News: Happy New Year!

     I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 2011! Around this time, it is customary to look back at the year before and analyze the good and the bad, as many critics release "top ten list" as well as some dubious awards. Unfortunately, since I do not live in New York City or Los Angeles, there are still some big name movies of 2010 that have yet to come to local theaters, which means that I will be delaying my own "Top 10" of 2010. The last well reviewed Oscar contender comes to my area around mid-February, so I will probably compile my list around then. Until then, have a great New Year and here's to a great year at the movies in 2011!

Top 100: 40-31

     Continuing ever and ever closer to the conclusion of my "Top 100" countdown (check out the previous weeks by clicking the following weeks: 100-91, 90-81, 80-71, 70-61, 60-51, 50-41), this week is an interesting mixed bag of popular main stream films, "arty" foreign films, and some old-fashioned classics. This includes two of the few films on my list to have honest to goodness musical numbers, two dark science-fiction films from the 1980's, one of the most unconventional "war" films you will ever see. In terms of the timeline, this week is biggest appearance for the 1940's, with three films coming from the pivotal 20th century decade. With the old there is also a lot of new, with three films coming from the first decade of the 21st century. There is also great range of auteur directors this week. There are two films from the Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, the third appearances of my two favorite modern auteurs, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers, and the second film from the much admired Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Now on to the countdown!

Review: The Fighter

     Practically from the very beginning of the town, Hollywood has had an obsession with boxers and fighters. From Wallace Beery in the original 1932 version of "The Champ", to Kirk Douglas in 1949's "Champion", to the winner of Best Picture in 1976, "Rocky" (and its many sequels), to Robert De Niro's classic turn as Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese's 1980 classic "Raging Bull", to Russel Crowe's Depression Era Jim Braddock in Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man", the list of "boxing movies" goes on and on and has become a bona fide genre in and of itself. While I am not the genre's biggest fan, as the abbreviated list above shows, there have been some good films in the genre. Given the history, any director attempting to make a boxing film has to be very competent to make his unique stamp on the genre. If you have been following the awards season (including the coverage on this blog), you know David O. Russell's "The Fighter" is consider to be one of the main players in this year's Oscar race and has received much praise from critics all over the country. But does it live up to the hype? And how does it stack up against some of the other famous films in the genre?