PriestMarmore Reviews

Naruto (2002–2007)

Incredible Story With a Few Setbacks

[8/10 · 24 November 2022]

I used to watch this when I was younger and I loved it, however I watched it without following the correct order (I just watched whenever it was on TV). Now having watched everything from start to finish in order I don't feel disappointed.

Let's skip the positives because they are too many, therefore I'll only point out the negatives. Let's start with the fact that the first episodes, especially the ones from season 1, have extremely extensive recaps of the previous episode, so an episode with 23 minutes will actually only be maybe 15 minutes once you exclude the opening and closing song and that recap, it is annoying.

Another thing I didn't like is that throughout an episode (although they improve on this but not totally) they would reminisce too much. By reminiscing I mean having flashbacks, maybe during a fight, or things like that and some episodes are basically filled with this, and the worst part is that most of this flashbacks are about stuff that we already saw 3000 times before so sometimes the story takes time to develop because of this.

Lastly, the formula for a battle is always the same (regarding Naruto). Start to attack someone directly and get obliterated. Once that happens he gets angry and finds a way, either a clever way or just by pure force, to defeat the enemy, at least most of the times.

That's it, these are really my main complains. I'm now going to start to watch Shippuden so I hope I enjoy but I do have high hopes because, like I said throughout the review, most of the downsides of the show are improved over the seasons so I'm hoping that what I just pointed out isn't going to be so bad.

Move to Heaven (2021)

Very Solid Drama

[7/10 · 5 November 2022]

Such an incredible drama, however there are a few things that do push down the score a bit. I wanted to talk about the positives too but I couldn't find the words to describe them without spoilers but in general the story is pretty well written. The characters have depth, for the most part, and there wasn't a single moment where I thought "I wish I was doing something else instead of watching this". The score could be higher if not for some really terrible mistakes, for lack of a better word, that I'll point out right now.

So, what's holding this drama back? Well, some of the performances were a bit mediocre to be honest. I cannot tell you how much the scene, which I'm not going to enter in detail to not give any spoilers, where the guy was playing cello at the hospital bothered me (that scene was the worse but I think this applies to every time there was a scene where they were playing). It's funny because they did hire someone who could play cello when they weren't showing the face of the actor, but still the recording was so uncoordinated with the musician, and when it was the actor "playing" then it was just terrible. Besides, the sound of the recording of the cello playing was from a different place so you could clearly hear that the instrument shouldn't be sounding like it was if it was played at a hospital room. The fight scenes also look pretty fake but to be honest they did look pretty good when compared to any other drama out there basically. There were a few other scenes that could have been better but I would have to go into detail.

Overall, I do recommend this series and I think that if you look beyond some of the performances, the score is actually higher than a 7/10.

Our Beloved Summer (2021–2022)

Emotional Story

[7/10 · 28 October 2022]

It's funny looking back at the first episodes. The drama seemed so light-hearted yet everything became much more emotional once you started to know about the characters and their personal lives. I'm not going into great detail because I don't wanna give spoilers, although a review will always reveal a bit of the story, but I'll try to point out the major positives and negatives from this drama.

Let's start with the negatives. This one is personal but I feel like the ending is not the best, it is a bit predictable. For a drama I think it has the best ending however I don't see it as being realistic, at least regarding the main characters. Another negative aspect of the series is in regards to the continuity between different shots in a scene. This is a technical issue, not one related to the story itself, like the first negative point. This is a really common thing however and to be honest it wasn't that bad, especially compared to many other dramas I've watched.

Moving now to the positives. Despite feeling like the end is predictable, and what leads to the end, they made a really good job making the story interesting and adding some plot twists. I also have to point out how deep every major character is in terms of personality and background and that's what makes this story so captivating and impactful.

This might not be on the top of my list, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this drama to anyone.

D.P. (2021– )

Incredible Story, Incredible Performances

[9/10 · 17 October 2022]

Let me just say why I didn't give this a 10/10 and we'll move to the positives. There were a few technical problems that kept bothering me. One of them is the continuity between different shots on the same scene. There were a few transitions where a character had a totally different face expression or things repeated themselves while switching between different shots. Another thing I felt that the series lacks is a better background story/context on Ahn Jun-Ho, although the series only has 6 episodes so that's almost to be expected.

