I am really glad that we saw "million dollar baby" last week

[question everything]

as we were concerned that the"twist" would eventually be revealed.

No, I am not going to reveal anything here. I did, however, posted on the lounge forum and asked whether Clint Eastwood is a Republican and the reply was that he is a libertarian.

I asked because I knew it won't be long before the RWers would start attacking him and I read that someone on Bill O'Rilley did.

So much for "go ahead, make my day!"

BTW - this is a very good movie for thinking adults: no computer special effects and no moronic children who make fun of their bumbling parents. And it stays with you for a long time after you leave the theatre.

[stray cat]

1. Thanks for the review!

[Dark]

2. What's it about? n/t

[question everything]

3. About a human spirit and first and second chances

Clint Eastwood is an aging boxers trainer who has gotten to be too cautious on when to push his trainees to fight for the prize. He owns a seedy gym in L.A. and the always wonderful Morgan Freeman - a former boxer - kinda takes care of the place.

Hillary Swank can be considered a "white trash" from Mississippi who is a waitress but wants to be a boxer.

Eastwood first reaction is: I don't train girls. But the Morgan Freeman character convinces him that she has the "right stuff" and the two of them, really three of them, start a wonderful journey of challenges, success and failures and of discovering different aspects of human relations and bonding.

And I am not going to spoil anything by saying that no, there is no "affair" between the "Maggie" and "Frankie."

Morgan Freeman provides the voice over narration so, yes, sometimes one is reminded of the "Shawshank Redemption."

[bmovies]

4. the narration....

Some people/critics say that many times narration in a movie can be a bad thing and very few times is actually good for the movie (Shawshank Redemption being an example of good narration)

How was the narration in this movie? Was it good, so so, boring. Just right? Or just right in some places, but a distraction in other places?

[TexasBushwhacker]

6. With Morgan Freeman as the narrator

the narration, as in Shawshank Redemption, ads to the film rather than takes away from it and in the end, you understand why the narration was there in the first place.

[gottaB]

15. Overall it was good. Superb, actually.

I recall two moments, both short-lived, when it felt like a distraction.

Notably, the voiceover was resolved into the plot by the end of the film. It also carried a symbolic meaning. (Pay attention to the dialogue with the Priest.) And it largely defined the style of the film, setting a tone that gave meaning to the whole. There was an incongruity involved in that (the film does not easily fit into any single genre). By the end, though, it all makes sense.

Freeman has a great voice, and you could tell he put a lot of work into developing his character's voice.

I think it could replace Shawshank as the touchstone of voiceover narration.

[question everything]

16. The narration - Meryl Streep

I still hear her narration in the Bridges of Madison County - another Eastwood movie - when, at the end, she says: be well, my children.

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. Why do people have to view a movie as propaganda?

Why can't they just view it as a story about an old boxing coach & manager helping a young one and life throws them a curve ball? The film, more than anything, is about love, friendship and family (blood relatives aren't always the ones that care about you the most). The film doesn't ADVOCATE anything except people caring about each other. Does the right wing protest Romeo and Juliet because it "advocates" suicide?

[SoCalDem]

13. Nope.. they would oppose Romeo & Juliet because it involves READING

and THINKING..and it was not written by Sean or Ann or Rush or Michael Savage or Bill O'Reilly:)

[oasis]

19. That's it. A dumbed down America is a rightwinger's paradise.

:dunce:

[yankeedem]

7. Saw an interesting anecdote in NY Magazine

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/10977/

This is with Hilary Swank's boxing coach
If you could pick anybody in the world to knock out, who would it be?
Bush. Because he send my kid three times already to Iraq.

[wicket]

8. Roger Ebert ripped right-wing critics of the movie a new one!

AWESOME essay by Mr. Ebert on this:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050129/ESSAYS/501290301/1008

[question everything]

10. Thank you for the link. How I would love to tell Medved off

From Ebert:

Medved feels moviegoers deserved to know what the movie is about, and that critics have been dishonest in not telling them. Medved has for a long time been a political commentator, not a movie critic, but he must remember from his earlier days that moviegoers do NOT want to be informed of key plot surprises, and write enraged letters to critics who violate this code. He says the studio concealed the ending because "no one would come" if they knew how it turned out. In fact, the movie is a great success because of word-of-mouth praise from people who have admired it and urged others to attend.

I have here (a) recent message.. from a woman who read a Medved essay in USA Today which seemed to be about another topic, and then, without warning, bluntly revealed the secret of "Million Dollar Baby." She is enraged at him.

[wicket]

12. You are very welcome

It's a great article and I'm glad to see Ebert telling the right-wingers off! :D

[Hissyspit]

9. A friend of mine spoiled it for me already

We saw Unforgiven together and he knew we both hated it, so he asked me and I gave him permission to tell me the ending, because he figured I wouldn't see it and would hate it. He hated Mystic River, too, which I did not see. I guess I wish I hadn't given him permission, 'cause now I kind of wish I could go into it fresh.

[Lindsey]

11. Definitely one of my favorite films from last year..

Ebert's essay is wonderful (don't read if you haven't seen the movie). To me it's much more about the strength of the character (Hillary Swanks) spirit as she sets her site on her goal of being a boxer than what others have made of it. Yes, it poses a lot of questions at the end but it's so much more than that. What an incredibly rich and thought provoking film.

[RamboLiberal]

20. Here's another good commentary from a Christian who takes on Wingnuts

by Kevin Miller who takes on the Christian Critics

Kevin Miller
Writer, Editor, Educator
Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

Kevin Miller is a freelance writer, editor, and educator who has written, co-written, and edited over 30 books, both fiction and non-fiction. He currently resides in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada with his wife, Heidi, and their three children Huw, Gretchen, and Zeph. They attend Fresh Wind Christian Fellowship, a non-denominational church that focuses on reaching the disabled, children, the poor, and people who've been "burnt by the church."

http://www.explorefaith.org/film/millionDollarBaby.html

[LizW]

14. I'm glad you were unspoiled

The groups opposing this movie are intentionally spoiling everyone they can.

[RamboLiberal]

17. I read the spoilers - haven't seen the movie yet

but in a way I'm glad I did read the spoilers. I'm sure I'll still enjoy the film - though the twist was something I didn't expect.

BTW, Maureen Dowd has a good article too on the RWingnuts stupid howling about this movie. Very good analogy by her to the classics and how they'd now be banned.

Warning - Dowd's column somewhat is a spoiler.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/opinion/6dowd.html?oref=login&n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fMaureen%20Dowd

[gottaB]

18. "Get a job, punk."

Hope that isn't a spoiler for you, but think of Michael Medved when you hear that line.

[question everything]

21. That's great, thank you n/t