This post will be divided essentially into halves with the review and analysis. The review will be a typical affair while the analysis will be unleashing my inner geek on the movie.

Review

If there was one movie that I was meant to see this year, without a doubt it's Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. This movie is a beautiful merger of two of the things I love - movies and prowrestling. Is it my favourite movie this year? Well, that's yet to be determined.

With The Wrestler, Aronofsky has raised his own bar in crafting the tragic portrait of a professional wrestler. It's not about the glitz and glamour that one would come to mind when thinking of such superstars as Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Steve Austin, but rather about those forgotten stars who faded away in the 80's.

This is the role that Rourke was meant to play if for no other reason than that his own life parallels that of his character Randy "The Ram" Robinson. They were both shining stars at the peak of their careers in the 80's, and as soon as the 90's hit, their light quickly faded away. The movie and the reality behind it is a story of a man's journey in keeping that light alive. Make no mistakes, this movie is the Mickey Rourke show.

Marisa Tomei (who is absolutely STUNNING at age 44) plays a stripper named Cassidy who Randy befriends. She does an excellent job of playing a bitch who seems remorseless to a more sentimental single mother. Unfortunately, the number of scenes with Tomei are limited. It would have been good to develop this angle more.

Evan Rachel Wood plays Randy's distant daughter and much like Tomei, her scenes are limited. Apparently, the storyline of this relationship was modelled after the relationship that Jake 'The Snake' Robert's has with his daughter shown in the wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat.

On that note, I don't believe there is one particular wrestler that Randy is modelled after, rather its an amalgamation of wrestling veterans and their personal stories. Some names I've heard thrown around were Jake Roberts, Greg Valentine, Terry Funk, and so forth.

Prowrestling is a strange world. You can go from being known worldwide and wrestling in sold-out stadiums to becoming a Joe-schmo nobody wrestling for a few measly bucks in a bar or school gym... all within a matter of years. It's a sad reality, and I must say Aronofsky depicts it well and with much respect towards the psuedo-sport.

Of all of Aronofsky's "mainstream" movies, this one clearly stands out with its more conventional style of storytelling. As compared to Pi, Requiem for a Dream, and The Fountain, this one is certainly more visceral while the other three are more cerebral.

The movie deserves a bunch of Oscar nominations if not the win. At the very least, I hope they get the nod for Best Actor, Picture and Director.

Analysis

I'm going to go switch the gears onto geek overdrive in this section... beware of mild spoilers.

The relationship that Randy has with Cassidy is interesting in that both of their lives mirror each other, albeit in different professions. Both are entertainers who find a strange type of respect with their fans and customers, but outside in the real world, they find that they are lost and uncared for.

There's also a scene that they have at a bar that clearly represents them both. They have a conversation about music and how it ruled in the 80's, but as soon as the 90's hit, everything started to suck... much reminiscent to their lives.

I have many favourite moments in the movie - moments where you could pause the movie in your head, take a snapshot, and let the picture speak a thousand words.

One such scene occured after Randy had a hardcore match with the Necro Butcher. The match was brutal, bloody and violent. We then get a shot where Randy is sitting by himself in the empty locker room with his back towards the camera and his head buried in his hands. We get to see all the scars, cuts, swellings and scabs from the match he just had. The image speaks for itself, and you can tell he's asking himself "why the fuck am I doing this shit?".

One of the sadder scenes takes place at an autograph signing session. It is clearly a failure. You see a room full of wrestling veterans sitting by themselves trying to sell their goods to the four or five people or so that show up. On a bunch of tables you can see they're trying to sell VHSs, not even DVDs. The symbolism with the VHS tapes is interesting because like these wrestlers, they are a product that belonged in the past.

Oddly enough, my favourite moment in the movie is one where we don't see anything at all. It happens at the end of the movie, when the screen fades to black as Bruce Springsteen's song "The Wrestler" hits. There is an extended period of blackness as the ballad plays. It's a beautiful song written by Springsteen specifically for this movie and as a personal favour to his friend Mickey Rourke. It's a peaceful moment that allows the viewer to take in the movie along with the song that plays, which fully describes Randy's career. A triumphant end to a triumphant movie.



