BULLDOG OF BERGEN

When it comes to boxing, I have my own favorite movie. Cinderella Man is not just about boxing; it’s also lessons about life. I don’t know why they call this movie Cinderella Man, but same like Cinderella story, this movie surely inspires a lot of people. Directed by Ron Howard and based on the extraordinary true story, the movie tells us about a man who fight for the sake of his family. I am more than happy to be able to share its story with all of you.

The country was in financial crisis and things didn’t go well for most people. It was a time of struggle and desperation in New Jersey – in 1933 – 4 years into the Great Depression. Poverty and unemployment were so high; many businesses went bankrupt, and even the Wall Street crumbled.

It was a tough time for everyone, including for a man named James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe) who lived with his wife May (Renee Zellweger), two sons, and a daughter. They nearly lost everything and Braddock had to rely on his only talent to survive – Boxing. Things began to get worse when Braddock had few injuries – a broken hand; his boxing license was taken out, and couldn’t afford to pay the bills for their house.

Braddock and his family almost lost hope. They counted every last dime in order to survive. Braddock’s work at the harbor was not enough to fill their hungry stomachs. This tragedy touched the heart of Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti). Joe was Braddock’s manager and trainer. They’re best friends. It was Joe who somehow managed to bring Braddock back into the ring. Not only that, Braddock got a chance of a lifetime to win the heavyweight title.

It’s not easy for Braddock to convince May as they faced a dilemma. The risks were too high for winning the heavyweight title as Braddock had to face the most dangerous opponents in the process. Losing the fight could mean death as there’re already two boxers who got killed in the ring – detached brains the doctor said.

When there’s no money to pay the bills, no heater to warm their cold bodies, and no food to fill their empty stomachs, the only thing they could rely on was the fact that they still had each other. Braddock was no super boxer who could easily win every fight. He took punches by punches, injuries by injuries, as he remembered his family waiting at home for good news. As he faced nasty and dangerous opponents, the hearts that awaited him at home was the only thing that kept him standing in the ring.

James J. Braddock may be called a Cinderella Man, but he surely ain’t no Cinderella when he fights on the ring. It’s a movie full of joy but also tears – full of glory but also sweat and blood. Be sure you learn from it.

Ivan the Freelancer

JAKE LA MOTTA

People said that boxing is the most basic element of martial arts. It becomes the essence of all martial arts. The other martial arts are just the extension or development from it. Most people will remember Rocky as a movie about boxing. But I have my own movie when it comes to boxing. One of them is Raging Bull, which is directed by Martin Scorsese. (See also my other story – Cinderella Man).

Raging Bull focuses its story on a man named Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro) about his life and also his boxing career. Compared to Cinderella Man, Raging Bull has a contrast story when you see it from the angle of the boxer’s character and their families.

Jake La Motta didn’t seem to have any critical money or financial problems. In fact, you can say that he lived with above average lifestyle from any other people at that time (the year of 1980). The problems about Jake were his psychological complexities and violent behavior, not just inside the ring, but also outside the ring. He often felt paranoid and jealous about anything around him.

For a boxer, Jake didn’t have huge body postures like one would imagine. His body was just an average size like any other people around him. But his ability and strength couldn’t be taken lightly. Raging Bull was a perfect name for him as he always raged and charged like a bull. He was a deadly and dangerous boxer.

He had quite successful boxing career and wealth although his life and family were often torn apart as he raged not only in the ring, but also raged against his families and surroundings. I believe we can all learn from any kind of situations, whether it’s good or bad. Raging Bull can give inspirations to all of us about how tough it is to control our temper.

If you like to watch a hot-tempered bull, great boxing, hectic families and sarcastic dialogs, then you must watch Raging Bull. But I strongly suggest that you also see my story about Cinderella Man and watch it for comparison and for more complete inspirations.

Ivan the Freelancer

SYSTEMS DOWN - Die Hard 4

Die Hard 4 had arrived. It’s time to buy lots of popcorns and hit the theatres! Looking at the posters, I knew that Die Hard 4 would deliver some new actions. Well, at least I knew something was new even before watching it. John McClane (Bruce Willis) is now bald (a.k.a no hair) and he got himself a pretty but stubborn daughter, Lucy McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). McClane looks a bit old but wiser – and he doesn’t get any less dangerous.

Time and technology had advanced very quickly. This time McClane had to face a young-geek-genius terrorist. The mastermind named Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) with IT background formerly did a government project and accidentally found a weak spot in the system. But instead of reward, he got fired instead. He was furious and declared a cyber war against the government. He threatened to paralyze all the computer systems and send us all back to the Stone Age.

