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Jan 10 2011 in Review by Tim Adkins (admin)

Black Swan

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Vincent Cassel

review by Paul Kitti

Dark and beautiful – as its title suggests – Black Swan portrays the ugly side of perfection.

Leave it to the brilliant mind of Darren Aronofsky to equate ballet with body torture. He demonstrated the devastating physical effects of substance abuse in the memorable Requiem for a Dream (2000) as well as the bodily damage associated with wrestling in The Wrestler (2008). But, with Black Swan, Aronofsky seeks to reveal even more shock and intensity through the medium of ballet. The result is a powerful and unique gem that alternates between gorgeous and grotesque, all the while remaining nothing short of mesmerizing.

Natalie Portman seizes her role as a dedicated ballerina named Nina who gets to live her dream of playing the Swan in a modernized production of Swan Lake. The Swan is really two characters in one role: the White Swan and the Black Swan. Nina’s White Swan is flawless, but she struggles to express the dark and seductive qualities of the Black Swan. Her obsession with perfection leads to her explore the darker side of herself, wherein she descends deeper than she could have imagined.

Aronofsky’s direction is technically perfect and remarkably original, as he pulls an incredible amount of tension and beauty from moments that would likely come across as mundane in the hands of any other director. But this was to be expected from one of the greatest directors working today. The only surprise here is Natalie Portman’s ability to assume such a polarizing role and make it the best of her career. She gravitates from fragile and graceful to sinister and seductive without ever suspending believability, and it is a blast to watch.

Similar to its lead character, Black Swan has multiple faces. It begins as a drama that slowly morphs into a psychological thriller before its explosive final half hour of graphic-yet-tasteful horror. In the end, its best classified as a phenomenal film.

127 Hours

Rating: 4 out of 5

Directed By: Danny Boyle

Starring: James Franco

review by Joseph Stromski II

127 Hours both inspires and disturbs, while James Franco delivers his best performance yet.

Based on Aron Ralston’s autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, 127 Hours starts off with Ralston setting off on a solo canyoneering trip in Utah, without telling anyone where he’s going. And, just before reaching his destination, Ralston becomes trapped in Blue John Canyon when his arm is crushed between a fallen rock and a canyon wall.

Over the course of the next five days, Ralston survives by sipping on just a few hundred milliliters of water and by drinking his own urine, as he fervently chips away at the rock in order to free his arm—all while hallucinating and examining his own life.

After having studied footage captured by Ralston during his time trapped in the canyon, James Franco delivers the performance of his career by capturing the full attention of the audience from the very beginning of the film, as he’s racing down pitch black roads in his pickup truck, to the gritty end, when he finally frees himself from his prison.

127 Hours, while not the best movie I’ve ever seen, comes damn close. What it is, however, is a movie that is going to stick with you for days after you see it.

Whether or not you fancy yourself to be an outdoorsman, I highly encourage everybody to see this film, as it truly is inspirational. However, I will warn you: there are some pretty graphic parts that may cause you to vomit into your bag of overpriced movie theater popcorn.

If you enjoyed 127 Hours, check out: Into the Wild and Touching the Void.

TRON: Legacy

Tower Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Directed By: Joseph Kosinski

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde

review by Joseph Stromski II

Tron: Legacy features wowing effects and score, but leaves unanswered questions.

I tried to watch TRON once. I only made it about 13 minutes in before shutting it off because it was so terrible. Still, that didn’t prevent me from get as giddy as a nine-year-old girl who just received a pony for her birthday when I found out that TRON: Legacy was coming to the big screen. And it was rightfully so, as TRON: Legacy was one of the most entertaining films I’ve seen this past year.

Since there are several recap sequences bridging the 28 year gap between the two films, you don’t have to worry about missing out if you haven’t seen the original. The story starts off with Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), the user responsible for creating the digital world in which the film takes place, explaining his technological discoveries and experiments to his son, Sam Flynn, in the form of a bedtime story. However, that very night, Kevin mysteriously disappears. The film quickly transitions to present day and introduces grown-up Sam Flynn—a fast living rebel with a chip on his shoulder who accidentally stumbles into The Grid—the world his father created, where he finds himself in a struggle between life and death, man and machine.

TRON: Legacy has everything I like in movie: plenty of action, fast motorcycles, violence, bright lights, humor, a killer score and Olivia Wilde in really, really tight pants. Keeping that in mind, it’s hard to say what I liked best about this movie, but, after much deliberation, TRON: Legacy would not have been what it was without Daft Punk, who are responsible for the score that carries the plot along just as much, if not more, than the dialogue does (the duo even make a cameo appearance in the film).

Other than the score (and Olivia Wilde, of course), my favorite aspect of the film was Jeff Bridges’ performance as Kevin Flynn who, to help cope with his situation in the film, has entered a state of Zen, much like that of The Dude—and I love The Dude.

The only thing I didn’t care for in TRON: Legacy was the ending. I won’t spoil anything for you, but it leaves some major questions unanswered, which was just enough to make me leave the theater unsatisfied.

If you enjoyed TRON: Legacy, check out: The Big Lebowski and The Fifth Element.

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