Friends with Benefits (2011) vs. No Strings Attached (2011)

It often happens that more than one movie exploiting a certain topic is released in a short space of time. Some examples could be Tombstone and Wyatt Earp or The Illusionist and The Prestige. Last year's No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits have been one of the recent couples to join this company. Both movies are typical romantic comedies and explore the mixture of sex and friendship in people's relationships. Yet the couple in either of the movies tries not to be involved in a real romantic relationship so both of the films have a lot in common.

No Strings Attached has Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Kline on its list while Friends with Benefits does not sport actual Academy Award winners but has a good ensemble comprised of Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake, Woody Harrelson and a few other Oscar nominated actors. So let's assume there is not a particular winner in this aspect. No Strings Attached starts with a primarily physical relationship before complications arrive while Friends with Benefits begins with friendship shortly followed by sexual exercises but still without any initial intention for romantic development. Again, nothing so outstanding on either side. Both movies show a parent with lots of sexual relationships. And both, Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, are beautiful actresses although we have seen them looking prettier in other films.

Now, to point out some differences. No Strings Attached is somehow more unfocused. There are events like a funeral and an invitation to an almost unknown person to attend it that seem a bit artificial. The movie starts with a physical relationship while trying to avoid any elements of friendliness. Some of the main supporting characters including Kutcher's female co-worker and his father are annoying at times. The ending is kind of mawkish and on second thought, this is valid not only for the ending.

Although Friends with Benefits seems a bit harried over towards the end, it has less redundant scenes and the whole narrative flows more naturally. The dialogue sports a little more freshness compared to the other movie. The ending is not so sugary despite not being original. The supporting cast (or more correctly the characters they portray) fits better in this movie. Woody Harrelson plays a Justin Timberlake's gay co-worker who is really cool with lots of humorous lines for his short screen presence. Another distinction is Kunis-Timberlake couple is practically in a romantic relationship almost since the very beginning of the film, only they don't realize it at that point.

The above should translate in Friends with Benefits being the better movie but don't expect a huge quality gap here. The film is just a bit fresher than No Strings Attached, funnier and more relaxed. Both are standard romcoms with predictable endings and without unexpected twists during the rest of their time span. If you are a fan of the genre, you can see both. If you are not so much into romantic comedies but you want to pick out one of them, I would suggest Friends with Benefits unless you're a dedicated Natalie Portman or Ashton Kutcher admirer.

Thor (2011): Not Just a Teaser but an Entertaining Movie

Thor was supposed to be just a teaser before the release of Marvel's main attraction this year Captain America: The First Avenger and something to help pass the time until Joss Whedon's The Avengers hits the screens in 2012. It turns out Thor is more than that.

Obviously, the main purpose of the movie is to introduce the character of Thor, one of the avengers. And it does quite a good job of that. While the story itself is predictable and cliched, the film is well paced, well acted and well directed by the competent hand of Kenneth Branagh. His Shakespearean expertise comes in handy during the scenes involving the relationships between Odin and his sons Thor and Loki. And while Anthony Hopkins is expected to perform at top level, the real stars of the show here are Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, playing Thor and Loki.

Chris Hemsworth is surprisingly good as the flamboyant Thor: charming, confident and audacious. Not exactly Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark level, but somewhere near it nevertheless. He is helped by a restrained script which is not overplaying Thor's ignorance of Earthly matters and customs to the point of silliness, focusing instead on good-natured humour and quickly putting Thor in sync with the place - in a true godlike manner.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki is lean and mean, his calm composure providing a good counterpoint for Hemsworth. Natalie Portman doesn't really have much to do in Thor other than smiling silly and falling for Thor in ten seconds. On the other hand, Stellan Skarsgard is always good to see. Fans of Marvel's series will also be delighted to see a couple of cameos: by another avenger and by Stan Lee, the comic's creator. Not to mention the amount of fan-service spread throughout the movie. And in the unlikely case you haven't heard this yet, there is a scene after Thor's ending credits, so don't rush to the cinema exits.

A high point of the movie is the design of Asgard. It is huge and megalomaniac, but clean and in some ways reminiscent of the game God of War environments. The night scenes set in Asgard are beautiful to behold and deserve a special mention. Bifrost, the bridge between the worlds is also spectacular, albeit conceptually somewhat different than the comic's original and the mythological original of the comic's original (chew that).

On the bottom side, 3D is pointless for this movie. Skip 3D if possible, save a few bucks and watch Thor in 2D. And there is also the mildly annoying issue of the politically correct presentation of the Aesir: neither the comics, nor Norse mythology have black and Asian Aesir in them.

So, to conclude: Thor is an entertaining movie doing more than a fine job filling the gap before Captain America and his shield arrive in July.

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Black Swan (2010): Commenting a Few Speculations

Following the release of Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, a lot of detail interpretations have appeared. Some of them have been justified while others have been mainly fictitious. In this article we are going to comment a few of these speculations so it's likely that a couple of spoilers will be listed below although they will be avoided if possible.

Let's start with the genre of Black Swan. It has been classified as drama, thriller, mystery. While it fully belongs in the category of drama, the other two classifications are not entirely correct. Usually a thriller is associated with a kind of a crime: a murder, a theft, etc. It's not a must but even if we consider Black Swan to be an exception, it's hard to say the movie thrills you in the common way thrillers do. It's probably more thrilling because it is a Darren Aronofsky's film and somehow you don't know what exactly to expect from a motion picture of his. Pretty much the same thoughts apply to the movie being a mystery. There is not really any great mystification explored in the film.

Some people mention there are supernatural elements in Black Swan. Sure, a few events prompting at this direction happen but after seeing the movie's ending it is hard to believe anyone still supports this theory. Any physical and spiritual appearances of unnatural forces throughout the film appear to be just imaginary and a product of an unstable mind. Our main character, Nina (Natalie Portman), is the only one in the movie seeing or feeling such "unearthly" presence.

