Blind Side (Blu-ray) (2009) - Oscar ® Winner!

"This may be Bullock's best performance. Ever  Elias Savada, Film Threat
"Without restraint or subtlety, but with a lot of heart and energy, this movie tells a real-life tall tale.  Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
"Wisely, Hancock has given the film as much humor as heart.  Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

Editor's Note THE ROOKIE director John Lee Hancock brings another inspirational, true story to the screen with this football drama. Young Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) has lived a difficult life on the streets, but his luck changes when a rich couple (played by Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw) welcomes him into their home. Michael is given the chance to succeed, and his talent at football earns him the honor of All-American offensive left tackle. Co-starring Kathy Bates, this film is based on Michael Lewis?s book THE BLIND SIDE: EVOLUTION OF A GAME.

	Sandra Bullock
	Tim McGraw
	Kathy Bates
	Quinton Aaron
	John Lee Hancock - Screenwriter
	Michael Lewis - Source Writer
	Gil Netter - Producer
	Broderick Johnson - Producer
	Andrew Kosove - Producer
	Molly Smith - Executive Producer
	Erwin Stoff - Executive Producer
	Tim Bourne - Executive Producer
	John Lee Hancock - Director

Hollywood Reporter
"[Bullock is] an irrepressible hoot....[She] goes the distance as an unstoppable, well-coiffed, force of determination." 11/15/2009

Variety
"[An] uplifting and entertaining feel-good, fact-based sports drama....Bullock is thoroughly convincing in the role..." 11/15/2009

Box Office
4 stars out of 5 -- "With a career-best performance by Sandra Bullock and a terrific new talent in Quinton Aaron....A compelling portrait of an unlikely bond between two people from opposite sides of the tracks." 11/15/2009

Washington Post
"Grounded in the direct, disarming truth of their experience, the movie has a straightforward lack of cheap sentiment that saves it from being either too maudlin or saccharine-sweet." 11/20/2009

Los Angeles Times
"[T]his is Bullock's movie. She is Leigh Anne to such a degree you forget you're watching one of the best-known actresses around." 11/20/2009

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "THE SPEED star is certainly as good as she's ever been as the steely Southern Christian who turns Michael's life around..." 02/25/2010

Empire
3 stars out of 5 -- "Bullock delivers a towering performance that grabs the movie and the Oscar race by the scruff of the neck." 03/26/2010

ReelViews 8 of 10
The marketing campaign for The Blind Side plays up the inspirational aspects of the story - that it's based on the real-life rags-to-riches tale of football player Michael Oher and the woman whose fierce love and determination to help him allowed him to see the Promised Land. There's no doubt this is a crowd-pleaser, as occasional bursts of applause attested during the screening I attended. The film skillfully plays on an audience's emotions, but that's what this sort of movie does, and director John Lee Hancock shows a sure hand when it comes to careful manipulation. He rarely goes too far and he knows enough to leaven the heavy emotional aspects with bursts of comedy and the occasional telling point about what causes us to value individuals in this society...The trailer makes The Blind Side out to be more mawkish than it is. Although there is some softening of the edges and amplification of the positives, the film doesn't take it to extremes or play the audience for fools. The script is generally pretty smart - it begins with a fabulous voiceover detailing how Joe Theismann's 1985 injury resulted in Michael having a shot at eventual stardom - and the characters are nicely developed. It's easy for an inspirational movie to try too hard to get viewers to cheer. This one achieves the goal by allowing the good feelings to emerge organically rather than by artificial means. In a head-to-head comparison, one would be hard-pressed not to declare that Precious is the better film - it makes fewer compromises and doesn't shy from showing the true ugliness only hinted at in this movie, but The Blind Side is more accessible. It's easier to digest. In the end, both films tell stories of triumph over adversity - a category of drama that uplifts while offering a dollop of social commentary. - James Berardinelli

Variety 7 of 10
After swinging for the fences and scoring a sleeper success with The Rookie (2002), writer-director John Lee Hancock takes the field with The Blind Side, another uplifting and entertaining feel-good, fact-based sports drama. The combo of top-billed Sandra Bullock's marquee allure and a true-life story with well-nigh irresistible emotional appeal probably would be enough to fill megaplex stadiums at any time of the year. But this Nov. 20 Warners release is particularly well positioned to be a four-quadrant hit as the consensus choice of family auds during the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays...Based on material in "Moneyball" author Michael Lewis' "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game," the attractively packaged pic occasionally runs the risk of straining credibility -- or, worse, inviting skepticism -- while dramatizing the particulars of what was, evidently, a best-case scenario for all parties involved. Indeed, there's not even the threat of an insurmountable obstacle until the final half-hour...But then again, it's difficult to imagine anything that could long impede or contain the force of nature that is Leigh Anne Tuohy, the feisty Memphis belle played by Bullock with equal measures of acerbic sass, steel-willed brass and unabashed sentiment. Bullock is thoroughly convincing in the role -- right down to her credible accent and the blonding of her normally brown tresses -- and she's not afraid to occasionally keep auds guessing as to whether Leigh Ann's actions are driven by a heart of gold or a whim of iron...Country music superstar McGraw again evidences quietly impressive thesping ability, while Collins and Head ably complete the family unit. Adriane Lenox makes every moment count in her brief but layered cameo as Michael's crack-addicted mom, and actor-filmmaker Ray McKinnon demonstrates fine comic chops as a character who couldn't be more unlike the white-trash interloper he so memorably essays in "That Evening Sun." - Joe Leydon