Just watch the 2nd part of Country Boy 2

Overall: This is a sweet and tame BL. I'd give the first part a 7 and the second part a 9 - so average it to 8. I think you could easily skip the first part. Watched on YouTube.

Content Warnings: none

What I Liked
- the theme song but it played over and over again
- a sweet story (the 2nd part)
- finally some clear signs that this is romantic and not a bromance/friend situation at the end of the 2nd part

Room For Improvement
- the whole first part was not enjoyable. The uncle was a jerk for no reason. And it was so odd that Nabdao basically ignored Keptawan until the day before Keptawan left... The first part made me think that they weren't even friends let alone potential boyfriends.

Leia Mais

Short & Sweet

Overall: a 20 minute movie about a mom visiting her son who is hiding something from her. Make sure to watch carefully during the closing credits until the very end. Watched on Gagaoolala.

Content Warnings: none

What I Liked
- I thought it was funny how the mom started cleaning right when she arrived as I totally relate to this
- that the mom was not stupid

Room For Improvement
- it might have been neat for the mom to realize things when she went to the coffee shop but not say anything, just smile and drink her beverage or lay in wait to see who showed up after she left, but I was okay with how it played out (watch all of the closing credits!)

Leia Mais

Road trip story with four guys

Overall: Three friends (and one potential hook up) go on a road trip. I'm grading this on a curve as it's from 2008, low budget and addressed a couple important topics. Watched on gagaoolala.

Content warnings: homophobia (internal & external), a transphobic comment

What I Liked
- that they addressed the topics of HIV, jobs/poverty and homophobia
- the intro song which is played throughout was fun to listen to
- favorite line "change is the most permanent thing in this world"

Room For Improvement
- it appears that Michael got closure but the way he went about it was bad
- I think they could have cut some scenes out or made them shorter and then developed the characters and their relationships with one another more
- the subs had some errors/I didn't understand a few things
- the night scenes were too dark and it was difficult to see

Leia Mais

Plot is a vehicle for NSFW scenes

Overall: An interesting premise, but it ends up feeling like just a way to show explicit NSFW scenes. Watched on gagaoolala. It's only an hour and 10 minutes so it's not a huge time investment if you like watching steamy scenes. 

Content warnings: there are very five sexually explicit scenes, 1 dub con

What I Liked
- I liked the sister and wish we could have seen more development of her/their relationship
- the overall premise is interesting, it just needed to be delved into more instead of NSFW scenes
- the color grading, how in the past it was more grey scale. It can be difficult for me to tell when flashbacks happen, but it was very clear in this short(er) movie. 
- that ending scene seems pretty unrealistic but I quite liked it

Room For Improvement
- I wish there was more development/explanation of what was happening with the protagonist's romantic relationship. We mostly get ghosting/ignoring and then just a little at the end. There is an apology, but for what? What happened between them?
- odd, why is the protagonist sleeping in the living room of his parents' house - aren't there at least two bedrooms?
- odd, why wouldn't the protagonist push for the name of the movie where he is named after a character? He just drops it, I'd want to know the movie if it were me...

Leia Mais

A treasure hunt story with zero adventure

Overall: I was expecting either a Lord of the Flies situation or a bunch of guys going at it but didn't really get either. If you want a Lord of the Flies darker vibe maybe try Dangerous Drugs of Sex, The Shortest Distance trilogy or Double Mints. And if you want steamy scenes, look somewhere else like: My Rosy Life - His Rosy Passion, Sweet Curse, The Day Began Yesterday...

Content Warnings: 1 fight, 1 instance of blackmail/manipulation, a couple of very brief full frontal shots mostly dimly lit, mention of something that happened off screen

What I Liked
- ummmm, a bunch of shirtless guys on a beach with some nice tattoos
- the base idea of finding treasure is fun (but this is definitely not The Goonies)
- I actually liked the note at the beginning that said all the actors were over the age of 18 and participated voluntarily

Room For Improvement
- it was odd that they started the story with the group of five. They should have started off with Archie telling the story. When it flashed to his boyfriend in the present, I had no idea what was going on.
- many instances of things that make no sense/are unrealistic. Why does a group going on an adventure bring five plates, spoons, a guitar but no water/little food? How on earth would they have built that structure - with what tools/rope? Archie saying he got them food and they were starving when a previous scene showed them happily eating cooked fish is another example.
- they also shared 1 brain cell. Burning your shirt to do something that you can just wait to do in the morning makes no sense.
- the subtitle towards the end should have been "off" not "on" and that seems really extreme. Also odd that they didn't show that part, Archie just stated it.

