Young B(영비) - Stranger Album Thoughts(K-rap)

   I don't know a whole lot about this rapper named Young B. He was the winner of High School Rapper, then he was on Show Me The Money. No. I didn't find out about him from that show. I don't watch that show anymore because it's just a popularity contest that doesn't involve true talent most of the time. Many of the rappers on that show don't go anywhere after the buzz dies down anyway. Young B came up as a youtube suggestion for me because I'm subscribe to a Korean music channel that promotes a lot of indie Korean acts. Polo became one of my all time favorite Korean rap songs last year after watching the music video. It made me want more music from Young B and he answered my hunger with a full album. His first album is titled Stranger which is being promoted using the track called Revenge.

Track List:
01. Gray (Feat. The Quiett)
02. SOkoNYUN FREESTYLE (Feat. 210)
03. 서울 
04. junky (Feat. YUNHWAY, CJAMM)
05. Business class (Feat. JUSTHIS)
06. 체스
07. ROSE (Feat. Skinny Brown, Homeboy)
08. Ferrari
09. ILOVEUMYSIS (interlude)
10. 밤에 (Feat. kuzi)
11. REVENGE (Feat. 210, kuzi)
12. Next_ (Feat. 스윙스, Dok2)
13. B-site

   

   Stranger opens up as an album that shows more of what Young B can do in an experimental way. While the core of his music is still hip hop, some of the sounds in the beat production are simply old school. It works for the kind of vibe he gives off when spitting those bars. He keeps his music fresh by adding different beats that consist of drums, guitars, and dance pop. The style goes from street rap to chilling in the club type of music as the album progresses. Young B can rap really well but he seems to not feel the need to prove he goes hard on every track. Stranger has tracks such as Grey and Rose that mellow out the impression he might have gave us on Show Me The Money. Grey works well when Young B mixes his singing together with his rapping for a slowed down relaxed tone. The Quiet tore up being dominate rapper on this track so Young B didn't have to. Rose is my fave song on Stranger since its more sing songy rap that blurs the lines of rap and RnB. This track is my "Polo" replacement that I was looking for. Not only does Young B still mange to pull out all the stops at half power on tracks: Junky, Business Class, and Sokonyun Freestyle. The rappers that feature get real hood super quick out of nowhere as well. I'm not sure where these rappers came from. Let's just say they didn't come to play. Young B was right there acting ghetto too. Boy need to stay out the street in Itewon. I caught those "niggas" in some of those bars…. Y'all tried it though. Swings and Dok2's feature gets a little overshadowed. Not that they didn't do the damn thing, their track is too far down the album to have the same impact it would have had had the track been placed in an earlier spot. Revenge becomes an afterthought once you make your way through the whole album. I like the song since it was what made me listen to Stranger in the first place. The track gives a grunge hip hop style that isn't heard anywhere else in Korea. Lyrics take the time to address everything that he's been feeling while using subjects of the normal stuff like never giving up, anger, and love. Young B's chill vibe makes anything he raps about interesting.

  Only thing I can remember when I think of Young B's rapping is that clip I found of him rap battling on Show Me The Money where he dragged the hell out of the opposing rapper[INSERT ME LAUGHING.]. I shouldn't laugh but it was only funny because the other rapper had so much confidence in thinking that he could body Young B and he was dragged so badly that he was rendered silent. Lord have mercy….. I can't. Young B took him down without remorse. REMEMBER KIDS, HIP HOP IS NOT ABOUT HURTING OTHER PEOPLE'S FEELINGS! I do enjoy a good drag every now and then though… Just keepin it real.

   Stranger was a good body of work for Young B. His heart is definitely in this album. The delivery and lyrics are flawless. Show him some love Ya'll.

