I’d heard almost nothing but praise for this movie, which can sometimes make me stay away. And if Hilary Swank is in a movie, I’m likely to stay away for a very long time; not that she’s a BAD actress, I just find that she rarely lives up to her hype. I’m not going to beat around the bush: it’s very good. But I’m not sure it’s as good as I was led to believe. Clint Eastwood plays the curmudgeon very well, the boxing scenes are very well-done, and the non-boxing scenes have a very good, slow pace to them. Hilary Swank is good – not great, but good – and while Morgan Freeman is also very good, I think his narration is over-wrought. Not his fault, he did the best he could. Towards the end, I was just as sad as everyone else. Emotionally engaging, with only the slightest whiff of manipulation. Good, but not great.

another sports movie i was not satisfied with; brian’s song was the other. depressing. nothing resolved at the end. didn’t reconnect with his daughter. he kills maggie then goes and eats pie. i get it was the place they went to. i get it was the “real” lemon meringue pie, this was not lost on me. i honestly thought her neck was broken when she hit the chair but lucky for me it wasn’t and i got to watch another 30 min…. bleh.

Oof.

I’ve been hearing since this movie came out that no one agrees with the ending, but I think this was the most honest movie I’ve ever seen. No, not everyone would take this path, I don’t think I would have, but there are certainly people who would.

“A winner is willing to do what a loser can not.”

The fight scenes are gorgeous, the characters have amazing chemistry. Eastwood is able to do what so few are able, which is make realistic characters we can relate to, while they go through experiences we’d never encounter.

That said, this movie is painful. Not as painful as Dancer in the Dark, but close.

Somebody dragged me to see this in the theatre because I am soooo picky about movies and probably wouldn’t have gone otherwise, even though a good guy friend was extremely moved by the whole “one goal, determined til the end” thing. But life is about diversification for me, so I wasn’t really feeling it. Still worth seeing though, in fact most everything I’ve consumed has been worth it even if I didn’t fall madly in love with it. Worth it to examine at least and to branch out a little more into the non-sure-thing zone.

Yes, I cried. Yes, it’s a beautiful movie. Yes, I wanted to beat the crap out of the bitch 2 rows in front of me who turned to her companions and said “THAT won an Oscar?” And then went on to complain “I thought it was a boxing movie!”

Well, no wonder you were disappointed, lady. This was as much a boxing movie as Rocky (another Oscar winner) was before every other sport movie that came after it copied it.