Trying to figure out the themes that the 2010 year in cinema gave to us is not a hard task at all. If anything, this year’s best films had an irrepressible surge that impelled them all toward themes focusing on alienation, instability, conformity, and deception, all different routes that lead to the same destination: at an arrival of self-discovery.

Below are my picks for the Top 30 films of 2010, all of which, in one way or another, had characters that had to confront the danger that was permeating their existence, as a bullfighter bravely confronts an oncoming bull. This confrontational theme knew of no cinematic boundaries. It hit hard in Toy Story 3 and The Kids Are All Right just as hard as it did in Winter’s Bone and Black Swan. It did not matter if Andy had to confront college or if Nina had to pierce a deep wound into her own being just so an answer could be derived. All characters in all 30 films were just as much bothered with universal issues as they were with personal demons. King’s Speech demonstrates this as King George VI has to face WWII and his stammering issue. And the directors of these films did not revile such themes, as they satisfyingly indulged in them by creating unwelcoming atmosphere fostering trite and brutal themes and making them into something glowingly artistic.

Here are my picks for the best films of 2010:

Black Swan
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey
Release date: December 19, 2010

Combine the wonderful sounds of orchestral music with the delicate beauty and undulating movements of the ballerinas along with the indelible images that cinema provides for us and we get a truly ambitious film that is a mixture of poetry, sex, feverish dream, nightmares, and psychology. But most impressively it is an innovative fusion — of cinema and ballet — that has been rarely seen in the film medium. Here is one of the most complete films in recent memory. A film well in accord with what makes a film great, ingraining in its foundation a surplus of great performances, visionary direction, emotional music, and surprises emerging from a unique script that is not afraid to approach the unconventional.

And this unconventionality begins when Black Swan perverts all things good that usually have a tendency to comfort us, such as music, ballet, purity, motherhood, and desires. The film is, gloriously but disconcertingly, a catastrophic assault on all of these things, but more emphasis is shown on dethroning elegance from the world of ballet and perverting this world’s time-honored brilliance into something abhorrent. It is easy to accentuate gracefulness. Leave that for lesser talent. The task comes when one needs to find abhorrence in something already made beautiful and elevate it so that it drowns out beauty. Only then will one have fulfilled their duty as a visionary artist. Director Darren Aronofsky does just that by not wanting to embrace the easiness of replicating world class art (the ballet Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky). Instead he eradicates its original beauty and radiance, creating a film alteration of Swan Lake that is equally as stunning. Black Swan is an uncompromising masterpiece.

Young stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis are two of the hottest talents working today, and in more ways than one…as most young gentlemen might tell you.

The pair star in Darren Aronofsky‘s new drama, Black Swan, and a certain intimate scene between the two has garnered much attention from the eager minds of those who thought such things only occurred in their own personal fantasies.

If you’re one of these eager minds, some good news is here on a slow holiday news week. The clip of Kunis and Portman’s sexy scene has now shown up online, and you can see it right here if you just can’t wait to get a hold on the whole film.

Continue reading to see the clip, and if you wish, you can click the source link below to go and see more steamy scenes from Black Swan. And obviously, these videos are of the NSFW variety, so approach with caution!

Check out Episode 20 of the Flix of Doom podcast, the official movie podcast of Geeks of Doom, with hosts Empress Eve and Justin Vactor.

This week, we’ll be discussing the 1986 film Highlander, as well as the latest news and box office results.

Full Episode Guide is here below, along with player.

Listen now!

E-mail us at flixofdoom [at] gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter – @FlixOfDoom
Subscribe to the Podcast: RSS | iTunes | Zune

The somewhat anticipated sequel to 2009’s X-Men spinoff movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is becoming more and more worth your anticipation as time moves forward. From strictly a movie fan’s perspective, Wolverine was all right as an action/superhero flick, but when you have the name Wolverine in your title, a certain level of expectation exists, and comic book fans everywhere were outraged at some of the “minor” adjustments that were made to the mythos.

Because of this, said sequel was never a very exciting prospect…not until recently. In October we found out that one of the more unlikely candidates to direct the movie, Darren Aronofsky, was in fact signing on for the job. Aronofsky has previously directed Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and the upcoming Black Swan, so his involvement in a Marvel comic book movie was a bit strange and unexpected but exciting at the same time.

If Aronofsky’s involvement wasn’t enough to pique your interest a bit, perhaps this might. The director recently chatted with Hitfix and shared the official title for his sequel, which basically paints the movie as more of a sneaky reboot than an actual sequel.