Reviews written by MaXi
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Hi My Sweetheart (DVD) (End) (English Subtitled) (US Version)
Hi My Sweetheart (DVD) (End) (English Subtitled) (US Version) DVD Region All
(15)Our Price: US$24.99List: US$30.99Save: US$6.00 (19%)Usually ships within 1 to 2 daysRelated promotions:September 30, 2010 Widescreen@por
While a suspect that Taiwan and China versions of this series are too letterbox releases the issue of widescreen presentation has very little to do with HD. Yes, when you have a HD master it is easy to do a widescreen presentation but you can do a widescreen presentation even if the actual recording was done in SD. It all boils down the actual recording situation: was a widescreen setting used there ? I have a nasty feeling that natively this series was shot using widescreen aspect ratio and the reason we are setting a latterboxed image was due to due to recycling the same source which was being used for television broadcasts (if no widespread digital tv in Taiwan then letterboxing is the only way to show an original widescreen image in 4:3 format). Still I believe it to be stupid since all DVD players can letterbox a native widescreen image so there is no real reason to use letterboxing in a DVD release since it will throw away resolution and picture quality.
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Hi My Sweetheart (DVD) (End) (English Subtitled) (US Version)
Hi My Sweetheart (DVD) (End) (English Subtitled) (US Version) DVD Region All
(15)Our Price: US$24.99List: US$30.99Save: US$6.00 (19%)Usually ships within 1 to 2 daysRelated promotions:September 29, 2010 Only because of Rainie YangAs far as the plot goes YesAsia's Editorial Description is close enough but my real problem with this series is that it was far too over-the-top meaning the comedy aspect is overly emphasized. The series could have been immensely good had there been a more serious approach towards the topic. There was nothing wrong with the acting, on the contrary the actors played their parts very professionally. Especially Rainie Yang showed real skill and to be truthful, she is the reason to watch and stick with the series until the end. Hopefully we will see more of this lovely young woman, she definitely displays a serious promise. But next time I'd like to see her in a more serious role or series so that her acting abilies could have a chance to shine.
Technically this release was a disappointment. Although the box said "letterbox" it still feels stupid having to put up with this inferiour display format since I am certain that natively this series was shot in anamorphic widescreen and it should be shown as such. I mean nowdays all new Korean series are anamorphic widescreen DVD releases so why not here ? Are only the Koreans able to make such releases ?
I also spotted some compression artifacts which most likely are because of squeezing the series into 3 DVD9's which imho is far too few when you consider the amount of stuff here. Also generally picture quality suffered because of letterboxing since it means that there was less resolution to display the image.
Another growling point are the subtitles. Quite frequently there were obvious mistakes which should have never gotten past quality control (was there quality control here ?) worst being a spot where there was something like "#NAME" and a mysterious character called "Pole". A bit ambition please, this was supposed to be the "US Version" so good subtitles should have been a high priority.
Yet another growling point were the advertisements (I figure one per three episodes). I don't mind the ads as long as there is the possibility to skip or fast forward then but not here. I only felt anger towards the advertized products so if that was the purpose then good job.
Overall ? I only found this series watchable because of Rainie Yang, not too good to be said otherwise.
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Cinderella's Sister (DVD) (11-Disc) (English Subtitled) (End) (KBS TV Drama) (Premium Limited Edition) (Korea Version)
Cinderella's Sister (DVD) (11-Disc) (English Subtitled) (End) (KBS TV Drama) (Premium Limited Edition) (Korea Version) DVD Region 3, 4, 5, 6
(2)Our Price: US$133.99List: US$174.99Save: US$41.00 (23%)Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:September 25, 2010 Brilliant - deep characters and wonderful actingHaving watched this entire series in two days I can certainly say that this series was thoroughly engaging. This is the first time that I have "wolfed down" a series this fast which tells how much I enjoyed this.
YesAsia's Editorial Description gives a pretty good idea of what is going on but in my opinion it doesn't fully explain what kind of character types are involved here. Without going too much into the actual plot I would say that this is not a "Cinderella" story where there's a clear good vs. evil setting but rather a story about two totally different character types (the sisters) and how they slowly evolve through various challenges which life throws at them. And yes, the main attraction are the sisters whose characters show multiple dimensions and let us be honest, the two female main leads are very nice to watch and they do know how to act. The two female main leads portray a huge range of feelings which will definitely connect to the audience. By the end of the series one cannot help feeling a deep sense of sympathy for both sisters and let us be frank, the ending is perfect. You will shed some happy tears there.
