Cinderella Man review

 Number 334 on the top 1000 films of all time is Ron Howard's 2004 biographical sports-drama 'Cinderella Man.'

Cinderella Man tells the true story of the washed-up boxer James Braddock (Russell Crowe) who recaptured his former glory during the Great Depression. Renee Zellweger and Paul Giamatti co-star.

I've said it before and I will say it again. I've never been a fan of boxing films. Whether it's Rocky. Raging Bull or Million Dollar Baby, they're of little interest to me. Cinderella Man was no exception. I don't think it helped that I don't much like Russell Crowe as an actor. He always seems so serious and gruff - even in roles that might require some levity.

Braddock was a man seriously down on his luck. Like many men during the Great Depression, he was struggling to put food on the table, seeking out a meagre living as a dockworker, due to his failed boxing career.  Yet, I wasn't convinced by Crowe's performance. He didn't properly showcase the vulnerability of the character. Even in the scene where he has to go begging for money, I felt little sympathy. Maybe I'm just heartless.

I don't think he had much chemistry with Renee Zellwegger who played Braddock's wife. She was good, but not good with Crowe. For that reason, I didn't enjoy their scenes together. Weirdly enough, I actually preferred the boxing scenes.

These were all more entertaining to watch than I thought they would be - probably because they used real boxers, most of the time. Although this wasn't great for Crowe who sustained multiple injuries while filming.

The film's redeeming feature was Paul Giamatti who played Braddock's coach and manager Joe Gould. Giamatti bought a terrific energy to the role. There was probably a reason why he was nominated for an Oscar and Crowe wasn't - although, it should also be noted that Crowe actively campaigned for Giamatti rather than himself.

All in all, while Cinderella Man might be a heart-warming rags to riches story, I didn't care for it. Crowe's performance lacked heart and he also lacked chemistry with Renee Zellweger. Giamatti truly earned his Oscar nomination though.

Ip Man 2 review

 Number 719 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Hong Kong martials art film and sequel to Ip Man, Ip Man 2.

Set after World War Two, Hong Kong has returned to British control. The Japanese are gone and Ip Man (Donnie Yen) tries to navigate life in this new world. He begins teaching Wing Chun earning the ire of the martial arts matters who think he is disrupting the local system. But a new enemy arrives when the corrupt British police begin setting up Western Boxing matches to compete against Chinese martial arts.

I enjoyed the first Ip Man far more than I thought, as there was a strong story running behind the spectacular martial art sequences. yet, I don't think the story was as strong here. Things start promisingly enough. After the Japanese occupation has ended, Ip Man is questioning his place in life. When he tries setting up his own dojos, this puts him in opposition with the other martial art masters. And this leads to a series of spectacularly choregraphed, but overlong fight sequences.

But things start feeling overfamiliar when the British are involved. The storyline is re-hashed from the first film. The British have replaced the Japanese, and boxing has replaced karate. And the great Japanese actors have been replaced by less than convincing English ones. I guess it didn't help their character were rather two-dimensional. There was nothing particularly memorable about the British boxing champion Twister (Darren Shahlavi) who was little else than your standard brash, arrogant and overly-shouty villain.

And as the story was so similar, it was very predictable. I could easily guess how things would end. And I was right. While Ip Man 2 might have had some fantastic martial arts sequences, it was too familiar to its predecessor to have been truly enjoyable for me to watch.

The Fighter review

 Number 408 on the top 1000 films of all time is David O'Russell's biographical sports drama The Fighter.

Micky Eckland (Mark Wahlburg) is an up-and-coming boxer coached by his brother, famed ex-fighter Dicky (Christian Bale) and managed by his mother Alice (Melissa Leo.) With the help of new girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams) Micky aims to make a name for himself.

Since starting this challenge, I have watched a lot of boxing films: Rocky, Raging Bull and Million Dollar Baby. And I didn't like any of these films, because I don't care for boxing. The Fighter was no exception. As I don't care for boxing, I couldn't get invested in the film. For me, there was no tension or stakes. I couldn't give a damn if Micky won his fights or not and I certainly didn't care if he became the champion of the world. And considering that's what the film was building to but that didn't make it very interesting for me. And I know the film is all about boxing, but the boxing montages were very boring. I know this is a very subjective take - I'm sure boxing fans would love this film, but I didn't.

What's more objective is Mark Wahlburg's performance. I don't particularly like him as an actor or a person. He always takes the same roles, generally as the tough guy hero with the emotional range of a block of wood. Considering the film is called 'The Fighter,' he is weak-spined. Obviously he's a boxer who could quite easily knock me out, but why couldn't he have done the same to his manipulative, conniving mother and seven sisters? They were the very definition of toxic.

Dicky wasn't much better, leeching off of his brother's achievements, because he couldn't quite reach those heights himself. In fact, the only likeable character was Charlene, because she is one of the very few who had Micky's best interests at heart. All credit to Amy Adams for a great performance.

If you're a boxing/Mark Wahlburg fan, you'll probably love this film, but I am neither, so I did not. And, finally, there are lots of strange accents in the US, but Massachussetts has to be one of the strangest.

Million Dollar Baby review

Number 227 on the top 1000 films of all time is Clint Eastwood's 2004 sports drama Million Dollar Baby.

Clint Eastwood plays Frank Dunn, an irascible boxing coach and gymowner. When Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) asks him to train her, he refuses as she's a girl. But thanks to some gentle encouragement from his friend and former protege Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman,) he soon changes his mind.

I'm going to say it now. I don't like boxing. It doesn't interest me. And as such, boxing films don't interest me regardless of whether they're Rocky, Raging Bull or Million Dollar Baby. I was bored for much of this film but that was more down to my own personal likes and dislikes rather than the film itself.

But I do have one valid criticism and that is Clint Eastwood's acting. He is great director, but he always acts the same character. In Gran Torino he is a grumpy old war veteran, in Unforgiven, he is a grumpy old bounty hunter and in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, he is a grumpy, old cowboy. You get the picture. Million Dollar Baby was no exception to this rule. He plays a grumpy, old boxing instructor with a secret heart of gold. How he was nominated for a best acting Oscar, I will never understand.

But I do understand why Hilary Swank won the Best Actress Oscar and Morgan Freeman, the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Their characters were far more interesting to watch. Maggie has a dysfunctional relationship with her trailer trash, welfare fraud families, while Scrap went blind in one after one fight too many. It was interesting to see how these two characters relate to each other, due to how they both have dark backgrounds.

Seeing Scrap knockout the obnoxious upstart boxer Shawrelle Berry (Anthony Mackie) was one of the best parts of the film.

The ending also surprised me. I thought it would be a cheesy happily ever after, but it was anything but...Dunn arranges for Maggie to fight the German champion Billie "The Blue Bear" Osterman who has a reputation for fighting dirty. In the fight, The Blue Bear sucker punches Maggie and she falls onto her stool and breaks her neck, leaving her as a quadriplegic. To make matters worse, her leg is amputated when her bedsores become infected. She asks Frank to euthanise her which he reluctantly does. I totally thought she would make a miraculous recovery and take down the Blue Bear, but it wasn't to be. And I liked this ending better. It wasn't a fairytale ending, but something more realistic and powerful.

Overall, while Swank and Freeman were great, I just didn't care for this film. But that's just because I don't like boxing.