JimRochester

I did a search and nothing came up. If there is another thread please merge.

I saw this tonight and was very entertained. As you might expect from a feel good stroy, there were definite tear jerker or sentimental moments that felt a bit forced or manufactured. However overall I felt the movie was a success and worth the price of admission. I give it a B. Sandra Bullocks performance was excellent. Of course I'm in love with her anyway.

foofighters7

I think the true story looks like something I'd like to see...on ESPN.

other than that everything about the trailer makes it look like tripe. Even the way they say "The Blind Side" is just terrible.
I hate that they are saying "this is Sandra Bullock's best acting role yet" in the updated trailer on tv. Its like saying, "This is Paul Walkers best acting yet". How can you tell?

I'm not even trying to hate on Sandra Bullock. I have found a few of her movies to be fair, but as a full-on actress? Really???...Really??

cranberries fan

It's maybe just me but I think she comes off weak and is trying to channel Juila Roberts in role that Roberts didn't want to do?

GoldenJCJ

It's been awhile since I've seen a "slow witted negro gets saved by a pretty white family" movie. I'll have to check it out.

Groucho

I'm not sure it was a good idea to release a chick flick the same weekend as Twilight. Ever heard of counter-marketing?

FiveO

Saw this last night and all I can say is that it was a packed theater...why? Because the Twilight showing was sold out (small theater) and this movie got all of the overflow

I was very entertained also. Yes there were some moments that felt forced but overall very well done and I love how they ended the credits.

I'm not a huge Bullock fan...but this was one of her better performances and the other surrounding actors were excellent. I was really surprised at Tim McGraw's part and how well he fit it.

And the familys kid cracked me up more than a few times.

JimRochester

Thank you for checking it out before passing judgement. Oh wait a minute, you didn't. Although the trailers portray the guy as practically retarded, without spoiling a plotpoint, I can tell you he's just uneducated. He was homeless, a ward of the state, and from the worst part of town. Many of his peers ended up dead. It was not just about the education but that someone actually cared about the kid to help him out. Everyone else in his life abandoned him.



Agree. I'm not comparing this to a groundbreaking work of art but it was an entertaining couple of hours in spite of the forced "feel sad here" moments.

d2cheer

My son and I are looking forward to seeing this today.

Hokeyboy

I'm sure the white family learns valuable life lessons from the "Magical Mystical Negro". I love those movies!

Indy Jones Fan

Saw an advanced screening 2 weeks ago and that's exactly what her performance felt like to me too.

Yes, there's some of that thrown in also.

Patman

Sandra Bulloch, as Leigh Anne Tuohy, headlines this movie about a big high school student given shelter by a family with good intentions. After seeing Michael and his natural athletic ability, the football coach at the Wingate Christian Academy persuades the administration to give Michael a chance at their school. Michael is very shy, non-communicative for the most part, but he's a product of the educational system he was stuck in while he bounced from foster home to foster home after a traumatic childhood event resulted in he and his brother becoming wards of the state and taken from their mother, where they just kept passing him through the grade levels, even though his scholastics weren't up to par. Leigh Anne Tuohy and her family take in Michael Oher (most people called him Big Mike for obvious reasons, he is a big guy) after seeing him wander around on a cold night after school. Slowly, Michael and the Tuohy family (Leigh Anne's husband Sean, their daughter Collins, their son SJ for Sean Jr.) bond into a family, and Michael develops into a fine left offensive tackle for the football team, with Leigh Anne's help in explaining the concept behind his position and value to the team, the family.

The film's title "The Blind Side" stems from the premiere offensive lineman position: Left Tackle, who is entrusted with protecting the quarterback's blindside (as most right-handed QBs have better field of vision on their right side, and need protection on their blind side, their left side). This position gets paid handsomely for the truly great left offensive tackles in the NFL game. The only thing I could have done without is the Joe Theisman footage where he gets tackled by Lawrence Taylor, the result is a compound fracture of the lower leg for Theisman on Monday Night Football in the mid-1980s. But they have to truly show why left good offensive tackles are worth discovering for NFL teams. I admit to raising my bag of popcorn so I didn't have to see the footage again, 4 times from replays in the 1980s was more than enough for one's lifetime.

