Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2009 8:44:19 GMT -5
Just saw the movie tonight. Absoultely fantastic. Very authentic feeling, well acted, sad and yet funny in parts. 4 Stars. Couldn't recommend it any more. Rourke should get Best Actor for it.
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pegasuswarrior
El Dandy
Three Time FAN Idol Champion
@PulpPictionary
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Post by pegasuswarrior on Jan 11, 2009 19:36:00 GMT -5
Just an insignificant sidenote: I sort of marked a few minutes ago when Drew Barrymore was being interviewed on the Red Carpet of the Golden Globes promoting her own new movie coming out in April, and after doing the standard celebrity thing, she made the extra effort to put over The Wrestler as one of the best films she saw this year. It was out of the blue, and pretty cool to hear since it was so out of context, as if she was pre-determined to give it hype out of genuine love for it.
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Post by Shy Guy on Jan 11, 2009 20:11:45 GMT -5
BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE
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Franchise
Hank Scorpio
No you didn't.
Ronnie Garvin, you idiot! I like steak, not soup, Ronnie Garvin!
Posts: 6,879
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Post by Franchise on Jan 11, 2009 22:51:13 GMT -5
ROURKE WINS THE GLOBE!!!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!
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Post by Shy Guy on Jan 11, 2009 22:52:27 GMT -5
MICKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by Bishblast on Jan 11, 2009 23:33:38 GMT -5
Hell yes, I'm very glad for this.
This means he at least gets nominated for an Oscar.
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Post by DiBiase is Good on Jan 11, 2009 23:49:33 GMT -5
Hell yes, I'm very glad for this. This means he at least gets nominated for an Oscar. It's not a guarantee though. Jim Carrey won it a few years back for The Truman Show and never even got nominated for an Oscar. Although I think that might be the only occasion. I do expect him to get nominated but sometimes the Oscar prefers the safer role for Best Actor and that could work against it. I was expecting the Wrestler to get a very small release in the UK as it only made a couple of million in the US but my cinema is getting it next week. So I can't wait to see it.
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Post by Bishblast on Jan 11, 2009 23:54:11 GMT -5
Watching the E after show, and Rourke "swears by his dogs" that he hasn't yet seen The Wrestler.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2009 2:54:04 GMT -5
I just saw it and all I can say is wow just wow. Phenomenal performance by Mickey Rourke, the hand held shaky camera just making it look like a documentary feel, the uncomfortable silences, great performance by Evan Rachel Wood, that haunting acoustic guitar just incredible.
All I can say is wow what a disturbing disturbing haunting ending. The uncomfortable 30 second black screen before the music probably signifying his death. The thing I find so disturbing about it the most is that if he did indeed died, he died at the best moment possible in his giving him a peaceful closure. But was it a suicide? Did he knew this was going to happen and just didn't care. If he spotted Cassidy would he just simply end the match and not do it? I am truly haunted honestly.
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sloride
Unicron
Doesn't Suck Up. Or Does She?
The Greatest Entertainer to have ever Lived
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Post by sloride on Jan 12, 2009 11:51:04 GMT -5
Hell yes, I'm very glad for this. This means he at least gets nominated for an Oscar. I was expecting the Wrestler to get a very small release in the UK as it only made a couple of million in the US but my cinema is getting it next week. So I can't wait to see it. I dont live in the biggest town, staying with my mum until I secure a job in London, and my local mainstream cinema is showing it and has about four showings a day so it is showing a lot here. EDIT-Empire has given The Wrestler five stars, the highest rating available. www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=135272
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Blindkarevik
Grimlock
Rock... Paper... Straight-edge!
I Like To <blank>
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Post by Blindkarevik on Jan 12, 2009 14:41:45 GMT -5
Just watched it, damn good movie.
I guess, what I enjoyed the most about it beyond the story, is how they made absolutely no apologies and didn't take one backstep when showing how matches are put together, communication between wrestlers to set the match up and all that. They were able to show how the business operates while keeping it viable and not just "that fake sport where fake wrestlers fake fight each other."
Plus, while I understand her side of the story.... as a wrestling fan, knowing they drew the whole part with Ram and his daughter from Jake Roberts. Everytime she'd yell at him, I just wanted to punch her in the face.
