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At the Movies: 'Million Dollar Baby'
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© 2004 Warner Brothers |
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by Ryan Finn
Staff Writer
Clint Eastwood’s new film “Million Dollar Baby” would be the grand cinema everyone claims it to be if it weren’t for just a few seemingly minor points. Perhaps these points are only important to me. Regardless, I’m going to mention them anyway.
Before that, it’s easy for me to say that “Baby” is an excellent film. Eastwood the director does almost everything right, while Eastwood the actor gives one of his stronger performances in years.
The film is quiet but forceful. There are moments to lift your spirit as well as those to lift your heart into your throat.
Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) introduces herself to trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) after the boxing match of one of Frankie’s prize athletes.
She knows that she wants Frankie to train her. He knows that he doesn’t train “girlies.”
Maggie is relentless. She comes to Frankie’s gym and pays six months of dues ahead of time just to try to catch his eye. He wants to throw her out, but his gym needs the money. Dirt-poor Maggie needed it too.
Maintenance work at the gym is handled by Eddie “Scrap” Dupris (Morgan Freeman), a half-blind ex-boxer that Frankie took in when Eddie’s athletic career came to a close dozens of years ago. Frankie and Eddie have a complete relationship, baiting each other with sarcasm and hiding their mutual admiration.
Obviously, Frankie eventually accepts Maggie as a trainee and the two work at it for the bulk of the film. Maggie, as we are often told or shown, has tremendous heart and drive. She comes from a self-described “trailer trash” background. Working as a waitress on the side brings her enough money until she starts winning fights.
Eddie narrates the film, and we discover why at the end, but Freeman’s rich voice draws favorable comparisons to “The Shawshank Redemption.”
Freeman also delivers an excellent performance, a level of quality shared by Eastwood and Swank.
As you might imagine, this is not a “sports” movie. It is a drama about an athlete.
As such, it is a powerful story and well told. Eastwood controls everything with the deftest touch. The script by Paul Haggis is excellent at drawing primary characters that feel true rather than cliched.
However, there are a few elements in the film that appear to come from a different movie entirely. Maggie’s mean-spirited “hillbilly” family is over the top, nearly parodies of their real selves. Maggie’s mother especially requires only a mustache to twirl and she’d be set for life.
A mentally-challenged young man named Danger works out at the gym along with Maggie. He shoots his mouth off and asks silly questions, both designed to inspire giggles in the audience, but he feels like cheap comic relief. He seems unwarranted in a movie like this.
There is a powerful shock that comes three-fourths of the way through the film, and I won’t even hint at it. It changes the pace of the film entirely and both Eastwood and Swank make the transition smoothly.
All of the film’s wrenching emotions come during this last section.
Even so, there is one more aspect that just felt wrong to me.
Maggie is christened by Frankie with a Gaelic nickname, and Irish crowds chant it during some bouts. However, the revelation of the meaning of the name during the climax makes no sense as a fighting nickname. It feels like audience manipulation.
Small problems aside, “Million Dollar Baby” is a rousing success. It deserves any acclaim critics can throw at it.
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Zeppelin tribute band returns
by Kyle Conrad
Intern Writer
“Stairway to Heaven,” “Kashmir” and “Black Dog.”
These Led Zeppelin songs are considered among the greatest hits to have ever been unleashed amongst rock fans, and Thursday night at Legends, they will be played live, the way Jimmy Page and Robert Plant meant for them to be heard.
Led Zeppelin may have broken up over 20 years ago, but their music lives on through one of the most famous tribute bands to ever take the stage.
“ZoSo: The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience,” will visit Appalachian State University Thursday.
“Most people say, ‘Well, the first time I saw them, it was because I was curious,’ but then they all end up saying, ‘these guys are good,’” Program Advisor in the Office of Student Programs Randy M. Kelly said. “You may have that little bit of disbelief, but then you see them.”
ZoSo tours mainly up and down the East Coast and has performed nearly 2,000 shows during their nine-year tenure, according to the band’s Web site.
Their intensity and passion for the music they play, along with their famous “we don’t cancel” attitude, has helped them earn the title of “Best Tribute Band in California.”
“Having seen the original Led Zeppelin throughout the ‘70s, I can tell you that ZoSo puts on a show [that is] visually and musically as close as you can get [to Led Zeppelin],” Greg Germino said. Germino works with Germino Amps, a ZoSo sponsor. “These cats know every Zeppelin tune … they are a definite must see.”
The band has been booked about five times at Appalachian and APPS Chairperson Andrew T. Sarta said he plans to bring them back as much as possible because of the huge success they have been in the past.
ZoSo’s visit last semester nearly sold out Legends, and this week’s show promises to be just as successful.
“I saw them last year and they are amazing. I wouldn’t miss this show,” sophomore business major Brad D. Rhyne said.
Tickets can be purchased for $5 in advance or for $7 at the door.
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