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GeneChing
04-17-2008, 02:27 PM
This one is a little dated but I couldn't find a thread in the archives on it. If anyone else finds it, let me know and I'll merge. Given the cast, it looks like it'll make for an interesting fall 2008 release.


Terrence Howard Joins Dito Montiel's Fighting (http://movies.about.com/od/moviesinproduction/a/fighting092007.htm)
From Rebecca Murray,
Your Guide to Hollywood Movies.
Sep 20 2007

Super-busy Terrence Howard (The Brave One, Iron Man) has joined the cast of Dito Montiel's second feature film, Fighting. Howard joins Channing Tatum who's reuniting with his A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints director for this action drama.

Rogue Pictures also announced the casting of Zulay Henao as single mother Zulay Velez, Luis Guzman as Martinez, and professional fighter Cung Le. According to Rogue Pictures, production is starting this week in New York City. Kevin Misher will be producing the film with Montiel directing and working on the final screenplay.

The Official Fighting Synopsis
Fighting is a rough-hewn heroic tale about realizing dreams of glory, putting audiences ringside at high-stakes underground street fights.

Tatum stars as Sean Arthur, a young man who scrapes up a living hustling counterfeit merchandise in NYC. With family tragedy in his past and his father keeping him at a distance, this outsider has little to motivate him. A chance encounter with veteran street-fighting coach Harvey Boarden (Howard) leads to a whole new career for Sean. The ensuing bouts get tough, especially with the criminal element horning in, so Sean gets tougher. He will fight to win, not only the prize money but also the unexpected new relationships that are strengthening him.

Terrence Howard Set to Begin FIGHTING (http://www.mania.com/terrence-howard-set-to-begin-fighting_article_56057.html)
By: Jarrod Sarafin, News Editor
Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard (Iron Man, Hustle & Flow) will lead the new action drama FIGHTING, which begins production on location in New York City this week for Rogue Pictures. Howard stars alongside Channing Tatum, Luiz Guzman, Zulay Henao & world-renowned professional fighter Cung Le as Sean's fearsome Korean foe in the ring.

Plot Concept: Fighting is a rough-hewn heroic tale about realizing dreams of glory, putting audiences ringside at high-stakes underground street fights. Tatum stars as Sean Arthur, a young man who scrapes up a living hustling counterfeit merchandise in NYC. With family tragedy in his past and his father keeping him at a distance, this outsider has little to motivate him. A chance encounter with veteran street-fighting coach Harvey Boarden (Howard) leads to a whole new career for Sean. The ensuing bouts get tough, especially with the criminal element horning in, so Sean gets tougher. He will fight to win, not only the prize money but also the unexpected new relationships that are strengthening him.

MasterKiller
01-08-2009, 02:35 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUfGhhd59b8

Oso
01-08-2009, 02:54 PM
looks ok...

David Jamieson
01-08-2009, 02:56 PM
maybe iut will be better than that straight to dvd piece of crap Couture did. scorpion king 2.

uurrggh that was...bad. lol

WinterPalm
01-08-2009, 04:46 PM
Kind of like that other MMA one...

David Jamieson
01-08-2009, 05:06 PM
red belt?

it was mediocre but had an ok story with a beginning, middle and an end.

even though it wasn't really plausible in some points.

GeneChing
01-08-2009, 05:33 PM
Fighting trailer (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=48874260)
Coming April 2009

MasterKiller
01-08-2009, 05:39 PM
Too bad i posted it first in the main forum

Lucas
01-08-2009, 05:46 PM
too bad gene started a thread for this movie in APRIL 08' SUCKA :p

Lucas
01-08-2009, 05:55 PM
gene be slow on the merge-fu

;)

GeneChing
01-08-2009, 06:57 PM
And no worries, Lucus, I left a permanent link on the main to this thread. I just like to keep all the movie stuff in the same place. It's better for when accessing the archives.

