comment #1

Myles says ...

Bullock is great in the role. I predict a best actress nom and maybe even a best picture nom.

comment #2

Krillian says ...

(b) This is actually pretty decent logic for nominating someone.

(Haven't seen Blind Side yet.)

comment #3

slithis says ...

Jeff, I'm sorry -- have you seen The Blind Side yet? Just the other day you copped to having missed it. However, since it is picking up steam at the box office (while other films like The Hurt Locker have not), there been two not-so-thinly-veiled putdowns in your pieces today. The first dealt with how women are too busy seeing The Blind Side to pay attention to The Hurt Locker. Now the second is implying that Bullock likely doesn't deserve her nomination and may receive it for the wrong reasons.

I've seen it twice and Bullock is terrific in it and she might garner a nod. The role is understated, has no big monologues, no hysterics or over-emoting or Oscar-grab moments -- zilch. As played by Bullock, she's a tough, unsentimental character who just plows through the film doing what is "right" without talking about it, and that is refreshing. This is a "less is more" performance from an actress not known to deliver such.

Most specifically, Bullock engages us by her silence -- a first for her -- in scenes where she silently reacts to the boy never having a bed, the boy's mother's plight (a great moment where she doesn't play class or "down" at all), listens to him describe a wayward brother, etc.

She has great strength and restraint in this role, and if she gets a nomination it will be for this and not for any show-offy, Oscar-mongering moments.

comment #4

Rich S. says ...

One of my favorite things about this site is Jeffrey's utter devotion to the concept of the Academy Awards walking hand in hand with his utter contempt for the political realities involved in bestowing them.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

comment #5

Colin says ...

Bullock makes the film entertaining, without her there is no way it would've done well. She deserves a nod.

comment #6

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

Really? She's that good in it?

the commercials for BLIND SIDE look awfully cheesy and terrible, but I think I'll check this film out.

comment #7

Colin says ...

@DeafBrownTrashPunk

The film itself is formulaic, but Bullock doesn't revert to the cheesiness you speak of.

comment #8

PopcornEyeglass says ...

Am I a bad film junkie if I admit that you couldn't ever force me to watch this movie?

comment #9

buckzollo says ...

SB totally deserves nomination. The fact that you are writing this confirms it for me. Perfect storm for her! Awesome book Great movie and she crushes the roll.

comment #10

THE MovieBob says ...

This movie is FUCKING terrible, and Bullock is terrible in it. She's never once been more than passable in anything, and for that matter nor was Julia Roberts who she more-or-less inherited her niche from.

The film is one treacly cliche after another, there's no surprises, no real drama, no real heart in it... and the big "power" scenes are laughably bad. Bullock putting her not-as-racially-enlightened friends in their place, Oher going all Jet Li on a roomful of crack dealers (they all have guns, he wins anyway) Bullock putting the fear into those same dealers.

It's the absolute worst kind of sentimental middle-American bullshit, and the worst part is how it manages to miss it's own story. Oher's actual story is interesting, but he's a side-character in it - it's all about how this good-samaritan move by Bullock helps HER understanding of the ghetto community; as though "the problem" is now solved because the rich white lady is now able to feel bad about it.

comment #11

Colin says ...

"worst kind of sentimental middle-American bullshit"
-MovieBob

I find that to be hilarious coming from you with that logo you have on your blog. The halo, American flag, etc.

comment #12

Michael says ...

as though "the problem" is now solved because the rich white lady is now able to feel bad about it.

If that is, in fact, what the movie demonstrates then Bullock is a mortal lock for a nomination. You've just described the M.O. for 90% of the causes everyday Hollywood champions.

comment #13

dinovelvet says ...

I brought this up in the Blind side talkback and nobody followed up on it. She'll get it because she's an actress in her mid 40s who is bringing in the box office, playing a Strong Woman (TM) role. How many of those are there?

comment #14

Stringer Bell says ...

I put Bullock in the Jen Aniston/Demi Moore group of mediocre actors who have good publicists.

The only role I thought she was just half decent was in 'A Time To Kill'.

comment #15

Ronald McFirbank says ...

"This movie is FUCKING terrible, and Bullock is terrible in it. She's never once been more than passable in anything, and for that matter nor was Julia Roberts who she more-or-less inherited her niche from."

So she's a lock-in for the Oscar.

comment #16

The Hoyk says ...

The role is understated, has no big monologues, no hysterics or over-emoting or Oscar-grab moments -- zilch. As played by Bullock, she's a tough, unsentimental character who just plows through the film doing what is "right" without talking about it, and that is refreshing. This is a "less is more" performance from an actress not known to deliver such.

The same could be said about Michelle Monaghan's work in TRUCKER, which sadly me, my best friend, and perhaps eleven other people saw.

comment #17

Abbey Normal says ...

I haven't seen the movie, but the trailers alone should disqualify the film from any serious award consideration of any kind. They're that bad.

comment #18

Noiresque says ...

I know Jeff is a staunch CAPOTE man, but Sandra Bullock's Harper Lee in INFAMOUS was witty, frank, subtle and elegiac, in no scene more so than in her last monologue about art, attitudes and expectations. No embellishments, no grandstanding.

"Who ever knows what our hearts will want? Who can defend themselves from it? Seeing what's happened to him since. . . well, despite the bravado that only appears to be confidence, I have come to feel with great heart-sickness that there were three deaths on the gallows that night.

America is not a country where the small gesture goes noticed. We're not a country like France, where charm, something light or effervescent can survive. We want everything you have and we want it as fast as you can turn it out.

I read an interview with Frank Sinatra in which he said about Judy Garland: "every time she sings she dies a little." That's how much she gave. It's true for writers, too, who hope to create something lasting. They die a little getting it right. And then the book comes out and there's a dinner. Maybe they give you a prize. And then comes the inevitable and very American question: "what's next?"

But the next thing can be so hard because now you know what it demands."

comment #19

THE MovieBob says ...

"I find that to be hilarious coming from you with that logo you have on your blog. The halo, American flag, etc."

Clean you're monitor. That's not a Halo, it's "The One Ring" ;)

comment #20

THE MovieBob says ...

YOUR monitor. Damn lack of an edit button...

comment #21

Gordon27 says ...

"The role is understated, has no big monologues, no hysterics or over-emoting or Oscar-grab moments -- zilch."

So, you're saying that she won't get nominated, then? (Without those, nobody wins.)

""the problem" is now solved because the rich white lady is now able to feel bad about it."

And you, you're saying she'll win...

Man, I'm confused.

comment #22

Colin says ...

Clean you're monitor. That's not a Halo, it's "The One Ring" ;) -MovieBob

Good to know.

comment #23

Aladdin Sane says ...

I called it an Oscar-bait role the first time I saw the trailer. Out loud. My friend was mortified, since I was doing it in direct relation to some women who were oohing and aahing about the movie's premise.
Fast forward a couple months, and I find myself letting my friend pick the movie the other night, and she picks The Blind Side. I said sure, I'll watch it.
Well, it was better than I expected. Not perfect, but it has enough of those moments that connect with the overall audience. Bullock does a solid job here. It reminds me of Julia Roberts work in Erin Brockovich, except perhaps not as showy. I think given that Best Actress usually is the weakest of the categories (unfairly), she'll probably be nominated. Then again, one never can be too sure of anything these days.