Portman redeems this movie

Rating: 5/10 (3 June 2011)

I thought that James Cameron had taken the cake with over-produced, flash before substance filmmaking, but Aronofsky has thrown his hat in the ring and is a serious contender for the title with this film.
I suppose if you are completely infatuated with this film's director (as it seems Hollywood and the Academy are), you are able to look past the completely predictable plot, ridiculous metaphors, and entirely predictable ending.
Seriously, it would seems as though this film was written by the Daniel Kauffman character from Adaptation after he attended a seminar on how to write psy-thrillers.
Further, I have had it with the over-stylized direction of all the movies I have seen recently (Limitless, Hanna, Black Swan, I am number 4.) Its like we are living in a 13 year-old's world and we need to be over-stimulated because we have been slamming Mt.Dew and Sugar Bombs all day. Note to directors: tell your story, film the actors doing their thing. If you feel like you need to start spinning the camera in manic circles or add a crap-ton of CG, maybe rework the script or shoot it over. I don't need stockmarket tickers on the ceiling (Limitless) to know that Bradly Cooper is doing math in his head and visualizing. And without giving up too much, I didn't need the cg in this film to realize what the director is trying to convey metaphorically. It feels cheap and contrived, and somewhat condescending.
I gave this movie 5 stars on the basis of Portman's performance. She is a fine actor and delivers once again.