Categories: darren aronofsky , drama , mickey rourke , movies , the wrestler

Of all of Fincher's films, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is clearly his most emotional work to date.

The story follows the life of one Benjamin Button - a man whose birth was both a miracle and disaster. He was mysterious born as an old man and soon discovers that he's aging backwards. The movie follows his life as he comes across new adventures and experiences along with the challenges of being different from everyone around him.

The story is loosely adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story of the same name. I say loosely because although the concept of a man aging backwards is used, almost everything else was changed. Not a bad thing at all - I was wondering how they were going to expand a 14 page story into a nearly 3 hour film (I'm still meaning to write a review on his short stories book).

Brad Pitt and David Fincher together is just money. They've had many successes in the past with Se7en, Fight Club, and now with Benjamin Button. There is a chemistry between the actor and director in this pairing that just works.

Cate Blanchett plays the love interest to Brad Pitt's Benjamin. There are few women in Hollywood who evoke elegance and beauty the way that Cate does... that on top of her accomplished acting experience (Nicole Kidman also comes to mind).

The movie is well done in terms of all the effects, sets, costumes and music to create the atmospheres of the past. The storytelling itself is also quite moving. It was kind of funny near the end during a sequence of scenes that are quite sad and weepy. During the moments of silence we could hear all the women in the theater sobbing. I whispered this to my sister and brother, and all three of us laughed quietly. Yes... we're dicks.

Of my three favourite Fincher movies, I'd have to rank Button second to Se7en but ahead of Zodiac.

Check it out if you can, it's quite an intriguing movie. Later geeks.

Categories: benjamin button , drama , movies

My dad woke me up today with the delight of an XBox 360!! I've wanted one for about 2 years now and finally those dreams have come to fruition. It was on sale at Best Buy for $240, so hefty savings from the regular $300 retail price. My dad is pretty awesome for doing this, I didn't even really ask for it. After delivering it, he went back to work shortly after. Me and my brother ate some lunch and did some light Boxing Day shopping. I went to get Gears of War at Best Buy for $20 and my brother went to the wine store to buy 2 bottles of wine. As well, my sister, while out braving downtown Toronto with her friends, snagged a Super Mario Galaxy for $30 at HMV. What a glorious day at the Lam household for gaming!

Categories: fucking ruled , gaming , other , wii , xbox 360

Stay safe and happy!

Categories: other

Last night I was at the Eaton Centre and I stopped by Indigo to browse around. I ended up staying there for about 40 minutes reading a book about CSS and XHTML. After reading a bunch of their tutorials, I felt motivated to fix up my blog. Well, I feel accomplished today. I've been meaning to tweak my blog layout for a while, and finally I got around to doing it. Here are some changes:

• Move author name underneath the title
• Link the author name to my profile page
• Separate comments from categories
• Changed 'Categories' list to not display categories with only 1 post
• Merged post count and Archives list on to the same line and link
• Fixed some margins

There are still a few things I want to tweak (notice the Archives list grey box?) but I'll have to read over stuff still. They sound like such simple things to do, but when you're such a n00b with CSS, it makes it all the more difficult. Anyhow, that's all. Later geeks.

Categories: changes , other

My friend, Pastor James, sent me an e-mail in response to my review on Gran Torino, specifically in regards to his relationship with my young friend, DaYue. He speaks a truth that I can't deny - we need to outreach to the younger generation. He gave me permission to share this with you all, my faithful readers:

"First I am deeply touched that you thought of me when you saw the movie.

I think we as men of faith, have no other choice but to take our life experience and wisdom (really all the Holy Spirit's empowerment) and share it with a world that has grown so dark, is so far off track, is full of pseudo-families and pretend friends, and which has eviscerated our young men.

Satan not only has made many of our families lack masculine leadership, but also many of our churches are lacking male headship as well. We need to stop this onslaught, even if it is with one guy. We need to do whatever possible to pour ourselves into the lives of others....as you have been poured into and made a man of God, you must turn around and find someone to pour into...the problem will not be where do you find one, but how can you only find one. At least, one at a time; until they can move on and begin to pour themselves into a life.