Alright, let's move to the positives. The drama is extremely well written and keeps you on the edge of your seat at all time. They don't need to make the events look unrealistic (except for a few pursuits) in order to create excitement and even fights look more realistic than what we are used to. They also don't censure anything which is super annoying in other dramas. They also go straight to the action instead of creating cliché plot twists that usually just make the dramas seem fake/unrealistic and boring.

Overall this drama is a must watch and I can't believe it took me this long to find out about it.

It's Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)

Authentic Drama

[7/10 · 15 October 2022]

I feel like this drama starts weird and it might not seem but as the episodes go on the story gets better.

One of the negatives I have to point out is how awkward those first episodes (mainly the first and second) were, not because of the animations but because the interactions between both seemed forced and very unlikely to happen. The story is also not my favorite but that's really subjective, however it is still weird to me how he ended up falling in love with her despite me rooting for them once the story started to unfold.

As for the positives I should mention the realism of the scenes. Unlike most dramas the interactions seemed real, everything from talks and kissing to arguments and "fights". The story didn't seem super realistic but it doesn't need to be, however it keeps you on the edge of your sit so I'd definitely recommend this series.

Twenty Five Twenty One (2022)

Amazing Story with Just a Few Negatives

[8/10 · 7 October 2022]

This is definitely one of the best series I've watched so far. I'll try to give a review without spoilers. It will be a bit though and I might not touch every single aspect of the series but I think it will be insightful.

It's hard to talk about the positives without spoilers so in short, this drama makes you feel emotionally attached to the characters and speaking of them it is worth pointing out how different they are from each other. Despite being around the same age they all have different interests, personalities and personal issues.

Let's move to the negatives. Something that I really didn't like was the back-and-forth between timelines because it spoiled a lot of the story (relationships, achievements/matches...). This reminds me of "How I Met Your Mother" but in that series they don't spoil anything (at least that I remember). Another thing that also reminds me of "How I Met Your Mother" is the ending, it's not that great. I'm not to upset about it because it is realistic but there's no follow up of the characters and it feels so... empty.

Moving to the technical aspects there are a few bad things that I wanna mention but they all kind of fall under the same umbrella which is the lack of continuity between different shots. There were so many times that during a scene they would switch shots and the actor would be with a total different expression, doing something completely different or looking at a totally different direction. I do know this is very common in series (not just korean dramas) but it is still an imperfection and it is a bit annoying but nothing outrages.

Despite talking mainly about the negatives (mostly because I feel it would be difficult to talk about the positives without spoilers) this series is definitely a must watch for everyone and the positives outweigh any negative.

Squid Game (2021– )

Definitely a must watch if you haven't

[8/10 · 11 October 2021]

Firsts things first, the series is really well made and has a very well thought and written story.

Speaking of story, this one was super realistic in regards to what would happen if such a situation were to happen, the only 2 problems I had were thinking of a way someone could be that rich to afford such facilities and to buy a island for themselves while keeping everything unsuspicious. Talking about unsuspicious, problem number 2 is how would 456 be kidnapped and no one would notice? Other than that I have no other critic to the story, well done, realistic and interesting.

Image wise it is as impressive as a series gets. The sceneries are beautifully well made. Interesting camera angles for a series as well.

Lastly I want to point something out, a technicality that I noticed (and like I noticed this one I might have missed many others or there might not even exist any other, I don't know). When they are at the Tug of War, when a team loses they all fall down the bridge. I also noticed that it takes a few seconds for the blade to cut the rope. If putted the pieces together then shouldn't the winning team fall down the bridge as well duo to the massive weight difference, especially when it's a team with 3 women vs one full of men and the team with the women wins (meaning the team with only men is heavier)?

To finish, the series is not perfect but it is pretty damn high up there.

Free Guy (2021)

Super Cringy

[3/10 · 30 August 2021]

The goods of this film were the film production and that one joke that hits you from time to time, other than that it was a disgrace There are some pretty obvious inaccuracies throughout the film, but the worse is really when they show the youtubers and streamers, some of them that no one even knows who they are. Needless to say their skills as actors are pretty atrocious. The actors themselves were good but that's a given.

The story is also pretty cringe and overall bad. Looking at the score I'm alone on this one but those are just my two cents on it.

Beyond Evil (2021)

Excellent Entertainment But I Felt That Something Was Missing

[7/10 · 16 July 2021]

Let's get this out of the way, the acting was really good, there were no major flaws, at least that I noticed.

