess nails her with this clothing/fashion analysis but everyone dismisses fashion so readily as frivolous that bess gets underestimated on sight

-15 years ago + "i made you that promise when you were six" = ace is 21

-"the moment he thought his father was going to die" i'll take carson - irony for 1200 alex

-wonder who tom was chasing before his crash

-"these boots dont belong" god damn george's big sister instinct activated on sight 😭

-wait how tf did she get that bear in her hand

-"you made a difference, right?" whens the last time someone told you that

-nick and bess are the weakest fucking links w mysteries lmfaoooo

-UNPOPULAR OPINION : "you're a cop!" nancy + cops - mcginnis and rawley fuck her over/view her sexually/as competition and let her down along with karen- but she likes lisbeth who is the opposite, suspected her from the beginning due to the previous people "betraying" her (she and the chief start this show in an odd place with zero trust bc she thinks she can do it better) but lisbeth passes the test; lisbeth is willing to bargain with them and doesnt question where they got the hudsons info. now nancy does not hesitate to call lisbeth for the murder of owen (ie the hand prints) and going after josh on the roof, even tells her the blunt truth about calling the agleaca (lisbeth is NOT woke to the supernatural btw) "use me" she does want to work with police, which she is infamous for not doing previously, because of her connection to bess? because they were men? karen didnt have enough power, or didnt take her seriously? what makes lisbeth so trustworthy? or is it only nancys desire to avenge owen? but she just didnt trust the other cops to get the job done- maybe she still doesnt, but at least she trusts lisbeth for the time as an authority figure when all others have failed. all cops (karen, chief and rawley) in nancy's trust lose her respect/secrets out but Lisbeth has to prove her worth to get in. maybe its something about engaging w women. i mean women can still fail her of course (lucy kind of, kate+reveal, karen) but in terms of feminist themes, the show capitalizes on these exchanges between women for the living and the dead: ghosts/demons who are male (ie simon) are pure evil (think "mr roper" at the asylum being in particular focus when it was the whole family who died) but something like the agleaca (of human origin) is made to be a sympathetic case/highlighting how women have suffered historically and are take revenge as ghosts, able to find power in death that they did not have in life, and circling back to nancy trying to give them previously denied justice through working with other women.

-"let me do it" 👀👀could it be? empathy? a sacrifice on behalf of someone you still wont call a friend?

-"killer boots." *struts like a badass with 'im a bitch, im a boss' playing in the background*

-okay lbr. how on earth did lucys dress come off her body in the ocean? like. is that legit??

-"it's just so not how i would handle things" SIS THIS SHIT COULD ALMOST PROVE YOU TWO ARE DNA RELATED FOR HOW YOU FUCKING HANDLE THINGS like nancy? are u on crack? lmfaooo carson absolutely came for u and he absolutely should have

-"i understand that impulse, it runs in the family" make it a true daily double, alex🙃

-"you stole evidence and sent it out of state because you believed it was the right thing to do" no, you just think you know better than everybody else tbh

-wowwwwwww i cant believe lisbeth really decked her but another half of me can i fucking love lisbeth

and lastly

-oh ted. 💔🥺