Review: The Fighter (B+)

There's a reason David O. Russell's latest is called The Fighter instead of The Boxer (well, besides the fact that that title was taken). It's not just a movie about a boxer; it's about one man and three pivotal people in his life, and any of them could be the fighter of the title. They fight opponents, each other, their circumstances and their own worst instincts. On its face, the film is the fact-based story of "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), an aspiring boxer in Lowell, Mass. Micky's trainer is his half-brother Dickie Ecklund (Christian Bale), once the "pride of Lowell" for knocking out Sugar Ray Leonard (who cameos as himself), now a cadaverous crack addict who nonetheless keeps up a stream of chatter to rival a high school debate team. He's managed by his mother Alice (Melissa Leo), a micromanaging Diet Lady Macbeth who is constantly trailed by her seven daughters (one of whom- Fun Fact- is played by Conan O'Brien's sister). Preparing for a fight in Atlantic City that gives him a shot at the big time, Micky meets Charlene (Amy Adams), a barmaid who thinks his family is doing his life and career more harm than good; she's seemingly vindicated when Micky takes a spectacular beating after his opponent doesn't show and Dickie and Alice coerce him into fighting a much bigger replacement. Charlene attempts to help Micky make it on his own terms (TM), which unfortunately coincides with Dickie hitting bottom, not only landing in prison after a fight with the cops, but realizing that the HBO crew, ostensibly filming a documentary about his "comeback", have actually been documenting his worsening drug addiction. As Micky starts winning again, he's faced with a choice between not only family and Charlene, but his dream and the moral obligation he feels to take care of Dickie.
First things first, Bale is every bit as phenomenal as everyone says; he spent the latter half of the 2000s in a lot of roles that didn't allow him much emotional range, but this performance reminds us that the guy did, after all, play Patrick Bateman. On the one hand, Dickie's addiction makes him alternately infuriating and pitiful; on the other hand, we see how, even at his lowest, he's still got a lot of natural charm to fall back on, as in a brilliant little scene when Alice drags him from the crackhouse he floats in and out of and he calms her by singing the Bee Gees' "I Started a Joke" as they drive away. The Oscar is already all but his for this. Leo is great too, essentially playing an American, slightly nicer version of Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom. Adams is especially revelatory, and she might be Oscar-bound too: they clearly already love her, they also love deliberately de-glammed performances, and, oh yeah, it's a damn good performance, too.
Wahlberg's performance has been dismissed as the weaker of the four, but I think that's a misinterpretation; sure, it's understated comparatively, but that's who Micky Ward is in the context of the story. He's a reactive character, which is why it's compelling to watch him pursue his dream, because simply going with what's best for him is not something he really knows how to do. I had similar thoughts on Naomi Watts' performance as Valerie Plame in Fair Game; it's not underacting, it's just the nature of the character to be less flashy than those around them.
Russell, of Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees, does a great job of directing (despite some disconcertingly anachronistic musical choices), particularly the fight scenes, shot deliberately in the grainy style of early '90s HBO fights; Micky's final fight in London with Liverpudlian Shea Neary is a wonder to behold. The Fighter is a great story told well, and pulls off something hard: it takes four regular people and the lives they lead and shows us exactly why we should give a shit.

Tom Hardy cast in unspecified role in Chris Nolan's third "Batman"

British character actor Tom Hardy (pictured above with rapist tattoo), who proved what a formidable talent he was with 2009's Bronson and got a major push into the mainstream with his scene-stealing in Christopher Nolan's Inception this year, has now joined the cast of Nolan's sequel to The Dark Knight, according to Deadline. No one knows what role he'll be playing, but it's not unreasonable to think it'll be the villain, the identity of whom is still anyone's guess (although given Hardy's skill at playing wiseasses, I'd guess the Riddler if it came down to it). Filming is set to begin next spring for a summer '12 release.

