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Author Topic: The Wrestler  (Read 21955 times)

¡Keith!

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #60 on: January 23, 2009, 01:39:19 PM »
I can't believe the hacks in the academy have failed to nominate Wrestler for best feature, director, or screenplay.  What a pathetic snub, was it really necessary to nominate Frost/Nixon, Reader, and Benjamin Button for all of these?  If it wasn't for Slumdog, Wall-E, and Bashir, I wouldn't even bother watching.   

You really shouldn't bother watching anyways.  At least record it if you do, so you can zip through it in like 20 min. instead of 4 hrs.

um... JACKMAN & DEAD PEOPLE... hello!

St. Martin the Bald

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #61 on: January 23, 2009, 04:25:30 PM »
Nah, the Iron Sheik had two main rivals, first Bob Backlund and then Hulk Hogan. After Hogan beat him for the WWF title the Iron Sheik's heyday was over and he would spend the rest of his career as the token ethnic bad guy for wrestling like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Junkyard Dog and the like.

I'll always most fondly remember him as Col. Mustafa.

Man, I really need to stop reading this thread because it's bringing back all my old wrestling memories. I was a hardcore fanatic, I still have about 500 or so tapes, anywhere from 2-8 events per tape, everything from Lucha to old school AWA, WCCW, NWA to Pororesu to the WWWF. I still remember Terry Boulder for crying out loud, if anyone here knows who he eventually became.

Didn't he become Hulk Hogan??
Hey, nice marmot!

Bill Thompson

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #62 on: January 23, 2009, 05:08:00 PM »
Nah, the Iron Sheik had two main rivals, first Bob Backlund and then Hulk Hogan. After Hogan beat him for the WWF title the Iron Sheik's heyday was over and he would spend the rest of his career as the token ethnic bad guy for wrestling like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Junkyard Dog and the like.

I'll always most fondly remember him as Col. Mustafa.

Man, I really need to stop reading this thread because it's bringing back all my old wrestling memories. I was a hardcore fanatic, I still have about 500 or so tapes, anywhere from 2-8 events per tape, everything from Lucha to old school AWA, WCCW, NWA to Pororesu to the WWWF. I still remember Terry Boulder for crying out loud, if anyone here knows who he eventually became.

Didn't he become Hulk Hogan??

Indeed he did, he was Terry Boulder as well as Sterling Golden and a few other monikers before he became Hulk Hogan.

jbissell

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #63 on: January 23, 2009, 05:09:13 PM »
Nah, the Iron Sheik had two main rivals, first Bob Backlund and then Hulk Hogan. After Hogan beat him for the WWF title the Iron Sheik's heyday was over and he would spend the rest of his career as the token ethnic bad guy for wrestling like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Junkyard Dog and the like.

I'll always most fondly remember him as Col. Mustafa.

Man, I really need to stop reading this thread because it's bringing back all my old wrestling memories. I was a hardcore fanatic, I still have about 500 or so tapes, anywhere from 2-8 events per tape, everything from Lucha to old school AWA, WCCW, NWA to Pororesu to the WWWF. I still remember Terry Boulder for crying out loud, if anyone here knows who he eventually became.

Didn't he become Hulk Hogan??

Indeed he did, he was Terry Boulder as well as Sterling Golden and a few other monikers before he became Hulk Hogan.

I'd like to change my vote for your 100th review.  Suburban Commando please.

Bill Thompson

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #64 on: January 23, 2009, 05:11:00 PM »
Nah, the Iron Sheik had two main rivals, first Bob Backlund and then Hulk Hogan. After Hogan beat him for the WWF title the Iron Sheik's heyday was over and he would spend the rest of his career as the token ethnic bad guy for wrestling like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Junkyard Dog and the like.

I'll always most fondly remember him as Col. Mustafa.

Man, I really need to stop reading this thread because it's bringing back all my old wrestling memories. I was a hardcore fanatic, I still have about 500 or so tapes, anywhere from 2-8 events per tape, everything from Lucha to old school AWA, WCCW, NWA to Pororesu to the WWWF. I still remember Terry Boulder for crying out loud, if anyone here knows who he eventually became.

Didn't he become Hulk Hogan??

Indeed he did, he was Terry Boulder as well as Sterling Golden and a few other monikers before he became Hulk Hogan.

I'd like to change my vote for your 100th review.  Suburban Commando please.

