a darkly beautiful "Million Dollar Baby" — Page 3

Finally saw it today and I have to say I agree with Margo and Borstalboy. I was completely underwhelmed by it. It's an OK film, but far too cliched and overly sentimental for my tastes. I honestly didn't know what the 'twist' was, going into the movie. I avoided any and all spoilers so as not to ruin it for myself. But I could have guessed what was going to happen about 30 minutes into it. And I would have been right (to a point). All of the performances were good, Freeman's being the best and most understated. Clint was good, but IMO no way deserving of an Oscar nod for Best Actor over some of the other performances that were overlooked. And while Hilary deserves her nomination, I sincerely hope she doesn't win for it. (I'd also like to see her play a woman in her next film.) What I really don't get is why so many people are saying that it's not really a "boxing" movie, and that even if you don't like boxing movies, go see it, because it's so much more. Really? Of course it's a boxing movie. Just because it takes a turn in the last 30 minutes or so, and doesn't end exactly the way some other boxing movies have ended, doesn't make it any less of a boxing movie. Is it also about something other than boxing? Well, yes. But isn't just about every movie about more than one thing? And as far as actual filmmaking goes, I'm sorry, but Eastwood is just not in the same league as Scorcese. He may be well liked in the industry, but as far as I'm concerned Eastwood is a competent Director who makes mediocore to good movies. He doesn't come close to matching a Director like Scorcese's skill and attention for detail. All in all, The Aviator is the better made film. And while I agree that it's not Scorcese's best film, it deserves to be awarded the Best Picture Oscar, and Scorcese deserves to finally be recoginized by the Academy for his outstanding contribution to the art of filmmaking. Now if you really want to see a "boxing" film that's nothing short of a masterpiece, check out the 30th Anniversary DVD of "Raging Bull".

---

Updated On: 1/31/05 at 03:36 PM

I can see the Academy splitting on Director and Picture and awarding Best Director to Scorcese (finally giving him the long overdue acknowledgement that he deserves) and Best Picture to Million Dollar Baby, thereby honoring Clint as well. But, while MDB's story might have been more appealing and/or inspirational to some, from a technical standpoint, I still think The Aviator is a better made film.

---

And don't even get me started on the implausable ending, which I can't really discuss here without giving too much away. But I really found the last ten minutes a little hard to swallow. And something rather minor, but that nonetheless jumped out at me while I was watching the movie; I could have lived without the advertisement for The Apprentice on the side of the bus that Hilary's character was riding. It destracts from the timeless quality of the story. Just a minor faux pas, but one that could have been easily averted. It's all in the details.

---

I saw the apprentice ad. No big deal. And how was the last 10 minutes implausible.

My main complaint is simply that the redneck family is a little overdone. They were trying to hard to make them look white trash. It was almost cartoonish.

"My main complaint is simply that the redneck family is a little overdone. They were trying to hard to make them look white trash. It was almost cartoonish."

Sad to say I know one family whois just like that. And yes; they seem cartoonish. this is a wonderful movie. But you got to be willing to take the journey .

---

I love your icon! HAHAHAH!

"And how was the last 10 minutes implausible?"

Well... like I said, I can't really get into it without giving away the ending, which I don't want to do.

And just for the record, I didn't shed a tear. And as best I could tell, neither did anyone else in the theatre I saw it at. Then again, my emotions are not easily manipulated. When I cry at a movie, it's usually because I've been caught off guard by something unexpected. In this case, I saw it coming a mile away. But like Iris said... "you got to be willing to take the journey". I guess in this case, I just wasn't willing to "go with it".

---

Yeah, it's manipulative, but that's what many good stories do: take us on a journey and hopefully pull out all the stops to ensure that we experience it.

But! Curtain Up, I hear you. I fully appreciate anyone not being sucked into something that someone says "you must see!" I remember feeling the same way about FRENCH LT'S WOMAN and (per the infamous Seinfeld episode:) THE ENGLISH PATIENT. I left that film dry-eyed. Same with DEAD POET'S SOCIETY. Then there are movies I cannot watch without sobbing through that NO ONE sobs through, i.e. THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST. The final two minutes of that film make me puddle up uncontrollably (Hurt stopping for Geena Davis in Paris...). So I get CurtainUps point about sitting through a crescendo and squirming when I'm "supposed to be" blubbering. We have so many factors that affect our individual experience of films. What one person experiences as genuine catharsis feels like heavy-handed manipulation to another. It's a mysterious thing that cannot be justified in a debate. Or, like the old adage, "the heart has reason ... reason knows not of..."

---

"We have so many factors that affect our individual experience of films."

So true. The most unlikely films can cause me to cry. Believe it or not, I cried like a baby at the end of The Green Mile. I was caught completely off-guard and it was totally unexpected. It took me a full 10 minutes to compose myself after leaving the theatre. And to this day, I still cry everytime I watch it. It has everything to do with what I was going through at the time with my aging mother, and the notion that it's possible to live too long. When that damned geriatric mouse comes out of that cigar box at the end, I loose it every time.

---

Updated On: 1/31/05 at 08:39 PM

"Why Curtainup...you're not the insensitive jerk I had you pegged to be" :)

Gee Ma... thanks. I think.

---

Updated On: 1/31/05 at 09:06 PM

If it doe not win in all catagories, I will be in shock. A masterpiece. My wife, who originally did not want to see it, gave it a 10

---

One never knows - do one ?

---