January 15, 2012, 8:40 AM:

The best movie of the year, without a doubt in my mind. I am just completely blown away by how moving, powerful, real, authentic, visceral, well acted, and directed… this film was. I honestly and truthfully have no words to describe what I saw. I am in awe. This film is sure to be a classic, and is a rare flower amongst the thorns. What a tear jerker.  This is a film with a beating heart, with a soul, and with a mind. It’s as realistic as you can get, as heartbreaking and devastating and powerful as anything I’ve ever seen on film. There’s not a wasted shot, each one is as beautiful yet tough to look at as the last. The story feels so real and authentic, it’s like…you can relate to the characters, or the situations because they’re everyday things, things we may have experienced or are experiencing in our lives. The fights are brutal and difficult to watch, just like real MMA/UFC fights, and they’re so well crafted, so..visceral and hardcore…but realistic. The fights aren’t glorified, or over the top, or implausible. Each of the things seen on screen during the fights has happened in real MMA/UFC fights. And in all it’s brutality, the final showdown between the Conlon brothers is somehow beautifully poetic in its nature, graceful like a ballet yet violent and harsh like the inner demons they both fight. I’ve seen a lot of films, a lot of boxing films and kickboxing films that were borderline MMA/UFC films…but never a true MMA film. And never a film quite like this. The dialogue doesn’t feel rehearsed, there’s no force in the way it spews from the mouths of the characters. It feels real and authentic, like it was all said before and someone wrote it down to be used in this film. Nick Nolte deserves the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Paddy Conlon and Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton are both incredible. Tom Hardy delivers his best performance to date, and should take home the Best Actor award. He’s just so flawless and real as Tommy Riordan-Conlon. Joel Edgerton is perfectly cast as Brendan Conlon, delivering easily his best performance as well, portraying the everyday family man so well and convincingly. The rest of the cast is just amazing, not a character out of place, not a performance in need of fine tuning. They’re all just perfect. Like the films it’s inspired by (Rocky, The Wrestler, and the Fighter to name a few), Warrior deserves to be atop the pedestal of great sports films, and great dramatic films. It’s surely one of the best films in these genres, if not the best (in my opinion it is the best), directed so effectively, carefully, powerfully, realistically, and intensely by Gavin O’Connor. This film has caused a stir in Hollywood, receiving many accolades and nominations, and is sure to take home several awards come this award season. I loved this film, in every way imaginable, and it’s no surprise to me that this film has quickly become my new favourite film.

My favorite song is featured in this movie. Yayyyy.

Love to you,
B x