I started preparing my Top 5 movies of 2010 a few weeks back and quickly realized that I could only make a case for 4…

Today I found the 5th.

The Fighter

Except I almost didn’t make it in time…

The movie was showing at 12:20.

It should have been easy to make it in time but a series of events including the dog needing a quick bath complicated things a bit.

I’m really started to get annoyed with the TTC these days. I’m considering filming some of these adventures with my phone just to show people how many times I get to the subway and JUST MISS a train.  I suppose I can’t fault the TTC but it would be nice to arrive just as a train comes IN to the station.

Today I missed all three of my connections by 15 seconds or less. It’s aggravating.

If I would have made 1 of them, things would have been a lot better.

Regardless, once I reached the theater, I was sure that being 12-15 minutes late would mean missing the first 5 minutes of the movie.

I was wrong.

Apparently, you can be up to 20 minutes late for a movie and not miss a thing.  I had time to buy my ticket, check out the theater, leave the theater to buy 2 hot dogs, a quick washroom break and back to find a seat.

I even ate one of the hot dogs before the movie started.

Still, I would have loved to see ALL the trailers but I’m not complaining.  I got to see every frame of a pretty fantastic movie.

How good was The Fighter?

The true story of Mickey Ward and his brother Dicky Eklund is one I’ve never heard of before. I’ve never really been a boxing fan let alone a boxing historian so I went in not knowing anything about these two boxers.

I absolutely loved The Fighter.

Christian Bale’s Dicky is a triumph. It’s a performance that should earn Bale the Academy Award.

I went in expecting an underdog story but was surprised to find a movie about a family and the struggle to find success.  The Fighter takes you from the rock bottom life of drugs, poverty and despair all the way to championship glory and redemption.

It’s an inspiring story and well worth the trip to the theater no matter how late I was.

Thankfully, I’m happy I was there for the first scene where you truly get a sense of how Christian Bale transformed himself into Dicky.  It’s remarkable.

The rest of the cast including Mark Walberg and Amy Adams are also at the top of their game.

Find out next week where this film ranks on my top 5 of 2010.  I would have been happy to write a Top 4 post but it’s still a relief that I found time to see The Fighter.

Great flick.