Lucas
01-08-2009, 07:29 PM
sweet deal. just got home and watched the preview.

ill go see it.

SimonM
01-09-2009, 07:51 AM
I think sombody should do a movie that's just one long fight scene.

No plot, no painful attempts at drama, just 90-120 minutes of fighting!

ChoyLeeFat
01-14-2009, 12:38 AM
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XUfGhhd59b8

check it at 0:51 secs..

GeneChing
02-18-2009, 11:05 AM
There's a pic of Cung's backside as he's kicking Channing Tatum in this week's Entertainment Weekly (http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:1035,00.html). Tatum makes a comment on what it's like to fight choreograph with Cung.

Fighting is still slated for April 24, 2009 - official site here (http://www.fightingmovie.net/).

GeneChing
04-20-2009, 09:37 AM
Who here has actually been to an underground fight? Just curious...;)

For New York's secret brawlers, 'Fighting' isn't just a film story (http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/04/19/2009-04-19_for_new_yorks_secret_brawlers_fighting_isnt_jus t_a_film_story.html)
BY Robert Dominguez
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, April 19th 2009, 4:00 AM
Focus Features

A couple of years removed from the constant headaches, swollen eyes, bloody noses and chipped teeth, Des is finally breaking the first rule of his former vocation.

He’s talking about being in a fight club.

Like the main character in the new film “Fighting,” opening Friday, Des spent many a late night punching, kicking and grappling with other young men in secret locations around the city while a bloodthirsty crowd egged the combatants on.

For Des, a Manhattan native in his mid-20s, the clandestine brawls were nothing less than human ****fights. Losers went home bruised, battered and bloody. Winners often went home the same, but a few hundred bucks richer.

“I did it because I needed the money,” says Des (not his real name). “And because I just wanted to fight.”

Trained in such martial arts as wing chun and muay thai kick boxing, Des was introduced to the underground fight scene by one of his teachers. Typical locations, he says, were the basements of retail stores in Manhattan and the Bronx.

“The managers of these places all had a connection, and they’d get news of a fight out through word of mouth,” says Des. “One place was this big store on the East Side, where the manager would lock up at 11, have us come in through a grate in the sidewalk, and throw fights in the storeroom downstairs.”

Shirtless, shoeless and bareknuckled, fighters would square off in these dank, dark spaces, surrounded by a few dozen screaming onlookers wagering on the outcomes of up to 10 bouts a night. Des says his opponents were other martial arts students and the occasional neighborhood tough guy, and the only basic rule was no strikes to the groin.

“Everyone wanted to fight me because I didn’t have a lot of muscles and I wasn’t very talkative,” recalls Des. “That’s cool. I didn’t mind that they underestimated me. I’ve had my chin cut open and my tooth got cracked, but I won more than I lost.”

“A lot of these bouts can be pretty brutal,” says Andrew Montanez, a professional mixed martial artist who brawled in dozens of underground fights before turning pro.

“It’s usually two guys with full-time jobs who don’t have a lot of skills. They don’t wear gloves or even cups, and it can get pretty crazy.”

It’s pretty much the same crazy, gritty and violent world depicted in “Fighting,” which stars Channing Tatum as a *loner whose mano-a-mano skills are exploited by a shady promoter (Terrence Howard) in a series of underground matches around New York City.

Except that Dito Montiel, the film’s director, says the plot was loosely inspired by legal mixed martial arts bouts — like the Ultimate Fighting Championship events made popular on pay-per-view — rather than real underground fight clubs.

“I didn’t do any research into that,” says Montiel, who grew up in Astoria. “I’ve had friends who did it and I know it exists, but this is more about pretty straight-ahead brawling. The movie’s about a guy who goes to different neighborhoods, fighting guys.”

Yet some martial arts experts think the film will cast a negative light on their profession, anyway — mixed martial arts events are banned in New York State precisely because legislators are under the impression it’s dangerous, says David Ross, owner and sifu (teacher) of New York San Da, a Manhattan martial arts school.

