“The Wrestler”
Headstrong director Darren Aronofsky delivers one of the finest pictures of the year, featuring one of the rawest performances. Playing a man whose job description requires a physical fortitude that has waned, but who’s possessed of the will to go on, Golden Globe-winner Mickey Rourke rattles and touches core sympathies as pro-wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson. So, too, does Marisa Tomei as Cassidy, the stripper Randy flirts lovingly with. Neither career path may reflect our own, but their vulnerabilities are profoundly recognizable. Rachel Evan Wood plays the other woman in Randy’s life, estranged daughter Stephanie. “The Wrestler” has the intimacy of a fly-on-the-wall documentary and more than a few wince- inducing moments in the ring. But the tough-tender drama (written by Robert Siegel) makes for visceral art. Like its protagonist, it aims to endure. R. 1 hour, 45 minutes. Lisa Kennedy)
“Frost/Nixon”
Michael Sheen and Frank Langella reprise their stage roles in Ron Howard’s version of the Tony Award-winning play (written by Peter Morgan). Working with Nixon and Frost’s very different energies, the two actors refit the Janus masks of the theater for what was an American tragedy. Sheen’s somewhat impish Frost (the Brit talk-show host angles to find a way back onto America’s television sets) is wont to flash a smile that seems more tight than true. For his part, Langella depicts the 37th president of the United States as a man who resides behind a glowering facade. There is something inherently theatrical in the pitting of these titanic — but also insecure — egos. And the movie poses the question: What must Peter Morgan’s work have been like staged? Probably not the query director Howard hoped for when he secured the rights. Still, “Frost/Nixon” is a stylish, intelligent film that finds its gold not in the differences of the two men so much as in their similarities. Rebecca Hall provides a sharp turn as Caroline Cushing, Frost’s paramour. R. 1 hour, 58 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
More releases this week
Caprica
Dallas: The Complete Eleventh Season
Dante 01
Elmo and the Bookaneers: Pirates Who Love to Read
Forever
Freakazoid Season 2
Into the Blue 2: The Reef
Laid to Rest
Marvel X-Men: Volume 1
Marvel X-Men: Volume 2
Nickelodeon/The Last Picture Show
Notorious
The Poker Club
Rhoda: Season One
Science Is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painlev
Spin City: The Complete Second Season
Stuart Little: The Animated Series Two
Tiny Toon Adventures S1 V2
Top Gear 10
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