Here’s my Blu-ray DVD reviews of “Black Swan” and “Fair Game” from KTKA-49.
Out on Blu-ray and DVD this week is “Black Swan,” one of 2010’s best and most strikingly original movies. In an Oscar–winning performance, Natalie Portman plays a ballerina who is tortured with the idea of achieving perfection, so much so that she drives herself mad.
The music and sound effects are breathtaking in 5.1 surround sound, the grainy 16mm picture looks great, and although there is no director’s commentary from Darren Aronofsky, a 50-minute making-of documentary highlights the collaborative process that made “Black Swan” so special.
Also out this week is “Fair Game,” a political drama that kind of got lost in last year’s fall Oscar shuffle. Naomi Watts plays CIA agent Valerie Plame, who was outed by Dick Cheney’s office as an undercover operative after her husband Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) writes an op-ed that calls out the administration for falsifying intelligence to support the invasion of Iraq.
It’s a little creepy watching this movie in the middle of our current Libya military action, for sure, but “Fair Game” is interesting if only to witness the war of words on both sides and see the actual damage her outing caused.
A commentary track with the real-life Plame and Wilson is also included.