Movie Review: Black Swan

This isn't a Christmas Movie review, just a regular movie review (although the Christmas movies are piling up on my Tivo)... I got the chance to see Black Swan about a week ago and it's sort of taken me that long to decide whether or not I liked it. I think I did. It's a psychological thriller so it tries to mess with your head and spook you and it certainly did do that. But, wow, it's really stuck with me this last week. I've heard Oscar buzz for Natalie Portman and she really did do an amazing job but I'll be honest that it doesn't really strike me as an Oscar-type movie. The plot is that Natalie's character is a star ballerina who is obsessed with perfection and gets the lead role in Swan Lake. She is asked to be both the perfect white swan character and the evil, manipulative black swan. She really struggles capturing the black swan part of the job because she is so focused on perfection. Meanwhile, she is convinced that another dancer is trying to steal her role. Her mom is a scary stage mom type. And the ballet's director is constantly pushing her. The whole thing is really over-the-top, yet also enjoyable.