Technically this release is near perfect. Picture format is anamorphic widescreen and picture quality is OK. Same can be said about the audio too (2.0) although it wouldn't hurt to have a 5.1 audio track but then again this is a production issue. English subtitles were OK for most the time but some smaller stuff (mostly titles) wasn't subtitled. Don't take this the wrong way, the actual dialog and most of the the stuff which had Korean writing was subtitled but some (not a lot) went missing. A "heads up" here, nowdays more and more people outside Korea are watching these nowdays so special attention should paid to the non-Korean language understanding side of the world.
Overall verdict ? Wonderful series with deep characters and good female lead actors. In my opinion no. 1 Korean drama series at the moment.
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Down With Love (DVD) (End) (English Subtitled) (US Version)
Down With Love (DVD) (End) (English Subtitled) (US Version) DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$44.99List: US$55.99Save: US$11.00 (20%)Usually ships within 1 to 2 daysRelated promotions:4 people found the following helpful
September 14, 2010 Issues with letterboxing and advertisementsMy main problem with this release is that the picture is 4:3 letterbox which means that you will see black bars on top and bottom parts of the screen when viewing using 4:3 aspect ratio (you have to do this since this is a 4:3 release). This letterboxing is a no-no since originally this series must have been shot in widescreen so there should have been no sense in ruining the viewing pleasure by downgrading the image this way. I don't know if because of letterboxing or fitting the entire series into 4 DVDs (which are DVD9 by the way) but the picture suffers from combing which unfortunately is very visible, especially when you watch from a big screen.
The other problem is that you cannot fast forward or skip the advertisements between the episodes. I haven't kept a count of how often these ads appear but I figure that you will see them every 2 episodes. This is not acceptable since normally you would atleast have the option of fast forwaring them but not here. Because of this I only felt anger towards the adverised products. If this was their intention then somebody obviously succeeded in their advertisement scheme.
As for the series itself I have only watched the series up to disc 2 but I am enjoying what I am seeing. The actors do know how to create proper drama and there have already been many turns and twists but make no mistake, this is a romantic drama so keep your expectations on that sector.
Overall ? In my case the point deductions are because of the letterboxing and forced advertisements. The plot and drama itself (I won't go deeper there, YesAsia's Editorial Description is fine there) is responsible for the rest of the points and I am not having any complaints there. Anxiously waiting what the rest of the episodes will bring along.
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The Worst Guy Ever (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
The Worst Guy Ever (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$15.99Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:January 9, 2010 Technical issue: aspect ratio is wrongSymptom: people still look "too thin"/squashed even after anamorphic widescreen has been selected.
Problem with this movie/edition is that it obviously has incorrect aspect ratio. It has been treated as 1.78 : 1 but the original aspect ratio is totally something else, I suspect something around 2.2:1 or something. And yes, I gave 2.35:1 a try but it didn't look good.
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The Man Who Can't Get Married (DVD) (6-Disc) (English Subtitled) (KBS TV Drama) (First Press Edition) (Korea Version)
The Man Who Can't Get Married (DVD) (6-Disc) (English Subtitled) (KBS TV Drama) (First Press Edition) (Korea Version) DVD Region 3, 4, 5, 6
(1)Our Price: US$79.99List: US$95.99Save: US$16.00 (17%)Related promotions:December 3, 2009 Not your typical romanceOriginally a Japanese series (Kekkon Dekinai Otoko) this series got a Korean conversion with a few plot changes towards the romantic side and it worked. I always thought that the original (Japanese) plot basically didn't leave any sense of accomplishment but this Korean version of the series did that, just watch the small extra part of our architect designing a new house and the "small accessory" near the drawing. As far as the plot goes otherwise I won't go there since yesasia's plot description is goog enough. One thing I will say, this is not your typical romance since the main characters involved are not your typical characters what you would expect to see when watching these kinds of series.
Technical side: video and audio quality were very much OK. English subtitles were OK but you have to note that only the dialogue was subtitled, no extras or anything written in Korean.
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Love Enhanced - single collection (Japan Version)
Love Enhanced - single collection (Japan Version)
(26)Our Price: US$39.25Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:October 24, 2009 Not a slow albumOne could think that "love enhanced" would mean a love ballad album but the truth is that there are some really catchy trendy tunes here which are definitely now slow. My personal favourite is "Please Smile Again" while "Say The Word", "Never End" and "Something 'Bout The Kiss" have also tortured my headphones quite often. The good thing about this album is that it is like almost like a remix album where the original "slower" versios have been "enhanced" to fit the new Namie image. If you have listened to her later album "Style" you kind of get the idea that this is the first "modern" Namie album. Her later albums follow the similar style. If you want to get best Namie albums (with money saving involved) then "Love enhanced" and "Best fiction" would be the two albums which you would want to obtain.
