Million Dollar Baby

Pros: Great direction, Outstanding use of light, great script, top-notch acting
Cons: none

Following up last years gem of Mystic River was going to be tough for Clint Eastwood, and few people thought that he could match the dramatic emotion that the film brought. But, with Million Dollar Baby, Eastwood again has found a script ...

Pros: Brilliant cast, tightly plotted, emotional, humour sparingly but effectively used
Cons: Pacing nearly loses its way near the end

In a word… WOW. (If you feel that need a little more description than that, read on…) Million Dollar Baby is the story of a female boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), her trainer Frankieie Dunn (Clint Eastwood), and his ...

Pros: Swank, Freeman, Eastwood in all aspects, story
Cons: The final act is not without controversy

Every boxer and their team dreams of the day when that boxer will be good enough to contend for the title. For many years, Frankie Dunn has been very tentative when it comes to title fights. In "Million Dollar Baby," Frankie (Clint Eastwood) is a trainer ...

Pros: Eastwood's direction, acting, and score; Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman.
Cons: None.

It's hard not to have a tear in your eye as the final shot of Clint Eastwood's latest masterpiece, Million Dollar Baby, begins its fade to black. Having taken us on an unsentimental yet devastatingly emotional ride over the past two hours, we are ...

Pros: Eastwood's directing; Swank, Freeman, and other performances; Script
Cons: None at all

I love a good sports movie. A film about an underdog individual or team coming out of nowhere to capture the spotlight often makes for some solid, entertaining cinema. Even when you have a good idea how the movie will end, sports films are still ...

Pros: Hilary Swank.
Cons: The remainder.

Spoilers Ahoy. Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here. No Exit. Boxing is Backwards. And So On. The point of no return-- the moment in which the fact that, no matter how often it might threaten to do otherwise, the film will never become genuinely ...

Pros: strong storyline and effective performances, good thematic weaving, gritty patches of reality
Cons: slow, un-slick, may be a little more reality than most viewers want

I saw this film twice in two days. The first time was with my wife. The second was with my daughter. I am still haunted by the emotions it aroused, and by memories, not of sitting through a movie, but of characters who feel like real people. ...

Pros: all-around great performances, thought-provoking
Cons: a bit of a downer

The 2004 Oscars were very exciting for me. Though I missed the beginning, I was there to watch Return of the King pick up an award in all the remaining categories for which it had been nominated. It was thrilling to see a film for which I had so ...

Pros: Eastwood in all the things he does, Freeman and Swank
Cons: One character is mere caricature (but he's hardly worth mentioning, so I won't)

There's a moment, near the beginning of "Million Dollar Baby", that lets you know, if you hadn't figured it out already, that this isn't your run-of-the-mill boxing movie. Maggie Fitzgerald (Hillary Swank), the waitress-cum-boxer who practically begs ...

Pros: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood--the directions, the acting, the story!
Cons: None.

Million Dollar Baby was a movie that we missed when it debuted in 2004. Usually my husband and I are in firm agreement about any Clint Eastwood film. He is a favorite of both his and mine. However, my husband was put off by the media blitz ...

Pros: Cast (Eastwood, Freeman, Swank); direction; script; story; music
Cons: The cons have been KO'ed in the first round

Honestly, the best thing I can do as a reviewer of Clint Eastwood's latest, masterful Million Dollar Baby (2004) is to restrain myself from divulging much, and simply to offer my strongest recommendations possible to see it. The rest is fluff, ...

Pros: Eastwood, Freeman, Swank, Direction, Look, Music, Script, Everything.
Cons: None.

If the name Clint Eastwood ever comes up in a sentence, obviously they go back to whatever he's done in his long, 50 plus year career as an actor, producer, and director. Whether it is the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns he did in the 60s, the film with ...

Pros: Eastwood, Freeman, Swank, production value.
Cons: A couple moral puzzlers.

Million Dollar Baby is a film about fighting, both physical and otherwise, that traces the story of three diverse yet connected characters. Eastwood, who also directs, stars as Frankie, an aged boxing trainer and gym owner. Morgan Freeman, who ...

Pros: Acting, Emotionally Riveting
Cons: Pace, Loses you at parts

This movie came out in the year of 2004, and was the darling of Hollywood. Every entertainment based show gushed all over it, while professional reviewers gave it the highest marks. Million Dollar Baby was directed by the never seems to get old ...

Pros: See Review
Cons: See Review

Every once in a while a movie comes along that portrays the seedier side of American life; you know the side without the flashy cars, vapid characters, meaningless car chases, the large houses, fiery explosions, and pointless plot lines. Sure those ...