We have got to say something about this film, don’t we?

Yes, of course, it is a boxing film. That in itself would be reason enough. Yet we do not want to get into an in depth film review here. There are better sites for that. Mind you, we would still be interested what you thought about it. The training montage, fighting scenes and Eminem’s pumping theme tune (chessboxing walk-in song anyone?) are rather entertaining. But what we really, really liked was Forest Whitaker aka coach Tick Wills. He was tasked with getting a broken Jake Gyllenhaal back to old boxing glory. Out comes the classic training regime. Sprinkled with some extra wisdom to sort out the faltering mindset. And so he came utter these precious words: “Boxing is like chess!” Yes! He said it. And the people cheering along in the cinema, well, that was us. But then, of course, it would be, wouldn’t it?

(Image credit: Jake Gyllenhaal in “Southpaw”
Photo: Scott Garfield/The Weinstein Company)