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![namie amuro BEST FICTION TOUR 2008-2009 [Blu-ray Disc] (Japan Version)](http://i.yai.bz/Assets/63/400/s_p0007840063.jpg)
namie amuro BEST FICTION TOUR 2008-2009 [Blu-ray Disc] (Japan Version)
namie amuro BEST FICTION TOUR 2008-2009 [Blu-ray Disc] (Japan Version) Blu-ray Region All
(3)Our Price: US$82.75Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:September 21, 2009 Small technical correctionsHaving watched this entire blu-ray disc there are some issues which need to be corrected concerning earlier reviews. First is the issue concerning image resolution: blu-ray supports a "maximum" resolution of 1080i60 (or exactly i59.94) which was used here, there is no 1080p60 resolution in blu-ray specification. 1080p24 is definitely a possibility but they might have wanted to use 1080i60 because it produces higher frame rate (suitable for fast motion). Second is the issue of "blurring": actually this is not a technical problem but a an issue of camera work. I have a feeling that they wanted to have a "music video" like feeling which is the reason why camera angles/views change quickly. As far as blurring goes I found the image to be very crisp, it was a fun (and almost a scary) experience to see Namie sweat during close-ups, a real evidence of the high level detail which blu-ray produces.
Generally I found the live concert blu-ray to be quite enjoyful but I found that I actually liked the 2 channel soundtrack to be "more together" than the 5.1 soundtrack which (for me) sounded a bit muddy or unclear. As far the performance generally there is a good amount of songs to enjoy here and the stage works was really something to admire. Namie is definitely a world class star and her concerts are also world class events.
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Fireworks (Ep.1-17) (End) (English Subtitles) (Malaysia Version)
Fireworks (Ep.1-17) (End) (English Subtitles) (Malaysia Version) DVD Region 3
(3)Our Price: US$49.99Related promotions:May 14, 2009 A few notes about the English subtitlesAs far as the story goes I don't have anything to add to the other reviews but the English subtitles of the Malaysia version deserve a few words: most of the time the subtitles are very much ok apart from few spelling mistakes which one can easily forgive since they certainly didn't spoil the mood. The bigger problem was the fact that occasionally the subtitles disappeared too quicky so sometimes I had to resort to rewinding in order to be able to read them.
Overall I thought that the series was a good watch but I am not sure if I want to watch again (atleast not for a while), however I am not certainly gretting that I got it.
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The World That They Live In (DVD) (End) (English Subtitled) (KBS TV Drama) (Korea Version)
The World That They Live In (DVD) (End) (English Subtitled) (KBS TV Drama) (Korea Version) DVD Region 3, 4, 5, 6
(2)Our Price: US$75.99List: US$89.99Save: US$14.00 (16%)Related promotions:1 people found the following helpful
May 9, 2009 A balanced effort all aroundWhen I started to watch this series I was immediately impressed: the two main characters are unique and well composed. Soon you will start to develop a sense about how they go through their days and relationships. Of the two main characters the female lead (she looks much better on screen than on the boxset cover) is definitely the more interesting one since she obviously has a more complex (maybe difficult but in an interesting way) personality than the main male lead. This being I have only watched the first two discs so it will be interesting to see if the main main male will show a bit deeper sides of himself during the latter part of the series. This being said I was surprised to see that this series is not about the main cast but there are also quite a few supporting characters who seem to be interesting as well. It is nice to see a good deal of effort being placed there too. I guess this pretty much sums it up: this series is a balanced effort all around and quality can be seen all around.
The only small problem with this Korean version are the English subtitles. While the subtitles are most of the time good and proper there are certain places where the translation misses the plot. This being said there are not that many of these places and they shouldn't spoil the fun.
