~Drama Reviews~

Contents:
-001 The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince - snowxxangel
-002 It Started With a Kiss 2: They Kiss Again - iluffquincy
-003 Eternal Happiness - Luciel
And a new feature: Non Asian Reviews!
-004 Sweeny Todd- Demon Barber of Fleet Street -Capt-Oblivion






001

http://www.crunchyroll.com/showseries?id=5016
~snowxxangel




Cast
Yoon Eun Hye as Go Eun Chan
Gong Yoo as Choi Han Kyul
Lee Sun Gyun as Choi Han Sung
Chae Jung Ahn as Han Yoo Joo

Episodes
17

Synopsis
The life of Go Eun Chan (Yoon Eun Hye) is not easy; she works many jobs to pay off debts and even gave up her feminine image. Choi Han Kyul (Gong Yoo) is the heir of a big food company, but his grandmother wants him to settle down, so she arranged many dates for him. After Eun Chan bumped into Han Kyul and was mistaken for a boy, Han Kyul decided to hire Eun Chan to be his gay lover in order to avoid the arranged dates. Desperately in need of money, Eun Chan had no choice but to accept. Han Kyul's grandmother also made Han Kyul in charge of a filthy coffee shop in danger of being bankrupt. Eun Chan begged to work at the coffee shop, and not long after, feelings start to spark, except, how would Han Kyul accept his "homosexuality"? Credits: DramaWiki

Review
Another drama that involves cross-dressing ;] Is this some kind of trend in dramaland? Well. my opinion…. I just simply loved it! And a lot of other people must agree with me, because the ratings are so damn high ;O Well, at first I expected it to be just a standard drama, but the more I watched, the more I fell in love with it!
Yoon Eun Hye was convincing as a guy, I mean just look at her eating habits O_O
I felt a slight bit of annoyance sometimes because of her character. But she’s definitely my favourite ‘guy’ out of the cross-dressing actrices (Horikita Maki & Ella).
Gong Yoo’s acting was really good, seeing him struggle just makes me go ‘awwww’.
I know, I’m a pathetic fangirl T-T But he really captures your heart while watching the drama, even though there were times that I wanted to slap him because he was so damn mean to Eun Chan. But he’s really irreplaceable as Choi Han Kyul.
Han Sung and Yoo Ju were a sweet couple. Finally, the ‘other’ guy and girl were actually good instead of hated, like in most dramas. I really wanted things to work out for them!
I liked the rest of the princes too, they definitely contributed a lot to the humor part of the drama.
Another thing I liked about this drama was the passionate kissing scenes ;] Really, this has to be one of the best kisses ever. Most dramakisses are stiff, they just press their lips against each other and close their eyes :x No passion at all! But these kissing scenes were convincing and were loaded with a lot of passion. Thumbs up!
Also… the coffee looked so good O_O I’m a cafeïneholic so I was drooling during the coffee making scenes haha.

Rating
Definitely 5 out of 5 stars! *adds coffee prince to favourites*









002
They Kiss Again
http://www.crunchyroll.com/showseries?id=3859
~iluffquincy



Cast
* Ariel Lin as Yuan Xiang Qin 袁湘琴
* Joe Cheng as Jiang Zhi Shu 江直樹
* Jiro Wang as Jin Yuan Feng 金元豐 (Ah Jin 阿金)
* Chang Yung Cheng as Jiang Wan Li 江阿利
* Cyndi Chaw as Ah Li's wife 阿利嫂
* Tang Tsung Sheng as Yuan You Cai
* Liu Rong Jia as Liu Ya Nong
* Yang Pei Ting as Lin Chun Mei
* Yan Ya Lun as Ah Bu

Episodes
28

Synopsis
The sequel of It Started With A Kiss begins with Xiang Qin and Zhi Shu's wedding and honeymoon. From the start, they experience problems and interferences within their marriage such as mistaken pregnancy, misunderstandings, and a run-in with a girl from Zhi Shu's past. Xiang Qin and Zhi Shu will go on a honeymoon to Guam and there they will see Ah Jin. Ah Jin will go there because he was so heartbroken from Xiang Qin's marriage that he wanted to get away but only to end up seeing the two of them together. Ah Jin will also meet another girl and fall in love with her. Xiang Qin's best friend, Lin Chun Mei, gets pregnant with Ah Bu's child. Xiang Qin takes Chun Mei to Lungshan Temple where she prays for her and her child.

