The son is Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy), a former Marine just home from Iraq, who didn’t drop by after fourteen years to see how dear dad was doing,. He’s here to hurt the old man in every way possible without laying a hand on him. Tommy expected to find a drunk, and Paddy’s sobriety only angers him more. Dad doesn’t deserve forgiveness, Christ’s or anyone else’s. Tommy is a seething young man made dysfunctional by the baggage he carries around like the bulk of his muscle — an unreachable force of anger and bitter resentment that extends to his older brother Brendan, as well.

Brendan didn’t run away from his father like Tommy and his mother. He was older, had a girlfriend, and had already planted the seeds of a life. Eventually, he married that girl, went to college, became a teacher, had kids, and bought a house. Though they’re very different in so many ways, Tommy and Brendan do at least have one thing in common. No matter how many days sober, they will never forgive their father.

Paddy is a former martial-arts trainer, and this experience is the only thing these three still have in common. For reasons I won’t spoil, Tommy needs to make some quick cash, and that means getting back into the octagon and the competitive world of mixed-martial arts. The same goes for Brendan (a former UFC contender) who refuses to accept charity or file a bankruptcy to save his family from financial ruin. “I don’t do things that way,” he tells a banker, and though he’s a little long in the tooth, into the octagon he goes looking for whatever prize money he can scrape up.

A number of those matches occur in sleazy strip bars, something the school administration doesn’t look kindly on. This leaves Brendan no choice but to fight full-time, and a winner-take-all $5 million championship is something that catches the eye of both brothers. Because Tommy asked Paddy to train him, this means that all three men will fight for more than prize money. The conflict they’ve been running  from is now inevitable, and the fight will be between their shared demons for a resolution to the pain they’ve shared and inflicted on one another.

“Warrior” is one of the best films of the decade and one of the most moving stories I’ve seen in years. O’Connor directs a brilliant performance out of all three of his leads and never allows melodrama to rear its head. Nolte’s performance is especially impressive. We’re meeting a genuinely good man living with unimaginable regret, a Dr. Jekyll burdened by his monstrous behavior towards his wife and sons as Dr. Hyde. Everything comes from Nolte’s haunted eyes. This is the most restrained performance of his career and most certainly an Oscar-caliber performance.

“Warrior” is also a rare opportunity these days to see men act like men on the big screen. These are men doing what a man’s gotta do to right wrongs and meet their responsibilities. These are men of action, not talk, men with pride and honor and a sense of duty. They’re not perfect men, far from it, but they’re striving to be good men the only way they know how. This is also the rare Hollywood picture that treats the working class, our military, and the Christian faith with respect.

This is a film about big things, and I don’t mean the brutal world of mixed martial-arts. Like the very best sports films, the sport itself is nothing more than a vehicle to explore characters, their relationships, and a theme. “Warrior’s” theme is the most powerful element of the film, a living, breathing thing that grabs hold of your insides and tightens its hold as the story passes by. It’s not about who wins the tournament or even if Brendan can keep his house.

It’s about forgiveness.

“Warrior” is available at Amazon.com.

“Warrior,” available now on Blu-ray, DVD, Video on Demand and Digital Download, failed to connect with audiences despite the kind of crowd-friendly elements that usually spark blockbuster status.

Perhaps the rising sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) remains too niche for mainstream appeal, but if any film could make the masses embrace its furious battles, it’s “Warrior.”

The film gives us not one but two fighters to cheer on, a mismatched pair plowing their way through a rogue’s gallery of MMA foes. But the fighters can’t out-grizzle Nick Nolte, sure to gin up Oscar votes for playing an alcoholic shadow boxing his own demons.

Estranged brothers Tommy (Tom Hardy) and Brendan (Joel Edgerton) have little in common save their blood line and a penchant for scrapping. Tommy has kept to himself since returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. Only when he realizes he needs cash does he reconnect with his estranged father (Nolte) to help him train for an upcoming MMA competition.

It’s just business, Tommy warns him. Don’t get any funny ideas about any sort of reconciliation. There isn’t a cut man alive who can heal Tommy’s feelings about his pa. And Nolte registers that cruel fact in every scene. It’s the kind of performance that feels like it was a lifetime in the making.

Brendan’s chances seem spotty even by “Rocky” standards. Brendan isn’t getting any younger, and it’s been some time since he seriously trained for battle. But you never count out a man who knows the mortgage is in play every time he steps into the cage.

