The year is coming to an end, which is the best time to sum up what movie videos have been the most successful this year. Here they are:
•    Inception. In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date. Leonardo DiCaprio’s CEO type character is a guy who can dive into people’s dreams to implant or extract information.

•    Tangled. Disney’s 50th animated feature is based on the German fairy tale Rapunzel. A long-haired Princess has spent her entire life locked up in a tower, but when she encounters a passing bandit she takes the opportunity to venture into the outside world for the first time.

•    Twilight 3 Eclipse. As a string of mysterious killings grips Seattle, Bella, whose high school graduation is fast approaching, is forced to choose between her love for vampire Edward and her friendship with werewolf Jacob.

•    Little Fockers. I love every part of this movie video series. The third part is not worse than the previous ones, and if you want to have a good time just watch it. De Niro returns to the role of retired-CIA man Jack, who becomes highly suspicious of his son-in-law’s ability to raise the twin grandkids.

•    A Team. This action comedy film is based on the story that goes about a group of Iraq War veterans. They look to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.

•    Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. A young fugitive prince and princess must stop a villain who unknowingly threatens to destroy the world with a special dagger that enables the magic sand inside to reverse time.

If you feel interested in video gaming, you will like to know what are the most popular video games of the year that goes away. Here they are:
•    Dead Rising 2. Zombies are everywhere – in movies and in video games. And their popularity still grows up. “Dead Rising 2” resembles much the series’ first version. Fight off wave after wave of zombies with any tools you can get your hand on.

•    Final Fantasy IV. The new version of the famous series came out for the PlayStation 3 and PC and hinted an Xbox 360 version too. The game’s story follows Cecil, a dark knight, as he tries to prevent the sorcerer Golbez from seizing powerful crystals and destroying the world. He is joined on this quest by a frequently changing group of allies, several of whom die, become injured, or become affected by an unfortunate occurrence.

•    God of War III. It is actually the fifth “God of War” game, counting two versions that were made for the PSP, Sony’s portable gaming system. The plot is a bit labyrinthian to newcomers of the series, but revolves around Kratos, a Spartan warrior who displaced Ares as the Greek god of war, only to be cast down from Olympus by Zeus and the other gods.

•    Super Mario Galaxy 2. Sequels are not typically Nintendo’s style, but the original “Super Mario Galaxy” on the Wii was so well received that it decided to make an exception here. This time, though, Mario’s dinosaur buddy Yoshi will be along for the ride.

•    Split/Second. Racing games were plentiful at E3 this year, but this action-racer from Disney seemed to gather the most interest from show goers. With ridiculously fast cars and cinematic explosions, the game was, quite simply, fun. Add in the ability to change the track as you blow things up along the way and it sounds like a great way to get rid of your road rage.

Finally the nominees for the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards were announced. Among possible winners there are “127 Hours”, “Winter’s Bone”, “Greenberg”, “The Kids Are All Right” and “Black Swan”. Let’s watch bytes of each one of them.
•    127 Hours. This is a biographical film  starring James Franco as real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost, Utah for more than five days in 2003. Danny Boyle had been wanting to make a film about Ralston’s ordeal for four years. Boyle wrote a treatment for the film and Simon Beaufoy wrote the screenplay. Boyle describes 127 Hours as “very much a British film”, and as “an action movie with a guy who can’t move”.

•    Winter’s Bone. This drama film is a literary adaption of Daniel Woodrell’s novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Debra Granik, and stars Jennifer Lawrence. The film has won a number of awards, including the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

•    Greenberg. Greenberg is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach. The film stars Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The film follows Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller), A New Yorker who moves to Los Angeles in order to figure out his life while he housesits for his brother, and he soon sparks with his brother’s assistant.

•    The Kids Are All Right. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko, this drama comedy describing a lesbian couple living in California. Within the relationship, Nic, a doctor, is the primary breadwinner and the stricter parent, while Jules is more laid back and lives as a housewife. While the couple is happy, and the family functioning well, it is also clear that their relationship has begun to go stale.

•    Black Swan. I have already reviewed this psychological film in details. You can read everything about it in Black Swan Promises to Be 2011 Best Movie Video.

Today in the evening the Recording Academy will stage the Grammy Nominations Concert Live of the 2011 year, to lift the curtain on frontrunners for prizes come February, at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards. Considering nods were culled from the season that ran September in 2009 to September this year, there may be some old faces, as well as some new. The Grammy Awards Ceremony itself will take place on February 13.

According to music experts, a person who will doubtlessly appear on stage will be Lady Gaga. Though her “Fame Monster” EP/re-released set will pack a punch beside relatively new albums like Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” and fresh-faced Justin Bieber. Jay-Z’s 2009 album “The Blueprint 3″ will be up against acts like Eminem for honors.
Most possible contenders for Best New Artist Category are Ke$ha, Taio Cruz, Florence & The Machine, Susan Boyle and Adam Lambert. Strong contenders Nicki Minaj, Janelle Monae and Bruno Mars aren’t eligible for various reasons this year, but there’s still a passel of worthy newcomers to chose from, in part because of the bumper crop of new solo pop/R&B males who filled the airwaves.

Who you think can win in Album of the Year category? I personally bet on Eminem “Recovery”, Sade “Soldier of Love” or Lady Antebellum “Need You Now”. It might also be Lady Gaga “The Fame Monster”, Jay Z “The Blueprint 3″, John Legend & The Roots “Wake Up”, Miranda Lambert “Revolution” or Arcade Fire “Suburbs”.

An talking about song of the year, the situation is the following. Forget about production, think about songcraft and how the tune would sound if it were played on an acoustic guitar. Would it hold up without all the bells and whistles?  For pure emotion, “The House That Built Me” wins hands down, but “Need You Now”  appealed to both country and pop fans…and pop and country Grammy voters.

I have always respected the work of Daran Aronofsky. He won several film awards after completing his senior thesis film, “Supermarket Sweep”, starring Sean Gullette, which went on to becoming a National Student Academy Award finalist. But a real success came to the director when he filmed Requiem for a Dream in 2000.

Now Daran Aronofsky is working on a new gorgeous film that is called Black Swan. This is a psychological thriller movie that where star Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis who represent ballet dancers in a New York City production of Swan Lake. The production requires a ballerina to play both the innocent White Swan and the sensual Black Swan. Nina (Portman) fits for the White Swan and Lily (Kunis) fits for the Black Swan. When the two compete for the parts, Nina finds a dark side of herself.

Portman and Kunis started training six months before the start of filming in order to attain a body type and muscular tone more similar to those of professional dancers. Portman worked out for five hours a day, doing ballet, cross training, and swimming. A few months closer to filming, she began choreography training.
Aronofsky called Black Swan a companion piece to his previous film The Wrestler, recalling one of his early projects about a love affair between a wrestler and a ballet dancer. He eventually separated the wrestling and the ballet worlds as “too much for one movie”.

About the psychological thriller nature of Black Swan, actor Natalie Portman compared the film’s tone to Polanski’s 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby, while Aronofsky said Polanski’s Repulsion and The Tenant were “big influences” on the final film. Actor Vincent Cassel also compared Black Swan to Polanski’s early works and additionally compared it to David Cronenberg’s early works.

I personally wait for the movie to come out with impatience. I think it is going to be another sensation by genius Daran Aronofsky.