Will Boston Be Hollywood’s Next New York?

Thanks to the recent success of films like The Town, The Social Network and The Fighter it seems that Boston has become the city of choice for Hollywood these days. Although some are claiming that Boston has become the new New York of cinema, I do not think Boston has reached that level yet. If anything Boston seems to be turning into the east equivalent of the “dirty south”.

While corruption and crime have been prevalent in cinematic takes on Boston for years, there is a new wave of “Irish trailer trash” that has become a prominent fixture in many of the recent films. These are the characters that love their alcohol, frequently use drugs and take pride in their lack of education. In the past, these traits would stereotypically be associated with cinematic characters from the southern states. What was once considered a sign of southern backwardness has now become a badge of honour for Boston.

The fascinating thing about the recent emergence of Boston in modern day cinema is the portrayal of Boston women. Boston is becoming Hollywood’s hot bed for skanky and/or corrupt women. Whether it is the deadbeat mom Helen McCready (Amy Ryan) in Gone Baby Gone; the cokehead girlfriend Krista Coughlin (Blake Lively) in The Town; the over-barring mother of nine Alice Ward in The Fighter’s Alice Ward (Melissa Leo); or the Lady MacBeth-like Annabeth Marcus (Laura Linney) in Mystic River, the women of Boston are nothing like the ones you would find in movies set in New York or Los Angeles.

Speaking of New York and Los Angeles, one of the main reasons Boston has not reached their level in cinematic dominance yet is due to lack of romanticism. This is crucial when you look at how these cities are portrayed in films. Sure there are the grimy streets of New York featured in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets and Taxi Driver; not to mention the urban decay of the Los Angeles’ hoods featured in Boyz N The Hood and Colors. Yet, there are countless other films that romanticize both of these cities. Can anyone picture New York without thinking of Woody Allen’s Manhattan or Annie Hall? Can you think of LA without the glitz and glamour featured in everything from Sunset Boulevard to Mulholland Dr.?

Besides the corruption, and the obsession with sports, there is nothing in recent films that would make you drop everything and move to Boston. However, films like The Firm and The Departed have provided us glimpses of how the rich live in Boston. If we are to believe Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, the affluent ones in Boston can even survive an alien invasion without even a scratch on their car. Does this make Boston a must on your bucket list? While I am not asking for more Good Will Hunting type of films where the blue collar guy gets the girl, I would like to see other facets to Boston on screen besides the caricatures that Hollywood is portraying more and more frequently. I think if Boston is to be relevant in film as places like New York or L.A. we need to see the diversity that the city has to offer.

Million Dollar Baby Prefers the Best in Rings

Million Dollar Baby

In preparation for the upcoming Academy Awards, The Flick Chick is holding her own Best Picture Countdown. Everyday, from the Oscar nominations right up to the telecast, The Flick Chick will be highlighting the previous best picture winners. In order to fill in the gaps for films that she either has not seen or not already written a review for, she has called on other bloggers to submit their reviews on films from her list. I chose to revisit Clint Eastwood’s four-time Oscar winner, Million Dollar Baby, mainly because I wanted to see if it still packed a punch after having just watched The Fighter.

Directed by Eastwood, and written by Paul Haggis, Million Dollar Baby is a tale of a waitress, Maggie (Hilary Swank), who decides to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional boxer at age 31. In order to fulfil her dream, Maggie knows she needs a trainer so she turns to former trainer, and current gym owner, Frankie Dunn (Eastwood). Frankie was one of the best trainers in his time, but now spends most of his time filled with regret about how things turned out between him and his estranged daughter. Frankie’s only friend is Scrap (Morgan Freeman), a former boxer who fell on hard times and is now working as a janitor in Frankie’s gym. With the assistance of Scrap, Maggie eventually gets Frankie to break his “I don’t train girls” policy and become her trainer. As the unlikely pair start to make their way around the boxing circuit, Maggie’s star begins to rise. This forces the normally overcautious Frankie, to take a risk and get Maggie that a shot against Billie “The Blue Bear”(Lucia Riker). Billie is one of the dirtiest fighters on the circuit and will do anything to protect her title. With momentum in their favour, Frankie and Maggie know that this fight could possibly change their lives.

It has been five years since I last watched my DVD copy of Million Dollar Baby. I was both excited and a little hesitant to revisit it as sometimes our memories of the experience are greater than the film themselves. One element that was prominent this time around was how annoying Freeman’s constant narration is. Rarely do scenes play out on their own without the narrator chiming in to express the significance of the moment. It is almost as if Haggis and Eastwood are afraid to let the dialogue and images speak for themselves. This inadvertently results in the film underestimating the overall intelligence of its audience. While the last few scenes are designed to show the importance of Freeman’s narration, it is hard to believe that the person the narrator is actually speaking to would be interested in the side story at the gym involving Danger Bach (Jay Baruchel), Shawrelle Berry (Antony Mackie), and Omar (Michael Pena). While I think their side story, and the one involving Maggie’s family, are needed in the film; they would have the same impact without the assistance of the narrator.

