Oscar season is upon us, and few films are generating as much buzz as The Wrestler, which opens in limited release on December 17.. Directed by Darren Aronofsky, the film stars Mickey Rourke as Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a broken down, former wrestler striving to recapture the glory days of his career, while at the same time trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter (played by Evan Rachel Wood).

I’m a pro wrestling fan, so of course I’m looking forward to to seeing this. The movie could be a hard sell to mainstream audiences, though, since wrestling isn’t really seen in a favorable light. On the other hand, prominent critics have been raving about The Wrestler since it won the prestigious Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, making it only the fourth American-made film to earn the prize since it was created in 1949. And Rourke’s performance is being hyped as career-defining, and a surefire Oscar contender.

(Oh, and for those of you wondering what the heck any of this has to do with comic books, remember, Rourke played Marv in Sin City, and Aronofsky was once attached to a pre-Batman Begins Batman movie that never got off the ground. So there.)

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