{"id":8735,"date":"2005-03-23T23:54:09","date_gmt":"2005-03-23T21:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/03\/23\/million-dollar-baby\/"},"modified":"2005-04-13T09:31:13","modified_gmt":"2005-04-13T06:31:13","slug":"million-dollar-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/03\/23\/million-dollar-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"Million Dollar Baby"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/20050323-million_dollar_baby.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/>I know it is hard to believe, but I actually had time to watch a movie today.  &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0405159\/\">Million Dollar Baby<\/a>&#8221; is one of the freshest items on my wishlist.  It doesn&#8217;t mean though that I wanted to see it any less than any other movie on that list.  And I am really glad I did.  I even consider it to be one of the Top 10 movies that I have seen during the last 5 years or so.<\/p>\n<p>IMDB rating: 8.3<br \/>\nMy rating: 9.8<br \/>\nCelebrity highlights: directorship and production of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000142\/\">Clint Eastwood<\/a>.  He also delivers an excellent performance as one of the lead roles in the film, where he starrs together with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000151\/\">Morgan Freeman<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0005476\/\">Hilary Swank<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0405159\/\">Million Dollar Baby<\/a>&#8221; might at first seem like yet another film about boxing.  Don&#8217;t be mistaken.  It is not your typical &#8220;raise, fall,  and raise again&#8221; movie.  By far.  It has a much stronger story, with some real drama.  Of course, the questions it asks has been asked before, but this time they are brought in from a really personal, very close perspective.  The story telling is nice too.  It is linear and chronological, but not from the &#8220;as things go&#8221; point of view.  Very nice.  Not to mention that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000151\/\">Morgan Freeman<\/a> has one of the most appealing movie voices and having him speaking behind the screen was really atmospherical.<\/p>\n<p>There is plenty of good acting in this film.  Actually, there are many people in it.  Not crowds, but much more than just the main characters.  And what is especially nice is that there is really good character development.  Every person shown in the film is an individual with his own story.  And stories are nice, with lots of details.  And as we all know, details are very important to any story.<\/p>\n<p>Great job has been done on the soundtrack.  It is barely noticable and very atmospheric.  It creates and helps with the moods during the course of the film. It also helps to define the changing pace of the movie.<\/p>\n<p>Separately I would like to mention photography, camera, and lightworks.  Frame compositions are outstanding and if it wasn&#8217;t for the story and the acting, I would be sitting there, printing out virtually every frame of the film.  I also liked how deep shades were appropriately used.  I might wish to watch the movie once again for purely aesthetic pleasure.<\/p>\n<p>One of the strongest parts of the film is the end.  Spoiling your experience I have to say that there is no happy ending.  More to that, the ending surprised me.  It wasn&#8217;t one of three that I was expecting.<\/p>\n<p>I strongly suggest you watch this film.  Especially so if you are a boxing fan.  I, myself, will have to put some attention on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000142\/\">Clint Eastwood<\/a>&#8216;s work, especially as producer and director.<\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p>I know it is hard to believe, but I actually had time to watch a movie today. &#8220;Million Dollar Baby&#8221; is one of the freshest items on my wishlist. It doesn&#8217;t mean though that I wanted to see it any less than any other movie on that list. And I am really glad I did. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/03\/23\/million-dollar-baby\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Million Dollar Baby<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,24],"tags":[],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-8735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-movies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9273,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/07\/27\/black-mask\/","url_meta":{"origin":8735,"position":0},"title":"Black Mask","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"July 27, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Black Mask\" (aka \"Hak hap\") is one of those new wave Chinese action movies. Released in 1996 it must be one of the first movies of the coming era. Directed by: Daniel Lee Genres: Action, Adventure, Crime, Sci-Fi, Thriller Cast: Jet Li, Ching Wan Lau, Matt McKenzie, Karen Mok, Fran\u00e7oise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8939,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/05\/07\/saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":8735,"position":1},"title":"Saved!","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"May 7, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I should watch at least one movie a month, no? I grabbed something from my wishlist today - \"Saved!\" and enjoyed it, although I had to hold a halfsleeping baby for the second part of the film. Directed by: Brian Dannelly Genres: Comedy, Drama Cast: Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9226,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/07\/11\/the-pacifier\/","url_meta":{"origin":8735,"position":2},"title":"The Pacifier","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"July 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I didn't particularly want to see \"The Pacifier\". Most of the Disney sucks these days and I couldn't imagine Vin Diesel blend in nicely. But since I had no better film at my hands, I decided to give it a shot. Directed by: Adam Shankman Genres: Comedy, Action, Family, Thriller\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11092,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/16\/gone-baby-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":8735,"position":3},"title":"Gone Baby Gone","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"March 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I just came back from the cinema, where I watched \"Gone Baby Gone\", a movie about kidnapping, directed by Ben Affleck and starring his brother Casey Affleck, together with such well known names as Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. I was a bit worried that this film will be too\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9413,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/09\/04\/straight-into-darkness\/","url_meta":{"origin":8735,"position":4},"title":"Straight Into Darkness","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"September 4, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Some films have good promotion by producing companies. Others get recommended by someone. And there those that come from nowhere. \"Straight Into Darkness\" is one of those. Directed by: Jeff Burr Genres: Action, Drama, War Cast: Brittny Lane Stewart, Ion Bechet, Nelu Dinu, Andrei Dumitrescu, Ryan Francis, Okan Kayam, Scott\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8822,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/04\/14\/waiting-for-sin-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":8735,"position":5},"title":"Waiting for &#8220;Sin City&#8221;","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 14, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I am not doing forecasts that often, but if you would ask me about the movie of the year for 2005, my bet would currently be on \"Sin City\". Why? Well, lots of reasons. Let's see: Story. \"Sin City\" is based on the comic book series authored by Frank Miller\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8735"},{"taxonomy":"keyring_services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyring_services?post=8735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}