sandra bullock Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: The Blind Side
Filed under: Sports », New Releases », Warner Brothers », Theatrical Reviews », Family Films »
The trailers for The Blind Side triggered my "oh geez, another sports-related Triumph of the Human Spirit" cynicism, and I might not have seen the film at all if I hadn't been assigned to review it. That would have been my loss, and I experienced the lovely surprise of having a movie turn out far more enjoyable than I expected. The Blind Side has no twists or gimmicks other than being a very good example of a sports-related family film, with quality performances and writing.
The movie's title is a football reference, which the voiceover of Leigh Anne Touhy (Sandra Bullock) explains at the beginning. Michael Oher (Quenton Aaron) is sweating out a tough but unspecified situation in an office, when we flash back a few years and meet him as Big Mike. An African-American staff member at a mostly white Christian private school is trying to get his athletic son into the school, and the school's coach also spots some athletic potential in Big Mike, granting him a scholarship. Big Mike has terrible trouble keeping up in school, and when his friend's family stops helping him out, he is virtually homeless -- sleeping in the school gym, eating popcorn left there after events, wearing the same thin clothes daily.
The Best and Worst Action Movie Sidekicks
Filed under: Action », Fandom »
It's been a very long time since I watched Commando, and when it popped up on AMC a few weeks ago, I decided I really needed to hear its steel drum and saxophone theme again. (I really didn't. It was stuck in my head for days after.) Anyway, it had been so long that I had forgotten the ridiculous sidekick of Stewardess Cindy. She enters into the narrative in the silliest way possible (one of the bad guys hits on her, and John Matrix decides that this makes her perfect to assist him), she causes many innocent bystanders to be shot or seriously injured in a shopping mall, and she complains. A lot. Halfway through, it's like they had to come up with a better excuse for her to be there, so she supplies some knowledge about planes, fires a rocket launcher, and then steps in as a stepmom at the end.
Why is she here? Time is too tight for kissing or gratuitous sex, so there was no need for a love interest. She really does nothing that Matrix couldn't have done himself (I mean, shouldn't he know how to fly a sea plane and puzzle out fueling information? Isn't he one of those guys?), and the rocket launcher rescue could have been cut because, come on, Matrix was too badass to really get arrested anyway. It takes up time that he could have been shooting more of Arius' mercenaries in hilarious and gory ways.
I'd really like to nominate her for worst action sidekick ever, except that I'm sure there's far worse out there. I'm not talking about actual sidekicks, like Chewbacca or Samwise Gamgee, but the untrained citizens who get drawn into perilous situations.
Why is she here? Time is too tight for kissing or gratuitous sex, so there was no need for a love interest. She really does nothing that Matrix couldn't have done himself (I mean, shouldn't he know how to fly a sea plane and puzzle out fueling information? Isn't he one of those guys?), and the rocket launcher rescue could have been cut because, come on, Matrix was too badass to really get arrested anyway. It takes up time that he could have been shooting more of Arius' mercenaries in hilarious and gory ways.
I'd really like to nominate her for worst action sidekick ever, except that I'm sure there's far worse out there. I'm not talking about actual sidekicks, like Chewbacca or Samwise Gamgee, but the untrained citizens who get drawn into perilous situations.
Review: All About Steve
Filed under: Comedy », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », New in Theaters », 20th Century Fox »
Sandra Bullock may yet be one of our great living movie stars, capable of stealing just about any scene from any other actor. If only she could just find her place. Her role as the woman who winds up driving the bus in Speed was the breakout performance of a lifetime. In one scene, the bus approaches a lady crossing the street pushing a baby carriage. There's nothing anyone can do, so Sandra just screams and covers her eyes. The baby carriage goes flying, and -- not a baby -- but empty cans go flying and rattling all over, with the angry woman shaking her fist at the departing bus. Keanu Reeves tries to calm Sandra down by explaining that it was just cans. Her hysteria lasts a few more seconds, but it's so over-the-top utterly charming that Keanu can't help but smile at her. I've always suspected that that was a genuine smile from Keanu, not in character, and that director Jan de Bont just left it in.
