So yesterday, we ran part one of this post.  In case you missed it, here were my picks:

• Waiting for Superman
• Winter’s Bone
• The Company Men
• Rabbit Hole/Blue Valentine (tie)
• The Fighter

Now, without further ado, are the rest of my picks for best movies of the year.

5. The Kids Are All Right

This quirky drama won me over in no time. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a lesbian couple raising two children who were the product of an anonymous sperm donor. When the kids are old enough, they seek out and find their donor, who is played by Mark Ruffalo.

His character Paul is a perpetually laid-back restaurateur who drives a motorcycle and lives a bohemian lifestyle. The kids are instantly captivated, and develop a relationship with the guy, much to the chagrin of their uptight mom Nic (Bening).

I admire writer/director Lisa Cholodenko for her sensitive handling of the subject matter. A lesser director could have turned this into a slapstick farce, but ultimately the film is funny, touching, and wholly original.  It is also universally relatable.  Bening is a standout in the film for her performance.

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Last night may have been the world premiere of Robot Chicken’s third Star Wars special, but the stormtrooper jokes and Ewok references are far from over, as the third installment of the Family Guy Star Wars specials hits DVD and Blu-Ray. Ready for the best news of all? We’re giving a copy away!

Following the trend, this film is a direct spoof of Return of the Jedi, titled It’s A Trap!. Expect some amazing cameos from genre actors like Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, Carrie Fisher, and a few more surprises we won’t even spoil.

How do you win a copy? It’s easy! Just follow @theflickcast on twitter, tweet out that you want a copy of It’s a Trap on DVD, and answer the following trivia question correctly.

Who does the voice of the Rancor in “It’s A Trap”?

•    Jon Stewart
•    Rush Limbaugh
•    Bill Mahr
•    Jay Leno

By Shannon Hood / Originally posted on October 7, 2010

Darren Aronofsky has made a career of choosing interesting, non-traditional material and illuminating the unexpected aspects of his subject matter. Case(s) in point: The Wrestler (a down-trodden wrestler), Pi (mathematicians), Requiem For a Dream (middle-aged drug addiction), and now Black Swan (competitive ballet.)

His knack for taking something completely mundane and elevating it to something tense and dreadful is astonishing. Who would have ever thought that a movie about mathematicians could be exciting, much less sinister? It is no surprise that the man who brought us Pi delivers a dark, provocative, psychological drama, set in the cutthroat (who knew it?) world of competitive ballet.

Natalie Portman stars as Nina, a beautiful ballerina who dances for a New York City ballet company. Though technically gifted, she has never gotten her big break because the company’s arrogant art director thinks she is too bland to carry a performance.

The film opens with us being privy to some of the cattiness that takes place behind the scenes at the ballet. The troupe’s principal ballerina, Beth (Winona Ryder), is being forced into retirement at the ripe old age of 37. Nina finds it sad, and defends the dancer, while the other girls titter on about her age and diminished athletic ability. It’s immediately established that the women are highly competitive. There is no sense of camaraderie, everyone is out for themselves.

The perennial classic Swan Lake is set to be the season opener, and Beth’s departure leaves the principal role wide open. Director Thomas (Vince Cassel) pits the girls against one another as they audition for the coveted role of The Swan Queen.

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Just when you thought it couldn’t get any funnier, Seth McFarlane and his band of miscreants are at it again, as they round out their Star Wars trilogy with Family Guy: It’s A Trap!

Taking on the events of Return of the Jedi, here’s the full rundown from Apple:

Clear some space for the third chapter of the funniest freakin’ trilogy in the galaxy! Once again, the Family Guy alliance travels far, far beyond the beyond the boundaries of good taste to bring you an outrageous sci-fi spoof filled with hilarious humor, adequate animation and a happy ending (giggity). So get ready to experience the lighter side of the Dark side with Peter Solo, Chris Skywalker, Princess Lois, Stewie Vader… and some surprising new faces. May the laughs be with you!

Let’s hope that this is a large enough success for the team to take on the new Star Wars trilogy next, as we all know how much those are ripe for satire. Check out the trailer after the jump and catch It’s A Trap on Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital download on December 21st.