“Warrior” baldly embraces every boxing movie clichés in the repertoire. Despite his bulk, Edgerton hardly strikes fear into the hearts of his opponents. And we endure the obligatory reaction shots of the fighters’ friends watching the bouts, cheering every uppercut. When a film like “Warrior” works, it doesn’t matter how many plot points came from the nearest recycling center.

Hardy is so wound so tight here it feels like a vein is about to pop on his forehead. It’s the same fury he brought to “Bronson,” and it’s intoxicating.

The Blu-ray features lead off with “Warrior: Full Contact,” an enhanced viewing mode complete with commentaries, videos interviews and genial banter from director Gavin O’Connor. It’s as comprehensive as a Blu-ray feature can get, although it’s a shame the mode relegates the movie itself to a small screen in the bottom right hand corner.

You also get a standard audio commentary track with the filmmakers and co-star Edgerton, plus the documentary “Redemption: Bringing ‘Warrior’ to Life.”

The extras don’t end there. The package includes a gag reel – hardly common in such sober dramas – which roars to life when MADtv alum Bryan Callen takes it upon himself to break the on-set tension. “Brother vs. Brother: Anatomy of the Fight” should please MMA faithful as well as anyone who ever wondered how a film fight gets made. Other goodies include a tribute to MMA entrepreneur Charles “Mask” Lewis, Jr. and a MMA strategy segment.

“The sport hasn’t had its ‘Rocky’ … it hasn’t had its ‘Raging Bull.’”  co-screenwriter Anthony Tambakis says of MMA during the documentary portion of the extras. Maybe not, but it’s hard to imagine a film better suited to introduce the brutal sport to a curious public.

—–

O’Connor, who previously directed the inspirational film “Miracle,” talked to me about the film which tells the story of two brothers named Brendan (Edgerton) and Tommy (Hardy) who were separated early in life. Brendan lived with his alcoholic father (Nolte) while Tommy moved away with their mother. The two brothers, who don’t see each other for fourteen years, are eventually forced to fight each other when they both compete in a mixed martial arts competition.

I asked O’Connor about the genesis of the story. The idea, he noted, was an amalgam of things happening in his life combined with his interest in telling the story “of two brothers that are estranged that have to reunite and sort of heal and repair the damage of the past.” As a fan of mixed martial arts, O’Connor wanted to use that in the film and he “liked this idea of what I call an intervention in a cage.” That cage, of course, is the arena in which the two brothers find themselves battling each other for the MMA championship.

I also asked O’Connor about his own family and he noted that, like in the story, he and his brother were separated at an early age. Gavin went with his father and his brother went with his mother. Although the length of time spent apart is different than the length of time that the brothers spend apart in the film and the sets of brothers are different, Gavin said that the “emotionality behind it (the split) was similar” to what is experienced in the film.

O’Connor and I also talked about the topical subjects explored in the film. Brendan, for instance, only becomes interested in fighting because he is at risk of losing the home that he shares with his wife and their young children. O’Connor said that in a way, he looks at that aspect of the story as “wish fulfillment because there are so many people in this country that are fighting to save their homes and save their families”. He added that he finds it interesting that Brendan “literally fights his way out of debt… because there are so many people in this country that wish they can do that.”  

While Brendan is dealing with the possibility of losing his house, his brother Tommy is dealing with the scars left over from his time as a Marine during the war in Iraq. Although Tommy saved several lives in the war, his military history isn’t as clear-cut as it seems. O’Connor informed me that real Marines were used in the film and he relied on a Marine technical adviser for accuracy. O’Connor added that he wanted to “touch on the war” but not make a political statement about it. “I didn’t want to make a movie about the war,” he said, “but I wanted to somehow speak to the veteran, to our soldiers and sort of acknowledge them and salute them…” 

When I asked him about what he wanted audiences to take away from the film, he told me that the “overriding theme of the film is forgiveness; so if people walk out of the theater maybe talking about forgiveness, maybe acting upon it in their own homes, in their own lives, in their own relationships, that would be a good thing.” 

For fans of MMA fighting and for those looking to see a good story about a family coming together, I  highly recommend “Warrior.”

—–

Nolte plays Paddy Conlon, a veteran MMA trainer who taught everything he knows to his two sons, Tommy (Hardy) and Brendan (Edgerton). But Paddy was a brutal drunkard back in the day, and he drove away his wife, who took Tommy with her, leaving Brendan—Paddy’s favorite—to be raised, unhappily, by his father. Years later, we find that Paddy has put booze behind him, but is now estranged from Brendan, who refuses to let him see the two children his son has with his wife, Tess (Jennifer Morrison). As for Tommy, he disappeared long ago.

