Last Thanksgiving my mother-in-law told me about a book she had just finished reading that she thought I would love. The book was Michael Lewis’ novel about the evolution of football around the Left Tackle position and how that evolution changed the life of a once homeless black boy from Memphis who had been adopted by a rich white family. A few weeks later I got The Blind Side for Christmas and couldn’t put it down. Apparently a lot of other people felt the same way, because it didn’t take them long to turn The Blind Side into a film. The story of Michael Oher is a remarkable one, and in a time when moviegoers tend to be jaded skeptics who appreciate gritty reality over sentimental happy endings, Michael’s story is all the more refreshing. If this weren’t a true story it would be quickly denounced and laughed out of theaters as unrealistic and too sappy. But the fact that this story really happened, that the Tuohy family took this homeless boy into their home, and that Michael became an elite college Left Tackle who would be drafted in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft… gives us permission to have our hearts warmed. It gives us permission to hope that happy stories can and still do happen.
Go watch it today. You won’t be sorry.
SO true. I love this movie.
Well said and well sold, Charlie.
Good movie, I agree, and probably an even better book, right?
But Oscar worthy? I’ve heard a lot of talk about Bullock getting a best actress award for this. My response….come on. Are you serious? Maybe, and I mean maybe she deserves to get nominated, but win an oscar for acting like a over-caffeneinated, gun-toting, Sarah Palin-esque, rich white woman from the South with a sense of compassion? The story is great, but her acting wasn’t. What do you think Charlie?
I think she captured the character of LeeAnne Tuohy incredibly well. I haven’t kept up much on the buzz for who else would be nominated, but she would make my list so far. What makes LeeAnne “gun-toting” and “Sara Palin-esque” by the way?
The fact that she totes a gun, I think, qualifies her as gun-toting! I just saw her character simultaneously challenging and yet reinforcing a lot of weird, not so good characteristics….I don’t know. All in all though, I don’t think that she really acted. I think she did like Ellen Page in Juno….she just acted like herself. I don’t know, we’ll see. I would agree with a nomination, but I think that a win would be just silly!
She had a gun? I thought she was bluffing when she said that there was a gun in her purse.
No she didn’t flash a gun or anything, but she certainly conveyed the idea that she did. Perhaps she did, perhaps she didn’t. Either way, she definitely portrayed the mentality that gun-toting is an excellent way of defending/portraying yourself. Where I live, this is something I encounter in probably 8 out of 10 people, including women. I’m just saying that I didn’t personally like that aspect of her character, and wonder if the ethical challenge presented in the form of her character did more harm or good…..