After that she starred in While You Were Sleeping (1995), an above average Hollywood romantic comedy that made a nice profit. From there Bullock found herself locked in a struggle with her own career. She was perfect for romantic comedy, and whenever she made one, it was a hit, up to and including this past summer's The Proposal. The trouble is, it seems, that Bullock doesn't really want to make romantic comedies, but whenever she tries anything else -- like her great performance as Harper Lee in Infamous (2006) -- no one notices. She even became her own producer several years back in an effort to grab the steering wheel of her own career, but she's wrestling with a much older problem. It's called typecasting. Nobody ever wanted to see Charlie Chaplin make serious movies, nor did anyone ever want to see John Wayne play meek and mild-mannered.
From Page to Screen: 'The Blind Side'
Filed under: Drama », Sports », New Releases », From Page to Screen »
One thing you hear a lot about the great HBO series The Wire is some variation on "it ruined all other cop shows for me." And it's true. The Wire was so smart about policework, so painfully realistic without sacrificing drama, that it made damn near everything else, with the obligatory gun-and-badge-scene clichés and pat little whodunnits, seem downright silly; ridiculous. Creators and writers David Simon and Ed Burns called the bluff of an entire genre. They stripped away the Hollywood varnish and made their peers look goofy, clueless, like so many deer staring at headlights.
Michael Lewis's The Blind Side isn't quite like that, but it's close. Certainly I will henceforth have trouble restraining gales of laughter at the naiveté of football movies about scrappy underdog quarterbacks who overcome the odds and lead their teams to victory. Or about the glory of college football. Or about players who make it to the NFL through sheer pluck and determination.
Even more so than The Wire to lame cop dramas, The Blind Side is an explicit rebuke to such stories. Straight up, Lewis (who also wrote Moneyball) says: it doesn't work that way. First of all, the quarterback isn't even that important. A coach with a handle on strategy and talent elsewhere on the roster, can, within reason, make damn near anyone look good throwing the ball. Second: who makes it to the NFL is determined, 99% of the time, not by persistence and heart, but by genetics. Size. Much more than you might think, shape. Innate athleticism that cannot be taught or learned. Depressingly, the selection process for great football prospects often resembles a state fair where people admire the girth and gait of cattle and "hmm" and point thoughtfully.
Sandra Bullock's 'Blind Side' Sure Looks Familiar in New Trailer
Filed under: Drama », Warner Brothers », Trailers and Clips »
Let's get this out of the way: I'm no Sandra Bullock bully. I know, I gave her crap for looking all too perky in her long-delayed rom-com All About Steve (which is currently scheduled to bow on September 4th instead of last March, after The Proposal did well by her and The Hangover put co-star Bradley Cooper in a more recognizable realm). But she seems terribly content to play it safe, merely bantering with Hugh Grant or Benjamin Bratt or Ryan Reynolds, with diversions into dramatic territory either little-seen (Infamous, Loverboy) or little-loved (Premonition).The most prominent exception to that streak would have to be Paul Haggis' Crash, and while I don't think that Bullock is so scheming as to put herself in another Oscar-baiting melodrama out of hopes of continuing that glory to more... individual ends, I hardly think it's coincidence that The Blind Side is the based-on-a-true-story tale of Bullock helping an oversized, undereducated minority teen who in turn makes her a better person. Yahoo! has the trailer; we've included it after the jump.
Interview: 'The Proposal' Director Anne Fletcher
Filed under: Disney », Interviews »
If the summer movie season wasn't originally designed for guys, it's certainly been appropriated by them, both in theaters and behind the camera. Where the hottest months of the year once served as an even playing field for films of all kinds, they now operate with one edict in mind, bigger is always better, unless you're a shrewd enough filmmaker to find an opening and exploit it with a clever bit of counter-programming. Anne Fletcher hopes to be the exception that proves this rule with the release of The Proposal (which took the number one spot at the box office this past weekend with $34 million) a romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock. And while there's only two action scenes, one involving falling off of a boat and another about surviving a face-to-crotch attack by an overeager amateur stripper, the film seems poised to capture at least as many female hearts as its competition does male ones.
