Connect with us

Reviews

5 Great Recent Boxing Movies To Watch After ‘Bruised’

Published

on

5 Great Recent Boxing Movies To Watch After ‘Bruised’

Boxing and combat sports movies have a lasting appeal for audiences, and have always managed to attract viewers beyond sports fans. Whether it’s an inspirational underdog story or a stirring drama that pushes its central character to their physical and emotional limits, there’s nothing quite like watching a protagonist step inside the ring to go another round.

The genre is held up by all-time classics like Raging Bull, Rocky, Million Dollar Baby, Killer’s Kiss, Fat City, and The Quiet Man, but new favorites continue to reinvent these age-old stories for the next generation. Halle Berry’s directorial debut Bruised follows a former mix-martial arts prodigy stepping into an underground tournament, all while struggling to care for her six-year-old daughter. The emotional character study hits Netflix and select theaters this week.

Advertisement

While recent films like Creed, Warrior, and The Fighter have launched to critical and awards success, many of the best combat sport movies remain cinematic underdogs. Here are five worth checking out.

Chuck

Creed continued the chronology of the Rocky universe with its focus on Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), but the 2016 biographical drama Chuck explored a much different side of the iconic Italian heavyweight champ’s legacy. The film centers around the true story of boxer Chuck Wepner (Liev Shcreiber), a down-on-his-luck local fighter who gets a shot at Muhammad Ali. The match turned the mild-mannered Wepner into a brief, yet rousing media sensation.

The story was so unexpected that it inspired Sylvester Stallone to write his original Rocky script; the actual Stallone has a prominent role in Chuck thanks to a striking impersonation by Morgan Spector. Schreiber is a little bit rougher around the edges, but he possesses the same social aloofness that gave Rocky such lasting appeal. It’s a fascinating unknown story, and well worth a watch from Rocky fans eagerly awaiting Creed III next year.

Advertisement

Bleed for This

One of the joys of the combat sport genre is watching the actors you’d least expect to bulk up commit to the physical rigors that their roles require. Few would’ve expected a physical transformation from the slim Miles Teller, best known for his sardonic, charismatic characters. However, Teller delivered one of the best performances of his career as Vinny “The Pazmanian Devil” Pazienza in the criminally underseen biopic Bleed for This.

Pazienza had only just earned the WBA World Light Middleweight championship title when a devastating car accident left him with a fractured spine. Initially told he would never be able to walk again, Pazienza fought against the odds to regain his strength and do the unthinkable: return to the dangerous sport he was forced to leave behind. It’s an unbelievable comeback story, and outside of Teller’s great work features a strong supporting performance from Aaron Eckhart as Pazienza’s longtime trainer Kevin Rooney.

RELATED: ‘Bruised’ Trailer Stars Halle Berry as a Former MMA Fighter in Her Directorial Debut

Hands of Stone

The real Pazienza from Bleed for This actually won his 1990 comeback match against Roberto Duran, who got his own biopic in 2016’s Hands of Stone. The Panamanian prize fighter grew up in poverty before immigrating to the United States to win world championships in the lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight categories. Edgar Ramirez stars as the icon in Jonathan Jakubowicz’s film, which also features Ana de Armas as Duran’s fictionalized first wife and Robert De Niro as legendary trainer Ray Arcel.

Advertisement

Hands of Stone is more than just a “rags to riches” narrative, as it explores the excess that led to Duran’s later downward spiral. The film certainly sympathizes with his challenging youthful experiences, but it’s also unafraid to depict Duran as a temperamental, and often unlikeable character. Ramirez captures the charisma of his public persona while committing to the physical demands. It’s also fun to see De Niro return to the genre he’d mastered with Raging Bull, and he delivers one of his stronger late stage performances.

Southpaw

Jake Gyllenhaal continues to prove he’s one of the best actors of his generation with an eclectic run of performances, and he’s one of the rare performers who can elevate even the most familiar of material. Case in point: Antoine Fuqua’s boxing drama Southpaw. Southpaw certainly isn’t reinventing the wheel with its story of a self-destructive boxer putting his life back together; it’s a film that sticks so closely to convention that its main character is literally named “Billy Hope.”

So why is Southpaw so electrifying? It has to be Gyllenhaal, who captures Hope’s torment and self-hatred following an unexpected tragedy that separates him from his daughter Leila (Oona Laurence). Even though the material isn’t fresh, Fuqua remarkably dedicates as much time to Hope’s emotional realignment and therapy as he does the physical training. There’s also an intimate brutality to the matches that helps to highlight each of Hope’s beat downs.

