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 Channing Tatum plays an Alabama boy transplanted to New York who gets involved in bare-knuckled rumbles in Fighting. |
In the brutal, bruising and braindead world of bare-knuckle boxing, Fighting glorifies the spectacle as if these thugs were modern-day gladiators.
It's chilling.
But, if you like that sort of thing, Channing Tatum delivers it with grim determination.
Fighting debuted on DVD and Blu-ray this week. Both widescreen editions provide Dito Montiel's movie in both the theatrical cut and an unrated version, which is two minutes, 28 seconds longer.
The DVD's extras are limited to deleted scenes. The Blu-ray provides more access to bonus materials through BD Live, but it would be better to have them on-board.
As for the movie, the heavy-lidded Tatum plays an Alabama boy hustling pirated goods in Manhattan. While stupid, he is nice enough when he stays calm. He proves that when he meets a sultry single mom played by Zulay Henao (who is a singular discovery).
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Tatum soon gets recruited by a street hustler -- played with low-key resignation by Terrence Howard -- to fight in illegal matches. Tatum shows his inner beast. There are no rules, only the winner gets paid, and the indulgent rich bet big to see savage brawls. This New York is a city of mean streets, petty crime and the kind of decadence that led to the fall of the Roman Empire.
The DVD explains none of this. The deleted scenes provide no insight. The filmmakers needed a doc that showed what this unsavoury underground world is really like in real life.
SUNSHINE CLEANING
I never much thought about crime-scene cleanups until Christine Jetts made Sunshine Cleaning, a wonky movie about a misfit family in Albuquerque.
Apparently, the city is crime central because there is work aplenty when Amy Adams and Emily Blunt blunder into the business.
The film is not really about the cleanups, per se.
Instead, it is a subtle, complex, sadly beautiful and quietly inspirational story about losers trying to win when life sucks. Yet Jetts makes the cleanup work interesting and attaches hard-earned dignity and humanity to what people consider a disgusting job.
Adams and Blunt are splendidly cast as the love-hate sisters, while Alan Arkin does another of his now-famous curmudgeon roles as their dad.
Sunshine Cleaning debuted on widescreen DVD this week with one significant extra. In the doc A Fresh Look at a Dirty Business, Marie FitzGerald and Dana Hooper tell us about their real-life clean-up company. They don't have the movie charisma of Adams and Blunt, but they have obvious heart and the credentials to authenticate this strange, compelling film.
HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS: DELUXE EDITION
The romantic comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days made its Blu-ray debut this week. That inspired Paramount to beef up the widescreen DVD edition, too, so Donald Petrie's 2003 movie returns in a new Deluxe Edition loaded with bonus materials -- which are also on the Blu-ray, of course.
Sure, the movie's plot is incredibly contrived. But I still find Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey's giddy sexual chemistry to be enormously appealing.
And the cool thing about the extras is spending time with the eccentric duo, Michele Andrews and Jeannie Long, who wrote the original satirical book. Scientists also weigh in on human-mating rituals.
There's a lot of good stuff here that goes beyond the usual movie self-promotionals.
NEW THIS WEEK: Fighting - Duplicity - Sunshine Cleaning - Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action - Polytechnique - How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: Deluxe Edition - Waterlife - Trouble the Water.
NEW NEXT WEEK: Earth - Know Your Mushrooms: Special Edition - Bring it On: Fight to the Finish
COMING SOON: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond Edition Blu-ray (Oct. 6) - Up (Nov. 10)
bruce.kirkland@sunmedia.ca