David O. Russell's THE FIGHTER

[Juno Styles]

Re: David O. Russell's THE FIGHTER

I feel this movie and The Town are 2 of the best movies of the year. Nice year for Beantown

yea i agree with this. hands down. although there wasn't much competition.

Bale did a knock out job in this film, may be the best i've seen him do IMO. Walhberg is normally painful to watch outside of The Departed, Boogie Nights and whatever that movie was back in the day when he was the crazy obsessed teenager boyfriend beating everybody up to be with Reese Witherspoon..."Fear" i think it was called.

the sisters and mother were hilarious with all the bickering and complaining good grief that was a lot of drama.

this film looked dry, dull and boring from advertisements, it wasnt until i heard other people say it was good that made me curious. i would've never went to see this film based on the advertisement alone. not sure what it was.

[jonpiper]

Re: David O. Russell's THE FIGHTER

Doesn't that mean MW did his homework? I'm still not sure what to think of his performance.

I do think it means MW did his homework both in playing the role of Mikey and in producing the film, which worked all the way around.

Somebody, I think it was Jcgary, said this was a complete rewrite of several original scripts. I think this version got everything right. Did MW, as a producer, have a say in the script?

[Murphy]

Re: David O. Russell's THE FIGHTER

Quite liked this, but nothing extraordinary. It was your typical oscar-bait biopic. Bale was great and he'll probably get the oscar for it, but I felt the script was quite on the nose at times, especially the first half. Some early scenes felt quite redundant too, like they could have been condensed into a single line of dialogue somewhere.

This.

Just seen it and I agree with you on all counts. It was a weird film watching experience for me, the first half I was very disappointed with what I considered to be pretty awful dialogue. On the other hand the second half turned out to be the best boxing film I have ever seen, and I include both Rocky and Raging Bull* in that.

* This will probably make no sense, but it does to me. I am not suggesting this is a better film than Raging Bull but is a better boxing film that Raging Bull. i.e. The boxing scenes were filmed better than I have ever seen.

I think Bale deserves the Oscar, and it would actually be a travesty if he does not win it. But if this even gets nominated for best (adapted?) screenplay I will not be so happy. This week seems to be the week of subtext discussions everywhere I look, I have even seen it claimed here that every single line of dialogue should include some subtext. I challenge anyone to find a single example of subtext anywhere in this film, and yet it is highly likely to get an Oscar nom.

The only thing I can think of is that there is some strange irony at play here where a film about a guy getting punched in the face is supposed to have dialogue that is on the nose.

I did love the film though, in the end they pulled it out the bag and made one of the best films of last year. I don't expect it to win best picture but I would not be upset if it did.

Maybe subtext is not as important as some would have me believe or maybe it is just an example of how poor scripts can actually make great films when placed in the right hands.

[roscoegino]

Re: David O. Russell's THE FIGHTER

Much of the film has a raw/documentary feel to it, so the on the nose thing didn't bother me as much. The real debits for me were Mark's acting and the obvious ending.

[EddieCoyle]

Re: David O. Russell's THE FIGHTER

Some thoughts on this. Just saw it.

Really liked it. Finally, an authentic Boston-area movie. Never felt like it was people (Damon/Affleck) trying to do the Boston accent thing. This was far superior to The Town which had a setting of Boston but could have been anywhere. This captured some themes about Lowell (its dysfunctionality) that other films about Boston only touch in passing.

I could have done without the Harry Met Sally opening and closing. The whole thing about them making the documentary seemed a bit like a distraction, though it did play a crucial role in Dicky's transformation.

I'm not sure I bought that people as deeply flawed and conflicted as all the characters were could somehow pull it together to be one happy family by the end. But it mainly worked.

My biggest gripe is with the boxing scenes. The last one is decent, and I know they wanted to end with him winning the belt. But the three fights with Arturo Gatti are some of the most unbelievable boxing matches you'll ever see, and they only made those a post script. The early boxing scenes appear as if in slow motion or as if the fighters aren't really hitting each other (for obvious reasons). I don't think they should have done Rocky style haymakers, but perhaps they should have used real footage in keeping with the docu style. And to leave out the Ward-Gatti fights is really a shame. Most people know him because of those fights.

Still, I enjoyed this a lot. Kicked the Town's butt all over the place. Bale is absolutely deserving of an Oscar.

p.s. I'm a five minute walk from the theater in Lexington where he takes Charlene on their first date. Lexington is certainly more well off than Lowell, but I howled with laughter at the guy in the Ivy League sweater draped over his shoulders behind them when they are walking in saying "the New York Times says this movie has excellent cinematography." Just a little silly.

[Deion22]

Re: David O. Russell's THE FIGHTER

The Fighter is the best movie of the year in my opnion. Bale and Leo should be locks for Oscars. It Bale doesn't win it will be a travesty. Wahlberg played the role well, he was caught in the eye of the storm. Pulled in different directions and Mickey in real life I hear was soft spoken, hidden underneath his loud broyther Dickey. I think Bale and Wahlberg complimented themselves well.

I wish this would win Best Picture. But it looks like King's Speech will win that.