Bidding 2010 Goodbye - Part I: Favorite Scenes

While this series of posts will continue for a least a few days into the new year, I figured I'd like to close out 2010 at Not All Texans Ride Horses to School on a positive note. As I've stated before, there are still a solid handful of films left that I want to see, but I think 56 films is more than enough to make a list of

10 Favorite Scenes of the Year

Fair warning: There be spoilers ahead...

Honorable Mentions:

Car Argument - Date Night: While by no means special or memorable, Date Night did have one thing going for it: Steve Carrell and Tina Fey's chemistry as Phil and Claire Foster. The scene in question comes roughly in the middle of the couple's increasingly insane night out in New York. Phil and Claire verbally attack each other's imperfections, and in a surprising moment, the screenplay (for once) actually shines just a bit. The result is surprisingly affecting, and in a movie that was meant to be a comedy, it's this serious moment that stands head and shoulders above the rest of the film.

Ending - True Grit: There are many great moments of cinematography in the Coen brothers' western, but none is as quietly beautiful as the last shot, in which a grown Mattie Ross walks away from Rooster Cogburn's tombstone. It's a quiet coda to a film filled with so much loud bantering among its three principal characters, and it works perfectly as a send off both to the characters and to the film itself.

10. The Race - Four Lions: Chris Morris' Jihadist satire reaches its comic highs, and surprisingly emotional depths in the last 20 minutes, chronicling the titular "lions" as they attempt to set off bombs while disguised as costumed runners in the London Marathon. In addition to the hysterical argument that ensues when a police sniper clips the wrong target, the final scene carries a surprising mix of poetry, biting satire, and emotional heft.

09. Hallway Fight - Inception:

It was the defining action sequence of the year, and deservedly so. In actually building a rotating set rather than relying on heavy CGI work, the gravity-defying fistfight was easily the highlight of Christopher Nolan's trek into the work of dreams. There's an almost nervous energy that I get from this scene that comes from the fact that we can tell that it's real, and the effect is dizzying.

08. The Speech - The King's Speech:

In my review of The King's Speech, I mentioned how the lack of sugarcoating was one of the film's greatest strengths. When George VI delivers his first speech, he doesn't do so perfectly (by normal standards). The moment isn't accompanied by loud, charging, triumphant music. Rather, by playing the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, a piece that builds veeeeery gradually, the scene still feels triumphant, but feels appropriate. The result is beautiful, and one of the most inspiring scenes of the year.

07. Making FaceMash - The Social Network:

One of the scenes that combined everything I loved about David Fincher's Facebook tale comes early on, when a just-dumped Mark (Jesse Eisenberg) simultaneously builds a website where users rate the attractiveness of students and blogs about his breakup. The sharp writing, lightning fast line delivery, and pulsating score combine masterfully and turn a scene of a geek drinking beer and writing code into one of the most thrilling sequences of the year.

06. The Tale of the Three Brothers - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1: In a film filled with magical battles and fantastical creatures, the shining moment of David Yates' latest crack at the Potter franchise was the telling of the Three Brothers and the origin of the titular Deathly Hallows. Rendered in strangely beautiful animation (was it some blend of CGI and cell animation???) and filled with little stylistic flourishes (the flash of blood when the first brother is murdered is stunning), the sequence could stand by itself as a short film. The film itself was already daring enough by giving so much screen time to the traveling portion of the story, but this sequence showed that even big-budget, money-grubbing blockbusters can still have truly inspired moments of artistry.

05. A Swan is Born - Black Swan:

As Darren Aronofsky's ballet thriller launches into its increasingly fantastical finale, it becomes more and more fascinating to watch. And no scene in the is-it-real-or-imagined? side of the store was more stunning than when Nina, dancing as the seductive Black Swan, charges out on stage and does a series of twirls as her arms transform into wings. That the effect is so seamless (especially considering the budget) only enhances the spell cast by Aronofsky's vision, and the shot following the transformation is equally brilliant, topped off by Portman's pitch perfect look of sinister triumph.

04. Henley Regatta - The Social Network:

It comes almost out of nowhere, but like the rest of the film, it's brilliantly composed and executed, even if there aren't any words spoken. The scene, which focuses on Zuckerberg's rivals, the Winklevoss twins (aka: The Winklevii), provides a nice break from all of the hyper articulate tech babble and caustic zingers, and simply lets the images work their magic. With brilliant use of limited focus to mask the lack of on-location shooting, and an energetic electronic interpretation of "In the Hall of the Mountain King," the scenes edits rise with the music, and the result is electrifying.