Leia Mais

Enjoyable movie about living organ donation

Overall: an enjoyable movie that tackles a realistic and not frequently told story of organ donation. It switches between two characters (the female doctor & the male wedding planner), with the two characters interacting with one another several times. It is apparently based on a true story.

Content Warnings: homophobia combined with a slap, graphic side character death

What I Liked
- a unique story, I don't think I've ever seen something about living organ donation
- I enjoyed both characters' plots
- happy to see a strong, professional female character with a caring and supportive fiance
- I really liked the wedding planner's mom and her questions: since when did you have this boyfriend, how come I didn't know, for how long, where does he work, what does he look like, how come you didn't bring him home for me to see?

Room For Improvement
- the m/m relationship was very lowkey, I didn't need NSFW but just a tad more to show that they are in a relationship
- I was surprised that the doctor never talked about concerns about pregnancy after a living organ donation. In my super brief research, it looks like there is a slightly elevated risk/there is a need to wait to become pregnant after donating. I would expect a doctor who wants to have children to think/discuss this.
- not really thrilled with the "solution" from the one story, seems kind of shady/grisly, though I'm sure this does happen

Leia Mais

Confusing, low budget BL

Content Warnings: attempted suicide (maybe? like most things in this series, I'm not sure about it)

Overall: I slogged through this series so I could write a review since there were none. I had originally dropped this after the first episode. This was a very confusing, messy, unrealistic plot but the last 2 episodes were better than the first 3.

What I Liked
- the music was decent to good
- the scenic shots were nice
- episodes 4 & 5 have a better production value, still could use mics though

Room For Improvement
- the plot was a disaster, some of it kind of gets explained in episodes 4 or 5, but not all of it is explained and that's too late, also what guest house has only 1 bed?
- the point where Marcus, Yuhan & Drake are together for the first time made zero sense as Marcus was totally angry at the wrong person at that point
- in ep 1 many characters were introduced in quick succession and then it switched between them so I was unsure of who was who
- there was actually more chemistry/relationship development between 2 guys who did not end up together which is so odd
- very low budget, the image loses focus, no tripod, no mics, poor lighting, background noise, wind sounds, etc, also strange pacing or spending time on insignificant things
- I never wondered why we don't get close up shots of people's feet in movies/series until I saw several of those in this one and thought 'yeah, that's gross to look at'
- very novice actors
- fake kiss due to camera angle

Leia Mais

not enough runtime for the plot/characters

Overall: this was the victim of the same pitfall as many Korean BLs, 2 hours was not enough time to adequately develop the number of characters/plots that they had. 8 episodes 15 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI and GagaOOLala (Taiwan/SEA countries).

Content Warnings: drugging?, non con touching, manipulation

What I Liked
- ost/their dance/singing numbers
- touched on gay for pay/fanservice
- their visuals

Room For Improvement
- starting with a flashback didn't hook me
- too many characters/plots that weren't developed enough, I didn't really understand the villains "plans", plot was rushed and choppy at times
- cliche plot points like being drunk and forgetting a kiss
- nonsense things (i.e. a deep rooted fear being cured by the power of love)
- too many near kisses (including the one at the end)
- a cold/confident guy paired up with a warm/reluctant guy isn't my favorite dynamic
- confusing release that was announced last minute, all 8 episodes were out for some subscribers/countries on iQIYI, some had 1 or 2 episodes available, Gaga will have 3 episodes a week later
- the odd background music

