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.

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.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed is a twisty, provocative British thriller featuring a breakout performance from Gemma Arterton. You may have caught her in the recent popcorn flicks Prince of Persia or Clash of the Titans, two movies in which she is largely relegated to arm candy for the leading men.

It is refreshing to see the sultry actress show us the  range of her acting prowess. As Alice Creed, she gives a gritty, brave performance  that you won’t soon forget.

The film begins with two men meticulously preparing a room to serve as a temporary housing for a kidnapping victim.  It seems that every tiny detail has been addressed.  The room is soundproofed and padded, the bed is bolted to the floor, and the room has been stripped bare of anything that could be used as weaponry.

The two men don masks and drive an outfitted van to their victim, a one Alice Creed.  Soon, she is shackled to the bed and stripped naked.  It’s a difficult scene to watch, and horribly degrading.

It would be very easy to write off the movie at this early juncture as being yet another torture-porn genre film, but don’t be so quick to judge.  That graphic and frightening scene sets up some interesting plot points for later, and makes better sense after you have the context  of the whole movie behind it.

Fortunately, it is quickly apparent that the men have no interest in Alice sexually.  They cloth her in a jogging suit they provide, and don’t seem to have much interest in actually harming her.  Instead, they want to extort some money from her wealthy father, by making him pay a kidnap ransom.

Chloe has a spectacular pedigree. Directed by Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), the film boasts Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried as a trio of characters whose lives become deliberately intertwined. Too bad, because after a promising set up, the film devolves into a cliché psychological thriller.

It ultimately culminates in a tacky ending that is better suited to a cheap slasher flick. I suppose if I had to summarize my thoughts on the movie in one word, I would say it is misguided.

Julianne Moore plays Catherine, a successful gynecologist with a teen aged son about to leave for college and a college professor husband. Faced with increasing emotional distance from her son, and suspecting her husband of having an affair, Catherine appears to be experiencing a mid-life cycle of sorts.

She befriends a high class escort named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) and hires her to find out if her husband will cheat on her. It is evident that there is a sexual undercurrent between the two women.