The Wrestler

[KevinmH9]

Mick Foley wrote a piece for Slate saying how much he liked the film.

http://www.slate.com/id/2207076/

Although I really shouldn't have been surprised, I was in fact stunned and appalled at the number of references to "I" "me" and "my" - eight, in the first 111 words alone. And nine more in the 104 words of the second paragraph. And five more in the first 65 words of the third paragraph....holy crap.....

The sad fact is Foley could outwrite 90% of us on this board.

Really, really want to see this picture, mostly because I'm a huge wrestling fan and this is getting rave reviews. I don't know much about Rourke, but I've read articles on his comeback and it is an amazing story. Perhaps something that could be its own movie somewhere down the line.

I couldn't agree more, on all your points. I can't wait to see "The Wrestler"

If you haven't already, and like wrestling, catch "Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows" - absolutely awesome. "Beyond the Mat" was good, but I liked "Shadows" more.

Just finished reading Bret Hart's book and I put it up there with Foley's first book and Dynamite Kid's "Pure Dynamite" as the best wrestling books ever written. A notch above Jerico's. Probably a couple of notches above Dyno's (Sorry, Dyno).

Not to threadjack, but
Best wrestling books ever written (IMHO):

1. Bret Hart
2. Mick Foley's "Have A Nice Day!"
3. "Pure Dynamite"
4. Chris Jericho's
5. Terry Funk's
6. Harley Race's (Too short, and there's got to be WAY more Harley stories)
7. Ric Flair
8. History of the NWA (A dry read for most, but chock full of history)

Really? Bret Hart? Comon', I like the guy and all and I haven't read his biography but I suspect half of the book is dedicated to Bret's hatred for Vince and what he did to him as well as Shawn Michaels.

Don't get me started on his brother's death and the amount of blame he put on Vince for that, too...

 

[hockeybeat]

Watching it as I type.

How is it?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Watching it as I type.

How is it?

40 minutes left. I'm not sure it lives up to the hype, but Rourke is definitely great.

 

[hockeybeat]

Watching it as I type.

How is it?

40 minutes left. I'm not sure it lives up to the hype, but Rourke is definitely great.

Thanks for the info. I'm hoping to see it sometime next week.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Don't get me wrong, it's a very, very good film, but I was a little disappointed.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It's a bit predictable. Not a huge fan of the ending. Not as dark as some have said. I wanted and expected a little more from a movie that so many have said is the best of the year.

 

[schiezainc]

Really? Bret Hart? Comon', I like the guy and all and I haven't read his biography but I suspect half of the book is dedicated to Bret's hatred for Vince and what he did to him as well as Shawn Michaels.

Don't get me started on his brother's death and the amount of blame he put on Vince for that, too...

Honestly, if that is the case, would you expect anything different? Those two events are what most people remember him for. It's not like you hear the name Bret Hart and think "Oh, he had a great feud with The Mountie in 1992."

To me, Hart was an icon and changed the way I watched wrestling. I can't watch to read his book.

 

[Magic In The Night]

I thought it was great and Rourke has a very good chance for the Oscar. Also, the supporting roles by Marisa Tomei (oh my, as a stripper) and Rachel Evan Wood are great. They might get nods as well. And Bruce's song is a heartbreaker and should get a nomination, too.

 

[schiezainc]

I thought it was great and Rourke has a very good chance for the Oscar. Also, the supporting roles by Marisa Tomei (oh my, as a stripper) and Rachel Evan Wood are great. They might get nods as well. And Bruce's song is a heartbreaker and should get a nomination, too.

Does Tomei get naked? Just wonderin'.

 

[HandsomeHarley]

Really? Bret Hart? Comon', I like the guy and all and I haven't read his biography but I suspect half of the book is dedicated to Bret's hatred for Vince and what he did to him as well as Shawn Michaels.

Don't get me started on his brother's death and the amount of blame he put on Vince for that, too...

Honestly, if that is the case, would you expect anything different? Those two events are what most people remember him for. It's not like you hear the name Bret Hart and think "Oh, he had a great feud with The Mountie in 1992."

To me, Hart was an icon and changed the way I watched wrestling. I can't watch to read his book.

Actually, you would be very surprised.

FWIT, Bret and Vince kiss and make up. Shawn, not so much.

The book goes from his early beginnings in a big family, into the family business at Stampede, getting his start, going to Japan, the WWE, all the way through his bicycle wreck and stroke.

It doesn't pull any punches, but I didn't think Bret came off as a mark for himself, though I know that's his credo.

It made me dislike Shawn Michaels as much as I ever did, and made me absolutely hate his sister who married The Anvil. What a contemptuous *****.

 

[Magic In The Night]

I thought it was great and Rourke has a very good chance for the Oscar. Also, the supporting roles by Marisa Tomei (oh my, as a stripper) and Rachel Evan Wood are great. They might get nods as well. And Bruce's song is a heartbreaker and should get a nomination, too.

