Fighting With My Family Is A Heartfelt And Delightful Wrestling Story

Inspirational underdog sports stories never go out of style and if you're ever wondering why that is, Fighting with My Family provides some ample proof on why this subgenre endures. Though its a story that involves people beating the heck out of each other, there's also a tender heart to this story that makes it shockingly effective as a piece of emotionally affecting storytelling. I have no real knowledge of wrestling, much less the world of wrestling conglomerate WWE, yet I found myself totally engaged by this tale of two wrestlers chasing life-long dreams and dealing with a reality that never quite lives up to those fantasies that they've clung to for so long.

First Match Engagingly Wrestles With A Fractured Father/Daughter Relationship

The world of wrestling hasn't been anywhere near as prominent in cinema as it's sports cousin boxing, but it's still a common sight to see in pieces of cinema. Olivia Newman leaps to the world of feature films by helming the recent Netflix feature First Match, the newest entry in the wrestling movie subgenre. For her first time behind the camera on a feature film, she expands on a 2010 short film also entitled First Match and tells the tale of a troubled High Schooler named Monique (Elvire Emanuelle) whose constantly shifting between different foster families to live with and getting into trouble at school on a similarly regular basis.

The Wrestler Is A Harrowing And Brutal Tale Of A Man Unable To Function In Reality

It's a pity that, in the decade since The Wrestler was initially released, Mickey Rourke seems to have vanished almost as quickly as his comeback arrived. After having major supporting roles in two 2010 movies that cracked $100 million domestically (Iron Man 2 and The Expendables), he did Immortals and Sin City: A Dame To Kill For and has otherwise been relegated to B-movie fare that, at best, will end up in the direct-to-video bargain bin. Finally seeing The Wrestler for the first time makes such a turn of events feel truly tragic given the massive amount of talent the guy exhibits in the lead role of this Darren Aronofsky directed motion picture.

Foxcatcher Review

A Fox On Your House

"To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It's not about winning and losing; it's about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge." 

That passage of a famous quote from Summer Sanders fits well into the world of Foxcatcher, which is a movie depicting how much the drive to succeed can take a person.  And boy howdy does Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) want to succeed. Oh sure, he got a gold medal at the Olympics, but in his own words, he wants to be the best in the world. John Du Pont (Steve Carell) gives him a chance to do that, as he hires Schultz to lead his team of wrestlers to victory.