Black Swan: Lose yourself...

Smoky pink eye: hot trend for Spring/Summer 2011

“I had the craziest dream last night about a girl who turned into a swan…” Now, turn that dream into your darkest nightmare. This is what Darren Aronofsky has done with his latest chilling offering, Black Swan.

Dark, twisted and instantly engaging; this is no regular tale of artistic ambition. The story follows straight-laced ballerina, Nina, as she struggles to establish and define herself in a competitive New York ballet company. However, the real struggle is with herself. Dark-inner demons and torment take over, blurring the boundaries of reality for both Nina and the audience.


Natalie Portman utterly owns the role of Swan Queen, Nina, with all of the intensity and fragility required to draw in and captivate the audience for the films entirety. Well worthy of her Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination, she casts her co-stars into the shadows with her performance, arguably, the role of her career.

Covering everything from self-mutilation to lesbian fantasy, Aronofsky shocks, entertains and bewilders. Anyone expecting a simple tale of ballet trials and tribulations will be hideously disappointed. Audience reactions have been mixed but a resonating sense of unease is inevitable (good luck getting this yin out your head at bedtime).

Visually and musically stunning, there is little to fault.  Beauty and horror wrestle and unite throughout: symbolic of the torturous struggle Nina has with her various selves. Striving for perfection, she destroys herself.

Love it or hate it: one thing's for sure, I am never going to look at a hang-nail in the same way again *shudders*

Hornets and kids toys and bears - OH MY!

"Hauntingly thought-provoking and unsettling" The New York Times"

WITH the curtain drawn on 2010, it’s time to look forward to the cinematic offerings in store for 2011. From comic books to cartoon classics; they’re all getting the Hollywood treatment and being brought to the silver screen. But is this exciting or just plain lazy?

2010: a year that brought us A Prophet, Inception, The Social Network and Four Lions, in short – a year of original, ground-breaking cinema. So with the onslaught of adaptations and sequels 2011 has in store, the risk of audience disenchantment is high.

Billy Bob Thornton sent ripples of malaise through Hollywood last month when he told The Telegraph that, in his opinion, we are in the ‘worst era for Hollywood’ and that most motion pictures of late are solely ‘geared towards a video game generation’. Are these just the grumblings of a middle aged man bemused by the next generation or does he have a point?

Well, with the countless comic book capers and innumerable cartoon classics being brought to the silver screen this year, he’s certainly caught on to something...

No muscle suit or caption necessary

Graphic fiction novels: an infinite treasure trove of blockbuster fodder, providing generation after generation of fanatics with excitement and escapism. Superman, Spiderman and The X Men are now regarded as film stars as much as they are comic book characters, and this trend looks set to continue.

2011 offers up more than a handful of comic book adaptations. The Green Lantern (June 17) and The Green Hornet (January 14) are among the many releases of this year, with the most hotly anticipated of the all expected set to be the summer smash – Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22). This certainly is one genre that need never fear a drought.

Similarly, cartoon classics such as Yogi Bear (January 2) and Winnie the Pooh (July 16) are being reinvigorated and introduced to a new generation of young movie-goers; evoking excited gasps from tots and woeful sighs from parents the world over.

Not a ridiculous concept in the slightest

Even popular 70s toy Stretch Armstrong has been given cinematic rights, with believe it or not (rather the latter) a feature film rumoured to come out in April. Almost ridiculous enough to work?

NAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Word on the street is that ambitions are now set to film it in 3-D with Twighlight's Taylor Lautner in the starring role (I couldn't make this stuff up) therefore pushing back the release date until 2012.

Out of sheer curiosity (and childishness) I really hope this is not just an online rumour, I smell Oscar nominations...

Fans of these light and fluffy family capers should head for the cinema, armed with optimism and enough sugary E numbered snacks to slip into a diabetic coma.

Everyone else, I recommend the following:

Black Swan (Jan 21st)

The King's Speech (Jan 7th)

127 Hours (Jan 7th)