I’ve never considered Samuel L. Jackson sexy, the coolest mofo on the planet, yes, but never sexy. Contrarily, I’ve always thought Christina Ricci was cute, until this movie.

So, I guess that evened things out for me on Black Snake Moan. It’s directed by the guy that did Hustle & Flow (incredible movie), and has that same raw-edged, realistic feel. The acting is phenomenal, both Jackson and Ricci are extraordinarily convincing – and I should know I AM southern poor white trash! No big suprises, although I was happily shocked to see little Justin Timberlake on the big screen – yeah, he should really stick to singing, although I must give credit where credit is due, the sex/love scenes were convincing. Although the ending was somewhat disappointing, I’m a huge Sam fan (even sitting through the entire viewing of Snakes on a Plane), so I’m glad I rented it, but I’m happy I didn’t spend a lot of money on it in the theater.

This film by M. Night Shyamalan was his follow up to the very successful-”The Sixth Sense” and debuted in theaters in November of 2000. This film did not enjoy the success of it’s predecessor but it is M. Night’s best film in my opinion but considering that it explores the mythology of comic books and I’m a comic book guy of course I’m going to dig it.

The original script by M. Night originally encompassed a comic book’s traditional 3 part structure of the birth of the superhero, the struggle against general villains and then the big confrontation and battle with the arch enemy. He found the “birth” more interesting so he based the movie solely on that. The film stars Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson and Robin Wright Penn and M. Night really delves into the “devices” of the comic book world such as use of color for characterization, how opposite the hero and the villain are and even a subtle use of alliteration in the name of the main character–David Dunn much like we have Peter Parker, Clark Kent and Bruce Banner. This is a flick worth checking out but remember that it is very subtle. Don’t expect special effects and flashy costumes. This is a very realistic take on superheroes and it is done extremely well.

Until next time…Peace–