Darren Aronofsky

-Fox Searchlight

It is called a psycho-sexual thriller, so I admit to laughing a little bit when I saw ladies in their 70s coming into the theater, with their husbands in tow, to see "a ballerina movie".

I'm a big fan of Darren Aronofsky, who expertly directed Requiem for a Dream on a budget of just under $5 million, with Jared Leto (American Psycho, Fight Club) as a heroin addict, along with friends played by Jennifer Connelly (Labyrinth, A Beautiful Mind), and Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie, The Lady Killers), with a sweet-toothed Ellen Burstyn (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood) in one of the most impressive time-lapse photography sequences in film to date. It showcases some incredible film-making styles, portraying long tracking shots, fast cutting montages, and intense close-ups, all of which seem to have been made for telling stories about high-powered drugs in a messed-up world of gangs and pimps.

Aronofsky's film, The Fountain, with ex-girlfriend Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, Brothers Bloom), and Hugh Jackman (The Wolverine, Australia), is one of my favorites. It's a love story that takes place over a thousand years. It's fragile and sweet and it always leaves me yearning. Aronofsky can spin a story well on screen. Contrary to popular opinion, I was not impressed by The Wrestler, but you can still call me a pretty devoted Aronofsky fan.

I was all too excited to see Black Swan, a story that focuses on an innocent ballerina called Nina, magnified by the beautiful Natalie Portman, who unravels at all her seams while competing against not only other dancers, but herself, for the coveted lead role in a modernist production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake."

The supporting cast compliments Natalie Portman's extraordinary performance. A striking Barbara Hershey (Beaches, Falling Down) plays Nina's overbearing but supportive mother. Vincent Cassel (Brotherhood of the Wolf) plays the dance company's director, a french prick called Thomas Leroy. And the sultry Mila Kunis, whom I adore in The Book of Eli, shows another deeper side of her acting abilities and commands the screen in her pivotal, career-turning role as Lily. Winona Ryder may have had a small part in this film, but, as always, she is truly, terrifyingly spectacular.

Aronofsky's directing style is often brutal and uncompromising, I love it. His films are often beautiful, dense, and surreal. He is definitely one of the most hypnotic directors and story-tellers of our time. Teaming up yet again with composer Clint Mansell creating another epic score, setting the mood in Black Swan like a tormented ghost. That right there pretty much describes how I felt after seeing the movie.

ReelHard Score: B-

Content Advisory:
Black Swan is Rated R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use.

Sex and Nudity:
One masturbation reference
A woman masturbates, twice.
Heavily implied sexual undertones
Several references to oral sex and sex in general
One somewhat graphic, partially clothed lesbian oral sex scene
One heterosexual sex scene

Gore & Violence:
Ballerina foot/toe injuries
Mother/Daughter arguments/physicality
Various stabbing scenes with copious amounts of blood
The words "fuck" and "cock" are used several times

Drugs & Alcohol :
Cigarette smoking
Ecstasy and Alcohol during a club/rave scene

Other Disturbing Scenes:
Psychological issues
Hallucinations

The Oscars 2011 Review

The Big 4: Oscar Winners of 2011

Some say the Oscars are rigged. I don't know about that, but I've read enough psychology essays and Dominick Dunne books, and countless issues of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair (the only pop-culture magazines that matter, if you ask me) that I can make some pretty accurate judgment calls. Even without all that jive, I've got a pretty good idea about the people that make Hollywood so magical. And here's the truth: You never work alone, ever. Always have someone else to blame, anyone. And you never ever take credit for something, unless it's an award.

Everyone else can talk about fashion on the red carpet, but I'm going to talk about the movies, damn it. And I'm going to get drunk and spit when I talk so this can be somewhat entertaining. But first and foremost, I'm gonna keep this short.

First up, The King's Speech won Best Picture. Tom Hooper won Best Director. David Seidler won for Original Screenplay. And Colin Firth bored us to bits with his speech when he took one for the team as Best Lead Actor. If they based these awards on previews only, I have no doubt in my mind that Colin Firth would have lost! The crying scene was rubbish, much too forced.

Natalie Portman absolutely deserved the award she received as Best Lead Actress for her role in Black Swan. I didn't feel the movie itself was that great, that maybe Darren Aronofsky went for shock and nothing more. But whenever I have seen Natalie's performance as a delicately ripped-up ballerina, she literally made me hold my breath.

He may be arrogant, but Christian Bale is a really devoted actor that earns Awards. Christian Bale turned his first Academy Nomination into an Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Fighter. He joked about not dropping F-bombs in his speech, and when Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actress for her bit in The Fighter, she let the F-bomb loose on his behalf. And speaking of Melissa Leo. Her speech was so dramatic. I mean, she already won the award.

I have made terrible fun of Aron Sorkin, and I haven't even met the guy. He was born privileged, need I say more? But he truthfully is a fantastic writer, especially when it comes to dialogue. Couldn't you tell during his speech when accepting the award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network?

Everyone knows when non-Pixar animated films go up against a Pixar animated film, Pixar wins. Toy Story 3 won Best Animated Feature Film. Now, who's going to step up their game? Probably Pixar. They truly are the best.

One of the biggest let downs for me was the award for Best Cinematography going to Wally Pfister for Inception rather than to Roger Deacon for True Grit. Roger Deacon has worked on many award winning films with Joel and Ethan Coen. Deacon was nominated for Best Cinematography in the internationally praised film The Shawshank Redemption, but lost to John Toll with Legends of the Falls. Roger Deacon was also nominated for his work in No Country for Old Men but lost to the incredible (and personal favorite) film There Will Be Blood with Cinematographer Robert Elswit of Boogie Nights. And Roger Deacon was also a visual consultant for Pixar's Wall-E which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Where's Roger Deacon's award?!? Roger Deacon deserves an award!! He does damn good work, and the guy has been nominated for nine Academy Awards, yet he has never won.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland won two outstanding achievements, accepted by Robert Stromberg and Karen O’Hara for Best Art Direction, and three-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood for Best Costume Design.

Nine Inch Nails front-man Trent Reznor takes home his first Academy Award along with fellow collaborator, Atticus Ross, for best Original Score in The Social Network.

Best Editor is the third and final award for The Social Network, earned by both Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall. The pair were also nominated in 2008 for Best Editing in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but lost to Chris Dickens with Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle.

Inception took three more Academy Awards, one each for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing, which are different contrary to popular belief, as well as Visual Effects.

Other Winners:
Foreign-Language Film: In a Better World (Denmark)
Documentary Feature: Inside Job
Original Song: "We Belong Together" (Toy Story 3), music and lyrics by Randy Newman
Animated Short: The Lost Thing
Documentary Short: Strangers No More
Live Action Short: God of Love
Makeup: The Wolfman