My issues with the narrator aside, I found myself still falling for the film despite knowing what was going to happen. Million Dollar Baby is in reality two films in one. The first half is a rags-to-riches style boxing tale in which a self-proclaimed white trash girl and her crotchety trainer learn defy the odds. Like many other odd couple films, they have their ups and downs on the way to gaining mutual respect for one another. The second half is where the true heart of the film is. It is here where the film moves from a simple boxing film to a tale about morality, and family. The film looks at issues regarding euthanasia, atoning for past sins, and spirituality. It is hard to think of Million Dollar Baby without immediately focusing on the latter part of the film.

Clint Eastwood does a good job of juggling both the heavier moments with the comedic ones. He never ventures into the realm of slapstick despite coming close on a few occasions with the character Danger. The boxing scenes are well done and they never feel false. I liked how Eastwood slowly gives Maggie a cocky swagger as her wins increase. This offers a nice build up to her match with the menacing beast that is Billie. Overall Eastwood’s direction is sound and I would argue far better than his performance in the film. This is not to say that Eastwood is bad, in fact he is quite good, but after seeing his grumpy old man act in Gran Torino, it does not have the same humorous effect in Million Dollar Baby as it did when I first saw the film. Hilary Swank is brilliant in the film and well deserving of her Academy Award win for Best Actress. Swank shows both Maggie’s tough side and her fragile side, she has the audience laughing one minute and crying the next. While Maggie and Frankie are supposed to be the odd couple of the film, it is actually Frankie and Scrap who perfect this. Eastwood and Freeman carry over the great chemistry they had in Unforgiven into this film. Freeman is especially good as the man who, though blind in one eye, can see what is truly occurring far better than anyone else in the film.

Although six years has passed since its original release, Million Dollar Baby is aging very well. With the exception of the narration, the story still delivers an emotionally charged tale. The performances from the ensemble cast are great and the mixture of drama and humour help this film to retain its high re-watch value.

The Fighter’s Family Pull No Punches

The Fighter

Sometimes our greatest enemies are the ones who we are linked to from birth. In the case of boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), it is his family that causes a great deal of his strife in his life.

Based on a true story, The Fighter looks at Micky Ward’s turbulent journey towards becoming a boxing champion. Micky is managed by his overbearing mother, Alice Ward (Melissa Leo), and trained by his brother Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale). The latter is a former boxer whose biggest claim to fame is knocking out Sugar Ray Leonard many years earlier. Much to Micky’s dismay, Dickie, still hanging onto his past glory, becomes entangled in the world of drugs. After losing a series of boxing matches to opponents that he had no business fighting in the first place, Micky starts to question whether or not Alice and Dickie are really working in his best interest. When Micky starts dating Charlene (Amy Adams), he begins to seriously think about getting his life back on track. Yet in order for Micky to move forward with his boxing career he will have to sever ties with his family, a task easier said than done.

After taking a minor misstep with his last feature length film, I Heart Huckabees, director David O. Russell is back in top form with The Fighter. Although the film is set in the world of boxing, boxing is actually secondary. The Fighter is more of a character study than it is a boxing movie. All of the members of Mickey’s large family constantly talk about the obligations to family, but Micky seems to be the only one to actually adhere to “family” logic. The rest of the clan seems more than happy to ride Micky’s coattails. Alice and Dickie, in particular, are especially blinded by the money and the celebrity status they believe they have. This is prominent in the way both of them prance around for the HBO cameras. One of the best scenes in the film arrives when Dickie is watching the HBO documentary, which he believes is about his boxing career, and realizes that the show is actually about his drug addiction. The range of emotions which he goes through in the short span of time is fascinating to watch.

Christian Bale is mesmerizing as Dickie, he really does deserve many of the supporting actor awards he has be receiving this award season. Within the first five minutes of watching The Fighter you completely forget you are watching an actor. A similar point can be made for both Melissa Leo and Amy Adams, as they each completely immerse themselves into their roles. While each are strong on their own, their scenes together are filled with so much tension that it is only a matter of time before the rage starts to boil over. While Wahlberg may not bring the same impact as his fellow cast members, he still gives a rather good performance. While Wahlberg is talented, a lot of his best work in this film is due to Russell’s direction. Similar to other films they have worked together on, Russell finds a way to perfectly play up Wahlberg’s strengths as an actor. Russell is able to bring out a vulnerability in Wahlberg that is not often seen on screen.

If you go into The Fighter looking for a straight movie about boxing you might be a bit disappointed as the boxing scenes are nothing out of the ordinary. Films like Raging Bull, Rocky, The Hurricane and even Girlfight had more exciting in the ring scenes.Yet, if you are looking for a film that delivers both a good story and great performances, then The Fighter is definitely a film worth seeing.

Movie Marketing Monday

Unknown White Male (aka. Unknown)

Why does it feel like I have already seen this film before?




The Fighter

I am not expecting Raging Bull level of intensity, but the casting has raised my level of interest for this film.