This Could Make Me Lose My Indie Film Snob Card…But I Really Liked “The Blind Side”

After initially seeing the trailers for “The Blind Side”, I had several negative reactions. First and foremost, Sandra Bullock is an immediate turn-off for me. There aren’t many movies she is in that I can bear watching and this didn’t look to change my mind. Also, inspirational sports movies can be an iffy bunch. There are more weak attempts at them than strong, thus I remained skeptical.

While I’m still a bit shocked, I can safely report that for the most part, I completely enjoyed “The Blind Side”. It’s a very sweet (albeit cheesy at times), inspirational story about what can happen when the fortunate helps the unfortunate.

“The Blind Side” is the true account of Michael Oher and the Tuohy family. Oher (Quinton Aaron) is a homeless African-American Memphis teenager, born to a crack head mother in the projects. After getting into an affluent Christian high school due to the efforts of a hopefull football coach, Oher meets the Tuohy family, more specifically Leigh Anne Tuohy (Bullock). The Tuohy family invites Oher to their home and over time, he becomes a part of their family. Along the way, we learn that Oher is quite the offensive left tackle and becomes a highly sought after college recruit.

Unfortunately for the plot, that’s about it. Fortunately, the movie moves at a good pace and, even when it cheesily sneaks in emotional moments, it somehow works. It’s mostly due to the warm and fuzzies you get watching a person take complete advantage of the opportunities presented to him. It could be said that it is simply a tale of a rich white family taking on a charity case, but even the most cynical should see flaw in that. This is the case of a great family helping out a great person, which should give almost anyone hope in humanity.

There’s not much suspense since anyone with Internet access can see that Michael Oher is now a starting tackle for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, so he obviously turns out okay by the end of the movie. Instead of suspense, this movie is driven by the (gulp) performance of Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron, and to some degree, Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy. Yes, even McGraw is pretty damn good as the uber-agreeable husband.

In the end, this is Bullock’s movie and she dominates it with what should be considered her finest acting performance. Sure, she’s a bit over the top every now and then but her character just oozes confidence and determination that it completely works. Bullock is getting some movie industry awards buzz and it is pretty deserved. It’s really the perfect role for her as it allows her to be sassy, smart, funny, and she handles the movies few heavy moments quite well.

The White Bread

It’s tough for me to really rate “The Blind Side”. There’s a part of me that saw a formulaic, sappy movie that unapologetically grabbed your heart strings and pulled. The other part saw a touching, inspirational story about a family that generously opened their hearts and doors to an unfortunate kid that just needed that one break to be successful.

For once, I’m going to lose my standard cynicism and enjoy “The Blind Side” for what it is: A formulaic, sappy movie that unapolgetically pulls your heart strings…and is all the better for it.

Indie Pop Songs: What Really Matters On Thanksgiving

First of all, I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving holiday. There is a good chance that it started better than mine as some jackass hoodlum busted my driver’s side window and stole my stereo from my car. It looks like I’ll be getting a new car stereo receiver on Black Friday.

Since there really aren’t any albums coming out of real substance for the rest of the year, it’s time to kick up the jams with my Favorite/Best Songs Of 2009 list. As always, this list is for amusement only so please, no wagering.

20. “The Ballad Of The RAA”, The Rural Alberta Advantage
19. “Cheerleader”, Grizzly Bear
18. “Pieces”, Dinosaur Jr.
17. “Convinced Of The Hex”, The Flaming Lips
16. “Lasso”, Phoenix
15. “Wilco (The Song)”, Wilco
14. “Young Adult Friction”, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
13. “Never Had Nobody Like You”, M. Ward
12. “Hang You From The Heavens”, The Dead Weather
11. “Silver Trembling Hands”, The Flaming Lips
10. “This Tornado Loves You”, Neko Case
9. “Summertime Clothes”, Animal Collective
8. “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris”, Morrissey
7. “Everyday”, Vetiver
6. “Sweet Disposition”, The Temper Trap
5. “Say Please”, Monsters Of Folk
4. “Lisztomania”, Phoenix
3. “Island, IS”, Volcano Choir
2. “Wind Phoenix (Proper Name)”, Cymbals Eat Guitars
1. “Two Weeks”, Grizzly Bear

Forget “Thor”, Let’s Get Moving With This Captain America Movie

Yet another person has been added to the cast of the Kenneth Branagh-directed “Thor” flick. Pseudo-hot Kat Dennings has joined the cast as the best friend of Natalie Portman’s character. Why pseudo-hot? After a Google Image search for Dennings, I’ve discovered that she is very pale and always wears black. These are all Goth Kid Symptoms, which takes away from her overall hotability.

Forget about that noise, what is the freaking deal with the Captain America movie? Is Marvel going to stop screwing around and get on this one? Sure, Obama is President and all but that doesn’t count as the Captain America movie. They need to cast that puppy and get rolling. Of course, Mrs. Cinematically Correct decided that Aaron Eckhart needs to be the Cap’n and I wholeheartedly agree…mostly because she makes dinner for me and you don’t want to piss that person off fellas.

Need proof that Eckhart is the real deal? Here you go. This should just be his audition for the part. No reading, no rehearsal, nothing. Just this f’ing picture. He should roll in to Marvel Studios, smack this bad boy down, cockily say “Owned“, and then walk out. He could even throw a stop sign hand in a producer/casting agents face as he turned to leave.

Can “Greenberg” Make Us All Forgive Stiller For Those Shameful Museum Movies?

Ben Stiller may have gotten back on track after directing the genius of “Tropic Thunder”. Of course, he’s about to work on another installment as Gaylord Focker, which should be embarrassing for him at this point.

