Displaying Review 6 - 7 of 7 in total

• Pure gold girl! — for Million Dollar Baby
  Written by AgnusWood on 02.10.2010

  Warning text contains spoilers!

  Eastwood and Co. create a masterpiece about the courses their lives take on the dreams and the value of love and friendship. A film that must necessarily be seen by everyone, because it brings a great life lesson to teach us.

  Most movies that have a backdrop as boxing is a real challenge for those who rule. After his Scorsese and Raging Bull (icon masterpiece of the genre) many great filmmakers have had difficulty in dealing with the matter. What about a film whose protagonist is not just a boxer but also a woman? Perhaps because of that most people have not given much attention to Golden Boy, one of the most honorable of Clint Eastwood. It happens that the girl Eastwood gold is 24 karat, or pure gold, high quality, resulting in a beautiful portrait film about guilt and friendship, dreams, finally made a human drama with great depth and sensitivity .

  For starters "Million Dollar Baby" is not literally a movie about boxing. Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is not just an aspiring female boxer, but a hillbilly waitress whose dream is to become a fighter of great sucesso.Apos address the veteran ex-boxer and now coach, Frankie (Eastwood), she asks him what the chances of being coached by him. "I do not train girls," he says, acidly. Turns away, go away, and not think about it anymore. But Maggie will not give up. Tuition up to the backyard gym built by Frankie, paid six months earlier, and begins to strike sandbags for hours (even has a funny phrase uttered by Freeman about her break your wrists).

  Maggie is an example of determination and strength that it takes to see Frankie, because he is in trouble with a fighter who can fight for the championship. Anyway, the coach does not feel comfortable with Maggie under any circumstances, and has many reasons for this, because it is sexist and has a difficult relationship with his daughter, and not explained in the film, nor that precisa.Não is directly connected to the relationship of Frankie and Maggie, the more the script leaves it open to the public perceives by its own will, without any link to explain isso.O same can be said of his relationship with Scrap (Freeman).

  Following the saying "soft water hits the hardest rock that sticks up," Maggie insisted so much that eventually accepts Frankie to train her, on condition that it passes into the hands of a businessman once it reaches a professional level, which he estimates that will occur in four years. It's the beginning of a great friendship, and one of the many exciting moments that "Million Dollar Baby" offers. This is the kind of movie about which little comment, the minimum possible is something that encourages the viewer. "Million Dollar Baby" follows directions completely unexpected, and gives the audience moving lessons about determination, willpower and friendship.

  The screenplay by Paul Haggis is a complete gold mine. The text teaches the viewer far refused, at the same time, deliver these lessons already chewed. Frankie's hesitation to allow their pupils to face opponents of great quality, for example, can take root in the lasting friendship between the coach and Scrap (Morgan Freeman), an ex-boxer who looks after the gym and tells the attentive spectator filme.O will trace these relationships, which reveal much about the personality of each character. The plot is full of small details that enrich the plot, give depth to the characters and involve the audience actively in the interpretation of the film. How many movies can do that?

  "Million Dollar Baby" is also a movie actor. Hilary Swank, who won an Oscar in 1999 for Boys Do not Cry shows that it is an extraordinary actress. Notice how his technique in boxing improves in the course of the struggles that the film shows. Notice the perfect country accent, look determined, almost without blinking, which illustrates the inner strength of her character. Maggie is a fascinating woman, Clint Eastwood that opens slowly and never fully naked. The mystery that the director knows his characters to print is simply flawless, perfect. We do not know too much and not too little about them. We know the exact measurement.

  We must not forget that especially "Million Dollar Baby" is a melodrama assumed. And, by definition, the melodrama is a genre that works with the exaggeration of some dramatic aspects that seldom happen. "Million Dollar Baby" does not attempt to reproduce reality accurately. She just wants good cinema.

  The film goes quiet, has its own rhythm, and a solid narrative structure that never allows silly moments. "Million Dollar Baby" requires the viewer's full attention, because even small scenes can hide transition moments that will have repercussions later in the narrative. But of course there is genuinely thrilling sequences. At one point, after visiting the hostile mother, Maggie is in the car with Frankie, and complains of loneliness. "I got nobody but you, Frankie," Maggie may say so. "You have me. Until there is a good businessman, of course, "laughed the old coach. This is a dialogue that celebrates the true friendship. How not to get excited about these things?