Birds Without Names(彼女がその名を知らない鳥たち) Japanese Film Thoughts

   Birds Without Names is a 2017 film that stars Aoi Yu, Sadao Abe, Tori Matzizaka, and Yutaka Takenouchi. The film was directed by Kazuya Shirashi and written by Taeko Asano for the big screen adaption. It's also based off the novel published in 2006 written by Mahokaru Numata. Toronto International Film Festival chose the film to be screened during their Contemporary World Cinema section in 2017.



   A working class couple lives together in the city of Osaka. They aren't your ordinary couple since they met due to weird means. Certain means that the woman of the relationship can't even quite remember. She spends most of her days in the house, reliving the memories of her ex lover. The man that she's living with will do anything to make her happy but she doesn't appreciate him at all. She soon began to cheat on him but is shook to her core when it's revealed that her past lover has been missing for five years…..

    Birds Without Names can be that film you have to just sit down and watch without distraction. This film is a dark romantic film where don't realize it until the very end. Many plot points do well painting the canvas as a mystery thriller. First impressions of the film might make you think that everything is starting off kind of slow. Similar to a blank white canvas that has nothing to really show for itself until the paint is added. As the film progresses forward, you learn that each character has their own color that blends together messily on the white canvas. These different characters are what push the story forward because you as the viewer want to figure each of them out. What is the driving force that makes them act the way that they do? Cheating comes into play but you wonder if there was ever an actually relationship going on in the first place to be cheated on. Sometimes true intentions are blurred so that you're left wondering what crazy emotions lie underneath each character. I enjoyed how events that take places make you doubt every single man that's involved with the lead female character. Then in that doubt, you try to guess who was the main villain here. You'll have your answer by the conclusion which layers on the shock factor to an all time high. The ending even puts a nice sealed lid on the can of worms that was this entire film(I mean this in a good way, though the film can be draining..). I didn't believe in the romance that the film spoon feds me at the end. What was seen in the final scene wasn't love to me. It's called finding a scapegoat to make yourself feel better about your crimes(though I understand why these crimes were committed.). Birds Without Names is a pretty good film because I can actually have a conversation about my thoughts after watching. Thought provoking films are normally good films.

   Aoi Yu has really grown up to be a mature woman. She's not as young as she used to be but she looks like she hasn't aged a day. Her character even denies being young when told that she is in the film. Yu's character has a ton of emotional damage from her last relationship to the point that her past has turned her into a grouchy lady. Deep down she wants to be loved but her desire to do so causes her to choose the wrong men. Seeing Aoi Yu in a dark sensual role like this was a step up in her acting ability to me. Her sex scenes were good without showing all that she had to offer if you know what I mean. She plunges into a dark place for the character and she's amazing at the role. I've noticed that she's been killing it at darker roles recently. Sadao Abe was right there beside Yu when it came to acting in a very emotional manner. You will fell sorry for him even though he creeped me out most of the film. He takes it home as the best thing that happened to this film acting wise(besides Aoi Yu.). Tori Matsuzaka played the charming guy who comes in as the third wheel. He's charming because he's good looking and he uses his looks in his acting which works well as the raising conflict in the film. Yutaka plays the ex lover who went missing five years before. I loved his scenes with Aoi Yu because of how amazing she is in them. This in turn makes him act even better as well.

   Production for this film took about a month to complete. Filming takes place in Osaka for those who care about Japan. Pretty basic shooting style was seen here but that's all this film really needed.  for example, moving shots or special effect shots to show a character remembering a memory. The scene with the birds was one of my favorite scenes that was shot.

    Fans of Japanese cinema will love Birds Without Names. The film isn't a brand new concept, however, it adds more reasons to why this kind of storytelling is absolute. Don't miss out on this hidden gem.

Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days(신과함께:인과 연) Korean Film Thoughts

    Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days is an extended play on the first film. This is actually apart of the first film but the film was too long to release as a full feature film. Thus, The Last 49 Days was presented as a kind of sequel without being a sequel. If that makes any sense. The film was a huge success like the first film because of the huge fanbase of the webtoon that both films too inspiration from. I wrote a post about the first film and nothing has really changed in the credits of the cast or director. Except Ma Dong Seok was added to the cast, plus Kim Dong Wook has a bigger role than he did in the first half.