All in all, definitely a great movie and should be on the required viewing list for wrestling fans along with Beyond The Mat, Wrestling With Shadows... and The Unreal Story Of Pro-Wrestling.
.... oh yeah, and if all that gets too depressing "True Life: I'm A Pro-Wrestler"... just to laugh at the dude who first enters wrestling school thinking he'll be a big deal and ends up failing at every single aspect of it.
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Post by Al Wilson Lives: Thread Killer on Jan 12, 2009 15:08:33 GMT -5
Saw it this weekend. Amazing movie. Mickey totally earned that Globe and I hope he gets at least a nod from the Academy. I love the scene when Randy gets into the groove of working the deli counter especially when he says "what can I get you, good lookin?" and the camera reveals that awkward looking guy in line. Also the paralel between Randy getting pumped backstage at a show and getting ready to serve the public at the store for the first time was great. Perfect ending too.
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The Line
Patti Mayonnaise
Real Name: Bumkiss. Stanley Bumkiss.
Peanut Butter & JAAAAAMMMM!
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Post by The Line on Jan 12, 2009 23:55:59 GMT -5
man, I HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE SOMEHOW
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nate5054
Hank Scorpio
Lucky to be alive in the Chris Jericho Era
Posts: 7,016
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Post by nate5054 on Jan 13, 2009 0:09:57 GMT -5
On a small note, I can't stand people like the old lady who ordered the potato (or whatever) salad and demanded that the exact amount to the nth degree was in there. People like that should be shot.
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The_ripoff_artist
Unicron
Just Regular Ol' Folk
R.I.P. Todd Newton 1989-2009
Posts: 2,791
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Post by The_ripoff_artist on Jan 13, 2009 1:15:58 GMT -5
Just got done watching, and it was amazing.. The ending match had a tear going down my eye as I surely think that was his death scene.He died in front of his family.
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Ramses
Don Corleone
The guy who did Fart sounds on WCR FYI :P
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Post by Ramses on Jan 13, 2009 2:23:58 GMT -5
man.. that movie was just...amazing. Sad, but amazing. I couldn't help but picture this song whenever we see Mickey backstage anywhere:
yeah, this one is on my top list of movies by far.
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Post by thesam07 on Jan 13, 2009 18:58:27 GMT -5
Just watched it. I agree with everything everyone else in this thread has said. Great movie.
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jobberjoe
Trap-Jaw
enhancing talent since the Nixon administration
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Post by jobberjoe on Jan 13, 2009 21:41:43 GMT -5
for a topic related plug- Ernest "the cat" Miller will be a guest on our podcast Tuesday Jan 20-Roundtable Wrestling Radio - 11 pm EST on randomradioonline.net
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Post by Mr Potato God on Jan 14, 2009 22:47:33 GMT -5
Heres a rather length review I wrote up on my myspace page.
No Spoilers
I never used to tell people I was a wrestling fan. For years in the early 2000s, I never brought it up. Partly out of shame of the product at that point in time (across all companies) and partly because I got sick of explaining to people that while I knew it was fake, I still enjoyed the drama and theatrics. I had a whole stock of quick quip responses that would shut people up, but they’d still think I was nuts.
While at university, I realized that wrestling was academic in its approach to drama and storytelling and that its cultural incongruities illustrated that traditional ideologies on varying issues were insufficient to explain the wrestling phenomena. If they couldn’t explain something as low brow and crass as pro-wrestling maybe it wasn’t so low brow and crass or maybe the ideology had limitations in other areas that hadn’t been uncovered yet. This provided me with material for practically every assignment I wrote during my entire undergraduate degree. Several theatre academics that I respected were giving me props, high distinction marks and encouraging me to pursue a PhD. Meanwhile the academics I had no respect for hated what I was writing. Around that time, the indie wrestling boom hit and companies like Ring of Honor, Chikara, FIP and CZW made me proud to be a fan again.
Still nothing changed with the hoi polloi, they still thought I was stupid and I was back to having to defend my interest in the sport/art while my grandiose deliberations on “wrestling psychology” fell on deaf ears of people who didn’t give a crap.
