A dark, ambitious re-imagining of Swan Lake, with the classic ballet itself handily packed inside like an instructional Russian doll, Black Swan is visually and psychologically mesmerising. A master of suspense, Aronofsky’s sumptuous direction ensures that we never lose concentration for a moment – which, actually, may be just as well. For all its beauty, upon closer inspection it may be that there’s less originality present in Black Swan than the reviews would have us believe. But does it matter? Probably not.

Though director Baz Luhrmann has yet to confirm whether he’ll make The Great Gatsby his next film, it has now been reported that he recently held a workshop of his adapted script. The question on everyone’s lips of course is; which stars were present?

The adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel in which a plague of flesh-eating undead liven up the classic Jane Austen tale has had surprising difficulty getting off the ground, but could director David Slade and Scarlett Johansson be the people to change all that?

With the script apparently shaping up nicely, Natalie Portman has joined the race against The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo‘s Noomi Rapace for the lead role in Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Natalie Portman are reportedly to direct and star in a new version of classic fairytale Snow White. Hmm…

The director of The Wrestler and Requiem For A Dream is back, with what looks like another dose of gorgeously tense surrealism. Darren Aronofsky teams Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis in Black Swan; a tale of two dancers competing for the same part in Swan Lake.

Alright, to be honest, this is more of an updated of what we already knew about the upcoming Thor, but hey, is there such a thing as too much Thor knowledge? Exactly. Today Paramount and Marvel have released the following synopsis, to whet our collective geek appetites. Mmmm. Thor-y.

Turns out the hope we held out for Brothers wasn’t unwarranted. This tragic portrait of the effects of war on young lives brims with real emotion and powerhouse performances from its lead actors, particularly Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman. For the most part, despite the potential for cheese in its subject matter (man goes off to war, brother steps in to fill his shoes on the home front, man turns out not to be dead and returns to awkward situation in family), the narrative avoids cliche and leaves you with a real, confronting sense of heartbreak. It’s a harrowing film experience that hits you right in the guts, and it could well be the resurrection of Maguire’s post-Peter Parker career.

Based on the Danish film Brødre (no prizes for guessing the translation there) and taking its inspiration from Homer’s Odyssey, Brothers is an all-star drama, perfect if you don’t fancy the more action-orientated releases this week.

From Brit-grit gangsters in 44 Inch Chest to hard-hitting drama in Brothers, Best For Film looks at all the upcoming releases and lets you know what’s worth the price of admission. Also up this month we’ve got the hotly anticipated crime drama A Prophet, rom-coms from Sandra Bullock, The Book of Eli, Up in the Air and heist action in Armored.