Advertisement

Jungleland

Watching a fighter face demanding physical challenges is often even more emotional when their family is forced to watch them from the sidelines. The sadly underseen drama Jungleland explores a brotherly bond that’s tested amidst and outside the ring, and features stand out work from two of the generation’s most promising young actors. Jack O’Connell and Charlie Hunnam were both floated as potential blockbuster stars, but they’ve done much more interesting work on the indie level.

Jungleland is far from a traditional inspirational boxing movie. The brothers Walter (O’Connell) and Stanley (Hunnam) work menial jobs and live on the run, relying on Walter’s participation in illicit off-the-grid boxing matches. While Walter is the one fighting, it’s Stanley who faces the repercussions of their lifestyle. An ex-con who managed to avoid authorities and provide for Walter, Stanley wants to provide for a future knowing he may not be around much longer.

Advertisement


Reviews

Bullet Train Review: A Wickedly Funny, High-Octane Thrill Ride

Published

on

By

Bullet Train Review: A Wickedly Funny, High-Octane Thrill Ride

Brad Pitt leads a wickedly funny ensemble in a high-octane actioner loaded with twists. Adapted from the 2010 Japanese novel by Kōtarō Isaka, Bullet Train has a bevy of disparate assassins manipulated by a mysterious criminal mastermind. Stuntman turned action director, David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde), stays true to form with unrelenting bloody and flamboyant violence. The codenamed characters get downright verbose before beating, stabbing, and shooting each other to bits. The loquacious banter tends to run long, but the narrative always bounces back with sharp reveals. Strap in for a helluva ride.

Ladybug (Pitt) boards the overnight bullet train to Tokyo with a newfound sense of self. He’s chock-full of philosophy after recovering from a near fatal ambush. Ladybug ignores his unseen handler’s advice to take a gun. Surely any issues can be resolved peacefully. The job seems straightforward enough. Steal a briefcase with a sticker and exit at the next stop.

Advertisement

Also on board are Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), ruthless “twins” known for their brutal methods. Lemon is obsessed with the British children’s show “Thomas & Friends”. He reads people by comparing them to the anthropomorphized trains. The twins are escorting the previously kidnapped son (Logan Lerman) of a powerful gangster, the White Death (Michael Shannon).

None of the hired guns are aware of the Father, aka Yuichi Kimura’s (Andrew Koji), mission. He’s out for vengeance but foolishly runs into a deceptive figure. The Prince (Joey King) has a score to settle with the White Death. Meanwhile, the Wolf (Bad Bunny) joins the fray after his truly horrific Mexican wedding. He’s also ready for serious comeuppance. Ladybug quickly realizes they’re all unwitting pawns in a dangerous game. Someone has packed the train with killers for an unknown purpose. He desperately wants to get off but can’t seem to escape the carnage.


Related: I Love My Dad Review: Patton Oswalt’s Delightfully Cringeworthy Catfishing Comedy

Cast of Bullet Train

Bullet Train introduces the cast with splashy entrances that flashes back to their dark pasts. The murderous montages are informative but don’t fill in every gap. The script doles out more critical information as the bodies pile up. Alliances bounce back and forth as everyone wonders who’s actually pulling the strings. The whodunit element works well as the audience becomes embroiled in a series of betrayals. You don’t have a sense of the plot’s true trajectory until the third act. The film builds to a showdown that delivers a huge action payoff.

Advertisement

Bullet Train has complex characters that each contribute slices of devilish humor. Brad Pitt preaching self-help and understanding is an effective gag throughout. Brian Tyree Henry’s constant comparisons to Thomas & Friends aren’t as comical but play an important role in the story. There are a lot of moving parts. Leitch, who worked as Pitt’s stunt double for years, is clearly fond of his players. He gives everyone a chance to babble incessantly. I would have trimmed the dialogue to be more incisive.


The action scenes are worth the price of admission. Leitch has a great eye for mixing stylized set pieces with intimate fights. He knows when to go big and small. You never feel let down by his pacing. There’s always the right amount of adrenaline to keep your pulse pumping. Bullet Train is another feather in a skilled filmmaker’s cap. Watch out for A-list cameos and a mid-credits scene.

