A True Heavyweight Champion

THE WRESTLER
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Todd Barry, Mark Margolis, and Ernest Miller
Written by: Robert D. Siegel
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Release Date: December 17, 2008


I'll admit it: I was a wrestling fan. Yes, I knew that it was scripted, cartoonish, cheesy entertainment, and nothing more than a guilty pleasure. But I was still fascinated by the industry, my eyes glued to the TV as I watched these male and female gladiators duke it out in this testosterone-filled soap opera: there were good guy "faces" and bad guy "heels", melodramatic storylines, and intense, heated "rivalries" between the performers/athletes. 


One may write this off as a redheaded stepchild of entertainment, but nostalgic fans like myself recognize the obvious work ethic of the real people behind the brawler. They sacrifice their bodies, minds, and even life to entertain the masses, all for the glory and the adulation of their millions of fans. That's what Mickey Rourke's character in The Wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson, is all about. 


A huge star in the 1980's who headlined Madison Square Garden, sold out pay-per-views, and had his image on video games and action figures, is now a broken shell of his old self. Battered and bruised from two decades of abuse, and now only headlining high school gym venues (at best), Randy has nothing to hold on to but his glory days. Living in a trailer and working part-time at a supermarket deli, Randy continues to endanger himself in the ring, despite the obvious fact that his days are behind him.


When he's not taking abuse, Randy frequents a New Jersey strip club, where he's befriended (and fallen for) stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), whose age is also a sign of her getting too old for her demanding and beauty-obsessed line of work.


Randy soon learns that his promoter wants to set up a special 20th anniversary match against the Ram's old foe, The Ayatollah (Ernest Miller). Sensing that it may reignite his career, Randy increases his training. But after a brutal hardcore match at his next show, Randy suffers and barely survives a massive heart attack. Receiving coronary bypass surgery, Randy is told that his body can no longer take the damage of wrestling.


After visiting Cassidy and telling her of his dilemma, she suggests that he visit his long-estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), who initially wants nothing to do with the man who abandoned her years earlier. But Randy persists, not only trying to win back his daughter's love, but also to let Cassidy know how he feels about her-- all as the anniversary match with the Ayatollah looms even closer.


That's the basis for director Darren Aronofsky's fourth film, a tender, heartbreaking, masterstroke of a movie. Abandoning his nausea-inducing style that made his Pi and Requiem for a Dream so magnificent, Aronofsky reverts to intimate, human-scale drama, and does so with amazing success. 


Of course, the driving force behind the film is Rourke, who delivers the performance of his life. If Sin City was the appetizer for Rourke's comeback, then The Wrestler is a very delicious and very welcome main course. His grappler is, in the character's words, "a broken-down piece of meat", estranged from his daughter, and living in a trailer park. He only lives for the cheers of his fans, which gives him solace in a world that chewed him up and spit him out years ago. As noted by many critics, the story parallels the life of Rourke himself, who fell off the radar after a promising career in the 80's. He disappears into his character, showing a man who, despite his mistakes and missteps, is a truly good man who just wants to regain his former glory. 


As he tells stripper Cassidy (a marvelous Tomei), the only place that he doesn't get harmed, ironically, is in the ring. It's the "real world" that hurt him. Surprising to me, however, was the fair treatment the industry of pro wrestling received here. Yes, some negative aspects of the business is shown (drug use and the excessive barbarism of some matches). But it also portrays men and women who, despite their scripted feuds, truly love and support each other, and live to entertain their devoted fanbase, even though sometimes, the world can turn on them just as fast as it embraces them. 


Such an example is a scene where Randy arrives with other old school wrestlers for a meet-and-greet session at a veteran's hall, which is virtually empty save for a few fans. The sight of these old men waiting to recapture the fans' love and adoration is absolutely heartbreaking, and a telling sign of how cruel show business can be. 


The Wrestler is not so much an examination of professional wrestling as it is a study of second chances, the burdens of stardom, reconciliation, and rebuilding oneself after nearly destroying oneself. An excellent vehicle for Rourke's comeback to Hollywood's (and the audience's) good graces, The Wrestler stands as not only one of the best sports films in recent years, but one of the best films in recent years, period.


LETTER GRADE: "A+"

Going To Hell Was Never So Much Fun

DRAG ME TO HELL

Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza, and Reggie Lee

Written by: Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi

Directed by: Sam Raimi

Release Date: May 29, 2009

In movies, it's always easy for successful filmmakers to forget their humble roots in the business. After making a name for themselves in Hollywood, they often get swept into bigger and more lucrative projects (sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse), and they eventually become detached from the demographic that made them successful and beloved in the first place. 

