The trailer for one of the most anticipated films of the year is finally here. Darren Aronofsky has made some of the best films of the previous decade with Requiem For a Dream, The Fountain and The Wrestler. Kicking off this new decade with a supernatural ballerina thriller, Black Swan, he looks to continue his greatness. Read the full story

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Fox Searchlight has just announced that the psychological ballet thriller from Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain, The Wrestler, Requiem for a Dream) will hit limited release on December 1st before expanding the following months. It will open next to Julian Schnabel‘s Miral. Check out the synopsis below. Read the full story

E-mail Jordan Raup here. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook for the latest TFS updates!

With recent news that the much anticipated new film by Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan, will open the 67th Venice International Film Festival, fans are dying to catch an early glimpse of what this psychological ballet thriller might look like. Well fret not as the first batch of images from the film, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis (dream duo), have hit the internets and they are spectacular. Being both a die-hard Aronofsky and Portman fan, this is like a fantasy football pairing between two of my favorite working actors and directors. And coming off the success of The Wrestler (which won the Golden Lion in 2008), Aronofsky is poised to make a big comeback and re-claim the cinematic throne he once held.

The dark tale with psychological twists stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a technically brilliant ballerina whose life takes some strange turns after being picked as the lead in a New York City production of Swan Lake. Pressures mount as her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) pushes her to succeed and her manipulative dance master (Vincent Cassel) commands her to be more seductive and loose in her performance.

Complicating matters is the arrival of Lily (Mila Kunis), a sultry dancer who exhibits all the innate ease and sexuality that Nina lacks. Nina begins to fixate on the newcomer as the two forge an unusual relationship. Source USA Today.

Check out the photos below:

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The Book of Eli has arrived on Blu-ray and it’s ready to deliver us. It got mediocre reviews when it was in theaters as the film was criticized for its preachy nature, uneven plot twist and lack of action. Now that the film is on Blu-ray we get to take another look at it. The question is, does The Book of Eli manage to entertain, or does it fall off the path and lose its way? Read the full story

Mila Kunis has been cast to star along with Justin Timberlake in the comedy Friends with Benefits. Guess what the plot is. Can’t? It’s about two people “trying to take their relationship to the next level.” The movie will be directed by Will Gluck and is being written by Keith Merryman and David Newman, with rewrites by Gluck himself. [Collider]

The alternate title was Fuckbuddies, which will probably not be used – can’t imagine why. Gluck just took on the Emma Stone-starrer Easy A. His debut film was the quickly-forgotten cheer-leading guys comedy Fired Up!. Later this year, Timberlake and Kunis can be seen in David Fincher’s The Social Network and Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, respectively.

Do you think Kunis and Timberlake will play well off each other?

Last year was a phenomenal time to be a genre fan. There was Moon, District 9, Avatar and even Star Trek to fuel the hunger for fresh and exciting new entries. Now it’s 2010 and things couldn’t be off to a better start. With Daybreakers and now The Book of Eli this is shaping up to be another excellent year. The Book of Eli is unique and original; it may not be perfect, but there’s a level of ambition at work that isn’t seen very often.

Eli (Denzel Washington) is a man on a mission. A mission he’s been on for almost thirty years. He’s heading west in possession of a very important and very powerful book. To him, the only thing that matters is accomplishing the mission he’s been sent on. If someone gets in his way, he’ll of course retaliate with brutality — in other words fight you off with a giant body chopping blade. He’s not interested in saving the ones around him if it causes a sidetrack; he’s only looking out for the book he has. He’s carrying a message of hope. A message that some want to harness for the wrong reasons, that’s where Carnegie (Gary Oldman) comes into play. Once Eli makes his way into a nice quaint run down town he finds himself in even more trouble. What Eli has is what Carnegie has been looking for for many years. It’s a book that will give him the power he wants and to do what he truly believes in. Eli will not give it up and will do so at all costs. This leads to an old fashioned face off between the two. Even Carnegie’s lover’s daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) gets involved, but understandably takes Eli’s side.

In the wrong hands, this story could have been mishandled in the worst way possible. It could have been another standard formulaic action romp, another film that doesn’t live up to its great ambitions and something that we’ve undoubtedly seen before. But it isn’t. There’s a few elements here and there that can be connected to past films of the genre, but luckily the film is aware of that. Far too many films lack a sense of awareness of that what they’re trying to do at times has been done before and don’t even try to make an effort by at least putting their own spin on it. This is one of the keys to The Book of Eli’s success, it’s at least aspiring to do something new. It barely ever divulges into the overused tropes set by previous films– that especially applies to the last twenty minutes.

What happens in the third act won’t be spoiled here, but it’s another factor that breathes audaciousness. There’s a twist that will undoubtedly split audiences and some may downright despise it, but there’s a message there and it’s certainly far from predictable. Without spoiling much, it doesn’t end the way most films similar to this would — i.e. final battle then roll credits. It’s known within the first few minutes that this is different, there’s no pandering narration or the always laughable text appearing onscreen describing the events that took place or how the world became the way it was. It’s the opposite, the first few minutes fully pulls one into the world the Hughes brothers have crafted. Everything you need to learn about the world and Eli’s isolation is cemented in a subtle silent manor.