“It’s not street fighting, it’s a sport,” says Ross. “People train very hard to do it, there’s a set of rules and it’s safe, and every time a movie like this or ‘Fight Club’ comes out, it’s unfortunate. It glorifies these illegal fights and it paints us in a bad way.”

According to one local promoter, however, some martial arts schools are actually guilty of holding their own illegal fight nights.

“I personally know of places that pull the curtains down and turn the lights low after hours,” says John McFeely, who promotes the legal “Fight Club” kick boxing series of bouts at the Long Island Marriott in Uniondale.

“Fighting” may not be totally accurate, but it does get one thing right — betting is a big part of the underground combat scene.

“Cash definitely exchanges hands, though it’s not usually big money,” says Montanez. “A lot of times it’s teams (of fighters) betting, like, $500 against each other.”

Des, who eventually quit fighting to pursue an acting career — “I didn’t want my face to keep getting messed up,” he says — learned the hard way there’s no money in this particular blood sport.

“On my best night, I fought three hard fights, won all of them, and came home with $950,” says Des.

“But one guy elbowed me in the mouth and cracked my tooth. It cost me $800 to fix it. So basically I got all busted up for just $150 bucks.”

Shaolinlueb
04-20-2009, 11:43 AM
i had no interest in this movie, then the preview i saw during fast and furious, makes me kinda want to see it.

Bo_toxic
04-20-2009, 01:37 PM
Who here has actually been to an underground fight? Just curious...
Good question Gene def. curious about that too and if your find any good ones please let us know:)

doug maverick
04-20-2009, 09:29 PM
Who here has actually been to an underground fight? Just curious...;)

i have, actually i use to organize my one up in hunts point in the bx. this was 10 years ago or so. the statue of limitations has passed on convicting me for organizing illegal gambling so ill say it here.

Shaolinlueb
04-20-2009, 10:03 PM
i have, actually i use to organize my one up in hunts point in the bx. this was 10 years ago or so. the statue of limitations has passed on convicting me for organizing illegal gambling so ill say it here.

oh really? let me check on that :o.... jk

GeneChing
04-21-2009, 02:09 PM
We just posted Cung Le Stars in FIGHTING (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=820), an interview with Cung Le by yours truly.

SIFU RON
04-21-2009, 04:03 PM
Cung Le is a person to be proud of, I have always admired his fighting ability, the more I read about him the more respect I have for him as Cung le, the person, a real " down to earth" guy.

About the movie, I wouldn't miss this for nothin ! ;)

GeneChing
04-27-2009, 10:08 AM
According to Boxofficemojo.com (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/)
1. Obsessed $28,500,000
2. 17 Again $11,665,000
3. Fighting $11,441,000


Terrence Howard, a hustler in 'Fighting' (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/26/PK9J170ATR.DTL&hw=dito&sn=001&sc=1000)
Michael Ordoña, Special to The Chronicle
Sunday, April 26, 2009

A sharp-dressed man in a tailored black suit, noodling on an acoustic-electric guitar, Terrence Howard bears no resemblance to Harvey, his two-bit hustler character in "Fighting."

Howard's sharply drawn portrait of a street-fighting coach who takes one more chance on a young street fighter (Channing Tatum) is one of the film's strengths. Howard said he chose the film after being impressed by director and co-writer Dito Montiel's Sundance Film Festival hit debut, "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," which also starred Tatum.

Q: I know this will sound bad, but I was surprised how good "Fighting" is. There's a level of detail you don't expect in this genre. The extras casting is great; the location scouting is great.

A: A lot of directors will make the mistake of giving their child to a babysitter way too early. Dito made sure his baby stayed in his hands. He set up the play dates and the friends at the play dates, made sure they were trustworthy and telling the same story.

