The Contenders:
Annette Bening: Being Julia
Kate Winslet: The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Catalina Sandino Moreno: Maria Full of Grace
Hilary Swank: Million Dollar Baby (winner)
Imelda Staunton: Vera Drake
Showing posts with label Million Dollar Baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Million Dollar Baby. Show all posts
Friday, January 10, 2020
Monday, June 24, 2019
Friday, January 25, 2019
Monday, July 2, 2018
Monday, October 30, 2017
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Ringside
Film: Rocky; Million Dollar Baby
Format: DVDs from personal collection on laptop.
Format: DVDs from personal collection on laptop.
When you think about Rocky, it’s likely that you think about the fight at the end of the film or the fantastic training montage that leads up to the fight. That’s natural, because it’s a film about boxing and about a guy who gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance. It’s easy to forget the first hour of the film that sets up those scenes at the end. It’s easy to forget, in the career he had in stupid cop and revenge films following this breakthrough role that Stallone is a smart guy and a capable actor (he did, after all, write the screenplay). With the jingoistic and maudlin series of sequels that followed the original film (Rocky V, anyone?), it’s easy to forget just how damn good the original Rocky really is.
Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is a bum of a fighter and a part-time legbreaker for a cheap loanshark named Gazzo (Joe Spinell). We start with one of his fights, which he wins. He takes a beating and a cheap headbutt, and walks away with the grand prize of about $40. The next day, Mickey (Burgess Meredith), who trains boxers at the club Rocky uses, kicks him out of his locker. Rocky and Mick have never had a good relationship because, as Mick tells him, Rocky had the makings of a contender but wasted his talent.
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