Bleed for This (2016)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Miles Teller has become one of, if not the best actor of his generation. He's become equally at home in action, comedy or dramatic roles. He thoroughly surprised me as the Pazmanian Devil, Vinny Pazienza.

The film is based on the true boxing story of World Champion Boxer Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller). It starts with his defeat in November of 1988 to Roger Mayweather (Peter Quillin). It appeared his career was a wash and after a training music montage he won the second fight of the film, 30 minutes into it with the training help of Aaron Eckhart, going whiplash all over Gilbert Dele. The fight was a set up and he was expected to lose. Paz gets into an auto accident and the bulk of the film is about his remarkable comeback.The film skips a few fights in between. Paz didn't go from training to title bout as the film portrays, forgivable for time considerations. I thought the acting was excellent, decent New England accents. At the end of the film you get to see the real characters on which the production was based and they looked were remarkably similar. Good casting. Good film for the genre. Good sound track.Guide: F-word. Nudity ( Noelle Trudeau, Christine Evangelista)

A biopic about Vinny "The Tasmanian Devil" Paz - a boxer who came back from a broken neck (sustained in a car crash) to fight again. His career total being 40 wins in 50 fights. Some fights and events are compressed to make the film work.Set in the late 80's and filmed entirely on location in Rhode Island around his native town of Cranston - the film incorporates real TV footage of the period in the background as presenters and local stations cover his chances of fighting again. (Hilarious in some cases as the gray haired presenters are still with us now!) The film certainly demonstrates Paz's sheer guts and determination to train again while wearing his "halo" collar drilled into his skull to hold his neck straight while the vertebrae heal. (Years ago I had a staff member also wearing a halo collar while he recovered from a broken neck - this part is really well portrayed).Living in Rhode Island I'm familiar with the area portrayed - the close up camera style and cars and housing all ring VERY true. Though I deny any familiarity with the "Foxy Lady" gentleman's club - also portrayed......If you sat up for the "Thrilla in Manila" and the "Rumble in the Jungle" - then this movie shows boxing of the period in the lighter divisions. If boxing isn't your thing - you might want to give it a miss - the fights are particularly well staged.

In this well-filmed boxing biography of Vinny Pazienza ("Vinny Paz"), things may not be as simple as they seem. At least that is the perspective of a never-say-die boxer who never became disillusioned with a violent, mendacious sport.Miles Teller is outstanding in the role of Vinny Paz, and he is supported by an excellent cast, especially Aaron Eckhart as trainer Kevin Rooney. But it is Teller's standout performance that is memorable in depicting the fighter who simply won't quit.The film works closely to the life story of Vinny Paz, with the centerpiece a lengthy stretch depicting the recovery of the boxer from a broken neck suffered in a head-on auto collision. Somehow, he found the resiliency to make a storied comeback in a bout with Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran.The film does not take a stand on whether Vinny Paz should have even been permitted to enter the ring. The greed of the handlers was downplayed. And somehow, he was authorized to risk his life in the ring. In the world of professional boxing, it does indeed appear that things are not as simply as they appear.