Saturday, April 08, 2006
Cinderella Man (*****)
Today was a long day as The Wife and I put on a garage sale. (I'm taking way too much credit here, by the way. The Wife did all the haggling. I mostly just hauled stuff in and out of the garage.) I don't like garage sales, mostly because of the people you meet. Like the old foreign man who showed up at our house as we opened the garage door (an hour before we officially began the sale) and started nosing around everything. He asked to test a stereo, then started looking at all my brand new tools. Yeah, cuz I'm going to sell a brand new compound miter saw at a garage sale. Keep dreaming old man. I've decided that only two things in this world really bring out the dregs of society: garage sales and carnivals.
But I don't want to talk about garage sales right now. After an exhausting day hawking our wares, The Wife and I were exhausted. We decided to watch a movie and luckily had Cinderella Man on hand, thanks to Netflix. This was one of the best movies I've watched in a long time. Even better, it was the greatest marriage of a sports movie to a chick flick since Jerry Maguire. (By the way, I have a bad feeling that I'm completely plagerizing The Sports Guy, but I don't care and I'm way too lazy to actually read what he wrote about this movie. That's actually one of the problems I have with reading The Sports Guy. He talks about a lot of the things I do. In fact, he steals my ideas a lot. I've been preaching for years about how Rocky IV single-handedly brought down communism. Then this jerk goes and writes a whole column about it on ESPN.com. Now nobody will listen to me. Wait, nobody listened to me in the first place. Either way, it's annoying.)
Ron Howard really did a great job directing Cinderella Man. He really took pains to show how low James Braddock had sunk. (In case you're unfamiliar with the story, it goes like this. Boxer does well. Should be champ. But he loses the edge and goes broke. It's the Depression. Things keep getting worse. Boxer gets one last chance to box and starts winning. It's based on a true story too.) Now, I knew the plot going into the movie. I knew Braddock would be hard on his luck, running out of money and whatnot. But Opie did a great job taking you down with him. He almost makes you feel like you're the one having the power turned off, losing your family. What I really liked, though, is that Richie Cunningham knew when to ease up on the pity. I think there's a fine line. Party of Five frequently crossed it. At some point, you stop caring about the people and just wish they'd jump in front of a bus to save everyone the agony. Ron Howard managed to avoid bringing us to that point. Kudos.
Another thing I liked about the movie was the fight scenes. They were very realistic. Too much nowadays, action sequences are hard to follow. It's a half-second shot of one punch, then a new angle for another half-second shot of another punch. It gets dizzying and annoying. They didn't do that in Cinderella Man. They actually showed the boxers connecting a few punches at a time, both boxers going back and forth. This drags you right into the fight more than you might think. I found myself right on the edge of my seat, as if Rocky Balboa were fighting Clubber Lang all over again.
What I found amusing, though, was when The Wife complained to me during the movie that she hated the fight scenes. That's when I realized it was a chick flick. I was quite surprised that I hadn't even noticed up to that point. In Jerry Maguire, it was painfully obvious. That was really a love story that featured sports. Ick. In Cinderella Man, it's just a great story. It features boxing, but it also features a very real man and his struggles to keep his family together. Sure Renee Zellweger starred in both, but I think that's just a coincidence. That said, I think she did a good job in Cinderella Man because she was a commanding presence without standing out. In other words, I think she actually added something to the film instead of sucking all the life out of it, like Talia Shire in, um, all the Rocky movies. What's Adrian's problem anyway? What a bitch. (And yes, I'm pretty sure I'm now blatantly ripping off The Sports Guy. Let him track me down and sue me.)
Cinderella Man was a great film. I thought it was a little heavy on the who family thing, but if that's what it takes to get my wife to sit through a boxing movie with me, then it was completely worth it. If you're a guy, I think you'll love the movie. If you're a woman, I think you'll love the movie. If you're Adrian Balboa, you'll be complaining the whole time about how Renee should be acting more like a bitch and screaming from the top of the stairs, "You can't win!" If you're a couple, though, you'll find this a GREAT movie. It gives you both something enjoyable to watch somewhere in between Bridget Jones's Diary and Gladiator. I give the it 5 out of 5 stars, and I'm sure you will too. (Except for that bitch Adrian. Seriously, she's got issues.)
