Just saw Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler"

[mrbook]

It was an advance screening in AZ.

Loved it. Such a gritty and honest film, with just as gritty and even more honest performance by Mickey Rourke. The academy has to give him an Oscar nom for this one. In terms of the directing, it was all handheld documentary style. None of the flashy editing contained in Aronofsky's other movies, but it all worked.

There was also a Q&A afterward with Aronofsky and Marisa Tomei. Someone asked him how he was approaching Robocop, to which he jokingly responded, "I have no idea what you're talking about." I was under the impression that he is contractually obligated to not talk about it. I went and shook his hand after the Q&A. He seems like a very nice and down-to-earth guy. He's one of my favorite directors, so meeting him put me on cloud nine.

The Wrestler is definitely an art-house movie. It's very deliberately paced, which I'm sure the general American public won't dig. Check it out.

[scoobydiesel]

Really want to see this and I'm glad to hear Rourke did a fine job.

[stubadub]

I'm pretty jealous right now.

[randomlyrossy]

I don't suppose you're a wrestling fan and could comment on it in that regard? Tis one of the reasons I'm looking forward to it personally.

[mrbook]

I don't suppose you're a wrestling fan and could comment on it in that regard? Tis one of the reasons I'm looking forward to it personally.

I'm not a wrestling fan now, but was when I was a little kid. I thought the movie treated pro-wrestling with the utmost respect. I think it'll open people's eyes as to how much these guys punish their bodies. The portrayal of the amount of damage that Rourke's character is willing to take, just to get by, is very brutal. I'll just say that there's a whole wrestling match scene, which involves barbed-wire, panes of glass, and a staple-gun.

Aronofsky said that Roddy Piper saw the movie and ended up breaking down and crying in Mickey Rourke's arms. He said that the movie was almost an exact interpretation of his life after the fame had gone away.

[randomlyrossy]

I'm not a wrestling fan now, but was when I was a little kid. I thought the movie treated pro-wrestling with the utmost respect. I think it'll open people's eyes as to how much these guys punish their bodies. The portrayal of the amount of damage that Rourke's character is willing to take, just to get by, is very brutal. I'll just say that there's a whole wrestling match scene, which involves barbed-wire, panes of glass, and a staple-gun.

Aronofsky said that Roddy Piper saw the movie and ended up breaking down and crying in Mickey Rourke's arms. He said that the movie was almost an exact interpretation of his life after the fame had gone away.

Cheers. I am very much looking forward to this, moreso now. Trailer is very promising.

[heyseuss]

Cheers. I am very much looking forward to this, moreso now. Trailer is very promising.

I take it you've seen Beyond The Mat ?

[scoobydiesel]

Beyond the mat was wonderful.

Glad that they try to be nice to the source material(can i say that?) and still cant wait to see this.

[heyseuss]

Beyond the mat was wonderful.

Glad that they try to be nice to the source material(can i say that?) and still cant wait to see this.

I was really happily surprised to see how intelligent Mick Foley /Mankind is.

The small time wrestling org's is what really bothers me. Overall, I admire the athleticism of some of it, but that's overidden by the sheer stupidity of the concept to me. When I was touring america and was dealing with bumblefuck hotel channels, wrestling was the only consistent thing, and I was already braindead by the time I got into the hotel room, so I watched alot of it. The Hardy Boys and mexican wrestlers were kinda impressive.

I worked fo WWF in the mid 90's selling their merchandise, and the majority of the audiece were, 12-15 yr old boys, office worker stiffs, and mentally handicapped. That was pretty much a description of the entire arena. The funniest thing was seeing 'mortal enemies' in the ring, joking around and having fart competitions with each other in the locker rooms.

[rkolegendkiller91]

I hella want to see it

[scoobydiesel]

Yeah since i started selling wrestling dvds i have noticed it is very simple when it comes to people who buy the stuff, kids is right and not in a mean way but i do get alot of mentally handicapped that buy the dvds offten.

Im a huge fan of wwe and tna and well all pro wrestling and some times i do get carried away and on a few times i started talking about how good a match this or that was and then the customer would go on about how bad the heel was and im like wow they really think its real....

but anyways...I dunno what i fall under but i did start watching at a very young age and i have just stayed on with it.

[randomlyrossy]

I take it you've seen Beyond The Mat ?

Yup, got it on VHS :p

Superb documentary, I watched it around the time I had just started to understand what wrestling actually was too so it was really interesting to me.

The whole 'it's not real' thing still annoys me though, people think they're so clued up on it when they really don't get what these guys do.

[joedubbs]

I hadn't even heard of this movie until this week when I saw it on a couple of blogs and once I read the thread here I decided to watch the trailer. It looks like it could be a really compelling movie and a role Rourke was meant to play.

[torx]

rourke fit the rol perfectly, but i honestly thought the movie was a complete bore.

im not a wrestling fan, more like anti-wrestling... but i LOVEE documentaries and the "nuts and bolts" (like jeff said) type of movies. Its very intriguing and interesting.

but this movie was just not interesting at all.
but it does allow one to realize and appreciate the hardships these guys might go through for your entertainment benefit.

[the-comedian]

An amazingly minimal movie. It was so simple, yet so great. I'd be shocked if Rourke doesn't get the Oscar for this movie. One of the better films I've seen this year. Wish there was more Evan Rachel Wood though.

[vhalkirian666]

Finally saw the movie, I liked it...reminded me a lot of "Beyond The Mat" that came out years ago.

[mrbook]

An amazingly minimal movie. It was so simple, yet so great. I'd be shocked if Rourke doesn't get the Oscar for this movie. One of the better films I've seen this year. Wish there was more Evan Rachel Wood though.

Agree with you on everything except EVR. I think she's nice too look at, but she actually took me out of the movie. Seeing Rourke's completely raw performance, made hers pale in comparison. I don't know... her acting was impressive when she was younger in "13," but IMO, it hasn't seemed to have grown at all.

[esophagus]

Brilliant. Definitely my second favorite movie of the year so far (Slumdog). Great performances all around (specifically Rourke) and an amazing script to complement it.

[heyseuss]

I don't know... her acting was impressive when she was younger in "13," but IMO, it hasn't seemed to have grown at all.

Agreed. Not specifically about The Wrestler as I haven't seen it, but about her career in general.

[zachface]

I loved it immediately with the camera style and the shots behind the back following people as was mentioned on TRS. The fight scenes looked gutwrenchingly real as did the rest of the movie. It was truly a sad movie though, and I cried at the end. It represented one of my greatest fears and seeing this guy that I became so emotionally invested in go to that "place" was hard to stomach. Beside that, the retail stuff was amazing. Everything from the small poster that says "Don't forget B.O.B.!" (which in retail means "bottom of basket," any small items left on the bottom that the customer might have forgotten) and the interaction with the customers at the deli was spot on. I really felt connected to this movie after watching that being that I deal with the same thing day in, day out.