Cardboard Boxer

Thomas Hayden Church plays Willie, a homeless man with a little missing in the head. Based on the title of the movie, the film was about Willie getting paid by some rich kids to fight other homeless people for their entertainment. The other star on the poster, Terrance Howard plays a man who was able to get himself off the streets and comes back to help those he left behind, trying to seek out these rich kids and stop them from exploiting the homeless.

The richness of the film comes from Church trying to keep his mind straight, and doing this after coming across the diary of a young burn victim writing about the experience. He finds comfort writing letter to her inside the diary.

Overall the film does a great job of making you look differently at the homeless. It get inside the mind of a man living on the streets, and it does not try to figure him out, just make him human.

However, the movie does clean up far too well, and somehow this takes away from completely getting under your skin about the situation.

It's a well driven vehicle for Church, especially with Howard riding shotgun, but it does not have the emotion needed for people to go out and see it.

This movie shows one perspective of the scandalous life of homelessness. The acting is pretty good. The ending provides a tear jerking moment. Directing was great as this flick mirrors the reality really close.

Generally, I don't go for dramas much, and I really dislike long draw- out dramas. I watched Cardboard Boxer knowing zero about it apart from the title, and got totally sucked into the story. Its a story about a human being, not a "homeless person". It didn't dwell on the plight of the homeless, or try to preach about the class divide.

I thought the movie made outstanding use of its unashamedly simplistic characters and setting to tell a very thoughtful story with a rich vein of truth and humanity at its core. I found much I could empathise with despite never having been anywhere near homeless myself.

But yes, it is no more about "bumfights" than Romeo and Juliet is about hot-rods and Brylcreem. For people wanting to see that sort of thing, give this one a miss and skip straight to WWE.

Whatever its shortcomings may be, this movie tackles some of the darkest places in the soul of man and still manages to bring the viewer through it feeling optimistic and uplifted without having to resort to anything as patronising as a 'happily ever after'.

Cardboard Boxer touches on many facets of human-nature, but at its heart, it's a love story told through the eyes of someone so utterly alone that they have never even known anyone well enough to develop an unrequited crush, let alone fall in love. By rights, it should be the type of utterly depressing movie that makes me switch off after 10 minutes, but it was quite the opposite. That's a pretty neat trick Mr. Lee.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Cardboard Boxer" (2016) kinda reminded me a bit of "Time Out of Mind" (2014) - similar themes and surroundings. "Cardboard Boxer" is not bad at all character study movie (a bit), but "Time" was better in this category, but it wasn't such emotional as "Boxer".

Although no awards will shine for acting in this movie, i liked the performances by Thomas Haden Church, Terrence Howard and Boyd Holbrook as Pinky - he could have stayed on screen longer. Directing was nice as well as script. This is well paced movie - at running time 1 h 25 min it doesn't drag.

Overall, "Cardboard Boxer" is a nice little movie which will unfortunately i'm afraid be overlooked by many. Although it doesn't have anything original or very well made, is not a bad movie overall for seeing it once.

First of all.... don't be fooled by the word Boxer. I generally get thrown off by movies about boxers as I feel this gerne his been swallowed, digested and eventually ended up in the sewer through a process we all privately enjoy. Anyways, I think this film portrays the fear of every human: Loose everything, become homeless and adapt to the street life. I could not imagine, can you? Where do you go? What do you do? What does one do for entertainment? What does one do for money? This film, I think, provides a great glimpse into the life of a homeless man and reveals hardship, friendship and the ups and downs one may or may not encounter.

His love for his new found treasure, his thoughts, his emotions, his actions are captivating and intriguing. This movie will make you think, will make you appreciate, will touch your soul (I am a cold person and not easily touched or moved).

Enjoy this movie over candle light, with your better half. Men have a chance to appear empathetic and sympathetic, while still getting a bit of violence in. Win win.

Superb movie which will be greatly underestimated. Enjoy!