Australian actor Joel Edgerton has been in the business for a good 15 years, during which time he's transitioned from Aussie TV to supporting turns in international films (Kinky Boots, King Arthur, and Star Wars: Episode II -- Revenge of the Sith) and wrote and co-starred in the solid Australian thriller The Square with brother Nash (who directed). But in 2011 -- on the heels of his work in the underperforming but critically-loved Warrior, on the eve of his lead turn in Universal's prequel The Thing -- he seems poised, finally, for his moment in the spotlight.
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It's week three of the 2011-12 Oscar Index, and the latest measurements, readings and conclusions are in from Movieline's Institute for the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics. And aside from a few startling exceptions, they don't look that different than the ones disseminated here last week. But make no mistake: Like it or not, stuff is happening! Read on for the latest developments.
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Let's hear it for all the readers, fans and aspiring MMA fighters who participated in our 10-word review contest for Gavin O'Connor's Warrior, starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte. We've received a plethora of thoughtful submissions but alas, we could only choose one as the winner. Click ahead to see whose knockout review earned him/her a prize pack of the ultimate Warrior memorabilia.
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Gavin O'Connor's Warrior earned rave reviews last weekend (including mine, which you can read here) on the strength of its fine performances and heart-wrenching story of two mixed martial artist brothers (Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton) pitted against each other in and outside of the ring. Now's your chance to play guest critic and enter to win a prize pack Movieline's giving away that includes the ultimate Warrior memorabilia: An MMA glove signed by star Joel Edgerton.
UPDATE: The contest is now closed! Thank you to everyone who participated in this very special Warrior giveaway. We will now sort through your thoughtful submissions and notify you of a winner shortly.
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Hark, a new film hath unseated The Help for the #1 crown! All it took was Steven Soderbergh's hypochondria-inducing Contagion, a picture that will surely also boost worldwide sales of Purell during flu season. And while there's no love lost in seeing last week's Shark Night 3D and Apollo 18 drop precipitously down in the ranks, the heartstrings pull for Warrior, a finely acted MMA film that only got a fraction of the theater count of its competitors, and performed accordingly. But! At least it fared better than Bucky Larson...
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There's a moment at the end of Gavin O'Connor's MMA drama Warrior in which two men who have been relentlessly beaten and pummeled in the octagon stand dripping with exhaustion, rivers of sweat mingling with the tears running down their faces. It doesn't matter that you can't tell the sweat from the tears; that's partly the point of Warrior anyway, which makes you feel every emotional wound just as acutely, if not more so, than the bruising, rib-crunching body blows. Yes, this is a mixed martial arts movie (distributed by genre specialists Lionsgate, no less). But it's also one of the most heart-wrenching and deeply felt films of the year.
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It's a curious version of the real pro wrestler Kurt Angle that you get from the ring persona he's projected over the years as a star of the WWE (née WWF) and now TNA Wrestling, where he's currently the reigning World Heavyweight Champion. The real-life former Olympic wrestler has played off his 1996 gold medal win as wrestling's bona fide "American Hero" since his 1998 WWF debut, juggling multiple wrestling companies and countless ring titles while a version of his own personal life, warped through the wrestling world's faux-realist backstage lens, is broadcast every week to millions of fans. But what Angle really wants to do -- what he wanted to do even before pro wrestling came calling -- is act. Seriously act.
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Warrior is serious. The Oscar-craving movie about mixed martial arts starring Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Joel Edgerton and a whole bunch of other fearsome types -- like real-life fighter Erik Apple and wrestling vet Kurt Angle -- is a full-throttle ride around the ropes. In this new clip, Hardy unseats a champ in just a few quick moves. Harsh as hell, and so good.
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In Gavin O'Connor's Sept. 9 MMA drama Warrior, Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton are estranged brothers who find themselves on competing paths towards the same mixed martial arts championship, both fighting desperately for something different. Find out more about what motivates one brother to risk it all in two new stills from Warrior, debuting exclusively on Movieline.
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Over the weekend at Comic-Con, Tom Hardy described his villainous role as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises thusly: "You deal with something Dark Knight -- or Mad Max, or Superman or Spider-Man, whatever -- it's like going to work in an airport and going, 'Hi I'm over here!' and then everybody goes 'Oh here's that, that's the villain of the piece.' Then it's a thousand people going to Duty-Free. Like, [shouting] 'I AM THE VILLAIN!' and make a lot of noise." But wait, there's more!
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