Words cannot describe how much I loved Suburban Commando as a kid.

Proteus

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #65 on: January 24, 2009, 05:02:40 PM »
I saw this more as a fan of Rourke, mildly as a fan of Aronofsky, and with a bit of affection for the WWF stuff I watched a little as a kid.

It's impressive Rourke was willing to look like shit without the tons of Sin-City style makeup. It's impressive he could still get into the audience's heads and hearts. He's a very talented performer, and seemed to have something to prove. However, I'm not sure there was anything to his performance that hadn't been previously done for Aronofsky by Ellen Burstyn, and done better. If Rourke wins anything, he should publically declare he's splitting the prize with Ellen Burstyn.

I imagine Marisa Tomei feels entitled to the respect she's getting. Her character, arc, and physical demands seemed pretty standard fare to me, but her performance was stronger and deserved notice. However, her performance being considered one of the year's greatest female performances is a condemnation of Hollywood. As female characters go, she is slightly more raw than average, but absolutely unremarkable. I thought her stuff particularly at the end of the film was either too much or not enough, and whichever it was, it left me unsatisfied and discontent.

I remember the moment I realized how the film was going to end, when Rourke sees a glimmer of what he is and where he's going. At that point, it seemed clear to me that the physical and emotional damage he was inflicting on himself were done out of hollow desperation, and it became difficult to see the film as anything other than a similar sort of hollow desperation. I think Aronofsky screwed the story up most by what he did with Evan Rachel wood. Had her story worked differently, tat one beautiful moment might have been less powerful or surprising, but the overall film would feel stronger and less cliched.

In short, because the film has achingly realistic portraits of pain and sorrow, it deserves some acclaim. However, because the film breaks no new ground and falls back onto cliche and tropic archetypes, it is only a pretty good movie, and hardly a significant achievement, except perhaps, for its redemption-seeking star.

Am i wrong to assume the fading stars of the WWF were expected cameo appearances? I would have been much more impressed with the staple-gun in Macho Man Randy Savage's hands, or to see a sad, portly Bobby the Brain as a ref or something.

Ouier' kouen selkhir.


In short, as a snow-drift is formed where there is a lull in the wind, so, one would say, where there is a lull of truth, an institution springs up. But the truth blows right on over it, nevertheless, and at length blows it down.

smirnoff

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #66 on: January 24, 2009, 11:29:32 PM »
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this one Proteus. I found myself agreeing with much of what you said. You should chime in more often  ;)

Proteus

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #67 on: January 25, 2009, 09:33:58 AM »
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this one Proteus. I found myself agreeing with much of what you said. You should chime in more often  ;)

Thanks, Smirnoff! Hope to contribute more as time permits...

Mbi taa.
In short, as a snow-drift is formed where there is a lull in the wind, so, one would say, where there is a lull of truth, an institution springs up. But the truth blows right on over it, nevertheless, and at length blows it down.

Bill Thompson

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #68 on: January 25, 2009, 10:53:48 AM »
Am i wrong to assume the fading stars of the WWF were expected cameo appearances? I would have been much more impressed with the staple-gun in Macho Man Randy Savage's hands, or to see a sad, portly Bobby the Brain as a ref or something.

You are wrong, because those guys have no place in the setting of the movie. They are the exception to the story of The Wrestler, they never had to suffer, they made tons of money and stayed in the spotlight for 99% of their careers. Also, Macho Man would never take a staple gun to the chest in real pro wrestling, so seeing him do it in The Wrestler would have been incredibly fake.

Proteus

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Re: The Wrestler
« Reply #69 on: January 25, 2009, 11:04:08 AM »
You are wrong, because those guys have no place in the setting of the movie. They are the exception to the story of The Wrestler, they never had to suffer, they made tons of money and stayed in the spotlight for 99% of their careers. Also, Macho Man would never take a staple gun to the chest in real pro wrestling, so seeing him do it in The Wrestler would have been incredibly fake.

I was thinking of Macho Man playing a no-name wrestler (a la Spiderman), not appearing as himself. It wasn't so much about wanting to see celebrities as themselves, but sort of nodding to the fact that there are a lot of unknowns on their way up and on their way down, and that isn't lost on them when they make it to the top.

Edabo.
In short, as a snow-drift is formed where there is a lull in the wind, so, one would say, where there is a lull of truth, an institution springs up. But the truth blows right on over it, nevertheless, and at length blows it down.