New favorite of 2010

Rating: 9/10 (22 February 2011)

I was surprised at some of the less than sterling reviews of "The Fighter", especially Roger Ebert who only gave the movie 2.5 stars. I have now seen most of the nominated Oscar Best Picture candidates and my earlier favorite was "The Kings Speech" followed by "The Social Network". This movie tops both of them in my opinion. I attribute it to my likability factor. Did the movie entertain me from start to finish. All three of my favorite movies of the year did. That factor is the number one downfall of most movies; somewhere in the last half of most movies, they start to fall apart. The story line just doesn't hold together. I also give high marks to true stories told well, and my three favorites all meet that criteria. I also give high marks to dramatic films that are also funny. Kings Speech and The Fighter meet that criteria, whereas Social Network with its depressing story of the internet generation and legal fights over intellectual property right had very little humor in it. Lastly did the movie have an good all around acting and here is where The Fighter stood out. Mellisa Leo, Amy Adams, and Christian Bale were superb. Mark Walhberg held his own but stood out less because his character was somewhat introverted. When you grow up in a family of extroverts like Mickey Ward did it is easy to get drowned out in the conversation. The Fighter succeeds as a story of redemption and overcoming a dysfunctional family who don't always act in your best interest. the fight scenes in The Fighter are pretty realistic and I'm amazed at how they pull that off. Best of all there were so many funny moments in this movie. My son had to talk me into going to see this movie. It was the only one of the ten nominated movies he had not yet seen so I reluctantly went. I'm glad I did. My new favorite movie of 2010 is The Fighter.