Black Snake Moan in and of itself was a sexy film that enveloped its viewers in an enriching environment. A large part of what contributed to the film’s effect was its amazing soundtrack.

I am in love with Samuel L. Jackson as a blue’s singer. There is something about all of the music on this album that is both very mournful yet incredibly sexy. The emphasis on rhythm and pure lyric rather than the vocals creates an image that I am not often introduced to in the world of music. This is unexplored territory for me but I have a feeling that because of this wonderful soundtrack I will be looking into blues music much further.

In short, this album is my new addiction.

When someone asked me about this book this was my response:

Memory Keeper’s Daughter. It was quite popular when it was published and I’ve heard really good things about it but I read it and found it rather boring. The plot had the potential to be very interesting. It was about a man who [I’m skipping extensive plot summary I typed up].

Overall it kind of meandered through everyone’s lives and the way this secret affects everyone and pulls them apart. Meandered is the key word there.

It got really wordy in some places where it didn’t need to be, the dialogue could be very unnatural in places, and I want to take a red pen to the thing and cross out entire passages that didn’t have a point.

After all of the plot thickening it ended pretty flatly. I was really disappointed.

It was okay but I don’t understand why so many people liked it. It wasn’t even that insightful. The author seems like a bit of a one-noter to me. Apparantly the short stories she published was called “Secrets of the Fire King” and then her other novel revolves around a secret. That’s all well and good but it gets boring after a while.

End of comment.

I agree with everyone’s complaints on this page. It had a lot of potential and wiggle room to make itself interesting, but it was too slow and unnatural. The characters seemed awkward to me when they spoke. Norah’s character fell victim to this the most I think.

Overall, disappointing, but still worth consuming. Maybe.

I couldn’t get into the magical realism in this book at all. Granted, it was original and a quick read, but I found myself paging through it apathetically. I didn’t care at all about the characters.

I found Tita’s situation tragic but my sympathy wore thin after a while with her rather whiny outlook on the situation. It was blunt about sensuality and anatomical functions, which was not what I expected in a book like this, but being sensual does not make up for, what I saw as, a very bland story.

Some have argued that this story is brimming with passion and that it touches them in that sense. Passion is one thing, but when your characters are constantly going through emotional extremes their personalities get lost, and your reader becomes numb to the entire situation. I feel like I got emotional overload reading this book, and not in a good way.

Magical Mexican Kitchen Soap-Opera. That pretty much explains it. Along with the word “boring”.

In how many languages can you say “boring”?

I was quite looking forward to seeing this movie. European history is perhaps one of the most interesting topics to observe from every perspective: it is a mess of political turmoil and sexual deviancies. People have been making period films forever for a reason.

The Duchess of Devonshire is among some of the most famous female figures throughout English history. She was notoriously popular, and though I did not know much more than that about her, I was anxious to see this movie and be shown why (dramatically of course) she was so famous.

This movie told me nothing. They showed that she was more rebellious than other women of her time, but there were women who acted in the same manner and are not so well-known, so I had to assume there was more behind her fame than that.

The few glimpses into her political gave me a glimpse of why she was is so well-known. However, these few scenes were so shrouded in melodrama that the audience fails to appreciate them fully.

Though the movie covers a good deal of her life, I found the constant jumping around disjointed and distant. Getting attached to the characters was quite difficult in this constantly shifting environment.

What I gathered was that this movie was an attempt to make another Marie Antoinette (2006 film) without the modern twists. However this retrospection on life in . It attempted to emphasize her gambling problems and drug abuse in a few random, glimpsing scenes. The one moment she was supposed to be high was intended to convey that she combated with addiction. I was given the impression that she was under the influence on a single occasion. If I had not watched the portion of the DVD extras with a mini-biography of the Duchess, I would have been completely unaware of what they were attempting to convey.

They attempted to show her extravagances subtly, but unfortunately they were portrayed in such a subliminal and uninteresting fashion that the scenes simply turned into distractions from the storyline.

Overall, their attempts to show her turbulent lifestyle only resulted in a Lifetime-esque period drama which focused on her unstable marriage and forbidden love affair. Her marriage and its complications were very interesting in idea and memory, but were made completely monotonous by unspirited acting.

