The Blind Side tells the story of Michael Oher, a society’s misfit filled with misfortunes, and the kindness of the Touhy family. For much of his life Michael or “Big Mike” (Quinton Aaron) has been living with different foster families, but somehow he always managed to run away. One day, one of his dad’s friends, who Big Mike currently shares a couch to sleep, approached Coach Cotton (Ray Mckinnon) to help Big Mike enroll in a Christian school he coaches for. On a rainy night, as the Touhys are driving by when Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) notices Big Mike walking on the rainy road and offers him a place for the night. The next day as Big Mike is walking down the drive way as he is leaving, Leigh Anne asks him to spend Thanksgiving with her family. Michael quickly begins to feel a part of the family. Leigh Anne finds that his academic performance is rather low, but noticed that he scored a 98 percent in protective instincts. Leigh Anne manages to get Michael into the football team and he quickly brings the attention of major college football coaches. Michael had brought change to the Touhys and started to become a different person. Now Micheal has a new opportunity at a new life and a new family.
I got to be honest, knowing that Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for her role in The Blind Side before watching the film left me a bit intrigued. Having watched “An Education” with leading role actress Carey Mulligan and her great performance, I instantly had really high hopes and the bar had been set high. My fist impression of Bullock’s performance was positive. I felt she did a great job with what was given to her. The tough, never take a no for an answer, always striving for the best, and deep down inside her a sweetheart character was very believable. She had a solid performance taken on the true life character and this is possibly a different Bullock on screen a role that possibly hasn’t been seen from her. Taking on something I doubt I have ever seen Sandra take on, which is refreshing to say the least, really embracing that steel magnolia personality. I am sure there are people questioning whether she deserved the Oscar, but I have no reason to believe she didn’t. The rest of the cast was decent I don’t have many complaints.
As for the story, I have to say it wasn’t as moving as other emotional driven films I’ve had the pleasure of watching. I suppose when you have a good selection in this year’s Academy Awards you tend to make comparisons. The Blind Side was a good story to be told, a genuinely good family providing the necessities for an individual with misfortunes, but did it really translate well into the movie? Sure, for the most part. Part me felt some of the emotional characteristics of the film didn’t exactly felt moving. While the story presented itself with the great promise I feel that it felt short, in my opinion at least. Don’t get me wrong though The Blind Side is not a bad movie as it is rather entertaining, I am just simply pointing out that the emotional part of this film felt somewhat fabricated and/or way too cheesy for my taste.
The Blind Side arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p VC-1 encode with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This release looks very good on Blu-ray. The close-up shots look very detailed and sharp. The image is very clean and clear on top of the high amount of detail the film contains. Colors are vivid and bold, black levels are deep and inky. The textures are incredibly detailed. Skin tones are spot on most of the film at times it appears to be a bit overdone. The film has a healthy amount of grain for a more film like look. Although the film looks very good for the most part there are a few soft spots here and there, but it’s not a big annoyance, as most viewers will overlook it. Warner did an exceptional job with The Blind Side.
The Blind Side arrives on Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Being a football film you would expect that extra punch to be coming out of your speakers in key game scenes, but it didn’t fully deliver. The dialogue is clean and clear that you can hear every conversation without a problem. The rears are rarely used even the crowd sound effects come as weak. The bass is also hardly ever used other than during the football game scenes and during Micheal’s car crash, but other than that it’s practically forgotten. The track isn’t the best out there, but it certain is not bad.
The Blind Side includes a decent amount of extras that should keep those wanting more in front of the TV a bit longer. Check below for the breakdown of each supplement.
Exclusive Interview: “The Real Michael Oher” – This features the real life Michael Oher and he is given a nice opportunity to look and talk about certain aspect of the story as well as the protagonist of the movie.
Acting Coaches: Behind The Blind Side – This features the real life coaches who played a part of the movie and their experience during the filming of the movie.
The Story of Big Quinton – The features a couple of conversations with filmmakers, actors and real life personalities to tackle the different aspects of the movie. There is some anecdotal conversation between John Lee Hancock and Michael Lewis about several different topics about the production of the film.
Deleted Scenes – This release features 4 deleted scenes.
Digital Copy/DVD Copy – This release features a copy of the film on DVD and a digital copy of the film for portable players.
Theatrical Trailer
The Blind Side was a very entertaining film that your family should enjoy. Obviously some will go ahead and take a look at the film with a loop knowing beforehand that Sandra Bullock has won the Academy Award for best actress. I hope this doesn’t change obscured your view going into the film as is good and possibly heart warming story. It’s not the best drama by any means, but it wasn’t something complete unwatchable. I am sure most viewers will enjoy the movie from beginning to end. The Blind Side features a good video and audio transfer along with a decent amount of extras. This release comes recommended.