When I heard that Darren Aronofsky was working on a film called The Wrestler, all I could see was yet another mainstream view on something the mainstream didn’t understand giving fuel to the fire of my critics. Still, I kept tabs on what was going on with the film from day one. As more information about the project came to light especially in the context of the then recent Chris Benoit tragedy, I had some confidence that this could be a film to really show wrestling’s underbelly with respect to the performers and the industry; a fictional Beyond The Mat.
Preview screenings of the film started taking place a few months ago and the flick began getting universal acclaim, winning several prestigious awards. Film critics, movie buffs, wrestling nerds, casual wrestling fans… It’s very rare that anything goes over so well with that kind of diverse an audience, especially one as fickle and finicky as smart mark wrestling crowds. Still other people’s opinions mean little to me and I remained hyped though sceptical.
Yesterday I finally went to see a film that I had been looking forward to with weary arms for over a year and a half. And for the first time in forever, I was genuinely moved by a Hollywood movie. If you can’t “get” The Wrestler, you don’t “get” humanity. These are the sort of films I like, where the plot is secondary to the characters and when the characters can get you to suspend your disbelief so much that you vicariously live through their eyes, see, hear, feel what they feel and you relate to it. And when it’s a story as tragic as The Wrestler, it breaks your heart.
Mickey Rourke is phenomenal, every thing he does on camera helps bring the character to life. I can’t remember the last time I was so impressed with one actor’s performance. To be a great babyface in wrestling you need two qualities; the ability to gather sympathy from an audience and the ability to demonstrate fire and determination; both require a great deal of natural charisma. To be a great heel, the wrestler must have a complete lack of ego and be prepared to “show his ass”, to be humiliated and receive his comeuppance. Rourke’s performance embodies all these characteristics to perfection.
Marisa Tomei is fantastic as Cassidy, the aging stripper. Having dated strippers (and dated girls who went on to become strippers), the relationship she has with Randy “The Ram” is pretty much spot on account of how things tend to go in those situations. The mannerisms in her performance were uncannily identical to many of the girls I have known in that business. Plus any flick that shows Marisa Tomei topless and shaking it in most of her scenes is awesome in my books.
While the majority of the film’s success lies with Rourke, its Aronofsky’s directing that really accentuates the subtleties of the performances and conjures the “visceral” reaction people are having to the film. The way the camera follows Rourke from a third person perspective and the totality of the sound. Every time Randy removes his hearing aid, there is high pitched white noise, every time his heart is in pain; we can hear it The scene where Rourke walks his way to work at the supermarket, the way the camera and Rourke’s movements reflect the same movements as he walks to the ring before a match and the way the sound builds up of an imagined roar of the crowd. Everything in this film is meticulously designed to give you to the total experience of these characters, to totally immerse you in their world. Just as one of the most sought after qualities in a wrestler is the ability to make an opponent look good, Aronofsky has the good sense to hang back and work with Rourke’s performance and not the ego to budge his way into the frame with directorial tricks.
Regarding the actual wrestling content, there is enough that fans of American independent wrestling will get a good kick but not so much that non fans would be overwhelmed with in jokes and references. It’s cool to see scenes filmed at World Xtreme Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling and Ring of Honour shows. And if someone told me a few years ago that Necro Butcher would have a good chunk of screen time in a Golden Globe winning Hollywood motion picture, let alone wrestle one of his signature death matches with Mickey Rourke, I would have laughed in their face.Still the crowd reactions are way way over the top for the content of the matches, often making the fans come off as ridiculous. I think a lot of people will watch this film and suddenly think they know all about professional wrestling, while there is a gritty realism to the film, this would be like watching Jurassic Park and claiming to be an expert on paleontology.
The Wrestler is as real a depiction of professional wrestling as professional wrestling is a real depiction of amateur wrestling. It’s a distortion and put on, done for dramatic effect. When it works best, is when it cuts closest to the bone of its subject material, but there are spots that seem hokey, clichéd, cheesy. The scene with the drugs in the locker room is a total distortion and the way some of the wrestling slang is crammed into people’s mouths sounds like a forced catch phrase.