03. Prey Becomes Predator - Animal Kingdom: One of the key strengths of David Michod's crime drama is that violence is used in such small proportions and so effectively, that most scenes involving gunshots send a jolt through your body. This is particularly true of the ending, when 'J' Cody, an orphan who must decide where his loyalties lie when it comes to his gangster family, kills head criminal Andrew 'Pope' Cody. I know I nearly jumped out of my seat, and from the sounds I heard after that lone gunshot, I wasn't alone. Like J's grandmother Janine, the audience was appropriately left stunned and speechless. The final shot of Janine's hands hanging limp in defeat as J pulls her in for a hug is one of the most chilling images of the year.

02. Becca's Release - Rabbit Hole:

Though it deals with the aftermath of losing a child, John Cameron Mitchell's film of David Lindsey-Abaire's play keeps the weepy scenes to a minimum. And when things get high strung, the cast pulls it off beautifully. But the emotional high point comes when Becca drives to visit Jason, the teen responsible for the death of her son, and sees him going out to prom. As she watches, she flashes back to the day of the accident, and after trying to weather the storm of her grief for so long, finally allows herself to release her sadness, rather than continue to hold it in. From the moment she catches a glimpse of Jason, and her composure starts to break, Kidman fully owns the moment, and the scene acts as the perfect place for both her and the audience to let the emotion flow freely. A beautifully handled and acted scene that is far and away the most moving moment of the year.

01. Swan Lake Finale/Nina's Madness - Black Swan:

While entry #5 is technically part of this, my pick for #1 covers much more ground. Along with the rapturous depiction of the ballet as captured by Matthew Libatique's swooping handheld cinematography, the behind-the-scenes madness also reaches its high point. And as the gorgeous music blasts from the speakers and the roller coaster finally reaches its end, Aronofsky's film concludes on a moment of twisted poetry, with the final line of dialogue perfectly capturing the essence of Nina Sayers, the woman whose head Aronofsky brilliant puts us inside of.

"Black Swan" - REVIEW

Sometimes the biggest obstacle standing in the way of a film is its trailer. Trailers can over-or-underemphasize aspects of a film. And even though they shouldn't, they can even have an impact on our initial reactions. That's not the case with Darren Aronofsky's latest, the New York ballet thriller Black Swan. Every ounce of intensity, every hint at madness hinted at in the trailer is shown in full force, making Black Swan the perfect trippy pyscho freak-out for the holidays.

Aronofsky repeatedly described this project as a companion piece to his critically acclaimed 2008 film, The Wrestler. In fact, The Wrestler was originally supposed to center around the relationship between a wrestler and a ballerina: performance forms on opposite ends of the "art spectrum," yet both require equal amounts of painful dedication. And in the opening portions, those traces of The Wrestler still remain. We see Nina (Natalie Portman) wrapping her toes, preparing her slippers, etc. The first time we see ballet, after the fabulous prologue sequence, is in a room full of dancers practicing in tights and sweat pants. In using one art form to look at another, Aronofsky and his writers manage to take a look at the pain and dedication that ballet requires, without feeling like a documentary; the practice scenes are mixed in perfectly with the story and its ever-increasing strangeness.

But Black Swan is also a film of extremes and opposites. The story revolves around director Thomas Leroy's (Vincent Cassel) new, stripped down, "more visceral" interpretation of "Swan Lake." This new version requires the lead ballerina to play both the innocent, virginal white swan, as well as her rival, the black, seductive swan queen. The polarity is present on nearly all levels of the film, starting most obviously with the art direction. Black and white are the two most prominent colors throughout, and even though these symbols made not be understated, they serve a purpose and are effective. For the performances, the polarity comes down to Natalie Portman's bravura performance as Nina, chronicling her shift from timid and tame (and a perfectionist), to wild and sensual (and a liiiiiiittle bit crazy). And of course, the story does it as well. The elements of the supernatural/weird start fairly early, but they're rather subdued, to the point where you might miss or dismiss them. And then, as it charges forward, it goes further down the rabbit hole into insanity, all while never flying off of the rails.

