The Fighter (Bale, Wahlberg)

Truth. · Post by **Truth.** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 12:00 am

terrible trailer music but it looks pretty good

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EMCEE DARTH MALEK · Post by **EMCEE DARTH MALEK** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 1:29 am

ok now that i know the whole story... dont rly feel like i need to see it... i dont miss bale movies though so i guess i have to

FAZER · Post by **FAZER** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 4:02 am

Wahlberg playing Wahlberg, but looks like it could be a return to form for Bale. Who doesn't like boxing movies? Will check.

Moolah · Post by **Moolah** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 4:11 am

Damn, Bale looking halfway Machinist again.

procure uno · Post by **procure uno** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 5:08 am

got curious and did some googling: ward is a warrior

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Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:39 am

1:50 Bale looks like Will Arnett. Serious method acting steeze.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:40 am

Oh and this looks like it will be good. But I thought Aranofsky was supposed to direct this??

Trademark · Post by **Trademark** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:52 am

procure uno wrote:got curious and did some googling: ward is a warrior

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HOLY FUCKING CHRIST IN HEAVEN!

Employee · Post by **Employee** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 12:06 pm

You guys didn't watch any of the Ward/Gotti fights? They would stand in front of each other for twelve rounds and mercilessly mollywhop the shit out of each other's heads.

Versive · Post by **Versive** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 12:40 pm

Employee wrote: They would stand in front of each other for twelve rounds and mercilessly mollywhop the shit out of each other's heads.

HA, true. This movie looks ill. Peep Bale right before he hits the cop.

procure uno · Post by **procure uno** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:20 pm

Employee wrote:You guys didn't watch any of the Ward/Gotti fights? They would stand in front of each other for twelve rounds and mercilessly mollywhop the shit out of each other's heads.

i probably sat on youtube for a half hour watching high light reels. those dudes are going to be all muhammad ali'd out when they get older.

Quotashun · Post by **Quotashun** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:42 pm

procure uno wrote:
Employee wrote:You guys didn't watch any of the Ward/Gotti fights? They would stand in front of each other for twelve rounds and mercilessly mollywhop the shit out of each other's heads.
i probably sat on youtube for a half hour watching high light reels. those dudes are going to be all muhammad ali'd out when they get older.

Dude, Gatti's dead.

Versive · Post by **Versive** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 3:35 pm

^and if I remember correctly Ward was already a little punchdrunk BEFORE those fights, so yea... he talks funny

I know at least their whole first fight is up on youtube. I'm planning to rewatch the trilogy later today if I can.

Trademark · Post by **Trademark** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 6:13 pm

I've never liked boxing outside of watching Tyson fights growing up. I would always hate when I would forget that friday night fights or whatever day they were on would fuck up HBO programming.

Cowy · Post by **Cowy** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 6:35 pm

The trailer gave away the entire movie, thankfully it looks horrible.

Sankofa · Post by **Sankofa** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 6:49 pm

Great screencap on Bale, can't figure out which cartoon character he looks like, but I want to say it's some kind of kangaroo.

Moolah · Post by **Moolah** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:29 am

Trademark wrote:
procure uno wrote:got curious and did some googling: ward is a warrior

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HOLY FUCKING CHRIST IN HEAVEN!

I've never seen a round like that before.

Versive · Post by **Versive** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 10:34 am

^Yo, watch the whole fight. It's on youtube.

Brougham33 · Post by **Brougham33** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 12:55 pm

at any respectable grown man who has not seen a ward/gotti fight.

Looks horrible, but will see because I'm a sucker for any boxing movie, any Bale movie, and Amy Adams non-existent but still arrousing sweaty bar scene cleavage.

House of Games · Post by **House of Games** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:50 am

i thought Darren Aronofsky was supposed to direct this....

Moolah · Post by **Moolah** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:16 pm

Brougham33 wrote: at any respectable grown man who has not seen a ward/gotti fight.

blastmaster · Post by **blastmaster** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:43 pm

Moolah wrote:
Brougham33 wrote: at any respectable grown man who has not seen a ward/gotti fight.

For real though. Essential viewing for any sports fan. Gatti was a monster. RIP TRANNY KILLAH.

