Review the Movie You Viewed 10 (out of 10=Masterpiece)

[Hewson]

I plan to see The Fighter, might just end up as a rental, most of my in theater viewings these days are the ones that appeal to a 6 yr old.
I've been hearing great things about Bale's perfomance in it.

 

[deep]

I've seen King's Speech, The Fighter and TSN

All 3 are getting supporting actor nods,
Bale is clearly the best on that very credible list.

Also, Melissa Leo nails it again, Amy Adams is good, but Leo a little better.
The casting in The Fighter is just as good as TSN, perhaps better. I really can't find a weakness in either.


I expect TSN will win many Best Picture and Director awards, this year

I hope Bale and Leo win the Supporting Actor awards.

Firth will probably win most of the leading Actor awards.


I've seen most of the so-called contenders, except True Grit,
and that is not making as many lists as I thought it would.

 

[powerhour24]

So good to see Melissa Leo getting so much acclaim in the last few years after tons of strong underrated work opin the past, particularly for being the most constantly strong performance on Homicide: Life on the Street. Thought part of that can be attributed to the writing not messing with her character as much as it did for Andre Braugher's.

 

[LMP]

Black Swan

Holy fucking shit. I feel I need to write about this now while it's fresh in my mind. One of the most frightening movies I've seen in a long time, and in a very, very good way. Mirrors and broken glass and broken bones and blood and water and scratching and clawing and vomiting and pain and drugs and Tchaikovsky and sex and lesbian sex and masturbation and death and love and black black black.

One of the big keys of the movie for me comes in, oh, the first 10 minutes or so when Cassel delivers his first lines of dialogue. He strolls in and tells the dance company the story of Swan Lake, which of course basically doubles as the story of the movie. But then he says (paraphrased) "Yes, it's been done to death. But this time we're going to strip it down, and it's going to be visceral, and passionate, and real."

And that's exactly what this shit was. The story has been done before: young, innocent girl struggles to make it in show business, etc. But it hasn't been done like this. At least that I've seen.

Scary as fuck. Trippy. Completely exhilarating. And what a final act. I love the entire movie, but the last 30 minutes or so are almost exhausting with the succession of intense images and moments. When Portman finally comes out as the Black Swan...holy fucking shit. Chills, and a pounding heart. I think everybody with a brain and two eyes has known for years that Natalie had a performance like this in her.

"I was perfect."

Hell yes, Gaffer.

That scene with Cassel sticks out in its bluntness, but what makes it interesting is how it underscores the sense of inevitability going throughout the film. Lance has touched upon this point earlier, but with that frankness and straight thematic trends, it allows Aronofsky to get down-and-dirty, so to speak, with Nina's systematic breakdown.

Cassel as the impresario didn't exactly work for me because I don't think we ever got a sense of his perceived "genius." We're only told. He has, aside from Hershey as the domineering mother, the most cliched characterization of the film. Then when you compare Cassel's LeRoy to Walbrook's Lermentov in The Red Shoes, which is the most comparable role/performance, there's something lacking in how he possesses this sexual power over Nina as well as an awe of his skills. It's forgivable after the fact once we realize that Nina's POV should never fully be trusted, I feel, but it's still something that could be seen as a slight against an otherwise phenomenal film.

 

[Lancemc]

Outrage is lesser Kitano. Lacking in his usual thematic complexities and narrative arcs, it's sort of a straight-line escalation of violence and betrayals. It's also slightly less humorous than you'd come to expect, but still very funny at times. Kitano remains a master of framing - of studying the movements of his steely characters through space and of their relationships to one another both as bodies and as primal machines. However, there are a great number of extremely subtle moments of humanity throughout - almost always in the midst of the characters' steely criminal facades, that come through in the often silent facial performances or on the rare occasion through a surprising personal exchange or bit of humor. These moments elevate the film above its somewhat lackluster content, and lend an air of grand tragedy to proceedings which are otherwise coolly and cynically at a remove. In other words, one of the more enjoyable films this year. A minor Kitano is still often far greatest the the majority of what passes for genre filmmaking these days.

 

[the tourist]

Home Alone

Good, unrealistic fun. I wonder if the actress who played Buzz's girlfriend in a picture regrets that picture now.

 

[purpleoscar]

The Black Swan 7.5/10 Finally in the theatres. It was better than I expected. Some of it was also funnier than I expected. Cassel has often been cast as the bad guy and here he is again. "The French man with LUST" character. The Lesbian sex ended up being funny but served a purpose to the character. To me Nina is a woman who needs to look at her dark side in order to perform the Black Swan. By dealing with her paranoia, chasteness and developing a confidence to keep her mother from babying her to death was most resonant part of the film for me. Hershey did a good job. The only thing I didn't like was the fast and loose plot related to what was real and what was not since it kind of blurs in the end in an unsatisfactory way. Even with the David Poland interview and the explanation of the ending as being a symbol of a period and Nina becoming a woman seemed hackneyed and ridiculous (which was probably the point).

I wonder what Aronofsky will do next with Wolverine? Talk about a shift in tone.

Now I just have to see 127 hours and True Grit.

 

[powerhour24]

To me none of the gruesome stuff was real, with the exception of some of the times she stressed out so much she hurt herself, she is driven to the brink by pressure and her mind (and body for that matter) can't handle it. The audience sees the world of the film from Nina's perspective, so blurring reality is a given.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

The casting in The Fighter is just as good as TSN, perhaps better. I really can't find a weakness in either.

I just figured out that TSN is Social Network-way too early in the morning for that U2 song abbreviation brain fog.

Originally it was going to be Brad Pitt or Matt Damon as Dickie Eklund. Yikes-Pitt would have been an absolute nightmare, including trying to do the accent after his Irish accent fail years ago. I guess Matt Damon was a choice because he's from MA.

Christian Bale lost 30 pounds for the role and everyone says his mannerisms and speech patterns were dead on. Much more believable as a crack addict

 

[powerhour24]

Brad Pitt signed on and dropped out while Aronofsky was attached as director, must have been for old time's sake like when he dropped out of The Fountain and WB canceled the production originally .

 

[deep]

Bale's commitment to the acting craft is legendary

The Machinist

 

[Jive Turkey]

Yikes-Pitt would have been an absolute nightmare, including trying to do the accent after his Irish accent fail years ago.

Do you mean The Devil's Own? I didn't think the accent was so bad. My Dad's side of the family are all from Belfast and while it wasn't perfect, it didn't sound awful

 

[Fernando-]

Do you mean The Devil's Own? I didn't think the accent was so bad. My Dad's side of the family are all from Belfast and while it wasn't perfect, it didn't sound awful

Yeah, and he was marvelous with the pikey accent in Snatch.

 

[powerhour24]

New thread time!