Brendan is a popular high school science teacher. But financial reverses have put him in danger of losing his family’s home. Desperate for income, he decides to return to fighting in shabby local matches around the Pittsburgh area. Then he contacts a longtime friend, a gym owner and trainer named Frank (Frank Grillo). Frank feels that Brendan is too old and soft for the fight game, but agrees to start training him for a big MMA tournament soon to be staged in Atlantic City, where the top attraction will be the current world champ, a formidable Russian called Koba (Kurt Angle), who resembles a very tall, heavily muscled refrigerator.

Then Tommy reappears, from who knows where. Dark and angry, he’s now a completely mysterious figure. Tommy, too, has returned to fighting, and is also determined to take part in the Atlantic City tournament. Although he despises his father, he nevertheless recruits him to be his trainer—as long as they speak of nothing but the sport, and never socialize. Paddy sorrowfully consents.

Full review is here.

—–

From Gavin O’Connor, the director of “Miracle,” comes “Warrior,” which opens September 9th.

The poster’s tagline is “Fight for Country.”

Hrm?

Here’s the synopsis, courtesy of IMDB:

Two brothers face the fight of a lifetime – and the wreckage of their broken family – within the brutal, high-stakes world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting in Lionsgate’s action/drama, WARRIOR. An ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father, a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport. As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan, a former MMA fighter unable to make ends meet as a public school teacher, returns to the amateur ring to provide for his family. Even though years have passed, recriminations and past betrayals keep Brendan bitterly estranged from both Tommy and his father. But when Brendan’s unlikely rise as an underdog sets him on a collision course with Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront the forces that tore them apart, all the while waging the most intense, winner-takes-all battle of their lives.

A boilerplate story but boilerplate for a reason. Execution is the key and the trailer works on a number of levels.

—–

Brand stars the titular rich playboy set to inherit millions of dollars from his family. He spends his days sleeping with beautiful women and generally wasting his life under the supervision of his nanny, Hobson (Helen Mirren). When his mother threatens to take away his inheritance unless he marries a corporate executive named Susan (Jennifer Garner), Arthur begrudgingly agrees. At the same time, Arthur meets and starts falling in love with Naomi (Greta Gerwig), a New York City tour guide who is known by the police for not getting the proper permits for her tours.

The whole remake feels like a platform to showcase Brand’s abilities as a comic actor and as a leading man. Unfortunately, he tries too hard with most of the story’s lame jokes. He always seems to be waiting for the audience to laugh but most of the things he says aren’t funny.

The story takes some wrong turns on its way to get to the few laughs it merits. One scene feels like it belongs on the show “24,” not in a comedy remake. Nick Nolte, appearing as Susan’s sadistic father, decides to threaten Arthur with a table saw. He says that the blade will stop moving when it senses liquid and he tests this theory by almost cutting Arthur’s tongue in half. Aside from that disgusting scene, the entire storyline about Arthur’s fiance Susan is more disturbing than delightful. Susan is an obnoxious business woman who wants to marry Arthur so she can run his family business, an unfortunate arrangement that Arthur’s family approves of.

Jennifer Garner’s despicable character is a far cry from Jill Eikenberry’s original Susan. In that film, Susan seemed more naïve than manipulative. In the remake, Garner is a genuinely loathsome human being. Both Brand and Garner are ill-chosen substitutes for the actors from the original film. So is Helen Mirren, who replaces John Gielgud in the role of Hobson. Along with its Oscar win for best original song, Gielgud won an Oscar for best supporting actor for his role. It’s unlikely that this remake will be nominated for anything other than a Razzie. The only actor who comes close to filling her role well is Greta Gerwig, who replaces Liza Minelli. Although Minelli is surely missed, Gerwig is infectuous as Linda–it’s no wonder that Arthur would fall in love with her.

It’s still unclear why this comedy needed to be remade. The original was amusing and Brand adds nothing to it. “Arthur” doesn’t work as a remake, nor does it work as a vehicle to further Brand’s comedic career. It’s unfunny and features a few nasty characters that have no place in a light-hearted comedy like this.

“Arthur” may be a desperate character but the film about him didn’t have to be.