The second act mostly revolves around the struggle between Carnegie and Eli, which is of course more than fun to watch despite feeling a tad episodic at times. They’re two men who contain the polar opposite set of morals and yet share something in common. They’re both dedicated and believe that what they’re doing is right. It’s an intriguing contrast that doesn’t make the face off come across as the standard good guy vs bad guy scenario. Washington and Oldman unsurprisingly handle the dynamic greatly. Washington perfectly portrays a sense of dedication and the heroism of Eli. Heroism may not be the perfect way to describe Eli though. His mission is priority number one and he won’t go out of his way to help others if it gets in the way of his mission. He doesn’t act all gung-ho, he does his best to stay under the radar. He’s the man with no name or a samurai if you will placed in a post apocalyptic world.

Similar to his classic performance in The Professional, Oldman is menacing and even somewhat likable. He’s a man who is doing terrible things to achieve what he wants, but when he cracks a joke you laugh with him and more importantly he’s an antagonist you can understand. He’s not just evil for the sake of being evil. He’s partially right that the book could help build towns and a society. There’s an underlying goodness there, but he’s ultimately more interested in exploiting that power.

Kunis also handles herself well despite taking a moment or two to warm up. This is a grimy world that embodies savageness, so at first it’s a bit odd seeing someone like Kunis appear. After that, she holds her own with Oldman and Washington. She’s strapped with the challenge of making the usually cliché arc of going from just another person to an action heroine. It’s not an easy transition to portray, but Kunis does it convincingly. She adds a sense of innocence which makes Eli’s transition of going from a man on a mission to someone with a real sense of humanity believable. There’s also an array of fantastic supporting performances worth mentioning from the always wonderful Tom Waits, the intimidating Ray Stevenson and the classy Michael Gambon. They’re unsurprisingly excellent even to the point where you selfishly wish for more of them. Especially with Stevenson who’s a bit underused.

This is a more than welcoming return for the Hughes brothers. Their last film From Hell was slightly overlooked and far more engaging than some would claim, but Eli is unquestionably the superior film. They shot this with the red one and it looks rather stunning. The wide compositions of all the deserted landscapes add an even broader sense of isolation and eeriness. This is a technique that’s been used before, but it’s still none the less effective. The Hughes brothers have always shown a knack for framing and they continue that trait here. Their action choreography especially stands out. They’re all easy to follow, swift and as violent as one would expect. This heavily applies to the first action beat which is done greatly with a single take — clearly inspired by Oldboy.

The Book of Eli is a very good film that will most likely even work better on repeat viewings. If one is fully able to buy into the overall concept of the story then they will find themselves embracing the ambitiousness, the excellent performances and of course the final act.

As a quick final side note: Atticus Ross’s score is terrific.

8 out of 10

What did you think of The Book of Eli?

Fox Searchlight to be exact, this as reported by Slash Film. And the project is Darren Aronofsky’s sci-fi/psychological ballet drama starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. It’s been floating around for a while now, and it’s sensible that Searchlight would buy Aronofsky’s next project after The Wrestler, which both made back its budget and brought Mickey Rourke back into the spotlight after two decades or bad decisions.

We reported additional cast members added to the project yesterday, all the more reason to be excited about this ambitious, strange film to be made by one the most ambitious and stranger auteurs out there right now.

Slash Film offers: “We’ve heard from the beginning that the film would shoot this fall in NYC, and Reuters is saying it will go ‘before the end of the year’.”

The sooner the better, and under Searchlight’s watch this could something to look at come next winter awards season.

What do you think of Black Swan? Darren Aronofsky?

/Film has reported that there are a few new additions to Darren Aronofsky‘s supernatural drama Black Swan. Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder, and Barbara Hershey join Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman set in the story centered around New York City ballet. Portman stars as Nina, “a veteran ballerina who finds herself locked in to a competitive showdown with a rival dancer named Lilly, played by Kunis. As their big performance heats up Nina is not sure whether Lilly is real, or a apparition. /Film highlights exactly where the rest of the cast falls: Read the full story

Miramax Films | USA | 91 minutes

WARNING: This review contains SPOILERS.

Extract comes from the comedic genius mind of Mike Judge; the man behind the hilarious Office Space and the overlooked Idiocracy. This may not be on the level of grandness that Office Space is, but it is in fact mildly superior to Idiocracy. Judge is an artist when it comes to conveying the average joe and the simple frustrations in life. This joyous factor is present and it makes for pure hilarity. A fantastic comedic cast is assembled along with sharp dialogue to assist them, which leads this to being one of the comedy highlights of the year.

The film revolves around Joel Reynold (Jason Bateman) who owns his own company that manufactures culinary extracts. While Joel seems to have everything from a good looking wife to owning his own company, he’s miserable. His wife doesn’t put out which leads to most of his problems. The only thing that keeps him sane is taking to his druggy best friend Dean (Ben Affleck), who only supplies with horrible advice. After contemplating the idea of selling his company things may soon start to get better for himself, but things only get worse. When one of his dimwitted employees named Step loses one of his testicles in a factory accident a domino effect takes place. Joel soon finds himself battling the temptation of cheating on his wife with the new con-artist employee Cindy (Mila Kunis), dealing with a lawsuit, and even having to deal with a mindless gigolo.

Read the rest of this review below >>

Warner Brothers have officially released new stills from The Hughes Brothers‘ The Book of Eli in this Wednesday’s edition of USA Today. The film centers around Eli (Denzel Washington) who’s struggling his way across America in order to protect a mysterious  book that contains the secrets to saving humankind. The film stars Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Tom Waits, and Ray Stevenson. The Book of Eli is set for January 15th, 2010. Check out the photos after the jump via /Film.

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