Great performances. Christian Bale really steals the show (as that character would wish to), he’s practically unrecognizable. Wahlberg is obviously a good fit for the working class boxer boy, Adams is believable, the mom and dad were great, the sisters are just perfect, especially their reactions when they’re all crowded together in a space that would normally seat maybe 2 or 3 people.

And if you just want to see a pretty predictable but very well acted boxing movie, this will fit the bill.

But I thought it felt a little tired, a little “yup I’ve seen this before”. Not worth the hype.

There were some really funny moments in this movie (OMG the scene in the car, with the song. YES) and Seth Rogen and whoever played Kato had some great chemistry (that pseudo we’re in a relationship fighting between friends is often hilarious).

But I was extremely MEH on the 3D — I’m not sure what they thought it would be good for? — and I got very tired of Rogen’s shtick by the end of the movie. I would not have been as forgiving as Kato, after how he acted for about the last 45 minutes of the flick. Annoying.

If you are a huge Rogen fan, however, you will likely enjoy this just fine.

I thought Natalie Portman was really great and man I looooove ballet. I have always loved ballet. (I was a ballerina for much of childhood.)

But as I’ve been telling people all week Black Swan:ballet::The Wrestler: wrestling. [Same director, in case you weren’t aware.] In many, MANY ways, this is the same movie all over again. And while I love ballet, I HATED THE WRESTLER. Hated.

Aronofsky seems stuck on this entirely FALSE proposition that in order to really truly excel at your art (whatever that is, even wrestling) one must commit to the point of suicide via your art. Not only do I think that’s an entirely erroneous point of view, I think it’s a dangerous one to be promoting.

The trope of “being too technically perfect but unable to show emotion” is indeed a true one in ballet, but it’s also a very tired out, been there done that, trope in cinema, particularly when it comes to females. And the whole “she has to get a little crazy sexually in order to show emotion” stereotype also bores me to pieces. Not true, stupid, irritating.

The REAL story in this movie, and the one that should have been explored, is the relationship with the mother. A movie on that situation might have been truly interesting and the performances in those scenes were far more interesting than the rest of the movie.

I should say it is really effective as a psychological thriller. Some great shocks to the system — when you know who comes to the door to say “you were great” and Portman thinks that person is you know what? Yeah, that was great. When you know who does you know what in the hospital? WOAH.

But none of that changes how I felt overall.

Really depressing because it’s all true. Everyone knew there were no WMDS; Bush et his cronies just did not want to hear that and got rid of anyone who insisted on telling them that. Everyone that NEEDS to see this (and to see all this blatantly shown) is exactly the everyone that would never go to this movie anyway. Which is sad.

This was pretty powerfully done, good performances all around (Sam Shepherd has just a bit role but totally nails it, of course).

I also really liked that they included clips of the real Plame in the credits.

But I never quite believed them as a couple. It seemed like they styled Penn older than he is and Watts younger than she is or should be for the role (esp after seeing Plame in the credits) and it annoyed me a little. (Not that I didn’t think they were both v. good, I just occasionally had a “I’m not really believing them as a couple” moment.)

Note that my fellow moviegoer completely disagreed with me, loved their chemistry and loved the movie.

Calm. Slow. Elegaic.

I cried approximately 100 times during the 78 minutes it took to watch this flick.

I would say this movie* should be required viewing for those deciding to send our young’uns off to war…if I didn’t think those people were 90% jerks who don’t care about anyone but themselves and even seeing this couldn’t move their stonecold hearts.

*Along with others, like In the Valley of Elah, Hurt Locker, and Stop Loss–just to name movies made about THIS war. There are of course many other great movies made about other wars. They should get them all in a pack like Oscar voters. “Before making a really bad decision, take a minute and attempt to understand what these movies have to say about war.”