Movie 2023 UPCOMING MOVIE DISCUSSION

[RIPPA]

Iron Claw - the Von Erich movie with Zac Efron as Kevin - has been given Dec 22 release date

[Dolfan in NYC]

49 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Iron Claw - the Von Erich movie with Zac Efron as Kevin - has been given Dec 22 release date

And here's our first look at the Von Erichs:

 

 

[Curt McGirt]

Okay, which one is the dude from Shameless playing? I'm getting fooled here. The only one I'm sure of is the bottom right dude being Mike. 

EDIT: To answer my own question. From Wiki: 

Quote

Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich

Lily James as Pam Adkisson

Harris Dickinson as David Von Erich

Maura Tierney as Doris Von Erich

Holt McCallany as Fritz Von Erich

Jeremy Allen White as Kerry Von Erich

Stanley Simons as Mike Von Erich

Maxwell Jacob Friedman as Lance Von Erich

Brady Pierce as Michael Hayes

Aaron Dean Eisenberg as Ric Flair

Kevin Anton as Harley Race

Cazzey Louis Cereghino as Bruiser Brody

Chavo Guerrero Jr. as The Sheik

Ryan Nemeth as Gino Hernandez

So, Kerry, which was my biggest guess because of the curly hair. He is way too cute to play horse-face Kerry. And can we get a WTF for MJF as Lance Von Erich?! I mean Chavito as the Sheik is one thing but that is serious left field. 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[Dolfan in NYC]

Yes, that's Jeremy Allen White. Most people know him as the guy from The Bear these days.   

Anyway, today in "Producers taking the absolutely wrong lessons":

 

[elizium]

52 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

And here's our first look at the Von Erichs:

 

 

Love a bad wig movie 

[Curt McGirt]

1 hour ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Yes, that's Jeremy Allen White. Most people know him as the guy from The Bear these days.   

I know, and am still pissed that show is exclusive to Hulu. After following it for 11 seasons though you are gonna say "the dude from Shameless". 

Now I'm wondering what Emmy Rossum is up to. And you know, for a show about downtrodden South Side Chicago locals, that cast was waaaaaaaay too hot for its own good (except for William H. Macy I guess). 

[elizium]

The H stands for Hottie 

[odessasteps]

1 hour ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Yes, that's Jeremy Allen White. Most people know him as the guy from The Bear these days.   

Anyway, today in "Producers taking the absolutely wrong lessons":

 

I thought this was a gag when I saw it the other day.

[Dolfan in NYC]

3 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Okay, which one is the dude from Shameless playing? I'm getting fooled here. The only one I'm sure of is the bottom right dude being Mike. 

EDIT: To answer my own question. From Wiki: 

So, Kerry, which was my biggest guess because of the curly hair. He is way too cute to play horse-face Kerry. And can we get a WTF for MJF as Lance Von Erich?! I mean Chavito as the Sheik is one thing but that is serious left field. 

One name I didn't see there was Lacey Von Erich, which... I guess is alright? 

(Ted's face...  It's like he knew what was coming and was still floored.)

[Curt McGirt]

Yeah if you put "Iron Claw cast" into Google (or Bing in my case) you get a far longer list of cast members and she isn't even listed as a character. However, we're getting Gino, Brody, Harley, Bill Mercer, Hayes, Gary Hart, and Marshall, Ross, and even Jackie Jr. Von Erich. 

To take this too seriously: I'll give Macy this, he has very pretty eyes. But he had some balls to lean into looking like he got ran over by a bus these days on that show. 

[odessasteps]

I wasgoing to post her Wrestlicious rap but I didn't see it by itself on youtube. 

[Brian Fowler]

I'm assuming it ends with Kevin getting clean and sober, and probably won't really get into the third generation.

[Travis Sheldon]

12 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

And here's our first look at the Von Erichs:

 

 

I'll be referring to this as The Many Clones of Chris Von Erich going forward.

