Oscars for The Fighter by David O. Russell?

The Fighter is one of those films that could sneak into the 2011 Oscars ceremony and creep out again with a handful of Academy Awards. I certainly expect Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson and Keith Dorrington to receive an oscar nomination for their script and David O Russell (what does the O stand for anyway?) for directing.

Christian Bale is also a certainty for a nomination as the crack addicted ex boxer who is consistently messing up his brother's boxing career by insisting he be the centre of attention all the time. It is reminiscent of his role in The Machinist. You spend the first half of the movie hoping he will get his comeuppance and the second half the movie hoping he will finally see the light and help his brother win.

Mark Wahlberg is also excellent as the younger brother in a very dysfunctional Irish American family (and believe, if you haven't seen it, you will also with nothing but pain on the daughters of the family).

It's hard to watch boxing scenes without thinking of Raging Bull and Rocky and this film certainly has elements of both in it. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Russell has also played with the boundaries between fiction and documentary formats, mixing the two together so you lose the distinction between the two... (though we are always being presented with a fiction film). You begin to really think you're watching HBO back in the 1990s and the Liverpudlian boxer with a non-Scouse accent really is the boxer, Neardy.

It's certainly worth watching it and it will certainly pick up half a dozen nominations. Enjoy