The Fighter

Movie Review

The Fighter

January 30, 2011

I had high expectations heading to this movie. Not only is it a rare occasion that I get to a movie but I had heard nothing but positive things about this flick. Having Mark Wahlberg as one of the lead actors didn’ t hurt either! I have always been a fan of the Wahlbergs’ acting and had heard his acting in this movie was stellar. The movie ended up exceeding all of my expectations. It was full of drama, action and a little bit of romance.

The Fighter, starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, is based on the true life story of Irish Micky Ward and his step brother, Dick Ecklund.  The movie is set in Lowell, MA and takes on a dramatic flair of Mickey Ward’s rise to fame leading up to his historic battles with Arturo Gotti. 

Mark Wahlberg does a phenomenal job at creating and maintaining the authenticity of the story.  He trained as a professional boxer for a significant amount of time even before the movie began.  The true to life boxing scenes added to the dramatic flair of the fighter.  This movie certainly wasn’t just another recreation with ho hum fight scenes and mediocre cinematography.  The director, David Russell did an excellent job of recreating the images and footage of the area while keeping true to telling a story.
Christian Bale plays the role of Dick Ecklund.  A one time professional boxer whose claim to fame was the “knockdown” of Sugar Ray Leonard.  Sadly, Dickie’s fame and fortune was destroyed by his crack addiction.  One of the subplots of the movie, was again, based on real time documentary, CRACK IN AMERICA, where a camera crew follows Dick around on his battle with his addiction.

With all the nostalgia and real life drama, this film captures the true essence and similarities of a boxer struggling to make it in this tough industry and comparatively the battle of crack addiction.

The Fighter takes on this challenge and rises to the top of the “sports movies” crop.  Its real life feel, its no holds barred fight scenes, and the fantastic interpretation of Dick Ecklund by Christian Bale had people cheering for Micky Ward as he overcomes his demons, professionally, personally and makes it as a professional boxer. With very few drawbacks, the movie is definitely worth seeing.  The only advice I would give is do a quick research on both Mickey Ward and Dick Ecklund to appreciate the authenticity of this movie.

Evolution of Saturday Nights

The Evolution of My Saturday Nights

25 years ago

Walked laps at Halifax Citadels hockey game

What am I going to wear under my hockey jersey?

Home in bed by 10 p.m.

Average sleep? 11 hours

20 years ago

Hanging out at a friend’s house, performing a lip sync/talent show for each other

Are my bangs curled perfectly?

Picked up by mom between 10 and 11 p.m.

Average sleep? 9 hours

15 years ago

Getting ready to head out at 9 p.m. Hop in car full of friends to begin our tour of the city

Can we find someone we know we could follow? Will the server at McDonald's give us extra caramel sauce on our sundae?

Finish the night with one more lap of McDonald’s and then home in bed by midnight

Average sleep? 10-11 hours

10 years ago

Heading out to dinner with fiancée

Can I find some new clothes and shoes for the wedding?

Catch a late movie

Head home to eat a late night snack, watch some tv and drift off to sleep around 1 a.m.

Average sleep? 10 hours

5 years ago

Out for an after-supper walk with our first born

Is there spit-up on my jacket?

Eat a late night supper

Put baby to bed and watch a movie

Bed by 11 p.m.

Average sleep? 3 to 4 hours before first wake up

3 years ago

Share the kids’ supper Kraft Dinner or Alphaghet are about all they’ll eat at this point

Is there any wonder why I am always hungry at bedtime?

Bath kids…each put a kid to bed

Lie on coach for 15 minutes then off to bed. The first wake-up will be within the hour. Bed by 10 p.m.

Average sleep? 4 to 5 hours

Today

Feed the kids three different meals even though we know that is the wrong thing to do

Clean up supper, sweep, fold and put away laundry, play with kids, bath kids, have them all asleep by 8:30 p.m.

Sit on the coach to eat ice cream and head to bed by 9:30 p.m.

Ask my husband “Did we eat supper tonight?” “No” “Better eat another bowl of ice cream then.”

Asleep by 10 p.m. with a child in our bed….preparing for next wake-up. Bathroom run before midnight. Peeing-the-bed incident around 2 a.m. Screaming baby around 3 a.m. “I need a drink” call around 4:30 a.m. Night terrors around 5:30 a.m. May as well just get up.

