Natalie Portman * - the previous one was typo. 

Just saw Black Swan yesterday evening and I thought Natalie Portman was fantastic, almost as good as she was in the Professional with Jean Reno.

If there is an award for scariest actress, that should go to Barbara Hershey who played Portman's mother in the film.  Yikes!

Yes, Natalie is really good in the movie. Dancing and drama combined, this year she is almost sure to win. 

I think the credit for creating scary charcters goes to Darren Aronofsky. He showed a lot of promise in one of his earliest movies - PI. He nailed it right on the head with "Requiem for a dream". 

Inception is indeed based on a very novel and unique concept. When the movie was out, I thoguht it would make a clean sweep at the Awards. But it got a very luke-warm response at the Golden globes and BAFTA. 

So, my vote is for "The social network". Fincher managed to pull-off a thriller out of a farily well-known and ordinary story. Fincher might also win the "Best director" award. 

And in the Wrestler with Mickey Rourke!  I loved the scene where the woman in the deli keeps asking for a little more, a little less, a little more... That was apparently Aronofsky's mother.

Now with "Requiem for a Dream," that was one movie that will make you stop using drugs of any kind.

Pi was great, too.  I try to see all of his films, just  as I try to see Christopher Nolan's as  well.  I especially loved Memento with Guy Pearce, who was also fabulous in "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and in" L.A. Confidential" as well as "the Proposition."

I liked "Inception," too but the music was simply too loud and overpowering, I thought.

Memento is my personal favorite, as far as technique in story-telling is concerned. I have seen other attempts at convoluted or reverse-timelines but nothing comes close to Memento. 

Speaking of convoluted timelines, have you watched the movie "Primer"? I haven't met anyone who's understood the movie. I actually submitted a Chuck-Norris fact saying "Chuck Norris watched the movie Primer and got it". 

I've never seen  this Primer.  I found this link at imdb about Memento...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/faq#.2.1.52

Meanwhile, here's a question for you.  In Inception, what was Leo DiCaprio's totem?  Did I miss that or did we never see it?

You should surely watch Primer. And then you can let me know if the story was comprehensible. It is widely rumored that in the premiere of the movie, timeline sheets were handed out to the viewers. A comic strip representation of the same is here. 

http://xkcd.com/657/

In Inception, Caprio is shown to be using the wife's totem all along. In the dream/memory sequences, the focus is always on Cottilard's totem. I watched the movie sometime ago and have forgotten the details, but I think Caprio's original totem was deliberately kept unknown in the movie.

Once exceptional thing about Inception's story is that several alternate stories fit consistently with the  sequenceo of events. If you ignore the subtlelties and go with the story of Caprio struggling to meet his kids, it fits. If you choose to believe that the entire movie was an inception into Caprio's dream, it still fits. If you think that the Inception began when Caprio fled from the assasins/abductors in this place in Africa, it fits again. For a complicated story, it's flawless. 

Haha, that is great. I have a friend in the States who will love it.

But  did you see Inception and did Leo's character mention his totem or only his wife's?

In Inception, Caprio is shown to be using the wife's totem all along. In the dream/memory sequences, the focus is always on Cottilard's totem. I watched the movie sometime ago and have forgotten the details, but I think Caprio's original totem was deliberately kept unknown in the movie.

Once exceptional thing about Inception's story is that several alternate stories fit consistently with the  sequenceo of events. If you ignore the subtlelties and go with the story of Caprio struggling to meet his kids, it fits. If you choose to believe that the entire movie was an inception into Caprio's dream, it still fits. If you think that the Inception began when Caprio fled from the assasins/abductors in this place in Africa, it fits again. For a complicated story, it's flawless. 

One reason I really like Aronofsky is his strong female characters. That wasn't the case in Inception.  The young girl was not that interesting.  I thought Mr. Eames was cool, though.

Many people seemed to like the Social Network but I have yet to see it. I like the young actor who plays Mark Zuckerberg. I remember him from "a History of Violence."

Yes, Aronofsky is a genius. One movie like "Requiem for a dream" and the director is a genius is my book. The young girl Ellen Page was good in Juno and was nominated for that too. She also acted in this weird movie called "The Tracey Fragments" which also has a weird-convoluted timeline. 

Jesse Eisenberg from The Social network is good. He did a few small roles in several movies but came to be relative known post :Adventureland" and then "Zombieland". His nomination in the best actor category is a little overboard though. It kind of suggests that the last year was a bad year in the field of movies, like last year when 'The Hurt Locker" and "Avatar" was the best movies.