I WAS SO RELIEVED. Intelligence is solid on all matters when it is solid. What is to love about this film or these characters? Nothing. Heavy handed drivel. Hated it from the beginning for its MTV camera work: do not linger on any face for longer than three seconds. To compare it with Hitchcock is blasphemous.

I thought maybe Portman would do something in some scene besides furrow her forehead – but, alas. the only relief in the film was when the bitch slipped her some drugs and her face relaxed a little. Other than that, I saw no redeeming features. Well I guess I could say that another redeeming feature was that Hershey did not have all that much screen time. thank the lord – she and her sick daughter were painful to watch.

That codicil in mind:

It had Natalie Portman in it – that was enough reason for me not to see it. Using the term “actress” to describe her is overly generous. Talentless waif is a better one.

Sorry, I respectfully disagree. She’s certainly picked some mediocre roles, and perhaps these have been at the heart of forming your opinion, but I said back in 1994 that she was going to get an Oscar someday.

This certainly appeared to be a year for Oscars being awarded more for a body of work than the specific thing they were nominated for, to me.

But the entire last decade has pretty much sucked, both for movies and for the AAwards. Quite the letdown from the 90s, which rivals the 40s as the best decade for great movies, and which kicked the a$$ of every other decade for Oscar “perfection.” (that is, I had no problem with any Oscar winner of the 90s. In several cases I might not have chosen that movie as the winner, if it were solely up to me, but there was nothing that won that wasn’t seriously deserving of the award against most other possible competition — no decade “got it right” even close to how well the 90s got it).

Not to suggest that there haven’t been any good movies at all since 1999. There’ve been lots, but they’re rarer than they were in the 90s: LotR Trilogy, The Incredibles, Snatch, Spiderman, Alice In Wonderland, a few others. Nothing like the 20-30 good pix a year that came through most of the 1990s.

The two best years: 1994 and 1999. Probably the best two single years in movie history.

Anonyma: are you flocking here to show your ignorance of my meaning?

Not really “deliciously,” though.

The same origin? You mean from a woman’s womb?

babka burbled: “She interests me, as she is one of the few non-gutsy (Streisand, Renee Taylor, Lainie Kazan, Debra Win ger, Madeline Kahn)but fragile Jewish women allowed to “star” in films, note the cynical casting of Wynona Ryder, her fallen predecessor.”

Interesting, Babs and Tats are both prejudiced people of some sort, checking and counting origins and awarding special attention to their origin-alikes amongst us humans.

I wonder if they are the same commentor or if they are birds of a very dark feather flocking here to display their prejudices?

Please Make Her Head Explode Award: Natalie Portman, who manages to maintain the same expression on her face (fear, distress, about-to-cry) up until the last few minutes of “Black Swan” (Darren Aronofsky), when her one-note performance finally becomes a one and one-thirty-second-note performance.