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What Happened Last Night? (DVD) (Korea Version)
What Happened Last Night? (DVD) (Korea Version) DVD Region 3
(2)Our Price: US$14.99List: US$35.99Save: US$21.00 (58%)Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:1 people found the following helpful
April 9, 2009 Definitely one to keepBasically if you enjoy watching a bad mannered and a bad tempered quirky woman getting into problems because of her obvious drinking problem then this is the movie for you - as long as you don't overly care about the people who happen to be close to her and have to put up with her behaviour. I definitely believe that this movie is meant to be seen with a sarcastic eye and forget all about being proper and pure....well atleast for the beginning of the movie. Like the other reviewer mentioned there will be a romantic development later on but I guess that is a bit of a mandatory if you are planning on getting the big audience to watch this movie. I might be a bit of a twisted person for liking the beginning too (for me it was simply entertaining) but I enjoyed the film entirely and found the transition from sarcastic comedy to romantic comedy quite natural and very much working OK. If you are a fan of the genre (quirky women getting into problems) then this is the movie for you.
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Love Is.... (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Love Is.... (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3
(2)Our Price: US$13.99Usually ships within 21 daysRelated promotions:April 9, 2009 Too many charactersThe movie was OK in a sense that the cast (look at the cover, yes there are many people in this movie) did their job properly - acting was good but the real problem is that in numbers the cast was too large: I found it hard to focus since there were so many stories going on and that lead to some stories getting too little attention and the center of the focus was missing. Solution here would have been to focus the attention to maybe one or two stories and leave the other people for supporting roles. Also I was not happy about the ending which left too many things unsolved, it might be just me but I like clear endings. I might have forgiven the somewhat too large number of stories had the ending been a bit better. That being said you might want to see the movie yourself in order to make your own opinion about the ending, the film is certainly not a bad one.
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Windstruck (DVD) Hong Kong Version)
Windstruck (DVD) Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3
(78)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 1 to 2 daysRelated promotions:March 19, 2007 No replay value at all...This particular movie is a love comedy. You might think that "this one is easy" but you are mistaken, the plot has a very "heavy" (and sad) ending which in my honest opinion does not fit to the rest of the movie at all. After watching the movie I noticed that I didn't have the desire to watch it again. If it didn't have the comedy component inside then things might have been different and the entire pack would have been more "together", in my opinion this would have suited this movie better. The thing which earned two stars was the acting, both lead characters did their job brilliantly. Overall: not a bad movie but it is not plot-wise something which I find pleasing.
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Face To Face
Face To Face DVD Region All
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:March 18, 2007 More of a horror film...The basic story line is a passion triangle with a horror twist. In my opinion the story went overboard with the "tomb resurrection" of one of the main male characters and the baby killing thing. I know the film was being advertised as a movie with a horror twist to it but this is a bit too weird for my taste. Also the movie being letterboxed didn't help and I have a feeling there was something weird with the Japanese audio track or the Engligh subtitles. The real reason why I gave this movie atleast some stars was the main female character who (in addition to looking very good) managed to pull through quite properly.
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Curiosity Kills The Cat (DVD) (China Version)
Curiosity Kills The Cat (DVD) (China Version) DVD Region All
(6)Our Price: US$6.99Related promotions:1 people found the following helpful
March 18, 2007 Nobody is innocent...Well not atleast in this film since every character seems to have some dirt on them. The plot is a "typical" triangle passion drama but executed quite nicely. Acting was good throughout the entire film, especially the female cast brought the points home. The only negative issues were the pop-up ads which occasionally distracted the attention (luckily there weren't that many of them) and the letterboxed image but otherwise the movie was good and definitely worth the money.
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Drink-Drank-Drunk (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Drink-Drank-Drunk (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All
(3)Our Price: US$10.99Related promotions:March 11, 2007 Very good!Your typical "woman meets man and rival appears" concept at play here but very properly executed. The entire cast (especially the main characters) did their job very well which was apparent throughout the film. The subject was not that "heavy" which equals a good replay value. And yeah, I can definitely see this being a movie which the female audience would like too.
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Sinking Of Japan (Hong Kong Version)
Sinking Of Japan (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3
(4)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:March 10, 2007 Pretty Good!The movie was pretty good, definitely as good as what Hollywood can produce. And yes, this also means the visual effect department. A bit shame if this movie will not be released elsewhere because I rate this one pretty high inside my "disaster movies" category. For those interested this movie has English subtitles and a nice DTS soudtrack. Definitely worth the price.
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Shoujo - An Adolescent (Japan Version - English Subtitles)
Shoujo - An Adolescent (Japan Version - English Subtitles) DVD Region 2
(2)Our Price: US$62.75Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:March 9, 2007 Quite good actuallyThe other reviewer is correct about the plot line so if you are expecting a fluffy romantic story then this not for you. However if you are into the subject then you might actually enjoy the movie, the description which yesasia gives is pretty good so you know what you are getting. Plenty of skin here so the movie goes to the Rated R category (which is not a bad thing at all).
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