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[Lucky Rathen]

I watched "Black Snake Moan" yesterday. Set in a small town in Tennessee, Samuel L Jackson plays a recently divorced ex-bluesman and devout Christian, and Christina Ricci plays the town slut and lifelong ne'er-do-well. One day he finds her lying on the road unconscious and badly beaten after some dude she's shagging gets a bit angry at her comparing his dick size to his brother's. So he takes her in and vows to mend her wicked ways by chaining her to a radiator and teaching her Christian values, and along the way re-discovers his love for singing the blues.

I've seen this before and found it a bit "meh", but I thought it at least deserved a second viewing before dismissed it. So I watched it again and still found it a bit "meh". It's hard to say what went wrong with it, because the plot is good, the script is good, the cinematography is beautiful, the music is excellent - there's just something that doesn't quite tie it all together.

Samuel L Jackson's character is a bit more reeled in than some of his recent characters, but his charisma alone is enough to carry the whole film. He is excellent as the jilted bluesman, classic SLJ really. He still has that menacing look in his eyes and you suspect that there may be some unsavoury stories in his past, but unfortunetly we never find out. Christina Ricci is slightly miscast as the young nympho, she doesn't play the role that well and one suspects that the reason she may have got the role in the first place is her willingness to spend pretty much the whole film naked and chained to a radiaotor. Her character is quite annoying and although her character arc is the basis of the story, I found it hard to wish her anything but misery.

The real high point of this film is the scenes where Jackson gets his guitar out and starts playing and singing the blues - this alone is worth the price of the DVD - but unfortunately the filmmakers have really dropped the ball on this one, and he only plays in three very brief scenes - instead they focus most of the film on Christina Ricci's inately unlikeable character, who you will still dislike even after the happy ending.

Overall, entertaining enough fare but only thanks to Samuel L Jackson. The rest of the film is quite forgettable. Look up his guitar scenes on Youtube and you've pretty much seen all you need to.
***

[Afro Droid]

Originally Posted by John W

He was a typical knob until something horrible happens to him, then he became a nice guy. Cliché, but it's hard to not have full sympathy for him as he changes his character and becomes the hero.

Is it so rare to have proper character development in a movie that people don'y know what it is anymore?!

[Tubthumper]

Originally Posted by Le Stu

I hated Wikus from the start and was cheering him at the end. He's the most unlikely hero.

I quite liked him at all times. He was just doing his job really, but his interaction with the camera and his assistant was quite funny. Maybe that's why I liked him.

[Le Stu]

Originally Posted by Tubthumper

I quite liked him at all times. He was just doing his job really, but his interaction with the camera and his assistant was quite funny. Maybe that's why I liked him.

His Afrikaans accent is quite funny too, but he was just such the stereotypical yes man company fucker, married to the boss' daughter and all, that I yearned for him to experience something nasty.

[The Kernel Loaf]

Originally Posted by Kinnell

Seriously! Were you watching that film with your fuckin eyes shut. I'm no bomb disposal expert but I'm sure these lads don't swan around like John Mclean. The film seemed pretty promising for the first 10 minutes but went downhill when Jeremy Renner's character turned up. From then on I cringed my way through what I feel is a massive bag of shit only to be enjoyed by a mindless American audience.

I think you are the one who watched the film with your eyes shut. Jeremy Renner did a fantastic job of portraying a character who has passion and confidence in what he does, yet has empathy towards the civilians affected by the conflict. The film explores his initial recklessness and distance towards his fellow squad and how being on duty with them allows him to understand he isn't just putting himself at risk with how he chooses to deal with threats.

It seems to me like you judged the character on how he was initially portrayed and stuck with that mindset, watching the film from a distance from there onwards.

I thought it was a fucking brilliant film, and definitely one of the best war flicks out there. You can't compare it with anything else. Very different to the cliché 'big bunch of guys go in guns ablazing and they start dying and they all realise war is bad' which is the message of the film. If anything, The Hurt Locker does the opposite - it doesn't glorify war, but it shows that some people enjoy it and it is their chosen way of life.

I didn't really see the need to include scenes of the guys 'bonding' and getting drunk, because I thought that we already had a good enough interpretation of their personalities when they were out on duty.

Also, why the fuck should a war film have to be 100% realistic? Realism is fucking boring.

[Lucky Rathen]

I watched:

Fiddler On The Roof, a 1971 film adaption of the Broadway musical. It was excellent and I really enjoyed it, the guy who played Tevye was really fantastic as an actor and as a singer. The film is cut into two halves, with an intermission, just like the play. The first half was quite fun and jovial, but after the intermission it starts to get a bit more dark and serious, and isn't quite so much fun.

It was very good, but at an arse-numbing 3 hours 5 minutes, I couldn't watch it all in one sitting.
****

Robocop 3 - I remember this being utter balls, but after watching the steaming pile of Robo-shit that was Robocop 2 last week, this one is like Citizen Kane in comparison. OK the story is very corny in places (the people must stand together to defend their homes from the evil corporations! the police all quit the force to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rebels!), some of the plot makes no sense, and I could have gone my whole life without seeing a flying Robocop versus a bunch of robot ninjas (and no I'm not making that up), but really this was quite good. Not a patch on the first, but a massive improvement from the second.
***

[Lonz]

The Jackal - Terrible movie. Terrible. Richard Gere's Irish accent will haunt me for months. Terrible.

Terrible, terrible movie, avoid at all costs.

[Original Spies]

I watched Dan In Real Life at the weekend. It was alright. Not laugh out loud funny, but mildly enjoyable, in a feel good sort of way. The main guy, Steve Carrell from the US Office and Anchorman, meets some foreign lady, and they hit it off a bit, but she's seeing some guy. OH SHIT! Nevermind. He heads back to his family's cabin. UH OH! The girl is his brothers girl, and he's all like MAN WHAT THE FUCK? But he keeps quiet so his bro don't find out. 70 minutes or so of flirting and signalling, girl dumps brother, hooks up with the guy who plays Brick Tamland in Anchorman. Brother founds out, and he's all like SONOFABITCH and punches Evan Almighty right in the gob! Girl cries, runs away. Michael Scott from the Office's kids persuade him to track down mysterious foreign lady. So he does. They press gobs together. Fast track to them getting married, they have a dance, and then probably bang.

I've just dictated it much better than the film managed to, but if you actually want to see it, it's only 3 quid in HMV.

[Godzilla Blues]

I spent Monday with an extreme hangover watching 'Alien' and 'Aliens' director's cuts, both still amazing....and last night I watched the longer version of 'Alien 3' that I don't think counts as a director's cut because Fincher disowned it. Ach, I like the film. Too many different regional English accents in one place to be plausible possibly but it's not that bad....may try Alien resurerction tonight to bag the full set.

Otherwise I have been revisiting Season 1 of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', also great and I'm going to get through the other 6 seasons soon..

[Shaki]

You Can Count on Me - A deepy touching family drama.One of my favourite films. I often watch this film after chopping onions and always seem to get a bit of dust or something in my eye towards the end..........

My Name is Joe - Marvelous Ken Loach film aboot weegies.