The other important ballerina in Black Swan, Lily (Mila Kunis), is intended as a contrast of Nina. Yet we don't see anything evil in her as many viewers claim. All bad we see in Lily is again only through the eyes of Nina thus it is a result of her imagination. Lily is open-minded, easy-going, playful, seductive and men like her but there is nothing evil in all of these. Even the symbolism of colors in the movie hints at Lily's character being good. If you watch carefully you'll notice that the last time we see her (the moment of final truth unveiling), she's dressed in white.

There are plenty of speculations that Erica (Barbara Hershey), Nina's mother, abuses sexually her daughter. But in Black Swan we see almost nothing proving this theory. The main argument coming from the supporters of sexual abuse presence in the film is that one night we hear a line "Are you ready for me?" coming from Erica. Well, it's true, but it could mean anything. Maybe, it's intentionally there to bring some portion of uncertainty in the audience about the mother-daughter relationship. Still, it does not prove the sexual abuse hypothesis. The line itself could just mean whether the girl is ready for bed so her mother can turn the lights off or kiss her daughter good night, or close the door, or whatever. We see throughout the movie that Erica still treats Nina as a little child so everything mentioned is completely feasible.

Finally, Nina's mental problems are viewed by some as a journey to her dark side and they consider Nina becoming evil in order to successfully perform the role of the Black Swan. But again, we do not see Nina accomplishing anything bad in the movie, except for physically damaging herself in moments of madness. We see her occasionally behaving not very kind with her mother or Lily but there is nothing evil in her manners and they are obviously a consequence of her mental state. And if we refer to the color symbolism once more, at the end Nina is dressed in white. Practically, we don't see any real-life black swan portrayed in the film. But even without it, the amount of obsession and self-destructiveness flushing out of the movie strikes us with full force.

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Black Swan (2010): Perfection Meets Nightmare

If you've expected just by seeing the film's title or director that Black Swan is not going to be an ordinary "Swan Lake" tale, you've been right. Similarly to another 2010 movie Inception, Black Swan is a film which will hold your mind busy for quite some time after its ending. It is a little bit hard to watch but beautiful movie with great directing and cinematography work, lots of symbolism and really good acting performances. In a nutshell, you have to see this film, even if you do not like it for some reason.

Formally, Black Swan is about producing the "Swan Lake" ballet on a New York City stage by the artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel). He wants to replace his long-lived prima Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) with a new lead so he's in need of a ballerina for the role of both, the White and the Black Swan, and such a role is dreamed of by every female ballet dancer in the world. Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina that wants the part of the Swans with her entire heart and she is ready to do pretty much everything in order to get it. Naturally, she has a lot of competition coming from several other ballet dancers including a new ballerina Lily (Mila Kunis). While the delicate and innocent Nina is a perfect match for the White Swan, Lily is her counterpart being open-minded and seductive. Nina must find a way to represent both swans if she does not want to lose the role. But it's a hard task for a fragile young woman who is also being suffocated at home by another former ballerina in the face of her mother Erica (Barbara Hershey).

Informally, Black Swan is a film about physical and mental pain, obsession, madness, self-destruction, perfection. You may find in some other reviews that it's a thriller or mystery and while those are not completely wrong, the movie should be primarily labelled as drama. You may also read there are some supernatural elements in the film which is not exactly the case as even if we assume there are such unnatural traces in Black Swan, they are just used in order to describe some psychological sides of the characters rather than being really unearthly forces. Saying that Lily represents the evil counterpart of Nina is also not completely correct cause Lily is just more easy-going and playful than Nina rather than being bad tempered. The evil in the movie is mainly fictitious and is used to emphasize certain mental condition effects. There are some hints of Nina being sexually abused by her mother but nothing that really proves it.

That being said, there are lots of contrasts in Black Swan. As the colors of the both swans prompt, white and black collide pretty often in the film. They are everywhere: in clothes, underwear, makeup, etc. White and black even change their bearers in different sections of the movie representing a shifted perception of the corresponding character. You may see various persons depicted as potential dark ones during the film but you rarely know what to believe until the end of it.

There are many other symbolic references in Black Swan but let's not spoil the movie for you. There are enough visual and sound effects to help you see and even hear Nina's physical impersonation of a swan. Plenty of mirrors are used to present the notion of duality better. The hue and saturation of colors in the "white vs. black" film is also fascinating. And the musical score of the movie, hugely influenced by "Swan Lake", is an ideal addition to the overall experience you get from Black Swan.

The acting is superb throughout the film. Vincent Cassel is awesome as the passionate ballet director. Winona Ryder has a little portion of time on the screen but she authentically portrays the retiring against her will prima Beth MacIntyre. Mila Kunis is beautiful, seductive and playful thus perfectly suitable for her role. Barbara Hershey plays a loving, yet frightening mother. And Natalie Portman is an incredible lead. It's not easy to play such a sad, desperate and obsessed woman with just a few sparks of living for a whole movie. She really deserves to get the Academy Award for her performance.

The director, Darren Aronofsky, proves again he is a master of making non-standard movies. While non-standard is not a synonym for good and this is even valid for Aronofsky's own movies to some extent, Black Swan is probably his most balanced film to date. It's not so disturbing as, e.g., Requiem for a Dream and it is not so close to the "mainstream" as The Wrestler. Being a kind of a mixture of themes explored in previous Darren Aronofsky's films, Black Swan could be treated as a good entry point to his works. It's a beautiful nightmare, not offering great surprises but firmly capturing your attention and probably requiring a second viewing for full appreciation of its details.

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