Cinematical recently spoke to Fletcher via telephone to discuss her work on the film, which is her third directorial effort after the original Step Up and last year's 27 Dresses, in addition to talking about taking a film straight into summer's heart of darkness, she reflects on what if anything her gender means to the movies she makes, and speaks about an early '80s Spielberg movie that still proves inspirational (and it's none of the ones you might think).
Cinematical Seven: Most Contrived Rom-Com Scenarios
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », Cinematical Seven », Lists »
Let me make this clear: when I say that I'm compiling a list of the most contrived rom-com scenarios, I'm not saying that they're automatically the worst -- although a glance at the titles doesn't exactly stray far from that correlation. Tomorrow's The Proposal finds Sandra Bullock forcing Ryan Reynolds into marriage for the sake of holding off immigration authorities and keeping her/their jobs (I guess it's not too soon to remake Green Card and Picture Perfect after all), so we're talking about seven plot points along those lines of high-concept, close-quarters thinking, with some (dis)honorable mentions along the way...
Review: The Proposal
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », New Releases », Disney », Theatrical Reviews », Summer Movies »
I love watching Sandra Bullock, who is enjoyable even in the lamest of films. And sadly, there are so many lame movies starring Bullock, and so few that I would enjoy watching more than once -- Infamous is a rare exception. After I saw Speed, I said that I thought Bullock could be this generation's Carole Lombard, but unfortunately the actress has not yet found her Howard Hawks or Ernst Lubitsch. The Proposal is yet another Bullock-starring formulaic romantic comedy with little to offer except sparkling performances, and not just from Bullock.
Margaret Tate (Bullock) is the terror of the Manhattan publishing office where she's editor-in-chief, and even her charming assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) is scared of her. Her Achilles heel turns out to be that she's ... Canadian, and she's about to be deported for a year due to some visa problems. So Margaret hurriedly declares that she's engaged to Andrew, who's American. You don't have to have seen Green Card to guess the rest of the story.
Watch This: Betty White Talking Dirty with Ryan Reynolds
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », Movie Marketing », Trailers and Clips »
If there is anything more fantastic than seeing Betty White flip off Ryan Reynolds; I haven't found it. In a nifty new marketing piece for the romantic comedy The Proposal; Sandra Bullock, Reynolds, and Betty White sat down to make a video for Funny or Die, and even at the age of 87, Ms. White proves once again, that she is still one of the best comedians around. Posing as a 'behind-the-scenes' look, both Bullock and White get a chance to terrorize Reynolds to comic effect. But, that's not the only reason to click play, because frankly it isn't often that you get to see someone tell a comedy icon to "suck a hot ****".
Now I have to tell you, I've got nothing against either Bullock or Reynolds, but there wasn't a chance in hell I was going to be lining up to see The Proposal. Romantic comedies usually aren't my thing at the best of times, and this one seemed to be one of those films that was counting on the charm of its two leads to sell tickets; rather than things like, you know, a story -- plus I can't help but think that both of these actors really deserve better than this. But, I give credit where credit is due, and no matter what I may think of The Proposal, one thing is for sure: this is a funny little video. It may even be funnier than the film it's supposed to be promoting...what do you think?
Cinematical Seven: Franchises J.J. Abrams Should Reboot
Filed under: Fandom », Cinematical Seven », Lists »
Now that J.J. Abrams has reinvented, and especially, reinvigorated Star Trek for an all new generation of fake-pointy-eared fans, it would be unfair to let the filmmaker simply take time off to garden or crochet, much less celebrate the film's projected $72 million opening weekend. Especially since there are just so many other franchises and film series that deserve – or perhaps more accurately – need his golden touch. As such, we've thoughtfully assembled a short list of franchises that Abrams could and should take over, tackle, and reboot. And while we tailored our selections to suit the filmmaker's writing and directing strengths, we encourage you to leave your comments and suggestions which films and franchises you think might be better suited to Abrams' cinematic style.
In no particular order:
Black Friday Movie Deals: Best Buy
Sex and Nudity Don't Draw You to the Movies?
What Makes a Real Vampire?
Robert Downey Jr. Wants to Retire?
Jaycee Dugard's Horrific Story to Get a Sleazy Adaptation
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