Bullet Train is a production of Columbia Pictures, Fuqua Films, and 87North Productions. It will be released theatrically on August 5th from Sony Pictures.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Reviews

Bullet Train Review: Brad Pitt Has A Blast In The Silly And Badass Action Comedy

Published

on

By

Bullet Train Review: Brad Pitt Has A Blast In The Silly And Badass Action Comedy

If orchestrated properly, with adjusted stakes, tone, and atmosphere, there can be a beautiful, symbiotic relationship between intense action and comedy. A hero pulling off a rapid and vicious series of blows against an opponent can be savage and dramatic in one context, but it can also be so deliriously awesome that an audience’s first reaction is to laugh. Fast paced martial arts can be used for wonderful physical humor (see: the legendary career of Jackie Chan), and the best examples provide dual layers of entertainment: you marvel at the skill in all the ass-kicking, and cackle at the creativity in the choreography.

This is a sweet spot that filmmaker David Leitch knows well. After peppering funny moments in John Wick and Atomic Blonde at the start of his directorial career, he brilliantly utilized the action/comedy weapon that is Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2, and crafted some excellent physicality with the unique styles of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. His latest, Bullet Train, is another effort that takes aim at that particular tonal target, this time with his most expansive ensemble yet, and it’s another success. With a sensibility that could be described as early Guy Ritchie with more specific action focus, it’s a movie that is both silly and skilled and inspires its primary star in particular to do energetic and engaging work.

Based on the novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka, the film weaves multiple narrative threads through the cars of the titular bullet train as it speeds through the country of Japan – all of the protagonists being killers with their own particular reason and motivation for being aboard. Ladybug (Brad Pitt), for example, is a hired gun who has been tasked by his handler (Sandra Bullock) to perform what sounds like a simple job: find a briefcase marked with a train sticker and steal it. What he doesn’t know, though, is that said briefcase belongs to a pair of British hit men named Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and that the contents include the recovered ransom for the kidnapped son (Logan Lerman) of a powerful crime lord known as The White Death.

Meanwhile, Kimura a.k.a. The Father (Andrew Koji) is on the bullet train because he is on a mission of vengeance – hunting down the person responsible for nearly killing his son by pushing the boy off of a building. What he doesn’t expect is that the individual he is looking for is a young woman identified as The Prince (Joey King), and that she has purposefully gotten him on the high speed rail with the intention of forcing him to execute an assassination attempt.

And while five killers sharing the space would be enough for most movies, Bullet Train actually has even more that pop in and surprise throughout the film’s runtime – and their roles are worth keeping as a secret pre-release.

Advertisement

Bullet Train has a chaotic storyline, but the pieces properly connect as a fun puzzle.

Narratively speaking, Bullet Train is a messy movie to put together, as focus briskly ping-pongs between the different players, but everything stays in harmony as the film persistently finds ways to build on each protagonist’s arc. This is particularly cool later in the movie as different characters are drawn together from individual angles and instant conflict is generated from their simple interaction.

The film is at its best when it keeps things simple, but it does let things go off the rails at times (if you’ll pardon the pun). This is especially true as it gets into the third act and it tries to pull off stunts like one of the leads leaping from a platform on to the back of the train as it leaves a station; it’s both a problem for the “rules” of the universe and in its strained use of visual effects. The movie also frequently tries to get a bit too cute and Tarantino-esque with what are admittedly familiar-but-not-quite-stock characters – the most prominent example being an ongoing and quickly tiresome gag with Lemon explaining that he understands people through the lens of Thomas The Tank Engine.

Primarily, though, it’s a movie that is able to generate its entertainment with engaging and quippy dynamics between the members of the ensemble, both when they are talking out their issues and trying to kill one another.

David Leitch puts a lot of exciting and weird fights in a confined space, and is at its best when working with a “less is more” philosophy.

Coming from a stunt background, both as a performer and a coordinator, David Leitch’s bread and butter remains deftly and specifically choreographed action sequences, and Bullet Train proves to be a terrific challenge and opportunity for his skills. Regardless of where you are in the titular transport, space is not a luxury, and the best fights in the movie are those that are being fought only between the characters, but against the limitations provided by the location.

There are guns, knives and explosives in the mix, but Bullet Train also has some terrific “found item” moments that add spice and humor to the various showdowns, whether it’s a pocketed cell phone saving a character’s life from a blade, a laptop making for a solid cudgel, a water bottle making for a useful projectile, or a venomous snake showing up at a perfect moment.

Once again we see David Leitch work a special magic turning dramatic and comedic actors into badasses with slick and stylish moves, and while everyone shows off some terrific skills, it’s very much the Brad Pitt show at the end of the day.

