The Descent: Part 2 (2009)

I didn't see the original The Descent, but from what I've gathered from The Descent: Part 2, the first one was about a group of hot, young, model-esque girls who decide to go cave spelunking in order to film their own extreme version of Girls Gone Wild. The whole thing goes terribly wrong when they discover that the whole cave is infested with naked, cannibal bat-men, who are not nearly as sexy as Batman. Six girls into the cave and only one comes out: Sarah (Shauna Macdonald in both movies).

The Descent: Part 2 starts with a group of men and women who have formed a search party in order to look for the 5 missing hot girls. The group forces Sarah to go back into the cave with them as they believe she is a liar and/or crazy. Sarah does, initially, have some sort of PTSD, then upon entering the cave, her memory comes back to her and she leaves behind the well-meaning nosy bitch bastards. The group gets split up, as is typical for any movie where it would be beneficial if the characters stay together. They soon realize that Sarah wasn't a crazy liar but, of course, several characters end up dead anyway.

Apparently, it looks shittier than the first movie. I'm not sure in what way, but The Descent: Part 2 definitely has a SyFy movie quality to it. It's also quite gory, though the blood is that unrealistic kind of fluorescent red that makes the gore more funny than grotesque. The acting is not even worth mentioning. This movie is bad.

Writing: 3/10
Acting: 1/10
Plot: 3/10
Visuals: 3/10

In the Loop (2009)

In the Loop is a British comedy that at once reminded me of the British version of The Office. I suppose it's the same sort of dry, subtle, straight-faced humor. It's also filmed in a similarly pseudo-documentary style. Apparently, In the Loop is a spin-off of the BBC television series The Thick of It, but I haven't seen it, so I can't really comment. Anyway, the movie depicts US and UK political relationships during the run up to the Iraq war in 2003.

The movie if filled with brilliantly amusing site gags and absurd quips. At one point, Karen Clarke (Mimi Kennedy), the US Assistant Secretary of State of Diplomacy starts bleeding profusely from the mouth during a meeting. She retreats to the bathroom where she stuffs her mouth with napkins with the assistance of her assistant, Liza (Anna Chlumpsky, the girl from My Girl). Karen gives Liza an order and when Liza clarifies, "You're not going to shout at me if I go and do that, are you?" Karen, with her mouth and hands covered in blood and crammed full of bloody napkins says, "I'm not a monster, Liza, okay?" Another delightful one-liner has Malcome Tucker (Peter Capaldi), the Prime Minister's Director of Communications, saying "'Climbing the mountain of conflict'? You sounded like a Nazi Julie Andrews!"

In the Loop is probably entertaining for those who are familiar with and enjoy British comedy, and maybe some of those who don't. I think deadpan punchlines and absurdity has it's place in American comedy, but it's much more subtle than the more common forms of humor.

Writing: 9/10
Acting: 8/10
Plot: 8/10
Visuals: 8/10