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All Movie Info
Starring:
Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake, S. Epatha Merkerson, John Cothran Jr., Kim Richards, Ruby Wilson, David Banner, Leonard L. Thomas, Adriane Lenox, Michael Raymond-James, Neimus K. Williams, Claude Phillips, Clare Grant, Adriane Lenox, Amy Lavere
Directed By:
Craig Brewer
Written By:
Craig Brewer
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Black Snake Moan (2007)
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Movie Review by Luz
March 9th, 2007
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I Know Why the Black Snake Moans
I absolutely loved the "Southerness" of this film. The crickets chirping, the birds singing, the cicadas humming in the trees... You can almost smell the sweetness of the grass in that warm, country air. Shoot, you can almost feel your allergies start to act up.
Unfortunately, there's more to movie-making than getting the background sounds and smells right. To begin with, there's acting. Now I happen to like Samuel L. Jackson, and I've always been a huge fan of Christina Ricci, but I must say that their performances in this movie are the worst I've ever seen from either of them. I think that was really the biggest disappointment of all. But not to worry--there were plenty of others...
Important movie-making factor number 2: having a theme, a message, an agenda, or at the very least a "moral of the story." But Black Snake had none of the above. Oh, I suppose you could say its theme had to do with abuse... but what exactly would that message have been? It's not okay for men to abuse girls, but it's funny when women abuse innocent boys? Or wait, okay, I think I have it. Abusing girls is definitely wrong--but when those girls grow up into messed up wh*res, then it's perfectly okay to chain them up as long as you're doing it for their own moral good. Or maybe I'm getting it all wrong. Maybe the whole theme of the movie is that the unconditional love of a father (or father-figure) conquers all. But wait. What loving father gives his teenaged daughter bubble baths on a regular basis? Or has them wear a cut off tee and the same pair of underwear for an entire week? Or takes them to the club so they can dirty dance with every Tom, Dick, and Harry? Am I missing something here?
On to movie-making factor number 3: music. It might not seem so crucial, but it can make the difference between a pretty good film and a blockbuster. Although in the case of this movie, I guess it wouldn't have mattered much either way. I'm assuming Samuel L. Jackson sang his own blues (there's no way they would have actually paid somebody else to sing like that, right?), and I applaud him for having the courage to do it... but this was no Joaquin Phoenix performance, and I frown on the directors for failing to stop him before he made a fool of himself (although the guitar-playing was pretty impressive). And Christina, oh Christina... "this little light of mine" was the BEST you guys could come up with for her? That was sad.
But then Christina's entire performance was pretty sad, and it really hurts me to have to say it because I've seen her at her best. Maybe her talent melted off along with the weight she lost for the role. I don't know how else you could explain it. Her fake Southern accent was attrocious. Her fake attitude was annoying as heck, and even though she did look somewhat attractive strutting around in her daisy-dukes at the beginning, there was something just utterly disturbing about her throughout the entire film.
Bottom line: One star for the symphony of Southerly bugs, and half a star for Justin Timberlake's non-offensive nose.
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 | B Movie Ben
Mar 10, 2007 6:49 AM
also wrote a review of Black Snake Moan 
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| Giving her bubble baths? Now, that wasn't what I expected. I actually have had this urge to see this "guilty pleasure" because of Sam jackson, who I really like, but you have convinced me to wait for cable. |
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