Michael's success in football creates a huge recruiting buzz for his talent in the next level as college football coaches come out of the woodworks to recruit Michael, although Michael has even more academic challenges ahead of him since the NCAA requires a baseline GPA for scholarships to be awarded to recruits to college.

The film plays it straight for the most part, relying on the inherent drama of what Michael's presence means in the Tuohy's lives, and vice-versa. The character development of the cast of characters is heartwarming and convincing. SJ provides a lot of comic relief, the kind where you are laughing with him, not at him. Tim McGraw, as Sean, comes across as husband willing to trust his wife's instincts and be supportive in this new burgeoning family of theirs. Even Collins finds strength to break from the popularity pack in school and embrace Michael's presence in her life.

There's nothing ground-breaking about this film, it's just a well-told story of 2 worlds meeting and becoming something larger and stronger from their chance encounter. In the nutshell, the exchange between Leigh Anne and one of her lunch bunch friends encapsulates the film: "You're changing that boy's life." "No, he's changing mine."

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

Hokeyboy

Based on that line alone, I will never see this movie.

Coral

The trailer I saw a while back made it looked contrived and cliched. Saw a TV spot with the line mentioned above, and almost puked.

Seen this sorta thing a million times before. Reminds me of the movie Radio:

"We're not teaching Radio, Radio is teaching us."

No thanks.

FantasticVSDoom

Well I enjoyed it, but mainly because Im a huge college football fan and vaguely familiar with Oher... Sure cliched, but what the hell, it wasnt like I didnt know what it was going to be.

Hokeyboy

You dared bring up Radio... You are dead to me.

Traxan

Lotta conservative outlets (like Big Hollywood) are really pissed that a cheap shot is taken at W in this movie, particularly since it's being aimed at a Christian audience to begin with and the insult just comes out of nowhere and doesn't really fit the rest of the movie.

Stay classy, Hollywood.

JimRochester

I noticed that too. It's been a year people.

newginafets

I want to see this, hopefully on Monday.

superdeluxe

Not a chick flick dude, lots of guys in there because of the sports angle.

superdeluxe

Blind Side is blowing up the box office, lots of sell outs, and potentially a 30 million dollar weekend.

Inhumans99

Was glad to see the solid box-office, great counter-programming on the weekend that New Moon opens. Saw it last night with a lady-friend who is NOT one of the legions of women who are fans of Twilight (she has not read the books, and did not see the first film), and we both loved it...Sandra Bullock and the little boy are just awesome, and the kid who played Oher is no slouch himself.

Granted, the theater was smallish, but it was a nearly sold-out showing (we could only find two seats next to each other in the first two rows, but surpisingly, being that close to the screen did not ruin our enjoyment of the film). The film is out-performing expectations...h-wood thought it might make 20m, but instead will probably end up closer to having a 30m weekend. Word-of-mouth will probably be pretty good, and that will get the gross to 100+ million.

Not a typical "chick-flick," its got sports, humor, some tear-jerker moments (contrived or not, they make you go aaahhh), and solid acting.

I like action films as much as the next red-blooded male (same lady-friend tolerated seeing 2012 w/me last Friday), but it would not be a hardship to see more "chick-flicks" like this one with her.

RichC2

Apparently scored an A+ with viewers (as per cinemascore), that is pretty rare.

Libby

Looking forward to seeing this one, Love Sandra Bullock

Indy Jones Fan

It would be interesting to know just how much of that is due to overflow from sold out New Moon shows.

Matthew Chmiel

I'd say it's probably very little. Most theaters in Vegas are playing New Moon on anywhere from three to seven screens. Pretty much almost all the theaters in my area are playing the film every 30 - 45 minutes. Also, as mentioned in some of the box office threads, the film hasn't been selling out showings since Friday night. A few Saturday night, but that's been about it.