Super Frat

Jan15

Frat Boy At the Movies: The Wrestler

by tonyd on January 15, 2009 at 2:50 am

The Wrestler is a gritty, blood-soaked movie that will leave pretty drained. It’s like the most depressing side of New Jersey and the 80’s packed into a two-hour movie.

(Spoiler) Mickey plays Randy, a Hulk Hogan-esque professional wrestler who is far past his prime. They don’t exactly tell you how Randy lost all his money or if he even made any when he was famous. Marisa Tomei plays an aging stripper that’s Randy’s friend. She’s sort of in the same boat: past her prime, looking at a long hard slog til the end of her days.

She is very naked in this movie, bros. No bush, but you get to see her rack quite a bit. I found myself missing her rack in some of the scenes. (It is kinda despressing.) The only line that doesn’t really ring true is when one of the patrons at the club complains she’s too old. She may be, but she’s in awesome shape.

Full disclosure: I have some bias here. I’m from New Jersey. SOUTH Jersey. And most of this is shot further north, where everywhere looks like Atlantic City before the casinos. Parts were shot in deteoriating Asbury Park. (Nice choice, by the way.) It’s not that I don’t like north Jersey, but seeing the sleaze in my own backyard combined with kind of a downer of a storyline, just puts me on edge. I just don’t like to see it, not that it isn’t a great place to shoot a movie. Just seems so negative, somehow.

That being said, Mickey puts himself through the ringer for this film. The backstage of professional wrestling rings very true and some of the best moments are when they show you some of the tricks of the trade. Steroids, pain pills, razor blades and stuff from the dollar store are all in the mix. It’s also funny to watch the wrestler hate each other in the ring and then talk friendly backstage.

Ultimately, Randy’s journey falls a little flat for me, only because director Darren Aronofsky jams some of the key events together a little too fast. I also hated the camera following Randy from behind for the first third of the film. Drove me nuts. Still, it’s an intense film, well-crafted, with excellent performances all around and plenty of boobies.

I give this movie 10 out of 10 keggers for titty-related scenage and 8 out of 10 keggers overall. Wrestling fans will love this and movie fans will wonder, why doesn’t Mickey Rourke do more movies?

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Jan14

Twitter In Focus: ApathyAngel

by tonyd on January 14, 2009 at 1:06 am

Bros:

Let’s face it. Our attention spans are shrinking. There was a time when people read books for days, listen to radio for hours, watched TV for minutes or cruised the Internet before heading out for the evening. These days, who has time for all THAT? We’re multitaskers and we’re multitasking. While you’re reading this you’re no doubt eating, watching a movie and trying to download the fucking Facebook app everyone’s using. Here at Twitter in Focus, we’re watching media die. Today’s short attention span target for 15 seconds of fame is ApathyAngel.

January 11th, 9:04pm: “apparently i had night terrors when i was little i remember going to the sleep lab bc we thought they were seizures they hooked me up to”

January 11th, 9:06pm: “wires, City of Lost Children style http://i42.tinypic.com/6qbm… i still have them – hence spider dreams i always think are real”

Poor AA has some issues, but its interesting how people make their issues so public on Twitter. You have to wonder if they are over dramatizing them or looking for sympathy. Earlier her reaction to spiders was more intense:

January 11th, 8:58pm: @MagicMax NOOOOO!!!! i HATE spiders!!

Guess you’d have to blame her friend for bringing up the spiders.

January 11th, 9:15pm: “i also used to sleepwalk like crazy and talk in my sleep (still do)”

You must’ve been one sexy somnambulist, AA. Although as pale as you look, one might’ve mistook you for a really hot zombie. But hey, that’s okay. Me and Count Steve love the Goth chicks.

January 12th, 11:40am: “laying in bed REALLY need to pee but too lazy to walk down the hall to the bathroom ARGH life is so difficult!”

As a writer that gets up at the crack of noon, I feel your pain, AA. I feel your pain.

January 12th, 1:40pm: “managed to snag a dr’s appt this afternoon woo!!!!”

January 12th, 4:45pm: “falling aslep in the waiting room…been here an hour already *yawn*”

Here we are following her day. I feel like we’ve been carried along. Oh, did I mention? AA is a nude model, burlesque performer, gogo dancer and “all around TROUBLE”. For some reason, her journal link is broke, you can see some of her nude pics here. It makes following her that much better. I’m picturing her walking everywhere with those tassles.

January 12th, 5:04pm: “currently being poked, proded, & not believed! doctors are AWESOME!”

What is it about doctors that they never seem to believe women? I once whined so bad to my doctor, he saw me within two hours and I had drugs in hand within four.

January 12th, 7:58pm: “FUCK LIFE idiot dr. forgot to write out a paper script for the antibiotics and the pharmacy has to order the other shit so I’M STILL SCREWED”

Rough day, AA. Maybe if you wore more clothes you wouldn’t get sick so often. Nah, forget I said that.

January 12th, 8:10pm: “taking out my latent anger on these here veggie corn dogs”

Delicious and could be sexy.

January 12th, 8:10pm: “WHY IS MY GUNT SO ITCHY?!?!?”

Not as sexy. Or spelled correctly.

16 hours ago: “enjoys picking eye crusties what can I say it has a calming effect yes I’m OCD”

Oh, right. No, antibiotics.