In relation to the story there are a lot o episode endings that lead you to believe something and then it isn't which can be a good suspense tool, however they overused it so I never believed what was showing on the end because I knew that it was super misleading.

Also worth noting that the final felt incomplete. There was no major interest in wanting to portray how they got arrested (we know how but we don't see some people getting arrested, we don't get a follow up of how those guys were doing in prison or how their imprisonment changed the redevelopment of the city for example) and what happened during the "time skip" at the last episode.

Overall I give this a 7/10 but I easily recommend this series.

Vincenzo (2021)

Good Entertainment But Sometimes Unrealistic

[7/10 · 13 June 2021]

Image wise the series is pretty well filmed with the exception of a few scenes (like when Hong Yu Chan died and you see Vincenzo flying in the air).

I would also say that some scenes also seem pretty unrealistic, like the court dynamics (and I'm not talking about the things that they did to delay the audition).

Other than that the series is pretty good and interesting and I definitely recommend it.

The Lies Within (2019)

Amazing story, decent "rest"

[6/10 · 24 May 2021]

Let's first address the elephant in the room, the acting and production. By no means was terrible, but by no means was perfect. Because the story was good (more detail in a while) that didn't bother me so much but we need to look at the whole picture. Two things stand out as bad: -> The first is the production (more specifically the script supervisor) because you'll see that when the camera angle chances in some scenes, especially during the middle of the series, the placement of things and characters changes, almost like they were teleported. We also find some cases where the actors might be drinking and the camera angle chances and in that camera angle they are no longer drinking even though there was no jump in time which makes it really weird (although this is not a specific example because I don't remember specific instances, I just remember there were a few like this example, plus I don't want to give spoilers).

-> The second thing is the acting. Some characters are just a bit weird and overuse some of their acting peculiarities (like the cliché that is when the The Rock turns around and raises one of his eyebrows) and also in some scenes the acting is a bit unnatural, especially in high intensity scenes that involve crying.

In relation to the story I can't really complain, I'd give it probably a 9.5/10. I don't wanna spoil the series so I won't enter in detail but there's plenty of drama and action. The twists and turns are also oh so lovely.

Some might find it a bit slow during the middle but I totally recommend this series, just try to watch it for pleasure and don't be bothered by the production and acting mistakes.

Night in Paradise (2020)

Good movie but seems a little bit rushed

[7/10 · 22 April 2021]

The story was good but my problem is with the pace of the story, the two main characters seemed to connected way to fast and it felt inorganic. There were so other minor details but nothing that bad.

Investigation Partners (2018–2019)

Story-wise It's A 10/10

[8/10 · 6 April 2021]

So the story is a 10 out of 10, one of the best series I've ever seen. The down sides for the 8 instead of 10 are:

-> The constant blurring of weapons and corpses, which I understand why but it shouldn't be censored in a series in which a lot of its content is based on dead bodies' examination.

-> On the second season, the new girl from the NFS (toxicology) is a little annoying when she speaks in english. I guess it's because the first one spoke too, however her english was very clear but the one from the new girl is not at all.

The writing is incredible and the way they revealed the bed was empty was just magical. I'm patiently waiting for the 3rd season!

The Uncanny Counter (2020–2023)

Really Good Story But The High-school Part Is Kinda Cliche

[7/10 · 1 April 2021]

In relation to the main story I have no complains: very complete, well executed and captivating.

What I did not like was the high-school part. All the violence and bullies are such a cliche and that just doesn't happen in real life so it gave the story a bit of a weird/cringe vibe at times.

All in all the series is good and despite the 7/10 I enjoyed it over series with a higher score.

Doctor Prisoner (2019– )

Curious Start But At The End It Gets Much Better

[7/10 · 1 March 2021]

I have to say that besides the first episode, the first ones were a bit boring, however the drama gets better as you watch and you start to realize that the main character is not as bad (as in his actions and morals) as you thought. Overall it is a good drama with a good story, one which ends without ending, but I suspect that that is intentional as they will probably make a second season

The Good Detective (2020–2022)

Very solid story

[8/10 · 9 February 2021]

I have nothing to say about the story. In relation to the acting and the other elements I do have something to say. One of the things that stood out to me was(SPOILER) after the fight between JiHyouk and JongTae non of them had scratches or seemed to be bothered (super unrealistic). Still a pretty darn good drama

Designated Survivor: 60 Days (2019)

Interesting Theme But Unintereting At Times

[8/10 · 12 September 2020]

