Nick Schager Reviews Black Swan

Despite a shift from the squared circle to the ballet stage, Black Swan functions as a direct companion piece to The Wrestler, delivering as it does another portrait by director Darren Aronofsky of self-mutilation carried out in service of a personal/professional dream, and one told via corresponding sequences, final image and Dardennes-inspired cinematography. Rather than Mickey Rourke’s over-the-hill grappler, the artist/athlete in question here is Nina (Natalie Portman), an aspiring soloist with Lincoln Center’s ballet company who finds herself going over the edge while striving for, and then struggling to maintain, the lead role in director Thomas’ (Vincent Cassel) new production of Swan Lake. An intrusive stage-mommy dearest (Barbara Hershey) has warped Nina’s sense of self, but as suggested by the almost-inaudible sound of cackling laughter over the film’s title card – a sound that will reappear as Nina’s craziness escalates – it also seems that something deeper inside Nina, something more primal and unhinged, has begun to push her over the edge.

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Shocking link discovered between people who like Batman, people who like pornography

by Leonard Pierce

In today’s second least-surprising news item (after the fact that Wesley Snipes is still not in prison), Comic Book Resources brings word that there is significant crossover between people who enjoy the adventures of imaginary crime-fighter Batman and people who enjoy masturbating to pornography. 

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The Coen Brothers: From Worst to First!

by Andrew Osborne

True Grit, the upcoming remake of the 1969 John Wayne movie, will be the fifteenth feature-length film written and directed by the Coen Brothers, and we’re guessing it’ll be a good’un. But, in the words of The Simpsons‘ Comic Book Guy, will it be the best… Coen film… ever? And what exactly qualifies as “best” from arguably the two most consistently entertaining, inventive, and thought-provoking American filmmakers of the modern era? To find out, we whipped up a batch of White Russians and ranked the Coens’ output to date in a highly subjective attempt to get to the heart of that Barton Fink feeling.

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Holiday Movie Preview

by Scott Von Doviak

Has Hollywood saved the best for last? That’s usually the game plan, as the studios backload their prestige projects for release in the year’s final weeks, in hopes that they’ll be fresh in the minds of critics making their top 10 lists and voters casting their awards-season ballots. That means you’ll be able to take a break from your holiday shopping with the latest work from acclaimed filmmakers Darren Aronofsky, Sofia Coppola, David O. Russell and the Coen brothers. Or, if you have the kids in tow, the new Chronicles of Narnia or TRON movies. There should be something for everyone, as the 12 films selected in our preview will illustrate. Note that release dates are subject to change.

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The One Movie You Should See This Week (Thanksgiving Edition)

by Andrew Osborne

Cinema and Turkey Day go together like awkward lip-syncing and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Whether you’re watching Miracle on 34th Street in a tryptophan coma, or meeting old friends to see any damn movie that’ll get you out of the house and away from your family for a few hours, November 25 may be America’s least picky film viewing day of the year. That makes it the exact right time for the release of Burlesque, featuring Cher and Christina Aguilera in “a star is bustier-ed” saga clearly designed to unseat Glitter, Showgirls, Sex and the City 2 (and, hell, maybe even The Wizard of Oz) as the world’s deepest well of pure drag-queen euphoria. And yet, while I certainly enjoy high camp, leggy dames, and Stanley Tucci in bitchy Devil Wears Prada mode, my guess is that watching the actual film now won’t be nearly as much fun as, say, hearing Mario Cantone recycle the juiciest bits for his nightclub act later.

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Screengrab Archive #6: Thanksgiving Edition!

[Originally posted 11/27/08]

by Andrew Osborne

I grew up right next door to Thanksgiving Town, USA: Plymouth, Massachusetts, former home of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians and future home of Plymouth Rock Studios and a nice big casino.

My next door neighbors used to work at Plimoth Plantation, where docent actors dress up in 17th century drag and mosey up and down the streets of a life-size replica Pilgrim settlement, discussing crops and Calvinism, while modern Native Americans in traditional buckskin attire give their side of the story in a nearby encampment.

So I like to think I know a thing or two about Thanksgiving. And let me tell you: it’s not all about the yams.

Screengrab Archive #5: Thanksgiving Edition

[Originally posted 11/27/08]

SCOTT VON DOVIAK IS THANKFUL FOR:

JAWS (1975)

It’s the summer of 1975 and I have successfully completed the second grade. I am living on a Navy base in Puerto Rico, and I’ve got the run of the place: swimming pool, ball field, bowling alley, snack bar all within easy biking distance…and of course, the movie theater. We’re a few months behind the States, which means every time a kid comes back from a week’s vacation stateside, I hear about it all over again: Jaws. By summer’s end, I have entire scenes memorized and I haven’t even seen the damn thing yet.

Screengrab Archive #4: Thanksgiving Edition

[Originally posted 11/27/08]

LEONARD PIERCE IS THANKFUL FOR:

BARTON FINK (1991)

It wouldn’t be the first time I found myself agreeing with the French, and it wouldn’t be the last. But when this richly layered film by the Coen Brothers swept the major awards at Cannes, it was, for me, a confirmation that what I had only previously suspected was indeed true: Joel and Ethan Coen were not just good directors, not just great directors, but the greatest living American filmmakers. Barton Fink, to this day, is not one of the Coens’ best-loved films; it tends to be very divisive, and while its greatness isn’t frequently in question, where it belongs in their filmography is hotly disputed.

Burn Notice: “Hot Property”

by Scott Von Doviak

This week on Burn Notice, a little bit of everything: returning guest stars, a case of the week that’s not what it seems (several times over), plenty of useful tips for your own everyday black ops, and the usual incremental advancement of the overall arc of the series, such as it is. This show is always at its best when all the ingredients are present in the proper proportion, and “Hot Property” got the recipe just about right (although a dash more of Sam wouldn’t have hurt).

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Todd Haynes’ Poison, Two Decades After the Controversy

by Vadim Rizov

Is Todd Haynes one of America’s best directors, or merely its most talented pastiche artist? With the exception of 199′s Safe (his one unassailable achievement for many critics), all his work starts from explicitly defined frames of reference; he’s come as close as anyone ever will to mainstreaming (his collegiate study of) semiotics. Looking at Poison twenty years later, it’s striking to notice how relatively unpolished the film is in summoning the appropriate visual benchmarks for its three segments compared to I’m Not There’s flawless evocation of 8 1/2 or Far From Heaven’s master class in Douglas Sirk’s aesthetics.

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