The Fighter
Netflix Streaming
DVD | Blu-Ray
Directed by David O. Russell
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Jack McGee
Paramount Pictures
Originally Released: December 10, 2010

The Fighter is a boxing movie, featuring Mark Wahlberg as Micky Ward and a show-stealing Christian Bale acting as Ward’s brother, Dicky Eklund. Based on a true story, the film follows Ward’s rise in the sport, while focusing on the inner turmoil of his family members – but ultimately is a tale of fall-from-grace, resulting in deliverance and reconciliation.

The film opens with an HBO crew following Eklund, who believes they are following him for “his big comeback” in the ring. He lives for his wonder days of when he himself was boxing, and continually bringing up the time he took down Sugar Ray. In fact, the HBO crew is following Eklund for a different reason – they are making a documentary on crack addiction.

At the 83rd Annual Academy Awards tonight, The Kings Speech, which lead the pack with 12 nominations, tied for most wins with Inception, both nabbing 4 awards each.

While Inception snagged mainly technical awards (sound, visual effects, and cinematography), The Kings Speech won the big prize — Best Picture — along with a Best Actor statue for star Colin Firth, Best Director for Tom Hooper, and Best Original Screenplay for David Seidler.

Coming in third for most wins was The Social Network, which most notably grabbed the Oscar for Best Original Score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

While True Grit had a whopping 10 nominations, it scored no wins tonight, while The Fighter won two awards and Black Swan just one — Natalie Portman for Best Actress.

The first trailer for the new movie, The Fighter, has shown up online after a lengthy trip through various stages of production. The film was originally set to be directed by Darren Aronofsky before David O. Russell stepped in for the job, and production began well over a year ago in July of last year.

The Fighter stars Mark Wahlberg as boxer and New England legend “Irish” Mickey Ward at a time when he was trying to make a name for himself as a fighter, while at the same time taking fights with boxers expected to demolish him just so he could grab a paycheck. It also follows his brother, Dickie Eckland (played by Christian Bale), who also used to box (once going the distance against the great Sugar Ray Leonard) before a drug problem forced him to retire and move on to become one of Ward’s trainers.

You can head over to the other side to check out the trailer here and now.