Some of the plot developments are clichéd stories that we’ve seen a dozen times before. But just like a “hot tag” or a “double down” spot, when done right these stories still work. What makes the clichés work in The Wrestler is they’re not treated like clichés but are treated with sincerity. The film doesn’t over explain anything, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks of what happened in these characters’ lives. The performances are so engaging that it really makes you want to know why these people are where they are. Even the particularly over done sub plot of the estranged daughter is dealt with care and heart..
A lot of people seem to have the impression that this film is simply a Rocky knock off. It’s not at all. There are several similarities in themes and presentation but the exposition and exploration of those themes is very different. Again its people that are trained to pay attention to the plot and not the subtext that don’t realise that they’re drastically different films and characters. The only predominant underdog element of the film is the real life comeback of Mickey Rourke. While there are similarities between Randy “The Ram” and Rourke, Rourke’s performance of the character is Rourke getting what Randy “The Ram” is desperately searching for and what is becoming more of a impossibility the older he gets. I think if Rocky Balboa and Randy Robinson ever met, Randy would be on the end of Rocky’s motivational speeches.
So if it’s not an underdog story what is it about? For me, The Wrestler is a deliberation on truth and reality and how what we perceive to be the truth is all too often a construction that painfully clashes with the real world. The way Cassidy puts on a persona at the strip club, the way Randy puts on a persona in the ring and the way these clash, overlap and interact with their real life identities, goals and desires is at the heart of The Wrestler. The use of professional wrestling as subject matter is perfect as there is no other form on the planet that blurs the lines between reality and fiction more than pro-wrestling. I’ve said for years that professional wrestling is as fake as pornography is real (or in the case of the film, strip clubs). Just as punters at a strip club will be swayed by the “charm” of a girl looking to make some money, wrestling audiences can watch an asshole play a babyface and find him endearing and heroic or watch a loving family man perform as a heel and despise him. Few people will dispute that people are having sex in porn, but everyone seems to think wrestling is a fake fight.
A lot of reviewers including the usually articulate and intelligent, Penn Jillette, haven’t been able to articulate why The Wrestler works so well. Lots of buzz words get thrown about, visceral, emotional, gripping, but I’ve yet to see anyone really articulate it. When Ric Flair was asked why people should go see the wrestler, his immediate response was “Because it’s about professional wrestling" And on every level imaginable, this film is about wrestling. When non-wrestling fans go to see this film, the emotional gauntlet they run through is identical to what a wrestling fan goes through during the course of a heated feud or the climactic battle between rivals. When good performers carefully tweak your emotions and pull and tug on your emotional heart strings, without you knowing that you’re being manipulated, it’s an emotional roller coaster ride and with the safe distance of being a spectator, there’s nothing more engaging. But for the non-wrestling fan there really hasn’t been a mainstream outlet for this sort of honesty or emotion in art in decades. It’s become occult. In the art world, transhumanist philosophies have inspired a movement away from accentuating human qualities. In mainstream storytelling, plot is paramount and character development and emotional resonance is a lost art,. The Wrestler works because it recalls that lost art and is open about its humanity, its flaws and frailty. Unlike other films that have attempted this, The Wrestler does so in an unpretentious manner free of the snobbery that usually pervades cinematic discussions of humanity.
The reason why people are so confused by the film is there hasn’t been a film like this with a clean slate in a long time. Rocky Balboa was perhaps the most recent attempt and while an excellent film it had the stigma of being a Stallone film and a 5th sequel, making it unhip to Hollywood and unfashionable for critics to enjoy. The Wrestler is made by a celebrated contemporary director, with perfectly cast actors and a beautifully powerful song by Bruce Springsteen. There’s no reason for critics and audiences NOT to enjoy the film, except for the tragically uncool subject matter of professional wrestling. And that’s what’s ironic, people are loving this film because it employs all the techniques that an art form they look down upon embodies.
"90’s sucked"
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The Line
Patti Mayonnaise
Real Name: Bumkiss. Stanley Bumkiss.
Peanut Butter & JAAAAAMMMM!
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Post by The Line on Jan 15, 2009 2:11:03 GMT -5
woo! Just found out this movie is getting a wid(er) release on Friday. Hopefully Pullman will get it!
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