A girl named Rachael has developed a taste for murder and will stand at nothing to become a college professor’s assistant.

Coming Soon has the list of Special Features for each release:

BLACK SWAN DVD Features:
- Metamorphosis: A Three-Part Series
- A behind the scenes look at the filmmaking process from Darren Aronofsky’s visionary directing, to the physically-demanding acting, to the stunning special effects

Filming is scheduled to begin this July.

There is still no official street date, but DVD Active has a look at the art design for the Blu-Ray/DVD cover. I would assume it will come out right after the Oscars so it can plaster its wins on the sleeve. You can read Brad Reiter’s review here.

Aronofsky’s latest film has received critical reviews from the Toronto Film Festival (and you can read Brad’s review here), and is getting enormous Oscar Buzz for Natalie Portman’s performance.

BLACK SWAN is the story of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), who is a prima ballerina in the New York Ballet. For the new season, her troupe is doing Swan Lake. Nina’s dream is to get the lead in the show. Beth Macentire (Winona Ryder) is retiring as the current lead, and Nina sees this as her chance to shine. There is one major obstacle in her way, a new ballerina from Los Angeles, Lily (Mila Kunis). Lily is the complete opposite of Nina. Nina is obsessive and wants to be perfect, while Lily has a more loose style and doesn’t mind being imperfect Even the way they dress, as Nina is bright and is always wearing white, while Lily is always wearing black. Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), the director of the ballet, says this is what actually makes Lily perfect, her ability to not be perfect and lose herself.

The story of BLACK SWAN is pretty much the same story as Swan Lake. The story arc of the characters in the movie are the same as those in the ballet. Nina being The Swan Queen, Lily being the Black Swan, Thomas is The Gentleman, Beth is The Dying Swan and Erica Sawyer (Barbara Hershey), Nina’s mom, as The Queen. Since the viewer realizes this early on in the film, and the story of Swan Lake is told over and over, we know exactly what is going to happen to each character, or at least we believe we know. Finding out what happens isn’t really the point of the movie, but it’s all about how you get to finale that makes this movie such an amazing film.

Aronofsky weaves a story that we know with the visuals that he’s best known for. Over the 12 years that he’s been making movies, Aronofsky has cemented himself as the new king of body horror. Very much like David Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME, when Nina picks at wounds on her body, we are not sure what is real and what is not. Is the pressure of being perfect getting to Nina? She hears sounds and sees things that aren’t really there. The best thing about these scenes are that the people in her life are there through them, so we the viewer does’t know what’s real and what’s not. This movie has a lot of similarities with Aronofsky’s last movie, THE WRESTLER. This can be seen a great companion piece to that film. One is about what is considered the lowest art form, wrestling, and the other as the highest, ballet. While Mickey Rourke’s Randy is just trying to get by in life, Nina wants everything to be perfect. Even what ends up happening to the characters are parallel.

When viewing this film, the best thing to do would be to leave your emotions at the door. If you don’t you’re going to lose them anyway. This movie was a punch to the gut that the viewer may never recover from. Each performance was amazing, and there should be many awards coming to them. Barbara Hershey was amazing, as this seems to be the year of the crazy mother, along with Jackie Weaver from ANIMAL KINGDOM. Natalie Portman’s performance is Oscar worthy, and Mila Kunis has really turned out to be an amazing actress. This film is just about as close to perfect as a film can get.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side – a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

The official synopsis: “BLACK SWAN follows the story of Nina (Portman), a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her retired ballerina mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) who zealously supports her daughter’s professional ambition. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side with a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.”

Black Swan opens on December 3, 2010.

After a bunch of complaining and tugging, it looks like Paramount has ceased fire with Screen Gems in order to capture the title. Now, only the Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake co-starring feature is entitled Friends With Benefits while Ivan Reitman’s untitled romantic comedy is just that, no title at the moment. At least now there’s not going to be any more confusion as to which production we’re talking about.

But wait a minute, isn’t there an NBC sitcom that’s coming out called Friends with Benefits? Why yes there is, and so the great debacle of lack of creativity in titles continues on. Here’s a snippet more of this ongoing ‘battle’ of sorts (via EW).:

An NBC spokesperson tells EW.com that the series title is locked and they are expecting the feature to change its name. Screen Gems contends that due to its production schedule, they don’t expect an issue to arise.

At this point it’s highly doubtful that Friends With Benefits will go straight to the NBC sitcom, mainly due to the fact that the Will Gluck directed film will start principal photography this July. Then again, when you think about it, what’s with the sudden fascination for ‘friends with benefits’ centered story lines? Is everyone in Hollywood finally opening embracing something that probably sticks throughout the town like a bad rash? Possibly, but let’s see if audiences are ready to see that kind of stuff on the big and small screen in full force next year.

