FAQ

Last updated on August 9, 2007

How can I submit my movie for a review?
(Note: This guideline is only for independent filmmakers. Studios and distributors should contact me to establish an acceptable protocol for reviewing purposes. Also, we no longer review short films, sorry.) Email me with the title, genre, and a plot synopsis of your movie. If you have a link to a trailer, or movie images, or an official site somewhere, include that as well. If the movie sounds and looks interesting, I’ll request you send a copy either to myself, or one of my reviewers. If I don’t request it, it just means we’re not interested. It’s as simple as that.

What was the original purpose of the site?
To offer movie reviews of Asian and foreign films for the English-reading public, with a major emphasis on Asian films. The vast majority of Asian films never get reviewed by mainstream American/English movie critics unless they are supremely successful in their own country and become crossover hits. For example, “Shaolin Soccer” from Hong Kong or “Shiri” from South Korea. But what about all the other great Asian films that aren’t massive hits? They still deserve to be seen. Since then we have expanded to include Foreign films in general, as well as domestic genre films, B-movies, direct-to-videos, and genre TV.

What is the purpose of the site currently?
To offer movie reviews of Asian, foreign, indie, horror, and genre movies that might not otherwise get reviewed or seen or reported on elsewhere. We have since expanded to include daily movie news items from the world of Hollywood and beyond. Since life is way too short to limit ourselves, we have decided not to do so. Now we cover anything and everything that meets our one criteria: That we find interesting.

When was the site created and why?
The original creation date was the tail end of 2001. But the site never really came into its own — i.e. we never spent any real amount of time on it — until June of 2003. We like to consider June 2003 as the real birth date of the site. Since then, the site has undergone many looks. But since the webmaster (yours truly) is web design-challenged, the site is not nearly as sophisticated or stylish as it could be. Oh well.

Who writes the movie reviews?
Your humble webmaster used to write all the reviews, but I have gained the expertise and talents of a number of very good reviewers. Thanks to them, the site is quickly growing by leaps and bounds.

How can I submit my film for review?
If you are a big studio or a distributor, email the webmaster to establish an acceptable protocol. If you are an independent filmmaker, email the webmaster with title, genre, and a logline synopsis of your movie. If you have links to a trailer, or images, that is fine as well.

How can I submit my film to be included as movie news?
See above.

What is your grading curve?
While we used to use a grading scale, we have since dispensed with that. We feel that our review should speak for itself.

Can you tell me how to get in touch with celebrity X or find out information about movie X?
Short answer: No. Long answer: No, no, no, no.

Where can I buy movie X?
Asian movies can be purchased through our partners at Yesasia.com.

Why is the credit listing for Chinese/Hong Kong movies at BeyondHollywood.com sometimes so different with listings at other sites, including Imdb.com?
For the most part, Hong Kong movies are shot in Cantonese and then dubbed in Mandarin for the giant Mainland China audience. This means character names are changed, just as they are changed when Hong Kong films are dubbed for international audiences (i.e. characters get American names). Because Hong Kong films are dubbed so often in so many different languages, character names are very inconsistent. If you were to watch 3 versions of the same movie made for 3 different regions, all the characters in that movie would have 3 different names.

You suck! What qualifies you to judge a movie? You don’t know what you’re talking about!
All reviews are based on our informed opinions. If you’re the kind of person who needs EVERY opinion to be exactly like yours, BeyondHollywood.com isn’t the place for you. Reviews are inherently subjective, and based on what different people bring to the experience. You may be the type of person who follows the herd like a mindless sheep, but we are not. Hence, we have our own opinions, and what “every other reviewer thinks” doesn’t in the least bit influence us. You come here for OUR opinions, not to hear us regurgitate what other sites have already said.

The site keeps changing! Why is that?
Short answer: webmaster’s prerogative. Long answer: because the webmaster has insomnia, and sometimes he gets up at 3:00 in the morning and has to find something to do — thus, the website keeps changing.

Didn’t you used to be Nixflix.com?
So, you’ve noticed that we’re no longer Nixflix.com, eh? That’s because we (as in, I) were threaten with a lawsuit by a certain company whose name starts with an “N” and ends with a “flix” in 2005, and instead of spending money I didn’t have fighting them in court, I relented, and gave them what they wanted — the domain name, “Nixflix.com”. And so BeyondHollywood.com was born. Frankly, I like this name better. Nixflix.com was always just a name I made up because my Internet handle had always been “Nix” for as long as I can remember, and adding a “flix” to it just sounded cool. And so that’s the story of why we changed our name from Nixflix.com to BeyondHollywood.com, because a giant corporation wanted to make a couple of more extra cents a month because, I guess, making millions a month wasn’t enough. Yep. It’s that simple. God Bless America. Also, a big thanks to forum member “Noisy_Silence” who came up with the new site name. Thanks, buddy!

More FAQ added as I think of them, or as they’re asked often enough.

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