we watched 2 movies last night (anything to stave off the impending monday morning blues.) if you haven't seen "the wrestler" but plan on it, skip my review. i want to know what people think of the movie without my bias.
also, i'm not putting a bunch of links in my posts anymore. y'all know how to work the google & wikipedia!
"the wrestler" has been hyped for months now. it's supposed to be mickey rourke's best performance. he's won a golden globe and up for an oscar. everyone who sees the trailer is shocked by his appearance. he's bulked up huge, and his face is a mess (mostly from boxing in the 90's and some plastic surgery gone wrong.)
after all the hype, i finally watched the movie last night. it was a little bit of a let down. the story was predictable and the characters a little 2 dimensional. "the broken down piece of meat" wrestler, the stripper with kids at home and a heart of tarnished gold, the angry daughter he neglects, finds peace with, then neglects again. the trailer park, crappy job, strip club and weekend wrestling matches. it's all just a little too neat & predictable.
the performances are all good. really good. B+ good. mickey rourke is basically playing himself, & marissa tomei makes me feel a little bad for her (she seems to be nude in most films, and plays an aging stripper a little too well.) the story and dialog are also B+ good.
the subplot about the wrestler trying to contact his daughter after a heart attack totally triggered my "daddy issues" and i cried. but, as groundcat put it, "any girl with a dad would have cried during that scene!" it felt a little manipulative, like the scene was shot with the intention of bringing on the tears. dad seeks daughter, daughter tells him to fuck off. dad tries again, daughter gives him chance, dad gives heartfelt speech about his regrets. then they break into an abandoned ballroom on the NJ boardwalk and waltz together. cue tears!!!
the story continues on the generic plot of the wrestler trying to reform his ways, trying to reform the ways of the stripper he loves, the setbacks, and one really brutal scene at a deli counter that reminded me of the directors previous more brutal film, "requiem for a dream.' but then it was back to the formula and i felt a little cheated by the whole film. i think without all the hype, i would have still wanted to see the film, and might have enjoyed it a little more, if only for the surprises. by the time the credits roll and the springsteen song about "a one-legged dog" starts up, i felt a little cheated.
the other film we watched was "the brood", a late 70's horror film by david cronenberg. he's know for making films with the theme of "body horror", like "scanners", "the fly", "naked lunch" and "eXistenZ". i have always said that there's something really wrong with cronenberg, and this film proves it.
(definition of body horror: fiction in which the horror is principally derived from the graphic destruction or degeneration of the body. such works may deal with disease, decay, parasitism, mutilation, or mutation.)
here's how i described the film to reynolds: "the brood is about a mean pyschic doctor who makes the anger come out of people. one guy gets covered in pox while the mean doctor screams at him, pretending to be his dad. the main character's wife is in a cabin in the woods with this doctor. she's real scary. she has puffy hair and sits on pillows. she's giving birth to little creepy blonde kids who put on snowsuits and go kill the people she's mad at. they are all deformed and have a "hump" back that they live off of, like a camel. at the end of the film, her husband shows up to trick her into thinking he loves her, trying to get her to stop being mad (and birthing the deformed evil kids.) she pulls up her white gown to show him what she's been "getting into" out in the cabin, and she has a uterus on the outside of her stomach!!! she bites into it and rips the bloody deformed baby out and licks it."
here is a clip of the last few minutes of the film, starting with the worst part. it's really horrible. really. one of the worst things i've ever seen in a movie. i wish i hadn't seen it. so now i am sharing that sorrow. enjoy!!!
p.s. the story about "the brood" is that david cronenberg was going through a bad divorce & custody fight. he refers to this film as his own "kramer vs. kramer." LMAO!!!!
ok, that's it for now. ciao peeps!!!
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