Last movie you watched......

I saw that, too, and apparently it was so underwhelming, I had forgotten I saw it. Oh well.

 

Watched Bridesmaids. I would have liked it more had I not been sold on the premise that it was the "most funniest movie ever!!!!!11!"

Good flick but I felt it was a bit rushed and, in the end, I didn't really care about almost any of the characters.

 

Went to "The Three Musketeers" in 3D. Some good fun although the dialogue is pretty lame. Great costumes though! Also, highly recommend the George Harrison doc directed by Scorsese on HBO. It's amazing.

 

You're lucky

 

Just realized I quoted the wrong person. Crap. Mine was in response to 'Hanna'

 

City of Life and Death - 2009 big budget Chinese film about the 1937 Nanking Massacre. It's in black and white, but is stunningly beautiful. An incredible history lesson for those who are not familiar with the subject matter.

 

We watched The Adjustment Bureau last night. Not bad, but ultimately disappointing. I didn't think the movie ever evolved past "interesting premise." What should have been a mind-bender was instead neatly wrapped in a pretty bow.

And I spent the last 45 minutes thinking, "Kneel before Zod!"

 

"Black Swan."

I thought it was stunning. Superlative. Probably should have been last year's Best Picture, off the top of my head. So ambitious, and mostly achieved that ambition.

SPOILERS






There seems to be a debate out there regarding what the movie is "about." The two major candidates are an artist's perfectionism or child abuse and its effects. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. My Cliff's Notes, simplified take is that it is certainly about artists and perfection, and the ending seems to indicate that to achieve perfection artistically requires giving up your sanity and, eventually, your life. That's how spent one is. Kurt Cobain would agree. Virginia Woolf would agree. If you believe that Mickey Rourke's character dies at the end of "The Wrestler," which ended ambiguously, then it strengthens the argument for that theme coming from Darren Aronofsky. Nina clearly thinks that it was worth it, as she's thrilled at her achievement as she lies dying.

The more subtle subtext, of course, is that the perfectionism is the result of child abuse, probably sexual abuse at the hands of Nina's mother. When you are made aware of that element of the film, it becomes undeniable. The cake scene - both threatening to throw it away and having Nina lick her finger. Lily calling Nina, "my sweet princess" after the sex hallucination. (Same thing that the mom called Nina). Her mother, at one point, saying, "Are you ready for me?"

I love, love, love that Aronofsky didn't feel compelled to whack his audience in the head with the abuse background. No exposition on it. He totally trusts his audience to figure it out, and few directors nowadays are willing to do so. ("The Other Woman," another Natalie Portman vehicle I watched the other day, felt compelled to have the characters recite for us every single drop of emotional subtext. It was so tedious.)

I'd be really curious to hear what other board members thought of the movie. I feel like it's one of those movies I could talk about for hours.

 

Skim this thread. Plenty of talk about it.

I hated it. So did some others. You loved it. So did some others.

 

Green Lantern

Low expectations definitely helped. Watching with a 5-year-old who liked it, helped as well...

Surprisingly not terrible...

 

Cool. GL is still on my Netflix list. I thought Thor and the latest X-Men were both decent.

 

Paranormal Activity 3. It was fine, did what it was supposed to do, meaning it caused my wife to hide behind her jacket for half the movie saying, "What's happening? What's happening?" And me responding, "We just paid $9 each for a matinee, watch the damn movie!"