Trailer for Peter Weir's "The Way Back"

Earlier in the year, six-time Oscar nominee Peter Weir's The Way Back, a true story of several escapees from the Soviet gulag who managed to walk from Siberia to India, was being looked at very closely as an Oscar contender, both in terms of its direction and its phenomenal cast, including, among others, Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Saiorse Ronan and Colin Farrell. Then it was announced that despite its prestige, the film would not be released until January, which is pretty much a bullet in the head for reasonable Oscar hopes. Then, earlier this week, it was announced that the film would have a one-week qualifying run at the end of December, and today a trailer has been released, which doesn't showcase too much of the acting but is heavy on the gorgeous-looking direction and cinematography. Given his longtime "always a bridesmaid" status at the Oscars, I've heard rumblings about this being Ed Harris' big break if the movie can make enough of a splash, so we'll see.

New poster and trailer for Danny Boyle's "127 Hours"

After Danny Boyle's resounding Oscar triumph two years ago with Slumdog Millionaire, he's almost assuredly got another darling on his hands with his latest, the James Franco-starring 127 Hours. The film, which received raves on the festival circuit for Boyle's direction and Franco's performance (and also reportedly caused at least one panic attack), is the story of rock-climber Aron Ralston, who found himself trapped beneath a boulder in the mountains of Utah and was forced to hack off his own hand to escape. ANYWAY, now we've got not only a striking, minimalist new poster for the film, but an extended trailer, which showcases what looks to be a phenomenal performance from Franco (although c'mon, "of all time"? Give it some time to give it context, Kanye West-sounding film critic whose name I didn't catch), as well as what looks like a neat narrative conceit to deal with the fact that it's essentially a one-man show. 127 Hours opens on November 5th; here's the trailer.

Utterly unnecessary "The Secret in Their Eyes" Americanization in the works

Billy Ray, writer of State of Play and its fellow quality journalism drama Shattered Glass, has been tapped to write and direct an Americanized remake of 2009's Argentine Best Foreign Language Film winner The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos), an edgy crime thriller I am ashamed to admit I've never seen. I have to say this seems completely needless, and part of the latest Hollywood alternative to original ideas, remaking good movies for people who think subtitles are, like, totally gay. (Yes, Let Me In was surprisingly good, but I'm still not entirely convinced there was any reason it needed to be made) In contrast to the original's late '90s setting, Ray's remake will be set in the present, as well as in America, due to the relative lack of A-list Argentine-American actors.

Emma Stone cast as Gwen Stacy for some reason

This weekend, I reported that funnier, less insane Lindsay Lohan robot Emma Stone had been offered the role of the similarly-tressed Mary Jane in Marc Webb's reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. Now according to The Playlist, Stone, who, scandalously, is a natural blond, has been instead offered the role of earlier Spider-Man fling Gwen Stacy, who, aside from being played by a mostly wasted Bryce Dallas Howard in Spider-Man 3, is probably most famous for SPOILERS!!!!!! getting dumped off a bridge to her death by the Green Goblin*. Stone's a good enough actress that I'm not too bothered by this; given the movie's apparent back-to-basics approach, it's possible, if not entirely probable, that it will eschew Mary Jane entirely, since she wasn't actually introduced until several years into the comic.



*And also that time several decades later when it was "revealed" that Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin's civilian identity, had seduced her and impregnated her with twins. This was every bit as awful as it sounds.

Badass new full "True Grit" trailer

After last week's shorter teaser trailer, today we get a full trailer from Yahoo! Movies
for the Coen Brothers' hotly anticipated adaptation of Charles Portis' True Grit, this time giving us a better look at Jeff Bridges' Rooster Cogburn, Matt Damon's Texas ranger LaBoeuf, and Josh Brolin's villainous fugitive murderer Tom Chaney, as opposed to the greater emphasis on newcomer Hailee Steinfeld's Mattie Ross in the teaser. It looks exciting as hell, and the use of Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" is brilliant, as is that last stinger after the title, a smaller bit of one of the original novel's most intense scenes. Needless to say, this has me excited to the point of incoherence.