I just watched Black Snake Moan. I really enjoyed it. I loved the relationship between Christina Ricci and Samuel L. Jackson. All the characters were unapologetically fucked up and weren't miraculously fixed at the end. It was nice.

And the scenes with Sam singing were just wicked awesome.

Werent they though?

And Kevin Kline is awesome in "A Fish Called Wanda". One of the best comedic performances ever.

We rented The Big Nothing because Simon Pegg was in it and Simon Pegg is awesome. He was really quite interesting in this movie but the plot was all kinds of crazy effed up at times. Is it a comedy? is it a thriller? It was like no one was sure but everyone was going with the ride.
Yeah. Definitely something else.
We also watched Still Crazy which was pretty good and slightly melancholy. Bill Nighy owned that movie.

I love Still Crazy. It is one of my favorite movies ever, and I love Bruce Robinson. And Bill Nighy. And Stephen Rea. And Billy Connolly. Hell, I love them all. Maybe I will watch it tonight, if I can stay awake.

Today I'm mailing back a Clive Owen Brit mystery, Second Sight. It was meh and kind of predictable.

Wow, I love the whole Second Sight series, but Clives unbelievable hotness often blinds me. Especially when they keep focusing on him running his fingertips along the wall.

I watched The Painted Veil on demand. It wasn't entirely successful, but I quite enjoyed it anyway, and it was effectively sad/heartbreaking. Mostly though it had sooo much pretty: the scenery, the clothes, my Liev/Nomes, and Edward Norton was looking hotter to me than he has in a long while. Oooh and it had Mrs. Peel as a kickass nun, very awesome.

I thought Shut Up and Sing was pretty good. I admire the Dixie Chicks for sticking together and making no apologies for what Natalie said, even though it seems to have killed their career. As someone who doesn't like country radio (although I do like the Chicks), I missed that whole feud with Toby Keith when it happened. That was way outta line.

I have the next few days off from work, so waiting to be watched are Because I Said So (I KNOW, but my Mandy Moore love overrides most of my brain), She's The Man (Mmm, Channing Tatum Channing), and...The Queen. Also, I'm DVRing Mad Hot Ballroom. I am fairly random.

Actually, The Dixie Chicks gained a lot of fans too. Particularly here in Canada. And they won a buttload of grammys this year. So there career is pretty good again.

Did they? The film ends on a somewhat somber note, with the Chicks having decent records sales but not selling out their Taking the Long Way tour (except in Canada). No offense to Canadians, but I don't think y'all have the same buying power as the American South does. I haven't heard much from them or about them since last autumn. I'm sure the Grammys are nice, but that doesn't translate into ticket sales, which is how a group like the Dixie Chicks make money. I think they are still well-regarded by some people, but I doubt they will make their way back to the mega-stardom that they had before the kerfluffle. I hope they do, but I don't see it happening.

Styx was big in Canada.

Saw Scoop finally and was pretty disappointed. I thought Scar Jo was hugely miscast and Woody Allen got on my very last nerve doing his schtick. He should go back to doing Match Point type films.

But Hugh Jackman was so pretty! It doesn't take much for me.

I just rented Miss Potter, about Beatrix Potter who wrote "the Tale of Peter Rabbit". It was so good, sweet and just lovely. Her relationship with her characters was funny and cute too. And Ewan McGregor sings for a bit!

We really liked it, too. I thought the scenes with Beatrix and her dad were very sweet, especially.

It wasn't particularly weighty but not everything has to be, in my opinion.

...Well, I never said being big in Canada was a good thing.

And I liked Miss Potter, also. I thought Renee Zellwegger did a fantastic job because in the wrong hands, that character could have been crazy cloying.