Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Requiem is his worst flick.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Aronofsky is a solid 5/5 for me. However "Noah" doesn't interest me in the slightest.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

I dont mean sellout for big movie franchies. I more mean of selling out his roots... like would the DA from the late 90s watch Black Swan/The Wrestler and be very impressed? I bet he would be bored of them.

but there was a lot of other experiments like the camera attached to jennifer connoly, the slow mo and fast mo, split screens, montages. The whole 'film student gone wild' approach.

here is it in a nutshell.. the fountain underperformed so DA decided he wanted a career in hollywood. the end

I can see it being bad since it exaggerates the drug problem but it is just so densely constructed, it is like this weird relic from 2000 that stands out

yeah he is 5/5 for me as well but the first three are more 'visionary'

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

I consider Aronofsky brilliant. I haven't seen Pi or The Wrestler yet.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

What's his best movie in your estimation?

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Artists change and grow over time. I would be disappointed if every DA film felt the same.

Is that really how you're reading his career? Have you read or heard any interviews to that effect?

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Still is. Brilliant filmmaker with an unblemished track record, though I admit to finding The Wrestler a tad underwhelming compared to his other work. However, when your weakest film is as strong as that one, you're doing something right.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Maybe if he would have done The Fighter (which had double the budget) over Black Swan. As is The Fighter IMO was an average film with 2 great performances by Melissa Leo & Christian Bale. But then again if he would of done it The Fighter most likely would have been a comepletly different film.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Agreed. If he would have done The Fighter as his follow-up to The Wrestler, I would have felt then that maybe he was deciding to play it safe by taking on a film with similar themes and set in a somewhat similar world as his prior film.

Instead, he went from The Wrestler to an even darker take on The Red Shoes story (to an extent) that side-stepped the conventional traps of such semi-horror/gothic fare that gets made in Hollywood and made a gothic tale with characters rooted in reality before completely blowing the doors off of reality in the ending. I wouldn't say he has even come close to selling out.

And as others have said, if the OP's definition of "selling out" is changing one's shooting style to suit the material instead of being a direct by numbers guy then I hope more filmmakers would "sell out" like Aronofsky.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

If your response to seeing The Wrestler and Black Swan is "pretty fun" then I think the problem is with you. I think one is an American classic and one is a stylish misfire, but they are both attempts at great filmmaking.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

That's because he basically was a film student. Requiem for a Dream was his second film, shot right after Pi which was guerrilla style.

That's not called selling out, it's called growth.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Guys, don't you get it? He made a movie that the public latched on to and it made big money.

If that doesn't say sell-out, then I must be high!

Wait...

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Which was the one that made big money?

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Don't worry! Noah looks like a big, visionary epic so it'll most likely bomb. So, he'll be a genius again and it'll have future generations declaring us big morons for not supporting it and they'll call us idiots for spending money on kickstarting a Dredd trilogy that couldn't even get Karl Urban back so we had to settle for Stallone again.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

I think Black Swan made some cash.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

I'm not sure the OP knows what a good films is

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

I would Kickstart the shit out of a Dredd trilogy.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

I don't think he's sold out at all. He's just gotten less experimental in style, which is fine by me. I love Pi and Requiem, and I desperately need to revisit The Fountain, but I appreciate that that era is done for him. I didn't really like The Wrestler, but Black Swan was great.
Noah doesn't excite me (yet), but we'll see...

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

He's still never topped Pi, though the following films all have merit to some degree. Requiem has to be his most overrated work. If it didn't feature Jennifer Connelly, I'm not sure I would ever bother watching it again.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

I'd probably rank him:

The Wrestler
Pi
Black Swan
The Fountain
Requiem for a Dream

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

She's the worst part of it.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

Fixed

And the great Keith David.

Re: Why did Aronofsky sell out?
 

The Wrestler might be his easiest and most accessible film, and I'll admit that's likely why I return to it as often as I do. That might cause a reaction to label it as mainstream, but it's got a hell of a lot of depth to it. And I actually find it inspirational in its own deformed way.