  The fact is that "Million Dollar Baby" is a continuation of a great stage director Clint Eastwood, a phase that has already given us the fabulous "Mystic River," one of the best long launched in 2003. For his film about boxing, Eastwood also composed the soundtrack (mild and beautiful, all acoustic), produced and acted. "Million Dollar Baby" over the U.S. hailed by critics as the best film of Clint. It is difficult to say this with conviction because the director has other large works capable of competing with this movie ("Unforgiven"). But there is no doubt that "Million Dollar Baby" is the work of a sensitive director, an author of a genuine and mastering the human psyche to go Hollywood.

  In one of the final scenes where Frankie apologizes to Scrap, by having him guilty of what happened to Maggie, one phrase comes up and shows the situation arises when vivida.Nesse a reflection that ends up touching the heart (very rare thing these days today) and thought that the espectador.A many people die every day in various places in the world, how many more of them can realize their dreams and be happy? Frankie gave it to Maggie in one way or the other side.The this moment that we realize that life is indeed a box of surprises, and we can not predict what will acontecer.Por us so we have to chase our dreams, guts and courage, and indirectly we can relate this as a way of Frankie redeem himself with his daughter.

  Conclusion, Million Dollar Baby and much more than drama about the life and destiny and an unparalleled work, and that without a doubt one of the most important and impressive than last year and should be seen and followed by others by example.

• Better "watch" from comics — for Watchmen
  Written by AgnusWood on 19.10.2010

  The adaptation of one of the best comics of all time is a work faithfully and well made.

  It was between 1986 and 1987 that was released in the United States a graphic novel that changed the course of comics at once. ''Watchmen''is a creation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Moore has always been famous for the way that leads eccentric, but is considered a God by lovers of comics, it was him who came to great stories, the vast majority already adapted for the screen, like''V for Vendetta,''''Do Inferno''and''Constantine''.

  Moore, besides being famous for being almost a hermit, is also well known for hating adaptations of his works, and always keep away from the productions of them, leaving all the credit for someone else, taking its name from the credits.

  But of all his works, surely the most famous is''Watchmen,''now considered a cult. It tells the story of a reality where heroes are masked during the '80s, during the Cold War, the clash that lasted for years between the U.S. and USSR, and a nuclear strike is already scheduled, and the end of life on Earth.

  The rights to an adaptation appeared in the 90s, but it was a great ado and a bartering of directors and some names listed to interpret the heroes such as Robin Williams and Jamie Lee Curtis, who plans to adapt to difficult shooting scrapped themselves.

  Terry Gilliam, the director famous for films like''Fear and Loathing''and''12 Monkeys''had already made up versions of the screenplay of''Watchmen,''only now in 2000, was brought back .
  At first it was Darren Aronofsky of Requiem for a Dream''and''new''The Wrestler'', quoted for the long drive, but he wanted to adapt the story to modern times, ie using as the background not the Cold War, but yes, the Iraq War. The studio hated the idea and again,''Watchmen''proved to be a work really hard to accept ..

  More here comes a long in 2007 titled''300,''an adaptation of the novel by Frank Miller, another famous big name in creating great stories, and''Sin City''as his most famous.

  The studio was impressed with the director's fidelity to the original graphic novel. He was such a Zack Snyder, who was only in his resume - as well as''300''-''the remake of''Dawn of the Dead, George Romero, the father of zombie movies.
  Snyder is a declared fan of the history of Moore and Gibbons, and he managed to be very faithful to the original work.

