I paid to see The Wrestler back on Tuesday 1/20/2009 but just now finding time to write about it. Paid the student price of 7 bucks at the Enzian which is a deal. But as usual with this place, the food is expensive. That’s one reason I don’t like going out often. You just wanna see a flick but you know you’re gonna have to eat and no theater food is cheap. Couldn’t go anyplace to eat before cuz I’d just got out of work and this was the only opportunity I’d have to see this movie so I had to rush. I went with my homeboy and we’ve been there before and they change up the menu often. We went half on a pizza and some doughnut thingies. Pizza was subpar. Nothing special. Dollar Totino’s from the freezer tastes better. Actually Totino’s is that bomb either way, regardless if it don’t cost shit. The doughnut things were on point too.

My objective was to see a good movie and support the battered wrestling community. The movie was pretty good. No complaints about the acting or anything but the in-ring camera work and direction coulda been a bit more authentic. Rourke really did a great job of acting and doing all his own ring work and taking bumps. Tomei still looks smokin’. And Ernest Miller is a lot bigger than he used to be but at least he ain’t fat and out of shape. Necro Butcher looked ridiculous as always but that’s really him though. Bald as a bat and barefoot trailer park trash. And the scene where Rourke nailed the rat in the bathroom got some good laughs. That and the black lady that ordered the fried chicken. Just had to be a black person, huh Darren? There’s other laughs throughout and some really serious moments. Evan Rachel Wood did a pretty good performance too but no one’s hoopin’ and hollerin’ about that for some reason.

My friend pointed out the comparison to The Passion of the Christ. Tomei’s character said Rourke was like Jesus and over the next few scenes Rourke was in a hardcore match and had a heart attack after but didn’t die. The guy was seriously living in the past and Darren did do a really good job of showing that. Pay phones and Super NES? Need I say more? Yes, there’s drugs in wrestling, rats, rabid and even dumb fans, low paydays, small crowds in crappy buildings, and I could go on and on. The life of a wrestler ain’t easy and that point was driven home. I liked the “use my leg” scene. And I can assure you that was authentic.

I’d say one of the more powerful scenes was the sign convention for the wrestling legends. It showed just how bad things are and can be. Charging fans for pics and autographs, waiting there as pathetic as can be for any kind of payday. The cam did a full circular of the room and it wasn’t a pleasant view. As a fan, it really hit home cuz unfortunately, it was accurate. The legends of the biz don’t get much love and it’s a shame. What made it even more powerful was the low turnout of fans in the scene. Just showing all those old guys there in the shape they were in was pretty saddening.

The movie ended the way I think it should have. Good job there. Yep, there’s nudity. You get to see Tomei’s boobies and she’s still on point. I’d recommend this to anyone cuz it’s a good movie all around but it does help to have some knowledge of the biz. They reveal some secrets but a hardcore fan knows about this stuff; casual fans may learn something. Non-wrestling fans will too and be treated to a good movie with good acting and direction. You’ll think you’re watching the movie Hitman with all the behind-the-back shots but if you’ve never seen that movie or don’t know anything the game, then you’ll have no idea what I mean. I give this movie 7 out of 10 stars. The theater was packed, by the way.

Thursday 2/5/2009 I went to see Sword of the Stranger at the Regal Cinemas at this new power retail center called The Loop in Kissimmee. It was playing one night only so I got approved to go into work later so I could peep it. Heard all this good stuff bout it, all these awards and shit…the movie wasn’t all that great. Can’t go wrong with the animation since it’s Studio BONES but the story wasn’t all there. Either details weren’t there to begin with or something was lost in translation since they showed the dub. For instance, who was the kid and lady that No Name killed in flashback? That was never explained at all. The movie was a bit confusing cuz of lack of exposition. The closest comparison I could make for it is Rurouni Kenshin (which was great) due to the nomadic samurai theme and music soundtrack which my friend liked.

The colors were dark too which was different. At first, I thought it was the screen. Then I thought things would brighten up once the sun finally came out or if they showed the blue sky. Didn’t happen. Afterwards, they showed some interviews of the creators talking about how they wanted to evoke the feeling of coldness since a majority of this takes place when it’s snowing. Yet, for the most part, none of the characters were dressed appropriately so it’s kinda contradictory. I wanted to support the anime community by paying for this one. $12.50 and the theater had only about 20 or 30 people in it. Coulda paid for a cheaper regular admission ticket and snuck in as I knew I could, but I opted out. If these things don’t have turnout, they won’t do it anymore.

I’ve done Anime Bento from Fathom Events, saw the first Bleach movie, and now this. The only reason I knew about it was cuz of a banner on animenewsnetwork. If not for that, I would’ve known nothing. I can’t recall seeing an ad during adultswim or anything. I’m not watching any AniMonday shows so I don’t know if they did ads during that either. But I think they could’ve did a better job of promoting this. One night only? On a Thursday night? I can see why, cuz it’s probably a slow night for theaters and they can spare the extra screen, but damn. And there’s better movies out there. I can’t recommend this one to anyone. It’s not good. It has its moments but overall it’s just not worth the time to see when factoring in total entertainment value.

I’ll still show up for anime movies as long as they keep bringing them in though. Gotta take the good with the bad. As far as The Loop is concerned, the place used to be all trees, now it’s this open air retail spot with tons of vacancies. One thing I hate about Florida construction is that we build out rather than up. I prefer the trees over this place. Not to mention it’s pretty far away and there’s no fast food joints around except a KFC/Taco Bell further down the street with all teenage girls working in the back. You want quick food, you can forget it. Not knocking the jit girls, I’m just saying, there’s only sit-down restaurants at this place. Parking was easy though. I got the closest spot for the 3 places I went to. Can’t beat that.