The story, written by David Newman and Keith Merryman, is a romantic comedy about two friends who try to take their relationship to the next level (Variety). Liz Glotzer is producing the picture with Screen Gems eyeing a July start.

Kunis recently wrapped up filming her role in the Darren Aronofsky thriller Black Swan. Gluck will be coming out with another directed film of his, the Emma Stone starring comedy Easy A, which is set for release on September 17th.

The story is pretty simple, but maybe that’s why it works so well. Phil and Claire Foster (Steve and Tina) are a married couple that are going through the motions. They work hard, spend time with their kids, and love each other, but their lives have become routine. Sensing that they need to inject something new into their lives, they decide to drive into the city and have dinner at fancy restaurant. Only when they get there they can’t get a table, so they do the only sensible thing. They pose as the Tripplehornes, a couple that didn’t show and fill their shoes for that night so that they can enjoy their time together. Phil and Clair aren’t even finished their meal when a couple of goons (Jimmi Simpson and Common) show up, mistaking them for the Tripplehornes. It quickly becomes obvious that Phil and Clair are in deep trouble, so they break free from the goons and spend their Date Night doing their best to get out of the mess they’ve found themselves in.

The chemistry between Steve Carell and Tina Fey is undeniable. They are the type of onscreen couple I could watch again and again. Their portrayal of the Fosters reminded me of the onscreen pairing of Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn. Also, the supporting cast was stellar as well. When we are introduced to the real Tripplehornes, played by James Franco and Mila Kunis, their performance makes their short time on screen extremely memorable. Ray Liotta is also great as the gangster that’s after the Fosters. But it’s Mark Wahlberg who is the scene stealer. He plays a security specialist that doesn’t like to wear a shirt, and because he plays it straight it works.

Director Shawn Levy wasn’t a director that would make it into any top 10 list of mine, but if he continues to make flicks like this one that will definitely change. Date Night is positively a killer film.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

In the not so distant future, the world is hit with a nuclear attack that has turned the world into a desolate wasteland with only hygienically deficient rapist, murderers and cannibals walking around as regular pedestrians. A drifter named Eli with a love for Al Green and KFC wet wipes (played by Denzel Washington) enters a town that is run by the town’s tormentor, Carnegie. (Played by Gary Oldman) After hearing about a very special book in his possession, Eli becomes the deadly target of Carnegie’s henchmen as they want to possess the book that can save humankind.  Bloodletting, bible thumping and random cameos ensue.

The Book of Eli is a movie that possesses so much liveliness that one could easily erase the recent memory of John Hillcoat’s superior post apocalyptic film, The Road out of their heads for a short while.

With its beautifully stylized set designs, seamless CGI and meticulously planned out swordplay, The Book of Eli proves to be this year’s first decent offering as of yet.  It helps that Denzel Washington pulls off the recent “I’m not too old to be an action star” trend effortlessly with his physically demanding role of Eli who has the moves of Toshiro Mifune and the balls of Snake Plissken.  Like a very popular religious figure often suggested in the film, Washington holds the weight of the film on his shoulders. Even the always stellar Gary Oldman couldn’t upstage him as the brilliantly played enraged villain.  (Although, Tom Waits almost stole a couple of amusing scenes with Washington in his small role as a shop owner.)

Now as fun as The Book of Eli was, it wasn’t without its flaws.  Unlike The Road, which suggests only a person’s inner strength can keep their hope alive; Book of Eli suggests that only the power of God can keep hope alive.  Gary Whitta’s script can come off preachy at times and non religious viewers may find it a bit infuriating to watch a film that says only Christianity can save us.  I find this quite funny considering the film shows the “Jesus-substitute,” Eli avoiding to help a woman from being raped and killed so he can get his iPod charged early on.  (What kind of message is that supposed to send?)

Also, after the film’s visually mesmerizing first hour, The Book of Eli instantly disintegrates its initial charm and luster with its rushed ending and absurd twist that only accomplishes pointing out an actor’s onscreen bad habit rather than actually making sense.  Furthermore, whose decision was it to cast Mila Kunis as Eli’s annoying sidekick?  Really?  Just like most had suspected would happen, Kunis is way out of her league in this one and lacks any true chemistry with Washington whatsoever which is most likely due to intimidation.  Once seeing the “Sixth Sense”-like twist at the end, I even find it that much harder to believe that Eli would let her tag along on his journey in the first place.

The Book of Eli may not be as dark as The Road, and despite its overly religious overtones, it’s still a solid action film to be recognized as it has some of the goriest and disturbing fight sequences since Kill Bill. The Hughes Brothers prove that after a nine year hiatus, they are still “menaces to film society.”

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars