Review: UNDERWORLD AWAKENING

           I couldn’t care less about the battle between vampires and werewolves in popular culture; to be honest I don’t quite understand why they would ever be at such odds against each other. Luckily, I guess, the Underworld franchise doesn’t care too much to explain either. In the first movie, the Lycans (as the werewolves are known in this universe) created a hybrid were-zombie-wolf-fang-boy who we are told fell in love with the vampiress Serena (Kate Beckinsale). Three movies later, the humans have gained the upper hand in this battle and capture Serena and the hybrid. All this happens in a “previously on…” style recap. And the rest of the movie, involving Serena’s escape from the humans and the werewolves, feels like a very bad TV episode on the SyFy Channel or a prolonged cut scene in a video game. 

Review: BLACK SWAN

Darren Aronofsky said he was fascinated to make a re-imagening of Swan Lake because he thought the story of a girl who transforms into a swan to be similar to that of a werewolf. Frankly, I have never seen Swan Lake because I dismissed it… well, as a boring ballet about a swan. And I am still skeptical that a ballet performance would be able to capture the nightmarish thrill of this adaptation. If it does, then I can’t wait to see it.