Oscar winner Kim Basinger, Oscar Nominee Mickey Rourke, Anne Heche, Mbong Amata, Sarah Wayne Callies, and Enyinna Nwigwe tells this story of greed, murder and corruption pitted against human and environmental issues. Based on true events, Black November is written and directed by Nigerian director, Jeta Amata, who exposes the struggle of a Niger Delta community against their own government and a multi-national oil corporation. Cannes pr...

PFS filmadelphiaCLASSICS series on location, continued last week with a screening of the 2009 Oscar nominated film, The Wrestler. The Film was shown at Asylum Arena (South Philly) because the wrestling scenes in the movie were actually shot there! I knew director, Darren Aronofsky had Philly connections with his film Black Swan, as the PA Ballet is all over that film, but this was news to me that Mickey Rourke had been here filming in 2008. Prior to the screen...

  While the Polish public certainly is aware of the latest Hollywood films, and with current American television series also freely available here, it is a little surprising that some  of the American indie world's most celebrated auteurs are virtually unknown. That is one of the goals of the inaugural American Film Festival, the first film event in Eastern Europe solely devoted to contemporary and classic American cinema. And if the size of the audiences at the screenings is any indica...

  Natalie Portman in BLACK SWAN  While film professionals are here at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to buy and sell films in a still soft market, for the Toronto public the big attraction are the movie stars who will be walking the red carpet in the coming 10 days. Toronto is a bit star-crazy, with all the local television stations highlighting their TIFF coverage and promising viewers up-close-and-personal access with the movie stars who are huddling here. Ever...

Mickey Rourke in between the process of undergoing the knife almost too unrecognizable familiar face of Hollywood sex symbol of 80s had no means to conceal the damage caused to his face, but only to rise above all in rather flirty matter, with addressing the Sarajevo Press Audience. Something that you can check out on official festival site www.sff.ba Born in New York in 1952, Rourke's teenage years were more aimed towards sports than acting. He took up self-defense training at the Bo...

By Maria Esteves - November 18, 2008 The 46th New York Film Festival 2008 (NYFF08), presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Closing Night Premiere of THE WRESTLER, directed by Darren Aronofsky was held at the Avery Fisher Hall, Sunday, October 12, 2008, 8:30 PM. A special Q&A with director Darren Aronofsky, producer Scott Franklin, actor Mickey Rourke, and actress Marisa Tomei, moderated by NYFF selection committee chairman, Richard Pena, program director, Film Society of Lincoln...

   Oh Mickey, you're so fine, you're so fine, you blow my mind, hey Mickey, hey Mickey! Toni Basil's song played in my head all day and for good reason, I was planning on spending the night with Mickey Rourke.  Me and about 2,500 other people.Roger Durling, Executive Director of The Santa Barbara International Film Festival was a frontrunner in recognizing the resurrected career of Mickey-where’ve-you-been-Rourke and swooped in to honor him for his heartbreaking performance in The Wrestler...

The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky (USA) Directed by: Darren Aronofsky Written by: Robert Siegel Produced by: Scott Franklin, Darren Aronofsky Executive produced by: Vincent Maraval, Agnes Mentre, Jennifer Roth Cast: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood   Synopsis:  Back in the late ‘80s, Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was a headlining professional wrestler. Now, twenty years later, he ekes out a living performing for handfuls of die...

Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is a professional wrestler from the 1980s, twenty years past his prime, wrestling on the weekends in independent and semi-pro matches for extra money. He is forced to retire completely after a heart attack threatens to kill him the next time he wrestles. He takes a weekend shift at the deli counter at the grocery store where he already works on weekdays, attempts to form a relationship with an aging stripper (Marisa Tomei) and does his best to reconcile w...

By Maria Esteves - November 18, 2008 The 46th New York Film Festival (NYFF46), presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Closing Night Premiere of THE WRESTLER, directed by Darren Aronofsky was held at Avery Fisher Hall, Sunday, October 12, 2008, 8:30 PM. A special Q&A with director Darren Aronofsky, producer Scott Franklin, actor Mickey Rourke, and actress Marisa Tomei, moderated by NYFF selection committee chairman, Richard Pena, program director, Film Society of Lincoln Cent...

It was announced today by SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling, that Mickey Rourke, star of the upcoming “The Wrestler,” will be honored with the American Riviera Award on Friday, January 30, 2009 at the 24th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Fox Searchlight Pictures will release the film, directed by Darren Aronofsky, in select theaters on December 17th. Past recipients include Tommy Lee Jones, Forrest Whitaker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kevin Bacon and Diane Lane. “Amer...

49TH THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALATHENS, Greece: November 14-23, 2008THE WRESTLER - OPENING FILMDaren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, winner of this year’s Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, will open the 49th TIFF on Friday, November 14th. An evocative drama that has justifiably been hailed as Mickey Rourke’s triumphant (and somewhat autobiographical) comeback to the big screen, The Wrestler will be presented in Thessaloniki by Evan Rachel Wood. The young actress, who has been...

  Sunday, October 12-----Every generation deserves its own Rocky.....a reminder that guts can lead to glory. In 1976, Sylvester Stallone's sentimental tale of a past-his-prime boxer who finds love and redemption both in and out of the ring, was an unlikely hit and major Oscar winner. In the next 30 years, films about bucking the odds have become their own uniquely American genre.   This year's Rocky is also the comeback story of the year....both for its lead actor an...

Clint Eastwood Brad Pitt and Angelina JolieMike LeighMickey Rourke, Darren Aronofsky and Marisa TomeiOliver Assayas ...

By Maria Esteves - October 2, 2008 The 46th New York Film Festival (NYFF46), presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, sponsored by Chopard, The New York Times, and Sardegna; standing room only press screening of THE WRESTLER, directed by Darren Aronofsky was held at the Walter Reade Theater, Wednesday, October 1, 10:00 AM. A special press conference immediately followed with director Darren Aronofsky, producer Scott Franklin, actor Mickey Rourke, and actress Marisa Tomei, moderate...

  Sunday, September 14-------For the first time in the past few years, the Toronto International Film Festival will be best remembered for its discoveries, rather than the bigger-budget entries that graced the Galas. Many of those films were critical and industry disappointments (including The Burning Plain, The Third Man, Miracle of St. Anna, The Brothers Bloom, Pride And Glory, The Duchess and several others). Of course, they delivered the necessary stardust that has now become de rigeu...

 Friday, September 12--------This year, Oscar didn't come to Toronto. Since the Academy Awards calendar was shortened in 2003, Toronto loomed large as the place to premiere Oscar contenders for the end-of-year awards season.In the past few years, films such as Atonement, No Country For Old Men and Last King of Scotland began their Oscar trajectories in Toronto.  Many of the Galas here, which have contained some past awards successes, have been poorly received (including The Burning Plain, T...