Exactly!

THE WRESTLER - 8/10 (A-)

I'm actually not sure if I'd give it an 8/10 (A-) or 9/10 (A-). I loved it though, and could certainly see it being a 9/10 on another viewing. Mickey Rourke gives a great performance and I loved both Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood in supporting roles. For me it's kind of a toss-up as to which of them I liked better. I thought both brought something to the table.

I think audiences will like it well-enough, but I think they'll hate the ending. The only ones who might not care for it are wrestling fans who go to it expecting a bunch of wrestling scenes.

Funny part is, I feel like the movie isn't nearly as good without that specific ending.

I don't expect mainstream viewers to be that crazy about the ending. I watched it with my mom and she thought it ended funny.

I thought the ending completed the film perfectly. He thinks he's all alone again (even though he really isnt) and goes out the way he wanted - with the adulation of the crowd - his crowd.

Its a touching character study. He's a good guy who's made mistakes. But he'll only go on making more if he doesnt have something to live for (his wrestling).

Being a wrestling fan in the 80s, its hard not to love this film. So many references and homages to the 80s wrestling scene - yet it doesnt become a parody (well maybe with the exception of the Ayatollah subbing in for the Iron Sheik but i still liked that).

Supporting are all fine. Tomei is incredibly hot for her age. Infact i prefer her now than when she was younger.

Grade : A

Rourke should have his name engraved on the Oscar. He knocked it out the park or rather, suplexed the hell out of it.

The movie is a bit odd but its all about The Ram.

A

What a thrilling, evocative masterpiece.

Once again Aronofsky proves that no modern filmmaker can cut to the bones of the pain of the human condition quite like him.

This movie is all about the reliance on your flesh - your body - to make it through the day, and the fleeting and ultimately betraying nature of something so ephemeral. Aronofksy's camera hovers around and over bruised and damaged bodies, often in stunning one-takes that are somehow simultaneously disconcerting and beautiful. The Ram has staples and shards of glass removed from his blood-stained skin, and Cassidy strips in a tattooed-covered shell, long after her beauty has forsaken her in the eyes of societal perfection. These people depend on their bodies to help them fulfill their desires and obligations, and as they crumble away their world falls apart, and they begin to meet in the middle. Aronofksy captures this torture perfectly, using the camera as a trained, unflinching eye. He doesn't shy away from any of the gory details, and puts the audience in a decidedly uncomfortable position. No one wants to witness the complete decimation of another human being, but Aronofsky has a true gift in presenting material like this in an uncompromising, deeply affective way. I think in the hands of anyone else, we are dealing with an exploitative, look-at-all-the-white-trash smugfest. Instead, we are given an emotionally riveting examination on the inherent fallibility of the body, and the emotional devastation that comes with the realization of its failure and the connecting threads that suffer because of it.

Except for this one inaccurate line - - good review.

Eh?

I have to admit this and Mikes moronic suggestion of people who like wrestling possibly not liking it because of a lack of OMG ALL WRESTLING SCENES! make no sense. There is nothing uncomfortable about the film.

As someone who is completely indifferent towards wrestling...will I enjoy it still?

Yes. It certainly adds to the enjoyment when you have a familiarity with 80s/90s wrestling but the film is alot more than that. If anything, Rourke's performance is reason enough to watch it.

Yeah, it's not really about wrestling, for reasons makeshift and others have pointed out

13 A's with nothing lower, this is the most acclaimed movie on WOKJ of all-time, ahead of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (9 A's) and My Neighbor Totoro (9 A's). So you have to watch it.

I would have anyway.

I just read several comments from wrestling fans who said they enjoyed it because they were fans of the sport among other things and that there're lots of details one would miss otherwise.


I wonder whether it can manage a BP nom at the WOKJ Movie awards...

I hate wrestling to death. I can't stand watching it or understand how could anyone.

But The Wrestler, as a film, is truly brilliant.

The Wrestler was very well done will that was slightly underwhelming at times and even conventional. The performances were solid, great even at times, but nothing spectacular, or at least I wasn't blown away by them. Still it was a film in which you become emotional invested into its characters and do truly care about them.

B+

That is a very good point - - being directed by Darren Aronofsky, I kept hoping the movie would take flight into the stratosphere of his patented imaginosity. But I suppose one could also attribute it's popularity to it's groundedness...




There goes the neighborhood...

Well now it has 16 A's and 1 B. It'll be 17 if Mr. Pink comes here and gives it an A+.

I was expecting a movie with some great performances and little else, but what I got was a movie was extraordinary acting that was met by equally brilliant direction. Mickey Rourke and Darren Aronofsky are both as masterful as can be here. I don't think Mickey Rourke is extremely talented or versatile - not as much as someone like, say, Sean Penn - but he works in this role better than any actor in a movie this past year. To simply say he embodies Randy "The Ram" Robinson is a gross understatement: he is the man. I can't remember the last time I felt so dearly for a character. Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood both turn in strong performances - two of the best of their respective careers - but this is his movie all the way. But damn Aronofsky... in this movie, he does three things perfectly: tell a really sad story without ever getting at all sappy, film the wrestling sequences so well that you literally feel everything that's happening, and use sound to its fullest potential. The wrestling sequences are truly painful to watch (I had to turn away during the stapling portion), and that final sequence (and in particular that final shot) completely took my breath away. And of course, Springsteen's fabulous song fit perfectly with the ending. One of the year's best.

A+

The only time I felt like it went a bit too far was the scene where the woman kept asking for more/less/more/less... they needed it to get to the final part of the movie, but it didn't need to be quite that blunt. Other than that, no complaints.

Yeah, that ending is starting to grow on me, I think I might bump up the grade to A-...might.

I do like the reoccurring visual motif of showing the back of Randy's head as he walks, as if he can't escape the life of a wrestler.

The ending is wise. - 7/10.

Very very good, an incredibly pleasent surprise. Dramatic story, well told, very poignant, powerful and enjoyable. A very in-depth and personal exploration into an incredible character's life. Mickey Rourke is deserving of all the hype, (although not quite as great as Sean Penn), Marissa Tomei is great but a little overly hyped, Evan Rachel Woods gives a much too short and unfortunately overlooked performance and if her character had been a little larger would have deserved a supporting actress nom.

Really liked this one.

Like Milk, it's almost documentary-like in its approach, what with its handheld camerawork and tendency to follow its characters around - very cinema vérité. Though I don't think a case could be made for it as a documentary - due to the lack of a true story - it's got a similar kind of mentality to it. The raw, gritty look and feel perfectly suit the grim characters and their grim lives - it's a film where the low budget actually helps.

I don't quite get the Tomei accolades (apart from looking good, she didn't bring a whole lot), but I certainly understand where the Rourke hype is coming from. He's a beast. The whole film is perched on his shoulders, and he totally nails it.

And the ending is pitch-perfect and emotionally powerful. That cut to black is utterly devastating.

Like others, I would've liked Tomei's role elevated to a co-lead, but what can you do? It's pretty great regardless.

It's a well-crafted, respectable movie.

But it's so committed to making you feel bad. It's one of the biggest downers I've ever seen. After a while, I started feeling exploited.

It feels almost wrong to hold the considerable emotional power of the thing against it, but I'm gonna go ahead and do it anyway. It didn't leave me feeling the high a great drama can. When it ended, I merely felt like shit. And tired.

Interesting point. I don't quite agree with you, but it's a valid perspective...



(BTW, did anyone else see the Mickey Rourke interview on Charlie Rose last week? It was very good, very revealing - - this is a guy who's got issues...)