The performances were overall lifeless, something I blame mainly on the director Saul Dibb. I have seen Ralph Fiennes in other films before and he is quite a good actor. I can not imagine what he was doing in a mess like this. I concede that the Duke of Devonshire was a cold man but there is a certain art to being stoic in an interesting way and Fiennes did not tap into this technique. His very presence on the screen made me yawn. Keira Knightly had her spirited moments, but overall they beat her abilities into something flat. As for all the supporting actors, I barely acknowledged them, for performances that forgettable hardly deserve mentioning. Perhaps they were trying to emphasize how open the Duchess was in the callous world of English aristocracy, but unfortunately that artistic touch does not make a good movie.

The quality of this film only redeems itself in its visuals, which are, in a word, spectacular. It seems that The Duchess has fallen into the same trap that brings about the downfall of many period films: The makers were too concerned with the costuming and the surroundings to see the repairable flaws in the story and the acting. Perhaps if the story and acting were approached with as much enthusiasm as the cinematography, then we would have had a successful movie on our hands.

First, I’m just going to get this out on the table: The French are insane and I love them for it.

To be perfectly honest I had always been drawn to this film because of its awesome cover. It wasn’t until later that I discovered how critically acclaimed the film actually was.

French films are always very eccentric, so I expected no less from this one. It is a science fiction, fairy tale, love story hybrid. If you dislike whimsy in your films then this is certainly not for you. Without the film’s surreal nature, there would be nothing to it.

The set and costume design are amazing. It must have taken many creative minds to create such a unique world. That is one of the things the film does best: Puts you within this odd and certainly singular dimension.

The characters are both lovable and grotesque. It is difficult to describe the type of pull this film possesses, but it undoubtedly captures your heart as you watch it.

Kubrick being my favorite director, I was anxious to sink my teeth into his closing work.

Though I had gathered that the movie was quite sexual, the sheer amount of nudity and sex scenes took me by surprise. It was the greater part of the film. However, it was crafted cleverly. Despite the sex, the vulgarity, and the orgies, it still managed to be sophisticated.

I found the ending quite blunt and thus appropriate, but I wasn’t sure if it satisfied all the suspense that had been built up. I was really hoping for a finale throughout the film and I never quite got it. It leaves you wondering whether the film really had a point or not. I have devised that its purpose was simply to show a unique instance of sexual deviancy and jealousy.

The pan shots were beautiful. The film’s cinematographer, along with plenty of Kubrick’s intervention I’m sure, turned this film into a piece of art. It was too bad that the horrid editing distracted from the visuals. I was disappointed by the cuts. The shoddy editing disrupted the fluidity of the film and wrenched me out of the story several times.

The music left me enthralled, especially during the mansion scenes. I wonder, is there a soundtrack for this movie? I can only assume there is.

Overall, this film did not thrill me as I had expected it to. I was disappointed, but it certainly was not a bad film.

I both loved and hated this movie at the same time. The point of view they gave the audience on the election was quite enlightening.

It conveyed the chaos and exhaustion of the election perfectly. I felt as though I had run a mental marathon when the credits rolled.

The acting was spectacular. Particularly Kevin Spacey who was, as usual, a stellar vision of his character.

However, as much as I loved the film, I hated it for bringing back all the memories of the 2000 election. The idiocy, the corruption, and the pain of knowing all those mistakes will be made again.

I have to give them props, it was not another zombie disease movie.

I have an appreciation for horror films done with a hand-held camera, it really pulls the viewer into the story but truthfully I believe that the creators of this film were attempting to ride off the success of Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project.

The only reason this film scared me is because I am easily startled but most of the movie consisted of cheap jumping out of the dark tricks.

SPOILERS: DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER

There are a few scenes (when the camera man beats one of the rabid people with the camera) that are absolutely hysterical. And my top complaint: Do not give your ending away in the promo. It pisses everyone off.

There is no way I’m going to get through this. Henry James’ syntax seemed to be switched around, to the point where I have to spend way to many seconds trying to figure out what each sentence is trying to say. Perhaps I am simply not patient enough to consume this right now. I normally am a fan of Victorian literature, but this one just isn’t for me…at least not now. Maybe I will attempt to read this at some other point.

This movie depicted a web of relationships and pessimistic introspection that makes us face the dark side of being social creatures.

The acting in this film is outstanding. If it hadn’t been good it would have failed miserably. Though it meanders quite a bit, the characters are engaging enough to keep you watching.

I highly reccomend this film as an examination of impressive relationship portrayals on screen.