Million Dollar Baby - Jeffrey Overstreet

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Million Dollar Baby

A collection of 13 posts

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

On Movies & Media

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Clint Eastwood’s controversial film confronts us with challenging moral dilemmas even if it challenges our suspension of disbelief by stacking the deck against its suffering characters.

On Movies & Media

Save "J"

There's a new comedy opening this month, one that's received a lot of praise at film festivals. And I'm very concerned about what is going to happen when it opens. Since I don't want to distract people who will see the movie

On Movies & Media

Boxing Day

Warning: Late-afternoon rant ahead. Watching one of those movie-trailer television commercials on Monday (I mean, a TV commercial projected on the big screen, not a movie trailer on television), I finally reached the breaking point. The commercial was for The Apprentice and The Contender. I'm not

On Movies & Media

Cruise, "Sin City"; Leary and Loy on Eastwood and "Closer"

So, here are a few pieces I stumbled across today... A mind-boggling update on director Todd Haynes' spectacularly weird concept for a movie about Bob Dylan. I cannot wait to see this. I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan Congratulations, Peter Jackson! King Kong

Many, many thanks to those who emailed me

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Many, many thanks to those who emailed me

To those who have emailed me in response to The Seattle Times feature on my work at Looking Closer, I can't thank you enough for the encouragement you've given me.

Looking Closer becomes a cover story

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Looking Closer becomes a cover story

“That Seattle Times article is published!” he says, as he crawls under his desk in bewilderment. ☠️2026 Update: This post is past its expiration date. (The original link to the article was seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0227/.) I’m preserving that URL here for archival purposes. On the front

I’m in the L.A. Daily News today

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I’m in the L.A. Daily News today

It’s always strange to have one or two lines quoted when an interview lasted an hour. But there it is. In Glenn Whipp's L.A. Daily News article about Million Dollar Baby and its controversial ending, I'm quoted as defending the movie's integrity.

Christianity Today Movies’ critics pick the Best of 2004

On Movies & Media

Christianity Today Movies’ critics pick the Best of 2004

🔧2026 Update: Surprise! The hyperlink in this post stopped working at some point over the last 22 years. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine can take us back in time. I’ve installed a new link. Man, the Christianity Today Movies mailbag is about to fill up. CT staff had better put

Clint Eastwood denies advocating you-know-what

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Clint Eastwood denies advocating you-know-what

I'm not going to spoil the ending to Million Dollar Baby. But for those of you who know how it ends, and think that the film is advocating such behavior, listen to Clint Eastwood’s sharp retort: In his interview with The Los Angeles Times, Eastwood says: I&

Should Christian critics applaud certain Oscar contenders?

Should Christian critics applaud certain Oscar contenders?

UPDATER: Okay, I admit, I posted a somewhat reactionary entry earlier after reading Barbara Nicolosi’s post about the Oscars today at Church of the Masses. I’ve been a Nicolosi fan for a while, even though I don’t always agree with her, and today’s post just rubbed

Oscar Abominations 2005

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Oscar Abominations 2005

The 2005 Oscar nominations are here. Isn’t it interesting that 1 of The Passion’s three nominations is for an “original score” that was largely plagiarized from Peter Gabriel’s soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ? Here are a few more Oscar abominations: * Best Actor — No mention of

Clint Eastwood addresses Million Dollar Baby critics

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Clint Eastwood addresses Million Dollar Baby critics

Eastwood addresses the controversial conclusion of Million Dollar Baby in this in-depth interview,

Million Dollar Baby joins my 2004 top ten

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Million Dollar Baby joins my 2004 top ten

This always happens. No sooner do I turn in my Top Ten list of 2004 to meet a deadline than I suddenly discover a film that changes everything. I’m not much of a Clint Eastwood fan. I love Unforgiven, but I thought Mystic River was overrated film — a flawed