    The Angels of death lead the villain of the first film through the stages of hell and split up in order to help another God while finding their memories of when they were humans…

  The Last 49 Days is similar to the baby that you wish you never had but you're forced to look it in the face because you chose to spend the night with a girl unprotected. You wish that you could give the baby away but it's your flesh and blood so you take responsibility for your actions. Along With The Gods was a good film with great action and a well thought out story for rememberable characters. 49 Days carry over these some traits since it's technically the same film, however these things that made the first part great are blurred into a mess when the processor tries to be more like other films in order to force us to feel more emotions than we need to. The film as a whole trips over it's self when it doesn't believe in the wonderful job the first few hours did hooking us. I don't understand why the director and script writer didn't have more confidence in just keeping the whole project in the same flow of plot. It would have worked amazingly for Along With The Gods to just keep doing the same sort of plot. Angels of death taking souls through different stages of hell was very compelling by it's self. The background about the Angels trying to find their pasts was the cherry on top of an already well formulated ice cream sundae. This film splits up the main characters. Two angels basically play babysitting duty while the other leads the soul through the stages of Hell. You can guess which part of the plot is the most interesting. We get a good opener since it's right where the first part ended. The Last 49 Days is missing that exciting spark that made Along With The Gods a good film. I believe a lot of us could have done without this as a film. In fact, making it into a couple of deleted scenes would have been a fun idea for some special features on the DVD/Blu-Ray. I would have liked a choice on whether I wanted to accept this film as apart of the story or not. Now I'm forced to except it and it ruined the rave review I gave for the first part. The Last 49 Days isn't as good but you can watch it just to see more of the story.

    Kim Dong Wook was a fun character that showed a fun side of himself as he went of his journey with Ha jung Woo's character. Their scenes are the best part of this film. The rest of the acting comes off like a family K-drama. I could have done without the soiling of the greatness of the acting in the first part. Ma Dong Seok's character was hyped up too much. I was excited to see him at the end of the first part. He didn't add much too the story in my opinion. Even if he was in the original Web cartoon.

   The last 49 Days continues to get the special effects of the film right. They're still very well done and look amazing. The settings as well as the monsters are up to pair with Hollywood CGI. That tells you something about how hard the people worked on this film. If only they had changed up the second half a little bit.

  Bottomline is that Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days was a bit of a disappointment. The film makes simple mistakes that were avoided a few hours before in the same movie. I kind of choose to forget the this "extended cut" exists because it should have never been a stand alone film to began with.
   

The Great Battle(안시성) Korean Film Thoughts

 

  The Great Battle who's directly translated from the Korean title means "Fortress", is a film that was released last year to over a million pre orders sales. The film went on the do well in the Korean box-office, taking the top spot for four weeks straight. It was one of the first films in 2018 to see over five million tickets sold in South Korea. Kim Kwang Sik directed the film while Kim Yoo Jin and Park Eun Kyo wrote the script. Zo In Sung, Nam Joo Hyuk, Park Sung Woong, Sung Dong II, and Um Tae Goo star in the film.


   A small Korean army must protect their town surrounded by a fortress from a Chinese army consisting of thousands of soldiers. Korea keeps losing to the large threat so an assassin is sent to murder the leader of the fortress for not taking part in the war….. The retelling of history has never been so bittersweet.