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While director Darren Aronofsky may be focused on a certain metal-clawed mutant in the near future, he still has his upcoming supernatural thriller Black Swan hitting theaters in a matter of weeks.

The film stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as rival ballerinas who vie for the top spot in a brand new New York City production of Swan Lake. As Portman tries to show her darker side, she literally begins to personify the Black Swan she’s trying to get the part of.

It’s an Aronofsky film, which means you can expect to see some of the insanely trippy and metaphoric visuals that you got in such films like Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain. To get you into that mindset, the studio has released a brand new “music video” for the film.

Check out the video after the jump, and be sure to catch Black Swan in theaters on December 3rd.

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It may be taking a bit longer than someone like Blake Lively, but Mila Kunis has some rising stock in Hollywood. A few flops may have held her back, like American Psycho 2 or Max Payne, but with the tandem success of Family Guy and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Kunis is becoming quite the name in the comedy world. Now she’s teaming up with another recent comedy favorite, with his outrageous SNL popularity, Justin Timberlake.

The two are teaming up for the upcoming sex comedy Friends With Benefits about a two friends that try to master then art of “stringless sex”. Of course, things don’t go as planned, and one falls for the other. Who will it be?

The interesting part of the film is it’s R-rated nature. In the newest red band trailer, you get plenty of vulgarity from both Kunis and Timberlake. And yes, ladies, Justin even sings a Semi Sonic song.

Check out the NSFW red band trailer after the jump, and check out Friends with Benefits in theaters on July 22nd.

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Darren Aronofsky has made a career of choosing interesting, non-traditional material and illuminating the unexpected aspects of his subject matter. Case(s) in point: The Wrestler (a down-trodden wrestler), Pi (mathematicians), Requiem For a Dream (middle-aged drug addiction), and now Black Swan (competitive ballet.)

His knack for taking something completely mundane and elevating it to something tense and dreadful is astonishing.  Who would have ever thought that a movie about mathematicians could be exciting, much less sinister?  It is no surprise that the man who brought us Pi delivers a dark,  provocative, psychological drama, set in the cutthroat (who knew it?) world of competitive ballet.

Natalie Portman stars as Nina, a beautiful ballerina who dances for a New York City ballet company.  Though technically gifted, she has never gotten her big break because the company’s arrogant art director thinks she is too bland to carry a performance.

The film opens with us being privy to some of the cattiness that takes place behind the scenes at the ballet.  The troupe’s principal ballerina, Beth (Winona Ryder),  is being forced into retirement at the ripe old age of 37. Nina finds it sad, and defends the dancer, while the other girls titter on about her age and diminished athletic ability.  It’s immediately established that the women are highly competitive.  There is no sense of camaraderie, everyone is out for themselves.

The perennial classic Swan Lake is set to be the season opener, and Beth’s departure leaves the principal role wide open. Director Thomas (Vince Cassel) pits the girls against one another as they audition for the coveted role of The Swan Queen.

Continue Reading →

A new teaser trailer for the highly anticipated film Black Swan has been released and is up over at Apple Trailers. Aronofsky will direct a primarily female cast that includes Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder.

I’ll admit that I thought a psychological thriller set in the world of competitive ballet seemed pretty silly, but this trailer has me sold. Portman plays Nina, a ballet dancer who has been chosen to replace the principal dancer in Swan Lake. Just as she is settling into her new role a new dancer, played by Mila Kunis, shows up and lots of eerie things start unfolding.

The film plot has been tightly guarded, so that is about all I can tell you. What do you suppose is going on with the whole skin condition? How does that factor in? We’ll have to wait until December 1st to find out. The film will make a few festival stops at the Toronto Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival prior to its official release.

I find the career trajectory of Darren Aronofsky so interesting. He is one director who is never going to be pigeon-holed into one genre. His filmography is amazing. He started with Pi, which blew my mind, then moved on to Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and now Swan Lake.

He’s a great talent, and he has yet to commit a career misstep, so I can’t wait to see what he does with this one. Check out the new teaser after the break.

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I had a great time at Date Night. You would be hard pressed to find more likable leads than Tina Fey and Steve Carrell, who have great chemistry together as boring New Jersey couple Claire and Phil Foster. Stuck in a serious domestic rut that many of you will recognize all too well, the two decide to shake up their usual date night of frequenting the same restaurant and ordering the same dishes on the same night every week.

