Warrior

The recipe for a perfect Friday night? Frozen yogurt (dulce de leche + red velvet + cake batter if we are getting specific) smuggled in to see the movie WARRIOR.  If I am capable of convincing you of anything, let it be to convince you to go see Warrior -- I would put it in the top five movies I have ever seen.

I am not much of a fan of sports movies.  Actually, more accurately, I am usually apathetic toward them and just never feel like watching them.  I have never seen Remember the Titans, The Fighter, Rocky, etc...In fact, I kind of chose this movie because it was the latest showtime and I needed a few extra minutes  to go and grab my frozen yogurt.

I also was wary of seeing this movie because it is 2 hours 6 minutes.  I prefer movies in the 100 minutes realm, and whenever I notice a movie is at least two hours, I think twice about whether I really want to see it.  However, the reviews are great, and I wanted to do something that didn't involve getting drunk on a Friday night.  During the movie, I wasn't once bored and I didn't check the time at all -- a good sign that the movie was holding my attention.  When the movie ended, I actually wasn't ready for it to end either! I could have watched for at least another hour.

If all those reasons still haven't convinced you, maybe this will:

In addition to the excellent eye candy, the movie had me blinking back happy tears and sad tears.  At one moment I was rooting for one fighter and the next I found myself rooting for the other fighter.  The movie does an excellent job of getting you involved with the characters and each character seems real -- they are complicated people with ugly traits and good traits. 

The ending isn't sticky sweet and is also seemingly realistic.  The movie doesn't lay it all out for you like some movies do and doesn't feel the need to assure us that everything turns out wonderfully.  Basically it ends with a "life goes on" type of feeling but also doesn't leave you empty or wishing you knew what happened.  It is very satisfying.

Some other great characters were played by Jennifer Morrissette and Nick Nolte.

Go see WARRIOR! And of course, my recommendation would be to sneak some sort of treat in :)  I always have to bring something or it just seems weird.  Even if I finish my snack during the previews, it wouldn't be the movies without some sort of treat!