Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.
So this week, Gavin O’Connor’s Warrior.
Brendan and Tommy are two brothers that have lived very different lives, but find themselves on a collision course. Brendan is a struggling teacher who is going to lose his family home, while Tommy is a war veteran with a mysterious past who seems to need a mechanism to work through his trauma. Both men find themselves embroiled in a brutal mixed martial arts tournament with a life-changing prize fund. However, the two might need to go through one another to earn it.
At time of recording, it was ranked 162nd on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 11th January 2021.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- Warrior at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDB Top 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
- DJ Summers at The Guardian takes a look at the portrayal of boxers in film, May 2014.
- Philip French reviews The Wrestler for The Guardian, January 2009.
- Darren Aronofsky talks to NPR about making The Wrestler, April 2009.
- Michael B. Jordan talks to The New York Times about making Creed as a millennial response to Rocky, November 2015.
- Jake Gyllenhaal talks to Reuters about making Southpaw, July 2015.
- Casey Ryan Kelly at Papers in Communication Studies looks at Foxcatcher as a study in white male victimhood, April 2018.
- David Forrest writes about Foxcatcher as a study of class in America at The Conversation, January 2015.
- Ken Eisner at The Georgia Straight writes about The Fighter as a study of working-class life, December 2010.
- Alissa Wilkinson at Vox writes about Bleed for This as a limit case for the post-recession fighting movie, November 2016.
- Anthony D’Alessandro at IndieWire writes about the box office under-performance of Warrior, September 2011.
- Flinder Boyd at Bleacher Report looks back on the history and legacy of Conor McGregor, August 2017.
- Richard Sandomir at The New York Times reports on U.F.C. suing New York to lift the ban on mixed martial arts fighting, November 2011.
- Wright Thompson at ESPN looks at Ireland’s complicated relationship with Conor McGregor, August 2017.
- Ewan Mackenna at The Irish Independent writes about the complicated narrative of Conor McGregor as a “working class hero”, August 2017.
- Ewan Mackenna at The Independent on Conor McGregor’s fall from grace, January 2020.
- Tariq Panja at The New York Times reports on the investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Conor McGregor, March 2019.
- Fintan O’Toole at The Irish Times writes about the history of boxing as a window into the working class, August 2008.
- James Oddy at The New Statesman studies gyms as “the only refuge and means of empowerment” in working class communities, August 2016.
- Amanda Mars at El Pais writes about Rocky Balboa as the embodiment of a certain kind of white working class masculinity, August 2016.
- Adam Serwer at The Atlantic writes about the racial undertones of the Rocky film franchise, November 2018.
- Guy Lodge at The Guardian writes about Raging Bull as an examination of working class life, November 2020.
- Will Anderson at Bleacher Report considers whether mixed martial arts has eclipsed boxing in popularity, October 2011.
- Glenn Kenny at Decider argues that Gavin O’Connor is the best director of sports movies working today, March 2020.
- Scott Tobias at The Ringer argues that Gavin O’Connor is the greatest sports movie director of his generation, March 2020.
- Sandie Angulo Chen at Common Sense Media argues that Warrior is about “unconditional love”, September 2011.
- Tom Hardy reads There’s a Tiger in the Garden for CBEEBIES, September 2020.
- Tom Hardy reads the New Year’s bedtime story for CBEEBIES, December 2016.
- Sam Schube at The Ringer discusses Tom Hardy’s work in Taboo, March 2017.
- Shea Serrano at The Ringer discusses how Tom Hardy turns brooding into an artform, January 2017.
- Emily VanDerWerff at Vox discusses Tom Hardy’s performance in The Drop, September 2014.
- Gavin O’Connor talks to GQ about all the pieces aligned to make Warrior, September 2011.
- Dave Trumbore at Collider on how Lionsgate banked big on the success of The Hunger Games, November 2011.
- Ronald Grover and Peter Lauria at Reuters discuss how the success of The Hunger Games changed Lionsgate as a studio, March 2012.
- Scott Mendelson at Forbes writes about Lionsgate getting further into the franchise game with Knives Out and John Wick, January 2020.
- Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy talk to The Los Angeles Times about working on Warrior, September 2011.
- The Los Angeles Times looks at the good fortune of casting Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton in Warrior on the cusp of their fame, September 2011.
- Gavin O’Connor talks to ScreenRant about the possibility of a sequel to Warrior, October 2016.
- Kevin James talks to MMA Fighting about the importance of securing the U.F.C. brand for Here Comes the Boom, October 2012.
- Mahnola Dargis at The New York Times writes about the increased embrace of mixed martial arts within Hollywood, April 2012.
- Damon Martin at Bleacher Report on how mixed martial arts is changing fight culture in Hollywood, August 2013.
- Gina Carano talks to IndieWire about transitioning from mixed martial arts into Haywire, January 2012.
- Ken Tucker reviews Caged for Entertainment Weekly, January 2012.
- Leslie Wilson Jr, Matthew Smith, Shyam A. Krishna, Yousra Zaki and Stefan Lindeque discuss the cultural ascent of mixed martial arts for Gulf News, July 2020.
- Bryan Armen Graham at The Guardian reports on the legalisation of mixed martial arts in New York, March 2016.
- Robert J. Szczerba at Forbes charts the evolution of John McCain’s opinion on mixed martial arts, April 2014.
- Nick Greene at Slate looks at how John McCain grew to tolerate mixed martial arts, August 2018.
- RTÉ reports on Conor McGregor being named the “sports personality of the year”, December 2016.
- Douglas Quengua at The New York Times looks at how mixed martial arts became the breakout sport for the internet generation, March 2012.
- Madison Park at CNN reports on the controversy around mixed martial arts, July 2010.
- ESPN reports on the death of Michael Kirkham due to brain injuries sustained in mixed martial arts, June 2010.
- Dave Meltzer at Yahoo! reports on the death of Sam Vasquez due to injuries sustained in the ring, December 2007.
- Steven Muehlhausen profiles Rich Franklin for Sporting News, September 2015.
- Greg Jackson talks to Variety about consulting on Warrior, February 2012.
- Greg Jackson talks to Sports International about his training methods for mixed martial arts, December 2010.
- Gavin O’Connor and Nick Nolte talk to The Los Angeles Times about collaborating on Warrior, November 2011.
- Nick Nolte talks to The Los Angeles Times about working on Warrior, September 2011.
- Roger Ebert contemplates Nick Nolte’s Oscar nomination for RogerEbert.com, January 2012.
- Martin Tsai reviews the Indian remake Brothers: Blood Against Blood for The Los Angeles Times, August 2015.
- Anna Nieman reviews the Russian film The Warrior for KinoKulture, January 2017.
- Follow The 250 on Twitter.
- Subscribe to The 250 on iTunes.
- Subscribe to The 250 on Stitcher.
- Listen to The 250 on Soundcloud.
- Listen to The 250 on Spotify.
Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: gavin o'connor, imdb, Joel Edgerton, mma, nick nolte, recession, tom hardy, violence, Warrior, Working Class |
the m0vie blog 
Leave a Reply