To think Black Swan was the biggest

[BellaMagnificat]

....load of unsubtle, puerile, risible nonsense I have ever ahd the misfortune to sit through?

Interesting Laurie.

Why did you think it was clever? I found it a bit paint by numbers.

Unexplained sightings of woman who looks like her. Check
Arrival of mysterious, sexually overt stranger. Check.
Destruction of much admired heroine. Check. Linked to her rejection by brilliant yet controlling man thus creating vacancy for NP to shine. Or not. Check Check and triple check.

I found the first half enormously dull. The wank scene was laugh out loud funny. I don't think it was supposed to be

The jealousy/repression/control themes were about as subtle as a brick through your window.

And apart from the very final scene the dancing wasn't even up to much.

Well thank fuck for that. Dear Friend and I compared notes again today ( having already eviscerated it at the bus stop last night.) And our mutual, final verdict is:

' steaming pile of shite.'

King's Speech, otoh is fantastic. Dear Friend has seen it twice and Iwould certianly do the same. Am in no way a royal fan, but that's irrelevant. Very, very moving. Superbly acted.

oooh I loved it!
It made you think one of the best films I have ever seen

Complete rubbish IMO

Black Swan: complete waste of time.

I should have walked out half way through!

Dunno, I really wanted to hate it. The first half was shite, but... I thought the madness V artistic breakthrough was interesting at the end. Yes, I thought the end was good. She dies so it's perfect !!
It was also nice to see a film that was not about a woman playing a sidekick to a man. Her Ambition was the main theme.

Lots of bad stuff in it too, though admittedly. I thought the portrayal of the mother and the ex-dancer was very misogynistic.

Or it could be that I liked it because it was the first film I've managed to properly watch since DS was born. A year ago.

It made me think alright, think that I'd rather be plucking the nostrils of John McCririck than watching that shite.
I'm just pleased I didn't pay for it.

YABU.

It's a melodrama about ballet directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Vincent Cassel. Of course it's melodramatic and overblown. That's what's so great about it.

Whatever next? A Ken Loach film is too socialist? A Disney film lacking subtle and complex characterisation? A Pedro Almodovar film is too gay flamboyant?

I really enjoyed it The madness and hysteria was so reflective of that whole world and the character of the mum was not mysogynistic it was so real as many of those pushy mums are like that.I think it had the real feel of the madness of fame and eating disorders etc

I agree Noddy. The Winona Ryder character especially I thought was an indictment of the system where dancers are just disposable puppets and moved on when they get too old / difficult.

It's about women's rivalry as well and the way the girls are manipulated by Thomas.

A film about misognyny rather than a misognystic in itself - I have this argument about Hitchcock as well.

I loved it. It did get very OTT at one point (her imagining that her legs were bending seemed to be going a bit far!), but my friend and I got totally absorbed in it & both adored it. Rather scary too.

See, I thought The King's Speech was a bit so-so.

I mean, the accents were off (I thought), the idea of Colin Firth's character sharing that much was totally unbelievable, Timothy Spall (no comment), and the cringeworthy final scenes where young men who actually went out and got shot at are Fortunately Inspired by an Overprivileged Man who Overcame His Speech Impedient before going to their deaths....

Blech. Also the QM character constantly telling everyone how to address her ('M'am, rhymes with ham not harm' ).

give me The Turning Poing any day. Many of the same issues but with better dancing and without the crazy effects. plus a rather hot young Mikhail Baryshnikov.

I paid over £150 for three of us to see The Wizard of Oz at the Palladium last week.
Andrew Lloyd Webber was there.
If there hadn't been so much security with him, I would have asked him for my money back.
Dreadful.
So disappointed.

Wow - I'm amazed at how many of you hated it. I haven't seen it (the subject matter doesn't really appeal to me) but DS and his GF went to see it (they are 18) and my DS was raving about how fantastic it was.

I thought Black swan was silly, over the top, unrealistic and I loved every single minute!

It was rubbish. So needlessly gory. It got particularly bad when she went out on the lash the night before the big big performance. Someone like her wouldn't have lost focus like that.

Of course it was over the top: it was a melodrama! You might as well complain that a comedy was too funny or a tragedy too sad. It operates within the rules of its genre.

I thought there were some interesting themes about ageing and the definition of female sexuality.

I found it interesting how complicit the girl was in the forced retiring of the old prima donna - even though it was obvious that she too was disposable as she was given the same term of affection as the old prima donna.

I also noticed how the male "teacher" got to define what female sexuality was (even setting homework). And how Thomas was only interested in her as the lead when she showed some independence of character - then proceeded to erase it.

These aren't little issues - I think they speak to everyone. (How often did you dismiss your Mother simply for the crime of being old?)

Are you being unreasonable for not enjoying a film? No of course not!

Personally I don't agree, I thought the subjects of pressure to succeed, eating disorders, psychosis, over bearing parent etc were dealt with reasonably realistically. It was sensational because it's a movie. I liked it, others clearly do not. All just a matter of opinion :)

Black swan -pile of shite

Kings speech--bloody brilliant

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought so. Everyone who I have told I thought it was shit has completely disagreed. Friend and I also in hysterics at some points. TBH didn't think The King's Speech was all that either.

I really liked it. Me and a mate did laugh a few times but I thought Natalie was brillinat!

Black was is a brilliant film

I meant Black Swan is a brilliant film :)

Wild horses wouldn't have dragged me to the King's Speech. I despise Brit-heritage cinema.