However, I still hold on to Stiller’s performance in “Permanent Midnight” as hope he can actually do something of merit and substance. Could “Greenberg” be it?

Vinyl: Stepping Up The Snob Level On Your Music Collection

It’s been on my mind for awhile but seeing a vinyl copy of Cymbals Eat Guitars’ “Why There Are Mountains” has cemented the decision for me: I want to start a vinyl collection. I can listen to as much obscure music and go to as many shows as possible, but I really won’t hit that upper echelon of indie rock douche until I have several bookcases full of records.

After some online shopping for the necessary equipment, I’ve learned that many of the dirty t-shirt wearing hipsters that were looking at the vinyl with me at Urban Outfitters last Saturday night are actually some of America’s highest earners. How could the 22-year old in the Robotech shirt and yellow porkpie hat make enough cash to spend on this expensive stuff?

I’ve just priced out a nice Sony receiver (complete with HDMI inputs of course) and it’s going to run me $350. That’s a budget buster for me, which begs the question: How the hell does that 22-year old kid know what the f&$# Robotech is? He wasn’t even alive when the series was on so that means he’s one of those schmucks that bought the shirt to get that checked off his Hipster membership requirements. I bet he’s got an ironic political shirt too, little jackass…wait, where was I? Oh yeah, audio equipment.

So I get the $350 Sony receiver (not really, but for the purposes of this fictional blog post, I bought it). Next up, speakers. Naturally, I need to have 5.1 surround sound. I thought about 7.1, but didn’t think that the guy from Neutral Milk Hotel would approve. Okay, $260 gone. Total so far is $610. Hmm…I wonder if the bank minds if you skip a month on your mortgage payments…I need to call them.

What’s left…turntable. Well, I have to have one that can transfer my vinyl to MP3 because if not, I would be going back in time and that is defeating the purpose of going vinyl. Or is it? I’m now confused with the purpose of this exercise. Regardless, I need to be able to listen to vinyl in my Prius/Smart Car/Vespa via the iPod/iTouch/iPhone. Oh my God in Heaven, there is a turntable that converts vinyl directly to an iPod. It leaves out the “convert to MP3” process altogether. It’s as if Jesus himself has come back, but in the form of a record player. Sold for $200.

Alright, I’ve got everything squared away for just a hair over $800. Now, I just need to get some records and I’m well on my way. Where do I go online to illegally download vinyl? Wait, what? You can’t do that? Hmm, that was the part of my budget in which I thought I would incur massive savings. It says it right here on my budget: “Cost of records – $0 due to peer to peer vinyl file sharing“.

On second thought, I’ll just continue to abuse the Internet and illegally download massive amounts of music since nobody really monitors that sort of thing. Anybody want to buy a hair over $800 worth of audio equipment? Selling point: You could start a killer vinyl collection with it.

Your 2009 TV Midseason Report

We’re approaching the holiday season and TV shows normally go on hiatus until the following year, some have even wrapped up their seasons. I’m n0t going to bore you with “I laugh so hard at Jim” talk or anything like that. I am simply going to rate the shows that I watch using the tried, true Cinematically Correct scale. Remember, this is what I think of each of these shows so far this season…and please, no wagering.

The Spam

 

“The Cleveland Show”

“American Dad”

 

 

The White Bread

 

“FlashForward”

“Community”

“Family Guy”

 

 

“Bored To Death”

“The Office”

“V”

 

 

“Curb Your Enthusiasm”

“It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”

Maybe That Word Means Something Else To Sofia Vergara

I don’t know why Whoopi seems to be so shocked by what Sofia Vergara said. After all, it’s not like she said “rape-rape”, which as we all know is really bad…right Whoopi?

The Swell Season + Jason Segel = High Level Awesomenicity

Can “remember when I showed my penis in ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’, there were no special effects” be the greatest lyric in music history? I believe so.

The Bell Is Tolling For “V”

After three damn good episodes of “V”, it sure seems like ABC is going to pull the plug on the show as the audience continues to sink like a stone. According to SciFi Wire, the third episode last week dropped an additional 19% in ratings. This, combined with the 29% drop after the first episode, smell like trouble for a series that was in trouble even before one episode aired. Since ABC halted production after just four shows and that final show is airing next week, it’s safe to say that ABC won’t be making anymore of them.

Needless to say, I am way bummed out by this development. I won’t get into a rant and wonder why people watch crap like “Two & A Half Men” but can’t get behind a show like “V”. There was so much stuff happening in that last episode that set the tone for what this series, or at least the first season, could be. The final moments put all of the main characters (most notably, the awesomely awesome & adorable Elizabeth Mitchell…who at times looks like my wife) in the same room, which was fantastic. It also focused on a group of Visitors that are against the evil master plan, which no doubt includes eating all of our hamsters and/or birds.

Sigh. I should be used to this by now. Every year a show comes around that I love and it gets smoked in the ratings and then yanked from the air. SOMEBODY BRING BACK “V”…AND “JOURNEYMAN“!!

Cinematically Correct note: Yes, “FlashForward” is lame. I’m still watching because I feel like I owe it to myself to get some answers, even though I’m sure those answers will suck as bad as the acting on the show does.

Jeff Bridges Looks To Hit All The Right Notes in “Crazy Heart”

There is a reason why I am notoriously adamant about getting to the movies on time. Sure, a good seat is nice and all, but I really want to be there for all the trailers. There have been movies that have ended and as I leave the theater, I’m thinking “that trailer for (fill in the blank) was great”. This trailer for “Crazy Heart” would probably fall into that category.