Leia Mais

a romcom at its core

Overall: this feels like a romcom with a window dressing of action/mystery/corruption. 12 episodes about 40 minutes each. Airing on GagaOOLala in: US, UK, Germany, Australia https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4709/kidnap-2024-e01 ; Netflix Asia http://www.netflix.com/us/title/81927 ; YouTube in some countries https://youtu.be/KhSyfKC06J4

Content Warnings: violence, kidnapping, mental health struggles/trauma, past death mentioned

What I Liked
- an engaging intro that for once wasn't a flashback or a flash forward
- clear and unique premise
- subverted meet cute
- tension
- supportive sibling
- sweet/caring moments

Room For Improvement
- the beginning scene needed a little more light
- why did the guitar have to make an appearance in episode 1
- nervous about pacing with 12 episodes
- nonsense stuff (ie had all the lights on when going to sleep, being in the rain led to colds)
- "comedy" sound effects like the quack noise didn't make things funny
- the trailer made it seem more of an action series when it's mostly a romcom

Leia Mais

First Impression: Blue Canvas of Youthful Days

Overall: although I'm bracing myself for angst later on, the first four episodes were very well done. 12 episodes about 30 minutes each. Originally the first 4 episodes aired August 8th on iQIYI. On October 26th it began airing (not in Japan or Korea) on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4856/blue-canvas-of-youthful-days-2024-e01 ; YouTube (not in Japan or Korea) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTB73Ibi_X3HZZP24Z0cwpC1PhZUYKI1Q and Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/40802c-blue-canvas-of-youthful-days?locale=en

Content Warnings: there are several, I'll put them under a spoiler comment

What I Liked
- characters and their dynamics
- sweet moments
- a hard of hearing character (though some things related to this didn't make sense to me)
- clear premise

Room For Improvement
- some nonsense plot things
- not sure the ages of two characters
- a character should have first asked/talked to another character about what he wanted
- not a fan of a flash forward and then going back to the past to start a series
- too much blur effect in scenes

Leia Mais

enjoyed volumes 1 & 2

Overall: I liked the first two volumes but the third is way too messy for me. 20 episodes about 10-20 minutes each. Airing on CityBoy Log YouTube Channel. Volume 1 playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ__edMZliXv2-pPOpBjz6_WOXOarSNhn&si=VWoqMbuFa6eZgH0F

Content Warning: kind of dub/non con kiss (someone was pretending to sleep but the other person didn't know they were awake)

What I Liked
- cute/sweet moments
- visuals
- production value/editing for a vlog style series

Room For Improvement
- that they dodged answering if it was scripted or not for awhile (it was scripted)
- volume 3 took a negative/serious turn
- the non/dub con kiss
- at times I was confused as to who was dating who/liked who

Leia Mais

On Hold - Coffee Melody

Overall: the series is very slow and the cliche plot point at the start of ep 7 has made me put this on hold. I'll wait until it finishes airing and maybe pick it up again then. Watched on Viki.

Content Warnings: non con picture taking, gaslighting (from music boss)

What I Liked
- I appreciate an aggressive/obvious flirt
- cute moments like with the cake
- the rainbow poster in the background when the band is practicing
- Duean Yi's family
- (neutral) it has comedy sound effects

Room For Improvement
- wasn't hooked in the first scene
- the fangirling thing
- slow, I watched at 2-3x speed
- cliche plot point at the beginning of episode 7
- I didn't mind the cartoon flowers but I didn't like the cartoon music notes from the piano
- choppiness between some scenes
- random characters like those tween wannabe pop stars
- odd yellow/purple lighting in his room
- that jerk music boss

Leia Mais

(Kind Of) Innocent

Overall: I'm reviewing this 5 minute short as separate from the original short & the series. Watched on Gagaoolala.

