The daringly original new film Black Swan, from director Darren Aronofsky, is the cinematic embodiment of answering that figurative expression and that twist of choosing what you see in the mirror. It's a twisted psychological thriller where nothing is what it seems, all the way until the credits roll. The film's slow-boiling pull on you, the audience, builds more and more with a pace and tension that matches the maddening breakdowns of its lead character.
Read MoreThose two time periods and settings of Blue Valentine create Oscar-worthy opportunities for Gosling and Williams to give absolutely amazing dual performances. Their chemistry as actors to create both loving attraction in the past and boiled-over stress in the present is remarkable. Both of them completely pull off every possible level of married realism in the present-day scenes that, when we see them in their past years, we hardly believe they could be the same people, let alone the same actors.
Read MoreThe King's Speech tells this very personal story of therapy and friendship in such an exquisitely grand and fulfilling way.
Read MoreThe Fighter is as much a dramatic and fascinating character piece about family as it is about boxing. The complicated and very different layers of relationship between parents and children, siblings, and family outsiders drives the film
Read MoreTrue Grit joins the short list of remakes that could be superior to their original. Though it may not be completely fair or right to compare the two and their 41-year-old differences, it's impossible not to watch the new one without recalling its predecessor. There are many elements of the new adaptation that are superior to the 1969 original.
Read MoreIt's refreshing to see Tangled. It marks the occasion as Disney's historic 50th animated feature. The fun film, much like Disney's recent Enchanted, turns out to be a Hallmark card to their time-honored classic fairy tale storytelling, while still having modern dashes of flavor and wonder to appeal to the new 21st century generation. The old fashioned ingredients are in place.
Read MoreThe new film Country Strong hopes to continue that tradition by stealing a few pages from real-life comeback stories and making its own. Add one part Britney Spears (of which the movie was actually inspired by, in fact), one part Mindy McCready, and a few dashes of Johnny Cash and Tina Turner and you've got country star Kelly Canter, played by Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow.
Read MoreTron: Legacy dazzles from start to finish with the same revolutionary level of production design and visual effects that its original first brought to the world nearly 30 years ago. Everything you could dream of from the original is bigger, brighter, and better. Never before have video games, or even science-fiction itself, looked as good or as sharply designed as this. Disney spared no expense and it shows.
Read MoreOnce again, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader brings the series back to its high adventure and captivating wonder. Fox scored quite a coup to get this and, somewhere, someone soon at Disney will be kicking themselves.
Read MoreThe Next Three Days pushes the right buttons and poses the right questions of morality much better than most other heist films. While every heist/escape film has its level of implausibility (this one is no different), what this movie has going for it is that very believable journey of an honest man out to do wrong.
Read MoreThere are a lot of air-quotes in that description of Morning Glory because the stereotypes shown in the film, just as in any real life workplace, are true. The magic of Morning Glory comes in how those stereotypes are broken down and redefined. The characters, while initially shaped as stereotypes, are richer and have a lot more going on underneath, with a great deal of change and growth. In different or more dramatic hands, this movie could have ended up as a button pusher along the lines of the classic Network, but this movie sticks with the comedy and stays light. Morning Glory works because of it's all about the quirks and characters instead of the issues that really make up the news.
Read MoreEvery manly man in America will enjoy this movie. If you walk out of the theater going "Oh my god, that was too loud!" or "Why did they have to do that?" then you're obviously not a manly man and we'll tear your man card right with your ticket stub. Plot is secondary and action is king. Does it matter or add any brevity that it was inspired by a true story? Nope. Just buckle up and enjoy the chase. This is vintage stand-up-and-cheer Tony Scott spectacle.
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