I am not doing nothing special - I am living my faith and acting on it with another human being. When he is done, the Lord will bring someone else along. This is what we do as man of God, men of faith, men of integrity. Nothing else matters."

That's all for today.

Categories: christianity , life stuff , religion

A few prominent critics have weighed in their picks for the year's best movies.

Ebert elected not to rank them this year, so here they are placed in alphabetical order:

• Ballast
• The Band’s Visit
• Che
• Chop Shop
• The Dark Knight
• Doubt
• The Fall
• Frost/Nixon
• Frozen River
• Happy-Go-Lucky
• Iron Man
• Milk
• Rachel Getting Married
• The Reader
• Revolutionary Road
• Shotgun Stories
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Synecdoche, New York
• W
• WALL-E

His former reviewing partner, Richard Roeper published his top 25 list, as well as an assortment of other categories (full article here). What I like is that Forgetting Sarah Marshall made it to his number 9 choice, so he gains lots of respect for that move. The rest of the list is as follows:

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. The Dark Knight
3. The Wrestler
4. In Bruges
5. I've Loved You So Long
6. Gran Torino
7. Milk
8. The Visitor
9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
10. Frozen River
11. Doubt
12. Snow Angels
13. Frost/Nixon
14. The Reader
15. Seven Pounds
16. Iron Man
17. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
18. W.
19. Henry Poole Is Here
20. Burn After Reading
21. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
22. WALL-E
23. The Bank Job
24. Tropic Thunder
25. Che

Finally, Richard Corliss of Time Magazine has his top ten of the year, and somehow, Speed Racer made it to 9... questionable... :

1. WALL-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. My Winnipeg
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
5. Milk
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Iron Man
9. Speed Racer
10. Encounters At The End of the World

===========

It's interesting to note that the movies that made it to all three lists include Slumdog Millionaire, Wall-E and Milk... maybe an early Oscar indicator. It's too bad that animated movies aren't considered in the best picture category because Wall-E would be a shoe in. However, I think it's pretty much guaranteed a win in the animated category.

Categories: movies , top list

Categories: survivor , survivor gabon , tv

Clint Eastwood's latest effort, Gran Torino, is quite a visceral powerhouse. He again proves why he's a master at his art in both directing and acting.

The story follows his character, Kowalski, who is a hardened and calloused veteran who comes to grips with his mortality (note: I wonder if his name is in reference to Killer Kowalski, the great wrester of the 50s to 70s). He grunts and groans through half the movie, and who could blame him for being so grumpy... even his own kids treat him like shit. He begins to take down those walls after becoming friends with a young asian boy, Thao, a new neighbour of his. He makes it his goal to teach this boy how to become a man, and it's through this relationship that Kowalski becomes mixed up with the local ruffians that terrorize the neighbourhood.

The trailer was a bit deceiving. The whole time I was expecting to see an hour and a half of Eastwood kicking some gangland ass, but this was not the case. Don't get me wrong, he does give the gang members an ass kicking, but most of the movie deals with building his relationship with the young boy.

Eastwood is a man that understands his craft, specifically, he knows how to draw emotion out of his audience. The key to this is character development. Regardless of if a story is complicated or simple, if you don't give us a reason to care for the characters, we won't give two shits about the story. In this case, the story never feels tired; at times its funny, serious, and sad.

My only real gripe with the movie was the acting. With the exception of Eastwood who was superb, the acting all around was pretty horrendous and even laughable at parts. The cast was made of mostly unknowns perhaps too inexperienced in these roles. Still, Eastwood's acting saved the movie by far from becoming an acting disaster.

One last thing of a more personal note. As I was watching the movie, I couldn't help but be reminded of my friend and former pastor, James, as well as my friend DaYue. Their relationship is similar to that of Kowalski's and Thao's; James gets DaYue to help with chores and stuff around the house, teaches him how to be a man, and counsels him... and I'm sure in the middle of it there's guns, cars, and gangs in there. The whole time I was watching them interact in the movie I was saying to myself, that's James and Yue! Even Thao's mannerisms are similar.