They get dolled up and head to Manhattan to the über trendy seafood restaurant, “Claws.”  A rude host scoffs at their hopes for getting a table, and the two head to the bar.  Just as they are getting ready to leave, another hostess goes through the bar, calling out for “Tripplehorn, party of two.”

Phil decides to seize the moment and do something spontaneous for once in his life, and he says that they are the Tripplehorns. The two enjoy a fancy dinner with wine, delight over a Will.i am celebrity sighting and make fun of stuffy restaurant patrons.

They are approached by two strange men who approach the table and tell the couple that they have something to discuss with them.  Outside the restaurant, Claire and Phil immediately discover that the real Tripplehorns are messed up with some bad people, and those bad people want a flash drive that belongs to them back.  Guns are drawn, and the Fosters try to explain that it’s a case of mistaken identity, but the thugs don’t believe them, and the Fosters have to improvise their way out of the predicament.

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The Book of Eli is an overly stylized movie that takes itself way too seriously, features hammy acting and laughable dialogue.  You could drive an eighteen-wheeler through its gaping plot holes, but despite all this, I rather enjoyed the film. If I’m going to have to eat some cheese, this is the type of movie I prefer to dole out my rations.

Brothers Allen and Arthur Hughes (From Hell, Menace II Society) are the directors of the post-apocalyptic tale of Eli (Denzel Washington), who traverses a bombed out tundra while traveling westward with a precious undisclosed cargo. For the first 20 minutes or so, The Book of Eli looked to be an exact retread of The Road, which was just out in theaters a few months ago.

The movies share the exact same vision of a dystopian future. Color is bleached from the scenery, light ash appears to constantly fall, and all humans are bedraggled, filthy, and desperate. Both films feature cannibalism as a major threat to their protagonists, and both show how precious throw-away commodities from modern society become in this world.

Cigarette lighters and individual wet wipes from KFC are bartering fare, not money. If you are a shoe whore, you should be set, because apparently shoes are one of the most valuable and hard to come by possessions when everyone has to walk everywhere.

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Fans of comedy and episodic TV have nothing but good thoughts come to mind when they hear the names Steve Carell and Tina Fey. Both The Office and 30 Rock have dominated comedy on network TV for quite some time now, so it would only make sense that a film showcasing both of them together would be epic, no? Probably not, after seeing the trailer for their newest film, Date Night.

The film is about a bored and boring married couple who decide to spice things up by lying to a hostess at a restaurant about their reservations, thus taking another couple’s name and table. One crazy happenstance after another then occurs, and our beloved couple is now on the run from gangsters. Add to that premise the reluctant hero from Get Smart and the neurotic lead from Baby Mama and you’ve got this 90-minute comedy.

The film is padded with a pretty big supporting cast, hoping to drag the audiences in. Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Ray Liotta, Mark Ruffalo, Mila Kunis, Leighton Meester, and even Olivia Munn are all in the film, with Shawn Levy, director of the Night At The Museum films, sitting in the director’s chair.

Check out the first theatrical trailer after the jump, Be sure to catch Date Night in theaters on April 9th, 2010.

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Mike Judge’s new movie, essentially an almost direct followup to Office Space, is a quirky and well-meaning comedy that strikes many of the right notes but in the end falls a bit flat and ends up with very little to show for it’s efforts. The film covers pretty familiar territory for Judge and as such doesn’t seem quite as fresh as perhaps it did when Office Space was released. The cast, with the notable exceptions of David Millgan as the male gigolo hired by Jason Bateman’s character to seduce his wife, the always awesome J.K. Simmons and, surprisingly, Ben Affleck as a helpful bartender and friend to Bateman’s character, are mostly relegated to sitcom level schtick and not given much else to do. And in the case of Mila Kunis, are simply the eye-candy — a role she plays very well, however.

Sure, many of the lines and situations in the film elicit a chuckle and in some cases, cause the viewer to laugh out loud, but those moment a few and far between. Instead, we’re left with many attempts at humor that fall flat and leave me to wonder what Judge was thinking. Some gags in the film are particularly overused — the “pushy neighbor” comes to mind — and result in not only being unfuny but annoying to the audience as well.

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