The Golden Globes were Sunday night. I was watching Atonement, but I recorded them. Haven't gotten a chance to sit down and watch them yet but I heard Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor. Based on what I saw last night at the theater, he totally deserved it. Holy crap.
So, I wasn't going to see this one until it was nominated for an Oscar and, based on my experience from last year, I figured that it would fall into the gray area where it's out of theaters but not on DVD yet and I wouldn't have to watch it at all. Worked for Precious. I know it's kind of devious but I really hate drama.
Then, one of my former co-workers, Clay, started bugging me about seeing it. We'll get to that in a second. I want to make a side note here about how none of my co-workers ever seem to like me until I'm not working in their section any more. Hmm.
Anyway, this is what Clay said about the movie: Honestly, not nearly as much violence as you'd expect out of a movie called The Fighter. But know this, I hate drama. I like shit to explode in my movies. I like watching Megan Fox run in slow motion. That's dramatic in all the right ways. But this movie was so good, I didn't give a damn. Mark Wahlberg did such a good job of character development that you felt like you were watching an old best friend finally mature. Bale looks and acts like he was genuinely addicted to crack through the whole filming of the movie (and knowing how dedicated that guy is to acting, he may just have been). Amy Adams blows the screen up with her fiery little red head attitude. Melissa Leo could not have have acted more like a self centered bitch if they had just replaced her with cut scenes from Paris Hilton's real life. The whole fucking cast was amazing!
That's some high praise right there. And I don't disagree with it much. It was a good film with a great cast. I thought Mark Wahlberg could have been more dynamic but I can see how that would be a little difficult with Christian Bale right next to you, acting circles around you.
Now, because I'm a girl, I'm going to completely gay it up. Honestly, the movie felt more like Gypsy than Rocky. Melissa Leo could have stepped in for Mama Rose without a hitch in her increasingly desperate attempts to make one of her sons a champion boxer. The only major difference is that Baby June ran off and eloped and Dicky Eklund smoked crack. Also, Gypsy Rose Lee didn't have 7 sisters with ratted out bottle-blonde hair and an unfortunate predilection for acid washed denim. God, 1993 was a terrible year for fashion.
The movie chronicles the rise of Micky Ward from a stepping stone in the shadow of his brother to Welterweight Champion. It's about the ties that bind and sometimes strangle, about believing in your family and believing in yourself.
I was reading this article the other day and even though it focuses on TV, you could make the same case for movie characters as well. We've gotten used to seeing people who are extraordinarily gifted in some way or another. They may have trials and problems but at the end of the day, they come through because they are simply better than the rest of us.
Micky Ward isn't superhuman. He's just a guy who worked really hard. It's nice to think that there are people for whom the world is a puzzle that's just waiting to be solved (because there are people like that and they make huge leaps in our understanding of what's possible) but sometimes it's nice to remember that there are a lot more people who start out from the middle and still achieve great things.
I'm more of a middle-starter myself...you...you are a early hate-bloomer with an over-watered pot....I'm just sayn
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