Overcoming Misery
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the same name)
3/20/24!—Here’s a warning about a possible breakdown in postings from your enthusiastic critic at Film Reviews from Two Guys in the Dark because my trusty computer’s acting funky again (almost died this week); if need be, I'll go dark for awhile for necessary repairs, but—if so—I’ll be back soon.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: In this “Inspired by a True Story” biopic (but not one that's as “bomb”bastic as Oppenheimer [Christopher Nolan, 2023; review in our August 17, 2023 posting]), we begin briefly in the 1960s where pro wrestler Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany)—actual name was Jack Barton Adkisson; he and his wrestler sons used Von Erich as stage names, although it does come from Jack’s mother’s heritage, with the concern among Fritz’s sons their family’s cursed because of this decision due to Grandma’s family suffering frequent tragedies (although I admit wrestlers would have a hard time establishing any sort of persona with a name like Jack Adkisson when something like Ric Flair is much more effective [his real name: Richard Morgan Fliehr]); Kevin (Zac Efron) is especially concerned about this curse due to the early death of his oldest brother, Jack Jr., as a mere little kid.
After the early scene of Fritz we're in 1979 where he’s retired (script seems to fudge a bit on that) but runs a Dallas-based, Texas-wide franchise called World Class Championship Wrestling (that operates in some conjunction with the larger, more-nationwide National Wrestling Alliance [back when I saw matches televised from Houston the basic tactic seemed to be the NWA would have a villain champion brought in to fight a local hero, with the hero never winning the title, at least that’s how I experienced it; there was also the holdover attitude from WW II about certain bad guys so Von Erich evoked the Nazis, Duke Keomuka evoked Imperial Japan]) that developed its popularity with 3 of Fritz’s sons—in order of birth—Kevin, David (Harris Dickinson), and Kerry (Jeremy Allen White)—I never saw the first 2 in action but had some exposure to Kerry when he went over to Vince McMahon’s WWF (now WWE) enterprise. I’m sure championships were mandated by corporate decisions providing for frustration from those who were never allowed to rise to the top, as with Fritz fuming about never being NWA honcho so he puts his hopes on Kevin, the current WCCW Texas Heavyweight Champion, when given a match against NWA champ Harley Race (Kevin Anton). Kevin wins, but by disqualification, so the title doesn’t change hands, although the rematch is set.
However, Fritz decides David should get the rematch, frustrating Kevin who does find solace with his new girlfriend, Pam (Lily James), soon after marries her, before long she's pregnant. Kerry then joins his brothers in the ring after his hopes for competing in discus at the 1980 Summer Olympics are dashed by the USA boycotting the games after the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. In 1983 the 3 Von Erich brothers defeat the Fabulous Freebirds to win a Six-Man Tag Team Championship (with seemingly all 6 in the ring at the same time, or maybe that was just in one quick assault; we don’t see this in the movie but these 2 teams frequently traded for this title until it was retired in 1988), but next-in-line Mike (Stanley Simons), who hoped rather to be a musician, replaced David after his 1984 death in Japan from enteritis (inflammation of the small intestine), so by coin toss Kerry gets the NWA championship match, but now it’ll be against Ric Flair (Aaron Dean Eisenberg), which Kerry loses, after which he has a motorcycle accident, must amputate his right foot (then gets a prosthetic one, goes over to WWF for awhile). Kevin ends up in a rematch with Flair, seems to have him beat by applying his father’s famous submission hold, the Iron Claw (a furious squeeze of the opponent’s head) but refuses to break the hold so the referee disqualifies him. Things continue to get complicated as Mike goes into a coma after surgery, comes out with physical and mental problems, finally succumbs to suicide even as Kevin takes over WCCW from Fritz; Kerry also kills himself with a gun he gave to Fritz as a Christmas present, which throws Kevin into a fit of rage against Fritz. ⇒Later, in a somber mood Kevin has a vision of his departed brothers, even Jack Jr. Kevin then sells WCCW against Fritz’s wishes, finds solace again with his young sons who say they’ll be like brothers to him. Doris, however, divorces Fritz, returns to her former love of painting. Graphics before the final credits note the Von Erichs were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009, with Kevin, Pam, their children and grandchildren now living on a ranch in Hawaii.⇐
(Fritz and Doris at Kevin's wedding.)
