Million Dollar Baby

This is Clint Eastwood's latest project and it is AMAZING. I think it's better if you see it without knowing too much about it, but the premise is this: Eastwood plays a gruff old boxing trainer who "doesn't train girls." Hillary Swank plays a woman who grew up in poverty and whose only dream is to be a prize fighter. He trains her toward becoming welterweight champion of the world and they each deal with filial/parental issues. Yes, there are definitely familiar and conventional plot elements and themes, but it's not a predictable movie. It's very graceful and has some surprisingly funny dialogue. I highly recommend it- both BF and I were blown away.

[migirl]

We saw this over the weekend because I was dying to see the plot twist that everyone is talking about. I'd sort of heard bits and pieces about it so I kind of knew what was going to happen, I just didn't know to whom it was going to happen and what the circumstances were (sorry if too vague, just trying to not give it away to people who haven't seen it yet). Anyway, I think Esther's right in that the less you know about the movie the bigger impact it will have. Since I kind of knew about the twist I think my enjoyment of the movie was slightly less than if I hadn't known, but I still enjoyed it a lot. I think all of the acting awards this movie got were well-deserved, and Clint Eastwood does a great job directing. DH and I had a great discussion afterwards regarding the controversial issue, we each have different opinions about it which was fun to talk about. Anyway, it's a great movie, I'd definitely recommend seeing it.

One of my friends was mad at me for not preparing her better for the emotional impact of the movie, but I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did if I sat through it waiting for SOMETHING to happen. For me, knowing there's a twist makes my brain work too hard to try to guess it and I can't fully appreciate what I'm watching.