Warrior

An old-fashioned straight-ahead genre picture about two brothers each competing for a big prize in a mixed-martial arts competition. There's nothing fancy here but it's about character and adversity and the fight scenes are both brutal and entertaining and the acting is excellent. There are some hokey moments but I think the movie earns them.

Side note: This film did not do well at the box office but in about six months it's going to start making the rounds on some network like TNT or USA and it's going to get more and more popular. Trust me on this. It's exciting to watch but it's also timely: one brother is suffering PTSD from the Iraq war and the other is struggling to keep the bank from foreclosing on his house. This is a genuine film about up-to-date issues.

Nick Nolte was good as the alcoholic father but if I had to pick my favorite performances I'd pick Joel Edgerton as the family-man brother and Frank Grillo as his unorthodox coach.