CinemaShafiq

  A fresh, intense and well-written series. It's been a while since I watched a series that got me real hooked and just makes me binge-watching it till the end.  There's some comments saying that this series was not original and it was ripping off The Hunger Games, Battle Royale or Alice in Borderland. In my opinion, it's common for a modern film/series to be inspired from other works, just as long as it didn't rip it off 100%.  Squid Game also had a very fresh & unique set and costume design as well as good scores. The characters were also well written, and you'll be hooked to 1 or 2 of them, and this depends on each viewer.  It seems like just as Netflix were doing great original Hollywood contents back in 2015 (Daredevil, Stranger Things), now they're doing the same thing with the Korean market (Squid Game, Kingdom). This is great and hopefully there'll be more coming from Netflix Korea. 8/10 

  A masterpiece by Bong Joon-Ho. He brilliantly crafted a thriller/drama film that has some dark comedy bits and most importantly a deep social satire at its core.  The social commentary was a reality check and gut-wrenching; and is very relevant for 2019. Well-casted and visually beautiful with brilliant cinematography that brought its smart screenplay to life. Definitely one of my top 5 films of 2019, and one of top films of the decade. 9/10