1.  Black Swan.  An elegant and surreal masterwo rk from Darren Aronofsky about a ballerina who will stop at nothing to reach the top of the New York ballet scene.  This Film about madness, artistic rigor, and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake is haunting and voluptuous in equal measure.  The prologue encompasses the film's essence:  the seduction of the Swan Queen by the evil Rothbart deftly balances grace with terror.

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     Wonder Boys is Curtis Hanson's delicate and playful Film adaptation of the novel by Michael Chabon.  All the elements are in place for a Sherlock Holmes mystery or maybe a game of Clue.  Novelist and professor Grady Tripp has a curious case of writer's block.  Tripp is portrayed by the lively Michael Douglas in his best performance.  Robert Downey, Jr. is splendid as Tripp's editor, Crabtree.  Katie Holmes "acts with fire" (Peter Tra... Read More

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     *Note:  Please see my father's in memoriam piece below; my grandfather was a great man who we lost to pneumonia after seven years of Alzheimer's.  "Papa" quit smoking for the last eight years of his life.

     Hamlet is Kenneth Branah's voluptuous, penultimate Film adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic tragedy.  The art direction and production design are ornate and uniquely beautiful, placing the characters in the much-... Read More

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     "I'm perfect"  --  the lead in Swan Lake

      Perfect is a fit word for the sprawling, melodramatic new masterpiece from Darren Aronofsky.  The Film is about madness, athletic and artistic rigor, ballet, substance abuse, and all the other obstacles that make it tough to reach the top of the ballet dance scene.

     I must confess my dreams have been haunted by this new... Read More

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     "It'll all work out.  You'll see already.  In the end it's all nice."  --  Sarah Goldfarb to the ghost of her late husband

     So says the mother who will soon be hooked on diet pills.  Sarah Goldfarb is a truly unforgettable character.  As played by the great Ellen Burstyn, Goldfarb is blowsy, dryly funny, as serious as can be, pleasant, worrisome, caring about her family, and -- above all -- scared about the... Read More

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