Not enthused about this in the least.

[Brian Fowler]

Cutting Chris entirely doesn't seem that strange. Like, maybe it's just for time, figuring four dead brothers/two suicides are enough. It's pretty disrespectful though.

[Curt McGirt]

Wonder what Kev thinks about it...

[Travis Sheldon]

10 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Wonder what Kev thinks about it...

Has the check cleared?

How about a Von Erich Cinematic Universe?

That would be my guess.

[Curt McGirt]

Well, they did have their own comic book

[RIPPA]

Here is what Meltzer wrote after the test screening. I am using spoilers just because.

Spoiler

We have some info on the Von Erich movie “Iron Claw,” from a pre-screening of the movie this past week. The movie was largely finished although some things still had to be finalized and added and based on feedback from the screening, things also could change. The basic thing is the movie starts with a black-and-white scene of the wrestler Fritz Von Erich, using the Iron claw as a finisher, but it quickly moves to 1979, with Fritz president over breakfast with Kevin (22), David (21), Kerry (19) and Mike (15). It covers Kevin meeting Pam, his current wife of 43 years, at that time. The storyline is that Kerry was training for the 1980 Olympics but then the U.S. boycotted the Olympics and his father wanted him to wrestle. Kerry set the discus record for high school in the state of Texas and had a successful freshman year at the University of Houston, but he was far from Olympic level, and actually started pro wrestling at the age of 18 while still a high school senior. They cover Kevin & Kerry & David feuding with the Freebirds, doing cocaine and hints of steroids. The story is Kevin is mad because David is the one being groomed for the world title and promoted ahead of him. Then David died, and in the movie the death is said to be from a ruptured intestine. As noted, there have been countless contradictory stories given about David’s death, but he was sick the week before leaving for Japan, went to Ribera Steakhouse with Bill Irwin on his first night in Japan after arriving. I’ve seen photos of David from the night before his death and he looked to have partied a lot. The next day, when he didn’t arrive for the bus for the first show of a tour, they broke into his room and found him dead, and the wrestlers involved cleaned up the room from drugs before the authorities arrived. It was said that his death was due to enteritis, an intestinal inflammation, but Irv Muchnick, who covered the story closely and others had claimed a drug overdose. The family said they would send Muchnick (Sam’s nephew) a copy of the death certificate but Muchnick never received a copy. Kevin was portrayed as wanting the match with Ric Flair that was scheduled for David but they did a coin flip and Kerry was picked. In reality, Kerry was the much bigger star at that point in time. Evidently the guy who plays Flair (Aaron Dean Eisenburg) and tries to do a Flair promo was terrible. The movie is largely about Kevin as the focal point, living through the deaths of all his brothers. There appear to have been factual issues such as Kevin selling the company to Jerry Jarrett (they were actually partners before the Von Erichs, Kevin & Kerry, as Fritz had left the company to them and had gotten out of the wrestling business by this time, forced Jarrett out) and took it back over and it then when heavily into debt and out of business. It ends with Ross & Marshall, Kevin’s sons, wanting to be pro wrestlers. The movie makes all the deaths out to be flukes, basically the wrestling magazine Von Erich curse story. They don’t deal with addiction, the pressures of fame or anything like that. The report we got was the production was good, the script wasn’t that good, the verbiage is clunky and at times corny. The acting was good in some cases, but the guy who played Fritz (Holt McCallany) wasn’t good, the guy who played Flair was said to be embarrassing like people openly laughed when he cut a promo. The actors who played David (Harris Dickinson) and Mike (Stanley Simons) were good. MJF played Lance Von Erich, but it was a small part and I don’t think he had any lines. Aside from MJF, current pro wrestlers with listed roles were Ryan Nemeth as Gino Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero Jr., as The Sheik Ed Farhat (likely footage as a rival of Fritz since The Sheik never came to Texas to feud with the kids). Chris Von Erich, the youngest brother, who also wrestled and committed suicide at the age of 21, may never have even been mentioned. Overall it was said to be better than Ready to Rumble and worse than The Wrestler, but I think the vast majority of movies made would fit into that category. The first half was said to be fun and the second half tried to be serious but probably needs to be edited differently. The overall report was that it was disappointing in that there’s many ways or angles they could take to tell the Von Erich story, and they chose a safe, boring one that doesn’t effectively communicate or commit to anything