Apparently, he was not working alone. Few great hackers were hired to penetrate the system and few mercenary also hired to do the other dirty works. Suddenly, Thomas was able to take control of the whole IT system in the city, from the traffic lights until the security social numbers. The city quickly turned to chaos with all computer system and electricity down. The stock market went berserk, the traffic went nuts and accidents occurred everywhere.

In the last critical moment, McClane was able to save one of the hacker named Matt Farrell (Justin Long) who unfortunately didn’t have any clue of what he’s doing. The rest of the hackers were killed by explosions from their own computers for the purpose of eliminating evidences. Matt Farrell was the only hope of tracing the terrorists’ motives and movement.

McClane found himself in trouble again as he had to protect the hacker, save his daughter Lucy, and whoop the bad guys’ asses. Not to mention McClane’s relationship with his daughter Lucy didn’t go very well either. McClane didn’t even know how to operate the computers but tried his best to prove that the cyber disasters could also be solved by wits, guns and muscles.

Could the combination of wits, cunning, muscles, and geeks be able to bring the systems back to normal from the hands of a cyber psychopath? Watch and learn… Yippe Kay Yay, You M!@#$%^&*!

Ivan the Freelancer

SIMON SAID - Die Hard 3

Die Hard certainly deserve the reputation to be called one of the best action movies. Die Hard 3 is not just a comeback of the heroic cop John McClane, it gets even better since the last ones. The story and McClane’s life develops to deliver another great episode of Die Hard. What is a hero without a villain? If there’s no villain, there will be no hero. It’s also the villain with his hidden motive and twisted mind, which make this movie even more exciting.

A lunatic psychopath who called himself Simon (Jeremy Irons) started his action by blowing up a store in one of the New York City’s location. He surely got the polices’ attention after that. As the chief of police spoke to him, Simon said that he wanted John McClane to play a game with him – A deadly game we all knew that someone would get his ass kicked – Otherwise he would blow up another place in the city.

The police quickly searched for McClane and found him in a rather messy-fucked-up condition. It appeared that his life was not well and his marriage was in chaos… again. McClane was tired and had a bad headache. One thing he didn’t realize that he would be having a really bad day soon enough.

Nobody knew why Simon was so pissed with McClane. Even McClane himself couldn’t tell why. Simon wanted to play with him, asked him to do stupid and dangerous things. A failure in doing the tasks meant another explosion in public places. McClane and the police didn’t have any choice but to play along, hoping that some clues about Simon would be revealed during the process.

This time McClane was not alone. He got himself a black civilian from the Harlem named Zeus as a partner (Samuel L. Jackson) – Or should I say, an unwilling partner because he was taken by force. Zeus got involved as he was trying to reason with McClane when he saw McClane did a very stupid-crazy thing – Yeah, you should see what he did and why. Simon preferred to call the black Harlem guy “The Black Samaritan” and asked him – or should I say forced him to play along with McClane.

So the New York City became their playground as Simon gave McClane and Zeus many tasks, which they had to complete within impossible time limits. Who the heck was Simon anyway? What did he really want and why he was so pissed with McClane? Well, you should be surprise as you follow the story that Simon’s twisted mind was not the only problem, but also his hidden motives. Would McClane and Zeus be able to outsmart him? They’re very tired and angry but they were as amusing as their funny and hilarious dialogs filled every scene. Yeah… Yippe Kay Yay… You M !@#$%^&*()_!

Ivan the Freelancer

DIE HARDER - Die Hard 2

Die Hard 2 had been released and I couldn’t wait to share the exciting stories of watching it with all of you. My heroic cop hero is back with his bad ass kickin’ attitude as he once again had to face terror on the cold winter Christmas holiday. Yippe Kay Yay,… and let the story begins.

It was another Christmas for John McClane, and apparently became his next thrilling but deadly adventures. A group of terrorists led by a military renegade had seized an international airport. The problem was they also took thousands of travelers as hostages.

The terrorists had important missions, which were to save a drug lord, rendezvoused at the airport, and escaped together. They had prepared, planned and executed their actions perfectly, but one thing slipped their attention. John McClane was in the same airport, waiting for his wife who was on a plane taken as a hostage. He was again off-duty but his instinct as a cop clearly told him that something had terribly gone wrong.

