not sure if it has opened in the u.s. yet but shouldn't be long if it hasn't already.
I think RR has already seen it.See it, definitely. It's to wrestling as Raging Bull is to boxing. Not so much about the sport but more about the human. And Randy 'The Ram' Robinson is a hell of a lot more likable than Jake LaMotta. It's not a biopic but probably inspired by other wrestlers.
I have no interest in wrestling or movies about wrestling so I was going to give this a skip.
Should I?
Is it a biopic?
The director doesn't interest me all that much.
I like PI but his other two films I don't care for at all.
This is for me the BEST PICTURE of the year, period. It is the "Rocky" of my generation.I thought it would be more like Raging Bull :-\
I thought it would be more like Raging Bull
I thought it would be more like Raging Bull :-\Wait, wait, a thought is coming to me . . . . could it be more like Raging Bull meets Rocky? :D
I thought it would be more like Raging Bull :-\
The original ROCKY is one of the greatest films ever made. So stop talking down on it. I'm not saying this is an exact replay of that film but it is in the tradition of it, for sure.I quite like it. I think I gave it 7/10 on IMDb. But no way it's in the same league with Raging Bull. And the main difference between those two movies is that in Rocky the fight is in the event to which the whole movie builds up to whereas in Raging Bull the fights are more or less on the background. So in this light, which movie does The Wrestler resemble more in your opinion?
The original ROCKY is one of the greatest films ever made. So stop talking down on it. I'm not saying this is an exact replay of that film but it is in the tradition of it, for sure.
As the internet kids say, "U Mad".
Rocky is entertaining and harmless but it's probably not one of the 100 best movies of the 70s.
I quite like it. I think I gave it 7/10 on IMDb. But no way it's in the same league with Raging Bull. And the main difference between those two movies is that in Rocky the fight is in the event to which the whole movie builds up to whereas in Raging Bull the fights are more or less on the background. So in this light, which movie does The Wrestler resemble more in your opinion?
I definitely think it's in the top 100 greatest films of the 1970's. Are you kidding me. It's even on AFI's top 100 of all-time.
The AFI is a joke and I don't think Rocky is one of the best 100 of the 70s. It's decent, but far from a masterpiece or anything of the sort. I can see how some may love it for personal reasons, but I don't understand how anyone can really think Rocky is a landmark movie.
The AFI is a joke and I don't think Rocky is one of the best 100 of the 70s. It's decent, but far from a masterpiece or anything of the sort. I can see how some may love it for personal reasons, but I don't understand how anyone can really think Rocky is a landmark movie.
Rocky is acted out and written brilliantly and it's direction by Avildsen is teriffic. It's definitely a landmark film.
Rocky is acted out and written brilliantly and it's direction by Avildsen is teriffic. It's definitely a landmark film.
What planet are you smokin'?
Its just a predictable film about a big dumb meatball, with the theme milked over & over again ^-^
I'll agree the acting isn't bad but the direction is cookie cutter seventies kitchen sink style. Nothing remotely remarkable about it.
I'm not talking about the sequels Whalestoe.
Cool? I'm telling you I like all the Rocky's. The first one isn't a masterpiece by any means. It's a fun movie, as are all the sequels that follow it.
TO you it's not, to me IT IS. It's definitely a masterpiece that WON BEST PICTURE in 1976 and well deserving. It's one of the greatest films of the 1970's and is arguably the most inspiring piece of cinema of all-time.
Winning best picture =/= masterpiece. That's just a dumb way to justify anything. Return of the King won Best Picture too. Doesn't make it a great movie. I think you're getting uppity at the wrong guy here, I like Rocky a lot.... I guess just not as much as you do.
yeah TB you really got cool your jets, leting the "it deserved its win" comment aside, do you really think its the most inspiring movie of all time? comon TB leave the hyperbole for the next presidential election.
and for the record i did enjoy rocky (not as much as IV though)
I never said all best pictures are masterpieces. There you go again speaking for me. I'm just letting you know that it won, and in my opinion, it deserved it. It's a masterpiece in my opinion and that's that. And DON'T call me uppity man. I'm far from it. Stating my opinion about the film doesn't make me uppity. I'm very passionate about the way I explain things and I'm getting sick and tired of some of you getting mad at that. Talk about uppity. Most of you are beyond that!