But perhaps what Black Swan does best, is firmly plant us inside of its protagonist's head. If the other characters potentially feel one note, it's because of the amount of effort that has gone into making the film about the struggle Nina goes through, first with her new role, and then with reality. But that's not to say that the other performances are worth dismissing. Cassel is appropriately sleazy and compelling, Kunis is seductive and light as Nina's (alleged) competition, and Barbara Hershey is flat-out creepy as Nina's smothering mother. But this is Portman's show, and she grabs the role entirely by the reins, both physically and emotionally. In a movie where so much of the execution is flashy and dramatic, Portman lends the role a surprising amount of subtlety, which I suppose will reveal more on subsequent viewings when you aren't being dazzled by the construction and style of it all.

Because above all, Black Swan is truly a director's film. Aronofsky perfectly builds the tension, complete with some surprisingly sexual side ventures that lend the first half or so a few touches of pseudo-camp. And if some of the dialogue is slightly expositional or on-the-nose, the film solidifies its status of greatness with the final 20 minutes, which depict the performance of "Swan Lake" on opening night. Dialogue takes a severe back seat, and in its place we get one of the most thrilling performance sequences put on film in recent memory. And with the original score for "Swan Lake" already so magnificent, as the performers dance and Matthew Libatique's swooping cinematography sweeps you off of your feet, Clint Mansell's variations on the score blast from the speakers, and the result is electrifying and rapturous. There are two times in the film when thunderous applause can be heard in the background, and both times, I wanted to join that on-screen audience, because that's just how big of an achievement this film is, both in looking at another art form and in good old fashioned story-telling.

Grade: A-/A

In a year of mostly crummy posters...

Natalie stands tall. No really, in addition to those posters from the London Film Festival, the marketing team for this film has really done a phenomenal job of creating beautiful and intriguing posters, which are, after all, the "faces" of films. Contrast this with the dreck put out for The King's Speech (even the director hates it), or the just-plain-ordinary work for much of the year's releases, and you can see why a poster like the one above is such a great thing to see. Hopefully more follow, both for this film and others.

Venice Review Round-Up: "Black Swan"

Now that it's festival season again, it's time to bring back the review round-ups, where we take a look at what the critics have to say about the latest anticipated films. The 67th Venice Film Festival kicked off with Darren Aronofsky's highly anticipated ballet thriller Black Swan, and now it's time to see what everyone thought. Check back though, as this post will be updated throughout the day in the event that a flood of reviews pour out that contradict my initial "critics consensus":

The film gets off to a good start from Variety's Peter Debruge, who calls the film, "A wicked, sexy, and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer's all-consuming ambition," and goes on to say that star Natalie Portman gives a "courageous turn [that] lays bare the myriad insecurities genuinely dedicated performers face when testing their limits." He finishes the review by comparing the psychological disintegration elements of the story to Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion, which is pretty high praise. The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt has a different take. He says that the film is "an instant guilty pleasure, a gorgeously shot, visually complex film whose badness is what's so good about it." He goes on to say that "Aronofsky...never succeeds in wedding genre elements to the world of ballet" and that "the horror-movie nonsense drags everything down the rabbit hole of preposterousness."

Natalie is unhappy with Mr. Honeycutt's review; watch out...

Yet the film receives another rave from Screen Daily's Mike Goodridge, who proclaims "Darren Aronofsky soars to new heights with Black Swan, an enthralling drama set in the competitive world of ballet." On a review of a much smaller scale - a tweet - Incontention's Guy Lodge gives the film an "A-" and manages to say the following in 140 characters: "How to tweet this? Aronofsky extends The Wrestler's fascination with physically broken performers to the phsychological. Results are florid and fine cut; dances thrillingly on the border of trash before a sharp left turn into modern fairy tale. Having said that, I can imagine a lot of people disagreeing." Finally, Chris Henson of The Examiner says that "Natalie Portman is devastating."

Additional Reviews:

The Telegraph: "Powerful, gripping, and always intriguing, it also features a lead performance from Natalie Portman that elevates her from substantial leading actress to major star likely to be lifting awards in the near future." ****/****

Indie Wire: "With Natalie Portman, in the demanding leading role, equaling her director in unquestioned commitment the central issue for the viewer is how far one is willing to follow the film down the road to oblivion for art's sake"/"Particularly grating is Hershey's insufferable mother character."

