The Fighter (2010)

With Black Mass arriving in theaters this weekend, and telling the story of Boston’s most notorious criminal, we decided to look back at the history of movies set in the great Massachusetts city and do a straight-up ranking. Which film is number one? Read on to find out!

The Fighter's story is far from over, and producer Todd Lieberman has some words on the status of the second film's production. Read on to discover how close we are to another round with Mickey Ward.

We got to thinking about the roles that required Bale to alter his appearance. Sometimes it’s a hairstyle. Sometimes it’s a lack of hygiene. Often it has to do with his body build, either bulking up to fight crime, or slimming down to deal with the consequences of his action.

There are great sports movies that capitalize on a national love of the sport or a very famous story to earn their chills-- think of 2004's Miracle, or Rudy, or the endless nostalgia of Field of Dreams. But there are some that have an extra power to sweep up the people who have never heard of the sport in question, or who might not even think they care about sports at all until they wind up jumping out of their seats and fist-pumping in the end

The Fighter was a solid movie, and Ward is a great character for Wahlberg to play. He was overshadowed by Christian Bale as drug-addled brother Dicky Ward, so I wonder if a Fighter sequel (or whatever Wahlberg calls it) would need Bale before it needed Russell? Either way, it sounds like Wahlberg wants to get back in the ring to tell that story, and it likely will happen sooner rather than later.

The Fighter doesn’t seem like the kind of movie that lends itself to a sequel, but director David O. Russell has been talking about doing another one almost since the moment the original was released. Mark Wahlberg has been on board with this notion too, lobbying to get another one done and only to eager to get back in the ring as Micky Ward.

Wahlberg and Russell are planning an adaptation of Matthew Quick’s novel The Silver Lining Playbook, a book about “a delusional former high school history teacher who's just been released into the custody of his mom” who goes on an emotional quest to win back his ex-wife

This past weekend I did myself a favor and went out to buy The Fighter on Blu-ray. Watching it for the first time since the world premiere all the way back in November, I realized that a sequel would be an absolutely horrendous idea. The Fighter 2, of course, would focus on Micky Ward's trilogy of fights against Arturo Gatti, but what made the first film great wasn't the boxing bouts but the family drama between his mother/manger and brother/trainer.

The Gatti fights, which all happened after what we see in The Fighter, were a series of three bouts between Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti, beginning in 2002. Ward earned $3 million during the fights, and two were named "Fight of the Year" by Ring magazine

In only 11 days the nominations for this year's Academy Awards will be announced. Thanks to the ridiculous politics of the whole awards show, it's nearly impossible to determine precisely which

The video seems to think the differences are flaws in the movie, but I don't blame Russell for taking his artistic license; as someone who knows nothing about boxing the changes make the fight easier for me to understand

Everyone everywhere celebrates Christmas a little differently. Sure, some of the traditions are the same – Christians put a Christmas tree in the living room, Jewish people go to Chinese restaurants, etc. – but other

This year may have not been the greatest movie year in recent history, but it was a major success in one area: music scores. Between Hans Zimmer's work on Inception; Trent Reznor and Atticus

As always, there are some surprises, including a Best Actress nod for Hilary Swank in Conviction (a performance that has been recognized virtually nowhere else), including John Hawkes

Over the pat few years, Mark Wahlberg has done everything in his power to get the story of boxer Micky Ward on screen. Despite being a terrific underdog story with some incredible characters and truly deep

Can you feel it? That icy chill down your spine? That little nervous tick acting up a little more than usual? That need to overextend yourself for reasons on unknown? You guessed it, the holiday season is upon us

It should be no surprise that when they got around to releasing clips to promote the film, the movie’s marketing team has focused on dramatic, amazing performances rather than guys getting punched in the face. You’ll get plenty of that

Believe it or not, actors aren't dumb. Sure, they sometimes decide to make bad movies and smile and nod through promotion, but that's just because they are contractually obligated. Once removed from the whole

There’s not much to say about this short but sweet clip from David O. Russell’s latest directorial outing The Fighter. The story follows the life of ‘Irish’ Micky Ward and his brother

So with The Fighter out there-- I'm seeing it next Monday-- it's really just True Grit playing keepaway as a possible surprise to turn over the apple cart.

There’s no real sane or logical reason why anyone would want to become a boxer. After all, with the exception of the Jackass crew, how many people do you know that would be willing to get punched in the face

This sneak peek comes courtesy of AMC, who showed it off during last night’s Mad Men finale. It looks pretty much like the rest of the trailers

Once famous primarily for his muscles, Mark Wahlberg has gone out of his way to make everyone forget about his underwear ad ready body and carve

Considering that it's a film starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams, David O. Russell's The Fighter has sitting been sitting on someone's desk for far too long. Though it has

We now have a new clip from behind Russell's newest film, The Fighter, and while a brawl does occur, the director fortunately isn't involved

The American Film Market, currently going on in Los Angeles, is where a lot of indie movies have the opportunity to pitch themselves to potential buyers, trotting out whatever materials they've got to make their movie look like the next big thing

I worry about David O. Russell directing a movie called The Fighter. Does no one else see a problem here? This guy is obviously prone to freak outs and we’re letting him surround himself with even more testosterone

Amy Adams probably deserves better than to be stuck playing the obligatory girlfriend in a testosterone filled boxing movie, but I plan to enjoy her in The Fighter anyway