Morning Glory, Brighton Rock and Black Swan

I just loved "Morning Glory". It was such an entertaining movie. With Harrison Ford being so grumpy you just had to laugh, and he was ably supported by Diane Keaton as his co anchor to be on the morning show "Daybreak", not to be confused with the Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakly disaster vehicle of the same name. But the star of the film is Rachel McAdams. Her performance reminds me of a couple of hyper females I have known, but she brings such an endearing quality to the role that just bowled me over. Not an Oscar nominated performance, but she would get my vote for the knockout stardust she spreads throughout. Wonderful.

There was much to enjoy in "Brighton Rock". Rowan Joffe has transported the book and original movie from the 1930's to 1964 and this works really well. Although having been at college in Brighton during the same year, I may be biased. It certainly seems brighter and more colourful than I can remember, but this is probably down to the cinematography as the film looks so good on the screen. I have to admit never having read the book by Graham Greene or having watched the 1947 movie. But this meant I was able to see a gripping story unfold. However I was just not convinced by Sam Riley in the lead role as Pinkie. The character had, for me, a menacing reputation that Riley fell far short of delivering. He certainly looked the part, but his monosyllabic voice and one dimensional acting never lifted the movie to the heights I expected. This was a shame as the other actors were superb. Andrea Riseborough was brilliant as Rose, and Helen Mirren, John Hurt and Andy Serkis were terrific. The original movie changed the ending of the book, and the remake kept the same change. Having read about the book's finale, I would have much preferred they had kept to Greene's. Instead what we got was so unreal and contrived, I think it let us down.

I was so looking forward to "Black Swan", a psychodrama with a splash of horror thrown in, and Natalie Portman up for an Oscar. But what a strange movie. For once I had to agree with Danny Leigh (co-presenter of Film 2011). There was just something that did not seem coherent with the script. Claudia Winkleman, the main presenter, said you just have to go with the flow, and to a degree I understood what she meant. I think for me, the hallucinations that Nina experiences when she tries to let the black swan into her fragile state of mind come far too late in the movie. The earlier manifestations to her hands and feet are quite gruesome, but director Darren Aronofsky misses more real horrors of her eating disorders, obsessive training and absence of any real relationships. However Natalie Portman does present an outstanding portrait of a ballerina on the edge. She is hardly ever off camera, but that leaves little room to explore the other characters, who come and go too quickly. That said, the movie is gripping in a manipulative way, and for me, the scenes of actual ballet performance make up for any disappointment with the plot.