However rote and derivative the genre may seem, the underdog sports movie still has the capacity to overwhelm even the most cynical critical urges with the pure power of triumphant emotion. Rocky did it. Hoosiers did it. And believe it or not, the Ultimate Fighting Championship movie Warrior does it as well. Thanks to an excellent cast, increasingly fantastic fight scenes and a script where the sincerity far outshines the [...]

If I were to personify originality’s place in Hollywood over the last decade, it would be that of a famished drifter crawling on all fours through the desert, holding onto life with the faintest grip. Originality’s canteen ran dry not long after the stellar year of 1999 – notable for The Matrix, American Beauty and The Sixth Sense – when Hollywood vultures producers realised they could lazily repackage novels, comics and old films at a fraction of the cost. This continued into the New Year where the scunge lining the creativity-depleted wells of Robin Hood, Shrek and Sex and the City was scrapped off and served up to audiences for what felt like the bajillionth time. Tragically, the search and rescue for Originality in Hollywood appeared to have been called off.