Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Movie Night At The Bat Cave

Very minor spoilers ahoy! This has been out on DVD for a long while now - but I'm nice and still warning ya.

Final scene in The Wrestler. Fade to black. Bruce Springsteen starts warbling.


Me: Oh. My. God. This better not be the end or I'm gonna be pissed.

After several moments of black screen, credits start rolling.

Me: Oh. My. God. How much did that suck?

My Man: I liked it.

Me: I didn't end!!!!!!!

My Man: It did so "end." It just didn't end the way you wanted it too.

Dammit. I hate it when he's right.

Me: I didn't end! It just stopped!!!!!!

My Man: Not everything has to be like one of your books Wendy. Life doesn't wrap itself up neatly and tie a bow around itself.

Me: And that, my dear, is exactly what is wrong with the world today.

My Man: Well, I liked it.

Me: Ugh! It didn't "end!"

++++++++++

Final Thoughts With Super Librarian: The Wrestler is worth seeing if you're an acting junkie. The acting is very good in it. Most noteworthy, Marisa Tomei is particularly wonderful. I told My Man that not many actresses her age would take such a risk playing that part (she spends 95% of the movie naked). To his credit My Man says that not just any actress could. Not just because Tomei is in great shape (she is by the way), but because she can do "vulnerable" really, really well. She's that interesting mix of kick-ass, tough-as-nails Jersey girl, with a soft marshmallow center.

Evan Rachel Wood is also very good here - and one forgets that she's actually a capable actress. I'm always distracted by her on-again, off-again relationship with Marilyn Manson. Besides the icky age difference, that guy is just plain creepy.

Mickey Rourke. Hmmmm, I'm just not seeing this as some great comeback for him. First off, he's been "back" for several years working as a character actor. And I might be in the minority here, but Rourke The Character Actor is way more interesting to me than Rourke The Leading Man. Don't believe me? Check out The Rainmaker, Man On Fire and/or Sin City. Rourke is so good in those parts you actually want to see more of him. Leading man material? Yeah, he's never done all that much for me. That includes 9 1/2 Weeks. For anyone reading this who is under the age of 25? Yeah, Mickey Rourke used to be hot. My advice is to do a shot of vodka, lay down, and put a cool washcloth on your forehead. Yeah, Mickey Rourke used to be hot.

Final Grade = C-. The Acting = B+/A-

6 comments:

Lori said...

Laughing here. I cry every time I think about how hot Mickey Rourke used to be. 9 1/2 weeks was the ultimate "let's get laid" movie for me & Bob when it came out in the 80s. SO hot.

And I agree about Marissa Tomei, too. I absolutely love her to death.

Amy said...

9 1/2 weeks, my first introduction to a sex scene in a movie. And I was in looooove after that.

Nowadays? Yeah, don't have so much as a jones for Mickey Rourke at all.

Wendy said...

Lori: Tomei is really, really good in The Wrestler. She's a bit of a hard ass, and then at the end? Wham-o! She punches you in the gut.

Amy: I think 9 1/2 Weeks was an introduction for quite a few people ;-)

CindyS said...

Knowing it doesn't end just re-enforces my urge to never ever rent it. Too much hype so I can't see if surprising me & no ending makes me ranty also.

CindyS

Wendy said...

CindyS: Nobody has popped up to argue with me yet on the "no ending" thing - but for me? I felt that the characters were in the exact same spot they were at the end of the movie, as they were in the beginning. Which for me translates to "no ending."

I'm too much of a genre-fiction reader for my own good. I like resolution. Color me wacky.

But like I said, the acting was really good in it. I just felt the script sort of let those great performances down.....

nath said...

LOL, I had the same reaction with August Rush - watched it last week... and I was like: ugh!! It didn't end!