   Many viewers who have seen The Great Fortress like the film from what I have seen You can go online and see people raving about how well planned out the script is. Some Korean audiences complained about the false telling of the main character who protected the Korean fortress town. I would expect the film to not follow history. It was probably a very boring reality once you take out the battles. The Great Battle is like every other war film. Especially if you use past Korean films as your reference. What we are shown is very familiar but the battles are fun to watch. The battles feel compelled with the story's strong meaning. Building connections between people then having to protect the ones you formed emotional relationships with is motivation for the will to fight. Each battle brings it's own cinema style of slow motion action and close combat sword fights. Nothing can top the emotion that The Great Battle has in it's characters. I will never forget the scenes where the Korean army is fighting to hold back the Chinese forces. Behind them you can see the innocent people of the town watching the small army that they entrusted their lives to. The plot outside of all of this is like a boulder rolling down a hill. Fast paced from one point of conflict to the next. You will want to sit through this film just for the fancy names given to some of the moves as well as the balance between witty humor and action.

   I don't have much to say about the acting. Everyone was good. Just not good enough to be winning major awards in my opinion. These performances have been done before by most of the actors. Well, except for the Chinese people interpretation… Park Sung Woo made his roles has a Chinese general believable thanks to his ability to speak Chinese. Half of the cast had to speak Chinese which was cool to hear. I actually felt an attraction between Zo In Sung and Nam Joo Hyuk's characters. Maybe it was just me…. [INSERT ME LAUGHING.]  Another film titled Frozen Flower keeps coming to mind(A film Zo In Sung stared in.).

  The battlefield and towns look like a set from Lord of the Rings meets 300. I almost forgot that this is based on real history in Korea until the information caption at the beginning and end of the film. Some of the sets in the film are the most realistic ones I've seen in a long time.

  The Great Battle is a normal war film that features a good storyline. The characters are good enough because they were build on the foundation of a strong story. I highly recommend this to war fans.

HUTA(이민혁) - HUTAZONE Album Thoughts(Kpop)

   I don't check for how the idol group BtoB is doing nowadays. I've been out of the loop on a lot of idol group's activities that I use to listen to. Are they even still together? They are probably on break as a group while doing music as solo artists. Each member seems to be releasing albums. What must be stated about some of the BtoB solo's that I've heard is how good they turned out to be. Their all complete Bop tunes and I would expect Lee Min Hyuk's first solo album to be nothing less than great. The teaser for his music video peaked my interest one night after I stumbled across it on Youtube.

Track List:
01. HUTAZONE
02. YA *Title
03. 너도? 나도! (Feat. 소연 of (여자)아이들)
04. 아무렇지 않은 척
04. 아무렇지 않은 척
05. 꿈인가 봐요 (Duet. 육성재 of 비투비)
06. 낙화(落花) (Interlude)
07. Fallin’
08. ALL DAY (Korean Ver.)
09. Purple Rain (Feat. CHEEZE)
10. 오늘 밤에 (With Melody)
11. Waiting For You

   HUTAZONE comes at listeners wrapped in a normal manly concept that I don't see enough of. It's a style that was popular in Korea during the early 2000s that saw a decline, killing off groups like 2PM as years went on. You don't know if Minhyuk is a rapper, vocalist, or model went you reference his album. He juggles all three titles in eleven tracks. There's some features from time to time, even landing help from his group mates to harmonize a melody. YA is a power pop rap song produced using electro beats and vocal edits for a more cool gentlemen sound. Huta revolves around singing outside of rapping. My guess is that he is more of a rapper who can sing enough to be passable. He performs songs about love being a troubled emotion before you get to the happiness within. I like how he can switch up his flow without losing the intensity of his rapping. The tracks also range from Jazz pop where some tracks showcase saxophones, piano, and guitar creating a dance friendly number, to ballads that balance rap well into the slow mood. Every feature adds a strong element to the tracks and all the tracks match each other equally in quality. This causes HUTAZONE to be listenable from front to back. There's no skippable tracks in sight. Good job producers who helped make this album a good body of work.

   Lee Minhyuk seems to be weaker at singing but he can defiantly sing good enough to make music as a vocalist. His weaknesses are apparent as the album plays out that he isn't equally good at both. The rapping on the album wins by a long shot mostly because you can hear how he feels more at home when he spits. Those changes in rap flow seem so easy coming from him. Kind of like he switch up like the flick of the wrist.