Anyhow, I say check it out if you can. You can see the trailer (here). Later geeks.

Categories: clint eastwood , drama , gran torino , movies

Two documentaries in a row. Although Man on Wire is being touted as a favourite for an Oscar nomination and win, I much more enjoyed American Teen, one of the breakout films at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. By no means is this a great film or one that inspires hope like Man on Wire does, but this is still a damn enjoyable movie.

The movie focuses on four teenagers in Warsaw, Indiana as they go through their final year of high school and of course we get to see all the drama that's related with it; there's the geek who's trying to find his true love and his identity, there's the artistic tortured soul who seeks to escape Indiana to live out her Hollywood dreams, there's the jock that lives with the pressure from his overbearing father, and finally the blonde bitchy "princess" who's the grade-A drama queen.

That's all you really need to know as most of the joy is from watching their lives unfold. I guess it's similar to a lot of the 80's teen comedies (people have been comparing it to The Breakfast Club) except for the fact that it's real*.

It's a movie that's easy to enjoy mostly due to the personal investment you have in the characters. I don't think it's hard to find someone in this movie that they can relate to. You find yourself really rooting for these teens as they go through all the heartache's (for me, in particular, the artistic girl).

I think I felt somewhat of a connection to the movie as I was pretty close to this town during summer when I was in Goshen, Indiana which is only 45 km away (28 miles for my American friends). The two communities are quite similar; predominantly white, mostly Christian, and middle class. I don't know if it made it anymore real*, but the connection certainly made it much more interesting at least.

The only real beef I had was that it was so clear that heavy editting was used to try and tell their stories. You can tell as in a sequence of segments, the teen's hair would be longer or shorter or different altogether, while acne was more prevalent sometimes and not.

Check out the trailer in glorious Quicktime (here). Until next time, later geeks.

(* Note: As can be expected with a production like this, it is no more real than an episode of The Hills. The trolls on the IMDB message board have outted the movie for all it's fakeness and forced direction. A lot of the students who were in the highschool during the production of this movie have also voiced their hatred mostly for ruining their senior year with cameramen and crews crowding up all the hallways and classrooms. Apparently a lot of the storylines were forced upon the teen subjects. While it is trashy and low-rent in this sense, I still find it an enjoyable movie.)

Categories: american teen , documentary , movies

Man On Wire is an auspicious documentary that follows a french man's dream of walking on a high wire between the World Trade Center in the 70's. It was quite an astonishing feat when it occured, making headlines worldwide. You need only Google the name Philippe Petit to find endless articles on all his high wire acts.

The main story told is the WTC act, but stories of his other feats are also intertwined so that we get a sense of who he is and what other things he has accomplished. We discover that Philippe is a passionate man, one filled with hopes and dreams, and it was his dream as a young child to one day cross these immense towers... towers that at the time were not even constructed yet.

The story is similar to something right out of a heist movie a la Ocean's 11 or The Bank Job, with a clearly defined goal outlined in the beginning and then quickly assembling a team of experts for each task that needs to be completed.

As Philippe recounts the story, we are filled with suspense as more details, difficulties and challenges are revealed. It's sort of like watching a prequel or some movie where you know what's going to happen in the end, but it's so gripping that you're never sure and you want to see how the hero gets to the finish line.

Director James Marsh fills the movie with re-enactments of some of the difficulties that Philippe and his team went through. This was an interesting approach to telling the story, and if anything, helped put the audience in the situation and flesh out the intensity that the team went through.

After watching the movie you couldn't help but feel inspired having watched a man gracefully live out his childhood dream. The ending is even more charming as he tells us what happened after he was arrested. Philippe encourages people to never stop chasing those dreams.

The movie is available on DVD and I urge you to check it out if you want to see a heartwarming true story. Check out the trailer found here. Later geeks.

Categories: documentary , man on wire , movies

Ain't It Cool News posted their annual Christmas shopping guide, for things of all geekeries with my favourite this year being the Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster. There's not too much to explain, it burns a Darth Vader face onto your toast. I will buy this one day, oh yes I will. You can order one from the official Star Wars website found here. Later geeks.

Categories: geeky awesomeness , other