An Oscar Nominated Boxing Movie? Finally, Something New!

It's nice to see that the well trodden path of the award winning boxing movie is not putting off screenwriters. Raging Bull, Rocky and Million Dollar Baby are all brilliant examples of how boxing movies can be done but what is new out there? The Fighter has decided to take on the subject matter by using a true story. And it does well.

The true story of two brothers, Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his older sibling, Dicky Eklund, (Christian Bale) in their quest to train Micky into a champion boxer. But it is not an easy path. With Micky falling in love with Charlene (Amy Adams) and Dicky's drug addiction putting him in jail, the family and training system fall apart. When an offer comes for Micky to start with a new manager at the cost of leaving his family behind at training, he takes it. The family don't take this well and a feud starts betwwen them and the new training team.

The ol' 'Look Over There' technique still worked.

The movie is fairly straight forward and a rather common premise. But it brings something new to the table. The characters. A family focused training team with strong tempered mother, Alice, (Melissa Leo) managing operations and extravagent, crack addicted Dicky trains Micky. With such strong representations of the characters, the story really comes alive. Dark, gritty, emotional and every now and then, very funny. With three acting nominations, you can see that the Academy enjoyed it. Best Supporting Actor and two nominations for Best Supporting Actress. With both Leo and Adams up for the acting gong, we can see there may be a bit of friendly competition coming up. In fairness, I think they may well be each other's biggest threat. (But I haven't seen True Grit so I won't make any final predictions yet.) Adams is brilliant as the tough but loving Charlene. She shows true caring for Micky but also true contempt for the rest of the family. Leo is stunning as the controlling, domineering mother. She, like Charlene, knows what she wants and she will put up a damn good fight to get it. Every emotion pours through both actresses: Love, fear, anger, joy, you name it, they do it. Both brilliant performances. If I had to decide who to give the Oscar to, I'd have to say Melissa Leo. She just has something that Adams lacks. The conviction.

The brilliant female performances aren't the only talking point. Our two lead males both throw in award worthy performances. Sadly, Wahlberg didn't get an Oscar nod, though he probably does deserve one. Unfortunately for him, he was the calm, collected character next to the larger than life Dicky. While he did a fantastic job, the Acadamy often overlook these perormances for the more enthusiastic and 'difficult' characters. He played the role brilliantly and that's what truely matters. Christian Bale, however, did cast Wahlberg's performance into a slight shadow. Throughout the film you notic how consistant he is and then at the end, we are greeted with a short clip of the real Dicky and Micky and we realise how spot on Bale was. Certainly worthy of the nomination, equally worthy of the gong.

Wanna reason to watch the movie ladies? There you go.

There are flashes of brilliance elsewhere. Out of no where came a brilliant little montage which was shot so well and also excellently edited. It took me by surprise. Also, the fights, shot with a really good representation of a sports show camera, are very well pieced together and again are filmed with brilliant camera work. It helps make the film real. And the direction is wonderful. Everything goes so well. Certainly not enough to get David O. Russell the Oscar I'd say. But it is very well done.

Overall a good movie. Definately worth a watch. You may laugh, you may cry but whatever you do, you will get attached to the movie. I would recommend it.



Best Bit? Some may say Amy Adams in just underwear, but I'll go with the uplifting montage of fights.

Till Death Do Us Departed

This is my 20th post. Should I do something special? Nah.

The Departed. Starring two of my favourite actors and directed by one of my favourite directors; it's gotta be good.

Jack Nicholson is my favourite actor of all time and even at 70 he still rocks this film. Playing Irish mafia boss Frank Costello, he shows that he hasn't lost his triple Oscar wining talent. I can't imagine anyone else playing this part especially considering his part was heavily improvised, (which made some classic moments.. Throwing coke on prostitutes... Wearing a strap-on to the cinema.) He is a weirdo. Leonardo DiCaprio was also amazing starring as a police rat in Costello's mafia. A lack of a real identity drives him mad but he keeps with his job. A man with a identity complex pulled from side to side and portrayed amazingly.

You're doing WHAT at the moment?

Matt Damon is another rat but he's inside the police working for Costello.. Confusing? He's also suburb and highly underrated. He struggles between keeping his secret and keeping his girlfriend happy while trying to find out who the rat in the mafia is. Mark Wahlberg was incredible and really deserved his Oscar nod the angry cop who runs the ship, hates Damon's character and loves his job. Also worth a mention are Vera Farmiga and Alec Baldwin in smaller but equally amazing parts.


In case you haven't guessed, every actor was magnificent. As was the direction. Martin Scorsese is one of the best directors of all time and he continued that reputation with 'his first film with a plot.' Don't even get me started on the soundtrack. It was so brilliantly used. The sudden cuts, the choice of songs... It's all so good. The camera work is stunning. Everything is just awesome.

"What drink should I have with my breakfast? Wine? Coffee? OJ? Tea?"

The action keeps you on the very edge of your seat and the emotional moments/ breakdowns are emotional. The plot is complex yet understandable. The acting and direction are amazing. It's just an amazing film. Watch it.

Best bit? The nail biting finale. All the way to the last second.