Here’s the battle The Blind Side faces: It’s a known story. I follow the NFL draft a little closer than most people, but not nearly to the extent of some, but I knew about Oher and his story before the movie came out. So the movie has to tell me a story I know in a way that keeps me interested, which isn’t an easy thing to do.
Titanic had the same problem so they turned it into a love story. 61* had the same problem so they relied on knockout performances and went into greater depth in the story. This is the path The Blind Side takes. Sandra Bullock owns this role and this movie. Every time she is on screen she makes you feel something and that’s mildly impressive. It’s not just her either; some of the smaller parts get knocked out of the part as well. The defensive end in the first game made me want to punch him, well, maybe not punch him, but he definitely deserved a bunch of personal foul flags and it actually confuddled me as to why he didn’t get a couple. I know they tried to play up a racial thing with the “redneck” refs, but he still deserved some unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Quinton Aaron is also getting a lot of good things said about him for his job in the movie, but for me he didn’t really do much. He doesn’t do a lot of talking and a lot of what he does in the movie is facial expressions. That’s probably the one thing the movie doesn’t do well for me, I never really feel bad for him. Maybe it’s because I already know how it turns out or maybe it’s something else, but I never feel bad for him. I feel for what Bullock’s character is going through and I understand her reasoning, but no one else in the movie really pulled me into caring about them. Well, besides the d-end.
For the people who haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t know the story, Michael Oher was a poor kid who lived on the streets of Memphis without anyone to really look after him. His mother was a crack head and his father was never in the picture. An early father figure got Michael enrolled in a private school despite Michael’s poor grades. Through the school he met the Touhy family and they eventually took him in as one of their own. They got Michael’s grades high enough so he could play football for the school and eventually high enough where he could go to a D1 football factory. He chose Ole Miss because all of the Touhy’s went there and since they were his family he wanted to go there. He eventually became a first round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens for whom he played very well this past season, despite what Jared Allen might say. It’s a sad story, but it’s not unheard of, I actually know a kid right now who is trying to make it to the NFL whose story is similar. He won’t be a first round pick and he wasn’t taken in by millionaires, but he was adopted as a young adult and struggled with school work, which is basically the crux of this movie. So we’ve got our next movie, The Blind Side 2: Shutdown Corner.
Did anyone else not know Tim McGraw was doing movies now? I had no idea. Last I knew he was still a country singer and a pretty successful one, now he’s an actor? For being the husband, he’s got a pretty small role that keeps him from being able to mess it up.
The Blind Side is presented in Widescreen format and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
Looks fine, sounds fine. Nothing that stands out as a huge red-flag.
Just some deleted scenes. One of them is pretty funny, but didn’t really add much to the movie, the others were all easy to leave on the floor.
I think this is the first movie I’ve ever seen that had the little Parents Television Council Seal of Approval. I didn’t even know such a thing existed. Even with the parents’ permission, this is still a great movie. Sandra Bullock is awesome and the story is told in a great way. Definitely one of the movies of the year.
Warner Home Vidoe presents The Blind Side. Directed by John Lee Hancock. Starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, and Kathy Bates. Written by John Lee Hancock. Running time: 128 minutes. Rated PG-13. Released on DVD: March 23rd, 2010. Available at Amazon.com.