Review
Ariel Lin and Joe Cheng are back as one of the drama-lovers’ favorite couple, Xiang Qin and Zhi Shu in It Started With a Kiss 2: They Kiss Again!
They start out in episode one going to their honeymoon, in none other than Guam. They run into many mishaps that lead them into some trouble, but all the while, they try to enjoy their honeymoon. There are some lovey-dovey scenes with Xiang Qin and Zhi Shu, that you have to watch it! =D And guess what? Xiang Qin and Zhi Shu meet another couple on a honeymoon, and someone is still chasing after Xiang Qin! There’s so much more chaos and confusion, mixed with some humorous stuff. =]
Ariel Lin has some great acting done in this drama. She continues her “a-little-dumb-but-loveable” character, and it seems that Joe Cheng is taking on a different personality! As some know, Joe Cheng got his haircut intended for his character in ISWAK 2 to be more mature in some matters. That means less fooling around for Zhi Shu, and more studying! (Not that he ever fooled around much.) Jiro Wang has once again been doing a fine job acting, even though his character in ISWAK 2 is very different than his other roles.
I’ve only seen the first couple episodes, because this drama is still airing! So if you’re interested, go watch it! There is more fun coming up, and maybe even a little more drama! (Ooooh!) If you don’t think this is your right drama, wait until you hear who else is in it- Aaron Yan, Danson Tang, and many others you will recognize!
If you love the romantic-comedy with a bit of drama (not too much), then this is the drama for you. I’m sure that if you watch this, you’ll get hooked and even become obsessed over on of the characters! =3

Rating
5/5 stars...so far!








003
http://www.crunchyroll.com/showseries?id=1247
~Luciel



Starring:
Raymond Lam
Michelle Yip



The plot is a typical one: a girl disguises as a guy, runs away from home, and falls in love. This is a story about a strong-willed girl named Mang Lai Kuan (Michelle Yip), daughter of a herbalist/doctor, who dresses like a man in order to go to school. As a period drama, this kind of behaviour is looked down upon (wilful girls don't get married is the belief)--even taboo--so for her to dress as a man, it would disgrace her family and she could be jailed as a result. Not only is she wilful, but she is also intelligent and clever, which helps her along the way to finding her beloved flute player. What she doesn't know is he happened to be right next to her. When she ran away from home to avoid an arranged marriage, she meets up with Wong Poh Siu Wah (Raymond Lam) who incidentally is looking for his fiancé. As a couple pair of wanderers, the two jump into many humorous situations where a test of incredible luck comes into play. The numerous missed chances of the two ever finding the truth in each other leave a mood of longing and unrequited hope in the air. Raymond Lam portrays a lovable, and naive young man with strong morals of right and wrong, which he definitely had the image--down to the funny little hat, and goofy smile. Michelle Yip was a convincing girl, but like most heroine-turned-hero characters in wuxia, they lack believability in pretending to be a guy. Unsurprisingly, "Wow, you look just like a girl, for a guy", is the best they can explain the similarities. And the star actor/actress did a good job building chemistry, being a very cute couple. The period costumes weren't elaborate, but suited the characters very well, as well as stage sets. As one of the older '90s series, it still has more to offer than what most of what current series give. One of the better productions from TVB, Eternal Happiness delivers exactly what it intended.

Rating: 4/5








004

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Review ~Capt-Oblivion

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was originally a musical written and directed by Stephen Sondheim, it was a minimalist production, and has been universally praised. Last year Tim Burton announced that he would be adapting the musical into a film and that Johnny Depp would be starring as the murderous barber. This sent the billions of 12 year old, Pirates of the Caribbean influenced Depp fan-girls into quivers of excitement.