Advertisement

Brad Pitt’s joy in the role of Ladybug is palpable.

At the nexus of everything good in Bullet Train is Brad Pitt, who very clearly had a blast reuniting with David Leitch (who performed the actor’s stunts in films including Fight Club, The Mexican, Mr. And Mrs. Smith and Troy). He’s a joy to watch in action not just because of the talented craft he demonstrates in his physicality, but how he channels the psychology of the character. As we meet him, Ladybug is reluctantly getting back into his business following a number of important breakthroughs with his therapist, and Pitt does a fantastic job conveying that he doesn’t ever want to choose violence as a first answer – both via verbal pleas and defense-heavy moves. Action/comedy is a genre he should revisit a lot more often.

Bullet Train doesn’t aim to revolutionize hitman movies, but instead plays with a tongue-in-cheek vibe that lets you recognize the tropes and appreciate how the film plays with them. It’s a slick/goofy action movie that is both contained and wild, and a satisfying late summer release.

Continue Reading

Reviews

Luck Review: A Spectacular Debut Film from Skydance Animation

Published

on

By

Luck Review: A Spectacular Debut Film from Skydance Animation

The world’s unluckiest woman enters a magical land to change the fortunes of a fellow orphan. Luck will make you smile and possibly shed a few tears. The big-budget, CGI animated fantasy shines a spotlight on needy children while telling a truly original story. An assortment of lucky critters and creatures dazzle in a spectacular setting. The highly imaginative narrative gives age-old superstitions a dynamic new spin. Luck is a brilliant first film from Skydance Animation.

Sam Greenfield (Eva Noblezada) reaches her eighteenth birthday with trepidation. She’s finally aged out of the foster care system. Sam never found her “forever family”. She spent her entire life living in orphanages. It doesn’t help that Sam has the worst luck. Everything she does or touches ends in abject disaster. Her only thoughts are for young Hazel (Adelynn Spoon), Sam’s roommate at the girls home. Sam has been set up with a job and tiny apartment. She has to stay in school and employed to remain housed.

Advertisement

Sam’s first day at Marv’s (Lil Rel Howery) floral shop goes exactly as expected. She sadly eats dinner sitting on a sidewalk. Sam learns that Hazel’s weekend trip with a foster family was canceled. She gives half of her sandwich to a curious black cat. It scampers away but leaves a strange penny behind.

The following day is a revelation. Sam’s lucky penny changes everything. Her ecstatic mood sours when she loses the penny in spectacular fashion. Stewing on the sidewalk, Sam’s surprised when the black cat returns. She’s astonished when Bob (Simon Pegg) asks for his penny. The “travel penny” is the only way a creature from the Land of the Luck stays safe in the human world. She follows an unnerved Bob back through the portal to the Land of Luck. Sam has to find another lucky penny to help Hazel. Bob reluctantly agrees, but they have to be careful. Misdeeds end up in banishment to Bad Luck.

Related: Bullet Train Review: A Wickedly Funny, High-Octaine Thrill Ride

Advertisement

The Land of Luck

The Land of Luck is an absolute joy to behold. Leprechauns, cats, pigs, and rabbits, lucky creatures, are the bureaucrats tasked with spreading good fortune. Bringing Sam in such a place is a recipe for absolute chaos. Bob, and his leprechaun assistant Gerry’s (Colin O’Donoghue), efforts to contain Sam’s bad luck will have audiences in stitches. I’m still chuckling at Sam’s “Latvian leprechaun” disguise; their harebrained excuse for why she’s so much bigger than everyone else.

Luck’s serious themes are artfully addressed. Sam’s lonely childhood, and her desperate efforts to change Hazel’s, brings a melancholic touch to the narrative. The film reminds us to not take love and family for granted. Every kid deserves care, nurturing, and a safe place to grow. It shouldn’t take luck or chance for a child to find a “forever home”.

Insert sigh here. Recent headlines concerning John Lasseter (Toy Story, Cars) will undoubtedly cloud this film’s release. The genius storyteller and animator behind Pixar’s success left to head Skydance Animation after awful “Me Too” allegations. He’s brought his incredible talent to Luck, and it shows. This wonderful film deserves to be judged on its own merits. Sometimes we must divorce ourselves from art and the personality of the artist.

Advertisement

Luck is a production of Skydance Animation and Apple Original Films. It will have an exclusive Apple TV+ premiere on August 5th.

Continue Reading

Trending