OSCAR PERFORMANCES: Million Dollar Baby (2004)

It’s the anti-Rocky. And we mean that in a good way. 

It’s Oscar season once again, and this year we’re focusing on past movies with Oscar-winning performances. First up is a 2004 surprise box office bonanza that not only earned Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman Oscars but also won Best Picture. Not that 2004 was a particularly great  year for movies, but many people were shocked by this movie winning, even Macintosh who didn’t see it until months later. For anyone who hadn’t seen the movie, it was tough to understand how a low-budget, depressing boxing movie whose last act is about euthanasia and dignity of life could somehow be this good. But for those who have, it’s a tragic and beautiful story with masterful dialogue and a perfect, light touch from Eastwood as director. It’s lightning in a bottle, plain and simple, and you owe it to yourself to see the movie if you’ve never had the chance. Enjoy our review of 2004’s Million Dollar Baby.

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Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.