4 hours ago: “current number of Coolatas consumed :2 and counting”

Caffeine will help.

2 hours ago: “Vice is looking for contortionists for a shoot just sent them a bunch of pics of poses feeling really loosened up!!”

Too many Coolatas, AA. Plus your still sick.

Clearly hanging with a nude model is a mixed bag, bros. AA really needs to take better care of herself and has a complexion that leaves her maybe one pint of blood short. Still, for Twitter, she doesn’t seem too self-obsessed. Where’s the trouble, AA? I don’t see it. Unless maybe it’s that itchy GUNT.

└ Tags: ApathyAngel, Twitter in Focus

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Jan12

Frat Boy at the Movies: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

by tonyd on January 12, 2009 at 1:26 am

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is loosely based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald story of the same name. When you read the full version of the original story, you kind of have to wonder about the changes director David Fincher made and what was gained and lost in the movie.

(Spoilers) The movie is told in flashback by Benjamin’s true love on her deathbed during the Katrina hurricane. Most of the movie takes place in New Orleans where Benjamin is born and grows up. Benjamin is born to Thomas Button, a button maker. He’s so hideous and old-looking for a baby, that when Benjamin’s mother dies in childbirth, his father decides to run down to the docks and throw him into the water. Interrupted by a cop, he ends up dumping the baby on the nearest doorstep. This happens to be an old folks home, which is convenient, so that Benjamin, who is born an old man and ages backward, fits right in.

The problem with this tactic is that Fincher keeps trying to avoid or play down the driving force behind the original concept: Benjamin ages backwards and it freaks people out. Fincher basically turns it into a love story, but Benjamin doesn’t seem to have any other motivation than to eventually hook up with his true love. The movie is a series of near misses and then finally they get together. But then, Benjamin decides he has to leave because he doesn’t want his wife to have to raise him along with their daughter. But that sacrifice doesn’t really work. By the time Benjamin is really getting younger, his daughter is in his teens. And since most people in the movie seemed to deal with his “affliction” well enough most of his life, it seems kind of stupid that he’d suddenly jet.

That isn’t to say the movie isn’t well made. The costumes, the make up, the effects, the cinematography and the performances are all great. It’s just that the story and the message get somewhat muddled. Live life for the moment, I guess, is the moral. It just seems that despite all the fancy filmmaking, it probably could’ve been stripped down to a simpler story. I think he also cops out at the end (big spoiler) by making Benjamin suffer from dementia in his final years. His days as a teenager (ie old man) could’ve been interesting as his mind slowly went. Of course, that wouldn’t have been Brad Pitt, they would’ve needed another actor. A friend of mine was on the fence about seeing this movie because he heard Brat Pitt was only in it for twenty minutes, but that’s not true. Most of the movie is Pitt and he’s good. It’s just the story is kinda boring sometimes. The movie is two hours and 48 minutes. It really should’ve been closer to two hours even. Fincher just doesn’t seem to get much out of all that extra screen time.

The movie sort of feels like Forest Gump, except without a slow guy and without all the historical references. Although Benjamin gets caught up in WW2, it’s very brief. Not that this is an action film, but after that there is almost no action whatsoever. The next historical pinpoint doesn’t happen until Fincher shows a clip of Fernwood 2 Night on the TV. Weird choice in my view. Bottom line, it just seems like Fincher and his team did a great job on the details, but kind of fell short pulling the entire piece together. It’s not a bad movie, but some, like me, won’t find it totally satisfying and will be checking your cellphone for the time by the end of it. I give it 7 keggers out of 10.

└ Tags: Frat Boy at the Movies, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

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Jan11

Frat Boy at the Movies: Gran Torino

by tonyd on January 11, 2009 at 2:40 am

Clint Eastwood is back and if you don’t think an old man can be badass, you’re wrong bros. Eastwood is the master of the revenge movie and he keeps it simple. (minor spoiler) Eastwood, as Walt, has just lost his wife. He toughs it out in his old neighborhood, which has gone down hill. Asian immigrants and their kids have taken over the neighborhood. Walt is a grizzled old vet of the Korean War and you can expect most of the words from the racial slur dictionary. Think Death Wish meets Archie Bunker. Walt is a relic that just wants to be left alone, but when his new neighbors get harassed by a local gang, he ends up getting involved. Distant from his real family, Walt slowly comes to adopt a new one that needs him.

Eastwood directs, stars and even does the music for the soundtrack. Performances are strong all around and the script is tight. There’s not a moment wasted on screen and you’ll feel like the movie zipped by. Eastwood says this is going to be his last movie as an actor and he certainly went out on a high note. It would be a crime, however, if he stopped making movies altogether.

He makes it seem so easy. There aren’t any major stunts here, no giant robots, no flash, just a simple story about a man caught up in events in his life and his own neighborhood. He’s torn by his past and a mistake he made during the war. This is the moment he pulls it altogether and redeems himself. Even the dog was good.

It’s weird when you review a good movie, because there’s not much to say other than its good. When you review a bad movie, there’s all sorts of things to dissect and pick apart. I guess that’s why the simple stories are the best. Go out and see Gran Torino or you suck. I give it 10 keggers out of 10.

└ Tags: Frat Boy at the Movies, Gran Torino

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