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19 comments
17 comments
Rank This Matchup or Comment/Reply Below
on 12/13/2010
Two of the year's best films; Inception more ambitious, yet more flawed. Darren wins this one.
inception est le film de l'année, devant the social network, toy story 3, kick kass, black swan, shutter island and scott pilgrim
on 12/14/2010
Wow, did you just throw Shutter Island into a list of the year's best movies? Did you actually see it?
on 1/1/2011
one was perfect
Inception was the more impressive achievement. It'll be the more remembered film 20 years from now.
My two favorite films of the year! Black Swan was pure cinematic perfection.
How is Inception flawed?
on 1/25/2011
INCEPTION, it's not even a competition.
on 1/26/2011
I say Black Swan all the way.
on 2/1/2011
FictionFox- Cobb was the only three-dimensional character in the entire movie, there was too much exposition (ie from Ariadne, the exposition machine), the James Bond-esque action sequences in the snow were underwhelming nearly incomprehensible, the ambiguous ending isn't satisfying to me at all, and neither is the needless amount of ambiguity/inconsistency throughout the whole film. Anyway, I loved the movie, but come on, it had a ton of problems.
on 2/4/2011
The interesting thing about these two films is that they are both superficially complex. Inception is the omg brainfuck that is easily explained away with an analysis of film as dream (so the top keeps spinning because we were never in Cobb's dream; we were inside our own). Black Swan is just riddled with conflicting evidence making the entire film not add up to a whole, which is interesting and undoubtedly intentional, but also shows that director was not willing to try and make concrete statements in his film beyond the already rehashed ballerina drama. I have to give it to Black Swan though, because the film just fits me better. I'll take all over the place symbols over gunfights any day.
Controversial here. Inception has the better story. Having said that after seeing Black Swan I'd been on a roller-coaster through the valley of the knives, my skin had been stripped away and I was mutating into something profoundly Other. After seeing Inception I had a headache from the incessant soundtrack. Black Swan wins.
on 2/13/2011
Does somebody really believe Inception isn't flawed AT ALL?
on 2/18/2011
Black Swan!
on 2/24/2011
Sorry, but "Inception" was not complex. It was disappointingly simple; unless you have a hard time understanding layers, there's not really much going on there. At the end of the day, it's just another heist movie.
on 4/16/2011
Whoever called Ariadne the "exposition machine" must have forgotten that Vincent Cassel spoils the entirety of Black Swan within the first ten minutes. I realize there's more going on in the film than just the telling of the story, that the stylistic choices are important too, but Portman wasn't convincing enough for me and Cassel's dialogue and delivery were so cliched it was laughable. Black Swan took itself too seriously. Inception is indeed nothing more than a fancy heist movie, but at least it's having fun pretending to be something it's not. I can't say the same for Black Swan.
on 6/2/2011
both movies were quite impressive, but I'll be different and say Black Swan actually amazed me just a little bit more. I'm going to go with that.
Inception. Quite frankly, while I enjoyed Swan, especially Portman's performance, I had forgotten the movie 48 hours later. That cannot be said about Inception, at least from my perspective...
Heist > Nut. Both good, both overrated.
on 7/13/2011
Yeah, I'd still take Paprika over Inception and Perfect Blue over Black Swan.
Hooooo no, brotha. No way is Perfect Blue better than Black Swan.
on 8/29/2011
I left Inception thinking "Wow, that was a great movie", but I left Black Swan feeling as though I'd had a transcendent experience. It is perfect.
on 1/5/2012
All about Black Swan.
on 1/6/2012
Inception and Black Swan, a good match. Both are psychologically moving and we are left to think of the film even after we've left the "theater".
on 2/1/2012
Inception was pretty good, but it's certainly no masterpiece. Black Swan on the other hand, is. :) Easy pick for me!
an overrated Heist Movie, or a very overrated horror film? id say inception is by far better. and when looking back in 20 or even 10 years i think people will still love inception and see black swan as a movie that's only real purpose was so aronofsky could get money for his next films.
and I would also put shutter island on my top ten of that year.
on 7/8/2012
Black Swan was a horror film? Doesn't matter 'cause it sucked! Inception by a mile.
on 1/27/2013
Maybe two of my favorite directors here... I thought Black Swan was great, but I think it tried to appeal to a wider audience than most of Aronofski's films and lacked subtlety, the only major flaw I saw in the film. Inception was just fantastic all around. Loved it.
Love Black Swan, but Inception is my favorite movie.
on 2/26/2013
Inception easy
Black Swan's good. Inception's great.
on 3/4/2013
Inception was pretty bad. Black Swan may be overly melodramatic but it was still great.
Black Swan was fatally flawed from the beginning by having Portman start out mental, it couldn't recover from that no matter how good it was. Inception is a very good film, just slightly let down by the rushed pace not allowing for further exploration of the dreamscape.
on 4/28/2013
Black Swan is a masterpiece. Very easy decision for me.
on 1/13/2014
black swan maybe a masterpiece but not one of those movies that I would want to watch again . Inception on the other hand is one of those movies that keep getting better with every time you watch it
on 3/19/2014
Both are in need of a rewatch, but Black Swan moreso. Inception left enough of a solid impression on me as to how brilliant and entertaining it was the first time I saw it. Black Swan is an excellent film, and a refreshingly gritty, edgy depiction of the world of ballet and the performing arts, plus it does feature some excellent performances, but I always felt that Natalie Portman's performance was basically two hours of crying, with some token Jekyll-and-Hyde duality which actors love to do but have done it a million times before. Admittedly Natalie was the most hyped out of all the actresses that year (I can't say whether I thought her performance was the best, since I have not yet seen The Kids are Alright, Rabbit Hole, Winter's Bone or Blue Valentine, though given the lack of exposure since, I doubt they'll top Black Swan), but this underlines the biggest problem with the film; it's a performance film, a vehicle for a central actor, not a complete package. I don't have an issue with this in it's own right, especially when the performance is as strong as this one, but against something like Inception, Black Swan doesn't really stand a chance. Inception was the more standout, complete, landmark film, and therefore my choice here.
I honestly have to go with Black Swan... while both are good films i have to say that on any given day i rather just watch Black Swan and Black Swan's ending left me in awe and the whole film was more emotional and gripping overall for me ....
on 6/12/2014
Black Swan beats Inception in all senses!!! Black Swan FTW!!
on 5/27/2015
They're pretty close.
on 6/15/2015
Inception takes this by quite a bit for me
on 3/2/2018
Nolan movies tend to lack a human element. Black Swan exploits a humans will to be famous or perfect at all costs. I feel I cared more for Black Swan because of the dark realisitc level a performer really has to go through to make it. Inception is a big budget movie that is dull to watch since it cares more about imagery than the freaking plot itself hahaha. Inception should've been way better, but like Batman the plot holes absolutely ruin it for me.
Vying for the bottom of my chart.
Inception gave us more to talk about and provides a better second viewing experience. This is a close call.
on 9/22/2020
'Inception' originally left me cold, but it gets better with age. 'Black Swan' left me exhilarated and it still gets better with age, so Darren gets my vote
on 2/17/2021
Inception is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I’m going with that. However, my god was Black Swan an amazing movie!
Love both but Inception.
on 6/29/2021
Natalie Portman is probably better than anyone in Inception but Black Swan isn't better than Inception.
on 10/4/2022
Portman has the best performance out of the two movies, but Inception wins in all other categories.