Luckily for Sam Raimi, he hasn't forgotten where he came from. After revolutionizing the horror genre almost three decades ago with the cult classic Evil Dead trilogy, Raimi went on to leave his mark on other genres, including the over-the-top and surreal superhero flick Darkman, the superb morality thriller A Simple Plan, and the underrated psychic drama The Gift. Then along came a little trio of films known as the Spider-Man trilogy, which ended up becoming some of the highest-grossing films of all time. It seemed as though Raimi was on top of the world. However, after the misstep that was Spider-Man 3, Raimi decided to return to his familiar roots, and brought us Drag Me to Hell, easily one of the best horror movies in the last fifteen years. 

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a young, up-and-coming loan officer at a Los Angeles bank with aspirations to become the branch's new assistant manager. Unfortunately, her new and opportunistic co-worker, Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee), also vies for the position, and does anything he can to convince their boss (David Paymer) that she doesn't have what it takes to have the job.

But an opportunity to prove herself comes in the form of elderly Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver), an Eastern European woman who asks Christine for an extension on her mortgage. Despite Ganush's pleas, Christine chooses to deny the old woman's extension request to prove to her boss that she can make tough decisions. However, Ganush is less than pleased with Christine, and attacks her in the bank's parking garage. The struggle ends when Ganush rips a button from Christine's jacket, delivers a bizarre incantation, and leaves.

Unsettled by the encounter, Christine convinces her skeptical boyfriend Clay (Justin Long) to accompany her to professional medium Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), who explains that a demon called the Lamia is haunting her. Even though Clay doesn't believe it, it only takes a few freakish supernatural attacks upon Christine while she's by herself to convince her that the curse Ganush has placed upon her is real.

Upon learning from Rham that the Lamia torments its targets for three days before ultimately taking them into the depths of Hell, Christine does whatever she can to not only fend off Ganush's supernatural machinations, but also remove the curse before she's dragged into Hell.

Raimi certainly had good timing with this picture. After a slew of mediocre "scary" movies by no-name directors, he came back with a vengeance to show us how it's done. Which is a relief, frankly, because lately, nobody seemed to know how to make a good horror picture, especially with the so-called "torture porn" movies like Saw and Hostel, whose only apparent aim was NOT to genuinely scare us, but show us just how many severed limbs and pools of blood they could fit within a two hour runtime. 

And while masters like Romero or Croenenberg used their classic horror films to convey a political or social commentary/subtext, Raimi had (and still has) no ulterior motive. He just wants to freak everybody out, in the way that only Sam Raimi can. Like the Evil Dead flicks, Drag Me To Hell is a purely visceral experience, bringing out every classic trick in the book to scare the bejeezus out of the viewer. For Raimi, plot and characterization in a film like this doesn't matter. The Grand Guignol, carnival experience provides enough goo, jumps, and sick laughs to do what most modern horror films fail to do: be entertaining. 

As the young and pretty loan officer who ends up the victim of a demonic curse, a game Alison Lohman does a fine job filling in the besieged-victim role that Bruce Campbell inhabited in the first Evil Dead picture. It's well known that Raimi likes to "torture" his leading actors, and boy does he put Ms. Lohman through the ringer: she's beaten up, thrashed around, and has every conceivable gross substance cover her. Justin "I'm a Mac" Long does well as her loving boyfriend (though it's a stretch to picture him as a psychology professor). 

But the real show-stealer is character actor Lorna Raver as the gnarled, terrifying gypsy Sylvia Ganush. Menacing and creepy in every frame she appears, Raver makes for one memorable horror villain, far more than the boring, one-dimensional bad guys we've seen in fright flicks lately.

As in the Evil Dead pics, Raimi doesn't pull any punches, loading the screen with as much crazy shit as he can, from flying eyeballs and geyser-like nosebleeds to talking goats and graveyard mud wrestling matches. Despite obviously being made on a much better budget than his first movie, Drag Me To Hell still retains Raimi's goofy, deranged, visually hyperkinetic funhouse style. The PG-13 rating hasn't proven to be a roadblock for him either. Though nowhere near as savage, gory, or cartoonishly anarchic as the Evil Dead trilogy (and missing the always-welcome presence of one Mr. Campbell), Raimi still manages to toy with his audience, keeping them on the edge of their seats. Wildly imaginative, genuinely frightening, uproariously funny (though cat-lovers and oversensitive gypsies may want to stay away), and a lot of fun (with one hell of a shocker ending), Drag Me To Hell is a grand return for the master of modern-day horror, and a fine example of how great scary movies are made when you have a TRUE professional behind the camera.

LETTER GRADE: "B+"

You're Gonna Dig This Five-Year Mission

STAR TREK
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Bruce Greenwood, Eric Bana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Leonard Nimoy
Written by: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman (based on the television series created by Gene Roddenberry)
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Release Date: May 8, 2009



If someone were to ask you who the most dangerous people on Earth were, what would you say? Terrorists? Serial killers? Postal workers? Well, all three guesses would be wrong. The group of people who deliver the worst wrath are actually nerds. Sci-fi nerds, to be specific. Because if you were to ruin (or what they consider "ruining") their most favorite and beloved franchises, your credibility amongst your target demographic would be instantaneously destroyed. Look at George Lucas. 