Haha, I'm not mad at you. I think you're trying to justify Rocky being a good movie to the wrong person is all. And when you TYPE like THIS I assume you're being UPPITY. Especially when it's directed towards me. Anyway, <3 u.
no, you see TB, I'm a POSTER, one who doesn't particular take kindly to your inference of being a drug USER (if that was your intention of capitalizing that word)
again, i understand you LIKING the film, i do too but this whole most inspirational movie of all time stuff is just bunk. Without bringing that Frank Capra QUACK (How inspirational was HIS porno?) there are just too many films to count that i would place ahead as BOTH being better films and more inspirational.
Politics? who's talking about POLITICS? I'm talking about HYPERBOLE, which is a word i now retract seeing as your level of exaggeration is not intentional and is quite literal. I MERELY bring up the election as one of the only places this level of exaggeration belongs (Along with Sporting events, and bad allegorical novels)
again, i like Rocky but clearly not as much as YOU do. (thats the last time i'll cap for emphasis again, i swear)
EDIT: CAP situation already brought up, my use of caps aren't satirical anymore but just insulting, ignore them please
HEEEAAARTS ON FIIIREEE! STRRROOONG DEEESIIIIRE!!!
I love the first Rocky. I don't think it's one of the greatest films of all time, but I could easily watch it anytime, anyday. Hell, I just watched the whole AMC Marathon for Rocky the other day.
I'd say Rocky is the most inspiring movie ever.
[/quote
And then I'd say you have good taste Mr. Power.
Its just a predictable film
Except for maybe the ending... no?I didn't. That really raised the movie to a different class. But it still isn't a masterpiece.
Or did everybody forsee him losing?
We don't learn he lost until the sequel, so I'm not sure how that counts.We don't? ??? I don't remember watching the sequel. Not entirely, anyway.
Anyway... TB, perhaps you haven't noticed but you do often cite a film's success at the box office or critical acclaim as an argument for its quality. It's not "putting words in your mouth" at all, you do a good enough of job of that yourself. I remember the Forrest Gump thread.I kind of understand that approach in the sense that it means that many people think a film is good. They gotta think so if they choose to award it! But popularity really is no argument. It proves that certain people like certain movie but it doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you if you don't agree with them. Commercial success, on the other hand, has nowadays very little to do with what people like. It's much more about the advertising than the word of mouth than it used to be. Besides, using this logic Thriller is the best album ever released ::)
We don't learn he lost until the sequel, so I'm not sure how that counts.
Anyway... TB, perhaps you haven't noticed but you do often cite a film's success at the box office or critical acclaim as an argument for its quality. It's not "putting words in your mouth" at all, you do a good enough of job of that yourself. I remember the Forrest Gump thread.
I didn't. That really raised the movie to a different class. But it still isn't a masterpiece.
Rocky 4 is clearly the best in the series. If he dies, he dies. DRAAAGOOO! Hearts on fire. God damn, time to put that movie on. :D
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULIE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULIE!
(http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/2319/aash8.jpg)HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULIE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULIE!
(http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/5213/agnm7.jpg)HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULIE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULIE!
(http://img458.imageshack.us/img458/3865/abba0685wg7.jpg)HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULIE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULIE!
and yet we've spent the last three pages discussing Rocky.
More people need to see this...everyone I've shown it to loved it.
I might go see it today. Perhaps. If I can get a friend to go with me.
For TB: ;)
(http://photos-h.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v364/3/26/712033031/n712033031_1444711_5511.jpg)
For TB: ;)
(http://photos-h.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v364/3/26/712033031/n712033031_1444711_5511.jpg)
Well, I could drive down to see it with you but that might not be such a good idea. I might strangle you in the process. O0
I have to watch the Charger game first though! I can't believe they made it... :o
You're going DOWN, Whalestoe. :P
Well, I'm glad you beat out the Broncos at least. Any team that blows a 4 game lead with four games to play deserves to go down - hard.
Well, it looks all the lower seeds are winning, so sadly you do have a chance... :-\
Er, I mean, back on topic:
(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1932/3/26/712033031/n712033031_1885415_2630.jpg)
14-10 at half-time Whalestoe. :D
I wasn't a fan of Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain put me to sleep after 5 minutes, so I am not sure about this one.
remind me who the fat ass blond is 8)
Review: The Wrestler
by John Nolte
Director Darren Aronofsky’s stark look at the subculture of low-level professional wrestling builds to an impressive and ambitious character study that looks to be equal parts Requiem For A Heavyweight (1962) and The Set-Up (1949) before a predictable, cliched, cop-out of a climax unravels what had been so compelling into something more akin to What Price Narcissism?
Mickey Rourke summons a career performance as Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a washed up WWF-style wrestler who refuses to let go of his nearly extinguished celebrity even though his superstar days were left well behind decades ago in the era of spandex, big hair, and heavy metal anthems. With his long, stringy, bleached hair, artificial tan, and steroid-abused body, Robinson’s a hulking, grotesque monster of a man willing to suffer whatever it takes for another round of love from the crowd.
