We had the chance to catch two movies this past week. On Monday evening, we saw "Babel" at the $1.50 movie theater (formerly Star City) on Route 50 adjacent to Bridgeville."Babel" is one of those movies with loosely-connected characters and parallel plots set in multiple locales (in this case, Morocco, Japan and Mexico). Its overriding theme could be summed up in two words: bad parenting.
While I wasn't totally enamored with it, I can see why "Babel" garnered some Academy Award nominations. Adriana Barraza's supporting actress nod was deserved.
Thursday evening, we caught "Black Snake Moan" -- at full-price. Two-word summation?: excising demons. The movie was interesting enough but not required viewing. Samuel L. Jackson was good, of course, in the leading role of Lazarus -- even if it was something of a MAAF part. Turns out SLJ can sing, too. Christina Ricci was decent. Justin Timberlake was melodramatic in a not-so-necessary supporting role.-- Spoiler alert --
There is a scene late in "Black Snake Moan" where SLJ's character stares down Timberlake's character with a gun pointed at him. Problem is we've seen SLJ do this before -- at the end of "Pulp Fiction" (remember Honey Bunny?).
But, there's absolutely no comparison with the tension and spot-on dialogue in that classic diner scene from "Pulp Fiction" and what you get in the so-so "Black Snake Moan."
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