catching up
Have I mentioned (and I know I haven't) how fucking TERRIBLE Million Dollar Baby is? Jesus Christ is it terrible. The acting is good, I guess, but the movie features pretty much EVERY SINGLE TEAR-JERK CLICHE in the book.
Morgan Freeman brings his superduper magical negro (thanks to Spike Lee for coining the phrase) out once again, and all that practice (since this is the only role he's played for the past ten years) has clearly paid off- he manages to be even more saintly than that dude in Green Mile was. Clint Eastwood puts Wilford Brimley to shame as the grizzled old man whose cold heart is thawed out by a scrappy young girl. Hillary Swank plays the girl from the wrong side of the tracks who "doesn't want to just be a waitress and a nobody her whole life" with just the right mix of "aw shucks" and "where i'm from, them's fightin words." And her family- ohhh boy are they great at playing Southern white trash the way Hollywood likes it- devoid of any character traits or sympathetic qualities. There's fat mama living off welfare, ex-con no-good brother, and slutty out-of-wedlock baby making sissy. YEE HAW! And plenty of Driving Miss Daisy-esque "You're my best friend" moments for good measure. Seriously. What. A. Piece. Of. Shit.
Of course it's going to win the Oscar- it manages to use every sentimental Hollywood tear jerking trick there is. Even I cried. And not just because I wasted 8 bucks to see it.