So What? After my recent postings I thought I was done with reviewing 2023 releases, but this one continued to intrigue me because back in the mid-1960s I watched pro wresting on TV from Houston (I lived 50 miles away in Galveston) and saw the great villain Fritz Von Eric torture his opponents with that face claw, then in the late 1970s while living in Dallas I wasn’t watching wrestling anymore (although I started again in the late 1980s, continuing on until retirement in 2013 as it proved to be a great release of work-related-tensions when the heroes would clobber the nasty villains, although toward the end in watching WWE pay-per-views the villains often won out, so my tactic wasn’t as successful; fortunately, retirement took away most of the bad vibes anyway [except computer breakdowns]), but the Dallas newspapers covered some aspects of the local-hero-Von Erichs (somehow the family's elder statesman had evolved into a crowd-favorite) so I was aware of Fritz’s “final” match against King Kong Bundy in 1982 (ended in a draw due to a double-count out while they fought outside the ring, though I now find he had another “final” in 1986 [after I’d moved to CA] where he beat Abdullah the Butcher via disqualification [I guess none of these guys who are continuing on in the ring want a clear loss on their record to a local icon who’s leaving these public conflicts]). Fritz died in 1997 at age 68—his 6th son, Chris (not part of this movie) died in 1991, just short of his 22nd birthday, so maybe the curse has some substance after all, as Kevin’s the only one of that immediate family (along with Pam and their children) still alive today (Doris died too, in 2015).
If you want some explorations of actual fact vs. fiction in The Iron Claw here’s a source, where you find unseen, less physically-commanding-than-his-brothers-Chris shot himself (in 1991), just like Kerry (1993). For those who assume pro-wresting is all choreographed, this movie sort of affirms, yet leaves open the idea spontaneous happenings do occur, as when Kevin says Race wasn’t supposed to throw him out of the ring, then suplex him onto the concrete floor, leaving him slow to return due to the pain, even though Fritz tells his son to fight through the difficulties to verify his predominance in the sport (maybe we should say “physical spectacle,” just as the World Wrestling Federation changed its WWF name to World Wrestling Entertainment after a legal challenge from the World Wildlife Fund). For those not interested in wrestling’s violence, you can still watch this movie and not be too put-off by it because the in-ring-scenes are sparse, there’s no blood from open wounds, nobody gets hit with a metal chair, and the referees seem to be aware of everything going on, enforcing “rules,” such as they are. It’s truly a drama (with a marvelous performance by bulked-up-Efron) about a hard-working-family (maybe too hard at times, trying to match Fritz’s aspirations for the honor he’s accorded to the Von Erichs), where tragedy just keeps striking sibling after sibling.
Bottom Line Final Comments: The Iron Claw opened in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters on December 22, 2023, taking in $35 million at the box office ($42.7 million worldwide), but if you want to see it now you’ll probably need streaming where last weekend I had to buy it for $19.99 on Apple TV+ (also for sale then on Amazon Prime Video, a couple of others), although now you can rent it from Amazon Prime for a mere $5.99 (4K version, also HD) or a few others for up to $7.99, yet the only purchase available now is just from Apple (?)—I’m getting a little tired of these options shifting from buy only to rental a few days after I make my purchase, though I can’t wait until into the next week to watch just to see if a bargain emerges because Friday and Saturday nights are my best choices to spend time on cinematic narratives (given other things to do/watch on other nights during the week). If you’re interested in the ... Claw you’ll find a supportive CCAC with the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at 89%, the Metacritic average score at 73% (they’re usually lower than RT)—the Oscar predictor at Variety even said certain aspects of it deserved Oscar nominations to replace others in those final fives: Film Editing, Makeup & Hair Styling, Original Song. Even more concretely, the National Board of Review included The Iron Claw among their Top 10 of 2023 along with awarding it for Best Ensemble (other critic groups also gave it various nominations).
