After Darren Aronofsky’s massive mainstream success, The Wrestler, we can imagine some of his Pi-era fanboys (not to mention the folks that actually enjoyed The Fountain) worried he’d lost his edge. The trailer for Black Swan, which comes out December 1st, should set their minds at ease. This thriller, set in the competitive world of the New York City Ballet, stars Natalie Portman as a talented but perennially overlooked dancer and Mila Kunis — who, despite her tiresome That ’70s Show character, can actually act — as her possibly imaginary nemesis/Persona-style existential double. Watch the clip, which features a mysterious back wound, a girl-on-girl makeout, a Portman meltdown, and some seriously intense editing, and tell us what you think after the jump.
A decade after Office Space, writer/director Mike Judge salutes Labor Day with a new workplace comedy about blue-collar incompetence.
Jason Bateman stars as the owner of a flavor-extract factory employing a staff of dunces. While he deals with his passionless marriage and his lust for a sly new hire, a worker’s oddball accident threatens to ruin the company’s future. The farcical plot is anchored by Judge’s keen sense of workaday humor and a gallery of memorable losers, topped by Ben Affleck’s loony, long-haired slacker. Read More »
Clifton Collins Jr. as Step in Extract Photo Credit: Sam Urdank/Miramax Film Corp
Clifton Collins Jr. has played a death row prisoner in Capote, a hit man in Traffic, and most recently, a Romulan officer battling the USS Enterprise crew in Star Trek. While his on-screen transformations appear effortless, one look at his bookshelves — laden with tales of serial killers, drug cartels, and pimps — reveals that Clifton does his homework and never phones anything in. We’re not sure what this says about his latest role as the victim of freak factory accident in fall’s long-awaited Mike Judge film, Extract.
After the jump, read on to find out about how Clifton went “balls to the wall” and performed a risky stunt while filming, and who was more computer literate back in the day, him or his buddy Judd Nelson. Read More »
