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Great Movie. 2010-07-12

Reviewer: Vumbo Dechang

This movie deserves all the positive accolades it gets in contrast to so much of the garbage masquerading as entertainment or pushing political propaganda produced by the industry. As an allegory of life it is superb.
A positive characteristic of Eastwood' movies is the plausible and realistic interaction and relationships among races, particularly blacks and whites, again in contrast to the politically correct garbage which is more characteristic of the typical industry product. This is no accident. It is true of all of Eastwood's movies.
Some of the dialog between Eastwood and Freeman is side splitting.
It is amusing to read some of the more virulent negative reviews of this movie who insist upon seeing it as a boxing movie. That's a shallow interpretation.

Million Dollar Baby 2010-05-27

Reviewer: The Northern Light

You should be warned before watching this film that it is quite the dark drama that will leave you somewhat brooding afterwards. That being said, it is also in most ways one of the better dramas out there, and the actors fit their roles quite well. You can tell the difference in the way of thinking between Eastwood's style of film-creating and the usual suspects when they make their films, in many ways. That being said, you of course get the mandatory 'White trash', the 'low-IQ racist' and so on, it is after all a film that needed financing. I would one day like to see Hollywood make a film that contains someone like a 'Nazi' with a PhD in philosophy, or a well-functioning White Southern family of ten that are loving, responsible and upright people. I know this is impossible to imagine for certain people, but just once I'd like to see someone have the guts to step outside the usual stereotypes.

Despite such annoying flaws, the film is actually quite good. Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) is an aging boxing trainer that is quite bitter at the world, yet in collaboration with enemy/friend/janitor Scrap (Freeman) manages to keep a rather downtrodden local gym going. In comes Maggie: a 30-ish female waiter (Swank), from just the type of family I mentioned, yet she appears to have broken free from her grim background and is intent on becoming a professional boxer. A great drama follows, and eventually she does succeed in becoming exactly what she wanted, against some rather tall odds (including the challenge of persuading Dunn into training her). Eventually we learn more of the background for all those involved, and it is a great story being told. You even get to see a person reading a book that is not a Jewish professor in an US film, not exactly the usual treat! Four stars for this film that is in some ways about boxing, but mostly just about human fates. Even my initially sceptical girlfriend enjoyed it, if that is anything to go by.

Million Dollar Baby (Full Screen Edition) 2010-02-10

Reviewer: Arnita D. Brown

Frankie Dunn has trained and managed some incredible fighters during a lifetime spent in the ring. The most important lesson he teaches his boxers is the one that rules life: above all, always protect yourself. In the wake of a painful estrangement from his daughter, Frankie has been unwilling to let himself get close to anyone for a very long time. His only friend, Scrap, an ex-boxer who looks after Frankie's gym, knows that beneath his gruff exterior is a man who has been seeking, for the past 25 years, the forgiveness that somehow continues to elude him. Then Maggie Fitzgerald walks into his gym. "Million Dollar Baby" has great characters, but it doesn't glorify them. It has a wonderful story, but it never tries to impress you. The photography, score and direction is superb, but never distracting. What this movie has is passion. Passion for film-making, passion for storytelling, passion for its characters, passion for its actors, and passion for its story and the means at which it will go to tell it. Amazing.

Finally a great movie - I guess now the planet can go back to spinning again 2009-12-25

Reviewer: Feral Puma

As 2009 comes to a close I feel that I should share the few gems that I feel blessed enough to have seen during the last decade, and what better review to do that on than the one that gets my vote for #1 movie of the decade? Joe Dirt, Hearts in Atlantis, Vanilla Sky, Naqoyqatsi, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the Passion of the Christ, the Motorcycle Diaries, Million Dollar Baby, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Into the Wild, Terrorstorm, the Painted Veil, Endgame, the Money Masters, Gran Torino, and Rothschild's Choice. I probably forgot a few. So, and not counting the excellent documentaries made during the last decade, Million Dollar Baby gets my vote for movie of the decade. I feel that it is a powerful testament about the pain that is often found in this life, and also of the power that will be found within the human spirit of endurance, as it has always responded in the face of adversity. Congratulations Clint Eastwood, you've proven yourself a competent director while remaining the excellent actor that you have always been.

Kept me wondering 2009-12-12

Reviewer: The Haze

Geeze this was a good movie, but I wish they would have let us know what happened to the evil German prostitute/boxer. Kind of left me feeling empty on that one big point.