Or, maybe you’d just prefer my standard trope of closing out a review with a Musical Metaphor, which in this case I’ll give you a few (in case I disappear for a bit), although I’ll pass on the Variety guy’s interest in "Live That Way Forever" (written by Richard Reed Parry, Laurel Sprengelmeyer; sung in the movie by Mike Von Eric, also used during the final credits) instead of another song from the soundtrack, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult (on their 1976 Agents of Fortune album [yeah, I know: "More cowbell!"]) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8L325a-e8k with its pleas to not be afraid even in the face of tragedy: “All our times have come / Here, but now they’re gone […] The door was open and the wind appeared / The candles blew and then disappeared [… but] Don’t fear the Reaper.” Now, for your further edification I just came across another song that also seems to fit well (or maybe I think it's so because I heard it on the radio while in the sauna so my mind might have been baked at that point), from the Staple Singers, “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)” (on their 1973 album Be What You Are) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx_Vq6t-3vI (terrible video, good sound) which alludes to when Kevin has that vision of his brothers, giving him a sense of how tragedy may eventually resolve itself within comfort (as his later life seems to indicate) as the song encourages us: “No hatred (come go with me) / Will be tolerated (come go with me) […] Love is the only transportation / To where there’s total communication.” Or, maybe in these increasingly-harsh-political-times I’m just encouraged by an upbeat song rejecting disaster, wars, economical exploitation, political domination, genocide, backstabbing with the encouragement to be “just movin’ on.” At least in this movie we get the hope Kevin Von Erich was able to find such peace despite all he had to endure; if so, this story offers hope we might be able to do the same ourselves.
SHORT TAKES
In order for these postings to not run on too long (for both your sanity and mine) I promised myself (and my ever-tolerant, “Good night, see you in the morning”-wife, Nina) to do 1 review each week, but I keep coming across others I’d like to also take note of so I’m trying an experiment of making comments in Short Takes that are actually short (!). Here’s my first attempt at such. Wish me luck!
Frida [2024] (Carla Gutierrez) rated R 87 min.
Here’s the trailer:
No spoiler warning as this film’s all based on known fact, unlike The Iron Claw which fictionalizes some actualies, although I cheated too by using the photo below from the biopic Frida (Julie Taymor, 2002) starring Salma Hayek because it's a better shot than anything I could find from this new Frida.
This documentary about the great Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, uses her images frequently (even animates some of them), plus footage from her life along with her own words from her writings and interviews, spoken by Fernanda Echevarria del Rivero, to give us an informative, insightful, concise overview of Kahlo’s life from the time as a teenager she was injured in a trolley car accident (left her with ongoing major pain), through her career as a communist, surrealist painter (many marvelous self-portraits), affairs along the way with women and men including Russia’s Leon Trotsky, her 2 marriages to famed muralist Diego Rivera, and her distain for the high-class-capitalists necessity for supporting major art works. This film is wonderful to see, factually-useful to watch, so I’m recommending it highly, free to Amazon Video subscribers (although it is in Spanish, so that means subtitles for many of us)—or, if you’re not within that tribe you could consult this biography and/or this collection of her paintings. The CCAL’s generally supportive, although there’s another gap between the 90% RT positive reviews and the 74% MC average score. For a Musical Metaphor I’m going with Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me” (1965 Bringing It All Back Home album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRgk6v2o9RY, a song with many interpretations (including whom it might be about), possibly an ironic title (in that the singer doesn’t seem all that consistently supportive of this woman he's describing), yet with lyrics that speak to me about aspects of Frida: “She’s got everything she needs / She’s an artists, she don’t look back […] She’s nobody’s child /The law can’t touch her at all […] She’s a hypnotist collector / You are a walking antique.” There’s a lot more that could be said about Frida; I highly encourage you to see/enjoy it for yourself.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
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