Boom-Boom-Boom

A lot of hype still surrounds Mickey Rourke's 'comeback' film, but The Wrestler (Alliance Canada / Fox Searchlight U.S.) is really just a fine little indie character study, shot wide and grainy, and with an eye trained on nuances rather than grand gestures. Rourke does get beat up a lot, but there's many small moments that keep building his character into a compelling underdog whom we know will never return to the top.

Pity Rourke, co-star Marisa Tomei, director Darren Aronofsky, nor writer Robert Siegel (writer of The Onion Movie!) didn't film any interviews or contribute to a commentary track, but it's still worth viewing for the way Aronofsky captures the quiet and the outright bizarre moments in wrestling.

I don't and never will understand the fascination for what resembles a cartoon show with athletic feats and sometimes balletic movements on steroids. What a chair wrapped in razor wire and wrestling - you know, the Olympic sport - have in common is beyond me, but they co-exist with other props in a carnival sport supposedly adored by the working class.

That's certainly a view Ian Hodgkinson expresses. His character Vampiro is a phenomenon among blue collar workers, and for Hodgkinson, he mined a persona who reportedly was as big in Mexico as Hulk Hogan was in the U.S.

The Thunder Bay born Hodgkinson was profiled in a very brisk documentary by Lee Demarbre called Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero (Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada/Sound Venture/Zed Filmworks), and the doc is also being released with Hodgkinson's starring performance in The Dead Sleep Easy (2007), filmed with the same Vampiro crew.

In The Wrestler, the character of The Ram is a beat up soul with few options left except to die on the mat - a similar finale doodled by the filmmakers for the finale of The Dead Sleep Easy; in Vampiro, the contrast is marked: Hodgkinson is determined to reinvent himself and use his skills beyond the wrestling mat - and that's a far more optimistic storyline for wrestler characters that are usually portrayed in crime films as a dumb lugs.

Hodgkinson is cunning, but he's shown as a giving colleague among fellow wrestlers, and that's something you rarely see in films and documentaries set in and about such a surreal sport.

- MRH

And it came and went without much regard

I admit that while I was away in Germany during the weekend of April 12th (Easter time, chocolate bunny time, German bonfires illuminating the sky to bring in the new and the better for 2009) I was to some extent incommunicado with the rest of the world, but it strikes me as intriguing that about two weeks later, while rummaging around the web, that I discovered George Lucas' Star Wars: A Musical Journey [STTMJ] premiered in London at the O2 Arena.

The actually staged the damned thing.

Now, "musical" generally denotes singing and dancing, and the concept of dancers bouncing around in Star Wars costumes to the regal, Korngoldian themes by John Williams set to lyrics seems silly. Robots doing a jig, a neon light saber show, and maybe some audience participation with rebels running into the aisles and grabbing poor souls for a celebratory dance set to Lapti Nek.

However, STTMJ, by available reports, isn't an all singing-all dancing horror show, but a distillation of six film scores crunched and compacted into a live concert performed by the Royal Philharmonic under the baton of Dirk Brosse, with narration by Anthony Daniels (C3PO), and film highlights playing on a giant screen.

That's a concert, not a musical, although the use of journey perhaps infers orchestral travelogue or poem, like Peter and the Wolf. In any event, reviews and reports seem to be mixed; critics (1 --- 2 --- 3 --- 4) appreciate the music but can't help thinking the whole project is another means to keep the Star Wars franchise alive and well after multiple DVD releases over the past few years, whereas fans (1 --- 2 --- 3) appreciate the musical journey through one of the most beloved orchestral space operas ever created.

The concert ran around 2 hours (including intermission), and the concert hall lobby was outfitted with a variety of 'rare' memorabilia tuned to an uber-fan's knowledge of the three original and 3 dreadful prequels, and for all the inevitable dissing of all things Lucas, one can't say the event was far removed from the travelling orchestral love fest of The Lord of the Rings, which did tour, was also tied to a travelling prop show, and more uniquely spawned a very expensive and very floppy all-singing, all dancing musical.

