At times painful, darkly hilarious, and ultimately triumphant, The Fighter is a story about boxing - but also about families, and mostly about never giving up, ever. Like the very best sports movies, The Fighter moves past the constraints of the whole sports premise and focuses on a real human story. You don't need to know the rules of boxing to appreciate The Fighter, you just have to know what it's like to be alive, what it's like to have a family made of real, flawed people.

Though hopefully your family isn't as psycho as Micky Ward's, but you know. It's relatable. Melissa Leo and Christian Bale were both awarded Oscars last weekend for their respective roles as the crazy mother and the crackhead brother, and I gotta say, they pretty much deserved it. Great performances, complex characters. Mark Wahlberg did what he does best - the earnest, muscled all-American nice guy. Amy Adams (who also was nominated for Best Supporting Actress) was also excellent as his girlfriend Charlene.

I highly recommend it ... I didn't cry a little bit at the end, there was just some dirt in my eye or something.

And to finish it off, a tribute to Micky Ward by the Dropkick Murphys.

You're the fighter
You got the fire
The spirit of a warrior
The champion's heart
You fight for your life
Because the fighter never quits