  The plot revolves around the vigilante group Watchmen. In 1977, Keene Act ended that wave of superheroes that existed in the U.S., which has led some to reveal their secret identities to the world, while others decided to continue working, however, helping the U.S. government. The movie starts right after this, where the Watchmen are no more. A former member of the Comedian is found dead, shot through the window of his apartment building. The sociopath Rorschach, the Comedian former companion, begins to believe that there is a conspiracy to kill all the masked heroes and so decided to go after all the other former members of the group, to warn them.
  Among them, besides the Rorschach and the Comedian, Spectral is the beautiful, the Owl (a kind of Batman, with craft and equipment of last generation), Ozymandias (considered the smartest man in the world) and Dr. Manhattan, the only group to be empowered, and almost a god.

  It's good to leave well explained for those who do not know the original story that this is a comic book different from other more famous because it has a peculiar way of telling the story, and is full of violence and some sex scenes, without to mention the extremely gaudy costumes and artificial, that many people may find ridiculous.

  There is in them, small changes in original costumes, but they were all adjusted in a way that would look better on the big screen, and like Moore, Snyder wanted to make a reference to the great heroes of a more ironic, which he explained through the nipples Ozymandias clothes, like those of Batman in the Schumacher era.

  But behind the story of heroes, there's a whole storyline involving conspiracies, politics, ethics and even philosophy, and this is what differentiates''Watchmen''of other stories of superheroes, not to mention the already mentioned great deal of blood and violence. For the season, the HQ was a thud, and so the film had to be even more violent, because even in times where movies and Jason Jigsaw no longer impress much, the story where heroes break legs and arms, and bullets that pierce bodies in the best style slow-motion (already adopted by Snyder in''300'') to make everything even more uncomfortable, that would be great. Even the almost rape scene became more violent.

  The script is well written, and even adopted some dialogues transported directly from the comics. But near the end, the story seems to have lost a little, and when everything is clear, it is not so clear, at least not so much to those unfamiliar with the comics. There are some dialogues hams, but there are other very well written. Soon, the script ends up being average.

  On technical issues,''Watchmen''is Oscar worthy. Sound effects that explode in the ears of the viewer, incredibly well done visual effects (the scenes of Manhattan on Mars are great), exaggerated costumes, but very well done, and finally, best of all, the art direction that enhances the colors yellow, purple, brown and black, plus red and blue too, are well distributed within the screen, and every building in town is simply identical to the work of Moore.

  For those who like action, there is still great fight scenes, very well choreographed, as a result of battle and imprisonment in the house of the Comedian.

  There is also the highlight of the soundtrack, well chosen, filled with songs of the era, like Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Dylan - it has its great song The Times They Are A-Changin 'in the great opening credits, the best part of the long .

  In performances, impressing no actor either. Jackie Earle Haley, who already has an indication even at the Oscars for''Little Children''is the best, playing the odd Rorschach. The voices hoarse and serious and even switching to red hair, identical to the original character left. Patrick Wilson, who had worked with Haley in Little Children'',''continues with his face always daft, but here it works because it is so even though the owl is. Malin Akerman is beautiful as Spectrum, but has a normal performance, especially in scenes where more uses its tight glue or the sex scenes.
  Billy Crudup is Dr. Manhattan, the only one to possess powers of Watchmen. Without any emotion, it was changed when he was 30 on a machine in his laboratory and since then has extraordinaire powers as teleportation and telekinesis, and can see their future and past. Here, Crudup used the famous "performance capture,''where we see clearly that it is the actor's face etched into character. There are Jeffrey Dean Morgan in a great performance as the English Comedian and Matthew Goode as Ozymandias, the most criticized at the time first photos, but actually managed to stay in character very well.
  We still have the first Spectrum, played by Gugino Calar, and Richard Nixon, embodied by Robert Wisden, which became very similar to the late president, who in real life, he renounced power in the late '70s, with the Watergate scandal, so Nixon was not even president at the time that the story where the movie takes place.

  At most, it is''Watchmen.'' A great adaptation, with some messages between the lines, that have made her one of the best comics of all time. Great on technical issues, Snyder shows here his best work so far, the work of a passionate original work, and this may be the biggest flaw for those unfamiliar with the plot, they may end up lost in the end, even with a small piece changed, it was much better on screen.
  Great action, this is a good choice for those who enjoy comics and a plot more complex and different, and better, that probably will not have a continuation (that would be a crime with fans of the graphic novel), the great defect of movies hero today.