I am putting this bit outside since it is probably the most important part

Quote

Overall it was said to be better than Ready to Rumble and worse than The Wrestler, but I think the vast majority of movies made would fit into that category. The first half was said to be fun and the second half tried to be serious but probably needs to be edited differently. The overall report was that it was disappointing in that there’s many ways or angles they could take to tell the Von Erich story, and they chose a safe, boring one that doesn’t effectively communicate or commit to anything

 

[Dolfan in NYC]

Quote

Overall it was said to be better than Ready to Rumble and worse than The Wrestler...

So it's somewhere between getting feces rubbed in your face and Oscar caliber.  PROFESSIONAL WRITER David A. Meltzer everyone!  

 

Skimming through the above, this movie is clearly not made for hardcore wrestling nerds like Dave.  (This is a GOOD thing.)  It sounds like what they're going for was the Bull Durham vibe, in that it's a movie about relationships that has wrestling as the background, but is not a "wrestling" movie.   If I want a full, accurate, and complete movie about the Von Erichs, I can watch a documentary.  

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 hour ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

So it's somewhere between getting feces rubbed in your face and Oscar caliber.  PROFESSIONAL WRITER David A. Meltzer everyone!  

 

Skimming through the above, this movie is clearly not made for hardcore wrestling nerds like Dave.  (This is a GOOD thing.)  It sounds like what they're going for was the Bull Durham vibe, in that it's a movie about relationships that has wrestling as the background, but is not a "wrestling" movie.   If I want a full, accurate, and complete movie about the Von Erichs, I can watch a documentary.  

That's one of my bigger complaints about whenever you see reviews of wrestling documentaries or Dark Side of the Ring by people who cover wrestling primarily, they almost always go "there's nothing new here". Nothing new for who? A general audience that the show is meant for probably isn't going to know the ins and outs of World Class so is it "nothing new for them"? It's classic in-the-bubble thinking of "well, I didn't learn anything, therefore nobody else will either", and it's fascinating how people can't put themselves in the shoes of an audience that may not be as familiar with a subject.

[Curt McGirt]

3 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

So it's somewhere between getting feces rubbed in your face and Oscar caliber.  PROFESSIONAL WRITER David A. Meltzer everyone!  

But you are leaving out 

6 hours ago, RIPPA said:

but I think the vast majority of movies made would fit into that category.

Obviously he is making a joke here. He is self-aware in this moment, even if he isn't always. 

What bothers me about the whole thing is 

6 hours ago, RIPPA said:

The movie makes all the deaths out to be flukes, basically the wrestling magazine Von Erich curse story. They don’t deal with addiction, the pressures of fame or anything like that.

If there's anything you can and probably should base a Von Erich movie on it's these elements. You could make something awesome, dark, serious, and still end with a bit of an uplift. But instead it looks like they're going for a TV movie. 

IF it is really, really bad though, it may rule...

[Travis Sheldon]

Ready to Rumble was great.

[Tabe]

18 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Here is what Meltzer wrote after the test screening. I am using spoilers just because.

