Bring It

The chill continues here in Miami and I’m thrilled beyond belief which makes up for the fact that I totally missed the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards. Granted I didn’t miss much after looking at the results but I still like seeing them. I forgot they were coming on and by the time I remembered, it was too late. They didn’t show a replay either, they usually a replay immediately following the ceremony. Oh, well.

It seems the Oscars are pretty well laid out as far as the front-runners. Forest Whitacker, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy seem unstoppable. Emphasis on ‘seems’. We could have some surprises come Academy Award night. I still need to see The Departed and The Queen. So for me, the jury is still out. The big question is who will win Best Picture. The victory by Little Miss Sunshine throws salt in Babel’s game.

So what was I watching that distracted me from the SAG Awards? Black Dahlia. That’s right I invested two hours in this period concoction. The story started off simple enough – the story of partners Officer Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Seargent Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart). Through in Lee’s heavenly girlfriend Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson), moody Madeline Linscott (Hilary Swank) and a mysterious violent murder and it become a complicated tale.

Black Dahlia is true to its film noir roots of the 1940s. The mood is tense and full of mystery. The look is full rich colors. Johansson in her nearly all-white wardrobe is always filmed with a bright halo of light around her. Swank lets go of her tomboy uniform and serves up a dark sexy figure always gripping a cigarette and enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Both are effective in their distinct roles. I’m not that sure if Johansson can act. While she’s lovely and interesting, her delivery of lines is often stilted. Even with the robotic high school play delivery, she’s still provocative and shows tremendous opportunity for growth. Mia Kirschner was intriguing as the slain Elizabeth Short.

Hartnett is turning into an actor while trying to downplay is pretty boy looks. He’s made great strides to appear in quality films. Lucky Number Slevin was fun. He demonstrates a clever sense of humor but I can’t help but wonder if he can muster a bit more emotion in scenes. I get this Tobey Maquire/Rain Man feeling when watching him. Eckhart was the perfect conflicted police officer. Is he bad? Is he good? He’s both.

Overall the movie was visually stunning but 20-30 minutes could have been shaved off. The extra time allowed more confusion and plot turns. By the time they got to the end and explained everything I was thankful.

A certain Lady blogger had been singing the praises of Snakes on a Plane for so long, I couldn’t prevent the inevitable any longer. I succumbed to SOAP Friday night. There’s not much to say about the plot except FBI Agent Nevill Flynn (Samuel Jackson) is in charge of getting eye witness Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) to Los Angeles safely to testify against a crime kingpin. And you know what happens next. The snakes go beserk on passengers and crew.

The snakes are extremely fake looking and the plot is non-existent but I knew it wasn’t going to be Titanic or even Towering Inferno. It was, however, sheer escapism. I wasn’t expecting Citizen Kane so I wasn’t disappointed. It was better than I thought it was going to be. By the time, Jackson uttered “I’m sick of these mutherfuckin’ snakes on this muthafuckin’ plane,” I was ecstatic. That’s what I was waiting for. I like the fact that Jackson doesn’t take himself so seriously that he can’t do campy films like SOAP. Oh, and a word about the SOAP theme song “Bring It,” it was pop candy with an edge. Very entertaining.

What did you see this weekend?