But I don't want to talk about garage sales right now. After an exhausting day hawking our wares, The Wife and I were exhausted. We decided to watch a movie and luckily had Cinderella Man on hand, thanks to Netflix. This was one of the best movies I've watched in a long time. Even better, it was the greatest marriage of a sports movie to a chick flick since Jerry Maguire. (By the way, I have a bad feeling that I'm completely plagerizing The Sports Guy, but I don't care and I'm way too lazy to actually read what he wrote about this movie. That's actually one of the problems I have with reading The Sports Guy. He talks about a lot of the things I do. In fact, he steals my ideas a lot. I've been preaching for years about how Rocky IV single-handedly brought down communism. Then this jerk goes and writes a whole column about it on ESPN.com. Now nobody will listen to me. Wait, nobody listened to me in the first place. Either way, it's annoying.)
Ron Howard really did a great job directing Cinderella Man. He really took pains to show how low James Braddock had sunk. (In case you're unfamiliar with the story, it goes like this. Boxer does well. Should be champ. But he loses the edge and goes broke. It's the Depression. Things keep getting worse. Boxer gets one last chance to box and starts winning. It's based on a true story too.) Now, I knew the plot going into the movie. I knew Braddock would be hard on his luck, running out of money and whatnot. But Opie did a great job taking you down with him. He almost makes you feel like you're the one having the power turned off, losing your family. What I really liked, though, is that Richie Cunningham knew when to ease up on the pity. I think there's a fine line. Party of Five frequently crossed it. At some point, you stop caring about the people and just wish they'd jump in front of a bus to save everyone the agony. Ron Howard managed to avoid bringing us to that point. Kudos.
Another thing I liked about the movie was the fight scenes. They were very realistic. Too much nowadays, action sequences are hard to follow. It's a half-second shot of one punch, then a new angle for another half-second shot of another punch. It gets dizzying and annoying. They didn't do that in Cinderella Man. They actually showed the boxers connecting a few punches at a time, both boxers going back and forth. This drags you right into the fight more than you might think. I found myself right on the edge of my seat, as if Rocky Balboa were fighting Clubber Lang all over again.
What I found amusing, though, was when The Wife complained to me during the movie that she hated the fight scenes. That's when I realized it was a chick flick. I was quite surprised that I hadn't even noticed up to that point. In Jerry Maguire, it was painfully obvious. That was really a love story that featured sports. Ick. In Cinderella Man, it's just a great story. It features boxing, but it also features a very real man and his struggles to keep his family together. Sure Renee Zellweger starred in both, but I think that's just a coincidence. That said, I think she did a good job in Cinderella Man because she was a commanding presence without standing out. In other words, I think she actually added something to the film instead of sucking all the life out of it, like Talia Shire in, um, all the Rocky movies. What's Adrian's problem anyway? What a bitch. (And yes, I'm pretty sure I'm now blatantly ripping off The Sports Guy. Let him track me down and sue me.)
Cinderella Man was a great film. I thought it was a little heavy on the who family thing, but if that's what it takes to get my wife to sit through a boxing movie with me, then it was completely worth it. If you're a guy, I think you'll love the movie. If you're a woman, I think you'll love the movie. If you're Adrian Balboa, you'll be complaining the whole time about how Renee should be acting more like a bitch and screaming from the top of the stairs, "You can't win!" If you're a couple, though, you'll find this a GREAT movie. It gives you both something enjoyable to watch somewhere in between Bridget Jones's Diary and Gladiator. I give the it 5 out of 5 stars, and I'm sure you will too. (Except for that bitch Adrian. Seriously, she's got issues.)
