The Fighter

My task of watching and reviewing the 10 Oscar Best Picture nominees is almost complete as last night I watched The Fighter. Now all that is left to see is Winter's Bone.

Having watched both the Critic's Choice Awards and the Golden Globe Awards where Christian Bale took home the award for Best Supporting Actor at both shows, I was anxious to see whether or not I agreed with the verdict. Boy do I ever. Bale's acting was tremendous. The Fighter is a story of second chances, third chances, fourth chances, twenty seventh chances...Dicky Eklund (Bale) is a once great boxer from Massachusetts who is known at the Pride of Lowell for having gone toe-to-toe against Sugar Ray Leonard in '78. It's Dicky who gets his younger half-brother, Micky (Marky Mark Wahlberg) interested in boxing, because, as many younger siblings do, Micky wants to do everything that his hero, his brother, does. Despite Dicky having a debilitating crack cocaine addiction, Micky and his family (9 total siblings - 7 girls!) always support him, maybe too much. It's not until his umpteenth arrest and incarceration that Micky realizes he may need to distance himself from his brother in order to have a shot at making it big. With the help of his father and girlfriend (a fantastic Amy Adams -- she can portray a tough chick and a wide-eyed princess) Micky finally starts to live up to his potential.

Overall, The Fighter was a good film. It's not my favorite of the Oscar nominated films, but I absolutely can see its merit. Christian Bale deserves the Best Supporting Actor nomination and I kind of believe that he deserved to be nominated for Best Leading Actor, but I suppose Marky Mark was the main actor of the film.

Updated Ranking

1. Black Swan
2. The Kids Are All Right
3. Inception
4. The King's Speech
5. True Grit
6. 127 Hours
7. Toy Story 3
8. The Fighter
9. The Social Network