Venice Verdict: A striking, well-acted, mesmerizing work about dedication and obsession whose madness and genre-elements may be too much for some.

Tomorrow: Venice turns 67 with help from Natalie and Darren

Tomorrow marks the kick off of the star-studded Venice Film Festival, the most prestigious festival behind Cannes. But unlike Cannes, Venice (and even more so, Toronto) can actually be a good launching point for Oscar hopefuls. A number of major contenders will be premiering in and out of competition, including Julie Taymor's The Tempest and Darren Aronofsky's festival opener Black Swan. 'Swan,' is one that I'm particularly excited for, especially after the incredible first trailer that premiered roughly two weeks ago. This is Aronofsky's record at Venice is 1-1. 2006's The Fountain received many mixed and negative reviews and was even booed by portions of the audience, while 2008's The Wrestler was widely praised and won the top prize, the Golden Lion. By tomorrow afternoon, given the time difference, we'll finally have an answer as to whether Aronofsky racks up another win or loss.

"Black Swan" trailer

Well, in short, this looks...DAMN. Portman is one of those actresses who rarely grabs me, but this could be a really stunning turn for her. The whole thing looks like one dark, hypnotic, creepy fever dream. And that final shot, of Portman pulling out a small feather from her skin, makes me wonder how off-the-walls crazy Aronofsky has gone with his latest project. The film will open the Venice Film Festival, but let's hope that it will earn a reviews more like those given to The Wrestler than The Fountain.

Bad timing...

So apparently the past two and a half weeks were simply overloaded with cinema related goodness, all of which I had to wait until now to figure out about (I'm sure there's still some significant new casting news/trailer/etc... I haven't seen yet), because trying to translate those articles in German was giving me a headache. Since there's too much to cover in individual posts since it would be old news anyway), I'll just throw in a few quick thoughts about the most eye-catching things that appeared while I was in Germany:

The Miral trailer: A bit uneven (it should be shorter), but very interesting, though I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to see Hiam Abbass in that haircut. Schnabel's background as a painter is still evident in the color scheme (the shades of blue are beautiful), albeit in a more subdued way than in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and it will be interesting to see how he handles this more-or-less two-part story (the first half of which would be oriented around Abbass, the second around Freida Pinto's titular character). The film will also offer a chance to see if the stunning Pinto can really act, or if she should stick to modeling.

The complete line-up for the Venice Film Festival: Black Swan and Machete are confirmed for a double-bill opening (appropriate considering Machete's origins in the Tarantino/Rodriguez collaboration Grindhouse), and Julie Taymor's The Tempest will finally see the light of day as the closing screening. Not making it to the festival? Tree of Life (oh, come ON already), and Rabbit Hole, which will thankfully make it into Toronto. I'd hope there aren't behind-the-scenes troubles; Abel Korzeniowski has been replaced as the film's score composer, which I'm assuming means whatever he came up with didn't fit with Mitchell's vision. Let's just hope the delay doesn't have to do with overall quality, though. A certain tall, Australian actress could really use a widely-acclaimed film on her resume right about now...

The trailer for Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch: is friggin' insane. Snyder's current film, the gorgeous-looking The Legend of the Guardians, hasn't even hit theaters yet, but that hasn't stopped the flashy director of 300 from working on another project. The action looks, well, extreme, which could either be really cool or headache-inducing. However, I love the idea of Abbie Cornish as an ass-kicking (supporting) heroine. She should have plenty of built-up rage after that Bright Star Best Actress snub.

The first round of confirmed films at the Toronto Film Festival: In addition to lots of big names (including big Cannes titles like Biutiful), this year's TIFF will also launch Guillaume Canet's Little White Lies starring Marion Cotillard along with Robert Redford's Lincoln assassination (sort of) flick The Conspirator and John Madden's The Debt. Festival circuit ubiquity Blue Valentine will also appear, along with a slew of foreign films, with a handful of more commercial titles, like Emma Stone vehicle Easy A.

The trailer for The Town: Ben Affleck's second directorial effort after the excellent Gone Baby Gone (2007) is set in the heart of Boston's criminal district, and though it seems plenty gritty, this first glimpse at the film does showcase a more "commercial" looking film, with gunshots, car chases, and exploding cars. The real hook here for me, however, is the cast, led by Jon Hamm, Affleck, and burgeoning talents Jeremy Renner and Rebecca Hall, both of whom are starting to appear more regularly in more prominent film roles (if you can see Please Give in theaters, do so, if only for the lovely work from Hall and her co-stars), which is a very good thing.

