The New Road

Million Dollar Baby

I saw Million Dollar Baby with Mel last night. We both liked it. The target is obviously the Oscars. Mel said the movie was delayed from last year to get better Oscar picks this year. That's an interesting side-effect of having a monster like Return of the King coming out in a year.

Hillary Swank is a shoe-in for best actress. She did an amazing job in a role which called for both an emotional and a physical stretch. The best actor and best supporting actor are harder sells for me. Clint did change in the role over the film but I think the arc was too limited. Especially since the character is so old that the choice that he makes at the end of the film has too little personal impact.

Morgan Freeman is in better position for supporting actor. Whenever he is doing a voice-over you know it's going to be good. Unfortunately his character doesn't grow in the film. That's just a script limitation. Morgan could have done it, but the character has no arc. He is there to simply provide sage advice and some back story.

I doubt it will take best picture since, in my opinion, the Academy tends to go for movies that have good replay value. This is a great movie, but I doubt I would see it again.

I was drawn in by the movie, but at the same time I was caught up in thinking about the Bear Blues. It sounds silly but it amazes me that Megan at two has done something that I never have had the guts to do. To sing a song and play an instrument at the same time, and to record that. I told Mel about it and I said that I was happy that she had no fear about such things, that I wished she could live her life without fear. We talked about the pros and cons of conquering fear versus living without fear. I think there is a healthy balance in there somewhere.