The Blind Side...

Anyone else see it? IF YOU HAVEN'T, YOU MIGHT WANT TO STOP HERE.

I personally thought it was mildly entertaining, but a mess of a film. They went out of their way to make it melodramatic, which was expected...but really didn't give a good story as a hole. Some of my issues;

1. The whole Lawrence Taylor connection (or lack thereof) at the beginning was unnecessary. For starters, its not as if Oher reinvented the LT position in the way Taylor did the OLB slot, and Oher is a RT in the NFL. They never got into explaining the importance of the LT spot and why its so coveted either. If you're not a football enthusist, you're left confused. The story, other than its title...really has nothing to do with the LT position.

2. Constant quick flashbacks to an incident in Ohers childhood thats never ever explained with much clarity and the flashbacks show nothing other than him being taken away. They hint at how bad of a childhood he had, but really get into little specifics.

3. 25 minutes of the star studded coaches cameo was unnecessay. Bringing in coach after coach and really providing nothing informative got boring. Couple that with the studying inbetween each coach debut and WTF??

4. That 25 minutes could have been much better used to develop and educate of the charecters. We know little of Sandra Bullocks charecter and nothing of Tim McGraws.

5. They touched on some of Ohers struggles at the private school, and by struggles I mean with other children. I would have liked to have been given more of that as well as some of the struggles with his new family.

6. Finally, very little time spent on the NCAA investigation. I don't know the story, and if it was controversial but on the surface it stinks like he!!. Was there anyone who publicly came out against Oher's family? If not i'd be surprised. What they did, if out of their heart was inspirational and amazing....but i'm sure there had to be some that were skeptics. Tell me about that....give me some kind of twist.

Just found this review that touches on some of the serious issues i thought this film had;

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/11/20...matoes&ei=5083

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One of the many turning points in “The Blind Side” — a movie made up almost entirely of turning points and yet curiously devoid of drama or suspense

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And the film, not unsurprisingly for a holiday- (and football-) season release from a major Hollywood studio, plays this story straight down the middle, shedding nuance and complication in favor of maximum uplift.

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In a typical Disney movie, however, that process would be full of conflict, excitement and danger. “The Blind Side,” until the end — when an N.C.A.A. bureaucrat throws a hasty obstacle in the way of Michael’s triumph — is more like a two-hour holiday greeting card.

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And Ms. Bullock’s brisk self-confidence can be appealing — until it becomes annoying. The biggest problem here is that her character never changes, never experiences a moment of doubt or guilt or selfishness, and after a while her display of goodness sinks into vanity.

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That quote above is perfect. One of the biggest issues I had is Bullocks charecter supposedly being "blind sided" by the accusations that her care for Oher may have been dubious. Cmon now.

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Originally Posted by dickay

Anyone else see it? IF YOU HAVEN'T, YOU MIGHT WANT TO STOP HERE.


1. The whole Lawrence Taylor connection (or lack thereof) at the beginning was unnecessary. For starters, its not as if Oher reinvented the LT position in the way Taylor did the OLB slot, and Oher is a RT in the NFL. They never got into explaining the importance of the LT spot and why its so coveted either. If you're not a football enthusist, you're left confused. The story, other than its title...really has nothing to do with the LT position.

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actually the blindside depends on the handedness of the QB. If the QB is right handed then the LT position is his blind side, the RT is the blind side if he is left handed though ala Steve Young, Boomer Esiasion, or Mark Brunel...

(I haven't seen this, but) the Lawrence Taylor angle would be because the book that it's based on focuses on Oher and Taylor.

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Originally Posted by Wassit3

actually the blindside depends on the handiness of the QB. If the QB is right handed then the LT position is his blind side, the RT is the blind side if he is left handed though ala Steve Young, Boomer Esiasion, or Mark Brunel...

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I understand what the blindside means....and Oher is a RT for a right handed QB at the moment....but regardless, the movie doesn't explain the correlation if there really is any between Oher and the reinventing of the "blindside" tackles since Lawrence Taylors heyday.

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(I haven't seen this, but) the Lawrence Taylor angle would be because the book that it's based on focuses on Oher and Taylor.

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How does the book correlate the two? Did Oher decide to try and become a tackle as a result of Taylors dominance? Did the coaching staff make him one as a result of the fact Taylors dominance highlighted the need for a dominant tackle? I could draw that conclusion, but the movie did nothing whatsoever to explain the correlation. The timeframe doesn't even match up. Oher, i'm guessing, was no older than 5 during Taylors dominance peak, and when Theismanns leg was shattered. He was probably more likely 3 or so. Oher becoming a tackle was more of a product of the system, than any breakthrough he made. Taylor reinvented the weakside LB slot, Oher didn't reinvent anything.

All i'm saying is if the movie spent just a little bit of time explaining that Taylor changed the way teams look at OLineman, in particular the LT spot, and that those guys become so much more valuable as a result of Taylor...that at least would've drawn a correlation though IMO a weak one. They didn't do that. I hear the book did. I hear the book talked about Bill Walsh, and how he made the LT the second highest paid position in the NFL solely to stop Taylor from killing his QB. The movie fell short.

I'd rather have Joe Thomas.

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Originally Posted by dickay

I understand what the blindside means....a

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Hey it wasn't readily apparent from what you said earlier so I was trying to help you out, see below quote of yours. As I said the Blindside is not exclusive to the LT position...

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Originally Posted by dickay

The story, other than its title...really has nothing to do with the LT position.

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Originally Posted by Wassit3

Hey it wasn't readily apparent from what you said earlier so I was trying to help you out, see below quote of yours. As I said the Blindside is not exclusive to the LT position...

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I understand why you could take it that way, which is why i was more descriptive in my response. In general, its widely accepted that when someone mentions the blind side tackle, they are referring to a teams LT. Yes, that isn't always the case.