Black Swan

Click Title above for link to IMDb.

I saw two movies Saturday. I find that when I have some free time I have to stop in for popcorn. When I got home my Netflix DVD was in the mailbox, so I popped it into the DVD player. I wanted to see it right away mostly because there was nothing worth while on satellite TV. I will NOT watch Wheel of Fortune. It's the longest half hour on television. The slowest and most boring show in American. Maybe the world.

Anyway. The two movies I watched Saturday can't be compared to each other. They were completely different genres. Not even similar. Yet they were opposites. One was American and one was British. One was good. The other one was bad. Guess which one?

All I can say is that I am not watching my way through all the Academy Award Nominees for Best Picture this year. In fact, I may never trust the Academy Awards again.

I already saw The King's Speech several weeks ago before it won Best Picture in the BAFTA & the Academy Awards.

I was expecting more from Black Swan. I thought Black Swan was so-so. It was not one of those movies you say "wow" when you come out of the theater. Not like, for instance, Inception.

I think some movies are done as "art." I usually appreciate them. Then there are the movies that are "art for the sake of art." Maybe that's what the Academy is looking for. I'm just looking for good movies.

The movie I didn't like was Black Swan. I must admit I went to see it out of curiosity so I passed on the 3-D version. Even so, the movie was mediocre. I suspect the 3-D version was also mediocre because there was nothing in the movie impressive enough to warrant 3-D except the performance of the black swan.

Natalie Portman won the awards for best actress both in America and Brittan. I never really cared for, or noticed, Natalie Portman (her acting, I mean. She's probably a great person in person.) I never thought she was a major star in major movies. So I'm baffled that she won the Academy Award. I had the sense that she was holding back in this movie. Strange that the movie was about a ballerina holding back in her performance.

Unusually when I come out of a movie about an insane person I feel a little insane. I'm impressed with movies that can draw me in like that. That's the test of a true psychogical drama. Black Swan didn't do that for me. (It was either the lack of intensity within the movie or my meds are working really well now.)

I think all Black Swan does is convince it's true what they say in psychology: a psychotic person doesn't know they are. If someone thinks they might be insane, they aren't.

The costumes were monotonous except in some of the fantasies. The whole movie was done in monotones. Albeit intentionally. I liked the dashes of pink. And the stuffed animals; they were good.

I'm still curious just what character Mila Kunis was playing. But she was super. I wonder why she didn't get the nomination for best supporting actress?

I realize other people have other tastes and, of course, we all appreciate and rave about different movies. Others love the movies that I think stink. That's why there is a wide range of diversity in entertainment. I think that's wonderful.

I thought Black Swan was an OK movie. It's worth watching but I recommend waiting til it comes out on DVD and pop your corn at home.