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Reviews
The Descent (2005)
This tail of trails and terror will tingle your toenails, teeth, and telencephalon.
I loved the characters in this movie. The director gets you involved with their lives in a big way right from the beginning. The excellent pacing and plot seems to both excite quick AND gently build to an explosive climax which seems to be hard to come by in thrillers these days. Top notch idea for the beasties. I don't want to spoil anything for you so just go see this movie and you won't regret it. It's gory but not in an exploitive way and the sense desperation the gang starts to feel when the beasties reveal themselves makes all that happens very logical. If you rate movies the way I do (never see it, wait for the rental, matinée, full price evening with dinner and popcorn) I would rate this full price evening show with dinner and popcorn.
The concept for the beasties is a nice change of pace because they attempt to explain them by a "small genetic mutation" and as with any movie of this ilk you will enjoy it immensely if you don't sweet those details to much.
I've been down deep in the earth (Carlsbad Caverns} and our tour guide made a point of showing us how absolute the darkness is underground by turning off all the lights. You sit there blinking and trying to see the hand inches in front of your face but you can't. I was afraid that this movie would do what most do when filming in dark situations and have unrealistic lighting effects that highlight the surroundings in the tunnels and caverns the gang had to traverse. To the directors credit most if not all of the lighting was realistic and seemed to develop a higher sense of foreboding to the plot.
The Loop (2006)
Best show out.
I don't want to give any spoilers but this is the funniest show I've seen in a while. The entire cast is hilarious. The "Release the Beast" or ranch episode had me rolling on the floor. Mimi Rogers plays a sexually aggressive middle aged female executive and it seems to me the only time she opens her beautiful mouth is to deliver some of the best one liners on TV. Philip Baker Hall's character is awesome. I loved it when he was attacked by the dog. I'm not sure where I've seen Sully before but he and the entire cast are top notch. This show has a Scrubs like way for pulling away and injecting comments for explanation or effect. I love the theme song and all the music in the show is fantastic. It's hard to believe this show is so polished at such an early stage. I have DirecTivo and I watch each episode at least 3 times.
Sahara (2005)
Cussler Rules!!
I'm a recent convert to Clive Cussler the author and was skeptical to how Sahara would translate to the big screen. From the minute the movie started it was >insert great cliché here<. (roller coaster thrill ride
etc.) I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of this film and was pleasantly surprised with the musical score/soundtrack. Breck Eisner has done a masterful job of keeping things fast paced but still giving us enough meat to make the plot seem plausible. Matthew McConaughey worked well as the Dirk Pitt and Steve Zahn ended up being a great Al Giordino. Penelope Cruz seemed credible as a world heath organization official. I also loved the evil Frenchman's character played by Lambert Wilson (the same guy from the Matrix movie). I'm not sure who was responsible for the movie's overall plot and who decided to change the past experience of the main characters but it really does work better for me than the books. When you see Dirk and Al kicking major league butt it make's more since in the movie than in the books because they have different military experience. Without giving anything away I loved the ending and the set up for future films. This movie proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Cussler is perfect for the Big Screen!!!