No time for the full reviews I usually do so I’ll just give my general impressions of these two flicks. Let’s start with Outlander. The only reason I know it exists is first, because when I was looking at what movies were coming out for the week, I saw it there and had no clue what it was. So I clicked it, did my research, and the plot was descent but most people were treating it as a joke so I didn’t dig any further. Then the torrent came out, the first of which was a bad copy. Then the proper came out. So I decided to dig a little deeper cuz the comments were changing from joke to serious. And guess what? This is a pretty good movie.

I’m learning that I can’t take too many comments from sites all that seriously cuz a lot of those people don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about, that’s why I revisited the movie. You gotta weed out the good stuff from the bad. People were talking shit without even seeing the movie. Then when people that actually saw it started commenting, it was mostly positive stuff and my assessment won’t be any different. Plotwise, it’s nothing new. It’s the typical ‘hero’s journey’ tale. Good guy gets the girl and wins as always. Nothing new.

But execution is a tad different. An alien in viking times helping them defeat a space monster sounds like something you’d see on the Sci-Fi Channel but this is far from the cheesy spectacles we’re all accustomed to from that network. There were a few questions and complaints about the cg quality in this movie. Only one scene has questionable quality where a guy gets smushed through a wall 22mins and 57secs in. Remember that clip from The Soup years ago where that monster snatched that lady through the door, bent her backwards, and broke her in half in the process? It’s kinda like that. Other than that, no complaints in this regard. Everything else was acceptable and high quality.

This movie can be compared to countless others; like Beowulf, Braveheart, 13th Warrior, and on and on. Like I said before, nothing new. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad and doesn’t stand on its own feet. A new creature called a Moorwen is introduced to us all. Jim Caviezel plays the protagonist whose ship crash lands on Earth. Just so happens one of those creatures is on board too. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happens. My only complaint is the predictability towards the end. The movie starts a bit slow, building up the characters which isn’t a bad thing. Things really pick up at the end of Act II cuz you think the movie is going to end but they throw in a little surprise that you don’t expect. I could spill the beans about it here but I won’t ruin anything. Let’s just say that if you’ve seen Cloverfield, you know the big monster wasn’t alone in its mayhem.

Would I recommend this movie? Yes. I give it 7.5 out of 10 stars. I’d find a quality dollar movie and pay the small fee to enjoy it properly because it is entertaining and provides a good level of escapism. The plot may seem dumb, it may start a bit slow, it is predictable towards the end, but the most important aspect is that it does entertain. This isn’t a low quality production either. The production standards are on par with any other big budget flick (minus that one scene) with cg elements.

From my research, the budget was $47 mil which is about what I’d expect for what’s on the screen. What gets me is why The Weinstein Company hasn’t promoted this at all. Never once did I see a trailer on tv. I only found out about it by a fluke. Luckily I wasn’t disappointed. It doesn’t look like this is gonna break any box office records or even recoup its costs and that’s a damn shame. If they put some effort into the marketing, this movie could be a success and deserves to be. Fucking thing doesn’t even have an official site. I really hope they’re doing a soft opening to test audience reaction before going wide with it. If the few theaters it’s opened in is all they plan on doing, then I’d say go see it now while you can. It’s worth it. Even though I think it was an open ending, I don’t see a sequel or prequel unless this movie makes some bread. The prequel is obvious in the flashbacks. The thing could still be alive and mate with Earth animals for a sequel. That’s just my ideas anyway.

Then there’s Taken. I actually did see a trailer for this and was so impressed that I was gonna pay for it (dl’ed it instead out of curiousity). I did my research and found out that this has already been released a year ago all over the world except the US. We’re just now getting it. And that first week’s box office is well deserved cuz it really is a good action movie with a degree of intelligence. I won’t compare it to any Bourne movies like most people. The fight scenes are similar but that’s about it. When it comes to the plot, it’s more like that Harrison Ford movie Firewall. Kidnapped family member, dad goes on a rampage to save them. The prob with Firewall is that Harrison’s character plows through every obstacle, even winning fights against people half his age…and he’s an office worker, not a soldier or anything remotely close to that.

Liam Neeson’s character, on the other hand, is a “preventer.” It’s established that he can fight and that’s what makes him believable. It’s also established that he just wants to make up for lost time with his daughter and they do a good job of that. I actually like the way the movie ends and wouldn’t mind a prequel/sequel if box office warrants it. I give it 8 out of 10 stars. I knock off 2 points cuz of two scenes. From start to finish, the movie is very engaging, never a moment where you’re not totally engrossed in the flick. That is, until Neeson rescues a girl from a construction site (I won’t get into the details of it) and a car chase ensues. The problem here is that they were shooting at him at practically point blank range and neither him or the girl ever took a single bullet. Then towards the end of the movie when he gets captured and they’re about to kill him, all looks lost but miraculously he finds a way to save himself. Both situations are just totally unbelievable and took away from the enjoyment of the movie for me. But that’s just me.

Other than those two, everything is on point. No complaints. Really good action movie. I don’t ever recall seeing Neeson in any movie to be honest so this was a good introduction. Like when I say Kevin Costner for the first time in Mr. Brooks. I’d say pay full price for this movie cuz it’s totally worth it. As the movie plays along, you’ll get the impression that he’s Superman cuz of those two scenes but if you can get past them like I had to force myself to, you will love this movie. Well paced, good characterizations, good underlying theme, good fight choreography. In other words, a damn good movie.