Why So Blu?

The Blind Side (Blu-ray Review)

Cinderalla stories are not always abundant, and that even holds true for the fictional ones, brought forth from the creative mind of someone whose paper or computer is their canvas.  Take Michael Lewis for instance.  Here is an author who decided to write a story about a rags-to-riches scenario with a little bit of good old American football thrown in.  He called it The Blind Side.  There is one thing to keep in mind with this literary work, though.  The Blind Side is no fairly tale.  Rather, it is a real life story that follows the journey of one Michael Oher and his ‘adoptive’ family, the Tuohy’s, and if it’s good enough to fly off of bookshelves, it’s good enough for Hollywood.  The Blind Side arrived in theaters in 2009 and was met with huge success.  With a mere $35,000,000 production budget, the film grossed an impressive $260,000,000 (the-numbers.com).  As of March 23^rd, you will finally be able to own this wonderful movie on Blu-ray.

Film 

The fact that The Blind Side stars Sandra Bullock, who recently won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film, only adds to the credibility and beauty of this film and its story.  Bullock plays Leigh Anne Touhy, wife of Sean Touhy who is played by country music star Tim McGraw.  Mr. Touhy is the proprietor of several successful Taco Bells and it is safe to say the Touhy’s are financially well off in life.  Still, they haven’t forgotten where they are from and provide their two children, SJ (for Sean Jr.) and Collins, upstanding morals and a strong work ethic. 

It isn’t until one chilly night that the family encounters an adolescent boy, a pretty large adolescent boy at that, strolling down the night street, shivering as he went.  That boy was Michael Oher and this meeting would change his life forever.  The wealthy caucasian American family took in this poor African-American boy for the night, giving him shelter, a place to sleep and a little bit of TLC.  As time goes on, some realize the value in Oher’s size and how that can transition to the football field.  Before I go any further, I want to reiterate what I said in my cinema review of this film last year.  This is not a football movie.  This is a film about family, overcoming life’s obstacles, and rising to the top and it just so happens that football played a role in getting there.

The only thing that prevents this movie from achieving a total 5 out of 5 is the acting.  It is a little flat in parts, not nearly to the point of unconvincing, but enough to take a little off the top, so to speak.  Playing Oher is newcomer to the big screen, Quinton Aaron, whose own life story is not so dissimilar from Oher’s.  Aaron does well enough in his portrayal of the real Oher, though it’s nothing to recommend awards over.  With a little thespian grooming though, he can surely increase his talents and take his ability even further.  Still, his character is someone who is just coming out of their shell in a social sense, so I don’t want to hold that against him. 

Tim McGraw is no Harrison Ford, but acting is not his first line of work and he doesn’t pretend to be something he is not.  He does alright on screen, though he could use a little more oomph in his delivery.  While we’re on the subject of acting, it’s safe to say the young Jae Head as SJ Tuohy steals the show at times.  This kid’s a ball of energy and I do not think shyness is in his vocabulary.  It will be interesting to see if he keeps up with acting over the years and decides to pursue it professionally in his adult life.

 

Video 

The high definition presentation of The Blind Side looks phenomenal.  It is certainly reference-quality material when showing someone why they should no longer be watching dvd’s.  The colors jump out at you, as do the fine details and imperfections of everything from someone’s skin to the frayed threads of fabric.  If you look hard enough, you will find trace amounts of grain in the film, however, if you’re looking that hard, then you’re missing the film.  When I say trace amounts, I mean it’s darn near non-existent, mere seconds worth and I’m really trying hard here to pull something out of the flaw hat.  Most will watch this and notice nothing and that’s fine by me.  Technical details of the Blu-ray disc’s visuals include a VC-1 encode and a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

 

Audio 

The audio is not the most noticeable technical aspect of this disc.  To be fair though, this is one of those films that, just by its own demeanor, never intends to make constant use of the rear channels or the subwoofer.  Those moments where those two pieces of equipment do come into play and enhance the viewing experience as a result.  It does well with what it has but I noticed a few opportunities where it could have taken advantage of this, especially during the action-filled football game sequence.  In the end, the dialogue is as clear as the sun on a cloudless day and the overall experience is not a disappointing one. 

 

Special Features 

Someone got it right.  Outside of All About Steve and The Blind Side, both of which happen to be Sandra Bullock movies, I have not come across better quality disc extras and the time quantity of those extras.  You will find over an hour of content here and get this…IT’S ALL IN HIGH DEF!  Yes, I’m as happy as a pig in mud right about now and impressed that people assembling these things on Blu-ray are actually listening.  Outside of these great Blu-ray extras, there is also this peculiar-looking Frisbee that, wait a second, that’s a dvd!  Included with the Blu-ray is single disc dvd/digital copy combo of the film. 

• The Real Michael Oher: An Exclusive Interview – A candid discussion with the NFL standout and his road from poverty to success (10:02).
• Acting Coaches: Behind The Blind Side – Discussions with the individual college coaches who played themselves in this film.  Though this runs just under five minutes, I found this to be quite entertaining (4:52).
• The Story of Big Quinton – An interview with the film’s male lead and his rise from growing up in a low-income family in the Bronx to making it to the big time (13:40).
• Sideline Conversations – What a brilliant concept.  There are a total of 11 interviews or discussions in all.  The first three are of Sandra Bullock and the real life Leigh Anne Tuohy (5:11) while the remaining eight are between director John Lee Hancock and author Michael Lewis (27:36). 
• Deleted Scenes – Here are a total of four scenes removed from The Blind Side’s final cut (7:07).

 

Final Thoughts 

This one is a no-brainer.  Buy this film.  Buy it on Blu-ray and buy it now.  No decent film collection should be without this touching, original, true story that garnered an Oscar for its lead, Sandra Bullock.  It is a beautiful story that delivers 128 minutes of a very moving experience with an Academy Award-winning performance.  

 

Pre-order The Blind Side on Blu-ray today!