   HUTAZONE is a pretty good album. I would recommend the album to BtoB fans or people who like Korean rap. Yes, it's more like Kpop rap but he does the genre justice in his own way.

Last Winter, We Parted(去年の冬、きみと別れ) Japanese Film Thoughts

   I've been a constant reader of Nakamura Fuminori's works for the last few years. The Thief was the first novel I ever read by him. Last Winter, We Parted was the third novel I read after reading Evil and The Mask. Both novels have been adapted into live actions films since Fuminori's book do very well in Japan and aboard.  Last Winter, We Parted's film adaption stars Idol singer Iwata Takanori from J Soul Brothers/Exile, Saito Takumi, Yamamoto Mizuki, veteran Kitamura Kazuki, and, Asami Reina.



   A rookie reporter starts to review a famous photographer after he was involved in a murder with his sister. He got off without serving punishment for the crime and the report wants to know the mystery behind the case. A dark tale of wits is about the begin.

  This film was very different than anything I would have expected from a live action of a novel. I read Last Winter, We Parted but I don't remember a lot of the story. I've got the outline still in my mind to say the least. It just that the story wasn't bad or outstanding. The book was what it was. Many people outside of Japan don't consider this novel is best work. Neither do I. The Thief still is his best novel which has yet to be topped by his other books. With that being said, his novels are good enough to be made into movies. Another thing that I just noticed is that the books are written loosely enough to be changed around. The film version of Last Winter does this amazingly. I'll even go as far as to state that the film is better than the books. Sometimes the first part of the film can be kind of slow, however the acting makes the plot more exciting. Things really kick off in the way each character interacts with one another. Music plays a huge part in enhancing these conversations of emotion and mystery. I never noticed how much a soundtrack sets the field for emotion like I did while watching this film. Our story builds up in the background while viewers are preoccupied with the acting/music. There's twist and turns that you wouldn't expect no matter if you read the book. Much of the content is changed for the better of the whole story. The most anticipated scene was edited to not seem so C.S.I. cliche…. I was amazed how every aspect of the film was so well balanced. You feel the thrill mixed into mystery paired into romance. Don't read the novel thinking it will be as good as the film. It won't be…. Read the novel for a little insight on what the masterpiece was loosely based on.

    Takainori went outside his comfort zone in this film for the risky scenes. The novel can be very graphic which the film conveys without doing too much. Not only these scenes, but he tapes into the deep darkness that exists in most of Fuminori's works. Being able to switch determination for a character during communicating the switch through facial expression is impressive to me. I didn't know he was that great of an actor. I know fans of his are asking me "where I been at?" in their sassy voices. [INSERT ME LAUGHING.] Saito's been around for a long time as an actor who does a lot of strange roles. Hime playing a character involved in a murder isn't a stretch at all. His character was good at playing puppet master with people, including the audience watching. I liked him and Takainori's scenes together because it was like a big joke to Saito's character. Kazuki's role in this film was more of the easier roles that I've seen him in. He could have done this film in his sleep but he does add to the film as a key character. Most of the female cast acted about the same. They all did well for the roles they were given. Reina's acting was perfect for her character and the way she was described in the book. She's a very scary character because of the darkness caused by her past.

   Most of Last Winter, We parted is shot ind dark spaces. A lot of the scenes are either very cloudy or in the rain. The shots of the sky are done with big dark clouds rolling across the sky. Scenic shots show the bustling life of Japan. From towns to more rural areas shown in their dark hours. These shots defiantly add a dark depth to the film.

    I don't know who makes a film adaptation better than the novel it's based on but director Takimoto Tomoyuki and writer Oishi Tetsuya did the damn thing. Last Winter, We Parted took what needed to be corrected in the book and made things a hundred times better. Check out this film when you get the chance. Reading the original novel wouldn't hurt either.