Movies This Week (7/27)

This week I watched Black Snake Moan (2.5/5) and The Notorious Betty Page (3.25/5).

Black Snake Moan (DVD) - This latest film by writer/director Craig Brewer (who also wrote and directed Hustle & Flow) is kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand the story is ridiculous (a blues man who's wife has just left him for his brother tries to find hope in life by "curing" a nymphomaniac by chaining her up), on the other hand the performances by Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci are pretty good. In the end, it all kind of evens out and is an average film. 2.5/5

The Notorious Bettie Page (DVD) - Getchen Mol does a great job capturing the Bettie Page that director Mary Harron wanted her to betray. Not knowing enough about the real Bettie Page (the famous Pin-Up Girl of the 1950's), I can't comment on whether or not Bettie Page was as innocent of heart and contemplative as Gretchen's character. In any case, the story is pretty interesting, telling the story of how an educated southern woman ended up making life choices that made her the pin-up and bondage queen of her era. Bettie's lifestyle is put to the test by both external (the Senate Committee hearings on decency) and internal (her desires to be an actress as well as her belief in Christ) forces. The unasked question (but not so subtly hinted at) is whether or not Bettie Page was innocent or "dirty". Even after Bettie becomes Christian and stops posing, she feels that her time in front of the camera was innocent in the same way that Adam and Eve were innocent before the fall. 3.25/5