Content Warnings: strobe/flash lighting

What I Liked
- the music, editing, color grading made it feel like a music video/art film which I think it what they were going for
- that the voice over had some decent communication in it
- the bdsm & costume aspects of it

Room For Improvement
- pretty sure the couple times I laughed out loud was not the effect they were going for
- it was surprisingly PG-13, thought it was going to be a bit steamier (because nothing says sexy like a teddy bear sitting at that table, I realize it was supposed to represent the 1 personality...but still...)
- they could have done whipped cream and licking/sucking it off, blown out a massage candle and dripped hot wax on a guys back or abs, many ways to make this less innocent

Leia Mais

watch suggestions for the 2 main couples

Overall: beautiful vistas, sweeping musical scores, good kissing with on brand drawbacks (a ton of characters/plot I cared nothing about, intended comedy that didn't work). 13 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on Oxin Films YouTube Channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcQaxIPsTWdNrlWiw7D9H3Fjc3ycc7S3A&si=DcyQk4UKyhaKD5L0 Oxin also produced: My Day, Rainbow Prince, My Story, Our Story, Tie the Not

Content Warnings: death, past death/murder, sexual assault, non con kiss, intimate partner abuse and violence, manhandling, stalking, punches, harassment, non con touching, kidnapping/held against will, homophobia, cyber bullying, drugging, (note: episode 9 part 3 flashing lights)

Watch Suggestions (gets rid of love triangles and evil exes/wannabe boyfriends)
- watch episode 1
- watch episode 2: part 2, part 3, part 4 beginning to 2:20 and 6 to the end
- watch episode 3: part 1 beginning to 10, start part 2 at 2:30 and end at 8:25, part 4 5-end
- watch episode 4: part 1, part 2, part 3 beginning to 3:30, part 4 2:30-7:70, 10:35-11:20
- watch episode 5: part 2 (if you want to cackle about a voice over like nature documentary the whole thing) or 9 to the end, part 3 2:20-4:20, part 4 4:30-5:20
- watch episode 6: part 2 4-4:35, part 3 15s-1:50
- watch episode 7: part 1 beg to 8.45, part 2 6:40 to the end, part 3 9:15-end
- watch episode 8: part 3 beginning to 8.20 & 10:40-12.35, part 4 1:20-3:10
- watch episode 9: part 1 1:45-2:55, 8:15-8:45, part 2 4:55-7:25 & 11:15-end, part 3 5:45-6:10
- watch episode 10: part 1 8:30-end, part 2 beginning to 2:30 and 11:20-end, part 3 5:10-7:50 and 12:20-end, watch all of part 4
- watch episode 11: part 1 6:50 to 7:40, part 2 4:55-6:30, part 4 10-end (singing)
- watch episode 12: part 2 beginning to 1:15
- watch episode 13: part 3 1:45-6:45, part 4 11:40-13:20 and 17:30-end

What I Liked
- visuals
- the setting/vistas
- I cackled a couple of times
- intimate scenes
- supportive dad at the end
- production value improved

Room For Improvement
- many characters introduced in the first episode, cared nothing about the evil ex/wannabe boyfriend characters nor most of the plot
- tone/plot was all over the place (comedy, romance, very violent parts, work drama, family drama), and did not mesh well together
- most humor was a miss (the 3 stooges were not funny at all, innuendos can be fun but the frequency and duration made them veer into cringey territory)
- choppy transition in episode 10
- failed to be innovative at the beginning of ep 11 after a promising ep 10 end
- multiple failed redemption arcs
- lack of consequences for 1 villain (also cartoonist villain)
- a character constantly calling the other guy his girlfriend and wife
- 1 year time jump

Leia Mais

meh enemies to lovers micro series

Overall: Aired on Jinloe's YouTube channel first for members and then later went free for everyone (except episodes 9 & 10 and some episodes were missing subtitles) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIFuZIdAgzTjbXN2ypTCNBGNY0PQQTgxG&si=TmjC1-YF7k_mWZTd Also all episodes are on Jinloe's TikTok with hardcoded subtitles https://www.tiktok.com/@jinloeofficial/playlist/SomeSecretInHighSchool-7424306755129051921

Watch Suggestions
- skip ep 5
- start ep 7 at 1:25

What I Liked
- easy to understand premise
- a couple nice moments

Room For Improvement
- "comedy" sound effects
- cliche female character took up too much screentime
- missing subtitles in some episodes on YouTube
- stupid plan
- episode 8 of 10 was too late to start falling in love
- kind of an odd stopping point for the series

Leia Mais