Really great! A creepy portrait of obsession. It definitely showed the darker side of professional ballet (the physical toil, the stressful rehearsals) in a disturbingly original way. The ending had me literally on the edge of my seat and into the lap of the guy in front of me. (Sorry dude!)
One thing I like about director Darren Aronofsky is how he totally deglams his subject
matter. You don't come away from Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, or Black Swan
wanting to be a junkie, professional wrestler, or a ballerina. I like
the small details of the wrestling and ballet worlds (the casual steroid
use and kayfabe discussions in The Wrestler, the close-ups of the
ballerinas ravaged feet in Black Swan), that Aronofsky shows before the crazy stuff starts to happen.
Also, spoiler alert: Anyone looking for some hot Mila Kunis/Natalie Portman action better be prepared for a ton of scary stuff too. They'll be making out, and you think everything is fine, and then it's SCARY EVIL NATALIE PORTMAN out of nowhere.
Natalie Portman deserves the Best Actress Oscar this year. (Hopefully she didn't get crazy skinny for nothing.) And how awesome was Winona Ryder? As a huge fan of Heathers, Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, I've always had a soft spot for Wino. Could this be the start of a comeback?
I'm still catching up on the big Oscar movies (Rabbit Hole, True Grit), but here are my picks for some of the best movies of the past year.
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
Black Swan
The Town (finally, a good Ben Affleck movie)
Inception
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The Kids Are All Right
Yogi Bear (JK!)
What were your favorite movies of 2010? Anything out right now that everyone needs to see?
Country Strong is good too.:)
You HAVE to see True Grit ASAP! I'm a huge Western fan so this was a must, but seriously, the girl that plays the main character, Mattie, is amazing. Oscar worthy in my opinion. As is Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges! I've already seen it twice.
Going to see that soon. Love the Coens.
I was a fan of the original True Grit but I have to say, this was a great modern adaptation...if I'm so inclined to say, better than the original!
I'm not a western fan, but True grit was my kind of western. Coen brothers are brilliant. True grit is definitely great!!
I'm a ballerina and I have to say I didn't much care for Black swan. I thought it was a vanity movie more than a movie showcasing the love of ballet. I'm not sure if this is a spoiler or not, but I thought it took the metaphor of the black swan a little too literally. The were few shots that I did love towards the end when there was actual dancing, but that's just my two cents. All my friends loved it.
Good points. I did like the ballet stuff early on, the rehearsals and focus on the physical toil it takes on the dancers. But, yeah, it's more a portrait of intense artistic obsession and mental illness than a ballet flick. It's also basically a horror movie. The Wrestler had far more to do with professional wrestling than Black Swan does with ballet.
That said, the few ballet scenes are pretty great. Didn't Portman just get engaged to her dance instructor?
I think she did get engaged to the instructor, or choreographer or someone. I haven't seen The Wrestler yet, but I did see Requiem for a Dream and I thought that it was a fantastic movie- I would never watch it again, but still it was great.
Another movie to add to the list is Exit Through the Gift Shop. It's a Bansky movie that I just saw a couple of nights ago. I have a new appreciation for street artists. Brilliant!
There is a movie called Never Let Me Go (apparently not many people have heard of it) that is absolutely beautiful. I've never cried so much in one movie before. It's by far my favorite film of the year and even though it got great reviews, it doesn't have much Oscar buzz. In all honesty, I feel as though if Andrew Garfield were to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor, it should be for this film rather than The Social Network, which is saying alot because that film was phenomenal as well.
That's going on the Netflix. Thanks for the reminder. I wanted to see it when it was out but missed it. Also heard the book is really good.
You're welcome! The book is fantastic as well! I went out and bought a copy the day after I saw the movie. (:
Thanks for answering my question! At least I'm pretty sure that's my question -- someone else may have written something similar.
The only movie by Aronofsky I'd seen before is The Fountain, which is NOT like Black Swan at all, so I wasn't expecting it to be quite so gruesome and dark. I was, however, expecting it to screw with my mind, and I'm glad it delivered -- I love movies like that!
Thanks for answering my question, Nick!
Ha, yeah, The Fountain is definitely Aronofsky's tamest movie. Really great though. Very moving. Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler are similar to Black Swan. The Wrestler is really great -- Mickey Rourke is awesome and it's a good, sad drama with a few bloody fight scenes.
Requiem for a Dream is great, but rough. Probably the most intense movie about drug addiction ever made. Not a breezy date night flick at all. But a fantastic film with great acting and a young Jared Leto doing a terrible "New Yawk" accent. I think Ellen Burstyn, who plays his mom, won an Oscar for it. (Or at least was nominated.) Jennifer Connelly is also really good in it. And I love the Clint Mansell/Kronos Quartet score, which was also in the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King trailer.
Oh my God I am so nerdy....
Aw. We love you for being nerdy, Nick :)
There is a movie called Never Let Me Go (apparently not many people have heard of it) that is absolutely beautiful. I've never cried so much in one movie before. It's by far my favorite film of the year and even though it got great reviews, there's not much Oscar buzz around it. In all honesty, I feel as though if Andrew Garfield were to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor, it should be for this film rather than The Social Network, which is saying alot because that film was phenomenal as well.
I totally wanna watch this! even more hyped up after your review nick :P
The fighter was fantastic!!! It's a must!
The only thing I have to add is that it's kinda scary how true to the mental state of self-injury the movie Black Swan was. As a person with a past of self-injury it was incredibly difficult to watch those parts. Especially as I was a scratcher like Portman's character. I'm just glad I didn't watch it alone - my significant other ended up having to hold my hands because that movie just set me on edge and right back into that zone.
A good movie, and certainly worth watching. However, those who have a history of self-injury shouldn't watch it alone and those who are currently self injuring... just probably shouldn't watch it until they have things under control.