It was a cold and chilling winter night where John McClane found himself in the same situation like before – A one man army who had to face the fully equipped and deadly terrorists. The planes couldn’t land as the runway and the airport was paralyzed and the electricity was down. They had no choice but to circle the airport as they faced death because the planes were slowly running out of fuels.

Being alone with limited resource and racing against time, McClane had to deal with the airport’s bureaucracy and the ruthless terrorists’ army in order to secure the runway. It’s another desperate survival attempt on a Christmas holiday in order to celebrate the next one…

Ivan the Freelancer

NAKATOMI INCIDENT - Die Hard 1

If I think about action movies, Die Hard will always crossed my mind. It’s one of my most favorite action movies that can really conclude the meaning of suspense, thriller, and heart pounding into one simple word, “Entertaining”. It’s the most realistic action movie with great stories too.

Die Hard with all of its sequels and stories never disappoint me – Plus the legendary cunning character of John McClane (Bruce Willis) against different outstanding villains in every sequel. Another good thing is you don’t have to watch Die Hard according to the sequence / order (start from Die Hard 1). Even if you watch it in random order, you can still enjoy and understand the stories. Directed by John McTiernan, the legend started on Die Hard 1, which took place at Nakatomi Plaza building, Los Angeles.

The best thing about John McClane is he ain’t no top special agents or a super-cop. He’s just a New York City Detective who always happens to be in a wrong place and in the wrong time. He is a simple-but-dedicated detective who often find himself in twisted and dangerous situations - Always do his missions with limited resources and limited time as he faces the most sadistic and deadly criminals.

One day, he arrived at Los Angeles to celebrate a Christmas Holiday with his wife Holly Gennero (Bonnie Bedelia). McClane didn’t have any trouble finding Holly in the Nakatomi Plaza building. The problem was their marriage was in trouble and they didn’t get along really well. Their sweet meeting quickly became sour.

A party was being held in the building and McClane was told to wait inside until the party was over. One thing that they didn’t know was that a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) managed to slip inside and took control of the building. They had seized the building and taken all people as hostages. All but one man named John McClane who managed to slip away unnoticed.

Hans and his goons thought they had taken control of the situations. But they never knew that John McClane alone could bring them so much trouble. McClane was on a vacation and an off-duty cop, but he didn’t have any choice. He was alone, in a bad mood, and trapped in the life and death situation. The only choice he had was to fight back or die.

McClane started his own-one-man-army war, armed with only a handgun and his wits, against fully equipped terrorists. Watch as the Nakatomi building became their playground. It was a terrible Christmas holiday for McClane and Holly, but they had to survive in order to celebrate the next Christmas. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

Ivan the Freelancer

THE NYMPH

Do you read bedtime stories before going to bed? Do you like to share bedtime stories with your children before they go to bed? Well, if you happen to run out of fairy tales, this story about the Lady in the Water can be a good alternative for a nice lullaby. The movie seems like a mixture between drama, thriller, and comedy.

The world of men and the world of sea creatures were used to be linked. The sea creatures used to tell prophecies about the future and men listened. The prophecies would all came true. But later men were overcome by greed and selfishness that brought them further to the land and became separated from the sea creatures. The sea creatures tried to reach us but we wouldn’t listen. The world of men became more and more violent. They got trapped into endless wars and fights – Yet the sea creatures didn’t stop trying… trying to reach us.

The beautiful creatures of the sea were usually brought by the great giant mystical eagle to our world and back to their home world. But they couldn’t roam the land freely, as dangerous and vicious wolves prowled everywhere and tried to destroy them. One day, the sea creatures tried once again to reach us humans. The men just needed to be reminded a little as they had forgotten about how to listen…

That is the introduction that I summarized from the movie of Lady in the Water, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. This is a bedtime story about a beautiful nymph from the ocean named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) that happened to arrive and stay inside a swimming pool in an apartment complex. The occupants of the apartment seemed to play an important role for the nymph so that she could complete her mission.

Mr. Cleveland Heep (played by Paul Giamatti) was the manager of The Cove Apartment who found Story for the first time. They’re both strangers to one another, but it didn’t take a long time for them to get to know each other. Story said that she had to go home but it would be very dangerous because the evil wolves were lurking nearby, ready to kill her whenever possible.

Mr. Heep tried to learn and understand about Story and her world, which was apparently beyond or outside ours. As he dived deeper into the mystery, he realized that Story would need help from the other occupants in the apartment.

I won’t ruin your curiosity by telling the whole story in here. I leave it all to you to discover it by yourself so all of you can sleep well with sweet or scary dreams. Good night…

Ivan the Freelancer