the Black Swan experience

Rating: 9/10

Every movie star (that matters) has 1 movie that kinda becomes their "the one"; the movie of their career. the movie that the star is well-known for, so to speak-

Tom Cruise: "Oh, the guy from Mission Impossible."

Pierce Brosnan: "Oh, the guy from James Bond."

Leonardo DiCaprio: "Oh, the guy from Titanic."

Angelina Jolie: "Oh, the chic from Tomb Raider."

Now, it's true that Natalie Portman has previously proven herself on countless occasions; V for Vendetta, Star Wars, Closer. but in all honesty, as far as i'm concerned, the girl simply outdid herself in her role in Black Swan.

when i walked into that theater, i expected a thriller, yes, and i also expected some kind if fantasy-related theme. by the end if that movie, i kinda felt like i do after a ride on a roller coaster; i feel a little queasy and scared as hell, but damn, i wanna do that again.

it was honestly an experience. the way to know an actor /actress has played their role to a perfect T is when at some point you stop thinking about that actor in terms of themselves, and start thinking of them in terms of the role they're playing on the screen before you- Natalie Portman completely became intense and disturbed ballet dancer, Nina Sayers.

the plot of the movie developed at the most perfect pace, without leaving any of the characters behind, and Nina's metamorphosis as we get to the meat and bones of the story is simply beautiful.

i have to admit that i'd never thought much about Natalie Portman; dont get me wrong, she's a really good actress, but she's not the only one.

however, after Black Swan, it became obvious to me that every movie she had ever done had been leading to this one. i can now honestly say that i will never forget Natalie Portman ever again, and i thank her, and the director who chose her as his main character, for the experience.

The Craig's List Killer

                                                                               Rating: 4/10

I guess this post would be more on the killer than the movie.

If you don't get my stand on the movie from the first sentence, then I would put it simply: I believe the movie was almost a total waste of tv space. Not because of the story it was based on, but because I feel it was poorly put together. Should it have been based off fantasy, I think this review would be the same.

It began as what most thrillers would, portraying the soon to be devastated family and group of friends in their normal lives and daily routine, then soon spiraled into what turned out to be a fiercely summarized series of juxtaposed parts of Mr. Markoff's life, from college till death.

At some point in the movie, I was sure Markoff was having a psychotic break (still wondering), and that this had to do with some things that occurred in his childhood. Say abandonment or abuse at the age of 7 (I simply picked this number because there was a scene in the movie where Markoff failed to answer properly about a child's diagnosis because, as his supervisor put it 'he was getting personal' or something of the sort).... I don't know. Though the movie raised all these questions, sadly, none of them were answered. Leaving me with many holes to fill on my own.

Before I watched this, I had heard nothing about the said 'Craig's list killer' and simply assumed that for a person to get a title in America as the 'bla bla killer' he or she had to be some sort of gruesome murderer or a serial killer. It was based off this assumption I watched this movie, and thus was the reason I was thoroughly baffled when the killer was not as, lets say, 'enchanting' as I thought he would be.  No, I am not infatuated with killing and do not admire the act whatsoever.

Let me state here that I am by no means condoning what he did or undermining the fact that the ladies he attacked were victims, no. But I believe the media and the police force (assuming they reacted as they did in the movie)over escalated what could have been an accident and gone as man slaughter. To clarify why I came to this conclusion, I would write what I believe happened based on what I read online and watched in the movie. I am no expert here, I did not know the man or any of the people so I could definitely be way off topic.

I believe Markoff was a straight A college kid with all the expectations of all around him for him. He was, as stated before, the American dream. This would put pressure on anyone. Now having a bondage fetish or 'S and M' fetish is really not part of the 'lifestyle of the American dream' and he needed a way to, lets say, get off. Granted his choice would not win an award for 'World's smartest', but humiliating women, i.e, making them masochists psychologically was what he did. Taking their underwear was part of his sick fetish too I guess. To each his own. Unfortunately for him, since his victims were not masochists, they did not find his acts as much fun as he did. Miss Brisman panicked and so did Markoff (I believe) who shot her. From what I gathered, prior to this, what I choose to call an accident, all Markoff was, was a thieving pervert.

But being tagged as the 'Craig's list killer' by the media, put him on the same page as the BTK, The Zodiac and all the other names in the 'killing industry'. To be honest, I think that put even more pressure on this 'American dream now turned bad boy'. Yes he was a murderer because he did commit the crime, but I don't believe he was a killer. That, to me, requires a plural body count at least. This is because the definition for a killer is someone who kills. That of a murderer can go two ways: Someone who commits murder or someone who murders. I think if he was treated as the 'thieving pervert who killed a girl' that he was, things would have gone down differently.

But hey what do I know right? I never met him or any of his victims. All I did was watch a movie and read the news. Things could have gone down, in reality, differently from how the rest of the world saw it, and this website is not for court cases but a movie review site. So as a movie, I think the 'Craig's list killer' was really not on the list of 'Top ten Birthday presents I got this year' (Yes, it came out on my birthday). It turned out to be a tragedy for both parties: offender and victim. Not even the chance to be 'happy when the villain is caught' like all 'good guy-bad guy' movies are meant to go in fantasy world. And boy, do I hate tragedies.

That's all folks.