Who needs a movie?

I went to see two movies in the last two days. I had quite a list piling up, mostly Oscar nominees / winners, so I needed to get a couple out of the way. Here are my thoughts on each of them:

The Wrestler
Three stars (out of five). In case you don't know, it's a (fictional) story about Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke), a pro wrestler from the '80s who is now having a mid-life crisis of sorts. He’s getting older, his body can't really handle the beatings anymore, his fame and fans have faded away, and he's lonely. It's a pretty grim movie, but Mickey Rourke does an outstanding job, and you really get a deep understanding of his character and what drives him. Marisa Tomei isn't bad either. Also, can anyone name a movie where Evan Rachel Wood plays a lovable character? I can't think of any.

Note: The violence is pretty intense at times, and there are quite a few scenes that take place in a strip club, so there are lots of mostly naked women dancing and walking around. I suppose that could either be an incentive or a discouragement.

Doubt
Four stars (out of five). It's a movie about, well, doubt. It takes place around a catholic school, and stars Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman plays a priest and Streep plays a nun, the principal of the school, who is suspicious of the priest's character. Most of the movie was just above average, but there are two or three scenes that just knock it out of the park in terms of writing and acting. It's worth sitting through the whole thing just for those few minutes. The symbolism is a bit heavy-handed at times, which I found annoying. I’m not big on symbolism.

I saw "Doubt" at “The Rio” theater in downtown Overland Park. (Yes, the sprawling suburb of Overland Park has a small, but quite charming downtown.)


First of all, I must admit that I cannot resist anything art deco. But even aside from that, the Rio is adorable. It had one screen, a lobby about the size of my bedroom, and two employees when I was there. I showed up about ten minutes late, but the movie hadn't started yet. Cool. So I went out to get some popcorn, and the guy comes out from behind the ticket counter and announces to everyone in the lobby, "I'm going to go start the movie now, okay?" "Okay." So he goes upstairs and fires up the projector. It was just so quaint, I loved it.