Movies out today: A flick about a ballerina who becomes crazy trying to discover her dark side, a non-fiction political drama about a CIA agent who’s cover is blown all because the US government was trying to call her hubby a liar, an old fairy tale about the girl with the long golden hair gets a redo and a documentary from the author of ‘The Skeptical Environmentalist’ suggesting more practical ways of saving the planet.
BLACK SWAN
Natalie Portman deserved her Oscar in this hauntingly beautiful psychological thriller from the director of ‘The Wrestler’ about a ballerina and the depths she must go to discover her ‘Black Swan’. Nina (Portman), a very sheltered, naïve perfectionist, has lived and breathed ballet as long as she can possibly remember. Living with her very over protective mother, Nina finally lands the lead role in the ‘Swan Lake’ production.
The director of the company knows that Nina can pull off the White Swan however, he is unsure if she can pull off the dark seductress that embodies the Black. While trying to discover her ‘Black Swan’ side, Nina becomes so entrenched with the role that she begins to have hallucinations, becomes very jealous of another dancer that already has the qualities she herself is trying to capture all the while becoming defiant against her mother, obsessive, compulsive and all around losing her identity in the process.
Some scenes were just so out there that they were difficult to watch however you are so entranced by Portman and the visual stylings of the cinematography that you just can’t bring yourself to look away all the while trying to figure out what’s real and what’s imagined. A disturbingly emotional ride!
FAIR GAME
A non-fiction docudrama about Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts), who was an undercover CIA operative investigating the possibility of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq as well as attempting to get scientists out of the country, when her cover was blown by the Bush administration because they were trying to discredit her husband, Joe Wilson (Sean Penn), who wrote an editorial in the New York Times trying to debunk Bush’s claims that there was evidence of the WMA’s in Iraq (as we all know, there wasn’t) during his ‘State of the Union’ address, after Wilson himself had been sent to Niger on suspicion that they were making yellow cake uranium as part of Iraq’s weapons program (they weren’t).
TANGLED
Not one of Disney’s best films, however certainly not the worse. After a flower with special powers helps saves the lives of both a queen and her princess, the child inherits the powers causing an evil witch, who was using the flower as her own personal fountain of youth, kidnaps the baby and traps her in a tower. Once full grown (along with 70 feet of magical golden tresses) however, Rapunzel decides she wants to discover life beyond her tower walls and when a charming thief comes across her path, she decides to take the opportunity to get the heck out of dodge and rebel against her ‘mother’, finally discovering who she really is.
MADE IN DENGENHAM
‘Norma Rae’ meets British humor in this flick about the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike of over 180 sewing machines who were reclassified as ‘unskilled’ and decided to stage a walk out to protest sexual discrimination and unequal pay.
COOL IT
This documentary is based on the book of the same name and lectures by Bjorn Lomborg, the controversial author of ‘The Skeptical Environmentalist’. Award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner travels the world with Lomborg exploring the facts and science of global warming and its impact.
ALSO OUT: Mad Men Season 4, Heartless, IMAX: Hubble
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