After creating the most successful and popular film trilogy of all time, he ended up following them with what many consider to be the WORST trilogy of all time (massive box office success notwithstanding). So after the failure, critic-wise, of the Star Wars prequels, how would the nerds (and mainstream moviegoers) react to the resurrection of another popular spacefaring franchise?


After the dismal results of 2002's Nemesis, it seemed as though the "Star Trek" saga had run its course. After five television series and ten movies, could anything give Gene Roddenberry's creation a new lease on life? Director J.J. Abrams certainly thought so.


The year is 2233, and the Federation starship U.S.S. Kelvin is investigating a freak lightning storm in space, from which a massive and seemingly advanced Romulan mining craft, the Narada, emerges. After the Kelvin's captain (Faran Tahir) is murdered, first officer George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) assumes command, ordering an evacuation of all onboard, including his heavily pregnant wife (Jennifer Morrison). Though George sacrifices himself to save his crew, his wife survives and gives birth to their son, James.


More than two decades later, Jim Kirk (Chris Pine) has grown up to be an impulsive, womanizing, anti-authoritarian troublemaker in Iowa, who nonetheless attracts the attention of one Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) of Starfleet, who believes the boy to possess plenty of untapped potential. Pike convinces Kirk to join Starfleet Academy, where Kirk's rulebreaking nature doesn't mesh well with the other cadets and officers.


One such officer is Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), a half-human/half-Vulcan instructor. Though brilliant, Spock has always struggled balancing logic with emotion, especially since the latter is frowned upon by his Vulcan brethren. However, Spock's annoyance with Kirk is put on hold when Starfleet receives a supposed distress call from Planet Vulcan. As such, the fleet makes way for Vulcan, including the newly constructed U.S.S. Enterprise, led by Pike, and a crew including helmsman Hikaru Sulu (John Cho), Russian navigator Pavel Chekov, acerbic medical officer Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), communications officer Uhura (Zoe Saldana), and Kirk, who manages to sneak onboard despite being on academic suspension.


However, the crew of the Enterprise learn that Vulcan is experiencing no natural disaster, but rather an attack by the Narada, whose captain, the bloodthirsty Nero (Eric Bana), bears a specific grudge against the Vulcans and Spock in particular. After tensions between Kirk and Spock come to a head, Kirk eventually encounters Scottish engineering officer Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg), as well as an older version of a certain Enterprise crewmember who encourages Kirk to fulfill his destiny by taking control of the Enterprise and stopping Nero before it's too late.


It was certainly a huge challenge for Abrams to resuscitate a dying franchise while still staying true to the original series' heart and soul. And thankfully, he succeeded on all fronts. Simply put, this film is everything that the Star Wars prequels should have been: faithful and respectful to its predecessors' roots, while at the same time giving it a fresh, original, and satisfying feel. Having seen a few of the movies (Wrath of Khan having been my favorite) and only a handful of episodes from the original 60's TV series, this writer admits that he is by no means a Trekkie. But this film is for both diehard fans, and newbies like myself. Sure, the film makes some tweaks to the original canon of the franchise, but why gripe? A smart screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, as well as devoted direction by Abrams, help make Star Trek not only the best film in the series, but also one of the best science fiction movies ever made.


But let's not give all the credit to the guys behind the camera; the casting of the film is absolutely flawless. Chris Pine is fantastic as the soon-to-be-Captain James Kirk. Ruggedly handsome and charming, Pine stays true to the rebellious, womanizing, impulsive nature of the Kirk character, while still making the role that William Shatner pioneered his own. Zachary Quinto (of TV's "Heroes", making his film debut) nails the role of Spock, delivering an intense yet introspective performance.


The rest of the cast is pitch-perfect, with standouts including Karl Urban hilariously channelling DeForest Kelly as "Bones" McCoy, and Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg having a blast as Scotty. The only weak link was Eric Bana as the film's villain Nero, because although he gives a good performance, his character and his storyline seemed far too similar to Ricardo Montalban's titular character in Wrath of Khan. Technical credits are excellent across the board, with a rousing score by Michael Giacchino, and outstanding special effects work that rivals, nay, EXCEEDS the last Star Wars film. 


But what was most impressive and admirable about this film was the complete and utter respect it paid to Roddenberry's original creation. While updating itself for a 21st century audience, Star Trek stays faithful to the spirit and essence of the television series, tossing in several easter eggs for the fans (including but not limited to the obligatory death of a red-shirted crewmember), and a very special (and welcome) extended cameo by one of the original cast members of the show. Funny, awe-inspiring, visually magnificent, emotionally gratifying, and an absolute blast to watch and behold, Star Trek is proof that an old franchise can certainly learn new tricks.


LETTER GRADE: "A"