So my title might be a little confusing but basically I find the Politics theme and the story interesting but I found that sometimes it gets a little boring, however I still gave a 8/10 because that rarely happens. The acting was good I recommend this series

Tunnel (2017)

Awesome Story But Enough With The Blurring

[7/10 · 1 September 2020]

I would give the story of this series a solid 9/10. It's very well written and as time goes by it gets more interesting. It's not a ten cause some of the aspects are not really realistic (like the consequences of time travelling). The thing that really bothered me with this series was the blurring. They blurred everything from knives, stockings (yes, those things women wear when wearing shorts or skirts), wounds and even paintings. It really gets a little bit annoying after a while and it almost seems like I'm watching asian porn rather than a drama. Because of this and some other minor stuff I'll drop the score to a 7/10 but if, like me, you're only looking for entertainment I recommend this series

Black (2017)

Definitely one of the best series I've seen yet

[8/10 · 27 August 2020]

The story is really well thought out and the acting is really good. There's plenty of thriller through out the whole series. I did get a little bit confused with the names sometimes (the less important ones) but that's a problem of series like these with only 16/18 episodes so that's not a big deal. I do have another complain and that is relative to the last episode. It's not bad the way it finishes but I think the acting and dressing was a little bit of at the end of the episode and I think it didn't show a lot of her life. This all being said I give it a big round 9 and I definitely recommend it to anyone

The King: Eternal Monarch (2020)

Great Story But Has Some Flaws

[7/10 · 1 August 2020]

The story is really good and a overall 9/10. The only negative things I would say about this series are the fact that the story might be a little bit confusing at times (not only on the first episode but also when they go back and forth) and the acting (basically only the laughs) of some characters (like Lee Gon and Prime Minister Koo) could be better because even though a "fake" laugh might feel like to little that takes away a little bit of the immersiveness. To conclude, I totally recommend this drama

Prison Playbook (2017–2018)

Incredible Series

[9/10 · 25 July 2020]

Starting from the beginning , I felt the excuse for him to go to jail was a little bit forced. I honestly don't believe anyone would send anyone to jail in those conditions but if you accept that then the story is basically flawless. I love the "innocent" "character of Kim Je-Hyuk that is contrasted by his latter decisions and plans, Looney is also a character that brings joy and amusement to the series. Every character is likable and there's a balance between good things and bad things that happen along the story. One last thing that I think was missing is related to the finally. There's no mentioning of Min-Chul's life after getting out. The same applies to Captain Yoo, Kaist and Je-Hee. Overall I highly recommend this series

Stranger (2017–2020)

Really Good

[8/10 · 14 June 2020]

The story is really exciting and thrilling. The action doesn't get boring or predictable at any time and the actors are really good. The ending is also well thought out. I can't say much more without giving spoilers so I'll stay here. I totally recommend this series.

Baby Driver (2017)

Great film

[8/10 · 10 June 2020]

As a car guy I was begging for a film like this. Modern car films are more focus on action rather cars. The driving scenes in this movie are very well made and although some aspects are a little too much, the overall product is really good. The story is also a good one. They tell us the background of the main character through out the film and "romance" is developed in a "not too cliche" manner. Overall good film and I highly recommend it .

Signal (2016)

Awesome Drama

[8/10 · 2 June 2020]

This is definitely a series I would recommend to anyone. The story is very well thought out and it has the perfect balance between investigation/action, drama and fiction. The end is a little vague but nothing out of the ordinary. Overall a thumbs up.

That Winter, the Wind Blows (2013)

Overall a very good story

[7/10 · 21 May 2020]

I feel like the story is really exciting and well thought out. The things to me that makes this a seven are the fact that I really can't stand the fact that Young still chooses to keep Wang around her. I can forgive Soo for his bad decision and besides his first intentions he has done nothing but good to Young and I'm happy they stay together. However, Wang was the one who made Young blind and making peace with her is just stupid even thought she likes her. One other reason for the seven as to do with the acting of some characters especially Jo In-Sung's performance (Oh Soo). He's a very good actor but I think they rely to much on his "sad look" and it just gets to repetitive. As for Song Hye-Kyo I have nothing bad to say. Brilliant acting (but I already knew it). I also feel like the ending was good in terms of ending but the way the story was told was not my favorite (and I reviewed the last episode). Overall I really liked this series and it goes down as one of my favorites despite the scoring. If you like "drama only" series I recommend this one.