This film is a beautiful, beautiful walk on that journey from "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints." I think every director is still telling the same story, just from different perspectives. Look how many sci-fi films Steven Spielberg has made - always about something from the unknown, coming. He's still trying to understand some vision that was shared with him a long time ago. Every director is trying to reflect some light that was shared with them, I think.

Q: I liked Harvey.

A: Harvey is the broken nature when you refuse to fix the pieces, when you refuse to tie up your shoelaces. No matter how many times he trips over them, he refuses to tie them. So he's forever slumping his way through the city and never able to pick up any momentum because he can't keep his feet beneath him. That was a dark place to live, as that character; someone who no longer believes in his own reflection.

Q: Its depiction of American poverty is pretty rare - the recent film that comes to mind is "Frozen River."

A: I love that movie. This would be another factor of that story, what could happen if you run out of choices. "Frozen River," the choices that woman had to make - hard, hard choices - what she had to learn about herself, the depths she would go to, to feed her children, for that dream of having a house. Harvey and Shawn, looking for that place they belong in, looking for forgiveness in each other, struggling to be happy. It's hard enough to be happy; why do people have to make it so much more difficult? Why do they throw so much on each other?

Q: You're now working on your second album. Have you thought about scoring films?

A: Yes, but I need to practice scoring my own imagination for a little bit before I take on the responsibility of telling someone else's story. {sbox}

Fighting (PG-13) opened this weekend at Bay Area theaters.


Movie review: Characters win in 'Fighting' (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/24/MV8H1760E3.DTL&hw=dito&sn=003&sc=466)
Peter Hartlaub, Chronicle Pop Culture Critic
Friday, April 24, 2009

POLITE APPLAUSE

Drama. Starring Terrence Howard, Channing Tatum and Luis Guzman. Directed by Dito Montiel. (PG-13. 105 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)

It looks as if preproduction for "Fighting" involved locking all of the actors in a room and making them watch "Rocky" on a constant loop. Most of the main characters in this movie have good hearts, make their living by questionable means and talk as if they've been punched in the head one too many times.

But that's not a bad thing. Writer/director Dito Montiel must have known that the audience for this movie would have been happy with another "Bloodsport," and he endeavors to give them so much more. While there are plenty of underground street fights in this film, they never come at the expense of the characters or atmosphere. To paraphrase Paulie Pannino, Montiel remembered the neighborhood.

That neighborhood is modern day New York, channeled through the 1970s - with the Isley Brothers on the soundtrack, cramped apartments filled with tacky furniture and pre-Guiliani levels of street crime. Channing Tatum is Shawn, a polite hustler trying to make a buck, selling fake Harry Potter books on the sidewalk. Terrence Howard is Harvey, a ticket scalper who tries to rip Shawn off, then discovers the kid has wrestling skills, a good right hook and the superhuman ability to take unguarded punches to the head and keep getting back up. (Yo, Adrian!)

There are no training montages in this movie, and the filmmakers don't slow down to explain every character's motivation. While we slowly learn more about Shawn, Harvey and a ****tail waitress named Zulay who always seems to be near the center of the action, we also get a strong feel for the other people in their world. This would have been a great film in which to get work as an extra.

Harvey's ****ensian crew of possibly underage underlings provides comic relief, but they're never obvious. Zulay's skeptical English-challenged grandmother manages to steal every scene she's in, while never seeming like anything except a real person. This film is a drama first, and an action movie a distant second.

The ambiguous characters in "Fighting" add to the tension, and there are several clever turns during the fights themselves. Unfortunately, the filmmakers succumb to using quick edits and shaky visuals during the action, as if the director handed the camera to a spider monkey whenever a fight scene started. It seems as if a movie called "Fighting" should show the actual fighting.

The ending is a bit predictable, and a few things happen with Zulay that seem out of character. But these small shortcomings only stand out because the rest of the movie is so nuanced and well-crafted. In a genre where too many films are all brawn and no brain, "Fighting" is a contender.