The same can also be said of a Star Trek show (1 --- 2) that landed in Toronto last year, with themes and narrative bits tailored to fans, so perhaps this one time it's actually okay to salute the endeavor, since Lucas is no longer a visionary filmmaker or producer, but a franchise owner whose recent projects have been belated (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) or disastrous (Star Wars: The Clone Wars).



- MRH

A Double-Headey

Lena Headey (The Sarah Connor Chronicles) has two new films out on DVD, although Laid to Rest (Anchor Bay/Starz) is more of a cameo, since the actress, who appears as a southern white trash lass, is quickly dispatched by the film's killer to the Heavens. Robert Hall's thriller is deeply flawed, but fans of flesh-tearing gore should be pleased with the carnage the effects wizard concocted for his second directorial effort.

Headey has the starring role in The Broken (TVA/Sony in Canada, Lionsgate in the U.S.), Sean Ellis' minimalist riff on Jack Finney's The Body Snatchers, a gorgeous but deeply flawed effort, too. Shot in London, it features a solid supporting cast, fine cinematography, and Guy Farley's snarling score, but like Hall, Ellis kind of forgot a film needs some weight in the story department or it all loses meaning.

A much better offering by another feature film newcomer is Toby Wilkins' Splinter (Magnolia), which borrows a bit from John Carpenter's The Thing (okay, maybe a fair bit) and delivers some piercing gore. Most of the drama takes place in a gas station, and it's a clever and kinetic low budget shocker boosted by another fine score from Elia Cmiral.

- MRH

Touch the Carnage

"Carousel," directed by Adam Berg, is a promo piece specifically created by Philips for their new Cinema 21:9 widescreen (2.35:1) TV set, and while it's mesmerizing eye candy, the video clearly opens the door to further explore 3-D environments of, well, anything. (Click HERE for the making-of version, and HERE for further info.)

The subject matter is grim - police being swarmed by clown-clad bank robbers - but there's something ghoulishly fascinating about walking through a moment in crime, and being able to stop, look, and gaze at the expressions, duck under the suspended glass from a shattered window, reach out at a fireball explosion without getting singed, peer into the lifeless eyes of a snarling clown mask, and look at the visage of a dead robber.

I don't know if I'd call it interactive, but you just know someone's going to create a true 3-D variation where you slap on LCD goggles, and through a HD interface, do the same in your living room. Or maybe when James Cameron is done with Avatar, he'll create an interactive experience where you can literally walk through the ruined or virgin-pure Titanic.

Even if he has to wait for the technology to catch up with his brain, Jimmy'll do it, because he needs to do it.

- MRH

Heroes on the Small and Big Screen

I've been watching Heroes since it debuted, and am admittedly part of the fan base that's been disappointed by the sometimes desperate plot turns the show's writers have taken, either to out-guess fans (always a big mistake) or satisfy networks wanting a repeat of a successful formula (hence the return of characters in Season 2 who should've died at the end of Season 1).

That said, the music has always been first-rate, and it's probably via Heroes that people have discovered the talents of composing team Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin. The pair have been collaborators for a long time, going back to their years as members of Prince and the Revolution.

You can spot the musicians/composers in Prince concert films Sign 'O the Times as well Purple Rain and numerous music videos, and it must be kind of neat to be able to see one's own evolution through the nascent years of the music video, with big hair, pastel colours, and triangular clothes. Er, maybe not.

In any event, one of the reasons I was hooked on Heroes was the music - not because it stood out from the actors, but because it was a key element that had me at the edge of my seat, and shouting at the TV when an episode ended on another brutal cliffhanger.

I've uploaded an interview with series co-composer Lisa Coleman, plus a CD review of the new Season 1 soundtrack album from La-La Land Records. Also reviewed is Silva Screen's new compilation album, The Music of Batman, featuring themes from all of the Batman films in a fresh new recording featuring the Prague Philharmonic under the expert batons of James Fitzpatrick and Nic Raine.

- MRH