Sinking Ark

The eponymous Noah takes the Biblical tale, rips it into shreds, and brings Hollywood-style special effects and plot twists, both of which appear utterly incongruous. Noah brings the best of Hollywood together, and buries the plot in the midst of utterly poor cinematography, poor script editing, and dialogue that seems to be delivered in discontinuous monosyllables. Strictly one to avoid, this is one ark that, for me, sinks without a trace

9/20

Spectacular.

I watch hundreds of movies a year. Most rate a bit above 10, simply because all the movies pass through some degree of pre-selection. A rare movie makes it past 15. Only occasionally there comes a movie that reminds us of all that is great about movies per se – so brilliant is the theme, so perfect the execution, and so absorbed and perfect the key characters in their roles. It is in this vein that I shall desist from a lengthy review of Black Swan. It is Nina Sayers’ (Natalie Portman’s) role of a lifetime, but only because she has the canvas for the same in this surreal movie. So, a brief. Nina is the quintessential White Swan in “Swan Lake” her New York ballet troupe, but can she make a Black Swan too? Enter Lily (Mila Kunis), the natural Black Swan – a night of debauchery and hallucinations ensues – and Nina finds herself teetering at the edge of being the Swan Queen. Further hallucinations and a magnificent and tragic performance round off this spectacle. Like many great movies, this one is hard to put into words. Darren Aronofsky uses elements of melodrama, split personalities, and incredibly difficult character portraits to put together this once-in-a-lifetime movie

18/20

Grappling with Fate

The hardest thing in life is to reclaim it from your own mistakes. Gradually, you fade into the sunset, or, in the case of Randy the Ram in The Wrestler, into an existence where reconciliation with one’s daughter and seeking means of leading a so called normal life with so called normal jobs, has become one’s raison-de-etre. And then, over a night of being spurned in love, relapse into the ghosts of the past, and estrangement all over again are all brought to a head over a minor incident at the butcher’s shop. And Randy the Ram becomes a wrestler again, and stops running away from his place in destiny. This is a movie without a definitive storyline, and without a definitive end. But you will share the journey of a man trying to find his calling, While the story is heartwarming, the vignettes are somewhat repetitive and the movie a tad too inconclusive.

13.5/20