-- Advisory: This film contains strong language, gunplay, one sex scene where you don't really see anything and a lot of fighting.

AdrianK
04-29-2009, 10:58 PM
Fighting was pretty good! From the previews I thought it was going to be another "Never back down", and at the start of the movie I didn't know if I was going to like it or not. Terrance Howard is great in the movie as someone who similar to previous roles he's had as a hustler, but very different in his mannerisms and speech. Beautiful performance. The movie has its highs and lows, and there are some technical issues I had with it, but overall it was a really good movie that I wouldn't mind seeing again.

I expected the onslaught of overplayed hip hop tracks to every fight but it was great that they didn't go that route and instead went for a more realistic approach.

Great job. This movie is closer to Redbelt (and imho a better movie) than it is to Never Back Down. (which I love to watch just to make fun of)

GeneChing
05-12-2009, 09:21 AM
Still haven't seen this...

Channing Tatum's Fighting talk (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gpEVX8qg5jr_lnLoje4tTsznm-cA)
5 hours ago

Channing Tatum said he's "very proud" that he performed his own stunts in his new movie, Fighting.

The 29-year-old said: "There's not one frame of the movie that's not me, I am very, very proud of that."

But Channing revealed his mother can't bear to watch him in action, saying: "My mom, she is just like 'arggh' - she can't watch, she still covers her eyes."

The actor believes learning martial arts taught him how to concentrate when he was younger and helped control his Attention Deficit Disorder.

"I did Kung Fu from nine to about 13 or 14 and it's just an amazing discipline you know. I think it taught me really early how to focus," he said.

The former model from Alabama says if people want to get into martial arts, they should learn it properly, rather than fighting in the street.

He said: "It's an art form, martial arts, it's knowledge, that's really all it is. You can be tough, you can know how to throw a punch but if I know more than you I am gonna beat you."

GeneChing
08-21-2009, 01:42 PM
Enter to win Fighting (http://www.kungfumagazine.net/index.html) on DVD. Entries must be received by 6:00 p.m. PST on 9/07/09. Good luck!

GeneChing
09-22-2009, 04:13 PM
Sorry so tardy on this one. Congrats to the Fighting Winners (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55308)!

LSWCTN1
09-24-2009, 03:50 PM
i'm sat here watching the film fighting. i think that the reviews are a tad unfair actually. i'm quite enjoying it!

anyway... i wanted to ask how realistic people thought it was? i know its a film and therefore it has been embellshed, but are people really earning $5,000 a time to fight bare knuckle in the USA?

i know the fights must still happen, as almost every ethnic community (including Anglo-Saxons) in the UK has their own circuit, which sometimes overlap. but $5,000 a fight? at entrance level? you're lucky to reach £500 ($750/$800) a fight in the UK unless you bet on yourself, although there is a culture (especially prevalent amongs the traveller community) of 'tipping' the fighter if you win money on him. any info past or present will be greatly appreciated. pm's or on the forum :)

David Jamieson
09-24-2009, 04:20 PM
Picked it up. Gonna watch it on Sunday.

David Jamieson
09-28-2009, 03:39 AM
2 stars outta 5

story's nothing special.
fight scenes are meh.
plot is thin.

it was ok, but not something I would recommend as a must see.

brothernumber9
09-28-2009, 06:09 AM
The only thing that made it worth watching to me was Terrence Howard's character and the way he talked. It was odd and pretty funny at times.

David Jamieson
09-29-2009, 01:30 PM
The only thing that made it worth watching to me was Terrence Howard's character and the way he talked. It was odd and pretty funny at times.

Now, you make an interesting point.

If the story was about Howard's character it would have been 10x a better movie I think. That was an interesting character and teh back story would have been way better than "homeless guy wins money brawling". lol

The fighter character was very one dimensional and not very talented acting wise.

I did want to find out more about Howard's character though.