Everything I missed: Here I don't mean news, I mean the reason for this blog in the first place: movies. I'm nearly three weeks late to the Inception debate, and I need to run out and see Cyrus and The Kids Are All Right and hope that they don't randomly vanish from the art house/indie theaters in Houston soon (reassuringly, Cyrus was given a slot at at the mainstream theater near my house, which is a good sign). The much delayed and painfully released Agora is also near(ish) me, and only in one theater, so I'll need to catch that one soon as well. I'm also behind on TV, and have missed at least two episodes of True Blood, Entourage, and of all things, the impressively reviewed start to Mad Men's fourth season (and apparently Dexter season 5 has a trailer out somewhere...GAH).

Lastly: The first images from Aronofsky's ballet mystery Black Swan emerged. You can see the rest of them here (love that full-body shot of Portman in costume), but the image that caught my eye was the one below. Frankly, I hope Mr. Rachel Weisz f-ing loses his mind with this project, involving a ballerina and her (imaginary?) rival.

Cannes 2010 Line Up: UPDATE

I'm kind of saddened to learn that both Black Swan and Rabbit Hole might not be totally ready; I was really eager to hear something about those two. Still, there are plenty of likely candidates which I'm more than a little interested in, especially Miral, Biutiful, The Fighter, and now Little White Lies, which I've only heard about just now, but the title and presence of Marion Cotillard have my interest piqued.

Source: IndieWire

Which other films are most likely to debut at the May fest? Sight unseen, I rank each of the indieWIRE 40 from 1 (least likely) to four (most likely) stars to wind up in the Cannes official selection. We will soon know.

Mike Leigh’s Another Year is a likely UK competition title. ****

Oren Peli’s follow-up to Paranormal Activity, Area 51, seems outside the Cannes sight lines to me, unless it fits into a midnight show or Director’s Fortnight. It’s hard to imagine it in competition. *

Aurora, directed by Cristi Puiu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu a must-see) is a likely Romanian competition title. ****

The Beaver is not a far-fetched idea, because the Cannes programmers would want director Jodie Foster and star Mel Gibson on the red carpet, adding star lustre to their line-up—out of competition though. Summit will decide whether it serves their purposes to launch the film in Cannes: they won’t spend unless they believe the cash will come back. **

Biutiful from director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (now separated from Babel, Amores Perros and 28 Gramswriter Guillermo Arriaga, Inarritu wrote this with Armando Bo), is a natural for inclusion in the competition. I can’t wait. This is Focus International, not domestic. So Cannes makes sense as a strong launch pad for a North American distributor. And the fest will want Javier Bardem on the steps. ****

Darren Aronofsky’s $18-million Black Swan started shooting in December in Manhattan for Fox Searchlight and is nowhere close to ready, my sources say.*

French director Olivier Assayas (the fab Summer Hours) is a Cannes regular, so expectCarlos—a series of three 90-minute features—to be in the competition. IFC acquired the films at the AFM. ****

While it’s true that Cannes has played Sylvester Stallone movies in the past—I’ll never forget following Stallone up the Palais red carpet steps as he ascended to meet Elizabeth Taylor at the top, white dog in her arms, for Renny Harlin’s Cliffhanger—I highly doubt that his comeback bid The Expendables, which also stars Jason Statham and Jet Li, is on their must-see list. While I could imagine Lionsgate and all the foreign distributors wanting to make a market/press splash by showing some footage, the movie isn’t due to break worldwide until August. *

Is Doug Liman a Cannes auteur? Well, this political indie effort might fit the bill, and the fest might want to get Fair Game stars Penn and Naomi Watts for the Palais steps. Participant and River Road could use Cannes to find a distributor willing to pay for the film, although Bill Pohlad’s Apparition could do the honors. **

David O. Russell’s Flirting With Disaster did play Cannes in 2007 1996 in Un Certain Regard, so the fest could smile on Paramount’s The Fighter** (Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams). Long-delayed Nailed* (Jake Gyllenhaal-Jessica Biel), which lacks a distributor, could be tied up in bankruptcy court.

