Two current movies I can recommend are The Blind Side and Old Dogs. Let’s talk about them in order.
The Blind Side is the (essentially) true story of NFL football player Michael Oher (rhymes with “oar”), drafted in 2009 by the Baltimore Ravens. When we first meet Michael, he’s a sad, homeless giant of a young man with a gentle disposition. Through a series of complicated events, Big Mike is recruited to play football at Wingate Christian High School in Memphis, where he is the proverbial fish out of water. Michael is just about the only student of color at the school and supposedly has an IQ of 80. He says very little, his stock answer to most questions being “I don’t know.” Not having a real home, he carries his few clothes around with him and washes them out in a laundromat sink. One of thirteen children of a drug-addicted mother, Michael mostly just wants to be left alone, but little does he know that his life is about to change dramatically. Enter Leigh Anne Tuohy, an evangelical Christian whose son and daughter attend Wingate. Leigh Anne is a go-getter in the best sense of the word: once she becomes aware of Michael’s situation, there is no stopping her. Leigh Anne, her husband Sean, and their children battle prejudice and bureaucracy in their quest to help Michael transcend his past and get an education. Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron give standout performances as Leigh Anne and Michael, respectively, in a most inspirational picture.
Film Rating: PG-13
My rating: 3 ¼ stars
Old Dogs is a dog of a different color. The TV and theater ads made it look so silly I didn’t really want to see it but was fortunately persuaded to by reading a positive review. Here’s the gist of the movie: John Travolta and Robin Williams play Charlie and Dan, two middle-aged buddies of long standing who have their own business and are trying to secure an all-important account with a Japanese company. Besides job pressure, Dan has a further complication: he has just learned that his ex-wife, an environmental activist, has to spend two weeks in jail and must leave their seven-year-old twins with him. Dan has never met his children and must suddenly learn to be a father to his very sprightly son and daughter. Old Dogs is one of the funniest pictures in quite a while, with many hilarious sequences, among which is an extended scene in which the children mix up Charlie’s and Dan’s medications, with side-splitting results. However, the movie is more than funny; it extols the virtues of fatherhood and ends up celebrating family. It’s a bit crude in places, but worth a look.
Film Rating: PG
My rating: 3 stars
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