my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film Handlers' Movie Reviews   » Million Dollar Baby (2004) (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Million Dollar Baby (2004) Josh Kirkhart Expert Film Handler Posts: 165 From: Austin/Houston, TX, USA Registered: Nov 2001 posted 01-12-2005 04:17 AM                     The Best Movie of the Year!! I can not recommend this enough. I am a bit biased, I haven't disliked a Eastwood film... well ever. That said, I expected good and got blew away. The Directing is unflashy and perfect. The story says 'I'm taking you here' and then it cuts a hard right...sorry, but really it takes you exactly where ya wanna go then POW!!! The most gratifying theatre experience all year. 10/10  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 01-30-2005 05:41 PM                        Today, 11:50AM, Cinemark 17, Springfield. House #8, DTS. Attendance around 50. OK presentation, no serious complaints. Very good sound. I thought I knew what this was going to be about but it turned out I was only half right. The story starts out moderately interesting, then builds momentum toward an unexpected climax. A very well-crafted and engrossing film, worthy of the Oscar nominations it received. Hilary Swank is awesome! When Clint Eastwood is gone he'll be remembered as one of the great filmmakers, and no slouch as an actor either. On a 5-star scale, 4 1/2 stars from me.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 01-30-2005 06:53 PM                     To be perfectly honest, I did like the film, would reccomend it, but I felt Mystic River was the better film of Eastwood's most recent work. This one just didn't grip me as much as that one did. Sure, all around the movie was exceedingly well made, acted, written, etc. but I just found it less intriguing than Mystic River. Out of 4 stars, I give it 3.14. One question about the sound mix...it was great, except that at times I found it hard to understand Morgan Freeman's voice over. I saw it in SRD. Anyone else notice this, along with generally lower dialouge levels? AJG  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 01-30-2005 07:05 PM                        Overall I thought the sound mix was very involving. But I did notice a couple of times when the dialog level seemed low, almost like they recorded it live and didn't quite get it, then they didn't loop it for some reason. This was in DTS.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 02-01-2005 03:17 AM                        I liked it and thought it was a well-made and touching movie, but to be honest, I didn't think it was THAT great. It looked a little bit to me like it was made to look really great and deep, but didn't quite deliver. This could actually have been a better movie had it been a smaller production, with not quite as big names who seem to act fully conscious that they are making a deep, "arty" movie. Does that make sense? SPOILER This may not seem like an important detail, but when you want to create a coherent athmosphere, every bit is important. But I wondered why the Eastwood character left the tube off and his fingerprints all over the machines after he had "killed" the girl. Did he set himself up for a murder charge? I found the characters a little underexposed though. There is some dark mystery in the protagonist's past. Do we need to know what it is? Not really. But it doesn't really seem to torment him that much, he just goes to church every day. Something else bothered me a little: so he is a successful trainer of boxers who make it to the top tier, but there are only a few characters hanging around his gym and he seems to hardly make ends meet? That doesn't make sense to me.  |  IP: Logged Christian Volpi Master Film Handler Posts: 349 From: Arlington, NE Registered: Apr 2004 posted 02-01-2005 10:13 AM                        I thought it was very enertaining but I don't think that I would ever watch it again. Hillary Swank's performance was hands down the best that I have seen all year. SPOILER (somewhat) Did anybody else think that the ending was a lot like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?" 3.75 out of 5 stars  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-04-2005 01:03 PM                        Caught a bit of Fox News last night on XM Radio, where a guy was saying that many people might find this movie "offensive" because of its subject matter and marketing -- he said, "the marketing makes you think it's just a movie about a female boxer and a gruff but kindly old guy who takes her under his wing, but then BAM it turns in to something else (which I won't mention, but you probably all know what it is) So, would you think this might "offend" people? We haven't played this yet.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 02-04-2005 01:13 PM                        The people making that complaint probably prefer cookie-cutter stories with nice predictable Hollywood endings. Screw them!  |  IP: Logged Christian Volpi Master Film Handler Posts: 349 From: Arlington, NE Registered: Apr 2004 posted 02-04-2005 04:08 PM                        ***POSSIBLE SPOILER*** David, I couldn't agree more. For once this movie goes against the norm where everybody doesn't live happily ever after. It's shows what might actually happen in real life. If people are going to be offended by this movie then they shouldn't watch the news or read the newspaper either. This film shows real life instances...oh, Christ, I'm rambling.  |  IP: Logged Kelly Skaggs Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Springdale UT Registered: Jul 2003 posted 02-04-2005 04:45 PM                        Best Movie of the year. Clint is one of the best, I hope he wins his directing Oscar this year. I love that he does not make movies with the happy Hollywood endings that most directors sell out and do. 5 out of 5  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-05-2005 01:08 PM                        THere's also the obvious good thing that every plot point isn't revealed in the trailer/advertising. Thanks for helping me make up my mind on this one folks. It'll play here.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-06-2005 01:44 AM                     I watched the late show of "Million Dollar Baby" at the Carmike here in town. Excellent movie, IMHO. This is one of those simple on the surface, yet profoundly deep films where viewers can come away with their own interpretations. To me, this was a story whose theme says that things like real success, glory, respect and loyalty must be earned. Sometimes it comes from painful choices and sacrifices. Even if a person stays true to the goal, the fight to earn what one needs never ends. I think the movie also hits the point about how some choose not to fight because they fear what they may lose if they try, but never realising life is always working to pass them by as they sit in that comfort zone. Without getting into specifics, I think the movie plays as a metaphor to those themes. With that in mind, I don't agree with complaints over plot details about if a character left fingerprints on a hose or what happened to a dirty fighter. Those details are arguably irrelevant. The part of the story that matters is what is going on in the hearts of the main characters. "Million Dollar Baby" fleshes that out just fine. I expected to see a great performance from Hillary Swank, and she certainly delivered. But I was also surprised at how great Clint Eastwood performed in his role. The only role/performance I can gripe about is the "Danger Barch" character (played by Jay Baruchel). I felt the stupid Texan character crossed the line into stereotype at times, threatening to distract from the film rather than help it. Ultimately, that character arc redeems itself in the film's plot. Oh, I nearly forgot. Kudos to Clint Eastwood and D.P. Tom Stern for shooting this primarily in true anamorphic 'scope. Even though this was a dark, shadowy movie, I think the 'scope look helped it. Super35 probably would have been grainy as hell. That look might be fine for something shooting for the same feel as "Raging Bull," but this movie works with solid visual tonality. quote: Aaron Garman One question about the sound mix...it was great, except that at times I found it hard to understand Morgan Freeman's voice over. I saw it in SRD. I think this is factor of the sound mix itself; the playback I heard was in DTS in a very recently tuned auditorium. Freeman's narration is recorded with a little too much bass and low midrange. Not enough crisp top end to help bring out the enunciation of the words. Overall, the quality of the sound mix was good. It's not an aggressive mix. However, there were a couple points where (and I would usually be the last person to complain about this) the surrounds seemed distracting. Much of the action is up on the front stage. But a couple times there are key sound points, such as an opening door, that are deliberately placed in the surrounds.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 02-11-2005 01:49 PM                        Wow! Great movie, 5 out of 5 in my opinion. Print and presentation at the AMC Empire 25 (Screen #9) in NYC was very good, though the AMC snipes were somewhat worn. Tom Stern's cinematography fit the story very well. The ENR silver retention process used for the prints gave a high contast, low color saturation "gritty" look that fit the theme. The rich shadows were used to hide character emotions, especially in scene like where Eastwood and Swank are driving from her hometown at night, and the streetlights and dark shadows play across their faces.  |  IP: Logged Pravin Ratnam Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 844 From: Atlanta, GA,USA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 02-12-2005 10:43 PM                     Really good movie and deserving of the best picture nomination as is Sideways(which i saw back to back with this). I thought Clint Eastwood showed a fun lighter side of himself in the priest scenes. Hillary Swank was really impressive and will be deserving of the oscar. I was skeptical of the hype over her before watching it and she won me over. Freeman delivers as usual.  |  IP: Logged Kurt Zupin Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 989 From: Maricopa, Arizona Registered: Oct 2004 posted 04-03-2005 05:58 PM                     Being a small theater in a small northern Michigan town, sometimes we don't get the more artsy type films. We just got Million Dollar Baby this weekend...today was my day off so I figured I'd go see what all the hub-bub was about. I already knew the big twist so I wasn't going in unaware. SPOILERS Up until she fell on the stool, the movie was GREAT, good if not great acting by Freeman and Swank...well deserving of there Oscars. Even Clint in his teeth grinding way was good. But after she fell and broke her neck the film just didn't go as well. I don't think that it was deserving of the Oscar for Best Picture...I personal think its late release was just a ploy to get it in the spotlight just before Oscar time, IMHO. All in all out of  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.