For more information or to view the full First Night schedule, click here or visit firstnight.org.

WFNX Presents: Rock & Roll Films | at the Stuart Street Playhouse, 200 Stuart St, Boston | "Back at You! . . . Punk Vids from the KINODV Archive" (classic punk and new wave footage) | 2 + 6:30 + 8:40 pm | Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam | 3:30 pm | Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields | 5 pm | Do It Again: One Man's Quest to Reunite the Kinks | 7:15 pm | Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everyone Talkin' About Him?) | 9:15 pm

Laugh, cry, or gasp -- in horror, delight, or incredulity -- but chances are you won't be bored by Darren Aronofsky's sui generis extravaganza, "Black Swan." He feels pretty good about it, anyway: he's relaxed, dapper looking with his new moustache, and cracking jokes as he answers questions at a press conference for the film at the appropriately rococo, near kitschy lobby of Hollywood's Pantages Theatre.

When humans go up against nature in films like 127 Hours, they usually come out short. Such is the case also in Werner Herzog's compelling documentary Grizzly Man (2005), in which the director finds someone almost as strange as himself, Timothy Treadwell, who just wanted to share his life with the ursines of the title in the Alaskan wilderness.

Quite the contrast between interviewing Danny Boyle, promoting "127 Hours," and the other big name British director I chatted with last month, Stephen Frears, promoting "Tamara Drewe." One is vibrant, engaged, enthusiastic, candid, friendly, informative, and illuminating. The other is Stephen Frears.

The 34th Montreal World Film Festival (August 26-September 6), proved most heartening for those of us anxious about the state of global cinema. I saw splendid works from all over the world, from both first-time and veteran filmmakers. Over several days, I watched eight movies in a row that I really liked.

PREVIOUSLY: Part I | Part II

PK: So did you have particular filmmakers that inspired you to want to make movies?

ABL: Yeah, I had Werner Herzog.

PK: I would guess Herzog actually.

ABL: Yeah, I like his films, narrative or documentary. I watch a lot of documentaries.

PK: It feels sort of "Grizzly Man" in a way.

Now that the Iraq War is over we can focus more of our anxiety, outrage, and depression on another flummoxed and bloody miscue, the war in Afghanistan. Already Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's "Restrepo" has recounted with harrowing detail of the day-to-day trials and heroism of an American outpost in one of the country's deadliest frontiers.

We suspect some of you may have missed the salient segment of Peter Keough's interview with Antichrist director Lars Von Trier this week, in which he revealed that Willem Dafoe required a stunt-cock for the film. And not, as in the case of Marky Wahlberg in Boogie Nights, because his member was insufficient for the part, but for the opposite reason: Dafoe's dick is just way too fucking huge: