I don't like Sean Penn. I think he's an asshole. Even if he wasn't famous and given a soapbox to preach from, I'm sure that I would still dislike him (although I do love seeing him punch and kick Paparazzi, because Paparazzi are worse than AIDS). But in "State of Grace," Sean Penn is fucking awesome. And since I respect awesome, I tolerate his shit and still watch some of his movies.
Then there's Gary Oldman. Well, watching Oldman play Jackie Flannery is like watching God stretch a double into a triple. Magic, I tell you, pure magic.
Growing up, I was obsessed with boxing. Now, not so much, but in the 80's and 90's, I couldn't get enough of it. I would buy seventeen magazines a week and read them cover-to-cover. OMG, ANDREW GOLOTA LIKES HAMBURGERS TOO. I would draw pencil portraits of boxers and show them off to classmates who had no fucking clue who Harry Greb was. I boxed for the Yonkers PAL, and I did so willingly, albeit poorly. I used to create my own rankings for every division, and stress for hours over where to rank losers like Oliver McCall, like I was fucking Jose Sulaiman or someone of equal corruptness. I would also write fantasy matches between Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis and other heavyweights (nerd alert) who I severely overrated. Obviously Tyson won each of these contests by viscous KO, because at that point Tyson was still in prison and I imagined him being released and killing everyone upon his return to the ring (FYI - didn't happen that way). My first America Online screen-name was "Battling38" named after Battling Siki. Don't know who that is? Well, most normal white suburban kids don't either, but like I said, I was a huge dork when it came to the sport.
Anyway, in my opinion, there is no other boxing movie that captures the essence of 'real' boxers like "Raging Bull" does. De Niro should have retired from acting right after he made this movie, because his portrayal of Jake LaMotta was flawless. Most boxers are not good guys. In fact, most of them are bad guys. Fuck "Rocky" - I love the movie, but that shit is fantasy. These guys are fucking insane. MMA is very tough, but imagine standing in a ring for 36 minutes getting punched in the fucking face. PAINFUL I tell you.
Anyway, watch this clip, and if you don't laugh and cringe at the same time, then you're a communist.
Because I spend all week hating the fuck out of everything, here's a short break from it all. Weekends deserve no hate, unless you have to go to an engagement party or a kid's birthday where they will not be serving alcohol or some other shit like that. Then your weekend deserves to die.
Anyway, this Friday the reprieve comes in the form of Miller's Crossing, one of the best movies of all time. If you haven't seen it, you need to remove your head from your ass.