The Grand Master would be a natural competition title if Wong Kar-Wai is finished, but it’s slated for 2011 release in Hong Kong. **

Here, directed by documentarian-turned-feature-helmer Braden King and starring The Messenger’s Ben Foster, sounds like a strong candidate for Director’s Fortnight or Un Certain Regard. **

Clint Eastwood likes to bring his films to Cannes, so Hereafter could join Changelingand Mystic River there. And the Cannes brass would also be eager for Matt Damon to show. ***

Is Gregg Araki ready to make the transition to the Cannes competition (Smiley Faceshowed in Director’s Fortnight in 2007)? Kaboom could be it—or wind up back in the Fortnight. ***

Guillaume Canet’s Little White Lies starring Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard seems like a competition shoo-in. ****

While Director’s Fortnight discovered Xavier Dolan (Canadian Oscar submission I Killed My Mother), it’s hard to imagine the festival bumping him up with his follow-up, Love Imagined. It would help if he had notable cast. (It’s all about those Palais steps!) **

Robert Rodriguez was in Cannes competition with Sin City, but the fest wanted Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof without Rodriguez’s gorey Grindhouse contribution, Planet Terror. So Machete would seem to be in that vein and thus not a likely Cannes entry—except for one mitigating factor: Robert DeNiro. That could bring the movie into midnight contention. **

Meek’s Cutoff director Kelly Reichardt is just the sort of global critics’ darling that Cannes could bump from Un Certain Regard (Wendy and Lucy) to main competition. She’s due. ****

Julian Schnabel is already in the auteur club. If he’s finished with Jerusalem-set Miral, he’s in. ****

I loved Anh Hung Tran’s The Scent of Green Papaya. I agree with Brian Brooks:Norwegian Wood, starring Rinko Kikuchi, looks like a shoo-in for a competition slot.****

Francois Ozon’s Potiche looks likely too. ****

Word is that neither John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole* nor Bruce Robinson’s Rum Diary* will be done in time.

Danish director Susanne Bier should be a Cannes auteur; she was on the jury in 2008, but has never been in the competition. It’s time to redress that omission: she’ll be back in her native language with The Revenge. ***

Spain’s Julio Medem (the excellent Sex and Lucia) has also never been in the Cannes competition, but Room in Rome could change that, too. UPDATE: Word is this one won’t make it.*

If Cam Archer’s Shit Year, starring Ellen Barkin, ends up in the Cannes selection, it would probably be in Director’s Fortnight. *

In France, what Jean Luc Godard wants, he gets, so if he wants Socialisme, starring Patti Smith in this year’s fest, he’ll be in. ***

Somewhere starring Stephen Dorff, is directed by Cannes favorite Sofia Coppola, but she is due to give birth in late May, so Focus may debut this semi-autobiographical L.A. film at Venice and Telluride instead. *

Stephen Frears’ Tamara Drewe starring Gemma Arterton, would seem a natural (he’s had two films in competition), but the UK director would need to finish it in time. *

Julie Taymor may be ready to make her Cannes debut at long last with her latest Shakespeare film, The Tempest, starring Helen Mirren as Prospera. But Disney/Miramax is the distributor, which could be a problem. **

Three, from Germany’s Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run) seems a likely competition entry, as it wasn’t finished in time for Berlin. ****

Showing animated features like last year’s opener Up out-of-competition is an honorable tradition at Cannes, and Pixar’s 3-D Toy Story 3 easily fits that niche. UPDATE: But it looks like it’s not happening.*

Assuming Terrence Malick feels ready to show The Tree of Life in May, it should be in the competition, with Pitt and Penn lending starry support. ***

Bela Tarr screened a rough cut of The Turin Horse in Budapest before Berlin, so signs look promising for a Cannes competition berth. ****

Gus Van Sant is always welcome on the Croisette, so assuming he’s done with his latest untitled film starring Mia Wasikowska, he’s a likely returning regular. ***

La Vida Util, from Federico Veiroj, would mark the Uruguayan director’s second Cannes entry, so signs looks good. ***

Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps starring Michael Douglas and Carey Mulligan is in; Fox wants it out of competition. Too bad, Stone should be in with the auteurs with his first Cannes entry.****

Peter Weir marks his first film since Master & Commander with the 40s war prisoner-escape film The Way Back, starring Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris and Saoirse Ronan. Produced by Scott Rudin and National Geographic Films (now led by ex-Miramax chief Daniel Battsek), it is not clear who is distributing the film. The decision on Cannes has not yet been made. But it could be a strong launch for an eventual awards contender. UPDATE: Distribution uncertainty is undermining Cannes showing.*

Milk screenplay Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black makes his directorial debut withWhat’s Wrong with Virginia? That makes him a new kid on the block at Cannes—ripe for adoption and mentorship if the film is right. Ed Harris stars. ***

Word is, Woody Allen’s romantic comedy You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger starring Josh Brolin and Naomi Watts is definitely in. Allen usually screens out of competition.