These days, there is another blacklist taking place, but they’re calling it a graylist because the victims are scriptwriters who made the stupid career decision of allowing themselves to become gray-haired or, in some distinguished cases, even bald. 

Back in 1999, a class action suit was initiated by about 150 of us.  Today, there are over 600 of us who are plaintiffs suing the various studios, networks and major talent agencies, for conspiring to blacklist WGA members on no other basis than their age. 

Some people might find it ironic that Hollywood’s liberals, who are still inflamed over a blacklist that took place 60 years ago, not only condone it in their hometown, but practice it every day of their lives. For those of us involved in the lawsuit, it’s been an interesting decade.  Those among us who don’t play golf find it helps fill the time.  The lawyers on the other side have done everything in their power to delay a court judgment.  The masochists among us particularly enjoyed the interrogatories. Not only did they want us to recall the date of every meeting we ever had with any of the defendants, but what was said, by whom, if we got the assignments and, if so, when was the script shot, when did it air and how much were we paid.  By this time, some of us have a hard time recalling what we had for lunch.           

It’s quite obvious that the defendants figure time is on their side, that all they have to do is wait us out and we’ll start dropping like flies, like very old flies.  Fat chance!  What they haven’t taken into account is that the lawsuit is providing some of us with the will to live that we might not otherwise have.           

Not to sound too cynical, but when I saw Abe Polonsky leading a picket line composed of unrepentant Commies outside the Academy Awards in 1999, and saw Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Nick Nolte, and a few other Tinseltown pinheads, sitting on their hands and sneering when 90-year-old Elia Kazan came on stage to collect his honorary Oscar, it merely reminded me once again how hypocritical, rude and self-righteous the liberals in this town can be.      

In spite of “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” “Boomerang!” “Gentleman’s Agreement,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Viva Zapata,” “East of Eden” and “On the Waterfront,” Hollywood’s political elitists couldn’t get over the fact that 50 years earlier Kazan had, as they say, named names.  What’s more, he made no secret of the fact that he was proud to have named the names of those he regarded as the enemies of his adopted country.           

The truth is that long before the Reds got it in the neck for pledging allegiance to the Soviet Union, conservatives were persona non grata at many of the studios.  In the 60s, I met and interviewed Morrie Ryskind.  For those of you unfamiliar with the name, he had shared the Pulitzer Prize for “Of Thee I Sing,” had been Oscar-nominated for “Stage Door” and “My Man Godfrey,” and had also written “Penny Serenade” and a few of the Marx Brothers movies, including “Animal Crackers” and “A Night at the Opera.”  In spite of having far more impressive credits than any of the pinheads collectively known as the “Hollywood 10,” he had not had a screen credit in several years because he was regarded as a political reactionary.           

The “Hollywood 10” were also known as the Unfriendly 10, which once led my old friend, Billy Wilder, to remark, “Only two of the 10 had talent; the others were just unfriendly.”           

Finally, as we all know, the patron saint of Hollywood, a town dedicated to back-stabbing and betrayal, is Lucretia Borgia, and the fact of the matter is that the bottom feeders have no real objection to naming names.  It’s only when they’re the names of left-wingers that there’s a problem.  Had Kazan named fascists or, better yet, card-carrying Republicans, the motion picture community would have erected a statue of the man at the corner of Hollywood and Vine, and, for good measure, changed the name of its major award from the Oscar to the Elia.

“Termites”  is only available through Amazon or, for an autographed copy, by sending a check or money order for $20 to cover shipping and handling to Scorched Earth Press, 16604 Dearborn Street, North Hills, CA 91343-3604.

5pm PST – Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A (1945) – A girl in the slums tries to find her way with the help of her devoted mother and alcoholic father. Cast: Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, James Dunn, Lloyd Nolan Dir: Elia Kazan BW-129 mins, TV-G

Watch in awe as you realize this lyrical, timeless family drama was Elia Kazan’s feature film directorial debut. There was nothing this extraordinary explorer of the human condition couldn’t do and his work will survive as long as there’s a civilization, and much longer than anything made by those who refused to stand when the 89 year-old was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1999. Of course, that’s me being generous and assuming we haven’t already forgotten the classic canon of Nick Nolte and Amy Madigan.

A perfect triple feature would be today’s pick, “Life With Father” and “I Remember Mama.”  Nothing old-fashioned about any of these. Each is a complicated, thematically driven human drama that manages to tell many truths about life without resorting to cynicism or any of the other crutches used so often today.  The bitter and the sweet as opposed to the ironic and the pointless.