Cinderella Man

I cried. Twice. Tears streaming down my face cried.

But, I do cry fairly easily. I've been known to well up while reading a Sports Illustrated article.

SPOILER ALERT!

Director Ron Howard did a good job maintaining the suspense, especially in the lead up to the ultimate fight. In fact, I was so apprehensive about the outcome that I paused the movie and googled James J. Braddock. All I needed was the search results page to learn that "Braddock also went on to serve honorably in World War II" which gave me enough peace of mind to watch the rest of the film slightly more relaxed.

I should have remembered that I was watching a Ron Howard movie. I've only seen 8 of his 21 (according to IMDB) directed motion pictures but every one I've seen definitely has the Opie touch. Don't get me wrong. I like the Opie touch and enjoyed every one of the 8. Although I don't specifically remember, they all probably made me cry. Crying is good.

The portrayal of New Jersey and New York during the Depression was poignant and sorrowful. At one point when Howard starkly juxtaposes the wealthy and the poor, I found myself wondering how close this country might have been to revolution.

I do have one complaint though.

It has nothing to do with the actual movie. I'm an Intelliflix member due to the fact that it's significantly less expensive than Netflix and that it was highly rated by Consumer Reports. I like the functionality of their website and the responsiveness of their customer service, especially when it comes to dealing with lost, delayed or damaged disks.

However, I am a bit dismayed by the number of disks which arrive damaged. Most of the damaged disks are totally unplayable but even more frustrating are the disks that appear to be playable only to freeze up halfway through the movie. I missed two and a half scenes of the movie this time. On the plus side, if I inform Intelliflix of the problem, they will ship me another copy but since I've already watched the end, I'd rather they just ship me the next movie in my queue. So, I'm not going to tell them it's damaged and they'll ship it out to the next unsuspecting victim.

I feel guilty . . .