What he suffers most, however, are relentless humiliations, both big and small. Throughout New Jersey, Robinson spills blood in any seedy, makeshift gymnasium the circuit sets up. No matter how small the venue, though, the crowds still don’t reach capacity and he isn’t able to make even enough money to cover the rent on a depressing single-wide trailer he calls home. To supplement his income, Robinson deals in the drugs of his profession and unloads grocery trucks for a cruel, little man who lives to ridicule him.
Lonely and lost outside the ring, the faded superstar turns to Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), a fortyish stripper who for sixty bucks gives him something he needs even more than a topless lap dance, a few moments of gentle, human tenderness. Though it remains unspoken between them, both know few others can relate to life as aging performance-meat, with time running out and no future in sight.
After a particularly bloody and sadistic bout involving a staple gun and razor wire, Robinson wisely takes a doctor’s advice, retires, and goes about the business of building a normal life. He takes full-time hours at the grocery store, let’s Cassidy know how he feels about her, and after too many years reaches out to his estranged, college-aged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), whom he abandoned for fame when she was still a child.
The Wrestler has at least a dozen exceptional scenes that rank as the best of the year, all beautifully acted, shot and directed - especially those detailing the grim routine of Robinson’s life. The way in which Robinson and Cassidy find a way to connect through a shared loathing of 90’s music, and Robinson’s first day behind the deli counter are unforgettable and alone worth the price of admission.
What grinds The Wrestler up are the demands of a three-act plot structure and the unimaginative and rote way in which those demands are satisfied. What was subtle goes melodrama. What was real becomes contrived. And instead of a film that had a life force of its own, you feel the gears turn as characters betray everything we know about them in order to create necessary crisis points.
But other than Rourke’s moments, including an affecting confession and apology, there is no point where the father/daughter subplot is either subtle or real. Every imaginable cliche involving an embittered, angry daughter hurt by her loser father gets a hearing. And rather than try to rise above her tired scenes, Evan Rachel Wood seems dedicated to making obvious performance choices.
Which brings me to how the film ends. Without giving anything away, let’s just say that Aronofsky and screenwriter, Robert D. Siegel, take the road most travelled. The choice itself is bad enough but to have a character make a long speech to explain it is insult on top of injury. A hundred minutes spent laying down themes and developing a complicated and compelling character we very much sympathize with, and rather than take the time to craft the compelling and complicated fate he deserved, we get … this.
Every hopeful, painful moment of Requiem For A Heavyweight comes down to the exquisite, tragic site of Louis “Mountain” Rivera (Anthony Quinn) humiliated as a stunt performer whooping around the ring wearing Indian feathers. Juxtapose that with Robert Ryan’s Stoker, who takes a crippling beating but walks away with his chin up, the past behind him and the girl he loves on his arm.
Tragic, bittersweet, inspirational…
How the film ends isn’t up to me. But to strip away the heavy emotional investment made into this character and have me walk out not giving a damn about him isn’t about which fate’s the filmmaker chose, it’s about the execution of that fate.
The Ram deserved better.
Posted Jan 15th 2009 at 7:55 am
I personally felt it was pretty obvious he died, and not necessary to show just exactly what happened.Yeah, that's what I thought too but it was still kinda disappointing.
Time to use the word "spoiler"?SPOILER!
I had a problem with Ram's living status. Here's a guy who used to be a big celeb (the dude had action figures and video games made after him) and he's livin' in a trailer park?
Was all of that money wasted on blow?
he's a really nice guy, apart from being a fuckup he seems to know how to behave when around normal people, and his collegues seem to respect him, and that was really strange and unusual,
I had a problem with Ram's living status. Here's a guy who used to be a big celeb (the dude had action figures and video games made after him) and he's livin' in a trailer park?
The Wrestler (2008) 7.5/10
everybody kind of agree with a "I completely forgot about this" 6-7/10?I vote "aye."
So this movie was on TV lately and I noticed I had absolutely no intention of re-watching it. It was also on Netflix some time ago (maybe still is). It didn't stand the test of time for me. I also noticed that nobody around me has mentioned the movie for years. Even when Noah was released it got very little talk. So I was wondering: are there still people who love this movie or everybody kind of agree with a "I completely forgot about this" 6-7/10?I still think it's an excellent masterpiece and Aronofsky's best film by a looong shot. Actually put the DVD in the other day but got distracted by friends and alcohol. Noah got very little talk because it sucked cock.