What to See This Weekend: 'The Warrior's Way,' 'Black Swan,' 'I Love You Phillip Morris'

There's only one even moderately wide release this week, the action flick 'The Warrior's Way,' but the real action is at the arthouse, where several much-buzzed-about Oscar hopefuls (Natalie Portman! Jim Carrey! Ryan Gosling!) will jockey for your attention.

New and Noteworthy: 'The Warrior's Way'

Starring: Jang Dong-gun, Geoffrey Rush, Kate Bosworth, Danny Huston, Tony Cox
Directed by: Sngmoo Lee
What's It About? In this hybrid Western/martial arts fantasy, Korean actor Jang plays an assassin hiding out in a small town in the Badlands after he refuses an assignment to kill an infant girl.
Why Should You See It? Genre blends can be fun and unpredictable. First-time director Lee gets support from a group of strong vets, including Oscar-winner Rush and frequent movie heavy Huston. The visuals look striking. And it's the only new wide release of the week, not to mention the only new action pic.
You Might Like It If You Like: The old 'Kung Fu' series, 'Shanghai Noon,' 'Ninja Assassin'

•Showtimes & Tickets
•Trailers & Clips
•Reviews
'The Warrior's Way' - Trailer No. 1

In Limited Release

'Black Swan' is earning tons of buzz for Darren Aronofsky's hallucinatory direction, for Natalie Portman's ultra-intense performance as an unraveling ballerina, and for her steamy tryst with rival dancer Mila Kunis.
Showtimes & Tickets | Independent Spirit Award Nominations | Natalie Portman's Evolution | Exclusive Clip
'I Love You Phillip Morris' is an outrageous comedy/drama that's sparking Oscar talk for Jim Carrey for his cagey performance as a real-life con artist and prison-break expert who falls in love with a sweet-natured fellow jailbird (Ewan McGregor).
Showtimes & Tickets | CInematical Review
'All Good Things' is also based on a true-crime story, and it's prompting Oscar murmurs for both Ryan Gosling (as a New York real estate scion with some bleak secrets) and Kirsten Dunst (as his wife, who grows fearful as her husband's dark side emerges).
Showtimes & Tickets | Exclusive Clip | Exclusive Stills
'Night Catches Us' is a dark-horse awards contender, a drama about forbidden romance and Black Panther politics in 1970s Philadelphia, featuring Kerry Washington and Anthony Mackie ('The Hurt Locker').
Showtimes & Tickets
Still in Theaters, Still Awesome

•'Tangled' - Disney's 3-D Rapunzel toon is a crowd-pleaser that seems to enchant boys and girls of all ages and hair lengths. | Showtimes & Tickets
•;Love and Other Drugs' - If newly crowned Oscars co-host Anne Hathaway walks away from her gig with a trophy, this will be why. | Showtimes & Tickets
•'The King's Speech' - If Colin Firth (and not Hathaway's co-host, James Franco), walks away with a trophy, this will be why. | Showtimes & Tickets
Staying In This Weekend?

New on DVD This Week: Even if you're not a Twihard, 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' is surely the best of the series so far, what with all the raging teen hormones, some heart-racing action sequences involving marauding vampires and feral werewolves, and that steamy love triangle involving Kristen Stewart, Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner's abs. DVD Available on Sat., Dec. 6. | More new DVD releases | What I Think I Know About 'Twilight': The Making of a Twi-Hard ...? | Chat With a 'Twilight' Virgin As She Watches 'Eclipse' For the First Time

Movie Homework: 'Black Swan' is earning comparisons to such classic ballet movies as 'The Red Shoes' and 'The Turning Point,' but it really owes more to a couple of classic 1960s dramas of psychological breakdown. One is 'Repulsion' (Buy or rent the DVD), Roman Polanski's thriller about a young woman (Catherine Deneuve) driven to extremes by her repressed sexuality and the isolating walls of her apartment. The other is 'Persona' (Buy or rent the DVD), Ingmar Bergman's landmark drama about two women who find their personalities melding. Both are good preparation for watching the intense, surreal, nightmarish journey of 'Black Swan's' high-strung Natalie Portman as she competes and merges with licentious Mila Kunis.