Does Tomei get naked? Just wonderin'.

Pretty much. I mean, she's topless and not much left to imagination on the bottom. She's had to have had some work done to look like that at her age.

 

[schiezainc]

I thought it was great and Rourke has a very good chance for the Oscar. Also, the supporting roles by Marisa Tomei (oh my, as a stripper) and Rachel Evan Wood are great. They might get nods as well. And Bruce's song is a heartbreaker and should get a nomination, too.

Does Tomei get naked? Just wonderin'.

Pretty much. I mean, she's topless and not much left to imagination on the bottom. She's had to have had some work done to look like that at her age.

Anticipation of this flick (and other things) just rose for me.

But, I mean, it's not like I have a thing for Marisa Tomei. Like she would ever go out with a short, stocky, bald man.

 

[Norman Stansfield]

The blading adds to the realism (I assume -- I haven't seen it yet) because that's how they do it in the actual business.

If he really wanted an Oscar plastic surgery, he should have gotten New Jack to blade him.

Yeah, ask Mass Transit how that turned out for him

As a sidelight, check out a couple of the New Jack shoot videos that are floating around youtube.

Talk about a deranged, sick individual. Yet strangely enough, I kept watching...

 

[hockeybeat]

The blading adds to the realism (I assume -- I haven't seen it yet) because that's how they do it in the actual business.

If he really wanted an Oscar plastic surgery, he should have gotten New Jack to blade him.

Yeah, ask Mass Transit how that turned out for him

As a sidelight, check out a couple of the New Jack shoot videos that are floating around youtube.

Talk about a deranged, sick individual. Yet strangely enough, I kept watching...

Yeah, New Jack is ****ing nuts. I got a copy of the First Shane Douglas ECW reunion show and documentary. Paraphrasing New Jack, he said about Mass Transit, "The kid wanted color, he got color. I cut that boy up good." Watching him laugh about it, watching him shrug off the fact that he was responsible for the kid's death, was disgusting.

And New Jack wonders why he hasn't been offered a contract by Vince McMahon. McMahon may be a son of a ***** who doesn't care about his performers' lives, but there's no way he'll employ that dangerous lunatic.

RE: The movie:

Seeing it on Wednesday. Cannot wait.

It seems as if the Randy "The Ram" Robinson character was based on an amalgamation of Terry Funk and Jake Roberts and Ric Flair.

 

[Magic In The Night]

Hockeybeat,

I thought Rourke's character was kinda like the Hulk. But I know nothing of wrestling.

 

[hockeybeat]

I thought about Hogan for a second, but there aren't any parallels.

Hogan could sign a deal today with WWE or TNA and instantly work in front of good sized crowds (well, maybe not good sized crowds with TNA) and be among those companies' highest paid performers. He doesn't need to wrestle for money. He's well-off.

The Robinson character is struggling. He's working indy shows in front of handfuls of people for a couple dollars. He's not making any real money. Look at guys like Roberts and Funk and Flair. They're in their sixties and still working independent shows because they have wrestling in their blood. It's a drug, it's a rush. In the case of Roberts (and, I believe, Flair), he needs the coin.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I haven't watched wrestling since the late 1980s, but Jake Roberts is definitely one of the guys I think of when watching that movie. Funk has been mentioned in several articles as being one of the inspirations for the main character.

And if we're talking about wrestlers from the 1980s who are still alive, I'm guessing Hogan and Savage are the only ones who could still draw a crown these days. Maybe Roddy Piper as well.

 

[hockeybeat]

Saw it today.

Beautiful. Powerful. Sad. Thought-provoking. These are the words that came to (my) mind after seeing it. Rourke should win an Oscar just for the fact that he was willing to brutalize his body.

The Ram was a traigic character. A combination of Jake Roberts (his demons and failures as a person) and Terry Funk (cannot get rid of the wrestling itch), there was not going to be a happy ending for him. What he wanted more than anything else, he wasn't going to get. So he was going to punish himself for the pleasure of hundreds who only knew him as a wrestler.

 

[schiezainc]

My interest in this flick has waned considerably. I'm leaning towards a DVD rental now when I originally wanted to see it opening day. Stupid idiots and their limited release plan.

 

[hockeybeat]

My interest in this flick has waned considerably. I'm leaning towards a DVD rental now when I originally wanted to see it opening day. Stupid idiots and their limited release plan.

It's a staggered release so that the public and Hollywood voters will be talking about the movie come awards season. It's actually a bright idea. Instead of a wide release and taking the risk that the public and voters forget about the film, they're betting that the film is so good that people will see it when it comes out and that will win some awards.

On a thoroughly unrelated note, it's been awhile since I could think of a song that was so perfect for a movie. That is, until I heard Springsteen's "The Wrestler." It's a perfectly haunting.