News

Black Swan (15)

(Darren Aronofsky, 2010, Us) Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel. 108 mins

Another tale of driven professionalism to go with Aronofsky's The Wrestler, but this goes further and gets away with more, whipping a tale of theatrical ambition into a delirious, hallucinogenic melodrama. Portman is superb as the brittle ballerina facing up to her nightmares when she lands her dream role, and between the punishing routines, her monstrous mother (Barbara Hershey) and the fever of performance, we're swept away.

Neds (18)

(Peter Mullan, 2010, UK/Fra/Ita) Conor McCarron, Martin Bell, Linda Cuthbert. 134 mins

Mullan turns his memories of 1970s Glasgow into a muscular yet compassionate youth drama. McCarron is outstanding as a bright boy whose promise is warped by brutal conditions in and out of school.

Morning Glory (12A)

(Roger Michell, 2010, Us) Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton. 107 mins

McAdams delights and Ford grouches in a breakfast TV comedy that is...

Jason Solomons meets Black Swan star Mila Kunis to discuss her award-winning role opposite alongside Golden Globe winner Natalie Portman.

Jason is also joined by the documentary-maker and banjo player Josh Fox, whose new film GasLand exposes the ecological and social damage caused by the mining of gas shale reserves across the Us.

Xan Brooks pops in to review some of this week's other releases, including Peter Mullan's Neds, Shameless star Gerard Kearns getting dumped in British indie Honeymooner and Bill Murray in Get Low.

Xan BrooksJason SolomonsJason Phipps...

Just what were Den Of Geek’s favourite films of 2010? Our writers put forward their personal choices, in our mammoth round-up...

The year’s nearly over and the season of turkey beckons. As 2010 draws to a close, what better time to pick over the films of the last 12 months? Here, then, are the writers of Den Of Geek’s five favourite films of the year, along with their most despised misfire of 2010.

And at the bottom, we’ve got the round-up of the overall top ten (it'll take a bit of scrolling if you want to go directly there!). So, what’s our absolute favourite movie of the year? Read on to find out…

Ti Singh

Top 5

1. Agora

2. Inception

3. Toy Story 3

4. Robin Hood

5. The Social Network

Stinker of the year: The Other Guys

I love a good historical epic, and in a summer dominated by sequels, remakes and reboots,...

The comedy "Honeymooner" finds Fran(Gerard Kearns) being woken up by a phone call on the day of his wedding.  The only problem is that his wedding is no longer a reality:  he was dumped by his fiancée at nearly the last minute.  His friends try to get him out of the house, where he spends most time alternating between spoken-word relaxation and rock music on the stereo while drinking wine and popping pills.Disenchanted but not willing to give up, Fran continues his quest to find his dream woman.  This leads to many humorous encounters, including one...

Day 10 – Friday

Friday has to be one of my favourite days at Eiff.

It began with Superhero Me at the Cameo – a.k.a. the comfiest cinema in the universe. Enveloped in its cozy red seats, we were swept away on a magical journey of cheap spandex, a novice superhero named Sos, and a network of eccentrics. Superhero Me is a documentary from Steve Sale, a first-time filmmaker who wondered – “Long before Kick-Ass!” - what it would be like to become a superhero.

Quickly taking action, he shot his forays into real life comic book filmmaking on home video equipment, camera phones, and whatever else he could get his hands on. It’s an enjoyable romp, with a poignant message to be found in later scenes with an Orlando-based superhero named Master Legend. Unfortunately it was ill-projected, so we missed the subtitles while he spoke with an Italian vigilante and some other details.

Two highly-anticipated second feature films from U.S. underground filmmakers will be making their World Premieres all the way over at the 64th annual Edinburgh International Film Festival, which will run for twelve days on June 16-27. The films are Rona Mark’s The Crab and Zach Clark’s Vacation!.

The Crab, which screens on June 21, is the touching story of a verbally abusive man born with two enormous, mutant-like hands; while Vacation!, which screens on June 20, tracks four urban gals let loose in a sunny seaside resort down South.

Both Mark and Clark previously screened their debut features at Eiff. Mark’s Strange Girls screened there in 2008 and Clark’s Modern Love Is Automatic screened in 2009. Both films also ended up as runners-up in Bad Lit’s annual Movie of the Year award, again Strange Girls in 2008 and Modern Love in 2009. Sadly, these two masterpieces are still unavailable on...