On My Netflix Queue: Hanukkah starts this week, so celebrate the Festival of Lights with a viewing of 'The Hebrew Hammer,' the blaxploitation-style spoof about a Jewish hero (Adam Goldberg) who must save Hanukkah from the schemes of Kris Kringle's evil son (Andy Dick). Hilarious whether you're a latke-eater or not. Buy or rent the DVD
•Follow Gary Susman on Twitter @garysusman.

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Best in Blu-ray: 'The Black Pirate,' 'True Grit,' 'Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work'

'Best in Blu-ray' is a weekly column that runs on Tuesday; from the week's new Blu-ray releases, we recommend titles for both the Blu-ray veteran and newbie, as well as the coolest special feature (unique to the format) and most intriguing rental.

For Blu-ray Vets:
'The Black Pirate'
Twitter Tag Line: Douglas Fairbanks stars as a pre-Johnny Depp swashbuckler in this innovative silent film from 1926 -- in color!
New Features Unique to Blu-ray: Organ score, 30 minutes of previously unreleased outtakes, photo gallery. Other features are carried over from the DVD edition.
Transfer/Audio: "Kino's restoration-and this Blu-ray's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer-is a wonder to behold. There's something completely surreal about watching color footage from 1926. ... The music sounds exactly as it ought to-clear, dynamically solid, and unobtrusive." (Blu-ray.com)
Replay Value: "The first great pirate movie and one of the best early uses of Technicolor, 'The Black Pirate' (1926) features Douglas Fairbanks in a role that's equal parts 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and 'A Fistful of Dollars,' one that arguably flaunts his skills as a silent-era action hero as no other" (Baltimore City Paper)

For the Newbies:
'True Grit' (1969)
Twitter Tag Line: John Wayne won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a rip-snortin' marshal teamed with a teen to catch her daddy's killer.

Why See It (Again): The most obvious reason is to compare it with the new version by the Coen Brothers (see Erik Davis' positive review). Another good reason is to see how well the 1969 film, directed by Henry Hathaway, holds up on its own. Is John Wayne's performance hammy and over-the-top, or seasoned with the right proportion of bluff and bluster for the over-the-hill character? Does the movie sustain interest beyond Wayne's charming personality?

What to Look For: Key supporting roles are played by Robert Duvall, Jeff Corey, Dennis Hopper and Strother Martin. Filmed on location in Colorado and California, the landscape is lovingly photograped by the great Lucien Ballard, who also shot 'The Wild Bunch' and 'Ride the High Country.' The extra features are carried over from the 2007 DVD "Special Collector's Edition."

Further Reading: 'True Grit,' the 1968 novel by Charles Portis, tells the story from the point of view of an aged Mattie Ross, remembering events that occurred when she was 14 years old. It's a very good story with a singular, authentic voice.

Coolest Special Feature:
'Despicable Me'
Twitter Tag Line: The Minions are coming, the Minions are coming!
Details: Exclusive to Blu-ray, the "Gru-Control" feature shows behind-the-scenes footage and filmmaker interviews utilizing picture-in-picture technology. That sounds pretty straightforward, but DVD File describes it as an interactive feature "that has the Minions pop up and switch things around as the movie plays."

That sounds like a lot more fun for your kids, especially when they want to play the movie for the 9th time in a row. Is it like hitting "shuffle" on the play button? We don't have a copy on hand here at Cinematical headquarters to try it out for ourselves, so we're not sure what, exactly, the Minions switch around as the movie plays, but this definitely sounds like the coolest special feature of the week.

Most Intriguing Rental:
'Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work'
Twitter Tag Line: Cameras follow Joan Rivers at home and on the road as she travels ceaselessly to perform and promote.

Why Seek It Out on Blu-ray: Say what you will about the comedienne, she's carved out a remarkably long-lasting career, transforming herself from a more genteel housewife humorist into a caustic critic with barbed wit and thin skin. The documentary by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern provides a degree of context, but mostly just allows Rivers to speak for herself, a steady stream of wisecracks, joking asides, and occasional tears accompany her shopping trips, interactions with family and business associates, and club appearances.

Why Rent and Not Buy: The movie is worth watching once, but replay value is quite limited. The Blu-ray includes an audio commentary, deleted scenes, and Q&A session from its debut at Sundance, which is about the right amount of content for a normal rental period.

Further Reading: "This rather fine documentary reminds us that, yep, even those 'old' celebrities we don't have much use for anymore are actual people. In this case, it's a very smart person." (Review by Scott Weinberg, Cinematical)

Also consider: 'Hard Boiled,' John Woo's spare-no-bullets police drama stars Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. This is the movie for which the phrase "jaw-dropping action" was invented; the teahouse scene alone is worth the price of admission. For reviews of the Blu-ray, check Big Picture Big Sound, DVD Beaver and DVD Town. (Our conclusion: A rental, at best.)

More New December 14 Releases on Blu-ray:
'The Other Guys'
'The Town'
'The A-Team'
'Nanny McPhee Returns'
'Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole'
'Cyrus'
'Mother and Child'
'Micmacs'

Further reading on titles listed above: New on DVD & Blu-ray, Week of December 14 (Moviefone)

Also out:
'Vampire Circus.' A horror flick from British film studio Hammer, 'Vampire Circus' features a traveling troupe of shape-shifting vampires visits a cursed village and children begin to disappear. Directed by Robert Young. Details on the extras at the official Synapse Films website.

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2011 Writers Guild of America Nominations: 'Social Network,' 'Black Swan' Honored

The awards love continued this afternoon for movies like 'The Social Network,' 'Black Swan' and 'Inception,' which each picked up nominations from the Writers Guild of America.

'The Social Network,' penned by Oscar favorite Aaron Sorkin, will face off against four other movies in the Adapted Screenplay category: '127 Hours,' 'True Grit' and surprise nominees 'I Love You Phillip Morris' and 'The Town.'

Meanwhile, 'Black Swan' and 'Inception' will go toe-to-toe against 'The Fighter,' 'The Kids Are All Right' and 'Please Give' in the race for Best Original Screenplay.

As previously announced, favorites like 'The King's Speech,' 'Toy Story 3,' 'Blue Valentine' and 'Winter's Bone' were deemed ineligible for WGA nominations this year.

See the full list of nominees after the jump.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

'Black Swan,' Screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin; Story by Andres Heinz; Fox Searchlight

'The Fighter,' Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Paramount Pictures

'Inception,' Written by Christopher Nolan; Warner Bros.

'The Kids Are All Right,' Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg; Focus Features

'Please Give,' Written by Nicole Holofcener; Sony Pictures Classics

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

'127 Hours,' Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; Based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston; Fox Searchlight

'I Love You Phillip Morris,' Written by John Requa & Glenn Ficarra; Based on the book by Steven McVicker; Roadside Attractions

'The Social Network,' Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich; Sony Pictures

'The Town,' Screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard; Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan; Warner Bros.

'True Grit,' Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Based on the novel by Charles Portis; Paramount Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

'Enemies of the People,' Written, Directed, Filmed and Produced by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath; International Film Circuit

'Freedom Riders,' Written, Produced and Directed by Stanley Nelson; International Film Circuit
Gasland, Written and Directed by Josh Fox; HBO Documentary Films and International WOW Company

'Inside Job,' Produced, Written and Directed by Charles Ferguson; Co-written by Chad Beck, Adam Bolt; Sony Pictures Classics

'The Two Escobars,' Written by Michael Zimbalist, Jeff Zimbalist; ESPN Films

'Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?,' Written and Directed by John Scheinfeld; Lorber Films

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