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Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2011 3:32 am**

mfunk9786 wrote:Shit, the poster for Good Luck Chuck featured implied male fellatio.

Ah, the poster Kevin Smith ripped for his Zack and Miri campaign, which eventually got banned. Possibly for the portrayal of, not only Rogen, but Elizabeth Banks on the receiving end, I imagine. Which isn't to say that the Dane image isn't ridiculously crude and dumb to begin with. I guess I'm more naive about this than I thought.

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2011 3:36 am**

Google Image Searching for "aural sex" really gives you a little something for everyone

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2011 3:40 am**

Jeff wrote:Besides Blue Valentine...The American, and Carlos also come to mind.

Performed by red-blooded males, no less. For The American, it's more or less what endeared Edward to Clara while in the latter the movie was fascinated by Carlos' sex appeal at ever turn.

Edit: There's a scene in Velvet Goldmine with implied pedophilic sodomy and it got away with an R.

Posted: **Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:32 pm**

When did actors stop doing their own dancing?

Anne Billson wrote:There's something to be said for movie stars earning their spurs in vaudeville, where they were obliged to dance and sing as well as crack jokes. Not long ago a friend showed me a marvellous clip of Bob Hope and James Cagney tapdancing on a table in The Seven Little Foys; neither was chiefly known for his dancing (though Cagney's best actor Oscar was for the musical biopic Yankee Doodle Dandy rather than one of his more famous gangster roles) and they wouldn't measure up to Fred Astaire, yet both display a skill and panache that wipes the floor with, say, Richard Gere's effortful hoofing in Chicago.

Posted: **Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:41 pm**

Not reading that article but James Cagney was a vaudeville dancer before he became a movie star

Posted: **Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:52 pm**

Philip French on Black Swan

Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:29 am**

I just got back from seeing this (after 3/4 of the known universe; I've been busy, what can I say). I thought it was a missed opportunity, but I might be coming from this from a different angle.

I saw the Matthew Bourne version of Swan Lake in NYC last Oct / Nov, so I had a version of the ballet fresh in mind. Unfortunately, that, plus

Spoiler

the "proof" early on that it had to be in her mind - after her body was mutilated and then restored a few times, it seemed clear to me that she had to be imagining it,

may have made the ending pretty obvious.

This is something that Aronofsky must've had to weigh early on: how to tell the story to audience members who didn't know much beyond the title vs those who did. And in fact both Nina and Thomas slip in the Cliff Notes version of the basic story at different points (which, to be fair, has been tweaked with every production, and my viewing wasn't the "traditional" one). My guess was he went with the most likely and assumed basically no knowledge of the original, but think he could've expanded the detail just a bit more and gotten away with making everyone happy.

I also agree with a couple of comments that the character development is more

Spoiler

"transforming into the personality the role required" than "transforming into a woman."

(I'm really sorry, but I'm at the start of a raging headache and am giving up on detailed explanation of that comment. Might try again tomorrow night.)

Then again I might have been distracted by the annoying couple a few seats down and my cup of tea with the distinct coffee taste, and I should see this again. Might not get to before if leaves the theaters, though.

Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 5:56 pm**

karmajuice wrote:...If she is so sexually repressed, why do none of her hallucinations incorporate this anxiety effectively?

Sorry about responding to this a month later (I finally saw the film this past weekend), but I believe that both the man on the subway and Nina's sexual tryst with Kunis' character would qualify as examples of how Nina's anxiety is manifested in her hallucinations.

I thought Aronofsky made a very good choice in shooting this film primarily in 16mm. The format and look of the film sells the idea that what we are watching is documentary which offsets the more obvious psychodrama characteristics. I don't have much more to add that hasn't already been said but, if anything, I would have preferred that we not see the early dopplegangers as that put too fine a point on the mental derangement too early.

As the saying goes, "Nobody hurts you harder than yourself" and BLACK SWAN epitomizes this. Unlike Carrie White in CARRIE, Nina is not a victim, but her own worst enemy. Her ambition and scheming are apparent early on, a mark of her immaturity. But instead of stepping back and finding the resilience to become a mature independent adult, she self-destructs in an attempt to obtain some illusionary ego-driven goal. Maybe not an original idea, but one that is true to life, and Aronofsky dresses it up as great entertainment despite the obvious cliches and predictable turns.

Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 10:57 pm**

A neat visual effects reel, including some subtle tricks I didn't notice while watching the film. DO NOT WATCH if you've yet to see the film, as it spoils many key moments.

Posted: **Thu Feb 03, 2011 4:45 pm**

Wider cultural impact update: Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant calls out teammate for being a white swan, says "I need him to be black swan."

Posted: **Thu Feb 10, 2011 1:05 pm**

Black Swan deconstructed

Posted: **Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:26 pm**

James Mills wrote:I'm still surprised that so many of you thought the ballet scenes were good... one of my biggest problems with the film was the choreography, lack of wide shots during the choreography, and the general over-editing of dance scenes. I think I said the same thing in my review; that they felt somewhat "lazy" and rushed.

To say that it would have been better to simply get a dancer to play Nina is absurd to me though. I thought Portman was fantastic and seemed to have the mannerisms and motions of a professional ballet dancer down, but maybe wasn't given the proper direction to show it off.

He was restricted by Portman's limitations as a dancer; therefore you get the obvious body double for lower body shots, and Portman for the upper part. This repetitiveness did get tiresome. Obviously Michael Powell never had this problem with The Red Shoes, otherwise the finale would have been compromised, as it is in this film. He's gone for the performance of Portman, and probably rightly so, but I do wonder what it would have been like with a proper dancer in the role.

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:41 pm**

Richard Williams argues that Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan should win the top prize as it's as preposterous as the awards themselves.

Posted: **Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:07 pm**

Blu-ray has been announced for March 29th, with the following bonus features:

Metamorphosis – A Three-Part Series: a behind-the-scenes look at the filmmaking process from Darren Aronofsky's visionary directing, to the physically-demanding acting, to the stunning special effects.
Behind the Curtain: an inside look at the film's costume and production design (BD-exclusive).
Ten Years in the Making: Natalie Portman and Darren Aronofsky discuss their creative journey, from "preparing for the role" to "dancing with the camera" (BD-exclusive).
Cast Profiles – Roles of a Lifetime: Presented by Fox Movie Channel, the stars reflect on the their challenging and rewarding characters (BD-exclusive).

This is the coverart of the Blu-ray:

...and in possibly the most useless store-exclusive move ever, there will also be a Target exclusive that adds a DVD and Digital Copy with this inferior cover:

Posted: **Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:01 pm**

A commentary with Aronofsky et al. would have been great, oh well

Posted: **Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:47 am**

The red background makes no sense.

(Yeah, I know its TARGET, but still...)

Posted: **Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:53 am**

After seeing those lovely expressionistic and constructivist style posters crop up last year, it's a shame that the dvd artwork of the various format releases just stuck with a single design with a backdrop colour change.

Posted: **Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:17 pm**

The Eastern European-influenced posters were by far the most satisfying product of the entire Black Swan project. In fact, they were probably responsible for massively over-inflating my expectations.

Posted: **Thu May 05, 2011 1:26 pm**

Limited collectors edition:

Blu-ray
DVD
Digital copy
DVD with exclusive bonus features:
- Interview with Vincent Cassel (12 mins)
- Black Swan: Behind the Scenes (21 mins)
- Black Swan: interview with the crew (12 mins)
Soundtrack CD
6 postcards
Press kitt booklet (54-pages)
Large poster
2-disc CD of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" (150 minutes). Performed by London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by André Previn.

Posted: **Thu May 05, 2011 2:50 pm**

You left this one off:

Stacks neatly with your other board games

Posted: **Thu May 05, 2011 3:08 pm**

The first dual-dual-format release?

Blu-ray:DVD
2-disc CD of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake":Soundtrack CD

Posted: **Thu May 05, 2011 3:30 pm**

eerik wrote:Limited collectors edition:

And all because the lady loves Black Swan

Posted: **Thu May 05, 2011 4:13 pm**

Why did you have to show me that

Posted: **Thu May 05, 2011 7:39 pm**

Duncan Hopper wrote:And all because the lady loves Black Swan

Awesome!

Posted: **Fri May 06, 2011 10:23 pm**

If the Swan Lake CD had been conducted by Valery Gergiev it may have been worth getting but how many want a Previn CD ?

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