The bad news for them is that this film is an 18, everywhere, and considering that the murderous Mr. Todd and his accomplice Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) kill, cook and sell the numerous unfortunate victims that wander into Sweeney’s shop, this isn’t at all surprising. The violence presented in this film is horrific, to the extent that it’s comical. Those who can’t handle gore or black humour should stay well away from this film.



The plot opens with an extremely dark credit sequence, in which animated blood shows us the path that Sweeney’s victims take, while this is well animated and accompanied by an appropriate score, the entire thing felt like the opening to a Marvel movie (Spiderman etc. For those not in the know), which is somewhat confusing.

We then cut to the first musical number (this is still a musical despite how it’s been advertised) in which a young sailor and a suitably dark Mr. Todd argue in about London in song. I’m not normally a fan of musicals but the songs in this film are seamlessly integrated into the dialogue, to the extent that at times I couldn’t tell whether the actors were singing or not, and if a musical number does break out, it contains more plot progression than about half an hour’s worth of dialogue.

The musical aspect of the film is a huge strength to both the director (Tim Burton, as previously mentioned) and the actors, as neither suffer from the need to be realistic and can accomplish incredibly surreal sequences, an area Burton excels in.
About midway through the first song, the camera pans outwards to reveal Sweeney’s London, a view which should assure everyone in the audience that Burton is a master of gothic film, and that this is the spiritual successor to Sleepy Hollow. Then Burton does something very clever with colour.

In a flashback sequence Burton reveals that Todd was once named Benjamin Barker but was torn away from his family, by a judge (Alan Rickman) who coveted his wife, and then sentenced to jail for 15 years. In this scene Burton also proves that he can work very well with colour and friendly atmospheres. We are also introduced to the positively chilling Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall).

We then cut back to the miserable and gothic landscape that is so often associated with Burton, the contrast between the two environments is stunning and yet nothing seems out of place, such is the magic that Burton weaves.

Todd soon finds himself in the pie shop below his old barber shop. This is when we are introduced to Mrs. Lovett, who is on a par with Todd as being the most disturbing, perplexing, ruthless and yet likeable characters in the film.



The acting from everyone in the film is far above par, yet that seen from Depp and Carter is outstanding. Depp can say more with a single look than most actors can manage with a line of dialogue, and Carter’s portrayal of Mrs. Lovett’s twisted love of Todd is truly disturbing.

Yet the true strength of the acting is due to Burton’s decision not to demonise either character, even as Todd murders and sells anyone he encounters, and Lovett encourages his demented rage, they remain better than those who they pursue, even if only slightly. It would’ve been so easy for Burton to fall into the trap of not having a main character, yet he doesn’t as both Todd and Lovett, remain identifiable characters driven by human emotions.

The plot takes a large amount of time to get to the first murder, which is born out of necessity. The murder itself is quick but bloody. Gallons of blood pour from the first victim, and Depp smiles maliciously all the way through it, if anything were to put a fan-girl off Depp this is it.

After the first throat is slit the film progresses at a breakneck pace to its inevitable and bloody end, not much is left to the imagination, and anything that is, is completely justifiable from an artistic and tasteful stand-point. Everything is presented, filmed, acted and sung beautifully. This is a diamond in Burton’s crown.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barbet of Fleet Street is so close to being a masterpiece it’s painful to criticize it; the one thing that holds it back is its genre. It’s to arty for the blood crowd and to bloody for the art crowd, it takes a mixture of both to enjoy this film. Yet one thing is certain, Stephen Sondheim’s musical has been fully realised here, and this is Burtons crowning achievement. It’s bloody, satirical realism has implications to this day, and Burton has most definitely grown up and found his place in the world.

9/10




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Oh my, Sweeny Todd looks really good. I still need to see that. Depp's face is amazingly transfigured to be...less attractive? Not a Depp fan personally, but he does have charisma, so it's not at lost in this movie, if the trailers are any indications.

i`ve watched it bcause I like Johnny Depp playing a role
it`s good movie but it`s also sad bcause the only thing that Sweeney has in his mind is revenge

OMG I LOVED SWEENEY TODD SO MUCH! I am getting the cd later. loved that movie with a passion.