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Reviews
Beneath (2013)
Finally, a scary movie with some depth
I had to see this because mines, along with the ocean, are such a fascinating, fertile realm for scary movies -- the pretense of fear is already in the back of most people's mind. I really liked this movie. The cast had excellent chemistry and easily played off each others strengths, and most importantly to me, their characters didn't seem as contrived or cliché as most do nowadays. It felt so fresh considering all the crappy horror movies that rely on special effects, cheap scares and shaky cams. I was very impressed by everyone, but especially Lauren Gores. She's a very attractive, intelligent actress with a good sense of how to appear truly frightened. I was immediately drawn into the suspenseful buildup of the plot by her reactions as someone unfamiliar with the mining experience. They became convincingly intensified by the fears of the more seasoned crew as things began to go very wrong, and the fabric of their sense of the predictability of the situation began to tear at the seams. I don't think intelligent viewers need their interest piqued by the commercially invoked and debatable premise that there was some kind of supernatural force down there. It's scary enough to think about the real beasts of lust and violence that humans can become when under duress, whether it's fear of another race, religion or their own growing insanity due to unknown, invisible forces.
One Chance (2013)
Ludicrous
Starting with the movie synopsis, he was NEVER an opera singer 'by night' throughout the entire movie, and only sang for an operatic company near the end of the film when even then he only sang in the beginning of Aida until he went unconscious due to his stupidity which he demonstrates throughout the movie. It is disrespectful to those of us who have struggled against the odds to become something we truly wanted to be by implying he did the same. The only reason he even entered the contest at the end was because his wife was at her wits end with his lack of motivation to sing, although the movie does make it clear that he was well motivated to eat. Ironically, it is implied that his obesity was the main reason he was harassed while growing up, and only those who feel pity for him because of this would see some kind of justification for his eventual success in spite of his gullet.
Xi you ji: Da nao tian gong (2014)
Well done
Being an American imbued in this ego-mongering, greed-centric culture and it's pitifully vacuous religious folklore and totally unfamiliar with the story behind the 'Monkey King', I was hesitant to watch this since I had to read subtitles which turned out to be difficult at best due to translation issues, but I did manage to get the gist of the story as it unfolded, and I couldn't help becoming involved in the characters soon after it began. The special effects were not the cutting edge I've grown to expect from Hollywood, but considering the complex fantasy nature of the story, I'm glad that they didn't waste time and money trying to go that route since this story is obviously full of ancient iconic elements that have such a nebulous foundation with each other and history that the relationships between them and the time-line of events would not have flowed as well if they had. I thoroughly enjoyed the spirit of innocence and interminable joy demonstrated by the Monkey King at each stage of his travels. The spirit of his appreciation for life was contagious, and I found myself feeling better about my own reality as a result.
Nurse 3-D (2013)
If you liked Bale in American Psycho, ...
...Paz de la Huerta is his sultry, seductive, psychopathic nurse counter-part. I prefer horror movies that don't avoid sexuality intertwined with a suspenseful, horror movie plot and this has a well-balanced portion of both. I love the fact that nurse Russell is both ultra hot and ultra lethal. She's also ultra-cunning as she wields her incredible body like a scalpel, coldly calculating her focus and mannerism to satisfy her thirst for revenge while excising any suspicion of her true intent. Her lethal nature becomes obvious early on, and she never lets you forget that she'll stop at almost nothing and eliminate almost anyone who gets in her way. Her only Achilles heal is an obsession with another nurse, a spreading cancer that eventually consumes her. The plot is actually fun as it weaves in and out through the distorted thinking of nurse Russell and the wtf expressions of everyone else trying to figure out what's going on. But she always has an edge as she devours the details in every situation and twists the outcome in her favor. The cast is well chosen and well acted. I found it particularly pleasing that the extras seemed so believable. The 3D even works well in 2D. In fact, I forgot I was watching a 3D movie in 2D until the camera angles and 3D effects became so pleasantly obvious. In a wide field of horror movies that spend way more time and effort distracting from the plot to show gore, this movie stands out as a pleasing mix of hot human desire and fanatical emotional frailty mixed with a modicum of well-placed horror. It easily made it into my 'top 50' list of horror movies.