Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Showing posts with label Foreign Film. Drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Film. Drama. Show all posts

Monday, May 27, 2024

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Malena

 


Malena is a movie from 2000 starring Monica Bellucci and Giuseppe Sulfaro. It is mostly a coming-of-age story mixed with a period piece. It is set in Italy during World War II. It is centered on a local teenager's lusting (kind of creepily) after the daughter of a local teacher and wife to a soldier off fighting in the war named Malena. She is played by Monica Belluci, who most Americans likely know from the second and third Matrix movies. She is the subject of town gossip from both the men and the women, and the only one who knows the truth about her life is the teenager watching her every move (when he is not fantasizing about her). The story takes a few turns, some rather dark, but it is very well told, well acted and has a satisfying ending.

I have the single disc blu ray Korean import of the film, which shows the uncut version not released in the US. I have not seen the edited version of the movie so I am not sure what scenes were cut, although it is not hard to guess which ones. There is one where a topless Bellucci (who was 35 when the movie came out) was kissing the 15-year-old Sulfaro (during a fantasy sequence) that was almost certainly cut or edited for the US release. There is a lot of nudity in the film, but it does not seem like it was just done for the sake of showing nudity. The Korean disc is region-free, so it will play on US blu-ray players. The movie has English and Korean subtitles (the audio is only in Italian). The bonus material, though (a making of feature as well as some interviews), only has Korean subtitles, so unless you can read Korean or understand Italian, those probably will not be worth going through.