Average consistent sleep? an hour here and there

Letter to the Editor

A letter to the Editor

To All Those Snow Day Haters,

After another snow day in Halifax I am writing to express my frustration with all those parents who choose to complain when schools are closed. I would like to respond to a few of the common quotes I hear from parents:

 “Why do teachers think they can’t go to work in the snow when everyone else has to?”  Do these people think we are the ones that actually decide when there is a snow day?

“It didn’t even snow, what were they thinking?” Unless these people are meteorologists, and this probably wouldn’t even matter, do they really think that anyone can be 100% certain of what the weather will be on any particular day? I know being a mother I would prefer they err on the safe side when it comes to the safety of my children.  What would these people say if, god forbid, they didn’t close the schools and there ended up being an accident?

“What do they expect me to do with my children? I have to work you know!” These people obviously think that we are their kids’ babysitter. Well, we aren’t. Our job is to educate your child, not babysit them so you can live your life of luxury.

“Oh to be a teacher. There’s no other job that gets so much time off!” Then why weren’t you a teacher? Did you decide that you didn’t want to spend oodles of extra hours of your own time preparing lessons for which you don’t get any paid time for? Or did you decide that stretching your patience to the extreme limits on a daily basis wasn’t in your cards? Or did you decide that playing the role of counsellor, teacher and parent wasn’t an easy task after all?

If you are one of these parents who chooses to complain about snow days perhaps you should take a look at your parenting. As a parent and a teacher I look at snow days as a chance to spend extra time with my children that I wouldn’t normally get. Yes, I here you all now screaming at the fact that it is easy for me to say being a teacher, but I truly believe that any extra opportunities you have to spend with your children is a blessing. There are few opportunities for your children to be home from school so take advantage of it when they are. And if you can’t get the day off don’t complain, because you could have chosen to be a teacher if you wanted to. You just chose not to.

Mommy Rant

My Mommy Rant

“Oh he is so adorable”

“Oh he is so cute”

“Oh he is so tiny”

“Oh my, how old is he? What, no way. He can’t be five? Are you kidding me?”

“He doesn’t go to this school does he? What?! He can’t be in Grade Primary? Are you serious? I mean he is just so cute!”

“I can’t believe that you are that little out there on the ice playing hockey!”

These are just a few of the quotes my son and I hear everyday. Although I love to hear how cute and adorable he is (because he really is!), it has grown quite tiresome over the years. Especially because the comments are usually preceded or followed up by “he is sooo tiny!”. Although I am confident the majority of people mean well when they express their feelings about his size, sometimes I feel like biting their heads off. Logan has a very fierce stare he gives anybody who mentions he is cute or tiny. He told me the other night he hates going around all the girls because they always say he is so “adorable”. I guess, at the age of 5, it is already too cool to be adorable.

Perhaps I just wish people could come up with a better way of presenting their feelings. Like the other day when the woman walked onto the school grounds and announced to all those around her and beyond, “Fort Sackville? He goes to Fort Sackville? Are you kidding?” Logan slowly crept behind me and said he wanted to go home. But oh no this wasn’t enough of a hint to get her to shut her mouth, she kept going on and on. In fact there was a teacher in the proximity and she went over to her to confirm with her that Logan was indeed a student at the school. She must have seen the glare in my eyes as she came back over to me and said “I mean he is just so cute”. I responded by saying “he doesn’t like being called cute”. We turned and walked away and I once again began my speech to Logan that being called cute is a compliment.

Having been through numerous invasive tests to confirm that Logan is in fact just small, and he doesn’t have anything medically wrong, has made me even angrier when people comment on his size. I often ask myself what if there was something medically wrong that caused him to be small? How would that make us feel?

As I write this I am feeling much better about the whole situation and have decided to try to put myself in other people’s shoes. If I saw Logan entering the hockey rink, soccer field, or school ground I would probably join everyone else and say “Oh my gosh he is just so cute!”

I will always remember the neonatologist at the IWK coming in to see us after Logan was born and saying “Well, you can’t expect elephants from mice!” I guess he thinks my husband and I are small too. He didn’t make any mention of us being cute though….