Next in Line

I had the fortune of watching two good movies last night.  We watched four total: one called Timecrimes because I thought it seemed interesting, and I think it could have been if we hadn’t been talking so much; one called The Sasquatch Gang which was funny in that Napoleon Dynamite sort of way; one whose title I’ll withhold to protect the people who made it, since it was filmed in and around homes and businesses in my hometown; and The Wrestler. 

I don’t have much to say about any of them except The Wrestler, but let’s break them down a bit anyway.  As far as Timecrimes goes, basically a guy sees something strange from his backyard, and in trying to find out what was going on he gets attacked by somebody that turns out to be a time-displaced duplicate of himself, which causes him to go on a complicated personal mission to set everything right by, of course, travelling through time.  Sasquatch Gang was very entertaining, proving that you don’t have to work blue (just google it or something if you don’t know what it means) to be funny.  Several uber-nerds who enjoy dueling each other with homemade foam weapons decide to go hiking in a nearby… hiking area… and discover what they believe to be real Bigfoot tracks.  What they don’t know is that they were made by the bully across the street in a completely unrelated attempt to raise enough money to pay off his credit card bill, which he ran up by simply buying a hamburger half a decade ago and never paying off.  Hilarity ensues, and I think the worst thing anybody said the whole way through was "crapface."  I’m saving the best for last, so now I’ll describe the actual last movie we watched, which is the one I’d rather not name for whatever reason. If you happen to be from my hometown (that’s approximately one of the people who’ll read this) I’ll give you some more info in a note if you’d like.  To be honest, it was fun to watch because from our perspective, the thing was just made by some local dude who obviously thinks way more highly of himself than he deserves.  It’s just your standard "boy (read: 39-year-old) meets girl, realizes he can’t have girl because she’s leaving soon, but then girl buys two plane tickets so he can come with her" story, but peppered with lame attempts by the writer/director/star to wax intellectual and/or artistic. 

I just noticed that I may not be spelling "attempt" correctly.  I’ve been awake for nearly 24 hours and my perceptions are a bit fuzzy.  Correct me if I’m wrong, let me know if I’m not.  I don’t feel like using Wiktionary right now.

So finally, The Wrestler.  I’ve been waiting for my chance to see this movie since the day I heard it was being made.  If you don’t know, it’s the story of fictional 1980’s pro-wrestling star Randy "The Ram" Robinson, portrayed by Mickey Rourke.  I admit I was a bit surprised by the film.  I expected it to contain a lot more footage depicting The Ram’s rise to stardom, but there actually aren’t even any flashbacks.  You see a collage of newspaper and magazine clippings during the opening credits, and people talk about his career throughout the movie, but other than that it’s just a past-his-prime Robinson (real name Robin Ramzinski, which I actually think is kind of cool) trying to make ends meet by working at a grocery store between bookings.  Just in case the context didn’t define if for you, a "booking" is a time and place in which a wrestler is scheduled to appear.  He is shown using a classroom as a "locker room" after a match in a school gymnasium, being locked out of his trailer park home due to overdue rent, playing around with little kids in said trailer park who obviously adore "The Ram," and visiting a stripper whom he seems to have real feelings for, and his daughter, who definitely has none for him.  It is, sadly, a reality for many "washed-up" wrestlers and young indy guys alike– although for the young guys it’s often called "paying dues" since they all think they’ll make it big one day, while the old guys more often simply can’t let go of the past.  In the end it’s a touching, realistic story about something I love.