At Inside Out 2012, Toronto’s LGBT Film Festival, I struck up a conversation with a woman – about lesbian scenes, no less. As tantalizing as the premise sounds, she eventually digressed into a rather scholarly discussion about how most of these scenes are sensationalized, how they objectify women, how unrealistic they are, and, of course, …
I love director Darren Aronofsky. Black Swan was my favorite film of 2010 and The Wrestler topped my list back in 2008. Unfortunately, his new two minute spot for Yves Saint Laurent is really lame. The ad stars his latest muse Vincent Cassel, who pretty much roams about stalking beautiful women in an almost dialogue-free …
Trying to get Hollywood to change direction is not unlike trying to steer an elephant by poking it in its thick-hided ass with a matchstick; it doesn’t exactly respond like a Maserati. And that’s a problem because there are some box office signs suggesting the American movie industry needs – may, in fact, desperately need, …
Darren Aronofsky is no stranger to drugs and movies. His 2000 heroin-and-pills drama Requiem for a Dream cemented his auteur status and scored him a loyal cult following. Now according to 24 Frames, the director is returning to the world of drug films with Intricate, “a story of a promising young athlete who finds himself …
Dominic Sidhu curated a series of contemporary artworks that appear within the sets of the film Black Swan. The exhibit presented by Regen Projects includes the works of such great artists as Matthew Barney, Walead Beshty, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Katharina Fritsch and Christopher Wool. For the exhibition, Sidhu interrogates metaphysical interpretations of the myth of …
I will leave the discussion of what/who won/didn’t win and why/why not to others. I have only one concern: Did it work? For the now befuddled, let me recap what I laid out back in January when the 2011 Academy Award nominations were announced: A year earlier, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences …
The Academy Awards will be held tomorrow night but today the better award show, the Independent Spirit Awards were held, honouring the best in independent film from 2010. Black Swan was the big winner taking home four awards, including the ceremony’s most coveted prize, Best Feature. Darren Aronofsky walked away with Best Director, Natalie Portman …
In Part 2 of our Oscar prediction special, Justine and Simon weigh in on the remaining major categories, including the main event, Best Picture, on which they are split – will it be initial frontrunner The Social Network, or insurgent award-winner The King’s Speech? Each has their own (probably dubious) reasoning – but of course …
Movie theatres aren’t always the safest of places. They are often overcrowded and people get easily irritated with others bumping into them, sitting a little too close, kicking the seats, texting on the cell phone or even worse answering phone calls during the movie. We’ve all been a victim to someone potentially ruining our movie-going …
Wally Pfister has won the top prize at the 2011 American Society of Cinematographers Award ceremony for outstanding in cinematography for his work on Inception. The other nominees in the feature film category were Matthew Libatique, ASC (Black Swan), Danny Cohen, BSC (The King’s Speech), Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (The Social Network), and Roger Deakins, ASC, …
Cinematographer, Matthew Libatique once again did a brilliant job in Black Swan. Shooting with a mixture of documentary-style handheld and traditional set-ups, the gorgeous visuals and deliberately jarring edits helped sustain the manic pace of the film. Graphic and harsh at times, yet beautiful and poetic, Black Swan also features some of the best use …
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was not, originally, in the award-awarding business. In fact, the Academy (founded by some of the early Hollywood moguls i.e. Louis Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks, and Jack Warner, among others) didn’t get around to handing out the little gold men until 1929 — two years after AMPAS’ creation. …
Armond White used to be unknown to most people, but soon he found himself in the spotlight when people took notice of his negative reviews of The Dark Knight, There Will Be Blood, and Wall-E. White was the only critic who continuously disliked the more popular films. Now the New York-based film and music critic …
The American Society of Cinematographers have nominated five cinematographers for its 25th annual Outstanding Achievement Awards: The five include, Matthew Libatique (Black Swan), Wally Pfister (Inception), Danny Cohen (The King’s Speech), Jeff Cronenweth (The Social Network), and Roger Deakins (True Grit). This is the ninth time Roger Deakins’ has been nominated (his fifth in the …
Rotten Tomatoes has announced their 2010 Golden Tomato Awards. Everyone already knows that Toy Story 3 was the best-reviewed wide-release of 2010, but it is still interesting to see which other nine made the top ten. You can see the list below but first here are a few interesting facts. This marks the fourth year …
Here is the Jim Carey parody of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan on Saturday Night Live, for anyone who may have missed it. Bill Hader takes Vincent Cassel’s role as director Thomas, Nasim Pedrad plays Nina (Natalie Portman’s role), and the Mila Kunis character Lily is played by Jim Carrey himself. Enjoy!
#1 – Black Swan Directed by Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky does not have a medium setting. However one might feel about any of this films – from the agitated anti-drug parable Requiem for a Dream to the time-bending metaphysical sci-fi mini-epic The Fountain to working-man’s tragedy The Wrestler – it’s difficult to argue that he …
Black Swan Directed by Darren Aronofsky Written by Darren Aronofsky 2010, USA Darren Aronofsky does not have a medium setting. However one might feel about any of this films – from the agitated anti-drug parable Requiem for a Dream to the time-bending metaphysical sci-fi mini-epic The Fountain to working-man’s tragedy The Wrestler – it’s difficult …
Scores are different then soundtracks for obvious reasons but mostly because it is a personal compilation of instrumental music built around a movie. There is no past with the songs, just present and just designed for that movie. This year was apparently the year for famous musicians, very accomplished musicians in their own right, to …
The tale of two swans—driven and talented, seeking and chasing perfection whilst ignoring physical limits and psychological limitation—converges within a feeling: who will be better? Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is an adaptation of Swan Lake, portraying two characters, Natalie Portman’s Nina and Mila Kunis’ Lily, whose bizarre friendship and intense rivalry revolve around the classic …
Black Swan Directed by Darren Aronofsky Written by Darren Aronofsky 2010, USA Darren Aronofsky does not have a medium setting. However one might feel about any of this films – from the agitated anti-drug parable Requiem for a Dream to the time-bending metaphysical sci-fi mini-epic The Fountain to working-man’s tragedy The Wrestler – it’s difficult …
Apple has released a new promotional video for the upcoming thriller Black Swan. So far the promotional material has been solid with beautiful poster work and a terrific trailer. This music video unfortunately does disservice to the film, a film which many of us here at Sound On Sight believe is the best film of …
“Black Swan is an elegant, impeccably designed film in both form and content that should delicately pirouette into many cineastes’ films-of-the-year list.” Black Swan Directed by Darren Aronofsky Written by Mark Heyman Starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassell & Barbara Hershey USA, 2010 In his new psychological musical Black Swan, director Darren Aronofsky has delivered …