a darkly beautiful "Million Dollar Baby"- Page 2

[SWTaffy]

Posted: 1/5/05 at 3:06pm

I'm thinking about seeing this movie today.

Is it violent?

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/5/05 at 3:16pm

Yes.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/5/05 at 4:34pm

EvelynNesbit1906 - "I'd rather see Scorsese enjoy big success over Eastwood any day."

Why do you say that?

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/5/05 at 6:43pm

Oh, just a partiality to biopics and period films. I like Million Dollar Baby.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 1/10/05 at 4:56am

Such a beautiful film! I think this may just win Best Picture. And, I agree that Hilary is deserving of an Oscar for it--as are Eastwood (in 3 or 4!? categories) and Freeman. And, as has been said--there are some great performances by theatre folk.

If people dislike the film, than it is imHo because they want it to be a typical film--and it is anything but. How refreshing to see a film completely challenge preconceived notions of a "boxing movie".

[MusicMan]

Posted: 1/10/05 at 11:00am

I agree, a marvelous movie, truly. It takes you places you never expected to go. For me, it's right up there with UNFORGIVEN and WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART as Eastwood's finest films.

[broadway86]

Posted: 1/10/05 at 11:09am

This movie was EXCELLENT. "The Aviator" is still my #1 pick, but "Baby" is pretty damn close. Powerful stuff.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 1/10/05 at 1:10pm

Sorry, guys, it just didn't do it for me. One cliche after another and Eastwood is such a hack-y director (ooh, look how gritty everything is!). I haven't been this underwhelmed by a critically acclaimed film since....well, since MYSTIC RIVER.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 11:24am

Darn that Hilary Swank. Just when I thought no performance deserved an Oscar more than Imelda Staunton I had to go see Million Dollar Baby. Let me just say that if Staunton does not win (and I believe she still has the edge) there has not been a year in recent history when a tie would be more appropriate.

Swank is a marvel. I thought that the pairing of actress/role in Boys Don't Cry was one of those magical moments that happen once in a career. Not so. It was no fluke.

I have never been a huge Eastwood fan, but this is by far his best work ever as a director and certainly the best-acted role of his career. And is it just me, or did he look a lot like Paul Newman?

And it nice to see Morgan Freeman is a part worthy of his talent as opposed to the crap he has been doing the last few years.

I was very moved by the themes of Family and Forgiveness. What a sad, sad film.

I did have some problems with the subplot involving "Danger", the young mentally challenged kid who hangs out at the gym. It seemed a bit fragmented and I thought there must be some scenes that didn't make the final cut that could have clarified his relationships and tie him in thematically a bit more.

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 7:34pm

I am glad I didn't read any reviews or see any trailers regarding this film. I was very moved and cried several times during the movie. The acting was superb. I'm in love with Hillary Swank and I hope she wins every award for this performance. This was my favorite Clint Eastwood performance. It's a great movie with the exception of the Danger character whose role I thought should have been downsized.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 2:33am

I think Danger presents a beautiful antithesis to Swank's character.

[broadway86]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 2:12am

I saw this film a second time tonight, and I was blown away once again. The cumulative power that this film has is rarely seen in cinema today. I am one of the few who found "Mystic River" to be highly overrated and awkward, but Eastwood is back in fine form. And how. This is also his best performance ever. Swank is terrific in the lead of Maggie Fitzgerald, and Freeman is quietly poignant as Scrap. Even the smaller roles, played by Margo Martindale, Brian F. O'Byrne, and Jay Baruchel (enchantingly innocent as 'Danger'), are performed beautiful. This is a wonderful film. It is intelligent, effective, and disarmingly warm. Hopefully, it will be remembered for a long time. Updated On: 1/21/05 at 02:12 AM

[Spooky]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 4:31pm

I saw it again the other day and was just as moved.
I laughed out loud (the priest cracked me up) and the nuanced performance by Freeman deserves an Oscar nod.
I'm not a fan of boxing movies, but this really isn't a boxing movie, which suprised me even more.
Poorly marketed movie. It reminds me of Shawshank. It will be a movie that few see in the theaters, it will win a bunch of awards and then people will watch it on video and say "I can't believe I never saw this in the theater"

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 4:36pm

Now that it is "going wide" the ads are everywhere. But as I was watching the trailer, it just occured to me that the scene where she is in the green robe walking to the ring is the wedding scene when the father walks his little girl down the aisle to her life changing experience. Great film.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 8:49pm

My wife did not want to see it & she agrees with me it was great

If this does not win Best Picture & Mr Moore's opus does I will hurl

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 10:31pm

That would be revolting. Million Dollar Baby is truly special.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 1/29/05 at 11:00pm

This just opened near me, so I saw it tonight. What a spectacular film. My favorite of this year (or last year, rather). The acting was simple, but very effective (the relationship between Eastwood and Swank has gotten a lot of adoration, but Freeman and Eastwood work wonderfully together as well, and even the little time devoted to Swank and Freeman together are great). The screenplay was hilarious, tear-jerking, and depressing, without being overly melodramatic. The score was Oscar-worthy (a shame that paperwork cost it a nod), and the lighting was beautiful. It's amazing that Eastwood is still making films of this quality. I recommend it wholeheartedly. Get out and see it!

[laactress]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 11:19am

This is by far one of the best films I have seen all year and Hilary deserves the Oscar in every way! WOW is all I can say.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 6:43pm

I saw it a 2nd time this weekend, and found it even more satisfying. I posted elsewhere that, whatever the Oscars, it will become a classic in a way The Aviator may not. It's just such a distinctly American story -- classic themes that run through our literature and movies.

And Sueleen, you made me tear up, writing about the father/daughter wedding metaphr. How perfect and apt. What's remarkable about he movie is how pure of heart is is -- a phrase you rarely get to use. Can you imagine how many people would've turned this into something else? A May-December thing? It's an extraordinary love story because it's familial and not romantic. It took my breath away, twice (I started this thread in mid-December) and tonight I was thrilled indeed to read that Eastwood won the DGA.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 6:47pm

http://imdb.com/news/flash/

That makes me smile.

[Iris Chacon]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 6:51pm

I was thrilled to hear Eastwood got the best diector nod from the DGA yesterday. I don't know what the oscars outcome will be. But one thing for sure; this movie will be a classic.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 7:04pm

Nice performances, but too cliched for my taste. I thought that it was really just a fairly run-of-the-mill "uplifting" boxing movie, no better or worse than two or three dozen others I could name, with the crappy, up-from-nothing figher, the gruff-but-lovable trainer, and the wise old retainer who doles out wisdom and acts as the moral center of the movie. Been there before. The actors kept it interesting at least (gotta love Freeman). And I didn't at all enjoy the film's third act which I found draggy, overlong and steeped in bathos -- about 10 minutes into that final plot twist, I was just wishing for it to end already.

Sorry, I guess it wasn't my kind of movie.

[Taryn]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 8:34pm

Loved it. I'm on a run of seeing all the best picture nominees, which is a bit difficult where I live. Saw this the day after The Aviator. Both were wonderful.

[Iris Chacon]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 8:45pm

uplifting?

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 8:53pm

Uplifting?