Truth. · Post by **Truth.** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 11:41 pm

LONDON! · Post by **LONDON!** » Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:50 pm

Brougham33 wrote: at any respectable grown man who has not seen a ward/gotti fight.

ha ha, no question, rip to arturo gatti

this film will get copped

EMCEE DARTH MALEK · Post by **EMCEE DARTH MALEK** » Sun Nov 07, 2010 11:38 pm

that second trailer i like. doesn't reveal too much. here's an interesting idea for the director's cut: bale plays both brothers

Dids · Post by **Dids** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:53 pm

I do not want to see movies with fucking Marky Mark's hack ass in them and I wish they'd stop doing this.

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:09 am

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:59 pm

[quote="Armond white"]
Fighting For Class
David O. Russell surprises with a boxing movie that strips away nostalgia about the American Dream

Directed by David O. Russell
Runtime: 114 min.

Americans used to seeing trickedup versions of themselves in the movies (or degraded-by-narcissism versions on reality TV) will be startled at the honesty of David O. Russellגs The Fighter. Even I was thrown by the vivacity in Russellגs semirealistic account of Dicky Eklund, the Boston Irish welterweight tagged גThe Pride of Lowell, Massachusettsג; his younger sibling, the upcoming boxer Micky Ward; and their boisterous, blasted troop, which is an example of the social phenomenon known as a גblended family.ג Dicky and Micky are half-brothers whose mother, Alice, gave birth to nine children, including seven sistersג who got nuttinג to do with them prestigious Ivy League colleges for girls.

At first I thought the sharp accents, bad grammar and worse behavior were extremeגlike Christian Baleגs impersonation of down-and-out, emaciated crackhead Dicky (heגs first seen introducing his baby brother to an HBO camera crew shooting him for a documentary) and Melissa Leoגs impersonation of bottle-blond Alice, a tough-broad matriarch projecting her dreams through her boysג macho athletics. Bale has done grandstanding hollow-eyed body-alteration before (in the tasteless The Machinist), and I didnגt trust Leo since her super-pathetic working-class martyr in the completely awful Frozen River. It took a while to notice that, this time, these actorsג thorough commitment was being put to unpretentious use.

Dicky, Alice and the rest magnify the behavioral truth of white-trash stereotypes; their screw-ups are outrageous, recognizable and hilariousגa New England version of the downright low-life hillbillies in John Fordגs still-neglected 1941 Tobacco Road, an artful exculpation of the record-breaking Broadway hit comedy that ridiculed Southern class defects. New Englander Ford recognized the types, relocated his sensibility and imbued them with his extraordinary American grace. Thatגs the only precedent for Russellגs remarkable achievement.

Throughout The Fighter, Russellגs camera is perched slightly distant and above the action. Itגs an awed perspective: taking in the ghetto atmosphere, yet never being taken-in by itגor by the ideological prejudices that prevent white Americans from ever calling it גthe ghetto.ג That mainstream media pretense is a form of denying the political basis of class differences that separate Lowell from Cambridge. Russell imparts this political awareness to his story of a familyגs struggles while keeping his perspective rigorous and balanced enough to sharpen his actors and avoid dramatic excess.

When young Mickyגs sports career (at first managed by Alice and coached by Dicky) begins to follow his depraved brotherגs past, he gets pulled away from family influence by Charlene, a barmaid he meets and falls in love with. Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams, who are pretty, play these roles with romantic commitment, but theyגre also straightforward. Micky looks at Charlene like sheגs great, a prize. Sheגs sexy and street-tough (a recent high-school athlete) like he is, with the guts to oppose his family and push him toward achievement. Itגs fulfillment, if not success, she has partied and drank away in her own life. Wahlberg and Adamsג exuberance recalls the charisma Daniel Day-Lewis and Emily Watson had as the bright-eyed couple in Jim Sheridanגs The Boxer. Some of Sheridanגs humanist fidelity to the combined truth of social status and personal ambition is apparent in the conflict that erupts with Micky and Charleneגs withdrawal from neighborhood and cultural routine. Like Sheridan, Russell keeps family bonds believably intactג especially in Micky and Dickyגs brotherly rapport and in the extraordinary moment Alice and Dicky commiserate over a Bee Gees song, a pop lament for the defeat of two generations.

The song choice is so smart, it might be a bit too uncanny. But that risk is inseparable from Russellגs intelligence and sensitivity. Russellגs habit of remaking himself with every film is part of his fresh approach to subjects that other filmmakers have degraded. The Fighter is an alert artistגs version of the Boston Irish movie clich

Trademark · Post by **Trademark** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 6:39 pm

fuck...that sucks..

Versive · Post by **Versive** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 2:28 pm

Ny Times review seems more positive http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/mo ... es&emc=a28

Kind of upset to hear that the Gotti fights aren't part of the film.