Review of Million Dollar Baby (2004) by Jareth S — 24 Jan 2011

It's mind-boggling that the same writer (Paul Haggis) could write both this surprisingly good film and the hideously awful Oscar-bait travesty that was Crash. It's probably a good thing that Eastwood directed this one instead of Haggis. Even though I hate boxing and am not a big fan of sports-related films, I'd recommend this with the caveat that you might find it a bit depressing.

Compared to the other Best Picture nominees that year, I guess that I don't mind too much that this film won, though (as always) I can name several deserving films not nominated and probably would put this film just barely in my top 20 for 2004, a year that included such gems as: Spider-Man 2, Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind (Gondry), A Very Long Engagement (Jeunet), HP3: Azkaban (Cuaron), Before Sunset (Linklater), 2046 (WKW), A World Without Thieves, The Incredibles (Pixar), The Machinist, Moolaade (Sembene), 3 Iron (Kim), Birth, Tony Takitani (Ichikawa), Bad Education (Almodovar), and Kung Fu Hustle (Chow).