First poster for the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, featuring Juliette Binoche

With addition information on some prominent films that will be making appearences:

Source: FirstShowing.net

With the Cannes Film Festival only 45 days away from kicking off (I will be attending again this year), buzz about the line-up has started to build. Last week it was officially announced that Ridley Scott's Robin Hood would open the festival, the same honor that Pixar's Up had last at last year's fest. Anne Thompson at indieWIRE also names a few titles that she's heard will be heading to Cannes: Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, and of course, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, which we've talked plenty aboutbefore, although none of them are official yet.

This will be the first time an Oliver Stone film has played at the festival, as far as I know, so congratulations to Stone. And although she mentions Tree of Life, apparently Malick still hasn't shown the film to Cannes yet (even though it's supposedly finished), but he will get in no matter what when/if he does show them. To go along with the debut of the official poster for the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, other prospectives (via The Playlist) include: Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, Bruce Robinson's The Rum Diary with Johnny Depp, and Amores Perrosdirector Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's film Biutiful.

There's also a rumor that because Juliette Binoche is on the poster this year, it may mean that her new film Certified Copy from Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami might show as well. Although we only know one film that is officially playing this year (Robin Hood), if the rest of this turns out to be accurate, it looks like it'll be a great year at Cannes this year. I had a amazing time last year and I'm already very excited about the prospective line-up this year. We'll be bringing you coverage of the fest along with SlashFilm, so although not many of you will be in Cannes with us, we'll do our best to report back on the must see films of the fest.

Read more: http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/03/28/cannes-prospectives-wall-street-2-woody-allen-tree-of-life/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+firstshowing+%28FirstShowing.net%29#ixzz0jZVgyPZ0film

Mila Kunis joins Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" (2010) with Natalie Portman

Mila Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Extract) has signed on to co-star oppositeNatalie Portman in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan.

The supernatural drama is set in the world of New York City Ballet. Portman stars as a veteran ballerina who finds herself “locked in to a competitive showdown with a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance.” But it isn’t as simple as that — the big twist is that Portman’s character is not sure whether her rival is a supernatural apparition or if she is having delusions. Kunis is playing the rival dancer named Lilly.

Natalie Portman signs on for Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan"

Source: Slashfilm.com

Aronofsky became attached to Black Swan in early 2007, but the film was put into turnaround by Universal. The project is apparently making the rounds to studios and specialty divisions, with Portman as part of the CAA package. Mark Heyman, co-producer of The Wrestler, has done a rewrite of the original script by John McLaughlin.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Portman would play a veteran ballerina who finds herself “locked in to a competitive showdown with a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance.” But it isn’t as simple as that — the big twist is that Portman’s character is not sure whether her rival is a supernatural apparition or if she is having delusions. Sounds like a genre-thriller with award potential.

I’m not immediately sold on the short logline, but with exceptional talent like Portman and Aronofsky involved, I’m sure it will be great. Aronofsky could make a film about an empty white room, and I’d be in line opening day to pay $15. And hey, I’m sure a lot of people had no interest in seeing a film about an aging professional wrestler…

I find it hard to imagine that a studio won’t jump immediately at this project, especially with Aronofsky coming hot off a critically acclaimed and award nominated film, complete with Portman locked in as part of the package. If a sale happens soon, Swan could be in production by year’s end.

Aronofsky was also developing a reboot of Robocop for MGM, which the studio originally hoped to have in theaters for 2010. MGM recently moved expectations to 2011. And maybe one of the reasons I’m not so-sold on the project is because I’ve been waiting to see what Aronofsky could do with a big high concept project likeRobocop, or one of his more original stories. I very much hope he gets the chance to make Noah’s Ark one of these days.