  Reveal hidden contents

We have some info on the Von Erich movie “Iron Claw,” from a pre-screening of the movie this past week. The movie was largely finished although some things still had to be finalized and added and based on feedback from the screening, things also could change. The basic thing is the movie starts with a black-and-white scene of the wrestler Fritz Von Erich, using the Iron claw as a finisher, but it quickly moves to 1979, with Fritz president over breakfast with Kevin (22), David (21), Kerry (19) and Mike (15). It covers Kevin meeting Pam, his current wife of 43 years, at that time. The storyline is that Kerry was training for the 1980 Olympics but then the U.S. boycotted the Olympics and his father wanted him to wrestle. Kerry set the discus record for high school in the state of Texas and had a successful freshman year at the University of Houston, but he was far from Olympic level, and actually started pro wrestling at the age of 18 while still a high school senior. They cover Kevin & Kerry & David feuding with the Freebirds, doing cocaine and hints of steroids. The story is Kevin is mad because David is the one being groomed for the world title and promoted ahead of him. Then David died, and in the movie the death is said to be from a ruptured intestine. As noted, there have been countless contradictory stories given about David’s death, but he was sick the week before leaving for Japan, went to Ribera Steakhouse with Bill Irwin on his first night in Japan after arriving. I’ve seen photos of David from the night before his death and he looked to have partied a lot. The next day, when he didn’t arrive for the bus for the first show of a tour, they broke into his room and found him dead, and the wrestlers involved cleaned up the room from drugs before the authorities arrived. It was said that his death was due to enteritis, an intestinal inflammation, but Irv Muchnick, who covered the story closely and others had claimed a drug overdose. The family said they would send Muchnick (Sam’s nephew) a copy of the death certificate but Muchnick never received a copy. Kevin was portrayed as wanting the match with Ric Flair that was scheduled for David but they did a coin flip and Kerry was picked. In reality, Kerry was the much bigger star at that point in time. Evidently the guy who plays Flair (Aaron Dean Eisenburg) and tries to do a Flair promo was terrible. The movie is largely about Kevin as the focal point, living through the deaths of all his brothers. There appear to have been factual issues such as Kevin selling the company to Jerry Jarrett (they were actually partners before the Von Erichs, Kevin & Kerry, as Fritz had left the company to them and had gotten out of the wrestling business by this time, forced Jarrett out) and took it back over and it then when heavily into debt and out of business. It ends with Ross & Marshall, Kevin’s sons, wanting to be pro wrestlers. The movie makes all the deaths out to be flukes, basically the wrestling magazine Von Erich curse story. They don’t deal with addiction, the pressures of fame or anything like that. The report we got was the production was good, the script wasn’t that good, the verbiage is clunky and at times corny. The acting was good in some cases, but the guy who played Fritz (Holt McCallany) wasn’t good, the guy who played Flair was said to be embarrassing like people openly laughed when he cut a promo. The actors who played David (Harris Dickinson) and Mike (Stanley Simons) were good. MJF played Lance Von Erich, but it was a small part and I don’t think he had any lines. Aside from MJF, current pro wrestlers with listed roles were Ryan Nemeth as Gino Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero Jr., as The Sheik Ed Farhat (likely footage as a rival of Fritz since The Sheik never came to Texas to feud with the kids). Chris Von Erich, the youngest brother, who also wrestled and committed suicide at the age of 21, may never have even been mentioned. Overall it was said to be better than Ready to Rumble and worse than The Wrestler, but I think the vast majority of movies made would fit into that category. The first half was said to be fun and the second half tried to be serious but probably needs to be edited differently. The overall report was that it was disappointing in that there’s many ways or angles they could take to tell the Von Erich story, and they chose a safe, boring one that doesn’t effectively communicate or commit to anything

I am putting this bit outside since it is probably the most important part

 

So did Meltzer see the pre-screen or not? He switches between sounding like he watched it and sounding like he wasn't there. This is really weirdly written. 

[odessasteps]

Dave being Dave 

[RIPPA]

27 minutes ago, Tabe said:

So did Meltzer see the pre-screen or not? He switches between sounding like he watched it and sounding like he wasn't there. This is really weirdly written. 

What else is new with Dave

But I am pretty sure Dave (at least at the time of that writing which was a month ago) had not seen it himself