Excellent! The best boxing film ever!

Rating: Null/10 (2 April 2006)

Cinderella Man/2005/****
Main Stars: Russell Crowe Paul Giamatti Renée Zelwegger
Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man" is truly a wonderful film! It's about boxing just like Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby". There is also Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky" but that was a long time ago. But Ron Howard's boxing film beat Clint Eastwood's boxing film by a little. Although "Million Dollar Baby" was excellent and all, it was about a woman boxer and seeing a woman getting beat up and bloody just didn't feel right. Yes, it was excellent because it was different (about a young woman instead of a man), had excellent acting by everyone, and had more to it than just plain boxing. But so did "Cinderella Man". It had a background of what James J. Braddock's (Russell Crowe's) life was like beyond the boxing, about his children, wife (Renée Zelwegger), job (besides boxing), and, of course, The Great Depression. This is definitely a period movie. Set in the 1930s, everything looked convincing; the sets, cars, outfits, buildings. This is definitely a good-looking film let alone an excellent film by itself. The film starts out with a boxing match and ends with a boxing match (how original). But yet that's just the beginning and end. In the middle, there is so much going on and you really get into it. Why(?) because there has never been a film like it before. Yes, there are many films about boxing including "Million Dollar Baby", "Ali", "Rocky" (A CLASSIC), "Rocky II" (III, IV, and V), "Raging Bull" (A CLASSIC), "Champion", "Body and Soul", and many more But yet not too many films are about boxing and The Great Depression (when the stocks went down, not everyone could get jobs, etc.). This truly was a Ron Howard masterpiece! Then you get his other films that were flunks (got a lot of money but weren't that good) like one I can definitely name: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with Jim Carrey as THE GRINCH! I was surprised to see Directed by Ron Howard for that film because his films are always good and and that one just wasn't. He doesn't seem to direct a film of that type meaning a pretty bad comedy. He I can see directing "Cinderella Man" because that is a type of movie he would make: an adventure-drama, action, maybe some humor too This film, even though it was a drama, had some humor from Jimmy Braddock's trainer (played by Paul Giamatti) and it's always good to have some humor. Throughout the film, Jimmy fought and fought and never gave up and soon earned the nickname "Cinderella Man" and even Renée Zelwegger's character thought it was girly. She chuckled in the movie, "Cinderella Man", that's kinda girly." Everything was fine and dandy in the film (except for some of the beginning during the horrible Great Depression) until Jimmy's trainer starts to get a little stricter when he has to face someone named Max Baer because he is known to be a tough boxer; killing already two people in the boxing ring. Jimmy is a little nervous when watching footage on an old projector of this guy punching and punching and punching this other boxer until the boxer slows down and falls to the ground. Max Baer then looks at Jimmy with an evil face. This gets Jimmy thinking. Should he fight or should he not? Remember he has kids and a wife that he has to take care of and who are scared for him. But there is a somewhat not melancholy ending. It is an excellent film! Throughout the film, is a great story (a dramatization of a true story), great acting, and great sets. I sincerely think that Ron Howard will become one of the greatest directors of all time! Movie directed by Ron Howard.